ROMANS 7:13-25 THE INTERNAL BATTLE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Romans 7:13-25 The Internal Battle Between Good And Evil

Well, this evening as we look at Romans chapter 7, I've titled the message, The Internal Battle Between Good and Evil.

There is, of course, an epic battle between good and evil that's been happening since the beginning, you know, with Adam and Eve in the garden. But as we see that battle raging around us, we also have experience with the battle that rages within. There's a battle between good and evil that we're all experienced with in our own personal lives. And that's a bit of what Paul is addressing here in Romans chapter 7.

Now, as I mentioned, the book of Romans is Paul's really dissertation about the gospel message, the gospel of grace, the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he's been building his case. Back in chapter one of Romans, he explained that there is no excuse for unrighteousness because God has revealed himself and his existence to all humanity.

As he went on into chapter 2, he explained that the law of God applies to all humanity. And so God is going to judge all of humanity according to the law and the deeds, their deeds and their heart. In Romans chapter 3, he explained thoroughly that righteousness cannot come from God's law, but only through faith in Jesus Christ. That's the only way to be right with God. It cannot be through the law.

As we head into chapter 4, he was explaining that righteousness is available to all people as a result because it's offered by grace and received by faith. Because it's not keeping the law and measuring up, it's accessible to all because it's by grace and received by faith.

Well, in chapter 5, he explained how we are all connected to Adam and all people sin and all people die because Adam sinned and we have inherited that sinful nature from him. But then in Romans chapter 6, he explained that we, believing in Jesus, are included in his death and resurrection. And so it's the reversal of the curse of Adam. And so now we are alive in him and free to serve God.

And although all of those things are true, there is this life that we have, this freedom that we have, this deliverance that we have,

Here in chapter 7, Paul is wrestling with and walking us through the wrestling that goes on with, okay, I believe in Jesus. I've received by grace and through faith the gospel message. I have this changed life, and yet there's still struggles, and there's still battles, and I don't really understand how that works. And so Paul is going to help us to think through these things and get a better understanding of Jesus.

Our relationship to the Lord and our relationship to the law. And so we're going to look at three points to consider this internal battle. This thing that we're all experienced with. This good and evil that is raging within us. The first thing we'll look at is here in verses 13 through 17. Here's point number one. The good law reveals the evil in me. One of the bad conclusions that we can come to in wrestling through all of this is the law must not be good.

We just toss out the law. The law is not good. It's no good. You know, I don't want anything to do with it. It was a bad idea from the beginning. And we can have this mentality that the law is not good. But Paul here is explaining that that is not the case. Check out verse 13. Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not. But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good.

so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. Here Paul says, the law being good, he says, has this good thing become death to me? And he says, no way, absolutely not, certainly not. That's not the issue. The issue is not with the law. The law is good. The law is perfect. The law is holy. The problem he goes on to address is not the law, but the sin that is within me.

And here he's explaining that the whole purpose of the law is to reveal the issue of sin that exists. Notice he says, but sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me. It's interesting to consider that because many times for us, sin does not appear to be sin.

right? When Adam and Eve were in the garden and the serpent came to Eve and presented the sin, right? It didn't appear to be sin. No, it was good for food. It was lovely to look at. It looked like it was going to, you know, be very tasty. And she says, oh, it's going to make me wise. It looks great from all perspectives, from all sides. It doesn't appear to be sin. The law is

brings out and brings clarity and revelation to the reality of sin that is there. There's a great deception that happens within our heart, a strong deception when it comes to sin. And the commandments of God bring clarity. They show the sin that is in our hearts, the evil that we have within in our sinful nature. And so sin through the commandment becomes exceedingly sinful. And

we become aware by the commands of God, by the law of God, how bad sin really is. And that is a reminder that we need because we often water it down. We often, you know, kind of calm down or reduce the severity of sin.

We often don't recognize and see the sin that is taking place in us. Paul said earlier, I wouldn't know what covetousness was, except for the law said, thou shalt not covet. And so now I had to figure out what's covetousness and how am I doing it? And he realized there's covetousness in me. And the law brought that to light, brought that clarity and that revelation so that it was clear that sin that was already there. It reminds me of a situation I read about a while back.

There was a hotel in Texas. It was right on the coast and it was actually built right on the ocean, kind of like out on the pier. So the hotel was literally on the ocean. The water was under it. And as they built this hotel, it was several stories high and they had balconies in the rooms. And so you can imagine, you know, in your room, you'd go out on the balcony and just there's the ocean right there. What a beautiful view and an amazing time.

Well, as they're putting this hotel together and, you know, putting in all the final touches and such, they realized, well, we need to protect ourselves a little bit because if people start to fish off the balcony, it could cause problems for people down below them. And so they put up signs in the upper floors, no fishing from the balcony. When the hotel opened...

people began to fish from the balcony. And it was causing a lot of problems because they would cast it out, but the line wouldn't go far enough and the line would swing back and the weight would hit the windows on the first floor and shatter the windows in the dining room and scare guests. And there was these problems that they just had perpetually because people kept trying to fish from the balconies.

They tried various things to address the problem. And finally, they found something that worked. That was, they went around the rooms and removed the signs that said no fishing from the balcony. And when they removed the signs, what they found was people didn't have the idea themselves to fish from the balcony. They gave them that idea. They told them it was forbidden and made it desirable. And so now they began to fish from the balcony, right? Now, that rebellion...

in the heart of those guests was there, whether the signs were there or not. But the sign posted brought to light the issue that was within the hearts of their guests. And removing the sign didn't change the guests' hearts. But as Paul said, but sin that it might appear sin was producing death in me through what is good. It's something interesting about our nature.

We see what is forbidden. We see the law that is given. And there's a little bit of a desire. There's a little bit of a pull for us to do what it is that God has forbidden.

But it's not that the law is bad. It's that it's revealing. It's drawing out. It's showing the issue that there exists within our hearts. Sin is now appearing as sin because, well, the law has revealed the sin, the evil within us. In verse 14, he says, Here's why there is this difference, this variance.

Because the law is spiritual. And I, I'm fleshly. I'm carnal, Paul says. I have this issue of sin. This is one of the other interesting aspects of the law. It's easy for us to look at the law and externalize it. That's what the Pharisees did, right? They made it a system of rules that they could obey externally. But Jesus had to come back on the scene and remind them the law is about the heart.

It's not about the external thing and keeping those things, but, well, that's part of it, but it goes much beyond that into the heart. On the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talked about murder. It's not just, you know, whether or not you kill somebody, but it's the hatred that you harbor and so on and so forth. And so Paul says, look, the law is spiritual. It addresses the heart. It addresses the spirit. But I'm bound to this fleshly nature, this carnal nature, right?

I'm sold under sin. The law is spiritual, but I have this carnal nature as a part of me. And Paul goes on to express what that means here in verse 15. He says, for what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice. But what I hate, that I do. Paul says, look, I'm looking at my life, my behavior. I'm looking at what I'm going through and I don't understand what I'm doing.

It doesn't make sense. Now, as you look at the gospel that Paul presents here in the book of Romans, it's very well thought out. It's clearly articulated. It's this case that is built logic upon logic upon logic. There's a great case that he is making here. He knows how to think clearly, but he says, I just, I can't understand what's going on in my life. What I will to do, the things that I want to do,

I find it really hard to practice those things. It's really hard to actually do those things. I want to do them, but I can't figure out how to do them. And the things that I just, I don't want to do, the things that I hate, those are the things that I find myself doing. You know, sometimes we forget that Paul was a normal person. He was a spiritual man, a godly man, an apostle used by God. Yes.

but he also was a regular guy who had a sinful nature. And so he's able to wrestle through these things along with us. What I want to do, I find it really hard to practice those things, to build those habits. And what I don't want to do, man, I just find myself back in that pattern and doing that again. Does that sound familiar? Can you understand what the apostle Paul is sharing here? Paul is explaining, this is what the law does.

It brings clarity to the extent of the evil. It brings clarity to the sinful nature that I have. Now he goes on to say in verse 16, if then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. So if I find myself doing the things that I don't want to do, I don't want to do them, right? But I find myself doing them. Paul says, look, that's my own testimony against myself. I agree with the law. I agree that the law is good.

the problem is not with the law the law is good you know there's some laws that we ignore because we don't agree with them right we're like yeah that's not a good law i'm just gonna do what i think is a better way or you know follow that hey the speed limit says it's 45 i know it's way you know safer to go way faster than that i can do 60 in this zone no problem right it's safe no problem i understand i i don't think that's a good law right when we find ourselves

Doing what we don't want to do, it's our own testimony against ourselves. We understand, we agree, the law is good. The problem isn't the law. The problem isn't that we don't know the law. The problem isn't that the law is not good. Paul says, look, you do stuff that you don't want to do because you agree or it shows that you agree that the law is good. But now he says in verse 17, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

See, this issue is the sin that is revealed. I agree the law is good. I can testify of the battle. The things that I want to do, I find it hard to do those things. And the things that I don't want to do, I find it easy to do those things. There is this battle because of the sin that dwells in me. The issue is not with the law, but it's within my heart. It's the sin issue that must be addressed.

Pastor David Guzik says, the law is like an x-ray machine. It reveals plainly what might have always been there, but was hidden before. You can't blame an x-ray for what it exposes. You break your arm, you go in, you get an x-ray, the x-ray didn't break your arm. It just reveals the break that is there. That's

a good picture of the law. It reveals the break that is within our hearts, the sinful nature that is there. It reveals the evil within me. And so it's a good law. It does its job. It reveals that I am sinful. It reveals that I need a Savior.

Well, moving on to verses 18 through 23, we get the second point to consider tonight. As we talk about the internal battle between good and evil, we find here in verses 18 through 23 that the law does not help me do good. The law does not help me do good. The law is good, but the law does not help me to do good. Let's read verses 18 through 23. Here's what it says.

Verse 1.

Here Paul goes a little bit deeper into this battle that rages, this internal battle that is taking place, the battle between good and evil, the desire to do good and

and the draw, the temptation to do evil. It's a very interesting portion to study, and I would encourage you to spend some time continuing on the thoughts here, because there's some things that the Lord would want to reveal to you and speak to you, that this battle that rages is something that Paul experienced, it's something that you experienced, it's something that I experienced, it's true of us as those who desire to follow the Lord.

There is this pull, these different, you know, tug of war that's happening upon our hearts. The law is good, but it doesn't help me to do good. Paul says in verse 18, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells. How do I know this? Paul goes on to say, because I have the will to do good, but I can't find how to perform it.

And so he comes to the conclusion, I know that in me, nothing good dwells. Paul says, I know this. I would ask you to consider, do you know that? Do you know that in you, nothing good dwells? That any goodness doesn't come from us internally. It doesn't come from our nature. Paul says, I don't have that goodness within. You remember that

young ruler who came to Jesus and said, good teacher, what must I do to inherit the kingdom of God? And Jesus says, why do you call me good? There is none who is good except for God. Do you know that nothing good dwells in you? Lord, please help us to get this through our heads, into our hearts. We need to know that we are not good. I want to do good. The desire to do good is there.

Paul says, I will to do good. The will is present with me, but how to perform what is good? Oh, that's the challenge. I can't figure out how to do good. All the wanting to do good in the world doesn't help me perform good. And sometimes we can, you know, really try to work hard at, okay, so what if I really, really, really, really want to do good? And I'll just try really hard to do good. I can find the will to do good. I can see the desire to do good.

What if I'm really determined? You know, what if I really commit to it? What if I make a strong New Year's resolution? Then I could do good. Then I can be good. Paul says, I can't find how to perform what is good. C.S. Lewis says, no one knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. If you want to know how bad you are, try really hard to be good. And you have to work really hard to try to be good and to figure out the frustrating thing is

I can't be good. I have this evil, this wickedness, this sin within me. The law does not help me to do good. Verse 19, for the good that I will to do, I do not do, but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Again, this same battle. There's good that I want to do. I want to do good, but how do I do it? Because I can't figure out how to accomplish the good that I want to do.

And then on the other side, there's evil that, oh man, I don't ever want to do that ever again. And every day I find myself doing that thing that I'm like, I never want to do that ever again, right? There's this contrast of the good that I want to do that I can't do and the evil that I don't want to do, but I can't help but do that. Verse 21, he says, I find that a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. Even though I want to do good, this law, the reality of

The situation that I face is that there is evil present with me. There's a battle within. And Paul says, it's frustrating. I don't understand it. How can this be going on? In Galatians chapter 5, Paul addresses this situation as well and shares a few different insights. One of those is Galatians chapter 5 verse 17. He says, "...for the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh."

Here's the battle that is going on. Here's the kind of the behind the scenes look. There is the flesh, your sinful nature, that lusts or wars against the spirit. And then you have the spirit that is warring against the flesh. And there is this battle that takes place as a result. You have that sinful nature. And then you have the spirit that is warring against the flesh.

And as a believer in Jesus Christ, you have the Holy Spirit and they're contrary to one another. And so you find that battle within. Paul says, so that you do not do the things that you wish. All the good that you want to do and all the good that the Holy Spirit puts upon your heart and all the good that you would dream of and desire to do, you find yourself stumbling in those things.

Because there is this flesh, there is this battle. Evil is present with you even when you want to do good. You know, sometimes we look at the situations that other people are in and we look at, oh man, what a mess they're making. Look at them struggling with that. How could they be struggling with that? I mean, clearly they just don't want to do good. That's why they're in such a mess.

That's the only explanation we can come up with in our heads. As we look at somebody else struggling with some issue, they must not want to do good, right? Because the answer is so clear, the situation, it's so apparent. But here's the Apostle Paul saying, look, I want to do good and I find myself struggling with evil. This is a reality for us. We can look at others and judge them easily, but we're so much lighter on ourselves. Yeah, it's not the same with me. I want to do good. You know, it's just that sinful nature is strong.

We need to recognize and understand I am the problem. I'm the problem. It's within me. It's my heart, my sinful nature. As Jeremiah said, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Above all things, the best thing that your heart does is deceive you about your sinfulness. That's what it's best at. We need to understand this reality. One of the issues that happens when we wrestle with these things is, okay, I'm going to fix this sin issue.

So what I need to do is I need to make some rules. I need to make some laws. And I'm going to set some boundaries in my life. And so I'm not going to cross this barrier. And we attempt to control our sinful nature. We attempt to do good by the law or by our own laws that we make up. And Paul's point here is that the law doesn't provide what you need to perform what is good. It doesn't provide what you need to keep you from doing what is evil.

And it doesn't give you the resources you need to go and do what is good. It reveals instead, on the other hand, the weaknesses that are there. There's sin that we need to turn from. There's sin that needs to be addressed. Confession time. I love to make jokes, even if I'm the only one who laughs, and even if it offends you and hurts you. And I don't ever want to do that again. But guess what? I love to do that. I love to joke around.

And it gets me in trouble. I hurt you. I hurt others. It's part of one of the battles. And I could try to make laws and rules. Okay, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to count to 10 before I say any joke. I could try to make boundaries. I could try to like force this, you know, apply this structure, apply this law. That's not going to be successful. That's not the way to address sin. We struggle with issues of selfishness.

We can't law our way out of the issues of selfishness. We can't rule our way out of selfishness. We struggle with covetousness.

Or maybe you're dealing with anger or laziness. Or maybe you're just like craving ice cream, right? And it's just like, oh, ice cream. Like you just can't get your mind off it. You dream about it every day. You know, you're thinking about it. And you're just like, of course, I'm using ice cream as any other sin that you might be dealing with, right? And it's just, oh man, it's captured your heart. You could try to address it with laws, but learn the lesson from the Apostle Paul here. That's not going anywhere.

to finish the issue of sin for you. That's not going to deliver you from sin. Laws and rules, they don't help you to do good. That's not what the law was for. Going back to point number one, the law reveals the evil that's within me. That's its purpose. Not to enable me to do good, but to reveal to me that I am not good.

And so I can't rely upon the law to turn away from, to be the resource that I need to stop the sin in my life. But the law also cannot help me to do all the good that I need to do. What is the good that you want to do that you just find yourself unable to do? You know, maybe it's a devotional life. You hear about other people having a great Bible reading time and prayer and, you know, time with the Lord in the morning. And you're like, man, I really want to do that.

So here's what I need to do. I need a law, you know. I need to make a law to make a really strong commitment, to make a really strong dedication, and I'm going to do good. And I'm going to be determined this time, and this time it's going to stick. You can't law your way into what is good. It's not going to be successful. You're going to find yourself frustrated, just like the Apostle Paul as he attempted that. It's not the answer.

It doesn't help me to do good. Verse 22, for I delight in the law of God according to 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. And so there is this battle, the law of God and the law of sin. And there's this battle between them. There's this friction between them.

He says,

And again, we can't go to the other extreme and just like ignore the law. The law is important and has its place. We need it to be able to see the issue that is there, but it's not the solution for the issue that is there. So what's the solution? Well, Paul will give us that in verses 24 and 25. Here's point number three for tonight. The good Lord delivers me to serve him.

So just running through the points again really quickly as we talk about the internal battle between good and evil. Point number one, the good law reveals the evil in me. That's what it does. That's what its purpose is. Number two, the law does not help me to do good. It shows me the problem, but it's not the answer to the problem.

Instead, the answer, point number three, the good Lord delivers me to serve him. Verse 24 and 25 says this, Here Paul explains the answer is the Lord.

He says, I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. It's God who is the answer. It's God who delivers us. Now, this thought that Paul is addressing here, it flows into Romans chapter 8, which is our reading for tomorrow. And so we'll kind of continue this line of thought as we continue on working our way through the book of Romans. In Romans chapter 8, verse 1,

Paul says, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. He's able to thank God and rejoice in the deliverance of Jesus so that the result is there's no condemnation. So the issue with the law is it reveals the sin. It leaves me in a state of condemnation because

But now in Christ, he's explaining, there is therefore now no condemnation. But before we get all the way to there, we have to start first, come to the end of ourselves. And so in verse 24, Paul says, O wretched man that I am, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? As he wrestles with this issue, as he struggles through these things, again, he says, I find these two laws, the law of God and

And the law of sin in my members and they're at odds with one another and there's friction between them. And the things that I want to do, I have a really hard time doing those things. And the things that I don't want to do, I just find myself falling back into those patterns of sin. And Paul here is explaining it's super frustrating. It's so frustrating. I want to do those things. Why can't I? I never want to do that again. Why do I keep doing it?

O wretched man that I am. The word wretched, one of the Greek scholars, Wiest, says it was originally wretched through the exhaustion of hard labor. It was that idea of that just completely empty, completely wasted, completely spent, exhausted through hard labor. And that is what righteousness through the law brings us to.

Trying to be right before God by law, by legalism, by making rules, by trying to follow rules and keeping laws, it leaves us in a condition that is wretched, just completely exhausted. We're trying our best. We're giving it all we got. We're trying to be really disciplined and determined, but we find ourselves at the end frustrated, unsuccessful, exhausted, wretched. Legalism will exhaust you.

You try to do good by keeping laws, you're going to find yourself in that same place of frustration. And so Paul says, who will deliver me from this body of death? Now there's a key here in verse 24. Notice he doesn't say, how will I be delivered? He says, who will deliver me?

You see, the answer to this whole situation of sin and the desire to do good, but the inability to do it and the desire to stay away from sin, but then the finding ourselves stuck back in sin, the deliverance from that perpetual cycle of frustration is not a how, but a who. We often look for the how. We're looking for the, okay, give me the formula, give me the steps, give me the law, give me the things to do. And we're looking for the how to do those things.

But here Paul is explaining it's not a how, it's a who. Who will deliver me from this body of death? The law can't, a system can't, rules and regulations can't to be justified before God, that is to stand before him just as if you'd never sinned. You can't accomplish that through the laws, through some system.

Sanctification, the process of becoming holy, to become more like God as we grow in our relationship with him, it can't be accomplished by the law. We can't deliver ourselves from this pattern of sin. This body of death is what we're stuck with. Deliverance must come from outside of ourselves. Who will deliver me? And the answer, of course, is Jesus. In verse 25, he says, "'I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.'"

Jesus is the deliverer. So that by believing in Jesus, outside of myself, he did the work. I'm justified. I'm declared righteous before God. I'm declared not guilty before God because I believe in Jesus. The sanctifying work of God happens not through my efforts, not through my works, not through the keeping of the laws, but it happens through Jesus.

In the same way that justification happens through Jesus, sanctification happens through Jesus. It's God's grace received by faith. The glorification aspect of salvation, not accomplished by the law or my efforts, it's accomplished by the work of Jesus Christ. Again, the same way that justification is accomplished. It's by God's grace received through faith, believing in Jesus Christ.

We have that promise of complete deliverance and that glorification that he's promised. But in the meantime, until we're there with our glorified body, in the meantime, between here and eternity, there is the battle. And so Paul says in verse 25, Jesus is my deliverer. But notice, as he continues on in the verse,

He makes it clear. There's still a struggle. There's still a battle. Pastor David Guzik says, Paul doesn't pretend that looking to Jesus takes away the struggle. Jesus works through us, not instead of us in the battle against sin. The deliverer is Jesus. So then I, with my mind, serve the law of God, but with the flesh...

There's still this battle against sin. There still is the law of sin. There still is this friction. And so that seems like not a solution because, well, I believe in Jesus and I still find myself in the same battle, the same struggle. So how am I better? Well, again, that's where it flows into verse one of chapter eight. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. The deliverance that Jesus provides is the deliverance from condemnation. That doesn't mean we have then a life of perfection.

Notice verse 1 doesn't read this way of Romans chapter 8. He doesn't say there is therefore now no struggle to those who are in Christ Jesus. He doesn't say there's therefore now no battle for those who are in Christ Jesus. No, he says there is no condemnation. That means there's still battle and there's still failure, but there's no condemnation.

There's deliverance from the condemnation. There's growth as we progress and go forward, but it doesn't take away the battle. It doesn't take away the struggle. And that's why the Christian life really is a walk by faith because we have to really believe God at his word that we are right with him and have access to his throne in our times of victory and in our times of defeat. We have to really believe God. There is therefore now no condemnation.

that I can come before God, that I have access to God, that I'm able to approach God, to rely upon God, to trust in God. The good Lord delivers me to serve him. He delivers me from condemnation that I can have access to him, that I can walk with him, that I can serve him. And this really is the crux of the matter. It's the real important point that all of this leads us to.

What we need is not a system of laws and rules and regulations. What we need is not, you know, complete deliverance from the battle. We can't expect the complete deliverance from the battle. A lot of times we get discouraged because we're wanting that. We're looking for that. We're measuring ourselves by the, you know, intensity of the battle. But the battle is going to be there. And at different points in our lives, the battle will be different. And there will be different intensities and different things that we're experiencing.

But what we can count on and what can bring us through all of those battles is the Lord and the deliverance from condemnation, the deliverance from the law, the deliverance from judgment, the freedom to come to God. Everything that we need, it's going to be found in Jesus Christ. Pastor Warren Wiersbe puts it this way. Keep your love relationship with the Lord alive and exciting forever.

And you will have righteousness instead of wretchedness. The way to progress, the way to move forward, we're not going to experience the complete absence of battle. But the way to progress and move forward in our battle with the flesh and our desire to draw near to God, the way to progress and move forward is to keep our love relationship with the Lord alive and exciting. Keep your relationship with the Lord alive and exciting.

And there will still be struggles, there will still be battles, but God will do the work that needs to be done in you and through you. And sometimes the issue of sin really distracts us from our relationship with the Lord. And we're so focused on it, we're so captivated by it. I remember many, many years ago now, as a kid, riding down the boardwalk along the beach and

and I think we were with a bunch of youth kids or something, and one of the adults said, hey, guys, you're going to find yourself at some point on the ride, like right next to the sand. And if you make the choice and look at the sand, and you're like terrified of the sand, and I don't want to fall into the sand because I'm going to crash my bike. If you fix your eyes on the sand, you're going to end up in the sand. Right?

But when you find yourself right there alongside of it and you're about to crash into it, lift your eyes up and look to where you want to go and you'll be able to pull away. But if you fix your eyes on the sand, it's like you can't help it. You're going to get stuck in the sand. It's going to draw you there. And you know, sometimes the issue of sin, sometimes our focus on the law gets us stuck in this pattern where we're stuck in the sand. It draws us to the sin, even though we're so focused on it because we want to try to avoid it, right?

Paul's like, look, you need to take your eyes off of the sin. There's no condemnation. You're forgiven in Christ. Let that go. Instead, you focus on your relationship with the Lord. And that's what Romans chapter 8 is all about. That walk in the Spirit. Focus on walking with the Lord. Focus on your relationship with Him. He'll work out all those details. He'll work out the sin issues and those struggles and those battles. And they're not all going to go away. But you'll experience victory not by

accomplishing those things through your own efforts or through the law, you'll experience victory by knowing the Lord and by loving Him. That's what we need. That's the most important thing. It always comes back to this. We need to know God. We need to love God. We need to walk with Him. He does the work in us. He does the work through us. He doesn't take away the battles, but He gives us victory as we walk with Him.

And so you can look forward to that kind of encouragement as we continue on into Romans chapter eight tomorrow in the reading. But for now, I would just encourage you to remember there is this internal battle between good and evil and it's super frustrating, but don't let that captivate your attention in such a way that you're not seeking out that relationship with the Lord.

Don't let it distract you. Don't be so frustrated. And sometimes we can be so discouraged, we stay away from God. We can be so distracted. Again, it causes us to stumble because we're so caught up with the issue of sin or the struggle that we're facing. There is this internal battle, but understand the whole purpose. The law and your conscience is there to reveal that there is evil, that you need a savior. The law does not help you to do good.

your own laws or the law of God. Instead, it's the Lord who delivers you to serve him. And he does good. He brings victory. But you got to keep your focus where it needs to be. Not on your efforts, not on the external laws and rules and regulations. Keep your focus on the Lord. Again, as Pastor Warren Wiersbe said, keep your love relationship with the Lord alive and exciting. And you'll have righteousness instead of wretchedness. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your word of the important and valuable lessons that it teaches. Lord, that we don't continue on in a pattern of frustration, trying to resolve these things, trying to do good, trying to stay away from evil through our own efforts, through rules and laws, through legalism. Lord, it's a trap that is appealing to us and appealing to our sinful nature. We're drawn to those kinds of solutions.

But Lord, would you keep our eyes open as we see you clearly demonstrate and share these things with us through the Apostle Paul tonight. Help us, Lord, to recognize the answer is not found there, but it's found in you. Lord, it's you that we need. And so, God, I pray that you would help us to have hearts for you. Teach us, Lord, to know you. Teach us to walk with you. Help us to love you, to live for you, and to walk in a real relationship

relationship with you. Lord, with you speaking to us and us speaking to you, Lord, would you transform us as we spend time in your presence. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.