You Can Win The Battle Within!

If you're anything like me, you found yourself in the past doing something, and then after you did it, you said, why did I do that? Or you said something, and after you said it, you say, I can't believe I said that. Or you are attempting to do the right thing, and all of a sudden you stumble and do the wrong thing. You're like, oh, man, am I ever going to. Am I ever going to stop doing this? Well, if you're like most people, you had those thoughts. So today I am going to show you from a biblical perspective why we do the things we hate. And not only why we do the things we hate, but then I'm going to show you how we don't have to do them anymore. So let's go as far as we can down the right road. We're going to look at Romans chapter seven, Romans chapter seven. It's one of those passages of scripture like Romans chapter 6 and 7 and 8 that people have a lot of misunderstanding around. So hopefully we'll be able to clear up some of that for you today. And I'm not going to presume or assume that I know everything there is to know about this, but I've studied it a lot and have gathered some sense of what's going on here. So when you read the verses, it almost sounds like the apostle Paul is writing a tongue twister. Right. Romans, chapter 7, verse 14. It says, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. And when it says sold under sin, it literally means like, sold into the slavery which with sin is my master. That's what it means when it says sold under sin. Okay. Just in case you're wondering. Okay, then it says verse 15. For that which I do, I allow, not for what I would. In other words, what I want to do, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I. Can I get a witness? Then? If. Then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now, then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. By the way, that don't let you off the hook either. Okay. 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 the thing which is good, I find not for the good that I would do. 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, that's but sin that dwelleth in me, I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. What in the world is going on here? How about that for an internal tug of war, right? So if we're going to understand Romans chapter seven, obviously we're going to need to start reading at the beginning. I wanted to read in the middle because that's where the dilemma is. That's where, that's. That's where the conflict happens in us. Like I said, I wasn't going to do that anymore, and I did it.

I got angry and I quote, lost my temper. You didn't lose it. You knew right where it was.

You might have lost it, but it found you, right?

And I said, I'm not gonna do that anymore. And I did it anyway. And then I said things that I regretted. And I don't know why. Why do I keep doing these things? Right? And so the scripture tells us why we end up doing repeatedly the things that we hate. So, and it tells us in Romans chapter seven, it is giving us three different laws. And one of the reasons Romans chapter seven is so hard to understand is because it refers to the law. But when it refers to the law, some of the times it's talking about the law of the Scriptures, which is from my master. So we're talking, it's talking about the word of God. Other times it's talking about the law of sin, which is in my members, that's a different law. And then other times it's talking about the law of the spirit, which is in my mind. Okay, so those are the three laws that Romans chapter six is talking about. And we have to understand.

Which law it's referring to if we're going to understand what's being said about the law at that particular time in this particular passage. So we're going to read the first couple of verses. Romans chapter 7, verse 1. Now 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. For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if her husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if while her husband liveth, she be married to another, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she is free from the law. So she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Now, this is not even though this is referring to divorce. And then getting remarried. It's not teaching you about divorce and remarriage. What it's teaching you about. It's teaching you about the nature of the law. And the law is, the nature of the law is that you are bound by it as long as you're alive. That's. That's what it's teaching you. It's like. It's. It's saying, like, if you're married to one, the illustration that it's giving is that when we are born, we're born into sin, sold under sin. We are. We are also in a way, married to sin in that we are one with sin and sin is one with us. And. And we are alive to sin, and sin is alive to us. But when we come to Christ, when we receive Christ as our Savior, we die to sin. Like, which means the word death, by the way. Let's. Let's talk about dying. Okay, let's talk about dying. Dying does not mean death is not the end. Death is a separation, right? What do you mean death is separation? Well, death is separation. Death is when the spirit and the soul separate from the body. That's death. So death is separation. So when the scripture says when we come to Christ, like when. When we are in sin, we're dead to Christ, our spirit is dead because we are separated from God, and so our spirit is dead because it is separate from God. Okay, are y' all tracking. When we come to Christ, he revives our spirit and we become dead to sin because we become separated from sin. Sanctified. Another word for that. From sin. Holy. From sin. Now understand that we are, when we receive Christ as Savior, Right? We become. We are saved from the dominion of sin.

But we're not saved from the presence of sin. We have the potential to be saved from the practice of sin, but there are things we have to do in order to be saved from that practice. And then. So understand that in this passage. In fact, he's going to refer to it here. When I. When I keep reading, it's saying. He's saying that just like a woman is married to a man, she's married to him as long as he's alive. If he. If he. She's married, she gets divorced and get married to somebody else. As long as he's alive, she's going to be considered an adulteress. Okay, well, just like that, you cannot get married to Christ if you're still married to sin. That's what it's showing us. Okay, so I'm going to keep reading. So you'll know that I'm not just making this up. Okay, so wherefore, in other words, when. So in verse four, it says wherefore. Whenever we see wherefore in Scripture, wherefore is always referring to what came before wherefore, and therefore always refer to what came before. Okay, so wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that you should be married to another, even unto him that was raised from the dead. So.

So in that verse, it's referring to the fact that we were. We were one with the Jews, the Hebrews, they were one with the law, right? And now they become dead to the law because in the law. The law, the only thing the law had to work with was our flesh. The reason we do things that we hate to do is because our mind hates to do it, but our body loves it. Well, I wish I had some help in here. The reason I eat too much when I eat too much is because I like food, right? And what is. What is. What is a. What is a trespass? Anyway? It's crossing over a line. So let me even talk about that for a second. So most people think that God uses different words to talk about, quote, sin, because he doesn't want to sound redundant, I guess. But that's not the reason. Okay. The word sin is an archery term. You're shooting an arrow at a target. The arrow falls to the ground before it reaches the target. So sin is not hitting the mark, missing the mark, but it's even more than missing the mark. It's falling to the ground before you even reach the mark. So sin is always omission. What does that mean? You didn't do something you should have done? That's sin, right? The word trespass means to go outside a boundary, to go over the line. If somebody's on your property and they don't have a right to be on your property, they're trespassing. So you go over a line. So. So it's. It's. Food is good, right? Food's good. Like, we all know that food's good, but eating too much, we go over the line. Are you tracking. So too much of a good thing is a bad thing or a good thing? When you haven't done the right thing to earn that good thing is a wrong thing, right? So sex is great, right? And we're all adults here. Like, it's not like we're confused about that. Right? Sex is awesome.

But. Well, that's real. That's real. But God Gave some boundaries. A man gets married to a woman and they have sex. If he's not married to her, they shouldn't be having it.

And according to the Bible, it's something that should happen between us. Sex is something that should happen between a man and a woman when they are married to each other, not a man and a woman when they're not married to each other, not a man and a man and not a woman and a woman. The Bible's clear. Not a brother and a sister, not a father and a daughter. The Bible is clear. Okay, y' all tracking? So. So if we take something that's good, like sex, and we do it on the other side of one of the lines that God has established, it becomes a trespass. It's not just a sin. It's not just that you didn't do what you should do. It's also that you crossed over a line. Okay, are you all tracking? So that's trespass. There's also transgress. A transgression is when we break the law, right? So there's a law. Don't do xyz. Thou shalt not steal. You steal. You transgressed. You broke the law. So that. So now we know that there's a difference between sin and trespass and transgress. And now you've got iniquity. What's iniquity? Iniquity is when I am bent on doing wrong, even though I know it's wrong. Right? I got my mind made up. I don't want to be confused with the facts. Right? That's iniquity. I am bent on doing the wrong thing because I'm bent on doing the wrong thing. That's iniquity. And then we have wickedness. What's wickedness? Wickedness. The word wicked comes from the same root word from which we get wicker furniture. Okay, and what is wicker furniture? It's. It's woven together. So wickedness is when evil is interwoven into the fabric of your existence. That's evil. Are y' all tracking? So. So now we understand that all of those words mean something different.

And the law is the thing that made us aware of all of those. Okay, so let's keep reading.

For when we were in the flesh, verse 5. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sin which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. That's what sin does. If you want to know. What does it mean? Bring forth fruit unto death. James, chapter one.

God cannot be tempted with Evil. Neither tempted any man, but every man is tempted. So that includes everybody is tempted when he's drawn away.

That means enticed. His own lust. He's drawn away of his own lust. And he's drawn away of his own lust. And enticed. Entice means to set the hook like when you're fishing. So you attract. Like when you throw the. When you cast your rod, and then you jerk it a little bit, wind a little bit, jerk wind, jerk wind. That's what sin does to people. It gets you to pay attention to it, right? That's what you throw. You hope a fish sees the lure, and then you jerk it. And then the fish goes after a little bit, you jerk it again, whine a little bit, jerk a little. And he comes after it. And. And then finally he bites it. And then you set the hook. That's what entice means, to set the hook. So every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust. And entice. And then lust, when it hath conceived. Lust, by the way, is an intense desire.

Lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. So here's what's really interesting about. About that whole. And using the same verbiage about. About being connected with something and then bringing forth fruit. The scripture is saying it is. It's not. It's showing us that an external temptation doesn't really matter unless there's an internal appetite for that external temptation, right? If there's no internal match for that external temptation, there's. That external temptation is an external temptation, but it's not an internal temptation. Right? And so the scripture says that Jesus was, in all points, tempted as we are, yet without sin. And the reason he was without sin is because Satan had no part in him. What does that mean? He didn't have any internal temptation for the external temptation that was provided for him. The reason we fall is because we have internal temptations for the external temptations that are provided for us. We don't have an internal temptation for all of them. Like if somebody offers me to smoke a cigarette, there's no universe in which that's tempting. I don't even like to walk through a cloud of cigarette smoke when I'm going into a restaurant. So, like, if I'm playing golf, if somebody smokes, I'm not gonna ride with you. I'll play golf with you, but I'm not gonna ride with you. You're gonna ride your own cart. I don't want to breathe that, right? And so, like, that's not a temptation.

Cigar. Somebody offers me a cigar. It's an external temptation. It's not an internal temptation, because I have no desire to do that right now. Somebody pushes me.

Now, we might have a problem, because I got an internal temptation up in here. I'm just saying I know it's in there, though. I know it's in there. We guard against it, but it's in there, right? So I have to be aware. I can't act like I'm brand new to this because I'm 62. It didn't just show up yesterday, Right? So I got to know that that's one of my internal temptations. So I have to be on guard when the person starts talking to me funny to make sure that I don't let that internal temptation match up with that external temptation. Because then, you know, bad stuff gonna happen. Right? Okay. Y' all track me. All right, so. But.

They have to match. So in. In this case, it said that match. Because here's what happened. It said, for when we were in the flesh, the motions of sin, which were by the law, did. In other words, we were aware that they were sin because of.

Did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it's finished, bringeth forth death. Your sin has one objective. It wants to kill you. Your flesh is suicidal. My flesh is suicidal. That's why God has set it up in such a way that we should never let our body be in control. It's.

Wow. Okay, good. I can do this. I got time. Here's what's really fascinating.

Animals, they eat by lowering their mouth to their food. Why? Because their body is in control. They are. An animal is a bahema in Hebrew, a bahema. Bahemat in it is what it is. A horse is a horse is a horse. Of course, all it can do is what it can do. It can't become a horse. Can't become more of a horse. A dog can't become more of a dog. I mean, you can train a dog to do some rudimentary things, but you can't. You can't teach a dog algebra.

Can't teach a dog how to write a paper, Right? Why? Because all they can do is. All they can do. Their programming is limited. Animals lower their face to their food. Human beings, we use utensils to raise food to our head. That's a picture. What's it a picture of? It's a picture of the fact that this part of me should run this part of me. That this part of me should not run this part of me. So when I'm eating food with a knife and a fork, my body is sacrificing to my head. That's a picture. Are y' all tracking? Okay. We want to make sure things are in the right order. So. And God's order is God is in control, and he rules over our spirit. Our spirit is supposed to rule over our mind, and our mind supposed to rule over our body. This is here to serve me. This. This is not here for me to serve.

And by the way, you want to see the people who are struggling the most in life? It is the people.

This is the people who are struggling the most in life, either personally or some other way, are struggling because they have allowed this to take control. And I know there are rich people. There are rich people who let this be in control, and they're still struggling. Why? Because you were not created for this to run everything. There's a reason God made the body last.

Okay, when I say last, I don't mean last like endure. I mean last like last in chronology. Okay, so then it says.

Verse six. But now we are delivered from the law.

Being dead, wherein we were held that we should serve in newness of what spirit and not an oldness of letter. So the letter of the law was the actual thou shalt and thou shalt nots. By the way, God's not saying we don't need to do those. He's saying when we were. Before we came to Christ, we had no power to do those. The law was there as our schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ to show us the law was there, exists for the purpose of showing us that we cannot keep the law so we can be aware of our sinful condition, so we can know we need a Savior. This is why religion doesn't work. And it doesn't matter what your religion is. Religion does not appease God. Why? Religion is me trying to do something to appease God. God's not going to be appeased by me. God can only be appeased by God. That's why it says in Isaiah, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulders. He shall be called what mighty God. This is a son that's born. I mean, child that's born. This is a son that's given. So the child was born. This is an Old Testament, by the way. The child is born, but the Son was given. Why? Because he was the son before he was the child.

Are y' all tracking? And the government shall be upon his shoulders. And his name shall be called Counselor. Mighty God, Prince of Peace. Everlasting Father. Huh. That's in the Old Testament, by the way. We're talking about this. Whoever this is. He's a child that was born and a son that was given. And the government's going to be upon his shoulder. And he shall be called Mighty God. Oh. Oh, so that's what it means when it says, let this mind be in you. Which is also in Christ Jesus. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. Why? Because he knew he was the child that was born and the Son that was given. Are y' all tracking? Mighty God, Prince of Peace. Okay, so he's the Mighty God, but he's a prince.

He's the Prince of Peace, but he's also the Everlasting Father. Why? Because there are three that bear record in heaven. The Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost. These three are one. Okay, y' all tracking. So, newness of spirit. So. And not an oldness of letter. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. The law is not bad. The law is great. We were just so bad, we couldn't keep it. When I came to Christ, the Spirit of God came to live inside of me. To give me the desire and the power to do the things contained in the Word. Like we talked about in our last video. Okay, so now it says, newness of spirit, not an oldness of letter. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law. For I had not known lust. Except the law said, thou shalt not covet. I wouldn't have even known it was wrong if the law would have told me. So what is that telling us? The purpose of the law is to show us what's right and wrong. And the law tells you you wrong. I know I'm wrong. You better get right. I can't get right. That's right. You can't. You cannot do. You cannot do enough good works to undo your bad works. That's number one.

And because God gave a perfect sacrifice, he's not going to accept your less than perfect sacrifice. So you have to trust what he did.

Just like Abram did in Genesis, chapter 15. And he believed God. And God accounted him for righteousness.

Okay, then it says.

Verse 8. But sin taking occasion by the commandment Wrought in me all manner of concupiscence or evil desires. For without the law, sin was dead. What does that mean? When I find out something's wrong now my flesh really wants to do it. Don't. Don't look at me funny, right? Like, I know I shouldn't do this, but I know I should, but. But, but I got a bad case. I can't help this right now. Well.

And then it says in verse nine, I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment which was. So he's talking about before we had the law, I didn't even know I was doing anything wrong. I was good. And the commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. Why? Because it told me to do things I couldn't do. And it told me I was going to pay if I didn't do them. But I still couldn't do them even if I wanted to do them. And that's when we start talking about sin taking occasion by the commandment deceived me. It was sin that deceived me. It wasn't the law that deceived me. Sin deceived me. And by the law it slew me. And that's what Satan does. He tempts you to do wrong and then accuse you for the wrong you did.

Can I get a witness?

And then he says.

Verse 12, Wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just. And good people act like the law is some bad thing. The law is good. I'm the problem, you the problem. The law ain't the problem.

Because remember we talked about our last video? That freedom can only exist inside a boundary. So what? So what does that mean? That means when we were bound by sin, we were free from righteousness. But when we are free from sin, we are bound by righteousness.

That's In Romans, chapter six, by the way. Then it says verse 13. Then was then that which was 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. You know what? You know one of the reasons why we become so desensitized in our world? Because we've gotten further and further and further and further away from the truth of God. That's why everything that, everything that sounds, we're just going to make. If it feels good though, if it feels good to you, do your truth. You don't have a truth. I don't have a truth. There's the truth, and anything that's not the truth is a lie. There's no your truth, my truth, his truth, her truth. There's the truth. We want everybody to feel good, but here's the reality. Everybody ain't going to feel good, but everybody don't even deserve to feel good. You want to feel good, do good.

But the only way you're going to be able to do good is by like. Your flesh ain't going to help you conquer your flesh. Your flesh. You're going to say to your flesh, hey, come help me conquer my. You want me to help you conquer me?

Your flesh is going to say, child, please.

And then we're going to get down to verse 14, which we already read about me doing the things that I would allow not and allow not the things I do. And all that we read all the way down to verse 21. So let's look at what it says. So in verse 22. So we see. We see the first two laws in the first three or four verses we talked about. The law of the scriptures is from my master. You know that the law. A man is under the law as long as he lives, right? So that's the law of the scriptures, which is from my master. Then we see this other law, which is the law of sin, which is in my members. It's a law. My flesh is coated for sin. Sin is coated into my flesh. We got three enemies. What are they? The world, the flesh and the devil. The world tempts me in my ambitions. That's my desire to be somebody in the eyes of other people. If I need you to think something about me, that's a worldly temptation. If I need you to accept me, that's a worldly temptation. The flesh tempts us in our appetites. That's our desire to feel something, right? That's where the flesh tempts us in our appetites. The devil tempts us in our attitudes.

And that's my desire to be over someone. See, God doesn't want people ruling over people.

God wants people yielded to him and serving each other. You'll be so fulfilled, you'll be like. You'll be blessed beyond your wildest imagination if you'll just yield to God and serve people.

Like, show up for the people. It's interesting because, like, in my sales trainings, one of the things I teach in my sales trainings is the master key to success in sales is love the people you sell to so much. You'd never Sell them anything that does them harm. Love the person more than you love their money.

That's a level, y'. All. And it's a level most people don't aspire to, but if they did, it would change their lives. Can you imagine. Can you imagine owning a business where you existed for the over serving your clients at the highest level? Can you imagine being married to a person who obsesses over serving their spouse at the highest level? Can you imagine at being a parent who obsesses over serving your children at the highest level? It changes everything.

Having children who like they obsess over serving their parents at the highest level.

Friends who obsess over being that friend that's closer than the brother who obsesses over serving me. Friends at the highest level, being an employer who obsesses over serving your employees at the highest level. Like, you don't understand, Like, I don't think we understand the level. Like, this is a pattern that we see over and over in Scripture. What is it? Creation, connection, contribution. Creation, connection, contribution. Fulfillment can only be found through that triangle.

Okay.

Verse 21. I find in law then a law that when I do good, evil is present with me. 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. Then he says this, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death.

Sounds almost hopeless, doesn't it? Until he gets to the next verse, I thank God through Jesus Christ. So then with my mind I serve the law of God.

But with the flesh, the law of sin. What is he saying? He's saying, I thank God that I now understand that when I yield my mind to the spirit of God, I'm going to show this to you in the next verse because they weren't separated into chapters. When I yield my mind to the Spirit of God, I'm serving the law. I'm fulfilling the things contained in the law. When I serve my flesh, I'm serving sin. Now, here's what it says in chapter eight, verse one, and I'm going to be done. There's therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Yeshua hamashiach who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. There's therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. That's God's part. God's part is to save us. Our job is to walk in the Spirit. What does walk in the spirit mean, I'm gonna do a whole lesson on it. But I'm gonna tell you what it is just for the sake of time. And I'm done. And here it is. Here's what walking in the spirit means. Listening for and then listening to what the spirit says to you based on God's word. That's walking in the spirit. So I'm going to end on that. Stay blessed by the best, and we'll see you on the next YouTube video. Peace out, my people. Stay blessed.