Why Every Believer Still Struggles With Sin — Romans 7:15-25

(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, once again we'll come right back into Romans chapter 7, and just a possibility we might finish Romans 7 and start chapter 8 in this program, but again we never know. But turn with me to Romans chapter 7, we'll pick up where we left off at the end of our last program. Once again, for those of you watching on television, in case you're just a first time listener, we're just an informal Bible study. We're not, in this ministry at least, associated with any group. We're not underwritten by anyone. We are just simply independent. We're teaching the Book, hopefully, to help people enjoy and understand the Bible. We've come to the place where I think too many people just rely on what people have written, and maybe within their denominational confines, and they are so totally unaware of so many of these scriptural truths. And of course, that's what thrills us when we get these letters expressing just that, that they are beginning to understand and see things that they had never seen before. And I had a phone call from a pastor the other day, I think he was from Indiana, and how he was enjoying the program. Well, that thrills my heart to think that even some of these pastors are enjoying our teaching. Now, I guess I should just quickly announce that all the past programs are available again on videotapes or on the printed page, and if you're interested, you write, we'll send you a table of contents, the prices and so forth, and then you can either call or write back. All right, we've got a lot to cover yet before we get out of this Book of Romans, so I'd like to have you come back quickly with me then to Romans chapter 7, and we finished at verse 14 of our last program, where Paul now, remember, is reconstructing how he had to deal with the old Adam as he came under that conversion experience when he met Christ on the road to Damascus. And now he comes to the conclusion in verse 14, that it's lost its spiritual condition, absolutely it's spiritual, it is the very mind of God so far as mankind is concerned. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I, Paul says, am carnal, I'm a son of Adam, sold under the old Adamic nature, or under sin. And again, as I mentioned in the closing remarks of our last program, that when Adam fell, when Adam sinned, he plunged the whole human race into that condition, and consequently Christ had to die in order to bring fallen mankind back to Himself. And so, lest some get rather judgmental toward God, and I know people do, well how in the world could God call me a sinner because of what Adam did 6,000 years ago? Well I can't answer that, but I just know that God's mind is higher than our minds, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and this is the way He sovereignly set it all in motion, that He put Adam and Eve in the garden, gave them one simple responsibility that they not eat of that one tree, and it was just merely a means of testing to see if they could remain obedient, there wasn't anything that wicked in the fruit, but it was a means of testing, and of course he flunked totally, and he ate, and again a sovereign God declared that now that Adam had sinned, all his offspring would inherit that sin nature. And you see, this is what we try to teach when we show that the blood circulatory system of the fetus as the mother carries it, never is touched by the mother's blood, and that's of course what gives rise then to the virgin birth, Mary could carry the child Jesus, and her blood never coursed through His veins, but the circulatory system of every human fetus originates with the Father, and so also with Christ in His virgin birth, His blood system originated with the Father, and so it was divine blood, it was sinless blood, contrary to those of us who are the offspring of Adam. And so every child of Adam now then, as Paul says here, is sold under the curse, he's under that old Adam. Now as we come into verse 15, these are sometimes verses hard to comprehend, but maybe it will help if you understand that now Paul is writing, I think, as the believer, who now has reckoned old Adam as he's been teaching, crucified, dead, but he is still left as an influence even in our Christian life. Now I know there are two ways of looking at this, and I still maintain what I've always taught, that old Adam is crucified, he's declared dead in the mind of God. In other words, the moment you and I believe the Gospel, God saw you and I in the person of Christ on the cross. Now of course God has to be the omnipotent, omniscient God that He is, or that would never be possible, but it is possible, because with Him nothing is impossible. And so God saw every true believer in Christ as He hung on that cross. As we saw back in chapter 6, He saw Him in Christ in the grave. As Christ was buried, we were buried. He saw us in Christ when He rose in resurrection power, and so we also are resurrected in newness of life. Now Paul comes in then explaining all this from that believer's point of view that yes, he still has to wrestle against the influence of that old Adamic nature even though God has reckoned it as crucified. God has declared it dead, but in experience we better realize He's still with us. But He's defeated. He's been placed under subjection of a new nature that has come in by virtue of the power of God. But here's where we all find ourselves, even as believers. Verse 15, For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that I do not. And what I hate, that I do. Isn't that confusing? But it really isn't, because he's talking about these two natures. Now let me show you a verse that probably clarifies that even a little better. Turn to Galatians. A little letter of Galatians, chapter 5, and drop down to verse 16 and 17. Galatians 5, verses 16 and 17. All with me? For this I say then, walk in the Spirit. I remember when we talked about our position in Christ, that when we became believers, we were baptized into the body of Christ, and that's now our position. We are in Christ. Now he's still alluding to that same position doctrinally. Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill or live after the desires of the flesh, and now again, who's the flesh? Old Adam. See? In other words, if we walk according to the position that God has given us, we're not going to give in to the demands of Old Adam. Now I always like to qualify the word position. When you take the president of a great corporation, or take the president of the United States of America, that presidency has been held by many different people, but it's the position that we recognize. In other words, I can't name all the past presidents of General Motors, but I can allude to the president's position of General Motors. The same way with the White House. We can name certain presidents, but I imagine very few of us can name all of them. But we're all aware of the fact that America has never been without a president. The position has always been filled by someone. Now it's the same way with our position in Christ. It is a position, and we are to live in accord with that position. Just like we expect people in important places to live in accordance with that position. And when they don't, we're disappointed. And of course, God can be too. So walk in the Spirit, that position of being in Christ, and then you'll not give in to the old desires of old Adam. Now verse 17. Now I think this proves my point. For the flesh, old Adam, lusteth, or warreth, against the Spirit, and the Spirit, that is the indwelling Spirit, that part of us now, and the Spirit warreth against old Adam. Do you see that? Now I'm sure you've all heard the little anecdote. I heard it way back when I was a kid, and I've heard it umpteen times since then, and I've repeated it because it is so apropos. This old fellow who had lived a life of degradation, and he had become an alcoholic, and he had spent a good portion of his life in the tavern, or the bar, or whatever, and one day the Lord saved him miraculously, and his whole life just took on new meaning. But the poor old fellow had to go by that bar every day to go get his mail. And so he was rehearsing with a friend of his one day, he says, you know, every time I start to go past that old hangout, he said, it's just like two little dogs inside are having a rip-roaring fight. A little black dog is fighting against a little white dog, and he said, they fight tooth and toenail. One says, go in, go back to your old lifestyle. The little white dog says, go get the mail, and the friend says, well, which one of the dogs wins? And he says, the one I feed the best. Well, see, that's so typical. The little dog that is fed the best in here is the one that's going to be victorious. It's a good anecdote, little story. But that's exactly where we find ourselves. Now if we're going to feed old Adam with all the lustful desires of this world, who's going to be victorious? Old Adam. But if we keep Adam starved, and we keep feeding the spirit side, hey, that's where victory comes in, see? And this is why we have to stay in the book. You know, people think they can go to church twice a year and maintain their Christianity. Impossible. You can't survive physically eating twice a year, nor can you survive spiritually eating twice a year. It has to be a constant refurbishing or nourishing that inner man, the spirit of God, and we do that from the book. And this is what enhances our whole spiritual life, is feeding on the Word of God, fellowship with fellow believers, prayer time, and all these things that make up what we call, of course, the Christian life. So we have this warfare between the old Adam and the new. All right, now if you come back to chapter 7, maybe you can see what the poor old apostle is up against. And he's just as human as we are, remember. And so he says again in verse 15, that which I do, I allow not. Now let's break it down. What he lets old Adam do, the spirit side says, it's wrong, don't do this. And then he says the other side of the coin is, that which I do not, that's what I do. You see it? And it's the same way for you and I in our Christian experience. The things that we know we should not do, we're constantly finding ourselves doing it when we're in a defeat. And the things that we should do, oh, it's so easy to say, well, I'm too tired. I'm going to stay home tonight. I'm not going to go to Bible study, see? And this is exactly how it works. All right, now let's go on, verse 16. If then, Paul says, I do that which I would not, then I consent under the law that it's what? Good, because all he's doing is rebelling against the good statements of the law. But old Adam says, forget the law. That's God's side. We're anti-God. We're going to do things, in fact, I've pointed out over the years, and you have to agree with me because it's so simple. Everything that God says in this book for mankind to do for his own good, what does most of mankind do? The opposite. Everything that this book warns us not to do, what does mankind in general do? They do it, see? In fact, that's one of the famous little cliches lately, isn't it? Well, just do it. Don't worry about whether it's right or wrong. Do it. But you see, that's the old Adamic nature working and taking sway of a life when God's Word says, this is harmful, this is going to bring you nothing but sorrow and heartache, but Satan and the old nature say, but do it. Everybody else is. Does that make it right? No. So we have to go by what the Scripture says, and then not give in to old Adam, but keep him under control, as Paul says, I then do not beat the air, but I'm going to keep my body under control. Now verse 17, Now then, as a believer, when I do things that I know are wrong, it's not the true I that I have now become in Christ, but who's going to do it? Old Adam. You see that? Now, I'm almost running that term in the ground. I'll be off of it as soon as we get into chapter 8, but until then, I'm going to keep driving it home. That old Adam is the source of all our problems, that old sin nature. So it's no more I that do it, but old Adam who dwelleth in me. Now that goes back to what I said a little bit ago. God reckons him as dead. We're to understand that he has been defeated, and we're to reckon him as such. But in experience, my, before the day is over, old Adam is going to be at our throat. He's going to be at us to try to do something that is contrary to the will of God. Now verse 18, Paul says, I know that in me, now he's coming back to the flesh side. See, that's in parenthesis. That is in my flesh. That is in my old Adamic nature. In me dwelleth no good thing. Boy, now that flies in the face of present day sociology, doesn't it? Because the sociologist is trying to constantly brainwash their kids, especially college level kids, that you are so good, you can do whatever you want to do, you can be whatever you want to be, because you have it within you to do so. That's the positive thinkers as well. Well, that's contrary to Scripture. In fact, a good friend of mine got all wrapped up with these motivational tapes when they were having their heyday here a few years ago, and I wrote and told him. I said, now look out. You claim to be a believer. You're on thin ice, because a believer never takes this approach, I can be whatever I want to be if I just think it. A believer has to say, in myself I am nothing. I'm nothing. But in Christ, then yes, I can become anything. All right, now Paul is saying that from the old Adamic nature's point of view, there is nothing good. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. Now I'm going to warn you, we haven't seen but one reference to the Holy Spirit in these first seven chapters, only one. But as soon as we break into chapter eight, I think it's 19 times in that one chapter we're going to see the Holy Spirit. So you see, the question he's asking here is going to be answered in the next chapter, chapter eight. But for now, he's still asking, how am I going to do that which the new nature wants me to do when the old nature keeps tipping the balances? Do you follow it? Now let's go into verse 19. For the good that I would, I do not. He repeats it again. But the evil which I would not, that I do. And here's where we all find ourselves. You know, I've had people tell me, or they've told my little wife, that they no longer sin. They have reached that pinnacle of Christianity where they no longer commit sin. Well, bless their hearts, I haven't been out of bed 15 minutes in the morning and I'm guilty, one way or another, usually in the thought processes, you know. And so this is what we have to realize. We never get to that place of perfection. It's just like the apostle here, old Adam is never going to quit working on us. Old Adam is that part of us that gets greedy. Old Adam is that part of us that gets envious. Old Adam is that part of us that gets covetous. See, now you see something that your neighbor has got and the first thing, what does old Adam say? Hey, I've got to have that because my neighbor's got it. But you see, that's what Paul is warning against. We don't live on that plain anymore. All right, now let's go on. I'd like to finish chapter 7 in this program, if possible. Verse 20. Now I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but old Adam. See how plain that is? Now I trust converting that word S-I -N to the old Adam is doing as much for you as it has for me. This just opens up this portion of the Scripture that when we realize that it isn't sins, it isn't the things that we do that are sinful that's our problem. The problem is the production center of those thoughts and of those sins, which is old Adam. Verse 21. I find then not the law, but a law, a new one. Now I always like to explain right here that when Paul uses the term law, whether it's the 10 or whether it's the whole system of Judaism or whether it's the law of Christ or some other, he's pointing out something that is a fact of life that we have to reckon with. And that's what he has here. I find then a fact of life that you just can't get around, you have to meet it head on. I find then a law, a fact of life that when I would do good, evil is present with me. And we all experience that. You see, the more you try to do that's pleasing to the Lord, the more Satan is going to attack. And that's why I even plead with my television audience as well as all my class people. I know that our teaching is starting to penetrate places that Satan doesn't want it to go. And I live in constant fear of satanic attack in one way or another. And the only thing that's protecting me, I know, is the prayers of the saints. As I mentioned in our last taping, nothing thrills me more than to get a letter from someone saying, Les, we pray for you and Iris two times a day, three times a day. Hey, we need it. But so do you. See? And this is why I maintain we believers have to constantly pray for one another because we're up against an adversary who doesn't like anything that we're doing. I've noticed even in my ministry amongst people who have been so influential in getting this program going, how Satan is attacking them. It's evidence and they realize he is. So far, God has protected us. But I do. I cover it to prayers. And see, this is what Paul is up against as well. That whenever he attempted to do something that was glorious for God, the devil opposed him. All right, verse 22. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Now, you see, he's not talking about the ten, but he's talking about a fact of life that now since his conversion, Christ in the person of the Holy Spirit is dwelling where? Within him. That's the inward man he's talking about. That Christ now dwells within. And he is the one that can give us victory over our adversary, first and foremost, old Adam. But old Adam, of course, is under the control of Satan. So I delight in the fact that God is in my inward being. And then verse 23, but he says, I see another fact of life. I see another law warring against the law of my mind. See, that's where I picked up the word warring when I used it in Galatians. It is a warfare between the new nature and the old. So I see a fact of life in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the fact of life that old Adam is in my members. You see that? That's just simply paraphrasing it and hopefully clarifying it. And then 24, oh, wretched man that I am. Now like I said, he hasn't mentioned the Holy Spirit's power yet in these first seven chapters. That's going to break out in chapter 8. So be patient. Don't say, well, where's the Holy Spirit in Paul's life? Oh, he's there, but he's just waiting until the appropriate time to, like I said, it's just going to explode in chapter 8. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death that is from this influence of old Adam? How am I going to overcome it? Verse 25, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God. Now not necessarily the Ten, but all of God's principles. That becomes now the law of God. I think it's in Galatians where Paul refers to it as the law of Christ. Now the law of Christ will never fly in the face of the Ten Commandments as I've said earlier, but it's more than the Ten Commandments. The law of Christ is this complete liberty that we now have. Turn with me to Galatians. I have to, another verse comes to mind. Galatians chapter 5, Galatians chapter 5, and drop right into verse 1. Galatians chapter 5, verse 1, and I'd like to have the camera put this verse on the screen so that everybody can see it. Galatians 5, verse 1, stand fast, therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with what? The yoke of bondage. Well now what's the yoke of bondage? The law, legalism, anything that says, but you have to do this, you have to go through this ritual, you have to go through this prescribed route, that's legalism. And grace says you do nothing but believe the gospel and let God do everything that needs to be done. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported and your gift is appreciated. Thank you and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.