I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me

"I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after 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 shall deliver me from the body of this 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" (Rom. 7:21-25). There are a whole lot of people in Christ who read Romans 7 and conclude that the apostle Paul was confessing that he was presently a sinner, even though he had been born again by faith in Christ. The reason that many are inclined to that school of thought is evident, that being that they want to use what appears to them to be a testimony of defeat by Paul to substantiate their own failure to have genuine victory over sin in their lives. But an honest study of the chapter, and of the whole book of Romans certainly proves otherwise. Just one chapter previous to this the apostle made these very plain declarations: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? ... Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin... Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof... For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid" (Rom. 6:1,2,6,11,12,14,15). Those statements are not a confession of being under the power of sin, and neither is the following statement which was written just two verses after the end of chapter 7: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me FREE from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2). The apostle referred to the nature of sin that we were all born with as 'the law of sin' in chapter 7, and he comes back and clearly says that God's Spirit makes us 'free' from that law, or nature of sin. In fact he refers to the holy Ghost as a 'law' as well, because the Spirit is in fact the divine nature of God, as well as the life of God as he states.

Paul makes it very clear that those who are in Christ by means of the baptism of the Spirit, have literal and powerful victory over that nature of sin that all men have been born with (Rom. 6:3,4). He says in the preceding referenced verses in chapter 6 that those who are "baptized into Christ" should "walk in newness of life," according to the resurrection power of the Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead (I Pet. 3:18). The truth is that the apostle was speaking in chapter 7 of his spiritual condition as it was when he was under the law, BEFORE he had faith in Jesus Christ. He was NOT speaking in that chapter about his spiritual state as it was IN CHRIST. But there is something in particular in these cited verses that I want to get to, and it has to do with a very successful trick of the devil, that he has been playing on God's people for a long time. The Lord let me see many years ago that one of the devil's prized tricks is to find ways to get God's people under an old testament mentality. If he can get people to look at the Gospel through an old covenant lens, then the result is that he can get them under the power of sin, which is where he wants us; and which is where the people were at under the old covnenant. When it's all said and done the bottom line of the difference between the new covenant and the old covenant, is that the old covenant could not deliver anyone from the condition of sin, and the new covenant does exactly that. It's really that simple. The following verse tells the story: "For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God" (Heb. 7:19). The thing that the law could not make 'perfect' was the hearts of men, which is where sin resides. That is the whole reason that Jesus had to come here from heaven, meaning to correct that problem and make a way for the hearts of men to be 'perfect,' which is to say complete, or completely free from the condition and nature of sin. Speaking of the 'one hope' of the Gospel, which is the resurrection of the dead, the beloved apostle told us something very critical to that hope: "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (I Jn. 3:3).

Now we have to admit that being as pure as Christ is, takes something more than is humanly possible. It also takes something more than the offerings for sin under the old covenant, as the scripture agrees to: "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Heb. 10:4). Jesus suffered and died, and rose again to give us the very thing that would do the job in the hearts of men that the law could not do. And as the apostle already showed us from Romans 8:2, that is to abide in "the law of the Spirit of life [that] makes [us] free from the law of sin and death." That is why the forerunner of Jesus gave us this one powerful statement about why Jesus had come to earth: "I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost" (Mk. 1:8). That is also why the last instructions Jesus gave to his followers before returning to heaven was to go to Jerusalem and wait for that same baptism of the holy Ghost, which he promised would arrive in days (Act 1:4,5). That is also why Jesus at the same time told his followers that they would "receive power, after that the Holy Ghost [would] come upon [them]" (Acts 1:8). That 'power' that he promised them would come through the baptism of the Spirit, was the power that mankind needed since the garden of Eden; that being power over the dominion of sin in our lives. But the verse from our opening text that I want to focus on for a moment is this: "So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." Now Paul made that statement immediately after giving thanks to Jesus for delivering him from the 'law of sin.' And though it may appear to have been a statement of his condition as of the time of the writing, the remainder of the scriptures clearly show that he was speaking about when he had been under the law. But I have observed over long time that there are many who are doing exactly what he spoke of in that verse, and justifying themselves to believe they are serving God acceptably. In other words there are many who love to hear the truth, and love to read the truth, but are not able to DO the truth. And they mistake their enjoyment for seeing and hearing the way of holiness, as being their DOING of the way of holiness, which is a big mistake.

Jesus warned us of this kind of thinking, and this kind of Gospel participation: "And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it" (Mat. 7:26.27). The truth of the matter is that thinking that way is being of an old covenant mindset like the apostle Paul described, confessing that when he was under the law he loved the law of God in his mind, but he still served the law of sin because it had power over him. That takes me back to a verse in Romans chapter 6 that I did NOT cite earlier, but we need to see now: "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23). By all means and under all circumstances, "the wages of sin is death." That means past, present, and future. You may note that he stated in that same verse that "the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." That eternal life that God has furnished us by means of this only begotten Son's death and resurrection, is that same " law of the Spirit of life [that] makes [us] FREE from the law of sin and death." So we will inherit eternal life at the second coming of Jesus Christ to this world, by means of the resurrection of the dead; IF we have received and exercised that 'power' that Jesus gives us through the baptism of the holy Ghost that he baptizes us with. And remember, that power is for the purpose of us turning the tables on sin in our lives, by "purifying [ourselves from sin], even as he is pure." It simply is not enough that we like the idea of holiness, and love to hear about it or read about it, but rather that we DO IT in our lives! That was the difference between the old covenant Saul of Tarsus, and the new covenant apostle Paul. Genuine faith in the suffering and death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ produces SOMETHING, not NOTHING! "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (II Cor. 5:17). That is a literal statement, not a figurative statement.

This is a 'really really' Gospel, not a 'sounds so good' Gospel. "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Rom. 12:2). The new birth experience, which is to say being baptized with the holy Ghost with the accompanying sign of speaking with other tongues, TRANSFORMS us; not to be LIKE the way we've always been, but rather to be changed from sin to holiness; which IS "that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Paul wrote in no uncertain terms to the Colossians about the way of 'righteousness and true holiness:' "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him" (Col. 3:5-10). Like the apostle said, living after sin was something in the past tense for these people, and living in holiness was to be their way of life in Christ. He also made it clear that the wrath of God was going to come on those who continue in sin. So anyone who is trying to get by on just liking to hear about the word of God, and read about the word of God; but not abiding in that word literally, it just isn't going to get the job done. Speaking again about the one hope of the Gospel, John gave us this: "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years" (Rev. 20:6). And in conclusion I'll allow the apostle Paul to finish it with the flip side of that saying: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14). So let's not just be readers, hearers, and talkers, but rather let's be doers of the word. Amen.