The Conflict Only the Believer Will Face - Romans 7_14-25
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Summary
Unbelievers have no conflict because there is no conflict within the believer. They do not submit to the law, they have no sin revealed to them, and they do not have a sober view of God's standard regarding man's morality. What do they have?
Transcript
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What a blessing it is to continue through Romans here.
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Last week, we saw that Paul was dealing with the conflict that is all too familiar in the Christian life.
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The conflict that only born-again believers will experience.
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It's a war between the law's ability to reveal the sin that's in our flesh, the sin that
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we never even saw prior to Christ, and the conviction of righteousness through the indwelling
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of the Holy Spirit, which is, again, another reality, a conviction that we did not have
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So we have these two waging war against one another, the Spirit and the flesh.
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In chapter 7, 14 through 20, we saw that Paul can have this sense of a schizophrenic feeling
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that he's essentially going back and forth, this warring, this conflict between the way
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that he is dealing with the spirit and the way that he is dealing with the flesh.
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Galatians 5, 17 says, for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires
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of the spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing
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the things that you want to do. Ultimately, what is being taught there is that the Holy Spirit
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is there in the believer to restrain you, to restrain your flesh from doing what you want to
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do. And this is normal and right. This is a good thing, right? This is a good thing by the grace of
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God. And I say this because many Christians equate conflict with condemnation. We think that just
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because we're having conflict, we're having such conviction that we might actually not be saved,
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that we might actually be condemned. But as I said last week, conflict is actually the evidence that
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you are saved. That's the evidence right there. Unbelievers have no conflict. There is no conflict
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within the unbeliever. They do not submit to the law. They have no sin revealed to them. They're
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not looking in the mirror of the law and seeing their own unworthiness. They do not have the Holy
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Spirit giving them clarity on what is right and wrong. In other words, they have no war because
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there is no conflict. And they have no conflict because the Holy Spirit is not there restraining
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their flesh against the desires of their own heart. And yes, they have a conscience. Yes,
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they have some sort of humanistic morality that we see in the world. But these people don't have
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a sober view of the righteousness of Christ. They don't have a sober view of God's standard
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regarding man's morality. But what these people do have and what they do need, I should say,
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is they need a sober reality of the jurisdiction, the universal jurisdiction of the law.
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Think about this for a second. This is what Paul spends for several chapters, especially chapter
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three in Romans where he's saying the law doesn't just have jurisdiction of the Jews. The law
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actually has a jurisdiction over all of humanity. Actually, if you guys open up your Bible real
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quick to Romans chapter three, verse 19, I'll read it for you real quick. Romans three, verse 19.
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it says now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law
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so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God
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and so essentially what these people who have no conflict are missing is an understanding that the
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law has a jurisdiction over their soul they will actually be judged by the standard of the law
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and they don't have a right appraisal or an estimation of their morality or their filthiness
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before God as judge and they don't grasp the justice that God requires to be a righteous
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and true God that's going to be afflicted upon them on judgment day and while they would deny it
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what they do have is guilt. What they do have is shame. What they do have is pride.
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They are like a blind man that walks into a wedding feast with filthy clothes,
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not recognizing that they need to be made clean. They're unaware. They're ignorant of those
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realities. But for the one who is grieved over their sin, the one that is grieved over their
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think about this for a second for the one who knows that they are filthy and
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that they are walking into the presence of the King and they know that they are
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unrighteous and that they know that they need to be clothed with the
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righteousness of Christ God gives them righteousness in Christ and that person
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is going to see the standard of the law and they're gonna measure that standard
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against their own reality they're gonna look into the mirror the law and
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they're gonna reveal the filthiness of their current state
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The beauty is, is that this person that has conflict is the very evidence that this person
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is not condemned because conflict doesn't equal condemnation.
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It says in the very beginning of the next chapter, which we're going to get to next
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week, it says there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
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So in today's text, before we get too far into chapter eight, which is a beautiful section
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scripture today's text paul is lamenting over this conflict within him he's lamenting over
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the conflict that's within him he recognizes his own filthiness
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he recognizes that he has has this continued war and that essentially
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the only way for it to be removed is this body of flesh to be removed so we're going to look at verse
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21. It says, so I find it to be a law that when I do right, evil is close at hand. I actually
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appreciate the NIV. I was looking, I always look at different translations when I'm looking at
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the text that I'm studying. It says, so I find this law at work, colon, although I want to do
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good, evil is right there with me. When you get to verse 23, you're going to see that this law
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that he's talking about is the law of his flesh he has another law warring
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against the current law Paul says that when he wants to do the right thing
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according to God's law he clashes with another law I want you guys to pay
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attention to how he highlights the quickness of the conflict okay this is
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important the quickness of the conflict he says when I want to do good evil is
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right there. It's right there. In other words, one law is so opposed to the other that the moment
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that one tries to take any advancement or opportunity, the other one is right there.
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And I think that we can relate with that. When you want to do good, temptation and evil desires
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are right there. When we want to get into prayer, temptations and distractions are right there.
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We want to go to church and be wholesome as a family. Temptations and frustrations are right
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there. In war, there's no easy ground to take, right? We know that.
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If you try to take an inch of any sort of vital territory, you should expect to receive some sort
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fire. He clarifies in the next verse. He says, verse 23 and 24. He says, for I delight in the
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law of God, my inner being, but I see in my members, another law, waging war against the
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law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
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Again, Paul continues here to provide this combat imagery.
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He says that we have been taken captive by this other law that wages in our flesh.
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Now, we might feel at moments taken captive by our old self.
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The beauty of the gospel is that we will never be overrun.
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For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law, but under grace.
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It'll cause you conflict and frustration in every possible area of your life.
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That is the beautiful reality and peace that we have today.
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not with our own righteousness, not with our own goodness,
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We have a priest who is atoned with his own blood.
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We have a mediator that's given us eternal peace
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and the freedom from the condemnation of sin guarantees that we will never be defeated.
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This is why Jesus constantly says that we will not be overcome.
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We cannot be overcome because it's Christ in us.
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He who is greater in you is greater than he who is in the world.
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we may backslide for a season we may take our thoughts and affections captive for a time
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but sin will never rule us again sin will never rule us and reign over us again
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and this is important and here's why all of you guys have met or known as somebody
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who claims christ but seems like they're constantly losing to the flesh
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all of us know a christian who ran back to pornography or to drugs or to alcohol
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all of us know a christian whose life has looked like it's been slaughtered by sin
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and how are you to think about these people right are you are they false converts maybe
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um jesus says you're going to know them by their fruits
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um second john or sorry first john says that whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the
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devil for the devil has been sinning from the beginning no one born of god makes the
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practice of sinning because they've been born of god so those scriptures exist
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so yes the stumbling man or woman could certainly be an unregenerate religious person
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floundering in their morality that's very possible
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it could also just be a genuine born-again christian who's weak in the faith
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that can certainly be the case we cannot forget that paul addressed the corinthians as brothers
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and sisters the corinthians that were walking in sexual immorality and turning back to idols and
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indulging and quarreling with one another and the war between the flesh and the spirit was
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we have to realize this varies between one person to another what might be incredibly
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simple for you may be very difficult for another brother and so yes the person who claims christ
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but demonstrates a patternistic and habitual walk where they are constantly stumbling that person
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certainly uh we should not offer them constant assurance we should be
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exhorting them and admonishing them to turn back to christ but for the person who demonstrates a
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robust comprehension of the gospel for the person that bears fruit mixed with weeds
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we should come alongside those people and we should offer them counsel and discipleship
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That is the appropriate place to be as a believer.
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Only a Christian can have that kind of estimation of themselves.
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That's why we know that Paul is speaking about himself as a converted believer here.
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Recognition of depravity is a foundational reality
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It's the bad news that makes the good news so good.
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Paul is only able to recognize his wretchedness because God's law
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is truly functioning as a mirror. He can actually look
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into the mirror of the law and it reflects his own moral filth.
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can say to this examination is, oh, wretched man that I am.
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and it's the only conclusion that will lead a man to Christ
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it helps us appreciate the grace of God anew which we often need
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and lastly and this is important being wretched in the flesh does not mean that Paul
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is not a Christian or holy or sanctified he is certainly all of those things
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two resurrections need to take place a spiritual resurrection to be born again
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and a physical resurrection of the return of Christ one has taken place so far
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and he says who will deliver me from this body of death his soul's been delivered
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He says, thanks be to God, answering that question in verse 25, in Jesus Christ, our Lord.
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In other words, what he's saying here is that thanks be to God, who through Christ,
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at my physical death and physical resurrection, I will be made perfect finally.
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That's why Philippians 121 can say to live is Christ, but to die is gain.
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For the Christian, death is deliverance from sin.
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It's the end to lust and to envy and to worry and to hate.
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into fear. Paul ends this chapter with these concluding words. He says,
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so then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh, I serve the law of sin.
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We live in a world that commends self-awareness. It's a good thing to be aware of self.
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Paul has another degree of self-awareness here, heavenly awareness, spiritual awareness.
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He is sober about the conflict that wars within him.
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He has appropriately discerned the differences between the spirit and the flesh.
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He's not fooled or tangled up in emotionalism, intellectualism, legalism.
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it's a mirror it shows him his filth it's got a purpose to reveal sin and to
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lead him to Christ he sees the spirit it's caused him to desire righteous and
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holy things they're aligned with that law but most of all he sees that the
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conflict according to God's plan it's temporary it's temporary
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because we know that it is part of God's reality
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And my hope is that we understand that beautiful reality.
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That we can war for the next remaining years of our lives.
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That we don't have to think that it's going to be this way always.
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And at times, I have prayed, Lord, take this body from me.
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I'm ready for my new body to the lost sickness is a foretaste of hell
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to the saved sickness reminds me of what's to come
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that I will have a new body that won't break down that can breathe well that doesn't have
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neurological problems that doesn't constantly have thoughts of sin
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as we see that he has the struggles that we have,
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Father, we thank you, Lord, for sustaining me through this time, Lord, and we thank you for your word.
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We thank you for the reality of redemption, the plan of redemption.
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It's totally counterintuitive to what we would have designed.
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Lord, we ask that you would continue to let us understand the mysteries and the deepness and the beauty of the gospel.