The Believer and Indwelling Sin, Part 1

I believe the Spirit can give us victory. But let me just warn you, the more victory you have, and the more you mature in Christ, and the more you see righteousness winning over sin, the more you will recognize the sinfulness of sin. Every day you face decisions with eternal consequences. Of course, I'm not referring to decisions like what you should wear to the office or eat for breakfast. I'm talking about the choice you face to either go to battle against any desire, attitude, or action that contradicts God's law, or to allow sin to control you. Where do you stand in that war?

How can you fight it more effectively? Consider that today on Grace to You as John MacArthur continues his study on how through Christ you can know freedom from sin. If you have your Bible, turn to the book of Romans, and here is John. Let's open our Bibles and look together at Romans chapter 7.

Romans chapter 7, verses 14 through verse 25. It is a picture of the indwelling sin in the life of a believer. This is a very poignant passage.

It is a rare passage in the Bible because it does something that rarely happens, and I cannot think of another passage that does this just offhand. What it is is a series of laments. It is a series of plaintive cries. It is a series of desperate, sorrowful dirges, and they are repetitious. There is one, and then there is two, and then there is a third. And they basically say the very same thing three times.

This is the cry of a broken heart, of a distressed soul, of a soul in great conflict. Now, each of these three laments follows the same pattern. Paul describes his condition, gives proof of it, and then describes the source of it.

He describes his condition, gives the proof that he's in that condition, and then the source of his problem. Let's look at the first lament, verses 14 to 17. And we may spend a little more time on the first because having interpreted that one, the rest will just be apparent to us. The condition is in verse 14, and he starts each one of the laments with a condition. First one begins in verse 14, second one begins in verse 18, and the third one begins in verse 20.

And each begins with a statement of the condition. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshy sold under sin. The word for tells us Paul is not introducing a new subject.

He's continuing the same subject from the prior passage. That is the goodness of the law, the virtue of the law, in that it shows us our sin. The problem isn't the law.

The problem is us. And the reason he's talking about the law is because the questioners who would have questioned his teaching would have said, well, when you preach salvation by grace through faith apart from law, you would have said, you are speaking evil of the law. You're devaluing the law.

And he says, not at all. The law is good. I'm sinful. The law does a good work. It doesn't save and it doesn't sanctify, but it does convict of sin. So he says, we know then that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshy sold under sin. It begins with a straightforward affirmation that the law is spiritual.

What does he mean? It comes from the Spirit of God. It comes from God Himself. Thus it reflects the holy, divine nature of God, just like he said in verse 12.

Remember that? Wherefore the law is holy and the commandment is holy and just and good. Now, again, let me remind you that I think you have to have here the testimony of a regenerate man. I do not see that unregenerate, unredeemed, ungodly people who do not know Jesus Christ have such perception of God's holy law. In verse 18, he says the same thing, really. I want to do God's law. In verse 19, I want to do God's law. In verse 21, I want to do God's law. Verse 22, I delight in God's law. I don't see such a delight in an unregenerate man's heart.

But Paul then goes on to say, I've got a barrier to doing this, even though the law is spiritual. Here's the contrast. I am fleshy, sarcanas. I am human.

I am earthbound. I'm physical. He doesn't say, I am in the flesh. He doesn't say, I am totally controlled by the flesh.

That's not true. Look at chapter 7, verse 5. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful impulses which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. We were in the flesh. I'm not in the flesh anymore. Verse 8 of chapter 8, so then they that are in the flesh, and you need to underline in the flesh in 7, 5, and 8, 8. In the flesh is an unregenerate condition.

And his terms are very precise here. In the flesh is an unregenerate, unredeemed position. He says, I am not in the flesh. But he says, I'm fleshy.

I'm fleshy. I'm carnal. Say, can a Christian be that way? Listen to this, 1 Corinthians 3, verse 1. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. Verse 3, for ye are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you envying and strife, are ye not carnal and walk as men?

He says to the Corinthian Christians, you're carnal. You're fleshy. You're acting in a sinful, fleshly way. We are not in the flesh. But listen, the flesh is still in us. We're no longer in the flesh in terms of being captive to it.

Now look at verse 18. For I know, Romans 7, 18, for I know that in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing. He says, the flesh is still there.

I'm not in it, but it's still in me. And verse 25, with the mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. You're no longer in the flesh.

The flesh is in you. And that is simply a term for our humanness. It could be the same term as chapter 6, verse 12, let not sin therefore reign in your what? Mortal body. It doesn't reign in your new creation, your new nature. It reigns in your mortal body.

And so, his terms are very consistent. Sin is in our humanness. Now, any Christian could make the statement in verse 14. People have problems with this.

Let me see if I can make it simple. I'm fleshy. Did you say that? I can say that. I mean, it's true. You say, yes, but you're certainly not talking in technical, theological terms.

No, no, no. I'm just saying, could I say as a Christian, I'm a sin. I'm a sin. As a Christian, I'm a sinner saved by grace. I'm still a sinner. God help me if I don't. If I say, well, since I've been saved, I no longer sin.

My wife will be up here to give testimony. You see, the point is, I can say that. I can say I'm fleshy or fleshly, carnal. There are things in me that represent that. I get angry. I get irritated. I don't fulfill my duty as I ought to all the time. I don't maintain the diligence that I should in the pursuit of the things of God that I desire. I see my humanness, my fleshliness getting in the way of the accomplishment of all of the things that I ought to do. I'm insensitive to people when they need my gentleness and I'm not gentle.

When they need my kindness and I'm not kind and so forth. I see myself as human. I see myself as sinful. I don't always speak godly to everyone who speaks to me in the way that I should. We can all say this.

It's a general statement. And you know, there have been times when you've been the captive of sin. I'll tell you when the times are, every time you sin. Every time you sin, you lost the battle. Sin took you captive.

Right? And so Paul puts all our feelings into words by articulating the basis of the conflict inside the believer. And we all understand this perception.

We can all see that there's sin in our lives. It shouldn't be there. It isn't the truest thing about us. It isn't our new self.

But it's there. This is just every Christian's conflict. That there's a sense in which, though free in the new nature, we're still bound by the humanness that we dwell in. The proof of it. Verse 15.

Here's the proof. For that which I do, I know not. For what I would, that do I not.

But what I hate, that do I. The self-righteous moral man may deceive himself, but a true Christian led by the Spirit won't. He sees the proof in him of indwelling sin. Notice the verse carefully. That which I do, I know not. And then later on he says, what I hate, I do. The word know speaks of an intimacy of love.

It was said of Joseph that he had not known Mary. And I think its use here as a contrast to the word hate gives us the liberty of understanding it that way. And what he is saying is, that which I do, I do not love. And that which I hate, I do. Which is another way of saying the same thing. And you know that frustration, no sooner have you done something right that you're patted on the back for doing it and immediately you just did something wrong.

You got proud. And you frustrate yourself and you say just what he said, oh wretched man, when do I get rid of this conflict? His will is frustrated. It isn't that evil wins all the time, it's just that he has such a high standard because the Law is so holy, so just, so good, so spiritual that when he sees the high standard of the Law, he wants to win all the time on God's side and any victory for evil looks to him like horrendous defeat. And that's why I say, and so often do I say it, that the road to spirituality is paved with a sense of your own wretchedness.

Always. Not your own self-glory. Here is a truly spiritual man, this is a broken contrite heart. This is a man crying out, oh God, I can't be all you want me to be. I can't fulfill all your holy and just and good Law. And you know, there are a lot of Christians who aren't at this point, and it isn't because they're so holy, it's because they're so thin in their comprehension of God's holy Law. Well, He's given us the condition, and He's given us the proof, and now He gives us the source.

And we'll stop with this one, verse 16. If then I do that which I would not, I consent to the Law that it is good. I mean, isn't the Law's fault? Because I want to do the Law. Well, you say, what's making you want to do the Law? I'll tell you what's making me want to do the Law. That new creation, that divine nature in me, that incorruptible eternal seed in me, that part of me that John spoke about when he said, if you're really born again, you won't sin. That new part of me, it really longs to do the Law, it really wants to do the Law, and so I affirm that the Law is good, because the good part of me wants to do it.

You see? The Law is good. Now then, verse 17. If it isn't the Law that's bad, if the Law's not my problem, now then it is no more I that do it, but what? Sin that dwelleth in me. Now, listen very carefully.

You'll miss the whole thing if you miss this. The Christian has in his heart the sense of the moral excellence of God's Law. The more mature that Christian is, the more profoundly committed to the direction of the Spirit of God in his life, the deeper his love for the Lord Jesus Christ, the deeper his sense of God's holiness, the greater the longing to fulfill the Law. And since it is the best part of him that wants to fulfill God's Law, then God's Law must be the best. And so it isn't God's Law that's the problem.

The problem is sin that dwells in me. It's our humanness again. But here in verse 17 is the key statement to interpret the whole passage. In verse 14, he just spoke in generalities, and he sort of gave us a perspective of his unredeemed humanness, as sort of dominating himself.

And you and I know that experience. We get the feeling sometimes that sin just dominates. We just can't be all we want to be for God.

Haven't you ever felt that way? We just can't be as powerful. We just can't be as pure.

We just can't be as holy as we know His Law wants us to be. And so we can say in verse 14, I'm fleshy and I see myself captured by sin. And that's a non-technical statement.

That's just a general statement. And he says, I am fleshy. And he's not dividing himself into two. He's not saying, well, it isn't me. It's sin at that point. He's just saying, I'm responsible. I think verse 14 is very important because it says to the Christian that if you sin, who's responsible?

It's you. And it protects us from sort of philosophical dualism. And this is being taught in many circles today that when you sin, it's just your old nature, so let it sin. You can't correct an old nature anyway. Let it do its thing. And God doesn't hold you responsible. It's just your old nature. He says, I, I, and He accepts responsibility and so must you.

It's me. He's not two people. He's speaking in non-technical terms. When I see God's pure and holy law, I see my sinfulness and I say, oh, how sinful I am. And the more I understand God's law, the more I see how I am captive to sin. But I don't want you to get confused, He says in verse 17. And let me just clarify this. It isn't any more really I that do it, but what?

Isn't that important? You see, now He's giving you a technical distinction. Now, watch this. It is no more I. When He says, Deucati, a negative adverb of time, from this point on, something changed.

Now, since Christ has come into my life and I've been redeemed, it is no more that deep inner self in a technical sense. It's no more I that is doing this, but it is sin that hangs on. Are you beginning to understand the distinction He makes?

You have to understand this in order to understand the character of regeneration. He splits semantic hairs in verse 17, not in 14. In 14, He just makes a general statement.

In 17, He clarifies by saying, now get it straight. It isn't really any more I. It used to be I when I could say I was carnal and I was soul under sin and that was really all there was to I. But now, it isn't any more really the new I.

It's just Galatians 2.20 all over again, folks. For I, that's the old I, am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet it's not I, not the old I. Christ lives in me. And the life which I live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. You see, He's saying, it's me, but it's not me.

It's a new me. And that's what He's saying in verse 17. So, after salvation, the part of man where sin lies no longer resides in his inmost self. It no longer resides in the ego. It's no longer there in the very substance of what that man is. That's recreated to be like Christ. And sin finds its residual dwelling in His flesh, in His humanness. And He says that in verse 18, in My flesh dwells no good thing. What is the source of Paul's problem?

The condition? Conflict. The proof? I don't know what I want to do. I do what I don't want to do.

The source? End of verse 17. Sin that what?

Dwells in me. Indwelling sin. May I suggest to you that there's a big difference between surviving sin and reigning sin?

Sin no longer reigns, but it does survive in us. I'll close with this. We're like an unskilled artist who has a picture to be painted, clear view. Maybe he's out and he sees the mountains and trees and rivers. He's got his easel, got all of his little paints. He's ready to paint this glorious landscape. The thing is, he's a real klutz, and he can't paint stick figures, let alone landscapes. He has the scene to be painted in all its wondrous majesty. He has the paints to paint it, but he doesn't have the skill. He's debilitated by his physical incapacity. It isn't that he can't perceive it. It isn't that he doesn't have available tools. It's just that his clumsiness is in the way. The fault is not with the scene, is it?

Nothing wrong with the scene. The fault isn't even with the paint. The fault is with the artist's inability. And that's really where the Christian finds his frustration.

And I believe that's where we come to the point where we ask the master artist to put his hand on our hand, to hold our hand as we hold the brush and paint the strokes that we, independent of him, could never paint. And that's why we have to realize that the victory we do experience comes only when we yield ourselves to the one who can overcome the flesh. In Galatians, I close with this verse, I close with this verse 5.17, for the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh.

And these are contrary to one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would. Sound familiar? Just like Romans 7. You say, well, I know that battle. How do you win it? One verse.

This I say then. Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill what? The lust of the flesh.

I believe the Spirit can give us victory. But let me just warn you, the more victory you have and the more you mature in Christ and the more you see righteousness winning over sin, the more you will recognize the sinfulness of sin. And the more you will find yourself in Romans 7, it is a place for totally committed, wholeheartedly abandoned people whose deepest, most profound longing is to fulfill the whole law of God. And they are in great distress because they can't do it. And they cry out, oh, wretched man, when, verse 24, do I get out of the what?

The body. Terms are always consistent. When do I unload this baggage and get the glory and get the glory and eternally fulfill the law of God? This is Grace to You with John MacArthur.

Thanks for being with us. Along with teaching each day on this radio station, John also serves as chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. His current study is showing you how to experience freedom from sin. John's still thinking about the battle with sin that every Christian faces. I'm wondering, in your experience as a pastor counseling believers, have you found that there is a particular misunderstanding about sin that comes up more often than all the others? Is there some myth that causes Christians to struggle with sin more than they otherwise would?

Well, I think there are two that just are always hanging around. The first one is, now that I've been saved, it doesn't matter if I sin. This is the old antinomian heresy, which means it's an attitude that is against the law. You're not living under law. We're under grace.

We're not under law. That finds its way into every single generation of the church. In every generation of the church, including now, there are people promulgating the idea that you've been saved by grace, don't worry about sin, you're not under law anymore, you're free—Christian freedom, Christian liberation. We watch the result of that. Pastors who have preached that, almost inevitably, every single one of them end up out of the ministry because of immorality.

And we could rattle off names off the top of our heads on that list. So, the first one is a hyper-grace idea, that now that I'm a Christian, my sin doesn't matter. I've heard it explained this way, look, the flesh is in you, the flesh is the flesh, it can't be anything but the flesh, so don't worry about the flesh. It's all taken care of. Christ died for your sin.

You can't fix your flesh, so just be free and don't worry about it. That's a very extreme view. Very extreme view when it articulates that way, but that is a very, very popular view. That's the first one that is a desperately wrong approach to living the Christian life.

The second one is that you need to do something about your flesh, but it's not your job. It's the Holy Spirit's job. So, if you just relax, if you just rest and take a passive posture, if you will, the old phrase, let go and let God.

This was a huge movement back in the last century. Massive conferences all over everywhere of people trying to let go and let God. Both of those are wrong, and they put the believer in a position to be devastated by temptation and unprepared for the strategies of Satan and unprepared in their own defenses because they haven't applied the rigors of the means of grace to their lives.

What you need to do is to understand this. God hates sin. He hates it in your life, and you need to hate it as well, and you need to fight it. You need to battle with it. Paul battled. He fought. He struggled.

He beat his own body. You need to know that you have been called in obedience to obey every righteous command that God gives. So, getting your sanctification correct, that is the understanding of it theologically and doctrinally, is essential for you to experience joy and usefulness and give glory to God.

That's right. It makes sense, and thank you, John. Friend, no book of the Bible goes deeper into the doctrine of sanctification than Romans. To help you get all you can from this amazing epistle, order John's two-volume Romans commentary when you contact us today. Call 800-55-GRACE or go to gty.org. Individual volumes of the commentary are available for $19, or you can enjoy a substantial discount by ordering the whole set at once, and shipping is free on both options. To get the MacArthur New Testament commentary series, call toll-free 800-55-47223.

That number is easy to remember as 800-55-GRACE, or you can shop online at gty.org. And while you're at the website, be sure to dig into all the study tools that are available there, including daily devotionals, the MacArthur Daily Bible. These are a great way to take in a healthy portion of biblical truth every day, and you can also listen to what John is currently preaching at his home church.

These are all free resources, and many others are available at gty.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Keep in mind that Grace to You television airs on Sunday on DirecTV, channel 378, or check your local listings for Channel and Times. And be here tomorrow when John returns to Romans 7 and shows you how to cultivate greater sensitivity to sin. It's another half hour of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time, on Grace to You.