The Believer and Indwelling Sin, Part 2

A true Christian feels sensitive to sin, hates the evil that is in him, seeks not to fill up his life with sin under grace, but rather seeks to empty his life of sin.

So distasteful to him is it. There's a story told of an old man who mockingly asks a preacher, how much does sin weigh? The man goes on to say that he doesn't feel any weight on him. The preacher's reply is this, just as a corpse wouldn't feel a heavy load, neither can an unbeliever.

The point is a good one. Only as a Christian do you have the capacity to feel the weight of sin, because you're spiritually alive, you're sensitive to sin, and it's a sensitivity that you should be cultivating daily. The Apostle Paul certainly did that, and from Paul you will better understand the horrible nature of sin and how to experience freedom from it. So keep listening as John MacArthur continues his study on grace to you, titled Freedom from Sin.

And here's John. Romans chapter 7. And we are studying verses 14 through 25. Coming to Jesus Christ brings the sense of sin to the heart and mind. And I believe that a true Christian feels that weight of sin in a way that an unbeliever does not feel at all. And in case you wonder whether in fact they are dead to that weight, remind yourselves of Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1, and you hath he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins. But a true Christian feels sensitive to sin, hates the evil that is in him, seeks not to fill up his life with sin under grace, but rather seeks to empty his life of sin.

So distasteful to him is it. Now when you look at the New Testament, of course, the believer becomes even more sensitized to that. We find, for example, in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 30 that when we sin, the Holy Spirit is grieved. And we seek not to grieve the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 9 27, we find that when we are involved in sin, our life becomes powerless.

That's what made Paul say that I have this tremendous fear that in preaching to others, I myself would become a castaway or useless. And even the psalmist said, praise is fitting for the upright. Consequently, when in sin, we find that we are even unacceptable in our praise to God, and none of us wishes to have unacceptable praise. Jeremiah added in the fifth chapter of Jeremiah in the 25th verse these very poignant words, your sins have withheld good things from you. And no Christian would choose to have the blessing of God withheld if really given the opportunity and the concentration to think about it. And further, the psalmist in Psalm 51, when confronted with his own sin, asked God to restore to him the what?

The joy of his salvation. In Hebrews chapter 12, we find that when a believer sins, he is chastened by God. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, we find that when a believer sins, he is hindered in his spiritual growth so that the apostle says, I can't feed you what I'd like to feed you because you're so fleshly. In 2 Timothy 2.21, Paul says we must have pure lives in order to be vessels fit for the master's use. And so when sin is there in our lives, it renders our service limited and useless.

Which of us as believers would long to dishonor God? Quite the contrary, as the psalmist said in Psalm 42, one, as the heart or the deer pants after the water brook, so pants my soul after thee, O God. I believe that when an individual comes to Jesus Christ, there is planted within that individual a new creation, a new nature, a new essence, a new self, a new man. And that the great heart beat and passion and cry of that new creation is a longing for the things of God. And over against that, a resentment and a hatred of sin. In Psalm 119, and I'm going to be referring back to that psalm, so you might want to mark it somewhere in your Bible.

We're going to go back to it a few times. But in Psalm 119, 104, we have a very similar statement in one simple verse. And here the psalmist wonderfully reflecting on the Word of God says, through thy precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. There is the essence of the redeemed man who longs for the understanding of the Word of God, who longs for the fulfillment of the Word of God, and who hates every false way. Thomas Watson, the wonderful man of God of the Puritan era in his very significant book called The Body of Divinity said this, A sign of sanctification is an antipathy against sin. A hypocrite may leave sin yet love it, as a serpent sheds its coat but keeps its sting. But a sanctified person can say he not only leaves sin, he loathes it.

God has changed thy nature and made thee as a king's daughter, all glorious within. He has put on thee the breastplate of holiness, which though it may be shot at, can never be shot through. So there is a struggle. And I believe the struggle is presented to us here in Romans chapter 7, a classic passage describing the graphic poignant picture of the pain of indwelling sin in the life of a Christian. Now you need to remember that in the seventh chapter of Romans, Paul is basically talking about the place of the law. And he is trying to demonstrate that because he preaches salvation by grace through faith does not mean that he sees no place for the law. That is not to say to Jews who esteem the law that he does not esteem it. He is simply giving it its proper function, and its proper function is not to save people or to sanctify people, but to convict them of sin and show them, as verse 13 indicates, the exceeding sinfulness of sin. And he is pointing out that even as a believer, the law continues to have the function of demonstrating to the Christian the exceeding sinfulness of sin. When he sees the law of God, which his heart longs to fulfill, and in comparison sees the sin in his life, he loves the law and loathes the sin. Now in the midst of this conflict, we find the pouring out of the heart of the Apostle Paul in the first person.

I...I...I...me...me...me...this is his testimony and ours as well. And the testimony of his own struggle spiritually with indwelling sin is given in three laments. It's a very...it's a very sad passage. It's a very remorseful passage.

It's a very poignant passage because it isn't often that we get this kind of deep insight into the Apostle Paul's struggle. There are three laments and they all three say basically the same thing. He laments his situation. He weeps over it. He sorrows over it. His heart is grieved over it.

He's broken over it. And each lament has three parts. The condition in which he's finding himself, the proof of that condition, and the source of that condition. Look at the first lament, verses 14 to 17. The condition is in verse 14. We know the law is spiritual, but I am fleshy, soul under sin. The law is spiritual. That is it proceeds from the Holy Spirit. It is energized by the mind and the heart and the will of God.

It is holy, just and good, says verse 12. But I am, in contrast, unspiritual. The law is spiritual and I'm unspiritual.

Now you say, can a Christian say that? Yes, in a perspective. That is one perception that we rightly should have of our own lives. We are not all that we should be, right? The law of God is spiritual, but we are fleshly. We're unspiritual.

We are carnal. And here he's looking at the battle. He's looking at his humanness. He's not talking about all that is renewed in him.

He's talking about what is not renewed in him. His humanness is still there and it stares him right in the face. He finds himself sold under sin. He says in verse 23, he is brought into captivity to the law of sin which is operating in his members. He finds himself still being victimized by sin even though he's redeemed. This is his condition. Condition of struggle. And what do you say gives that perspective?

Well, listen very carefully. It is an understanding of the pure, holy, just, good law of God. And when you see yourself against that law, you are very much aware of how sinful you are. Now when you see a Christian calls himself a Christian or herself, and they appear to be very content with where they are spiritually, and they want to make sure you know how really holy they are and how pious they are, that is not to indicate to you that indeed they are holy, but rather indeed they don't understand the word of God. That is evidence not of their holiness, but an evidence of their ignorance of God's holy law. For the better we understand the infinite perfection of God's holy law, the better we will understand our own imperfection.

True? And so I submit to you that what we have in Romans chapter 7 is not only the testimony of a Christian, but a very mature one and a very insightful one, a very spiritually minded one. After giving us the condition in verse 14, he gives us the proof in verse 15. Here's the proof that he's still not all that he should be, that he's unspiritual. For that which I do I understand not, or I know not, or I don't love, or I don't choose to do. For what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that I do.

Now that's the proof. The proof that I'm still fleshy is that I'm frustrated because I see the infinite glory of God's law. I see the magnificent holiness of his standard and I can't, I can't live up to that standard. And I'm not satisfied with how far along I am, I'm only dissatisfied with how far along I'm not.

That is a very mature perspective. It's a very immature thing to think you've really arrived spiritually. The apostle Paul says, I haven't obtained, I haven't apprehended that, but I what?

Press toward the mark. I see the goal and I'm moving, I'm not there. That's the humility that comes from right spiritual perception. Instead of congratulating ourselves about how holy we are, if we really understand God's law, we're going to see ourselves as falling far short.

And that's where he is. And that's why this again takes us back to the brokenness and the humility and the contrition that marks the true follower of the Savior. Then he talks about the source because if you say, well, Paul, you're saved, you're redeemed.

I mean, where's this coming from? Verse 16 and 17 give us the answer. If then I do that, which I would not, I consent under the law that it is good. Nothing wrong with the law because I can't keep it doesn't mean it's wrong. What's your problem, Paul? Now then it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. Now my condition is I'm in a struggle.

The proof of it is that I can't always do what I want and I do sometimes what I really don't want in my deepest self. And the source of it all is sin that is in me. And now the I and the me in verse 17 become technical. He says I in verse 14 very generally, I'm unspiritual. But now he makes sure we understand what he means in verse 17. Now then it is no more I and the no more, you remember we talked about that, Deucati, no more, no more since when?

Since salvation. Since I've been saved, it no longer is it I, the real me, the renewed me, the recreated me that does it, but it is what? It's sin that dwells in me. And we went into that in some detail.

The I then becomes a technical term. Now what is the conflict in? The conflict in the life of a believer is a conflict between a new creation which is holy, which is created for eternity, which is the eternal seed which cannot sin and that is in you, that is the real you, that is the basic you, the recreated you.

The conflict is between that redeemed you and your unredeemed mortality, your unredeemed humanity which is still present. And that's where his struggle lies. And that's his lament. And I believe that every child of God who really is walking in obedience with the mind of the Savior laments the reality of his sin. I see the believer in 1 John 1, 8 to 10 and he will not deny his sin, he will what? Confess his sin. I hear him in Psalm 38, 18 saying, For I will declare my iniquity, I will be sorry for my sin.

I hear him in Psalm 97, 10, Ye who love the Lord hate evil. I think the truly regenerated person hates sin and faces the fact that even though he's been recreated and there's a new nature there, that new nature is still encased as it were in humanness and therein lies a struggle. So even though we're redeemed, sin hangs on in our flesh, our mortality, our unredeemed humanity and disallows us from seeing fulfillment of the deep heart longing that pants after the perfection of God's law. And sometimes this doesn't only show up before you sin, but it shows up afterward. And it shows up in your guilt and your sense of sorrow and your sense of contrition. Let's look at the second lament. And it's just like the first. Verse 18, the pattern here is identical.

Here comes the condition. For I know that in me, now what in me are you talking about? Just the general you, the whole you, the new you, the new creation?

No, no. In me, that is which part of me? My what? My flesh.

And he gets technical. He doesn't want us to lose the distinction that he just made in verse 17 about that it's not really him, it's the sin that dwells in him. And then in verse 18 he says, the sin dwells in my flesh. So it's not really me, not the new me, not the recreated me, not the divine and corruptible nature planted in me, not the eternal seed which cannot sin. It's not that me, it's my flesh. So that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing.

I don't see any good thing in my unredeemed humanity. So he says in me, but then he particularizes which part. That is in my flesh. And therein I believe he locates in terms the seed of sin. Sin is seated in the flesh. And we have said before and say again that that flesh is our humanness. It isn't necessarily in and of itself evil, but it's where sin finds its base of operation.

I might just put it this way. Paul limits the area of corruption in the believer to the flesh, to the unredeemed mortality. That is why, beloved, when you die and leave this body, no change needs to be made for you to enter into eternal glory.

Because all you need to be fitted for that is not the addition of something, but the subtraction of it. And so he limits the area of sin to the fallenness of his unredeemed mortality. Now would you notice he says that is in my flesh. He is no longer in the flesh, but the flesh is what? In him.

Still there. And by the way, unsaved people are only flesh. Flesh, flesh, flesh, flesh, flesh, and nothing else. Now the proof of this condition is given in verse 18 again.

And this is a sad song and that's why he laments it over and over again. Look at verse 18. Here's the proof, middle of the verse. For, in other words, here's how I'm going to demonstrate it. To will is present with me. In other words, there's something in me that wants to do what's right. But how to fully perform that which is good I find not. Now please don't misunderstand him here. He's not saying I can't figure out how to do anything right any time because that isn't true. But what he's saying is I can't do it to the extent that my heart longs to do it. You understand?

I can't perform it in the way that I want to perform it. If you look at your own Christian life and you see the flow of growth, I think if you sit down and are honest about it, even though you can see growth in your Christian life, you're going to have a greater hatred for your sin now than you did long ago when you were way down here on the growth line and you really didn't understand how serious sin was. And you hadn't had such a vast comprehension of the majesty and holiness of God and the infinite purity of His Holy Word. You see, as that escalates, so does your sensitivity to sin. And though while we've taught and we affirm again that spiritual growth involves the decreasing frequency of sin, along with the decreasing frequency of sin is a heightened sensitivity to it. And that is Paul's experience.

To will is present with me. The real me down inside wants to do what God wants, but I can't perform the thing the way I want to. And then verse 19, he says similarly as he said in verse 16, for the good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do.

I want it, I just can't do it. You know, if you look back, for example, in the Old Testament, you see David. And you'll find David is a friend of God, right? Sweet singer of the Psalms of Israel, wonderful man of God, exalted. Jesus Christ is glorified in being called the Son of David, isn't He?

Wonderful, wonderful. And yet, if you read the Old Testament, you will not find any writer in the Old Testament who is more overawed, who is more contrite, who is more sensitive to his sin than David. It is David who cries out to God through the Psalms, particularly Psalm 32 and 51, but not only those Psalms, who cries out to God for mercy, who cries out to God for loving kindness, who cries out to God for compassion in the midst of his sinfulness. And it was David who was so near to the heart of God that any sin in his life became cause for him to have a broken heart. So, the struggle here to me is clearly the struggle of the regenerate man.

Unsaved people don't even understand this kind of attitude. Then he comes to the source again in verse 20, the condition, the proof, and the source. Now, if I do the things I don't want to do, it is no more I that do it, but what? Sin that dwells in me.

Exactly what he said in verse 17. It's no more I. What do you mean, no more? There's that no more again. No more since when?

Since what? Salvation. Before salvation, you know, unsaved people can't be in this chapter because there's no more for them. There's no no more. There never was a change.

There's never been a time that things have been different. What would no more mean in an unbeliever? There isn't any no more.

It's always been the same. But since he's redeemed, there is a no more. And since that redemption, it is no more. That recreated I, that real self that's doing these things, but it is sin that dwells there.

And so we fight, says Paul, and we lose. And the losses seem so much more overwhelming because of the perfection of God's holy law. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur.

Thanks for being with us. John's current study is looking at how you can find freedom from sin. Now, John, this issue of the Christian and indwelling sin and the fight against sin that never ends this side of heaven, while we don't enjoy that struggle with sin, it is kind of a relief just to recognize that there is a battle going on. Having a genuine sensitivity to sin says a lot about a person in a positive way. Well, yeah, it says that a person understands the Bible and a person understands the reality of spiritual life and sanctification.

This series is so important. In fact, you probably have noticed if you've been listening to me the last few days, I usually do about a minute and a half or a two-minute introduction, and the last couple of weeks you will have noticed that we're probably three, four minutes into some of these because we're talking about the very essence of Christian living. That is triumph over sin, victory over sin, freedom from sin. This is very critical material because, look, your justification is already accomplished. Your glorification will be accomplished. You're living in the middle between justification and glorification, and your struggle is the struggle of sanctification. You have been set free from sin's penalty. You are being set free from sin's power until one day you're set free from its presence. I want to remind you of the study guide that goes with this important series, Freedom From Sin. It will be one of the books you most use in all your library. Two hundred and fifty pages, all details from Romans 6 and 7. The title of the book again is Freedom From Sin.

It's a study guide with a lot of questions at the end of each chapter, great for use personally or in a group. You need to know what these chapters are saying because this is where we as believers live in the process of sanctification, and to do that in a way that gives honor and glory to God so that we can respond to what Paul said, whether you eat or drink, do all of the glory of God. In order to do that, you've got to be in the flow of sanctification. These two chapters, perhaps more than any other two chapters, lay down the truths that will lead you to a sanctified life and to enjoy the blessings of freedom from sin. Order one or more today.

That's right, friend. Perhaps there is a certain sinful habit that you think you'll never be able to overcome. This book can show you the path to victory. To order the Freedom From Sin Study Guide, contact us today. You can reach us by phone by calling 800-55-GRACE or go to our website, gty.org. The Freedom From Sin Study Guide would be a great resource to use in your personal devotions or pick up a few to use in a group setting. Again, call us at 800-55-GRACE or go to gty.org.

Now, before today's broadcast ends, consider this. You have the opportunity to reach people with the gospel, people you otherwise would never meet when you support this ministry. Every day, Grace To You reaches people right where they are—on their phones and computers, in their cars, in their homes, even in prisons. Your generosity helps us take the life-changing truth of Scripture to those men and women. To partner with us in this far-reaching ministry, mail your tax-deductible gift to Grace To You, Box 4000, Panorama City, California 91412. Or call us at 800-55-GRACE. Or you can give online at gty.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson encouraging you to join us tomorrow when John helps you cultivate a greater hatred for sin, even the sins that you might think are not that serious. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's love, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.