Head, Heart, Hands
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Pastoral Reminder: Head Heart Hands
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Let us turn to Romans 7:12-25
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. 13 Therefore, did what is good become death to me? Absolutely not! But, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin. 15 For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. 19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me. 21 So I discover this law: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me. 22 For in my inner self I delight in God’s law, 23 but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.
When we speak of the Apostle Paul we can look to him as a special man. God did much through his servant Paul. He spread the gospel, proclaimed Jesus to the gentile world. Started churches, taught, disciplined, encouraged, and supported the new churches that were coming alive in the years after Jesus was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead.
There is so much that God accomplished through him that we look past the fact that Paul was and is still a man like anyone else. He inherited the fallen nature from Adam. Saved by faith and lived in flesh like we do today.
The passage we are looking at today is a glimpse into this man. Into his inner being. He describes what is revealed in his flesh by the holiness of the law. He turns to describe his own reality before the laws of God and speaks of the inner conflict of the believer.
Nature of Man
Nature of Man
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin. 15 For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me.
For we know that the law is spiritual. The Jewish Christians acknowledged that the words of God that were provided at Mount Sinai were spiritual. They were not words of man alone. They were spiritual because they have a divine source. As they come form God through the Spirit.
20 Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, 21 because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
These words are not a man’s way of attempting to describe things. They are God’s way of describing God things to a fallen and limited man. The Holy Spirit did the work though men as he carried them along as they spoke from God.
The law is also spiritual because of what it contains. The law displays the will of God and the nature of God. The truth of God is found in the law. For
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God ....
The law is spiritual because of its purposes. Going back to earlier parts of Chapter 7 we saw that the law stands to bring light to the depravity of men. As the Law: reveals sin for what it is and shows that sin is overabundantly sinful. That sin is beyond the ability to measure.
The law, the commands of God, the truth of his will, stand in opposition to sin. Bringing it to light, calling it to question, challenging it in the hearts of men.
When Paul sits before the God breathed words of the law, he finds that he is not spiritual like the law. His heart is not a reflection of the heavens, but his is one of the flesh. He is a carnal man and man of flesh. He is of his father and his father as a son of Adam. He finds that he has been sold under sin that in his human nature he does not find the things of God there, but the things of flesh.
How does he come to this conclusion that he is carnal and ungodly.
15 For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.
I do not understand what I am doing. I sit down in my mind and there are those things that I want to do. There are things that I desire to do.
People don’t desire to do what they hate. What they strongly dislike.
He has thought about the list. He has set his will to go in the right direction. He knows they come from God, align with God, and this is what he wants to do. But at the end of the day he finds that he has done the opposite of what he wanted. Instead what he finds himself doing is what he has come to hate.
Sound familiar to you own experience?
Paul is not describing a one off, infrequent events of sin. It is not a here or there occurrence. This is not a whoops moment. The Greek for practice means to be in habitual and continual actions.
I do not understand why I have this pattern of life that doesn’t align with my own mind.
16 Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good.
The fact that my behavior does not align with my own mind shows that I agree with the Law, that it is good or I would not have a desire to do it.
Why doesn’t my mind just agree with what I am doing? Why can’t I just be ok in sin? It must be because I agree with something outside of myself. Why am I upset with my own actions and behavior. Because I agree with the Law. I consent to have it over me.
And if I agree that the law is good, and if I want and desire to do what is good, and then I find myself doing what I am against, then the conclusion is.
17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me.
The carnal man in the flesh finds this truth when he looks closely at the Law. That if he desires to follow the law he find that he does the opposite and it is the sin living in him. Sin is shown to be in control of the flesh. No matter what he believes in his mind, in the flesh he does what is contrary to God.
The commandment, do not lie can be understood to be good and the flesh will still lie and even lie about lying. The commandment of honor your mother and father makes sense. But rebellion is a reality.
1 For my part, brothers and sisters, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, since you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready, 3 because you are still worldly. For since there is envy and strife among you, are you not worldly and behaving like mere humans?
Paul points out that even with the proper knowledge and with the proper goal. Even with setting you will to achieve that objective. That the man of flesh will still follow sin. Paul is not speaking of an unbeliever since they do not accept God’s Law as good as they are hostile to the law.
14 But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.
This is Paul we are talking about here. Even great Paul recognized that his flesh was overly abundantly sinful, for that is the nature of the flesh.
The Quality of Man
The Quality of Man
18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. 19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me.
In his mind he agrees with what is good and holy and right the law, but in his flesh nothing good lives in him. There is nothing good in the fallen nature of man.
5 When the Lord saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time,
21 When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, he said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of human beings, even though the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth onward. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done.
It is devoid of the ability to do what is good. Who likes to think that there is nothing good in them on their own? If I asked 1000 people if there thought they were a good person what would you think the results would be?
18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it.
No only the question of if there is good but do you have the ability to be good? I want to desperately to do what is good but I cannot. Not only can I not do it but I have found the truth that even though I want to I have no ability to do it. I cannot accomplish the good I desire but instead I find evil.
19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.
Evil. The word that today has the connection to the bad guys in our movies and book. Or to be applied to the worst of the worst in history, the Neros and Hitlers of the human race. But true evil means simply to do that which is immoral. That which is against God. That which is against the law. That which is natural to the flesh of man. That which is impure.
4 Who can produce something pure from what is impure? No one!
The nature of God, his unmeasurable holiness, is not seen in the flesh of man but instead the exact opposite. Evil. Paul says he practices the things God hates. The things God has commanded not to do and to neglect the things that God has said to do. So the evil of his hands reveals the same conclusion.
20 Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me.
The nature of the flesh produces all kinds of evil as sin lives and dwells in him. He summarizes the conflict that all believers have in their minds and actions.
The Conflict Within
The Conflict Within
21 So I discover this law: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me. 22 For in my inner self I delight in God’s law, 23 but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.
He finds this law, this principle, this rule. This is what he finds to be true. That when he wants to do good, right there in the same moment is evil. Is immorality. In my mind and inner self, I delight in God’s law.
2 Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night.
1 Hallelujah! Happy is the person who fears the Lord, taking great delight in his commands.
35 Help me stay on the path of your commands, for I take pleasure in it.
He takes pleasure in the commands of God. They are a blessing to him. He isn’t apathetic towards them like many are today. He isn’t flippant with them. He isn’t dismissive of them. He isn’t in rebellion to them in his mind. He loves the law of God. He delights in them for in them he sees his creator. He see his savior. He sees his master. He sees his father God. He knows they are good because they come from a good God.
Even all of this is true, when he looks that the parts of his body, he sees a different law or principle in his members. He says words that hurt, his hands commit evil, he does what he does not want to do and he doesn’t do what he wants. He finds a war at the center of his soul. A waging war. Not s simple skirmish or battle but a full-blown, no holds barred, war raging between the law of his mind, the parts of his body taking him prisoner to the the law of sin.
He finds that in his flesh the truth in James is a one way repetitive and predictive path.
14 But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. 15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.
What he finds is that in the flesh and carnal man, he practices the desires of own evil heart. In his mind he desires the follow the law but in the parts of his body he finds the flesh nature continues to birth more and more sin. Sin beyond measure. So he finds that in his flesh there is nothing good in him. In his will there is no ability to do what he loves in his mind.
What a state to be in? What a wretched man am I.
Who Will Deliver Me
Who Will Deliver Me
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.
I cannot do this. I cannot achieve this. I cannot save myself. I am desperate. Who will save me from this body of death? This body of flesh. The corruption of the fall that still resided even in the Christian. I cannot achieve the law, therefore I cannot be saved by it, fulfill it, or do it. If salvation is by works to the law I am a man without hope.
But with great thanksgiving the Christian is rescued from the body of death through our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
The renewed mind, the awakening, the recognition that the flesh is opposed to the will of God come through a work of God on a persons mind.
2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
God promised through the scriptures that he would make a new covenant with his people, a covenant that Jesus inaugurated with his death. A covenant that would place the law of God in their minds and hearts.
31 “Look, the days are coming” —this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—my covenant that they broke even though I am their master”—the Lord’s declaration. 33 “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them” —this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.
In Paul’s mind he serves the law of God but in his flesh he serves the law of sin. The receiving of the Holy Spirit has taken the external law of God and placed it in a believer’s mind and heart. It is written there bringing accusation against the flesh.
It is the person who repents and is baptized in the name of Jesus will receive what has opened the mind to their sin.
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
This passage is part of Paul’s progression of the work of God in a believer as they are saved by the power of the gospel. The lost one, who stands outside of the family. Mind and body unified in living a life that is fully under sin. they live on opposition to God and his law and do not even know that they are doing it. They worship the things of creation and fail to know the creator. Living as a condemned person found guilty before the justice of God.
But it is by faith that a person is credited righteousness and are saved and redeemed. They see that they are sinners, that their life is in opposition to God’s law, they see that they are going to receive God’s wrath and anger and that they are in need of a savior. The repent are baptized and thy receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
This is where Paul is at as he starts to speak on the sanctifying work of the Spirit. That the Spirit has opened his mind to the truth of his fallenness. This begins the new life of knowing the will of God, knowing the will of the flesh and living a life that walks in the Spirit instead of the flesh.
16 I say, then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things—as I warned you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Why do I do what I do? Why did I say what I say? Why did I have that thought? This is a common experience, a daily reality for each and every Christian. As we look to God’s word, by the Spirit he reveals more and more of his law and what he calls good. What his good and pleasing will is for our lives. We then have a choice to sin or not. Paul isn’t there yet but in the passage to the Galatians he says walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
We recognize those desires of the flesh exist but they have been crucified with Christ. And then we live in step with the Spirt.
On Sunday evenings, we have been looking at the attributes of God, his characteristics and qualities and what they mean for us as his children. this last Sunday we were looking at the presence of the Holy Spirit. That the Spirit works in people by convicting sin, giving direction, encouraging, empowering, sanctifying, and giving life, giving understanding to Gods truth, confessing Jesus as Lord, and produces Godly fruit just to name a few.
When we sin we are fully responsible for it as is comes from our own fallen flesh. But when we live in step with the Spirit it is God who is at work in the believer. For God’s law was recorded by the Spirt for us to see the truth. It is by the spirit that are minds are able to see it as good and desire to live in obedience to them. It is by the Spirit that we have new desires and passions to pursue. It is by the Spirit that have what we need to live and walk in the Spirit. It is by the Spirit we are sealed with the down payment of the inheritance.
We are wretched men and women who have been saved by a beautiful loving God, who’s Spirit wells in us. If it was about us earning our salvation, or maintaining it we would never make it to heaven.
But we have the blessing of knowing the truth. The grace of having what we need to live out the truth. The mercy when we fail to follow the Spirit and find ourselves in sin. The forgiveness that our account has been payed once for all by Jesus’ death. And comfort that he will never leave us or forsake us even when we fall to our own flesh nature. We take comfort that as we live out the war raging in our mind and members that it is not about what we do but about what God has done.
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, 2 because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Head, Heart, Hands
Let us pray.
Let us pray.
Prayer
Blessing/Benediction
23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
