If you have your Bible, turn it if you will, the Roman 7-13-25, which our practice on Monday to go before the throne, before we study the book, let's do that, Father. Father, as we begin a new week, we come before you, not because we're good, we know better than that. Not because we're together, you know better than that. Not because, Father, we have any hopes that we are in ourselves going to be obedient, our pure, our kind, our gentle, our loving. We come with nothing in our hands, we come because you're God, and we're not, because you're gracious, and because you're merciful. Father, we come first asking forgiveness for our sins. You know the times when we failed, the times when you told us to go and tell, and we sat and watch. Father, the times when we've turned away from the place to which you've called us. We don't come because we're good, but because we're yours, and Father, we come to praise you because we're better than we were. With great surprise and amazement we've seen the growth in our lives, we love more than we did, we're more obedient than we were, we care more than we used to care, and so Father, we come to say thank you to give you the praise and the glory to place the bouquets on the altar before you. But Father, there's so much that is so needful in our lives. Father, come with your spirit, annoying to our lives, and give us the power to walk in your ways to live by your agenda. Father, we praise you and worship you and glorify you because you are worthy. You're omnipotent, and omnipresent, and omniscient, and eternal, and infinite, and immutable, and good, and kind, and loving, and gracious, and forgiving, and compassionate, and Father, we praise you and worship you. Now Father, we bring our needs, you know them all, you know everyone listening to this broadcast, you know the sleepless nights, you know the heart that's broken, you know the Father and Mother who wonder about their Son, who haven't seen Him in a long time, the woman whose husband said He didn't love her anymore, those who are going through personal and financial problems. We come as children, would come bringing a toy to a Father who is wise and skillful, and who knows what He's doing. And so Father, we come this week on this week of programs to study your Word, the letter you wrote to us. We pray for the one, as always, who teaches that you would forgive Him as sins, for they are many. We would see Jesus and Him only, and we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, if you have a Bible, you're in a place where you can get a Bible, at home, get a cup of coffee, glass of orange juice, or milk, sit back and relax, and let's study the Bible together. The text is Romans 7, 13 through 25, and this week we are continuing with our study in the book of Romans. If you have your Bible open there, while you kind of get settled, let me review some of the things we saw last week, when our text was Romans 7, 7 through 12, you'll remember we went down two side roads. We noted that the law of God is not to be set aside by the gospel. That's Romans 7, 7. We noted that the law is a gift from God, Romans 7, 10, and then we looked at authority in general, and the law of God in particular, as a manifestation of authority. We examined six important teachings in Romans 7. The nature of authority, Romans 7, 12. The promise of authority, Romans 7, 10, the working of authority, Romans 7, 8. The death from authority, Romans 7, 10, the hatred of authority, Romans 7, 8, and Romans 7, 10, and the transformation of authority, Romans 7, 4. Now we're ready to turn to our text for this week, Romans 7, 13 through 25. As then, Paul, my dear friend, writes, has then, what is good become death to me, certainly not. But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death. In me, through what is good, so that sin, through the commandment, might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I'm carnal, sold under sin. For what I'm doing, I don't understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice. But what I hate, that I do, if then I do, what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it's good, but how, but now it is no longer I who do it, but sinned that dwells in me. For I know that in me that is in my flesh nothing good dwells. For to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good, I do not find, for the good that I will to do, I do not do, but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now, if I do, what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sinned that dwells in me. I find in the law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God, according to the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord, so then, with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. That's how I like you, boy, sounds like me. Now, most of the week we're going to examine the divided nature of human nature, but before we do that I want to go down one side road. Please note, if you will, the astounding honesty of the apostle Paul, you don't see that much in leaders, Roman 724, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Throughout this text, Paul is saying some things that preachers ought not say. He's being honest, I mean, and there are those who say he's simply looking back on his past life, but now he's pure and good and sweet and sanctified, and everything's fine, and his life is not true. I mean, if this were to be passed, you need to know that God would have made it passed. All is speaking in the present, and he's being quite honest. Often tell my students to be honest. One student asked me how honest, and I told him that there are some things that ought not be told. Somebody tells the story about a revival that was going on in the church in a center, a bad center fell under conviction and stood up and told the congregation and the preacher that he wanted to unload the burden of his sins. He said, preacher, I was not a good little boy. I sold from my mother's pocketbook, and the preacher said, tell it all, brother. Not only that, he went on, when I was older, I skipped school, the preacher said, tell it all, brother. Not only that, the man shouted, when I was in high school, I started taking drugs and drinking. Tell it all, brother, the preacher shouted, I got married to a woman who was pregnant. Tell it all, brother, the preacher said, I want to confess that I haven't always been faithful to my wife. I have not supported my family, and I have been a drunk. The preacher said, tell it all, brother. Not only that, the man shouted, sometimes I like to dress up in my wife's clothes. There was a long pause, and the preacher said, I don't believe out of toll, that, brother. Well, Paul gets down and very honest here, I don't know if I had been the first Christian missionary, the human writer of much of the New Testament. If I had planted churches all over the Roman Empire, if I had people following me from every branch of the church I owned. I don't know if I would have been as honest as Paul was on Eastern Roman Seventh, but don't you see, that's the point. The early church knew that the people in the church were sinners. In James it says that we should confess our sins to one another. Why? So we can shock our brothers and sisters, no, not even close, because Christians, more than anybody else, Christians understand how bent we are, how given to sin, how easily we fall, and we can tell other Christians without fear of their being shocked or upset. That was the way it was in the early church, but nowadays we have this drivel that people in the church are good and honest and pure and wonderful and nice and kind and loving, and the ones outside the church are not good, honest, pure and wonderful and nice kind and loving. And when you're in the church, you've got to pretend if you're not, you've got to pretend to be good, honest, pure, wonderful, nice kind and loving. And we've bought into the drivel, can you believe it? We've bought into that lie, so the last place on the face of the earth where you want to be honest is at the church. You can be honest in a bar, or where your best fishing buddy or your best friend, but not at the church. Somebody would think that you weren't a Christian, that you weren't perfect, and we simply can't have that. The truth is that Paul was illustrating something very important, that ought to be excellent in Christians everywhere, in every place, every time, and it's this, a humility and an honesty with one another that never presumes, to tell someone else that one is pure and perfect. I got a letter from a friend recently who was going through a difficult time with panic attacks because of his letter I remembered another friend years ago called me. We were both in our forties in those days, that was years ago, and he said, Steve, I got to talk to somebody, I got to talk to you, I'm coming apart. I keep waking up in the middle of the night and a cold sweat, I worry about death, and I worry about my family, I sometimes worry about getting cancer, I worry about me, and whether I'm going to be able to do everything I'm supposed to do, I've got to get some sleep, I wake up in this panic, can I see you? And I said to him, you too, did silence on the other end of the phone. You mean Steve, he said, I'm not the only one, I told him about the other men our age going through the same thing. And he said, well, I guess I don't have to see you after all, I feel a whole lot better if you're a psychologist or a Christian counselor, listen up. I'm going to give you something that's going to be worth a million dollars, let me give you what I learned from that phone call. You may be Freudian in your psychology, or holistic, or behaviorist, or Gestalt, or analytical, but the best technique you will ever have in the most effective way you will have to help people is the you too technique, why is that? Because it identifies you and your client with the human race. This seventh chapter of Romans is wonderful because it's an example of the you too technique. I read it, and I thought Paul too, his honesty allows my health and my honesty. Your honesty will allow the help of your brothers and sisters, their honesty will allow my help, I've got it from the Bible, and I might write a book on it. The you too technique of psychological counseling, well, now let's turn to the main thrust of this text. In effect, what Paul is saying here in this text is that we are divided personalities. When he says the good that I want to do, I can't do, and the evil that I don't want to do, that's what I do, Paul is describing the problem with human nature. The illustration has been used so often that it's a cliche, and I hate to use it, but I'm going to anyway. The man who says to his pastor, I feel that I have two dogs inside of me, one is a mean vicious dog and the other is a well-trained and obedient dog, and pastor, they're always fighting. Well said the pastor, which one wins, and the man said, the one to whom I say, second, or the one I feed, he ever feel like that, well I do, sometimes I want to do right. Sometimes I want to be the kind of person everybody thinks I am, sometimes I want to be the kind of person who would be an example of purity and holiness and obedience, but I fear. I'm not always that, or if I am, it is generally to those people who don't know me very well. Paul's describing a legitimate fact in the life of the believer, or at any rate in my life, whereby there's a division, or a dichotomy if you will, that sometimes I don't understand and I simply can't fix. Now Paul gives us seven points on the dichotomy or the division Christians feel, and this week on Key Life, the rest of the week I want to share what Paul says about it. Let's dig in first. I want you to note, if you will, the reality of the dichotomy or division, Roman 714, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I and carnal are fleshly sold under sin. You ever do something incredibly stupid or sinful and then apologize and say, I'm sorry, I'm not myself today. Well, the truth is that you are yourself today, or at least a part of yourself. We had this funny thing in our society, it drives me up a wall whereby we think that being drunk or being eye excuses all kinds of bad things, well, it doesn't. I don't care if you were drunk. It was the real you that did that stupid thing. In fact, sometimes the real you comes out when you're drunk. That's one of the reasons I'm a tea-tower to whip, because there's a side of me that I can't possibly control if I'm not sober. You hear about the man that came into the bar early in the morning and he said to the bartender, Mr. Was I in here last night and he said, yes, you sure were. He said, do I have a good time when he said, man, did you have a good time? The guy said, thank heavens, I looked at my billfold and there wasn't any money left. I'll take some, I don't want to be drunk, because I've got a side of me that by God's grace I want to control. You remember this, Star Trek episode when Captain Kirk goes through the beaming up process and the two Kirk's come out on the other end, ones that whip, who can't make decisions, who doesn't want any conflict, who doesn't want to hurt anybody. The other Kirk is one who is as mean as a snake, cruel and heartless at the end of the episode. The good Kirk embraces the bad Kirk and they become one, thereby illustrating that we need two of us. One is good and one is bad in order to make a complete whole. Now, I like Star Trek, and I know the problems with it, but I like Star Trek because I like the stories, but I certainly don't watch it to get the truth. But there is a modicum of truth in that illustration. Paul would agree with the illustration until some Twits said, listen, the bad side is good, because without the bad side you would be useless. Paul would say in Greek, of course, you're a bozo because you believed the lie. That good people can't be strong and moral people can't make decisions. But he would say, you aren't far from the truth, you at least. When your anthropological analysis have seen something I talk about in the seventh chapter of my book to the Romans, we do have two natures. We are, you know, sometimes I really feel divided. Part of me wants to be good and part of me wants to be bad. I have a dog like that, Quincy the Wonder Dog. He's an always obedient. I'm telling him to do something and he'll look at me and you can see it in his eyes. If I do this, Steve is going to take a newspaper and beat me. If I do this, it's going to cost me big time and I'm not going to get a treat. If I do this, I'm in deep trouble but I'm going to do it anyway. Why would Quincy, our German shepherd do that? Why would Quincy the Wonder Dog do that? I'll tell you because he has two doggy natures in him. A part of him wants to obey master Steve because he loves me and a part of him wants to rebel as much as possible. I might add that Quincy has gotten a lot better since the hurricane. I'll tell you, that dog was kind of disobedient until the hurricane and that's when the roof blew off and everything. I mean, it was a scary time. I almost became a Christian and right after the hurricane one of the National Guards guy protecting the property in South Florida was walking down our street and boy Quincy went after him and he's a big shepherd and the guy turned pale and I said, Quincy, stop. And I mean Quincy stopped in his tracks and I said come and he turned and came to me. The man said, Mr, that's the best behaved dog I've ever seen and I'm telling but I wanted to say that he wasn't that way before the hurricane. I heard Quincy talking to our little Rudrack dog Annie the orphan and Quincy said, listen, you better do what Steve says because one time I didn't man and he brought this wind. That blew the house down. I'm afraid if I'm not obedient, if I'm not obedient he'll do it again. Now I can understand, I feel that way about God sometimes. Barnhouse said this, all of life illustrates Bible doctrine and sometimes when I look at Quincy I say, Father, I'm like that at sometimes to encourage by your spirit the side of me that wants to be obedient. I'm like Quincy and so are you. There's a dichotomy in us and only the most superficial and most unaware Christian will miss it. Now secondly note not only the reality of the dichotomy or division but note also if you will, the pain of the dichotomy. Roman 724, O wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death. Mr. Kigard said, singleness of heart is to will one thing, Jesus said it better, Matthew 624. No one can serve two masters for either he will eat the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other, listen to me, if you are not a Christian and want to know how to be happy and don't want to be a Christian, I'm going to help you. Be bad, be really bad, be totally self-centered. Don't get involved in the red cross, don't get involved in anything that doesn't benefit you and get as many toys as you can possibly get before you die, I know, I know, I know. They say that that isn't the way of happiness but it really is. The way of unhappiness is to be divided. Just choose the bad way and you will be more happy than you are going back and forth. Of course the fact that you are divided may relate to the spirit of God working in you, so if you can't be a pagan for God's sake, why not be a Christian, we will talk more about that later and listen to me, Christian, I would say the same thing to you, choose if you are going to follow Christ or not quit flirting with going back, decide that whatever he wants, whatever he needs, whatever he desires, you are there to do it for him. I know, I know, I haven't forgotten how much fun it was to be a pagan but quit looking back and you will be happy. I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back to cross before me, the world behind me told turning back, no turning back, there is peace and deciding. What doesn't give peace is to be divided to inside, so if you are going to be a pagan, then be a pagan. If you are going to be a Christian, then be a Christian, quit shilly, shallowing and you will be a lot happier than you are right now. I read the other day about a man who was learning to work on the trapeze. He was asking if he would he have learned, he said, I have learned three things. First, you can't hold on to one bar while you are grabbing on to the other. Secondly, I have learned that when you let go of the first bar, you leave your security and thirdly, I have learned that you don't have forever to make up your mind. This great pagan division, the dichotomy that goes on in us, by the way there is pain whenever there is division, that is true in the body of Christ. It is true in any kind of institution, but it is true in personality, it is true inside the dichotomy, causes pain. Now I want to give you a principle, peace comes in direct proportion to how much you have decided to go one way or the other. And you say, Steve, would you repeat that for me one more time, yes, and slower. Peace comes in direct proportion to how much you have decided to go one way or the other. Now thirdly, I want you to note not only the reality and the pain of dichotomy, I want you to note if you will, the confusion of dichotomy, Roman 715, for what I am doing, I don't understand, for what I hate, that's what I do. Roman 718, for the good that I will to do, I do not do, but the evil I will not to do, that's what I practice. You ever blush in private, you ever say, how can I have done that? What was I thinking? Well, if that is your experience, you can identify with the apostle Paul in his confusion and I remember once talking when I was a young pastor in Boston to speak at one of John DeBron's youth time, I mean, he used to have thousands of kids, it would show up at Tremont Temple Baptist Church and sometimes he'd been asking to speak and I was just young, I'd never done it before and I knew John because when I was in commercial broadcasting, he used to do a radio program and we got to be friends and we're still friends. I can't tell you how much John DeBron means to me, but I was a young pastor down on Cape God and he had asked me to come and speak, now I have a long drive from where I lived in East Dennis on Cape God to Boston, took about an hour, an hour and a half and on the way I was thinking, man, they are going to love what I'm going to say, this is good stuff. I said, man, they're going to think I'm the best thing that's sliced bread and another boy said, Stephen, how could you call yourself a Christian and think like that? Who are you trying to please yourself or God? You aren't even a Christian. Well, by the time I got to the youth rally, I was so confused that I made a fool out of myself. I talked to John DeBron about it later and he said, Steve, did you think that you weren't human? You need to live in Colossians 3-3 for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. It is no longer I, but I'm hidden with Christ in God no matter what's going on inside of me and I'll tell you something. Sometimes I still have a tendency to do that. I love the Bible. I just do. I like it more than most people like it. I love to go in the Bible and find out what God says. I like to have questions and look them up and see what the Bible says about things. Sometimes I really get excited. Sometimes I can hardly wait to get in front of this microphone and tell you what I found. I just want to say, wait, Jesus, I got something good to tell you about. And then I think, wait, hold it. Hold it. Colossians 3-3 for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. So you're about the man who went to the fortune teller and she said, young man, you will be miserable, poor and disillusioned until you're forty and young man said, good heavens, what happens after that? And she said, then you'll get used to it. Well, you'll be confused and divided until you're forty and after that, you'll get used to it. Paul's confusion, listen carefully, is ameliorated when he recognizes the nature of a fallen creature is to struggle with obedience. Contentment? Are you listening only works for cows? Once one accepts that reality there is less confusion. In other words, we have expectations that are far too high. We have expectations that go far beyond what we can achieve. I used to say, God, help me to achieve great, great things for you. Because I got a little bit older. I said, Lord, can I do some little things for you? And now that I'm an old guy, say, Lord, help me not to mess it up too horribly. The truth is that once you recognize that we've got this divided nature inside, once we recognize the dichotomy and that it's a part of a fallen world, then the confusion is just a little bit less. Paul's confusion is ameliorated when he recognizes that the nature of a fallen creature is to struggle with obedience. Contentment only works for cows. Once you accept that reality, there's less confusion. Let me give you another point. I want you to note not only the reality and the pain and the confusion of the dichotomy of the separation that goes on inside us. Not also the craftiness of the dichotomy. Romans 7.21, I find then a war that evil is present with me. The one who wills to do good. Romans 7.23A, but I see another war in my members warning against the law of my mind. Now, the problem with the dichotomy is that it's always lurking there under the shadows just when you think that you have made it. It rears its ugly head. Let me illustrate with ambition. I always had to struggle with wanting to be the pastor of a mega-church. I mean, I wanted to church with thousands of members where it was in a church. It was a city. We had $100 billion in a mission budget. Everybody wanted to hear what I said and hung on my every word. When I got serious with God as a young man, I said, Lord, I don't guess that's very pure to hope for that kind of thing. He said, no child, it really isn't. If you continue, I'll still love you. No, I try to deal with that, and so I really struggled with ambition. When I was young, I made a covenant with God that I would never seek anything. He said, what he wanted for me, that I would never seek a bigger ministry, a larger church, or a more committed following. I took as my life verse from Ecclesiastes, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. When I wrote that, I really meant it. I mean, I wanted and still do. I wanted to follow Christ no matter what. Now, I'm no longer a pastor, and I've killed the ambition, right? Just recently, a large church called and I thought, Lord, I could do that. They would be fortunate to have me. You know, and you know how much I've always wanted to be the senior pastor of a mega church. You know what God did? He blushed. By the way, my friend said, look, would you promise me you'll pray about this before you say no for a week? I said, well, yeah. And I thought, maybe I'll say yes. And then God, you know how God sometimes allows you to forget the bad things in your past, but he let you remember the good things. And so nostalgia, the past becomes a wonderful place that never existed. Well, God reversed that on me. And when I wrote the letter saying, no, my friend couldn't even read the writing because my hand was shaking so bad. But anyway, I said, God, I could do that. And he said, I don't think so. And I noticed that he was blushing. The bad news is that the dichotomy, the division in you will often cause you and God to blush, but the good news is this, if there were no dichotomy, you would not belong to him. And that's the upside. Before you had the spirit of God in your life, there was no division. No dichotomy. The reason you can't get rid of the division is because the spirit of Christ simply won't let you. To hear about the Salvation Army drummer who was asked to get his testimony on a street corner and he came forward and said, there was a time in my life when all I did was sin. I mean, I was a drunk. And then there was this long pause. And he said, then I went to parties. And I had a lot of fun. And I enjoyed myself. Now all I do is beat this dumb drum. Folks, it is a dumb drum. The dumb drum of his spirit that let you know that you belong to him, I'll pay some. If you didn't have the dichotomy, if you didn't have the division then you wouldn't belong to him. Someone said that being Christian doesn't keep you from sinning, but it sure does take the fun out of it. That's bad. No, that's good because it is that sleepless night, that uncomfortable feeling, that small wince that let you know that it's him. If that ever stops, dear friend, you're in deep trouble. Right, fifthly, how won't you denote not only the reality, the pain, the confusion, and the craftiness of the dichotomy of the division? Note, if you will, the nobleness of the dichotomy, Roman 722, for I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. Let me now, for a moment, look at the good side of the division, the delight in the law of God. You know, something I'm not half as bad as I could be. In fact, there's something in me that is from him and it is quite beautiful to be honest with you. Now, I tell you, I'm honest about the downside of me, but I want to be honest about the upside. I've said it a bunch of times, you never met a man who wanted to please God more than I do. There is, there is, of course, the dark side, but there's the up and like side too, and sometimes I love people who aren't very lovable. Sometimes I reach out to those who are in need. Sometimes I show great compassion and caring. Sometimes I have a great burden for my friends who don't know Christ. Sometimes I wait for the state of the church. I have a young friend who was on drugs for years and she found Christ and got it straight when she came home for Thanksgiving. She had Thanksgiving in our home and we were out walking before the meal and I ask her, I guess she was about 18 just a kid and I ask her what she had been doing that day. She said, well, Mr. Brown, I've been visiting my old friends and going to some of my old hearts, some of the places where I used to be. And I said to her, Mary and that wasn't her name. Mary, do you ever want to go back? Oh, yes, she said, sometimes I want to go back really bad. And then almost didn't ask the next question, but I did. I said, Mary, are you going to go back? She was silent for a long time and finally said, no, no, I'm never going back. I want to, but I'm not. We walked back to the house. I thought, well, I thought I heard angels singing. I want you to know I wanted to go, yes, when friends by shame are undefiled, how can I keep from singing? Mary, you're wonderful, you're great, you're bloodied and you're wounded and you're sinful and you're hurt, but you're still trucking and you're not going to go back. And I'll tell you something, that's the upside of the dichotomy. And there's some of that in me too. I'm never going to go back. I mean, I'm going to fall sometimes. I'm going to mess it up sometimes. I'm going to hurt sometimes. I'm going to cling to the cross and I want you to know this. I'm going to cling to the cross until I die. I mean, I've gone so far, I can't get out. And I'm going to keep on trucking, I'm going to keep on doing buys grace, what I have been doing. And it's hard sometimes because I know of that I am, but I'm still there. Sometimes I say, Lord, you thought I was going to leave, didn't you? But I'm still here. Sometimes I felt like leaving, Lord, but I'm still here. I'm still here by your grace. There are a lot of books talking about how hypocritical Christians are, about all the things that are wrong with the church, about Christians who say they're born again but don't live it. And I suppose there's a place for books and those kinds of comments. But let me tell you something. I've been a pastor for a whole lot of years. And I can tell you hundreds of stories of love and self-sacrifice and honesty and obedience and caring and integrity from people who love Christ with all of their hearts. And sometimes I look at the church and recognize that the church is the wife of Christ. And I'm not going through too many rocks because I know the stories. And if I knew the real stories of the others, I would see the struggle and the pain and the wounds and the downside and the depression, but I would see they're still walking it. And I'm thankful for my brothers and sisters that are still walking. You don't forget, if you will, the upside of that dichotomy in that division. Sixthly, I want you to note not only the reality, the pain, the confusion, the craftiness, the nobleness of the dichotomy, note also the horror of the dichotomy, Roman 723. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. Now I'm not going to spend much time on this, but it is important, seems to me, to single out the downside, the evil side of the dichotomy for a word or two. Somebody said, there's so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us, that it deals behooves any of us to criticize the rest of us. I don't know if I can agree with that completely, but there's something to it. Let me tell you something, when you say a great saint, you know, somebody that you think never even thought about sin. Doesn't sin anymore, doesn't do anything, is that pray and fast and tell Jesus how wonderful he is. You need to talk to his wife or her husband. I mean, those kind of people don't exist. That brother or sister that you think is so pure and so together and everything works, you remember, that's not true. Try to remember the downside, that brother or sister need you. When you see a Christian who has fallen, remember the upside, that Christian needs you to. One of the problems it seems to me with our family is that we take some of the members of our family and we put that person on a pedestal and we bow down and worship them. That's unfair to them, and it's unfair to us also. One of the principles we teach in our Born Free Seminar is this, there are no super Christians, and when you found one you've demeaned yourself. I remember the time a very trusted friend of mine told me that Donald Ray Barnhouse was jealous of Billy Graham. I was just getting serious with God in those days, and I was reading Barnhouse all the time, and I thought, good heavens, this is wonderful stuff. And I was devastated. And my friend said, you think that Barnhouse was not a center? And I thought, well, maybe. And he said, well, he was a center just like you, because everybody's a center. Don't force people to live on pedestals. They need your prayers, your pastor needs your prayers, your church leader needs your prayer. They need you to hold them accountable, and there aren't any super Christians. And when you see a brother or sister who's really down, don't forget the upside of the dichotomy too. There's so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that a deal behooves any of us to be too critical of the rest of us. And then finally, I want you to know not only the reality, the pain, the confusion, the craftiness, the nobleness, and the horror of the dichotomy and division, no, also, if you will, the resolution of the dichotomy. Roman 724 through 25. O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. What's Paul saying? He's saying, listen, I'm not okay. You're not okay, but it's okay. What does Christ do? He embraces you. He gives you a spirit, and that he promises that the dichotomy will eventually resolve completely. The beloved apostle says this, it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him. Meanwhile, set your mind on him when you fall, get out of the mud, and start again, because it isn't the falling in the mud that's the worst, it's staying there. On one occasion, somebody said to Martin Luther, Martin, if I believed, as you believe, in this free grace buff and faith doctrine, that Jesus accepted me no matter what I did, I would go out and do anything that I pleased exactly, Luther, replied, and as a child of God, what does please you? The bottom line is this, we aren't home yet. And I want you to remember a comment by Robert McChain, it'll help you in your dichotomous situation. It's a good rule, listen to it, every time you look at yourself, look at Jesus ten times, and you'll be better. You think about that? I'm in.