Lecture 3 | Romans 7 and the War Against Sin

In this podcast episode, Chakari dissects the internal conflict between humanity's desire for righteousness and the pervasive power of sin. He argues that freedom does not come through legalism or self-effort, but through dying to the law in Christ and serving God by the Spirit. The message culminates that deliverance and spiritual victory is found only in Jesus Christ, not in human attempts to obey the law.

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Transcript

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Grace and peace, brothers and sisters. Welcome to the Gospel of 420 Podcast. This is your host, Chris Shakari, aka the Cushman. If you're tuning in from YouTube, Spotify, Apple, IHOT Radio, any listening platform, don't forget to like, subscribe, share, comment, follow the page, turn on notifications for a new message, and leave a rate and review. Let's get into the word. Romans 7 and the war against sin. And the reading will come from Romans chapter 7, verse 24 to 25. Romans chapter 7, verse 24 and 25. It reads, Oh 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. Now we're gonna study the whole chapter of the book of Romans, and to save some time, I will we'll read from verse 1 to 5. So I'll break down verses 1 to 5, the first part, verses 6 through 10, the second part, verses 11 to 15, the third part, 16 through 20, the fourth part, 21 to 25, the fifth part. So we're gonna split it into five parts to describe each chapter, everything was described in the book of Romans, chapter seven. And then we'll you know conclude there. We'll see where it will lead us to, because it leads into a path of understanding this whole chapter. Now, we will again the goal is to understand how we reach verse 24 to 25. So we're gonna work our way from top to bottom for context. So Romans 7 is really about a change of masters, right? So we're gonna deal with five parts each, five verses each. Since there's 25 verses, we're gonna count by five. We're gonna go by the first five, then the second five, the third five, the fourth five, and the five, five. So we're gonna break down each part of Romans chapter seven in five parts. Now, let's start from with verse one, where Paul says, Know ye not, brethren, for I speak to them that know the law, how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth. So we see right here, Paul begins by establishing a principle that fits the culture of who he's writing to the Romans, the Greco-Roman rule, right? So he's literally saying in this part that the law exercises lordly authority over a person only as long as they are alive. So we see the law is is exercising, it's a master, it has dominion over a person. But this governing authority is explicitly bounded by time and physical life. So death naturally and legally terminates all contractual obligations. Because a dead course can't follow the law, it's dead, right? Now, verse 2 and 3. For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband, so long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she is free from that law, so that she is no longer, that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Now, Paul will use the law of marriage to fit, to understand, is what he's saying in verse 2 and 3. See, he's saying how the wife, she's tied by a binding custom to her living husband. And if she unites while her husband, that is an adult, that's called adultery. She is labeled an adulteress, that's cheating. So we see it's only through death, only through her husband's death, she is free from that law. And she can't be called an adulteress, even though she can be married to another man. Why? Because death dissolves the legal bond. Not only is she not only released, she is now exempted from that law of marriage. The contract is now nullified. Why? Because one of the signing parties no longer exists. The husband died. So that means consequently, she can freely marry another without any legal or moral guilt. Because why? Death broke that binding legal tie. Amen. Now, verse four. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. So we see right here, he's using this marriage example to get to verse 4. How we as believers, we do not achieve freedom by abolishing the law. Because remember, Christ did not come to abolish the law, but to what? Fulfill it. Rather, we ourselves, the old self, which is bound under the under the law, the old man, we have become dead to the law. We're dead. We were put to death. How? Through the physical body of Christ. And remember, by the offering of Jesus Christ, we are sanctified. So our sanctification happens by being dead to the law, being put to death by the law. So the old, the old self under the law has now become dead. How? Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And now that we are joined to Christ in his death, our old legal relationship to the law is what? Terminated. And that spiritual death allows us to be legally and spiritually married to the other, another one. Like it says, though she be married to another man. In our case, we'd be married to another. Who is that? The resurrected Christ for a purpose to what? Bring forth fruit unto God actively. So being in united with Christ who was resurrected for our justification produces a spiritual lineage of righteousness that the law could never breathe. Hmm. And look at verse 5. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. So we see right here how under the old law, the old realm, when we were past tense, were in the flesh, our natural inclinations were weaponized. So we see how sinful passions were actually energized. It was activated. It turns on by the law itself. And it bears a harvest that yields death. So we see Romans 7. So the first part, Romans 7, verse 1 to 5, how it explains that trying to serve God while legally bound to the law is like a woman attempting to marry a second husband while her first is still alive. It results in legal contradiction, spiritual barrenness. It shows right here that legalism cannot produce righteousness and true holiness is not achieved not by staying bound to the law, but by dying to its covenantal condemnation through the death of Christ, which enables a new fruitful union with the risen Lord. That's why I used Hebrews 10, verse 10 earlier, by the which we are sanctified through the body of Jesus Christ once for all. So the new and the old cannot come together. That's why Jesus used the parable that you cannot put, you can't sew, you know, new garments into old garments. You can't put new wine into old wine. That's in Luke 5. Let's uh turn that. Let's read that real quick. Luke 5, verse 36 to 39. This is what Jesus said right here. Luke 5, verse 36 to 39. Okay, right here. This is a parable. No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old. If otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles, else the new wine will burst the bottles and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles, and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new, for he saith, the old is better. So he's using the parable of new garments and new wineskin. And what do they represent? A new system, the new covenant of grace. So the kingdom gospel Jesus brings is new, it's expanding, it ferments in time. And it's new, and it requires something new. You put that new into something new. It's two different words right here. The new right here, neo. And the other new is used is Kainos, meaning completely transformed, flexible, human heart, and structural mindset. That's the bottle. The new wine, which is the covenant of grace, our bottles represents our minds, our hearts. We receive that. We are given the heart of flesh and a new mindset, a renewed mind through repentance towards God. That new wine, the new covenant of grace, must be put into new bottles. So trying to force the spirit of God into this rigid, brutal legalism of Pharisaic, law-based, religious elitism, it doesn't reform the old system. What happens? It causes it's catastrophic. It causes failure to both sides. In order to receive the fresh, to receive the true gospel of the grace of God, of the kingdom of God, and the movement of the Holy Spirit, we have to have a renewed heart and mind, a new bottle. Preserving, it preserves both the gospel and us. It not only preserves the message which Jesus brings, but us. It requires structures that can flex and grow alongside spiritual transformation. It goes into maturity. This is regarding spiritual maturity. Amen. Now we dealt with Romans 7, verse 1 to 5. Now let's deal with part two from verses 6 to 10. Look at verse 6 of Romans 7. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. See, Paul now begins with this emphatic contrast when he says, But now, he declares that we, as believers, are completely delivered from the law's binding hold. And now by dying to what once held us captive, we are not liberated to live in lawlessness as those who preach against the message of grace want to accuse us of we like to live however we want. False. Yet nay, I had not known sin, but by the law, for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. So, to prevent any misconception that the law is evil or is similar to sin, Paul literally asks this question, is the law sin? He says, No, God forbid. He rejects this 100% immediately. The law is not sinful. It's literally, we see right here, what is the purpose of the law? It is literally a diagnostic tool. See, without that tool, you can't see the problem. Sin remains unrecognized. See, when you you nothing's wrong with the car unless you take it to the shop. And they use the machine and the computer, and they'll see problems regarding that car. And then he uses, and then Paul uses the commandment against coveting, thou shalt not covet. See, we see how the law brings in hidden inward desires, lust, to light. It reveals it, revealing the true nature of human sinfulness. That's why he says here in verse 8, but sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law, sin was dead. So how do we see it? Sin, it looks at God's prohibition. It looks at God's law, it looks at his rules, his standards against lusts, right? Desires. And anything regarding the commandments, right? It looks at God's commandments and uses that boundary as a launch pad to generate every form of lustful craving, illicit thoughts, and everything. It uses that. Sin is literally an agent, it's an active agent. It says it took occasion through the commandment. That word occasion is a Greek military term, meaning it takes, it's a foot, sin takes a foothold, a bridgehead, a base of operations through the commandment. And how it's not only it so sin taking occasion through the commandment, what that what happens? It produces and intensifies forbidden desires within the human heart. And we see how apart from the law, sin lays dormant, or in other words, dead. And it lacks the explicit boundary that triggers human rebellion. So sin uses something that's good, which God uses, and attacks us with it. And we see, for example, Sennacherib, he used when he was threatening the children of Israel, he mocked God and the people using the Hebrew tongue to threaten them, and they were fear, they were in fear. But through Hezekiah, with his prayer and the prayers of the prophets and the king, guess what? The Lord sent an angel, he cut off those in the king in the camp of Assyria. And Sennacherib returned to his own land with shame. And he came into his temple, and guess what? Those who came out from his own family members killed him. That's how sin works. It uses that's what Jesus did. He took something that used is good. So it's like sin is like using something good, right? It uses good and attacks us with it, but and we have no power to fight it because we are terrified. We are bound to it. We are trapped. The same with the children of Israel. They were trapped. Once Sennacherib used knew the Hebrew language, and they were saying, please, please don't speak, don't speak our language, speaking your Aramaic language, speaking your Assyrian language. No, they still used it. They used their language against them to bring fear. Sin uses God's law to put us in fear. But Jesus came, He delivered us from that. Not only he drove sin away, but he killed it, he destroyed it.

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He dissolved sin.

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The same way Sennacherib was slewed by the sword, Satan, the the sin was now slewed. How? By the word of God. It is finished.

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What is the sword of the spirit? The word of God.

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And because of that, Hezekiah and those in Jerusalem were saved from the hand of Sennacherin. And through Jesus Christ, and through God, and thank God, through Jesus Christ we are saved from sin.

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And every other thing that has put has tormented us and tortured us and terrified us.

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And guides us. Amen. Now look at verse 9 and 10 of Romans 7. For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death. So what can we see here? So Paul is describing the ex the shift. He's describing a shift that when the law encounters human nature, he says he was once alive without the law, right? So when a specific commandment arrived and was fully understood, what happened to sin? It sprang to active life, it revived. And he died. Meaning he experienced spiritual condemnation and deadness. That's what happens. So this heavenly commandment, which was originally ordained unto life, was found how through the distortion of sin to bring forth death. So sin is like a predatory organism. It's a predatory adversary. What we see is like so the holy standard of the law, God's holy law, how what happens? Sin finds a base of operations, weaponizes the commandment to seduce, and delivers moral destruction and execution.

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That's what it does.

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So what we see in Romans 7, verses 6 through 10, the second part of the five verses, he demonstrates that the law is a mirror, not a cure. It's a mirror. It shows the depth of human sinfulness and provokes the rebellion of Satan in the flesh. And it shows why external rules can never redeem. And how why we as believers must serve through the spirit. We worship not in a mountain, we worship God in what? Spirit and truth. Amen. Now look at verse 11. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me and it slew me. See, in verse 11, it builds on verse 8. Because building on verse 8, Paul is now explaining how sin brings forth death. And how sin operates. As we read, as we looked above in the scriptures, right? Sin operates like the serpent in Eden. It misrepresents God's commandment, frames boundaries as restrictions on human freedom, promises life through disobedience, and ultimately delivers death. That's what it does. It's the same used in the word uh deceive, beguiling, used in Genesis 3. It beguiles us into believing that God's boundary is withholding life, and it gives us freedom through disobedience. Which why? For by one man's disobedience, all of us became sinners. Because we thought it we believed it's the words of Satan. It promised us freedom, and guess what? And we can see, but guess what? It executed us. Because of the love of the world, the love of the Father is no longer in us. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. It is not of the Father, but of the world. So explaining so by explaining this, we can easily how can I easily break this down for you guys? Right here. Sin is a trickster. It tricks the human heart into believing that true freedom is found in breaking boundaries, or that righteousness can be earned by our works, our self effort, in trying harder, doing better, moral improvement, behavior modification, doing our best. And you know what happens? It leads to death. Did we not understand the parable regarding the wine, the new wine, and the new garment? It's right there. Jesus said it. So trying to combine legalistic self-righteousness with Christ-centered grace, there's no harmony. How can two walk together? They don't agree. It's like playing two completely wrong notes together. They are unequally yoked. Literally, Jesus, and you see right here, Jesus offers a subtle critique of human nature. See, old wine, those who say the old is better. Old wine is smooth, mellow, requires nothing of us. And religious routines and old traditions, they're comfortable, they're good. That's why it's hard to, those who believe in the works-based gospel, when you preach to them the message of grace, it sounds foreign. It sounds strange because the custom they grew up to, dress code, what they had to do, what doctrines they grew up with, quote unquote holiness. It's comfortable. They like it.

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The aesthetics of it, the culture, the religious aspect of it. Wow.

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The new wine, which is the work of God, has you have to have a new heart, a new mindset, which only can be provided by the Spirit of God. So the new wine, which Jesus was talking about, the work of God to believe on him, what did it require? Flexibility, stretching, embracing newness. And the truth is, human nature, instinctively, by instincts, by nature. We resist that out of a preference for easy comfort. No wonder why Peter said false prophets that cannot cease from sin. You know what? Let's read 2 Peter 2, verse 19 to 22, because this is the verse everybody ignorantly don't understand. So let's read 2 Peter 2, verse 19 to 22. Look what it says. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption, for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it has happened unto them according to the true proverb. The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow, the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. So when we literally, 2 Peter 2, technically, 2 Peter 2 is about false prophets and false teachers. That how they are not deep thinkers, they're not offering a modern progressive take on the faith. Peter compares false prophets and false teachers to smugglers running an emporium out of the church and how they're using inflated, hollow rhetoric to hook vulnerable people. So let's look at verse 19 to 22. Let's understand what this is about. Look at that. Of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. Look at that. So this is what he's saying. Peter is saying, because these teachers have entirely conquered, they have been conquered by their carnal, fleshly desires, those desires are now their absolute masters. Because a slave, slaves cannot guarantee grant freedom to anybody. They only bring out their own trauma, their own chains. That's why you gotta be careful who you be with, who you hook up with, because sometimes their problems can just, they're not gonna make you better. They're just gonna project their problems into you.

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Hey, they're promising liberty, but they themselves are servants of corruption. See?

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So through their outward reformation, that's what the next verse is about to say. See? For if after they have for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome. The latter end is worse with them than the beginning. So we dealt with how these false prophets and false teachers, they claim to offer total emancipation. They claim to offer freedom and liberty, but they're prisoners of war and they're changed to the they're chained. They're literally, they're in a straitjacket to their own bio fleshly, biological, natural, beastly driven desires. But here in verse 20 is literally talking about how, through outward reformation, they have stepped away from the world's systematic rot, systemic rot. And that those who promise liberty, and anyone who promises a freedom that allows you to indulge in sin, they're not liberating you spiritually. They're prisoners of war, offering a share in their own eternal bondage. That's what it says. That's what verse 20 is about. Look, look, he says the pollutions. The word pollution is literally meaning sewage, outward sewage, toxic, foul sludge of the pagan society they were in. Temple prostitution, drunken parties, orgies, riots, systemic fraud. They escaped the pollution. And through the preaching of Jesus, they realized they had a they had a they realized paganism was a trap. That's why they used through the knowledge of the Lord. That word knowledge is literally not as a knowledge about knowledge of Jesus, but they have a clear intellectual comprehension of Christ's standards. So what verse 20 is literally saying, yeah, you could they clean up their lives. They stopped going to pagan temples, they start going to church, they start changing their lifestyle and behavior modification. They went through an outward reformation. That's all they did. They just modified their character, they just changed their outward ways.

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And they said, guess what?

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Yeah, they changed, but guess what? They are entangled therein, they over and overcome. The latter end is worse with them than in the beginning. It was better for them not to know the way of righteousness than after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment, deliver it unto them.

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Huh.

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And then he used the comparison of a dog turned to his own vomit and the soul, sow that was washed. Now, sow means a pig. Pig that goes washed to wallowing in the mire. Or in other words, the mud. So what can we so what do we see here? Outward washing does not change an animal's fundamental nature. See, a dog in that context is literally not a pet. It's a dirty, scavenging street hound. See, a dog remains a dog, a pig remains a pig. See, the false teachers and those who follow them, their followers, yeah. They clean up their outward behavior through an intellectual appreciation of Christ. Yeah, okay, this is not good. Okay, I'm not gonna do it again. Yeah, they clean up outside, but guess what? The hearts were never, they were never washed, they were washed outwardly, but they never had a washing of regeneration. That's why when crisis or temptation or things happen, remember, the fall, remember, the righteous fall seven times, but the wicked, because they're not, because they're not tied with Jesus, tied by their works, building their house on the sand, what happens? They inevitably revert to their true unrenewed carnal appetites. That is what 2 Peter 2, verse 20 to 22 was really about. Peter is exposing religious scam. See, ahead knowledge of Jesus without a corresponding renewal of the inner nature, it's a lethal condition. And the false prophets and false teachers are using this false concept of liberty to return to the world's toxic pollutions. And what happens? They become hopelessly, they start to be sold back into spiritual death. This is these are apostates. He compares those who are apostates to dogs and swine returning to their filth. And Peter is literally showing that salvation is about heart transformation, not a temporary cleansing of the outer skin, because anybody can go through outward regeneration. Anybody can go through outward change. Religious group, Jehovah's Witness, Muslim, any religious group, any organization, they can teach you how to change. Change. There's rehab centers, they have AA meetings. They don't really need church for that to change to stop drinking. You know, you don't need church to know how to stop drinking. You can go to an AA meeting. You don't need to learn how to stop. You can just go to small groups and stuff like that. But when it comes to the transformation of the heart, when it comes to renewing of the mind, it's through faith in Christ only. It's through Jesus. That's it. Outwardly changing yourself doesn't change who you really are. You know, this is let me use this analogy, you know. That's like, yeah, you know, you can take, you can take the you can take the person out the hood, but you can't take the hood out of the person. You can move someone from the ghetto to the suburbs, but guess what? The ghetto, the ghetto is still in them. Yeah, they changed, yeah. This is religious scam. That's what Peter was just doing. Yeah, these are people that change their habitat, but not nature. See, this type of theology that allowed them to indulge carnal desires under the guise of, you know, quote unquote liberty. Now you see that true nature is exposed. They're like dogs and pigs. See, dogs and pigs, they naturally grab, you know, when you when a dog, you know, a dog can change, you know, regardless, a dog is still a dog, a snake is still a snake, a pig is still a pig. You can wash them, clean them, train them, but yeah, the nature is still there. They sprint right back to their moral filth they come from. They were never truly transformed inside. Just because they clean up themselves doesn't mean the heart hasn't. Yeah. Those who've been in and out of church, I know those, you know, those that, yeah, they've been in church, they make Christian music and, you know, they start carrying Bibles. Yeah, for a little bit, but because the heart hasn't been really established, it's easy for them to go back into those types of things. They never really experience inward spiritual regeneration.

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All because these false preachers are telling.

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So that right there is what 2 Peter 2, verse 19 to 22 is about. It's not about losing salvation.

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That's how we can explain that.

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Now let's move on. Verse 12 and 13 of Romans 7. Wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. That's a tongue twister right there. So what is so I'm gonna break it down for y'all. So we see here, the law remains holy, just, and good, right? The tragedy, the problem we have here, is what sin twisted something designed for human flourishing into an instrument of death. And exposed sin's ultimate nature as what? Exceedingly hyperbolically destructive. Remember, let's understand, the law did not cause death. Rather, sin used what was good to bring about death. And what what's so great? What's so great about it? God allowed this. He allowed this to happen. So why? So why? What for what purpose? So that the true character of sin might appear and become sinful beyond measure. So the law exposes sin's toxicity by showing that it can manipulate, distort God's holy standard into an instrument of destruction. That's why in verse 14, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, soul under sin. This is heartbreak. This is now a heartbreak of the unassisted human mind confronting something holy. Like Isaiah approaching the seraphims, a man of unclean lips, something so dirty, so raggedy, as Joshua the priest standing before the angel of God in dirty garments. It's a psychological, it's a heartbreak to see how dirty, how evil we are. That's what salvation is. When we come to Christ, when we receive him and understand what he has done, we see how evil, how filthy we are, and how holy and spiritual and clean he is. Paul is literally contrasting two natures. The law is spiritual. But the human nature apart from Christ is what? Fleshly. It's sold as a slave under sin. Carnal. The fundamental, so this fundamental disparity between spiritual law and carnal human nature, it renders outward rules and reformations incapable of producing righteousness. Think about it. Paul literally says, I am carnal, sold under sin. Now where it's sold, the Greek word pepromenos derives from the Greek word peprasko. What does it mean? Disposed of as commercial merchandise. To be trafficked across borders, sold into bondage. Huh. So what what is how does Paul see this? He views the unregenerate human as a captive who has been signed over to a foreign cartel, the carnal man, as a slave living in a foreign jurisdiction, unable to keep a perfect spiritual heavenly law. Similar to Joseph being sold to the Ishmaelites for slavery in Egypt.

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And look at verse 15.

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For that which I do, I allow not, for what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I. See, these are two verbs, right? Right here. So Paul is illustrating the tragedy of human experience. He says that he does not allow or approve or recognizes or understands. He does not, literally, he does not, he does not understand, he doesn't get the concept of his own actions. And how there's a and there's a literally a sharp disconnect between desire and murder. What he would, or in other words, what he wills or desires to do, he does not practice. But what he hates, that very thing he does. So what he fails to produce, the good he wishes to do, he does not manufacture. He does not produce. What he ends up doing, the evil he hates, he repeatedly practices as a habit. That just explains everything. So we see Romans 7 verse 11 to 15, the third part of the five series. We see that the moral law is flawless. But what happened? Human flesh is hopelessly compromised by sin. The external commandments cannot transform the heart. What do they only do? They just show a civil war between human intent and simple execution. Pointing out it's pointing to the need of a deliverer outside of legalism. He's a Lord is a priest forever, not after the order of a Levitical priest, after the order of Melchizedek.

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Not after the flesh, after the spirit.

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We cannot produce good, we are evil. We are carnal, sold under sin. We can never reach God's standard. That's why look at Jeremiah 13, verse 22 to 23. It proves it. Look at Jeremiah 13, verse 22 to 23. And if thou say in thine heart, wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare. Look at verse 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil. See, when we look at the original Hebrew of how it's written, literally, God, through the prophet Jeremiah, is saying we are not just accustomed to sin, we graduated from it. We have apprenticed ourselves to evil. We have spent our lives learning how to break things and make them good for nothing. That's what it means. God is literally saying we have trained our nature to be broken because of our training practice. What happens? Now we are biologically incapable of doing well.

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Like a leopard, it can't change its DNA. And guess what?

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Our sin, sin, because of Adam's disobedience, that sin moved from a choice to a nature. And we have schooled ourselves in destruction so thoroughly that we have lost the moral power to be anything else. And our exposure and our violence tripping is the only things that now matches how great, how huge, how large, how extra large our inner crookedness is. But when they marry or another, when they marry outside their race, it doesn't change the DNA structure. It doesn't change the fact that they're black.

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That kid is gonna be born black. They can change themselves outwardly, but the inward man, the inward, the inward person, the inward person will never change. It's still there. It remains.

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See, like kids. See, parents never teach kids to lie or steal or do anything bad, but guess what? They learn it. Why? It's their nature. It's their nature. That's just proves more that sin is not an action, it is an identity. It's literally identity crisis. My God. Now, Romans 7, let's look at verse 16. The fourth part of five. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. So, right here, Paul says he brings a logical deduction. If then. So when we act against our own desires, what happens? Our very our inner being protests. It serves as it's proof. Our very inner protest is evidence. By hating the action while committing it, the mind It says I can it consents. The mind joins in vo in voice, agrees with the law. Acknowledging that it is morally good. See, that's the problem. That's an example of what I talked about. Faith without works is dead. You can know it. Yeah, you can know, you can have an idea. Yeah, there is one God that's good. Devil knows there's one God. But guess what? That doesn't change the fact that his nature is evil. So we see the tragedy is not a failure to appreciate God's standards because anybody, but an inability to embody it. That's literally what I talked about about faith without works is dead. The law is good. Let me tell you, the law is good. Paul even tells Timothy that. In 1 Timothy 1, verse 8 to 10. The law is good if it's used lawfully. And the law is not made for a righteous man. Under the law, no one is righteous. We are guilty. We are law. Literally, it lists under the law who we are. Under the law. Under the dominion of sin. Lawless, disobedient, ungodly, sinners, unholy, profane, murderers of fathers and mothers, murderers of fathers and mothers, manslayers, whoremongers, them that defile themselves with mankind, for men stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, anything that's contrary to sound doctrine. That's what we are. Under the law. So what is Paul saying? Because the conscious mind, the conscious mind rejects the evil action, it identifies the true perpetrator. It is no more I that do it. It's not me that's achieving it or bringing to complete performance, but the sin that it's inhabiting in me. The sin that dwells in me. Paul is not renouncing personal responsibility here. He's exposing a psychological truth. That sin operates as an internal squatter, an occupying force within fallen human nature, subverting human agency from the inside. That's why he calls in, he literally called the adversary, like a lion, roaring, seeking who may devour. And how does he do that? Reminding us how guilty, reminding us of our past once we are in Christ. Telling us to depend on the works. You know, this is not enough. Do this, do that. Bring in more works of the flesh, putting confidence in ourselves, trusting ourselves, knowing that our human flesh is evil, it's wicked. We can't produce any good.

SPEAKER_01 47:00

We produce thorns and bristles.

SPEAKER_00 47:05

Look at verse 18. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me. But how to perform that which is good I find not. Now this is a radical cultural assessment. See, he's now distinguishing between the deliberate desire and the practical practice of it. See, our internal impulse or willingness lies close at hand. It's present, it's now available, it's now ready. But the weight, the capacity, the ability to fully carry out moral goodness, it can't be found. So what do we learn? Human intention outpaces human execution. Simple. That's why in verse 19 and 20, he says it again, for the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now, if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. So verse 19, they're reinforcing this paradox, that the good that one desires is left undone. It's not produced or performed. But in converse, but in contrast of it, the evil that one wishes to avoid is now becomes the very habit that is practiced. That's where habitually performed. See, there's a there's a difference, there's a battle between doing and producing and habitually practicing, it shows a cycle of moral captivity. That's why in verse 20 he repeats that he repeats what he said in verse 17 for rhetorical emphasis. That if we repeatedly, if our if the if we act contrary to our genuine desire, the ultimate driver of that behavior is not the renewed mind, which is by God, but the persistent force of indwelling sin.

SPEAKER_01 49:27

That's why.

SPEAKER_00 49:31

So what can we learn from verse the fourth part? Romans 7, verse 16 to 20. It shows that moral enlightenment alone cannot produce moral transformation. See, this is this ties into what James 2, faith without works with dead, verse 14 to 26 about devils believing they tremble. It literally is showing we can admire, respect, mentally agree to God's holy law, but yet remain incompletely bound by the indwelling sin. And the law succeeds in revealing what is right and exposing human helplessness, but it lacks the power to deliver. And it's still showing the need of the Spirit of God. In the next chapter of Romans 8. Now we are on the last part, verse 21 to 25. We're almost here. Now, verse 21, I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. So Paul now synthesizes his experience into a conclusion. When he says, Then I find then a law. And this law right here, which is recurring, is not talking about the law of Moses, but as is not the law here is used not for the law of Moses, the standard of the Mosaic law, but as a governing principle or rule. So it's not talking about the law of Moses here. And what he's saying, whenever the intent is present to perform that which is good, what happens? Evil is right there. It's ready to happen. It lies nearby. The intentionality toward righteousness, and guess what? It's like a wide receiver. The like doing good is the wide receiver. Sin is the cornerback or the safety. And we are like the quarterback. So the good is the wide receiver. Sin is the cornerback. We are the quarterbacks. Sin is the cornerback or the safety. And when the ball is high, we try to throw ourselves into doing good. But what happens? We get intercepted by sin, the indwelling corruption. So we are like quarterbacks. Doing good is the wide receiver. And it's trying to find an open route to reach to his destination, to reach a touchdown, to score points. But what happens? Sin as a cornerback, as a Deion Sanders, intercepts us. It hits us like Cam Chancellor. Ronnie Lott. Think of any best cornerback in Revis Island.

SPEAKER_01 52:24

Think of any best defensive back. That's what sin is like. It intercepts it.

SPEAKER_00 52:36

Verse 22 to 23. 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. So, verse 22 is dealing with the inward man. So the inward man, which is the renewed intellect and spiritual self, Paul expresses delight. He rejoiced. The word delight means to rejoice together with, feeling deep satisfaction in the law of God. But there's a there's a twist, there's a counter, there's a counter shoot, there's an objection, there's a different, hostile law operating within our bodies, right? And this force wars against the governing law of our minds and drags us away into captivity, a prisoner of war to the principle of sin residing in our bodies. So we see the in verse 22 shows the inward affirmation. Verse 23 is the physical insurgency. There's an internal battlefield into these two forces. And Paul concludes this, verse 24 to 25. Oh 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. So we see here, Paul is driven to an extreme emotional breaking point. He recognizes that his intellect cannot liberate his flesh. So he says, Who will deliver me from the body of this death? Who can do that? See, he doesn't ask how he can deliver himself through moral effort, stricter legal observance, how to do better, give self-help, discipline, all that. No, no, no, no. He says, Who possesses the power to step in as the redeemer, the savior, who can deal with this sin problem? And in his own realization, he answers this with this outcry, with an outburst of praise. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So we see deliverance does not come through trying harder, moral striving, works. This this right here destroys any gospel regarding workspace. It does not come through trying harder, doing better, all of that. It comes through Jesus Christ. And he concludes with this. So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. This is a conclusion of the human condition when it's away from the Holy Spirit's liberating work. With the mind, the individual serves, he's enslaved to the law of God, but with the unredeemed flesh remains entangled in the principle of sin, because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So what so now, what is Romans 7 verse 21 to 25 about? So this brings the struggle of self-reliant morality and legalism and trying harder and modification, it comes to a dead end now. And it shows that mental agreement, intellectual faith, that faith without works, those who say who have faith and have not works. That just, yeah, intellectual belief with God's truth, it cannot break physical bond just to sin. The law of sin is a systemic reality that subverts our highest ambitions. And it turns our bodies into a prison house of what? Compromise. That's why the wretched man that I am, it changes everything. It's the moment human effort surrenders to the reality of its own captivity, admitting that I can't do it. I lose, I give up, I can't fight this thing. And we point to somebody who? Jesus Christ. And how can we attain victory over the flesh? It's not by trying harder under the law, it's not trying to do anything. Be still, know that I'm God. What is it about? Being rescued by Jesus Christ. It requires God's grace, receiving the forgiveness of sins, believing in his name, baptized by the Spirit of God, that can free us from this type of tragedy.

SPEAKER_01 57:38

Knowing that the new cannot mix with the old.

SPEAKER_00 57:42

And it's not by religion, but it's by faith in Christ. Because look, religion, see, religious traditions, they offer, see, that's the thing. They offer comfortable familiarity. It feels comfortable, it feels nice, it feels good to follow. It feels good, you know. That's why Paul worries talks about that. How we are dead to the elements of the world, we're still walking to, oh, don't do this, don't do that. Legalism. Even in the parable in Luke 5, verse 36 to 39. Understand the parable. Jesus acknowledges himself that human nature naturally resists spiritual revolution. Why? Because legalism feels safe. And the new life of faith requires leaving behind comfortable habits to embrace the living power of the new covenant of the grace of God. Hallelujah. And let me tell you, that right there, brothers and sisters, is the reason why the message of grace is under persecution. That's why people will throw slander, saying, Oh, grace is a license to sin, or that this you have to do this in order to be saved, that you know, you know, you can lose salvation and this and that. Why? Because that feels good to them. Saying, break your flesh, deal aggressively with your sin, confess your sins to God, cry, you know, repent of all your sins, weep and weep, go to the altar, do all of this, do all of that, wring out all your sins. You know, you gotta be convicted, you gotta break these practices, you gotta do, you gotta do this and that, do this and that, all these laws and legalism, regulations, it will never work. It will never work. You gotta throw all the old is out. If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away, all things are now new. It's through the new wine of the Spirit, not by us. It's not the old wine of the law, but the new covenant of grace, which is his blood. The blood of Jesus Christ by a new and living way. And through that blood is what? The remission of sins. So what can we see Romans 7? Romans 7 is not about trying, it's not a philosophical debate about, oh, how to be a better person, how to be a better. That's why people always want to use the gospel as, oh, morality clause. Oh, Jesus will never do this, just will never. That's not what it's about. Romans 7 is literally painting a story of a person whose intellect loves God's standards, but their physical frame, our physical bodies, the heart, the human heart, it's been weaponized by an occupying spiritual parasite called sin. And it leaves that reader completely desperate for Romans chapter 8, where the external liberator, the savior, the redeemer breaks down the door to evict the squatter called sin. And that's when Romans 8, verse 1 to 4 comes in. There is no condemnation who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law, the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Those who are positioned in Christ Jesus, the legal case against us is closed. We are prisoners standing before a judge. Guess what? The gavel fell. The sentence is being carried out. And at those who are in Christ, guess what? The gavel never hits the desk. The sentencing does not exist. Our sins and iniquities are remembered no more under the new covenant. And those who it says does not walk after the flesh, but after the spirit. It doesn't mean single step and now a lifestyle of occupation. We are walking at large. We show that we are free. Who the Son says free is free indeed. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. We are walking in freedom, no longer confined to the cell of our own impulses. That's what it means to be in Christ Jesus. Not bound by legalism and trying harder, but now being free in Christ. Our body is now a living sacrifice, wholly and acceptable unto God, our reasonable service, created in Christ Jesus, his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. And it's through Christ we have been made free. And the higher law of the Spirit supersedes and broke down and broken the power of the law of sin. Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. Paul literally says the law was weak through the flesh. The law is like a powerful engine trying to drive through a bridge made of rotten wood. The bridge isn't evil, it's just physically incapable of holding the weight.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:33

And Jesus came in the like, of sinful flesh.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:39

The likeness, I mean, not likefulness, the likeness of sinful flesh. The word likeness in the Greek means a precise resemblance, similitude. See, Jesus didn't just look like a man, he took on the exact form of a servant, a flesh of our human nature, but yet without the sin that usually defines it. Like a like a king. See, it's like it's like a cop, like a police officer. See, that's what it is. Let's think of it like a police officer. See, police can't arrest somebody on the spot. It takes time. You have to build up a case against it. You have to find out the problem, how it operates. So Jesus didn't just come automatically, oh, you're under arrest. No, no, no, no, no. It had to be a way. See, cops, you know what they do? They can't just go in there busting a uniform because they can fire back, they can do anything. No, no, no, no, no. You know what the police do? They go undercover. They look, they look like the common being. You go undercover as a drug dealer, you're not a drug dealer. You go in, Jesus came as an undercover cop to this world, to a drug-infested world of sin. He didn't partake, but he was around it. He ate with it, he gained their trust, he moved with them. Jesus is called the friend of sinners. See, when you go undercover as a as a detective, as a law enforcement, you gain their trust, you gain their heart. Until you build all the evidence, until you find the truth, boom, it snaps you. You're caught. Now you're under arrest.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:13

I'm not who you say I am. Literally, Jesus came in undercover to enter a criminal organized place to stop, to save the community, save the neighborhood. From evil going on.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:40

And because of that, God condemned or passed judgment against sin right where it lived. Where did it live? In the flesh. So Christ took the sentence that we deserved.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:55

That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:00

That word fulfilled is literally mean leveling up a hollow, cramming a net until it can't hold no more. So the law had a hollow spot that humanity couldn't fill. But what happened? The Spirit of Christ crams that hole shut with his own righteousness, leaving no room for the old guilty verdict. So from Romans 7 to the first four verses of Romans 8, what does it show? That Christ did not just pay a debt. And through that, it transitions us from the feeble efforts of the flesh to the complete life of the Spirit. The life we walk on, we live by faith of the Son of God. It shows right here we are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Through his blood, the eternal redemption. Not by what we do. This chapter right here, Romans 7, proves 100% that what I talked about in the first episode, that it is not by works, it is not by our efforts or trying hard or being better, because we are incapable of doing that. But it's only through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that saves us, that redeems us, that liberates us. Deny your works, deny yourself, stop trusting in yourself. Trust in Jesus. You don't have the power, the capability to stop smoking, stop drinking, stop fornicating. We don't have that power.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:38

It's only through the Spirit of God that frees us.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:54

Place your whole being into that. Yeah, you people people that people can easily say, yeah, Jesus died for my sins. They say it so commonly, but do they really believe that? Do you really believe that? And you still call yourself sinner, but do you really believe that?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:09

Do you are you righteous? Is it only through Christ?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:17

Only through Jesus that has completed this, that can accomplish it, that has done it already. Now he just says, walk in it. Deport yourself in here. Hop over the border, enter into this land. You are now free. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed. We are those who worship God in spirit and truth, rejoice and not, they put no confidence in the flesh. We rejoice Christ in spirit. Trust in God. Amen. Thank you for listening to this message. I pray that this word in lines, both you viewers and listeners, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the sweet fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen. God bless.