Sin-Revival, Self-Denial [Romans 7:7-12] | GOSPEL OF GOD, #25

Originally preached in our Mid-Week Recharge Service on May 8, 2024.

Scripture: Romans 6:16-23 NLT:

Rom 7:7-12 NKJV - 7 What shall we say then? [Is] the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet." 8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all [manner of evil] desire. For apart from the law sin [was] dead. 9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which [was] to [bring] life, I found to [bring] death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed [me]. 12 Therefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

Takeaways:

• The existence of evil in the world is an argument for the existence of a righteous God.

• Knowing the law in your head is not enough; it must be written on your heart.

• Lawlessness leads to destruction and is a rejection of God's sovereignty.

• Receiving a personal revelation of God's word leads to personal transformation.

• Understanding the revival of sin requires recognizing one's own brokenness and the need for spiritual death. Understanding the holiness and power of God leads us to repentance and a recognition of our own sinfulness.

• The law is not the problem; our sin is. Jesus came to fulfill the law and bring us victory over sin and death.

• Surrendering to Jesus and allowing Him to transform our lives is the path to freedom and a new creation.

• The blood of Jesus washes us clean and allows us to be adopted as sons and daughters of God.

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Full Transcript (Auto-Generated):

Amen. Romans chapter seven, we are continuing in this series on the book of Romans. Romans is an adventure of theology and wisdom from the apostle Paul. And so tonight we're going to look at a scripture. Paul is going to give us a powerful argument tonight about how the law interacts with our sin.

our sinful nature, our carnality. There is a relationship there tonight that Paul's going to explain to us and I pray that it will be encouraging to you before we leave this place. I want to ask you for a moment, I want to begin with a question and ask you to consider. If somebody asked you to define what is darkness, what would you say? How would you define darkness?

And maybe even one step more difficult than that is how do you define darkness without using the concept of light? It's interesting when you begin to think about it because light is a physical thing. Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation. It has physical properties. Light moves at a certain speed and even has a certain amount of mass because of its

Momentum. The people at NASA are even experimenting with incredibly large, what they call a solar sail, as a form of propulsion that they would be able to open up a fan of light, reflective material, which would be able to catch the sun's rays and propel a craft through space simply because of the power of the particles of light passing into that sail.

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But darkness, on the other hand, darkness is not a thing. In fact, darkness is nothing. It is simply the absence of light. And in the same way tonight, there's a powerful argument for the existence of God when you think about that there is evil in the world. How many have observed some evil in the world? We've seen it on display.

We've seen murder, we've seen mayhem, we've seen even in the last few weeks and months, we've seen an attempt of genocide once again in Israel. We've seen people rioting in the streets and bringing destruction. And when you see pure evil, that in fact is an interesting argument for the existence of an almighty, righteous God. In other words, tonight, the shadow

can prove the sunshine. If I'm outside on a sunny day and I pass by under a tree and I notice that there is sun shining on me, I pass under the tree's shadow and then I realize I'm in the darkness now, well what does that really prove? It proves that there is a sun that I can know the difference between darkness and light. Everybody with me so far? And in the same way if we experience evil, if we experience murder,

if we experience injustice in the world. That that is also a powerful argument that there has to be something good, otherwise how would you know that it was evil? C .S. Lewis said it like this. He said, I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. How many understand that without light we would not be able to see anything?

And also without God we would not be able to understand the difference between good and evil. Without the perfect presentation of God's law we would have no understanding of our sin. And that's exactly the argument Paul's going to make in our scripture. He says that before I knew the law I was, I was, I was, he's saying that I was not under the power of sin.

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But when I became aware of the law, the law caused sin to be revived in my heart. And you're going to see how this relationship works tonight. Let's read the scripture, Romans chapter 7, beginning with verse 7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not. On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law, for I would not have known covetousness.

unless the law had said, you shall not covet. But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law, sin was dead. Verse nine is a key here in this scripture tonight. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. We're gonna spend a little bit of time on that scripture by itself.

Let me repeat it. I was alive once without the law, but when commandment came, sin revived and I died. And that commandment which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. Let's pray tonight. Father, we come by the blood of Jesus. I thank you for your word.

And I thank you for this teaching, Lord, from the book of Romans tonight, that you would cause it to come alive in our hearts, God, that we, as we gain greater understanding and revelation of your word, that it would cause even more things in our flesh, in our carnality, in our past. Cause those things to die, Lord, so that we might live forevermore. And we give you glory tonight for what you're going to do. I need your anointing and your grace. Bring clarity for this service tonight in Jesus.

mighty name. God's people would say, amen. This is a message I've titled, Sin Revival for Self -Denial. Because that's the idea of what Paul is trying to communicate to us. The law caused sin to be revived, which caused Paul to die. His carnality, his old life. Let's look first of all at the lawless life. Again, verse 9 in our scripture is the key to unlock this entire

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portion of scripture and we're going to understand it we have to understand exactly what Paul is talking about here. Verse 9 he says, I was alive once without the law. Now what is he talking about? I was alive once without the law. Now remember who this man is and who he was before Christ. Remember that he described himself as a Hebrew of Hebrews.

a Pharisee of Pharisees zealous for the work of the Almighty God, but the problem was he was not saved. So in his pre -salvation condition, do you suppose that the apostle Paul was once unaware of the laws of God? No, he was not unaware. He was not unaware of the written law from a very early age.

he and most young Jewish men would have been trained in the law. In fact, they would have, if he had gone early on into Hebrew school and into a... he was being taught under the teacher named Gamaliel, most of these Pharisees would have at least the five books of Moses memorized to heart. And the reason I mention that is because you can have the law...

even memorized in your mind without touching your heart? Is that true? Is it possible to know what the law says but to not have it written on your heart? That's what Paul is talking about. He's saying that it wasn't that he did not know the law, but he says I was once without the law. It means that it had no effect on his heart, on his mind.

on his conscience that the law was powerless over him because it was dead to him. It was just a teaching. It was just something that he would go and soak up like a sponge in his mind. He would memorize it. He would even most likely begin to study the teachings of rabbis and the interpretations even and what does this mean and what did Elijah, what did Moses...

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mean by these things and to understand that there was tradition, that there was teachings, that there was different opinions and philosophies that come out of it, but the problem was all of that teaching, it meant nothing to his heart. He was still hard -hearted toward the will of God. The law was powerless over him, and I'm saying all of that because it's possible tonight for you and I to spend lots of time in church.

to spend lots of time in the Bible app even, to listen to hundreds or perhaps thousands of sermons and still be without the law. Being without the law, this kind of person has no thought about death or what comes after, has no thought of standing before the judgment seat of Christ. People without the law are wrapped up in their own attempt at keeping

their own set of distorted moral virtues. It's what people do when they compare themselves to other people to determine their own righteousness. The person without the law is at ease and at peace. Nothing disturbs him because everything's okay. Right, think about the person who grew up in church but stopped going for one reason or another, wrapped up in career, wrapped up in hobbies.

wrapped up in taking care of the house and taking the children to Little League. Think about the person who, it's not that they've never read the Bible, it's just that the law has no effect on them. The law is dead to them. Paul remembers what that was like in his life and he says, I was without the law. And that's a powerful statement considering the incredible amount of training and learning that he would have done.

regarding the laws of Moses. It's the Pharisee who prayed, Luke 18 verse 11, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even like this tax collector. Paul remembers what his life was like in Philippians chapter 3 verse 4 before Christ. He says that if anyone thinks that they may have confidence in the flesh, I the morso,

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circumcised on the eighth day the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrews concerning the law, a Pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the church, concerning the righteous which is in the law blameless, but reflecting on that life that he had before Christ, he says this in verse seven, what things were gained to me, these now I have counted loss for Christ. He goes on to say, I count them as rubbish.

I treat them like trash to be thrown away. Why would he say those things about his teaching and his training? Well, because he understands that even though he had incredible wisdom and knowledge and teaching and training under the laws of Moses, but all of that did not bring him to Christ. In fact, knowing those laws, being aware of them, but not having them written on his heart, what it leads to,

Listen carefully, is lawlessness. It's possible to know the law in your head, but be lawless in your heart. Are you hearing what I'm saying tonight? It's possible to know it in your head, to read the scriptures, to highlight the scriptures on your Bible app. It's possible to share some social media and know it in your mind and even memorize it.

but it misses the mark because I have observed people that if you have a biblical discussion they can have an intelligent conversation with you about what does the Word of God say? Rightly dividing the Word of Truth and yet you look at their life and there is a spirit of lawlessness. It's the idea that the law, even if I know it, even if I've heard it, even if it's been preached to me or even if I've preached it myself, but does it have an effect on us?

what paul is trying to show us here is that it's possible to know the law but to be self -exempted from it in other words it doesn't apply to me i can live how i want i can do what i want this is the perfect example of the spirit of lawlessness everybody say lawlessness in the same way church would like we live in a society that has laws right like we have traffic laws for example and i

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you know in a few months here, Jaylee's gonna be getting her learner's permit, everybody watch out. And so in order to get a learner's permit, you know, she's gonna have to get a book that's filled with laws. She's gonna have to study that and take a test. But how many understand that you could ace the test and still act like an idiot? The evidence is on every freeway in Hampton Roads.

that you can know what the book says but when you get behind the wheel you can act like a fool and you can be dangerous and even kill people because of the spirit of lawlessness you could pass the test and get an A and then throw the book and that's possible also when it comes to the word of God isn't it that's the spirit of lawlessness listen to what the Bible says about lawlessness because the Bible says a lot are you ready for this Matthew 7 verse 23

These are the words of Jesus written in red ink in my Bible. It says, I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. That means an unwillingness to submit or surrender your own heart to the laws, to the message, to the kindness, to the mercy of a holy God. Matthew 13, 41, the son of man will send out his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all the things that offend and those who practice

lawlessness. It matters not if you have it in your head. What truly matters is if you do it from your heart. Jesus said, why do you say you love me when you don't obey what I tell you to do? Matthew 23, 28, even so, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. This was the rebuke of the Pharisees. they had it all together on the outside. They had

very fine clothing and had carefully manicured their habits and their appearance and how they look before men and their prayers on the street corner and everyone looked at them and said, wow, that's a great man. But Jesus said, he said, they have their reward because all they wanted was to impress people and they got it. But you should know that none of their prayers reached heaven.

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because on the inside they had a spirit of lawlessness. They were willing to teach it to others. They were willing to study it day and night to try to memorize it. But when it came time to do what the Word of God says, it was a spirit of lawlessness. Jesus predicted that in the last days, this would be the biggest problem of the last days. The biggest problem Jesus predicted in Matthew chapter 24,

And the mark, the sign that we are in the last days is this, Matthew 24 verse 12, lawlessness will abound and the love of many will grow cold. I don't know how you can read that scripture and not see that it's coming true before our very eyes. That even in the church world and people who call themselves Christians and yet living all kinds of ways, I don't know if you saw this, I picked up the newspaper.

it was funny i was with adam mcfeeters down there in in in florida and it was on sunday morning we we got up early and he came down to the hotel we ate some breakfast down there in the lobby and you know they had the the u s a today the only time ever read the paper you know it's when it's a sitting there and so i grabbed it because on the on the headline right in the middle the big headline that said that you said the methodist church you know i'm talking about

the United Methodist Church had a vote to remove the language from their charter regarding homosexuality, LGBTQ +, all of this, that they are basically allowing anyone to identify however they want. Can you imagine? United Methodist Church, the vote was something like 600 to 50 to allow this change to occur. You know who the United Methodist Church is? This is the movement started by Charles Wesley.

Charles and John Wesley, the second great awakening. This is a powerful movement, Salvation Army. These were street preachers. These were men that were on fire. You pass by Methodist Church, you'll see the logo. It's a world on fire, not too much different from our logo. You know what I'm saying? They were on fire. They were preaching the word of God for hundreds of years. Now they're allowing homosexuals and worse in their pulpits. I tell you, the Wesley's are rolling in their graves.

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at what has happened to the Methodist Church. I can't imagine. But what this is, listen carefully, this is a spirit of lawlessness. yeah, we know what the word says. Yeah, it's still in there, but we're just going to do whatever we want. We're going to live how we want. We're going to speak how we want. We're going to sleep with who we want. And you can't tell us anything different. That is the spirit of lawlessness.

Ultimately all sin is a spirit of lawlessness. In verse John 3 verse 4, whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness and sin is lawlessness. Can I tell you who else has a spirit of lawlessness? The enemy of your soul. Second Thessalonians 2 verse 7, the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.

They're speaking about the Holy Spirit. He is the one who restrains that spirit. But then when the Holy Spirit is taken away, many people believe this is talking about the rapture. But when the lawless one is revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming, the coming of that lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders. There, Satan...

and the antichrist spirit are described as the lawless one isn't that exactly what the devil did the reason why he was ejected from heaven because he wanted to be god he wanted to make the rules who do you think you are god to tell me how i need to live that is the spirit of lawlessness and what i'm telling you tonight church is that this is not a sinner thing or a church person thing this is a

human being thing. There is a part of you that wants to reject the influence and the sovereignty of an almighty God. There's a piece of us that says, I want to do it. I'll live the way I want to. And you can be educated. You can have Bible knowledge. You can go to church a thousand times and still harbor a spirit of lawlessness. How do you know? How do you know?

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Well, it's because of what it leads to. The lawless life always leads to destruction. Imagine. Imagine if you were planning a large ocean voyage across the sea. And you go down to the harbor to find a ship. And you don't inspect it. You just get on the boat and start sailing. Let's go. I need to get across the ocean. Halfway.

halfway through the voyage you go down to the bottom of the ship and to inspect the hole and find to your horror that the entire ship is full of holes. That would have been something to check before you left, right? That is a picture of the life that is lawless. You might be able to sail for a little while, but it will eventually get to you. It's like what Jesus said, living in a house whose foundation is sand.

And yeah, you might have some cover, you might have some shelter for a while. But when is it revealed? When the storm comes, when the waves, when the wind beat upon that house, and that reveals the weakness of the foundation. And Jesus said, great was its fall. Paul is speaking here. He says, I was once alive without the law. And it is possible to be alive...

It is possible even to know the law but to be without the law in your heart. Let's look then at the revival of sin. Are you all with me tonight? The revival of sin. Look at what it says next in verse 9. It says, when the commandment came. So he's describing his own personal experience. He says, there was a time I was alive without the law and then the commandment came. And what does he mean by that? What does he mean when he says the commandment comes?

It means that as he began to not just know it, but to understand it, to receive it, he found the meaning of it. In other words, that the law of the Lord became alive in his heart. That it was possible he could have had all kinds of education about the law, but it wasn't until the commandment came. It wasn't that he was just reading the letter, but he found the spirit. It means that...

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He discovered the law was not a thing to mess around with. It wasn't meant to just sit on the shelf like a dead letter, but that God had spoken that word and he would carry it out. That he would execute judgment on those who defy him and break his commandments. When he saw that the commandment had come, the next thing that happened, it says, is that sin was revived. Okay, this is where it gets pretty crazy.

When the commandment came, he says, then sin was revived. In other words, the knowledge of his brokenness before the Lord was revived. Psalm 19 verse 7 says this, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making the wise simple. Verse 9 goes on to say that sin revived and I died.

There are two Greek words to describe the word word. All right, I'm going to do a little Greek word study, right? There's two words you got to know about in the Greek language. And both of them can be translated into our English word, word. There is the idea of logos and the idea of rima. So maybe you cried like the rest of us after episode number three.

of the chosen, you know what I'm saying? So the name of that character that died, her name was Ramah, right? That name is a Greek word that is transliterated from the Hebrew. Ramah means, it can mean word. Okay, but there's a difference between logos and Ramah. So if you understand, logos is the written word. Logos is helpful because logos is what we study. Logos is what we speak.

Logos is what you hear in your ears. Logos is what Paul had. The concepts, the principles, the precepts, the philosophies, the logos. He had the logos, but he never had the rima. The rima means when God takes his logos and applies it directly to your life. The logos is what the preacher preaches, but the rima is what you receive in your heart.

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And how many know that can be different? If there's 30 people in a church service like this tonight, there is one logos because I'm preaching the same sermon, right? But God can have 30 different ramas applying to 30 different people in 30 different situations. Rama is how God takes his logos and applies it to your personal life, your personal situation. It's revelation. It's what Jesus said to Peter.

when Peter piped up and said, you are the Messiah, the son of the living God, and Jesus comes back and says, flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you, Peter. That was a rama. That was a revelation. That was something that God spoke to you. Can I ask you tonight, when's the last time you had a rama? When's the last time, I'm not just talking about you learned a scripture and memorized it. I'm not just talking about you highlighted it on your Bible app and shared it on your social media.

I'm talking about when the word became true in your heart, when it hit you and it changed you. The mark of what happens when you have more than logos, you receive a rama, what happens next is what happens to Paul. He says, sin was revived and I died. In other words, when I understood what God was saying to me,

My sinfulness was also revealed to me and I had to die. That old Saul had to go away and somebody else took his place. You know what reminded me as I was putting this together, I was reminded of that story in Isaiah. We've been reading our Bible plan through Isaiah recently and there's this account in Isaiah chapter 6, a powerful story. You've heard it preached no doubt many times.

But Isaiah has a revelation of God. In Isaiah chapter 6, he says, I saw the Lord sitting on the throne high and lifted up. The train of his robe filled the temple. We sing the song. And above the throne there was seraphim. These are special angel, angelic creatures designed and purposed for one reason, to worship the living God day and night for all eternity.

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and they cried out to one another they said holy, holy, holy is the Lord of all. I mean he's getting this vision. He's having this personal encounter of who God is. His holiness, His power, the whole earth is full of His glory. He says the posts of the door were shaken and the house was filled and he has this powerful revelation of a holy and a righteous God and you know what he's not doing? He's not bored out of his mind.

He's not falling asleep, I'll tell you that much. He's not sipping a lemonade. Hmm, I wonder what happens next. What's happening to Isaiah in this moment is the more that he realizes the holiness and the power of a righteous God, the very next thing that happens, verse five, woe is me for I am undone. See, the power of the holiness of God revealed, it uncovered something about his own life.

When you read that in the Bible, when it says, woe, woe unto, in fact the first five chapters of Isaiah, he's pronouncing woes on all these other nations because of their disobedience and rebellion against God. But now in chapter six, he sees God and now the woe comes against himself. He's cursing himself. Woe is me, I am undone. And almost, it's almost without his, it's like,

He can't stop himself from profusely speaking about his sin. It says, I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people. He's just repenting. He just can't stop. My eyes have seen the King compared to the holiness of God. Listen, I'm going to tell you, if you have an understanding, if you get a rama about the power of God's word in your life, your sin will be revived. You'll get a revelation.

I like to ask people, you know, when I'm out witnessing, I like to ask them, you believe you're a good person? You know why I like that question? Because everybody says yes. Everybody thinks they're a good person. And they might be good compared to, you know, the person who's in prison or, you know, the person who killed somebody or a drug dealer down the street. That's how we judge ourselves, isn't it? Let's put that to the test. I always ask people, do you mind if I put that to the test?

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You know, let's examine what the Bible says. How does God judge? I know how I judge. But how does God judge? Have you ever told a lie? I guess so. Don't lie to me! No. See, when we have a revelation of His Word, when we get that rama, Paul says, when I received the commandment, sin was revived and, whoa! It means I died. Think about it like this.

Imagine that in your house there's a cellar. I don't think there's a lot of cellars around here, but some places in the Midwest, there are houses that have cellars. And those cellars, maybe the doors have been shut for a long time and it gets dark and it gets nasty down there. And maybe even the walls are covered with critters. But if you open the door and you descend the steps,

but you have no light, you have no flashlight, you have no candle, you could walk down the stairs and be completely unaware of all of the cockroaches and termites and all kinds of spiders and nasty critters all over the wall. You could just walk down there, as long as you're in darkness, you're unaware of them, they're unaware of you. I'll just go down there, come right back out, no big deal. But if you bring a lantern with you, like oldie in the Indiana Jones, into the snake pit,

And you walk down there and you look around and you start seeing, this is not good. There's spiders, there's snakes, there's critters, there's rodents, there's, nasty things everywhere. That's what the law does. When the light of God's law shines into your life, when you allow the Word of God to be more than just words printed on the page, but you begin to allow them to examine your heart, you'll discover that there's a lot of critters in there.

There's a lot of cockroaches that need to be exterminated. There's some things down there, and by the way, when you bring the lantern down into that cellar, not only are you aware of them, but now they become aware of you. And the cockroaches start scurrying. And the walls start moving. We gotta get out of here. All the things that had been sleeping, dormant, are now made active and aware. I wanna tell you,

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When you get saved, when you truly give your life to the Lord, this is what happens when we try to get close to God. Have you ever done that? Have you ever tried, Lord, I just want to be close. We sang it tonight. I want to know you. I want to see your face. And God says, really?

Okay, well there's a few things we're gonna have to deal with then. We're gonna bring the smoke fog down here. We're gonna have to do some work. That's what Paul means when he says, sin was revived and I died. The law brings forth death. Remember a couple of messages ago what we said, wherever we allow to die for the Lord can then be resurrected.

In verse 9, once again, I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Can I just remind you tonight that once you have tasted and seen the Lord's goodness, His mercy, His forgiveness, once you have tasted of that, can I tell you, you are ruined for the world? Whatever pleasure you had in your sin before Christ will now be forever gone. The world is ruined.

will no longer produce the kind of pleasure that it did before. You know that? Some of the most miserable people on planet Earth are backslidden people who know what God had done for them. They walked away. Paul says, I died. The great I, the great self, the great ego has to die in the presence of the Almighty God. And so the problem though, the problem is not with the law, right?

What Paul's trying to show us, he starts this scripture by asking the question, is the law sin? And he's trying to answer, he's trying to bring clarity that no, the law is not sin. The law is not evil. The law is good and righteous and God gave us his law for a purpose, but it was not the law that was the problem. What's the problem? The problem is our sin.

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And the law is what causes that sin to stir up in our lives. Maybe you've seen it at work in your life. Maybe you've seen what it's like when you try to make a step of faithfulness to God. When you try to do something for the Lord, right? When you come to the altar and you say, Lord, Lord, I'm going to do my best. I'm going to try my hardest. And Lord, I'm going to commit myself to you. And we make our oaths and our vows and we try and we... But guess what? All of the attacks of hell double down, right?

And we leave from this place feeling all good and then it's not 24 hours later that just like the Israelites out in the desert, they start complaining and moaning and wishing they were back in Egypt. And I wish that we were different. We're not. When we try to make a step in faith so often, the law, the word of God penetrates our heart and we become sensitive and say, Lord, I want to change, but the law, it causes...

our sin to revive and then we have to die. He goes on to say that the problem is not the law, it's the sin. Verse 10, the commandment which was to bring life, I found to bring death. In other words, as Paul thinks about the revelation of God as revealed through Moses, he says, listen, God was trying to help us. God was trying to bring us to life. But the problem was that when you bring the law to a sinner,

the sin is revived and then brings forth death. Verse 11, for sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me and by it killed me. You know the devil is such a jerk.

You know what he does? It's the same devil who tempts you, right? He tempts you to sin. Like you're trying to live right, and you're just trying to mind your own business, and out of nowhere here comes this temptation from hell. And what does he tell you? come on, it's not a big deal. Everybody does this. come on, you know. Don't be such a prude, you know. Just live a little. Just do something exciting. Have a little fun, the devil says.

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And then if you fall into that temptation and your flesh is weak, the spirit might be willing, but your flesh is overcome and you enter into that temptation. And guess what? That same devil who was just telling you it wasn't a big deal. Now he comes around and he says, what have you done? How dare you? Who do you, what kind of Christian do you think you are? You could never live for God. You could never be righteous. You could never be what that preacher says you could be.

same devil on both sides bringing his condemnation lawlessness see the the problem with us is that our sin betrays us it's on his side but there is a fulfillment tonight roman seven as he goes on we're going to look at this in future message but this is how paul wraps up this argument at the end of the chapter roman seven verse twenty four

His final conclusion on this point is, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Have you felt like that before? Have you been there? Like, what is the point of all this? God, is there any way that this is ever going to turn out good? Because guess what? Your law, I tried to obey it, but it just revived sin in me, and it caused death. And Paul comes to the point of desperation.

Who will deliver me? And he answers his own question in verse 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. With the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. In other words tonight, I thank God. I thank God that because of Jesus we can find victory over the body of death. Jesus is the great law fulfiller.

Remember what he said in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, verse 17, do not think that I came to destroy the law. No. You would think that if the law was so dangerous, if it causes our sin to be revived, if it causes death and devastation and destruction, that Jesus would say, get this law out of here. But no, he did not come to destroy the law. He came to fulfill it. In other words, to fill it full.

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He came to put the pieces together, to do what none of us can do. See, none of us, even in our best efforts of obeying God's law, all it does is frustrate us and get us to the point where Paul was there, wretched man that I am. That's life without Jesus. That's understanding the law but not having Jesus to help us. But if Jesus is there to help us, I want to tell you that we can find the victory.

He came to fill the law full. To take what we could not do in our own strength. He did it. He took upon himself the penalties of the law so that we don't have to. And the way that that happens tonight is when we simply put our trust and faith in the Lord Jesus. You were waiting for some heavy revelation tonight, weren't you? You were waiting for some golden nugget.

that came down from the top of the mountain but I don't have that for you what I do have is the gospel and the gospel says put your trust in Jesus who did fulfill the law who never committed sin and when we follow him when we remain close to him then the Bible says we don't have to fight with sin anymore we don't have to fight the law anymore we can put our trust in him because he has taken victory over sin over death over the grave

He has fulfilled the law and we can join him in that victory as we follow him tonight. Was that good news? That's pretty good news, right? It's good news because we don't have to remain there forever, wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death? We already know the answer. Jesus. Jesus will deliver us from this body of death. But I want to tell you it's not automatic.

It doesn't come as a result of all of your experience in church. The law itself. Paul says, there was a time that I was alive without the law, even though he knew it in his mind, but not in his heart. I want to challenge you tonight. Let Jesus fulfill the law in your life. Let's bow our heads tonight, close our eyes as we bring this service to a close as we consider these truths tonight.

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Before we close this service, I want to ask you, I'm not asking you how many Scriptures you've read or memorized. I'm not asking you if you've been to...

class at a seminary or theology class. Listen, we can know a lot about the Word and still not know the Word who has made flesh. Jesus is the one who fulfills the law. And any child without having any understanding, if he receives Christ as his Savior, he's got all he needs. I wonder tonight if you have it. Have you received knowledge, wisdom, and understanding?

I wonder tonight, maybe you know the logos, but do you have a remma, a revelation? Not from flesh and blood, but from God Himself. Paul says, when I got that, when I got that revelation, sin was revived in me and I died. I couldn't survive. I needed to be renewed. I needed to be made new, born again, is what Jesus said.

I wonder tonight, have you been born again? Have you been transformed from your old life? Don't tell me how close you are to Jesus if you're still living that old life. Don't tell me how great of a Christian you are if when you leave this place, your life is still full of those critters, those little nasties. Your life, there's disobedience and lawlessness at work in your heart.

saying, yeah, I know what God said, but I'm going to do it my way. I'm going to keep trying to do it my way. See, that's lawlessness tonight. Lawlessness leads to destruction. If we'll put our trust in Jesus, the Bible says He can fulfill the law so that we can avoid that destruction. Tonight, if you're not saved, if you're not right with God, I want to pray with you before we leave this place. Say, Pastor, I'm not right. I want to get right.

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struggling tonight because of my sin. I've been thinking I know better than God. But He's got your attention tonight. You want to respond in faith. Say, Lord, save me. I'm lost. I'm broken. Maybe you have a revelation like Isaiah. the Lord is high and lifted up. And you don't want to be caught in your sin. You don't want to die and stand before a holy God without turning to Him and asking Him to save you. Would you do that tonight before it's too late?

Let me see your hand quickly tonight. You lift it up. Say, Pastor, pray for me. I'm not right with God, but I want to be. Would you lift it up quickly? God's speaking to you. Is there anyone here unsaved or perhaps backslidden in your heart? Maybe I described you tonight when I said that there is no such thing as a successful backslider. There are many people who are miserable because they've turned from God and now there is no pleasure in the world like there was before. Ruined to sin.

because you've seen the truth. And now it's time to come back home. God's calling on you, unsaved or back -sitting in your heart. Don't miss this opportunity. Would you lift up your hand? Can I see it quickly? Is there anyone here? God's dealing with hearts.

Thank God. Let me speak to the believer then. Amen. The Apostle Paul, as he reflected on his own life, a man who is very learned, very knowledgeable, highly educated on the laws of Moses, but he says, I was alive without the law. The Word of God, there was head knowledge, but you know what? It was not alive in my heart.

And then the commandment came and sin was revived.

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And I died, he said. That's exactly the life of a believer. When the commandment comes, that means there's part of us that has to pass away. There's a part of our will. I want to tell you, surrender is a death of the will. We have to say goodbye to the old life, to the old pleasures, to the old habits, to the old mindsets. We have to be renewed in our minds.

as we are transformed into his likeness and image. Jesus came to fulfill. Listen, all of the heavy work has already been done. Jesus paid the price for us. All we have to do is surrender ourselves and submit to his will. And if you're here tonight and you say, Lord, I need some help with that. I realize that the word, the law brings condemnation, brings death, brings an end to myself, and I felt that struggle.

between the spirit and the flesh. But tonight, Lord, I need the victory. I need you to fulfill the law in my life. Overcome the destruction of my bad decisions. Overcome the temptations of hell. Take the keys of my life, of death and hell in the grave. Lord, I want the victory tonight. We're going to stand up to our feet. We're going to pray here at this altar. God's speaking to you. Would you take some time this evening to join us here as we pray?

we want self to die so that Christ can rise in our place. Paul says, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me. That means that the more and more that we live for Him, the less and less the world should see of you, the more and more we should see of Christ in you. We're saying goodbye to our old ways, to our old thoughts.

to our old strategies, our old habits, to our old philosophies which were leading to death. And in their place rises something new tonight. Come on church, let's cry out to the Lord. All we're called to do, submit ourselves, surrender to him.

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When we will, there's blessing, there's favor, there's peace that passes understanding. Come on, let's cry out to him for just a few moments here tonight at this altar. God, we pray and listen. Can I tell you, this is why the blood of Jesus is so precious and so powerful. The blood of Jesus was shed so that we who were broken by the law, that the law brought death and destruction to us.

but it's the blood of Jesus that washes us clean. And now, as sons and daughters of the Most High God, we've been adopted into His family, and when God looks down on you, if you have received the gift of salvation and trusted in Christ, set you free, then when God looks down at you, He no longer sees a guilty law breaker. He no longer sees one with the spirit of lawlessness.

What does he see? He sees a son or a daughter. He sees one that with Christ is being redeemed. Listen to what the next chapter... I want to tell you, Romans 8 is where it starts soaring. Paul is going to kick it into another level in Romans 8. And he says this in verse 11, If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life

to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

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The Spirit of God will bring life to our mortal, to our bodies that are, hey, every day that passes, we're not getting better, guys. We're getting worse over time. But these mortal bodies can be strengthened. We can receive life from Christ. We are not debtors.

But we are the sons of God. Romans 8, 14. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. Romans 8 is going to be fun. Yeah, Romans 7 gets a little dark and difficult. But Romans 8, telling you the promises of God. Come on, we're going to receive his Spirit and his life tonight. We're going to break the power of the law over our lives. And we're going to receive his life tonight. Let's lift up our hands.

And I want you to receive more than just a Logos right now. I want you to receive a Rhema from the Lord. Let Him speak to you directly, okay? Let's say this prayer. Say, God in heaven, I recognize the depth of my sin, my brokenness, Lord, my lawlessness. How many times have I done what I thought was right and ignored Your law?

ignored your word, ignored your prompting, even violated my conscience. God, I'm so sorry. I need your Spirit. Lord, I plead the blood of Jesus over my mind, my heart. Speak to me a word of life for my situation.

Lord, You are not a God who's far away, but You are close. You are here to speak to me and move on my life. Forgive me and cleanse me and set me free so I can do Your will. Lord, make me free from the bondage of the law which leads to death. Lord, I need Your Spirit.

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which brings life and peace and harmony. Lord, I thank You. You've given us a path forward. Let me walk in that path in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.