Psalm 120, verse 5. I love the poetic way of saying the same thing. Woe is me, I dwell in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar. The psalmist is saying, I'm with those outside of the covenant that are against Yahweh. And it's a poetic way, that's my flesh.
I'm stuck with this. The flesh is guaranteed to sin, the new nature is guaranteed not to sin. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Romans. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio.
Specifically, how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick with his continuing message called, Unwanted Wants, in Romans chapter 7. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. What, do you think that only had application there in Gethsemane when they couldn't stay awake?
Of course not. Such a profound statement is profound because of its reach. It is a classic. That means it doesn't die. It retains its potency. And you serve Christ, you find out the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Pray that you don't enter into temptation, because once the temptation comes, you're half-cooked.
That's how serious a matter it is. Now initially, appetites for sin are discovered, not sought. No one wakes up and says, today I'm going to be addicted to drugs. Today I'm going to be a mean person.
Today I'm going to... No, these things, they close in on us. And once they do, they have a tendency of locking in who they are to our carnality. And if the spiritual man is delivered by the scripture, by the law, that's salvation. He's saved. The natural man is doomed without the law, being lost. His soul will be lost.
When he dies, it will not go well. And then there is the carnal man, and the scripture applies that to the believer, who behaves at times as an unbeliever. The carnal man is defeated, even though they know the scripture. So you have the saved, the lost, and the battered. And we work not to get on that casualty list of carnality.
We have our carnal moments, but we fight against them. But some Christians, you know, they don't become apostates. They know who Christ is. They know who they are before Christ, but they can backslide. And live the way, far beneath the calling. And it helps, if you're going to restore such a one, Galatians 6, 1, you who are spiritual, restore such a one. And if you're going to do that, you can't be self-righteous. Because you just shoot them.
You just condemn them. You shouldn't have fallen. What's wrong with you?
Look at me. Or some, and it doesn't have to be outward. It'd be inside your head. Your heart is thinking that way.
Instead of saying, poor soul, what can we do to get you stronger? Well, anyway, every true believer has an unwanted side. The old nature, which can do nothing right.
And thus, verse 18, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, no good dwells. That's not a debate. It's not a question. It's a statement.
It's a fact. It doesn't need theological, you know, wiggle moves to try to get out of what it says. It's good, just like it is, because it's true. But the new nature can do nothing wrong. We've made this point through chapter 7 before, 1 John chapter 3. We don't sin. That's that nature. That nature that loves the Lord. Galatians 5, verse 17, for the flesh lusts against the Spirit.
Why? Because the Spirit can't do anything wrong, but that flesh can. And that's why they're in opposition.
Otherwise, it would be no contest. And the Spirit against the flesh, Galatians 5, 17, and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things you wish. You think Paul was saying, well, that's you.
That's not me. Well, maybe someone hit them with that, because Galatians was written quite a bit of time earlier, before Romans. And so now he gets to Romans. He goes, I'm going to make sure they understand me, too. I struggle also. Verse 15, for what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice. But what I hate, I do. These are the unwanted wants. These are the things that develop, they surface, like a pimple or something. You know, it's just like, where did that come from?
You get in your 50s, you still get a pimple. Now, this is not right. So, the brain demands, oftentimes, a sin, which covers a lot of addictions. The receptors are demanding satisfaction, but the mind, which is not the brain, the mind is the heart.
It hates the sin. Romans 12, verse 2, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Now, the brain makes its contribution, of course, but the brain is physical. The mind is spiritual.
You can x-ray the brain, you cannot x-ray the mind. Yet, we are to fight as though sin is beatable. We're commanded to fight.
And most of it is, incidentally. Just that those one or two struggles we may have are very pronounced, amplified. Matthew 5, Jesus said, You shall be perfect, for your Father in heaven is perfect.
Who's he talking to? Sinners that he knows can't be perfect that need him to die on a cross if they've got any shot of making it into heaven. 1 Corinthians 9, Paul said, Thus I fight, not as one who beats the air.
It's not a waste of time, this effort I put into resisting the things in me that I don't want. That which separates me from God is that which I cannot be rid of. Just a whole bunion with the, you know, Christian, the character, the lead character, Christian with that burden on him. Until he reaches heaven, he's really not free. My sinful nature, my flesh is the portal that sin enters through. It's an open door.
C.S. Lewis said, An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure, that's sin. And that is unwanted. Now I get to in a little bit the differences between a Christian and a non-Christian because there are differences in this area that need to be stated. So Christ has given grace, but I want utter deliverance. I want to be completely free of waking up and being susceptible to letting him down. Well, when I wake up dead, that will happen. But for now, it's pray that you enter not into temptation.
Why can I not be the Christ-like servant that I would love to be, that my mind wants, that my heart craves? Of course, inherent sin is the simple answer. You don't have to complicate that. You don't have to do five points. It's one word. You can't say the word without sounding like a hissing serpent. Sin.
That's the reason. Spurgeon said, do not despise a Christian because he is in conflict. And we should be in conflict with these things. And if we weren't, it doesn't make us hypocrites. Just because we get tripped up doesn't mean we're not fighting. And if we're fighting, we're not hypocrites.
We're in the fight. And the world tries to throw that in your face and tell them straight out, grow up. None of us are perfect. If I act like I'm perfect, you get on my case about that. If I prove I'm not perfect, you get on my case about that. So why don't we skip that step and understand what's going on here, that it's a real devil. He's licking his chops for you.
You're going to be with him if you're not careful, but you don't have to be. Choice is up to you, bozo. So now, no Christians call me bozo before I was saved.
Not verbally, but the look on their face, it did. You poor, pathetic soul. And anyway, verse 16.
I had to keep my hair short, incidentally, else I will look like bozo. It will grow where I don't want it to grow. Anyway, verse 16. If then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. These are words of a believer. Those opposed to Jesus do not agree with the author and finisher of our faith.
They might agree with some things that he says, but that's not enough. That's damning. Judas believed some of the things that Jesus said.
He didn't believe enough. And what abuses it, if you swim almost to rescue, then you're not rescued. If you make it almost to salvation, you're doomed. You have to go all the way, and it really isn't that far if Christ is the one that's taking you, which is kind of pictured when he walked on the water and he finally gets in the boat, and they were at the shore. It was a miraculous moment.
They didn't have to row anymore. Christ was in the boat, and the destination was reached through the storm. Verse 17.
But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. Now, I remember seeing a little child being told not to touch the television. And so they used their doll to touch it. And that's not what speaks. That's not the case. They're trying to find a loophole around.
Well, I'm not really a little kid. You know, who teaches them these things? Inherent sin. It's like, you said I can't touch it, fine, but you didn't say my doll couldn't touch it. Well, anyway, the challenge of preaching grace without preaching lawlessness is on all of us, because we're never condoning sin. It is the most hateful thing we know. But there are just facts that we have to line up, put in their proper place, and Satan is terrified of this. He's afraid of a Christian that has their theology together and is humble at the same time, that understands these things, that is not self-righteous, not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God.
Inferior, still pressing for the superior. Verse 18, for I know that in me that is in my flesh. Nothing good dwells, for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do I do not do, but the evil I will not to do that I practice.
Not just a flash I did at one time. It's recurring. Thus recurrent grace, the power of grace to subdue these things, to defeat them. These are the unwanted wants, although we want to know, well Paul tell us exactly what it is. But Paul does not and we're glad. You know, I've never had a problem with gossip, but the assistant pastor David does.
He does not. I'm sorry I can't tell you anything. We have already heard about you. But that would be gossiping on my part.
That's what gossip looks like. I don't have the problem, but let's talk about somebody else. Well, unwanted wants, that's the title because it's within this material. The mind of Christ identifies what sin is and despises it. The Christian doesn't have a casual view of sin.
Yeah, that's wrong. We understand the depths that belong to it, but not to clobber people with it, to alert them. Sin is a matter of the inward man, as we read in verse 22. And the actions follow. If the sin were not a matter of the inward man, then it would be no need for God to judge the heart.
He would just have to look at the outside. But it's the heart. From the heart, evil flows.
Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks and the life lives. And so to have Christ in your heart is significant. I remember years ago, Christians that, you know, they did love the Lord. As best as you could tell, one human to another, they loved the Lord, but they were tripped up. And they knew it. And they wanted out. Many of these were drug addicts. And, you know, what an education that is to get you off your high horse when people whom you love are struggling with something. You know, before they came out with, for example, the patch to help smokers, a lot of smokers couldn't stop, no matter what you did. You diagnosed them with, you know, serious disease. They're still smoking. So addiction, the brain versus the mind, the versus the heart.
Let's not look to the world to tell us about these things, because they can't make that distinction. That's why they give drugs to treat behavior, because they're messing with the brain to try to reach the heart, and it doesn't work. And they make a mess wherever they go. You know, when the psychologists show up, things get worse. They're going to get worse. And they mean well. And because they mean well, people defend them.
But if you look at the record, this is bad. Anyway, Shelby Fort, the historian, Civil War historian, he was asked a question about the Civil War veterans, who were amputees, you know, multiple amputees even. And he talked about when he was a boy, he met some of them, and they were just as jolly as anything.
How do you account for that? No one was there to tell them, you know what, you got some mental problems. And because no one was there to tell them that, they lived, I think, in a better way than if someone was there to say, here, take this to feel better about things. I'm not trying to trivialize these things. I just have a disdain for Satan getting away with treating sin through the body when the solution to treating sin is through the heart. It's a sin, it's a spiritual matter. Well, I don't care what your problem is if you're a thief, if you're an adulterer, if you are just a profane person.
The problem, the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. It is sin without exception. Sin is an operation.
And that's why a lot of people don't want to hear it. It used to be people would avoid a church that preached the scripture. Now we find a lot of people that look for churches that don't preach the scriptures and they're quite comfortable there. That is very deceptive and very damning to avoid dealing with sin.
Well, I know I've offended some folks, but that's because the world has a greater influence on how you go about treating behavior than the scripture. His divine power has given... Oh, you won't believe me if I quote it, maybe, some of you. So I want you to see me reading it because it's in the Bible. And I'm not sorry that it's in here either. 2 Peter 1 verse 3, his divine power, I'm reading it. You can read along with me if you start right here. Lord, forgive them, they have no humor.
Which one, is it you or me? Anyway, his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue. See, I can't do both. I can't go to the world to say, help me understand the Bible. I can't go to the world to say, help me understand human behavior.
I can only go to the scripture, to the OEM, the original manufacturer. I must go to God and say, what makes us tick? Now, I can certainly learn about that by interacting with people, but I have to have as my foundation the scripture. And if you don't believe that, then you reduce the scripture into some sort of moral traffic cop which says, hell that way, heaven this way, and that's it.
The book wouldn't be so thick if that were all it were. Well, I've had my moment of coming back to verse 19, that flesh which is opposed to Jesus Christ, it is totally beyond redemption. God will not bless the flesh in its dealings, though the person who is the host of the flesh can still be blessed. The natural man lives in the flesh, the carnal Christian is stumbled by the flesh, and the spiritual man subdues the flesh.
No way around that. If there is, tell me, we'll put it in a bottle and we'll sell it in the chapel store and humanity will be better after that. Well, verse 20, now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me, spoken like one who has tried to be perfect in the past and in the present, only to realize their own personal great imperfection. He doesn't have to be a serial killer to be a sinner. He can just be somebody that is behaving in a way that God has forbidden. And who here reads the Sermon on the Mount and says, boy, I'm glad that's not talking to me. You read the Sermon on the Mount and you go, woe is me, for I am undone.
And if you don't, then you'll probably have a reading comprehension issue. Well, anyway, the invasive influence of sin exploits our fallen nature and the Spirit responds and fights it. So this is grace. The Bible teaches the inability of man and the responsibility of man at the same time. There's no need to reconcile them. They will be reconciled when we get to heaven when we jettison the flesh. Verse 21, I find then a law that is evil, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.
I meant to do the right thing and I messed it all up. There it is. I am dead to sin, but sin is alive to me.
It is present with me. That's what he says. Now, you can get around this and you can say, well, he's not talking about himself. He's just pointing fingers at everybody else. That's why he's opened up with. His talk is autobiographical.
The personal pronouns demand that. And here, again, I am dead to sin, sin alive to me. Psalm 120, verse 5, I love the poetic way of saying the same thing. Woe is me, I dwell in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar. The psalmist is saying, I'm with those outside of the covenant that are against Yahweh. And it's a poetic way, that's my flesh.
I'm stuck with this. The flesh is guaranteed to sin, the new nature is guaranteed not to sin. First John 3, whoever has been born of God does not sin.
Again, that's the spiritual nature. For his seed remains in him and he cannot sin because he has been born of God. You say, John is double-talking, no, earlier he had said, if any of us sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Why do we have an advocate with the Father? It's a question. How do you get that advocate?
Who doesn't have him? Well, the one that's not submitted to Jesus Christ is Lord. That's why Paul says, if you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus.
What does that mean? He's Lord, he's master, he's sovereign, he's owner. And you are under that entirely or not and suffer those consequences. Verse 22, and Jesus gave parables about, you know, coming back and finding what they did in his vineyard. The parables in Isaiah about that, parables in the gospel. Verse 22, for I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
Which Christian, which Christian has not read scripture and said, I love your word, I love it. Knowing that we struggle, we all do, we love his word. Only the believer says, I delight in the law of God.
Because in the law, in the rule book of God, there is this rule. The grace of Jesus Christ. The willingness and the ability to not crush the sinner. That is grace, that's a part of grace. Grace is difficult to understand because it's spiritual, not natural. We, you know, we don't, we tend to not think in those terms until we come to scripture. How many of you knew, how many of you applied grace to your state with God before the Bible? Before scripture, grace was something where the ballerina did.
Oh, she's so graceful. Sorry, I meant to do that a little deeper. No identity problems up here. Anyway, my voice just went up. Psalm 40, I delight to do your will, oh my God. And your law is within my heart. Now again, for the Greeks and the Hebrews, the heart was the entire being. It was not only your feelings, your emotions, it was also the way you thought. And where your will, the seat of your will, you put those together, that's the heart. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
The heart covers it all. Thanks for joining us for today's teaching on Cross-Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.
We're currently going through the book of Romans. If you're in need of hearing this message again or want to listen to others like it, head over to crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast, too, so you'll never miss another edition. Just go to your favorite podcast app to subscribe. On our website, you'll be able to learn a little more about the ministry of Cross-Reference Radio, so make a note of it, crossreferenceradio.com. That's all we have time for today, but thanks so much for listening. Pastor Rick will be back next time in the book of Romans here on Cross-Reference Radio.
