We're going to look at verses 12 through 20, though we'll have a special focus on 14 through 20. I'm just really reading 12 and 13 for context since we covered them last week. I hate it when I do that. Do you ever say that? Everybody says that, right? I hate it when I do that. If you ask Robin or my kids, they'll tell you my way of saying that. I don't typically say I hate it when I do that. Instead, I say things like, I'm so stupid. I'll do that all the time. We'll be in the car and I'll say, stupid. Oh, I'm so dumb, I can't believe that. Or I'll think of something and I'll say, shoot. Why did I do that? And I think we all identify with that, right? We identify with being mad at ourselves, being upset with ourselves. Why do I do what I hate? You know what J.I. Packard calls it? When you do that to yourself, when you chew yourself out, he calls it as Robin as quick to remind you when I start to do this mock heroic, mock heroic when you yell at yourself for do that sort of thing. And so then, of course, after I do that and Robin tells me mock heroic because I think, oh, stupid. Why did I do that again? But we do, right? We do what we hate. But really, I want to make a distinction because I think most of the time what we do what I do is we have regret. We hate the consequences of what we've done because it's brought us grief or pain or sorrow or embarrassment. Or we just feel like, you know, we're not the person that we want to be and we're mad at ourselves. But I think it's pretty rare when we do what we hate. We hate the consequences of what we've done. But if it would have turned out okay, we would have been totally fine with what we did. We're more interested in how it affected us most of the time than whether or not we did good or we did evil. Whether or not we really hate what we did because of what it was, not because of how it resulted. And so this morning was we turned to God's word. I want us to really think about and pray about and hopefully this word will be powerful in your life. That each one of us would hate the evil that we do and that we would long for and want to do good. Let's pray as we turn to God's word. Father, we thank you for this word. It's perfect. It's infallible. It's inherent and it's holy and powerful because you use it by your spirit through the face of your people that you graciously give to sanctify them and to save them and to create life where there was only death. Lord do that this morning. Save sinners, give the new birth, strengthen faith and repentance and believing hearts, and Lord glorify your name. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Here now God's word, Roman 7 verses 12 through 20, this is God's holy word. Therefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good. Have 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 am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing I do not 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 is good. But now it is no longer I who do it but sin 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 and 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 sin that dwells in me. May the Lord establish this word in our hearts this morning I cry. I want you to notice first of all this morning the real Christian life. I want you to notice the real Christian life. You know a couple of years ago or about that time I pitched to the session what I wanted to be our new slogan and we all went for it. And if you have seen it on the banner you have seen it on some of the other things that we do. Reforms doctrine, reverent worship, real life. The first two were easy that is who we are. We are about reformed doctrine. That is what this began this church. That is why this church pulled out of the mainline denomination that no longer wanted to talk about doctrine. Let alone reformed doctrine. And then reverent worship. We believe that God is a God to be feared. God is holy. Not that we do not have joy in worship but there should be a spirit of reverence and fear and how we worship God that we should seriously consider ourselves and our sins and that we should be focusing on what pleases God and not what pleases us. Not what makes us feel good but what is pleasing to God. But you know the last one is really where the rubber hits the road. Real life. That we would be really living the Christian life. Really dealing with our sins. Not walking around with the smile on our faces saying hey everything is great because I am a Christian and everything is going to be great. But really being honest with ourselves first and then with one another. And then speaking the truth in love which is still on our bulletins and it will be. Because that is how we live the real life, the real Christian life with one another. And I think this passage is about Christians. It is about godly Christians, mature Christians. And I emphasize that. And I have that at my first point because this is probably from where we began really in verse 14 and then all the way through the end of the chapter which we did not read all of it. It is probably the most controversial section of the book of Romans because there is a lot of different ways to look at this passage in many famous and godly men have looked at this passage in different ways. You may be aware of that there are different interpretations. A lot of people say this can't be about a Christian because a Christian would not do the things that he hates. Christian would not practice evil. This has to be about an unconverted person and some say this is about the Jews. Paul is remembering what it was like to be an unconverted Jew. And so this is what he is writing about. Others will say well you know this could be about a person who has been awakened. This was sort of popular in the 1700s. The person who has been awakened but not yet converted. So they have heard the gospel. They have heard the gospel. They have heard the gospel. They know there is a sinner. But they haven't yet embraced Christ. And so they are in that place where the Puritans would call seekers. They are wanting Christ to convert them. Yet they know that even that one is entirely sinful because they haven't been converted. Yet this is an awakened sinner but not a converted Christian. Longing to be a Christian and yet knowing that that longing is nothing but sinful. It's a difficult place to be. Some say this is actually the unregenerate struggle. Unbeliever again. In its conscience, remember Paul talked about the conscience in Romans 2. Everybody knows right and wrong. Romans 1. Everybody knows as a God. So they have this conscience where they know the right thing and then they don't do it. So this is the unregenerate struggle between the conscience that has to know certain things about God and about truth and about right and wrong. And then the sinful passions that always prevail in the unregenerate. Some say that's what it's about. And of course there have been many Greek and Roman philosophers and poets who have taken that point of view. That this is the struggle that every man has. You know, they're not necessarily, they don't even know about this passage in Scripture. But many, you know, before the time of Paul and even during Paul's time there were men like, I want to get his name right here, Horus and Ovid and Epictetus. These men were philosophers and poets, some right before Paul, some during Paul. And they said things like this. Why do I do things that are bad for me? Here's a quote from one of them. This is from before Paul. I pursue the things that have done me harm. I shun the things that I believe will do me good. The philosopher talking about how, you know, man is not what he does so often, what he shouldn't do. And we all recognize that, right? Even as unbelievers, if you're like me and you became a Christian later in life, you remember what it was like to still be mad at yourself or what you did or what you didn't do or what you said or what you didn't say. You know, we all have unbelieving friends who are mad because they know they should stay on their diet, but they break their diet. So they do what they know is bad for them and then they don't eat the healthy food that they know is good for them or they're in their workout routine, they're not as diligent as they should be and they get upset about that or they're not as good of a husband as they think they should be or a good of a father or mother. They don't work as hard as they should. Everybody has those struggles. Everybody understands regret as I said before. And some say that, you know, well, that justifies this being about an unbeliever because even the pagan philosophers understood this struggle that people have. But I don't think so. I think this is about a believer. I think this is about not only a believer, this is about all believers, all believers who really have lived the Christian life who recognized this struggle. John Calvin says, plainly, this can't be about the unregenerate because they do not love the good. And I like what Luther says even more. He says, this passage in especially verse 14, Luther just comes out and says, no unbeliever can say verse 14 and understand what he says. Because unbelievers do not hate evil. They don't know what it's like to hate evil. They're entirely too often pleased with themselves. When I was an unbeliever, I would have categorized myself as one of the good kids. I knew who the bad kids were. It wasn't me. It wasn't my group. You know, we always look at ourselves as Calvin. We compare ourselves with others and we always come out sort of on top. We're better than average, right? Everybody's better than average. That's the way it is in Salzburg or that other place in Minnesota. But we do, right? We do that. But you know what? There's some indicators here that clearly this is about believers. First of all, there are present tense verbs that start in verse 14. Up until verse 14, Paul was talking in the past, but in verse 14 he says, esteem and amy, it is I am present tense. And the rest of the passage is present tense. So Paul is talking about something that's happening to who, to himself. And he's talking about it in the present tense. And in fact, you can see it's transition before, verse 14, every time he mentions sin in the law and the struggle, it overcomes it's slaves him. Look at verse, beginning in verse 8. But sin taking opportunity by the commandment produced in me all manner of evil desire. So here's sin prevailing in Paul. And then in verse 9, sin kills Paul. I was alive once without the law, the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Here's Paul dead. Verse 10, the commandment which I thought was to bring life brought death. The law brought death to Paul. Again, Paul's dead. Verse 11, sin sick occasioned by the commandment to see me and it killed me. Paul's dead again. And yet something happens in verse 14 and through the rest of the chapter. Sin buffets Paul, sin troubles Paul, sin really fights against Paul, but sin cannot kill Paul anymore. No longer from verse 14 or it doesn't kill him. There's another indication I think that this is a believer and that's in the pronouns. If you look at verses 1 to 4 of chapter 7, it's all in the U plural. Only Pittsburgh accounts for the U plural of the biblical Greek in our English. That means probably Pittsburgh is more biblical in its language than other uses of English. But U plural is in the Greek all the way into verse 4. And then Paul switches to from the second person plural to the first person plural. You see it in verse 4, we. And he continues we, first person plural through verse 7, into verse 7 rather. And then he shifts in verse 7 to I, first person singular. And he stays with that through the rest of the chapter and in fact, from verse 7 through verse 20. The end of the last verse of our text, Paul uses the first person singular no less than 37 times. 37 times either I, me, my. You can count them but don't come up to me and tell me I'm wrong unless you're counting in Greek. Because it's not the same in English. 37 times in the actual language that the scriptures were written and Paul refers to himself. And as I said again from 14 artists in the present tense. What? Christian has not felt the agony that Paul mentions in verse 15 what I am doing. I do not understand for what I will to do that I do not practice but what I hate that I do. And then in verse 19 almost the same thing for the good that I will to do I do not do but the evil that I will not to do. And that I practice. I think only when we're either new Christians or sort of shallower or faith that we see this path as it all this has to be about an unbeliever. I know that when I was first converted and I was, God really did dramatically change my life. I've talked to you about my conversion story before and I had gone from this teenage year. Of course I was 20 at the time but a partier going out drinking, carousing, just all the things that the animal health type group would want to do. And that was my group of friends and that's what we did. We were looking for a good time right. And God converted me and immediately that saw. I mean my life dramatically changed. And I remember as I was reading my Bible and I was living for the Lord I remember thinking and I know I've shared this in different venues. I remember walking up to the car one time you know maybe a couple years after my conversion and thinking as I was going towards the garage wow would be a great day to die because I haven't sinned in weeks. And just being that shallow in my understanding thinking that well because all of these graphically big things that you know I'm not doing anymore there's no sin in me anymore. And then I remember not too long after that thankfully when God really started to impress upon me my heart and my thoughts and my attitudes and the way in which I didn't do things that were the right thing to do. And I had a 180 degree shift literally and I remember walking across the parking lot at cornerstone television where I worked thinking if I were to die today I would certainly go to hell. Even after having a Bible and studied and prayed and you know profess Christ for years and totally take my life but I felt so much sin in me that I was convinced that I couldn't have been a converted person. I remember and I'm sure I've never shared this with Robin but when I was a young man and I was a believer for a couple of years you know until Robin and I got married actually I still lived in my parents house. And I remember like really struggling I think most men young men especially struggle with some kind of lust. I think it's a difficult struggle for young men especially and people don't understand especially with pornography being so prevalent and just our culture so sexualized and the pressures on young men to you know explore that and do that. I remember I would get a lustful thought in my bed and I would do this I would get out of the bed and I would lay on the floor on the hardwood floor and I'd sleep the rest of the night on the floor to sort of punish myself. You know you were trying to sleep on the hardwood floor it's painful you know elbow hits and just so that I wouldn't you know punish myself so that I wouldn't lust so that I wouldn't sin or I would pick the covers off in the winter. You're not to be cold to be shivering and I'd refuse to cover myself if I could do something to punish myself to get rid of this simple struggle. Do you feel that? Do you feel that struggle? I'm not talking about whether what your sin is you know your sin may be pride your sin may be gossip your sin may be who knows what it is. Worldliness do you feel that struggle? Do you feel that struggle in those thoughts and recognizing how do you come to that place in your life where you recognize it's not going to go away. Not that you're defeated not that you can't repent not that you can't but yet you're not going to be without sin that you're never going to know what it's like at least until you die to be completely sinless. That's what Paul is talking about in this text. I believe that's what Paul this is Paul is the matured believer he knows a gust and no less than a gust and a really is a gust and who lived in the fourth and fifth centuries and he wrote a lot of works and I talked to you about some of them. At the end of his life he actually wrote a work called retraction he should read it it's interesting because what he does is he goes back through all of his previous works and he tells you the things that he said that he doesn't believe anymore. And you get to see the progress of his growth in the faith and one of the things that a gust does is he goes to this passage and he says you know I used to think that was about an unbeliever but I know that's about a believer. At the end of his life this godly man who himself struggled with sexual sin and with drinking and with all sorts of other things pride false religion he understood at the end of his life. This Roman 7 is where he was. I think this is one of the most controversial passages it is. It's also one of the most comforting passages to many godly Christians throughout history. Many Christians have said without Roman 7 I don't know if I would have made it without seeing Paul articulate my life, my struggle, my failure, my misery. Without seeing that and knowing that Paul was a Christian I would not think I would say. So I want you to notice secondly the carnal Christian life. Notice the carnal Christian life. We looked at the real Christian life, notice the carnal Christian life. I know a lot of your ears are going up right now because I just said the carnal Christian. Well you better deal with verse 14 then. For we know that the law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin in some sense we better affirm there are carnal Christians. Now we all think of that book that came out years ago the carnal Christian which was a promotion of anti-nomeanism which said that you could be a converted person and lived just as badly as anybody. And never worry about sin or righteousness and there is no repentance necessary. It's just sinners prayer, sign the car, raise the hand whatever. Free ticket to heaven and you can be this carnal Christian. The Lordship Salvation controversy that raised in many evangelical churches I know that it raised in the Baptist church but I think there are even reform pastors today who still buy into that at some level. But there is, you can have Jesus a savior but not as Lord. That you can have eternal life but not have holiness of life in this age. Not have to have it. Not need to have it. Not have to have repentance. Not have to have good works. I can't understand why men, ministers, some ministers just can't make the distinction between doing the law as a cause of salvation and doing the law as a result of salvation. One of them is legalism and works righteousness. The other one is the Christian life. If there hasn't been a change made in you that you are seeking to walk an obedience then you can't be a converted person. The whole definition of conversion is to be turned around. We've got to keep the law but we don't have our salvation based upon it. We keep it because we have been saved. And yes, we don't keep it perfectly because again it's not the basis for anything but it's the proof. It's the evidence. It shows that yes there's life there. If a person is alive he's going to breathe and if a person is a Christian he's got to do good work. He's got to. It's the cause and effect thing. The cause is our salvation. The effect is progressing and holiness. It's not the other way around. Why guys can't make that distinction? I'll never understand. But what does Paul mean when he says I am carnal, sold, under sin? You know some of the answers again is the antinomian. Well that's not right. What about the other? There's another side that says well you know what the perfectionism is the way some answer this verse. That what they're distinguishing here is and even though it allows for the antinomianism it really promotes the perfectionism. There's sort of two versions of this. One is you're either perfect or you're not saved. The other one is well you could be this carnal Christian again but you need to press on to perfection that there's this possibility of having this second stage of grace in your life. Second work of the spirit of some sort. Some experience that you go through by which you get this power now to live the victorious Christian life. Live a sinless life. Sometimes it's called the spiritual life or life in the spirit or the victory life or something like that. But you have something that happens that this passage is about that carnal Christian who hasn't had that yet hasn't had the second but for you you can press on and this won't be you anymore. I know I remember one time my father-in-law Robins dad he was nominated to be on a church council and a church council sort of like a session in the guidance capacity only and he was nominated to be on part of the ruling board of the church. One of the qualifications he actually came to me and he said to me one of the qualifications is that you have to be without any known sin. And he said to me right I can't say that. I can't serve on that council. Rob's a godly man godlier than me and I said to him Bob I think you're right. I know I couldn't serve on that council because I'm not without any known sin. This is the this doctrine there are many versions of a perfectionism. You know a lot of times Protestants like to throw this at the Roman Catholics. Well you know they have this doctrine of the saints those who do enough and acquire enough merit that they don't have to do any time of purgatory and so forth. We have it I think even worse in the Protestant church. One of the most famous varieties that touched on before I'm going to do a little bit more with it this morning was that which was put forward by no less than man than John Wesley. John Wesley perfectionism when I was at Knox theological seminary. I actually did a paper on John Wesley. I would this is when I was taking classes by R.C. Sproul. There was one in one of Sproul's classes. And I did a paper on Wesley. I wanted to research to on Wesley and he held and held such a high esteem. And you know and yet he wasn't reformed and he had this controversy with Whitfield so forth even though they were best friends. And yet as I started to research and how to figure out where he was I started to really wrestle with his doctrine of perfectionism. And one of the things that Wesley did actually and I named my paper a blow at the root. That was the name of my paper on John Wesley. A blow at the root you say well that's a weird name. The reason why I named it that was that was the name of one of John Wesley's sermon. He preached a sermon one time called a blow at the root. And that sermon you can read it if sin is worth. That sermon was entirely about what John Wesley called the root of all unrighteousness, the root of all sin and corruption in Christians and the root of all error in the church. And that was this. That a man's righteousness would be said to be entirely the righteousness of Christ. It was the imputed righteousness of Christ that he called this root that needed to be ripped out of the church. And as Wesley understood he obviously misunderstood the doctrine of imputed righteousness of Christ. But what he saw was that if believers and he says this. If a man were to think that all of his righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus Christ while people will go out and sin all they want. He can't be. Our righteousness must be our own and he formulated this doctrine of perfection. And at first it was either perfect or you're not saved. And then he says one of his writings later on he says you know we felt a distinguish at the beginning between the servants of God and the children of God. The servants are those who haven't pressed on to perfection but they are saved people. But the children of God those are the ones who have pressed on to perfection and I wrestle with trying to understand it because he makes a lot of distinctions and qualifications and he's a brilliant man and a very godly man and a Christian preacher. And yet it's the time to say yes there are weaknesses and there are blemishes and yet the phrase that I think that I used to summarize it best and this is almost a verbatim quote. We do not say that a man has not sin. We say only that he sins not. That's a fine pointed line. But in effect you can be without sin. You no longer sin. He sin is not to say it the way he said it in the order English. We say that he sin if not he no longer commits sin. Love it is that what this passage is about. What is this eye in verse 14 for we know that the law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin I believe what Paul is saying here is the whole believer. The whole believer he's reflecting on the fact that he is a saved person but he still is a sinner he has a sinful nature and he's lamenting it. He's lamenting the fact that he can't escape that that he's a child of Adam that he is dead in sins in a certain sense and he's going to be in this body and in this life and in this nature for the rest of his life. And he knows and he craves and he desires to be free of it. And so he says lamenting that I have been noticed sold under sin. I am carnal sold under sin. I don't think this is anything different than when David says behold I was brought forth in an equity and in sin my mother conceived me he's reflecting on the fact that I'm going to be a sinner until the day I die. Or when Jesus did that miracle on the boat and what is Peter say apart from me Lord for I am a sinful man I know I can never I can never be worthy to be in your sight not in this life I say never but I mean obviously until I'm perfected at the consummation. Woe is me Isaiah says for I am a man I'm John he sees the Lord he's a prophet. Woe is me is his first thought I'm a man I'm a man of unclean lips I'm carnal sold under sin couldn't you see isn't that exactly what he's saying. Notice that I'm sold under sin there was a passage in first Kings 21 about a have one of the most wicked kings of the Bible and it says there was no king like a have who this is what it says who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the Lord that's not what Paul says here does it. Paul's not saying I sold myself I sell myself daily to do evil no I am sold under sin I'm born with this nature and it's going to be with me till I die. That's what Paul said and I think any Christian that seriously wrestled with sanctification understands the woe here look at verse 18 for I know that in me that is in my flesh nothing good dwells Paul is not denying sanctification people wrestle with this he's not denying that there is a real sanctifying process of the Holy Spirit is making him renewing him in the likeness of Christ when he's looking at all that he does. And he say none of it's worthy of God even as a believer even as a saint with the Holy Spirit living inside me every righteous thought I have is infected every deed I do is imperfect none of it's good. Isaiah says Isaiah 64 even my righteousness my best deeds are filthy rags in my sight the Lord our righteousness is filthy rags this is what the Apostles saying he's describing not an anti-nomean Christian not a Christian who's not yet pressed on the perfection he's describing a Christian who recognizes that though he has the spirit though he is a believer though he has better desires better knowledge. And is progressing he's not perfect in any one thing not one single thing the carnal Christian life it's what Jesus said to Nicodemus when he said that which is born of the flesh is flesh remember Nicodemus comes to Jesus. We know your teacher come from God for no one can do the things that you do what I've got is with him and Jesus said unless a man be born from above born again he cannot even see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus how can that be we can't do that and that was the point so Jesus repeated it unless you're born of water in the spirit the cleansing power of the spirit I believe that's a figure there unless you're born of the spirit you cannot enter the kingdom of God. Because that which is not the flesh is flesh that which is of carnalty is carnal we can't do enough we can't do one good thing. This is the carnal Christian life it's the life that every believer recognizes that we're in so 30 notice the conflicted Christian life notice the conflicted Christian life for 15 for what I am doing I do not understand for what I will to do that I do not practice but what I hate that I do. Paul says he doesn't understand notice I don't understand literally I'm a stranger to what I'm doing I don't know what he says I don't know what I'm doing reminds me last week Robin told me something that I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever done this and it's sort of with I think it weirded both of us out a little bit but she said all of a sudden in the middle of the night you got up you started walking with your hands out in front of you. I had never walked in my sleep before as far as I know I mean I've been in my sleep so maybe I didn't nobody saw me but I know it was under stress last week maybe that was it I don't know but I got out of bed Robin says you went out to the hall I guess she must have followed me she said you went in the closet then you came out of the closet that's kind of funny. Then you went down the hall you never know what you're good to say up here you went down the hall and you went in one of the kids room and then you came out of the kids room and you went into the bathroom. I don't know what that was about I don't know what that man was doing but it wasn't me it wasn't I wasn't in my right mind I think that's what Paul's saying here I'm a stranger to myself in that sense. I can't live with it all right so we don't know we don't you know this is I think though this is what we are supposed to do there's a sense in which there has to be this this conflict. The mature believer I think sees as God sees right he sees a separation we know that we're not perfect and yet we know we've been converted and what Paul is doing here he's not saying he's two people but he's siding with the regenerate self and he's calling that who he really because he knows this other guy this what he sometimes calls the old man what he sometimes refers to as the flesh what he sometimes calls the old nature. He knows that this guy his days are numbered he's going to come to an end but in the meantime we're in this middle period we're in this we're in this conflict where we we we don't know why we're doing what we're doing where we have these two impulses. Paul's not saying that he doesn't do any good work that he's not pleasing God at some sense that there's no growth and sanctification but he sees everything he does is tainted with sin and then he makes the distinction that he has been saying that's verse 16 and 17. If then I do notice who he's considering himself to be here I do what I will not to do this is his regenerate self willing not to do it obviously when Paul does evil he wills to do it at some sense but he's siding with the regenerate self with the eye do you see it. If I do what I will not to do I agree with the law that it is good but now it is no longer for sin that dwells in me he's not denying responsibility for a sin. What I will be saying is that old that old me that's still there that's still desiring sin and doing sin and yet willing sin that's not the real me anymore. There's going to be a day when that guy's going to be when when I die and he's going to say in the ground and the real me is going to be never again played by him it's like when you're in college you know and you have that roommate that you don't get along with right you know the calendar day when that time is over. This guy's leaving and you will be able to move on that's right I've been both I've been the guy that's fed up with that one and I know they didn't like me either. So we were kind of glad when the day came but that's coming this is the way we have to look at I think this is good and it's a needful way to think the simple me is not the real me anymore. Don't deny that he's there I think what happens in any form of perfectionism we just lower our standard for what righteousness is we lower our feeling about what's in it all that's not sin that's a blemish that's a weakness that's a slight imperfection but it's not sin no let's let's acknowledge that we do the evil that we hate that the better part of us hate I hate to use parts but it's hard to avoid that language there's a definite paradox here it's not it's not a contradiction it's a conflict. It's a present reality that every believer feels we are in conflict with ourselves we are conflicted. This is the way Paul says it in Galatians 517 for the flesh less against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish. An unbeliever can't say that yes he does think that he doesn't like but it's because of what it does for him it's not that he's doing what he hates in and of itself whether it turns out good or bad. He may do that thing that he hates and it turns out wonderful for him he's going to be fine with it but the believer is not the believer is going to feel guilty. Oh yes I got all that money but I know I wasn't honest when I got it and I'm conflicted no. Oh yes you know I said that thing and that was unfair but you know everybody thinks differently about me now so it's good no the believer is going to be upset about that. Because we want to do what's right and we want to not do what's evil. This isn't about the football I want to say flesh and spirit for some other time but the flesh is not the body versus the spirit the soul. The flesh is body and soul of the simple nature the unregenerate body soul mind heart spirit whatever you want to call it the whole unregenerate person versus the whole regenerate person. They are going to get new bodies and they're going to be without sin it's not the physical is bad but that we are sort of wearing conflict. And neither one can win in this life neither one can be without the other even though I'm a believer I can't shrug off that old nature completely I can't be rid of it. Like to have a dead body chain to you you can't get rid of it and it slows you down and it weighs you down but it can't defeat me either right. It can't totally defeat me I can never be happy and sin anymore because my new nature won't let that happen. But there's a conflict we're in conflict and this is the Christian life it should be the Christian life and this might cause us to despair right. So this is what it's about but it shouldn't my final point is this finding comfort in the struggle I want you to find comfort in the struggle is money finding comfort in the struggles fourth and final point. Paul knows that when we sin we choose to sin we will to sin but we sin against the better judgment of the new man the regenerate person the believer within us. And this should bring us comfort in that because if there is a war within you if there is a struggle within you then you have a witness that you have the Holy Spirit that you are regenerate God's word promises that you will get the victory and this person is no longer you. Though we're plagued by it but the presence of the struggle itself should give us comfort should give us hope that what he has begun he will complete that we will have the victory you know I asked the question in this sermon why do I do what I hate ultimately because you're saved because only the believer does sometimes what he hates let's pray. Father we thank you for your spirit that wrestles within us that has changed us that there is a new us that I am a new me that I do have a desire in a will for what is right simply because it's right.