In Jason Dohm's sermon, 'A Wretched Man and a Conquering Savior,' he delves into the internal conflict within Christians, as described by Paul in Romans 7:12-8:1. Dohm explains that believers, though redeemed, experience a continuous internal war between the spiritual desire to follow God's law and the carnal nature that leads to sin. This struggle is characterized by a recognition of the law's goodness and an awareness of sin's pervasive influence. Dohm emphasizes that while Christians are no longer slaves to sin, they must actively participate in a 'holy war' against it, relying on God's grace for strength. He highlights the duality of being spiritually alive yet physically bound to a corruptible body, leading to a longing for ultimate deliverance through Jesus Christ. The sermon underscores that constant war does not equate to constant defeat, as progressive victory is attainable through Christ's deliverance, bringing hope and assurance of future triumph over sin.

So our sermon text today will be verses 22 through 25, but for context I'll be starting in verse 12 and we'll be reading through the first verse of chapter 8. Starting in verse 12. Therefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good. Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not, but sin that it might appear sin was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice, but what I hate, that I do. If then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good, But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 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. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to 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.

O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Let's unite our hearts in prayer and ask for his blessing.

Oh merciful and holy God, to read this text, such a sobering text, but not a hopeless one, a sobering text because, O God, you're giving us a clearer view of ourselves. That though we are redeemed there is still a war within dwelling sin within us, still a war that is happening every day. But it's not without hope because we know you have redeemed us. And oh God, you are sanctifying us. You are giving us the grace to fight in this war.

You are giving us the grace to engage in a holy war, God against sin, to mortify it every day. Thank you Father to consider that question who will save us from this body of death. Oh God there's such a glorious answer and that is you and only you. Only you can save us and you will and you have. Oh God it's just such a glorious reality.

Lord God we pray that you would give Jason wisdom today as he preaches. God give us hearts that are ready and eager to receive your word, hearts that are ready to repent of sin where there needs to be repentance. And God, continue to give us clear views of your glory. And God, those that don't know you today, oh God, would they run to you? Would you make them feel the weight of their sin?

Would you change their hearts? Would you draw them to yourself today if it be your will. Oh God that they would read this text and that they would see that you are the only Savior, the only one that can bring them to you, the only one that can draw them, the only one that can save them. Oh God help us today. In your something we pray.

Amen. The title of the sermon today is, A Wretched Man and a Conquering Savior. You have both in our text. Last week was a long text, longer than usual, a lot longer than usual. We normally wouldn't bite off verses 13 through 25, especially in a letter written by Paul.

But There's a single flow of thought, so we didn't think that we could break it up without actually harming the flow of thought that Paul is developing throughout. So we bit off the whole thing and tried to chew the whole thing. Here's where this text fits. In the early chapters of Romans, Paul is very forcefully teaching the great doctrine of the Reformation, salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. But that brings up a lot of things that you can say that it might mean that it doesn't actually mean.

You can come to false conclusions out of that great doctrine. So in chapter 6, Paul takes great pains to vindicate grace. He knows that grace will be brought up on false charges based on This teaching of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. And so he clears grace from the false charges. He clears grace's good name from these false charges that might be brought against it from this great doctrine that he's been teaching.

In chapter 7, he vindicates the law. He knows that this great teaching is also going to cause false charges to be made. Thank you so much. I didn't know if I was going to be able to make it through. I'm getting sunshine right off somebody's windshield out there.

That's perfect, thank you. He knows that the law would be brought up on false charges based on what he's been teaching. So He clears the good name of the law. So that really is the flow of thought that we've been in. Now, last week I said this is a very controversial text.

Why is it a controversial text? Because things are said in this text that when you read it and think about it you have to say can that really be said of a Christian? It's not very flattering things. It's things about doing things that aren't good and wanting to do things that are good, finding that you have no power to do them. Can you really say those things about a Christian?

There are other things in the text that you read and say, Can that really be said of a non-Christian? Wanting to do good, delighting in the law of God in the inner man, agreeing with the law that the law is good, Can that be said of an unbeliever? So on one hand you have things, you read them and you say, that can't be true of a Christian. On the other hand you read them and you say, that can't be true of a non-Christian. Well, which is it?

So that's why the text is difficult and you have different commentators coming to different conclusions about the text. Last week I drew on language from our confession which explains this doctrinally by saying that the Christian though born again though set free from slavery to sin, exists in a continual and irreconcilable war. Continual, there won't be an end to it as long as you're alive. Irreconcilable, There's no bringing these two enemies together. They are fundamentally different.

So they'll always be pulling in opposite directions. I think that is the explanation of the text. So I'm glad that we took it as a single text last week, 13 through 25, and I'm very glad that I get a second bite at the apple this week to just look at 22 through 25. Hopefully much of the heavy lifting got done last week. And we can just focus on clarifying and explaining particular things about this flow of thought without feeling like we're sprinting every second of the sermon.

I felt like that last week. I don't know if you did. Let's pray. God, I thank you for this text. Every text is good.

We need every text, but this one particularly keeps us from being set up for hard falls, far falls, with very slow recoveries because you set our expectations of this life, what we're going to be encountering every day of this life, this continual, irreconcilable war that is the reality of the Christians. So I thank you that this is true of Scripture, not sugarcoating anything, But telling it like it is, telling us exactly what reality is and will be so that we know how to live life under your care. Thank you for this text and I pray that you would bless our time together today. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, I'd like to begin with verses 22 and 23.

So hopefully your Bibles are still open to Romans chapter 7, follow along as I reread 22 and 23. Paul writes, For I delight in the law of God, according to 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. In these two verses Paul speaks of two laws at war in the believer. So if you're taking notes on the handout by filling in blanks, war fills in the blank. Two laws at war in the believer.

So if you're taking notes on the handout by filling in blanks, war fills in the blank. Two laws at war in the believer. Just in these two verses, We've seen this all along, but here we see it compressed. Just in these two verses, we see two uses of the word law. In other words, the same word, but not exactly the same meaning.

There are two uses of the word law, and Paul's using both of them. One, do truth and good, don't do falsehood and bad. That's often how we think of law. Don't go faster than 50 miles, 55 miles an hour. Be nice to someone.

Don't do this, do this. Do truth and good, don't do falsehood and bad. That's one use of the word law. Meaning the law of God. The law of God that describes God.

The law of God is rooted in his eternal character. It tells us what he's like and then calls us to it because we're image bearers. How are you to bear the image of God? The law tells you, do truth and good, don't do falsehood and evil. The second use of the word law, same word, different definition.

Is a principle that exerts influence. Like what? Like gravity. OK? Drop it a million times.

What does it do? All a million times. It goes from high to low. Why? Because there is a principle, a law, exerting influence.

Law is actually just what we use to describe the reality of this influence that is being exerted. So Paul uses the same word law in both of these ways in these two. So let's begin to trace it out. Look back at verse 22. For I delight in the law of God, do and don't do, according to the inward man." I'll say this because I think this is the interpretive key to the whole flow of thought.

Meaning, if you get this, you'll get the rest of it right. If you don't get this, you'll be like some of the commentators that I think get it very wrong. Only a person who has had the heart of stone removed and a new heart of flesh given. This is the description of the new birth in Ezekiel 36. The heart of stone taken out, the heart of flesh, the new heart with new affections given in its place, only a person who has had that transfer happen can be accurately described this way as delighting in the law of God in the inner man.

Listen to Psalm 1, 1-3. Just listen. So this is Psalm 1, 1-3. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his Delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law he meditates day and night He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water That brings forth its fruit in its season whose leaf also shall not wither and whatever he does Shall prosper And if you skip to the last verse in the chapter, you see that the way of the righteous is being contrasted with the way of the ungodly.

So this is the righteous person. This is the person who has been transformed by the grace of God. What is a key mark? He delights in the law of the Lord and he meditates in it day and night. This describes believers and only describes believers.

But now listen to Matthew 23 verses 23 and 24. Just listen. This is Jesus and his scathing rebuke in Matthew 23, 23 and 24. Jesus says, Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law justice and mercy and faith these you ought to have done without leaving the others undone.

Blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. So what I'm saying is that only a believer delights in the law of God according to the inward man. But it is possible to be very law centered without that being true of you. You buy what I'm selling, you understand what I'm saying? It is very possible to be highly law centered, like the scribes and the Pharisees, and to say when you're tithing, don't forget the garden spices.

Perfectly precise. These three garden spices, don't you dare forget the garden spices in your tithing, but then at the same time they are neglecting the three weightier matters of the law. They have a handle on the three garden spices, but they don't have a handle on the three weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy. What was the third one? And faith.

So are they law centered? Yes. Do they delight in the law of God according to the inward man? Not for a second. Delighting in the law of God according to the inward man is reserved for the people who have undergone the change.

A heart of stone, You can be law centered and have a heart just as hard as the hardest rock. Only believers have this heart of flesh, the lighting in the law of God according to the inward man. Ultimately, it is delight in the law of God in the inner man that proves to be the source of this continual, irreconcilable war. In other words, if you don't delight in the law of God, in your inner man, there's no war. He might be pricked in your conscience.

That's true of all men that God has given us an internal, inborn awareness of what's right and wrong, of what's true and false. And so when we cross over those lines, there is a prick of conscience. That is not the same thing as delighting in the law of God in the inward man. But when you begin to delight in the law of God in the inner man because you have a new heart, then the war is on. And really not until then.

It is the delight in the law of God in the inner man that is the source of this continual, irreconcilable war. Why? Because the raised from the dead spirit is still dwelling within this still has corruptions from the fall body this is really sort of the central thesis this is what I'm trying to prove in this sermon that Paul is teaching here you have a raised from the dead spirit you were born spiritually dead but God had mercy on you and showed you your great need for His Son. That the only thing that would solve your fundamental problems was running to Christ and throwing yourself upon Him for mercy. And then when you did that, you were set free and you became spiritually alive.

He raised you from the dead spiritually. The Bible calls this being born again. Okay, is all well? Well it is well with my soul, the hymn writer would say. It is well with my soul.

The hymn writer would say. It is well with my soul. What about your body? Yeah, that's going to have to wait. There is a bodily resurrection, but it has not happened yet.

And so this raised from the dead spirit is still dwelling within this, still has corruptions from the fall body. Last week I called it the remnants of Hurricane Adam. Verse 23, back to our text, Verse 23, Paul uses the same word again, law, But this time he uses it as the principle that exerts influence, like gravity exerts influence over objects. Look again at verse 23. But I see another law, this principle that exerts influence 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.

So this is the state of war. A principle in the members, which are pulling in one direction, and a principle at work in the law and mind pulling in exactly the opposite direction. Here is the troubling phrase, are you ready? Bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. If You're not troubled by that phrase, you just haven't thought about it very deeply yet.

It is a troubling phrase. Wait, I thought in Christ we're no longer slaves to sin. That's why the phrase ought to be troubling. Here's the phrase again, bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. But in chapter 6, he said we're free.

That we're no longer slaves to sin. He's right, and He's right. We are no longer slaves to sin. But what is Paul saying here? He's saying, captivity to the law of sin which is in my members, captivity to the principle that exerts influence in my members.

What's he saying? There's no escape in this life. Because I'm still in this body as long as I live. I'm still subject to the remnants of Hurricane Adam as long as I live. There are remaining corruptions.

As a believer, I'm stuck for now. My raised from the dead Spirit is still in this Body with remaining corruptions body and they're joined together And honestly, I don't know how to describe where one ends and the other begins, I know it's not true that you can simply say the body is bad but the spirit is good because that will not stand inspection by other places in Scripture. So this is a really hard one and I did not come here prepared today to talk about this is exactly where the members end and the law of the mind begins. They're so intertwined that I can't disentangle them for you and I'm not sure how far we could get if we were to head down that track. It seems like they're together, doesn't it?

Feel that way day to day. As a believer, I'm stuck for now with the remnants of Hurricane Adam. I read this last week but I'll read it again because I think it's so important. Galatians 5 verses 16 and 17. This is Paul saying the same thing but in short form.

So you get the condensed version which is really helpful. You can just use the summary as a lens for which to understand the longer text. Galatians 5, 16, and 17. Paul writes, I say then walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." So here's what he's talking about. This craving in the members for things that are not aligned with a new heart.

Not aligned at all. Pulling in completely opposite direction from the new heart. Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh or the craving in these members. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. These are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish.

This is exactly what Paul is talking about in Romans 7. Let me add one this week. Let me add Hebrews 12.1. Listen to Hebrews 12.1. So Hebrews 11, the great faith chapter, this list of saints through the centuries, through the millennia who have trusted in God Then the beginning of verse 12 coming out of this listing of people who have had faith in God Therefore we also Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

I think this is exactly to the point. Why? Because Paul is helping us to understand in Romans chapter 7 that there will be no sprint to the finish. Unless you're dying today. Then by all means, sprint to the finish.

He's telling us there is a race to be run with endurance. He's telling us that sin, though you are born again and no longer a slave to sin, sin still easily ensnares us. So what should we conclude? Oh, there's no hope. Why bother?

No, that's not anybody's conclusion. It's not Paul's conclusion. It's not Jesus's conclusion. It's not the author of Hebrews' conclusions. If that's a different person, I don't know.

The author of Hebrews is writing to brothers and sisters in the Lord and in writing to believers says sin easily ensnares us. Isn't that what Paul is saying in Romans chapter seven? As a believer in Christ, Am I a slave to sin? No, I died with Christ. Am I subject to this principle that exerts influence in my members until my last breath?

As long as I am in this body, I am subject to that corrupted and corrupting influence in me. And so I fight. That's the conclusion drawn by Jesus, drawn by Paul, drawn by the author of Hebrews is run the race. But understand it's an endurance race. It's a race that lasts as long as you live.

You are subject to this corrupted and corrupting influence that is in your members. And so it is going to require a fight, And it is going to require endurance. Now back to our text. Verse 24. Paul says this.

Oh wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death. In verse 24 we have a man groaning for the ultimate freedom. If you're taking notes on the handout by filling in blanks, groaning fills in the first blank, freedom the second. A man groaning for the ultimate freedom.

Free and groaning for the ultimate freedom. Now what does it mean to be wretched? The primary meaning in the Greek lexicon is enduring toils and troubles. The secondary meaning is afflicted, Wretched. We should have the full range of meaning in mind when we come to this verse.

Oh wretched man that I am. Is Paul afflicted? He's afflicted. Is Paul enduring toils and troubles? Have you read the New Testament?

So Paul calls himself wretched. We are tempted to recoil from that. Paul, Are Christians really wretched? I think Paul would answer that question this way. In a sense, Christians are wretched.

And Let's take it to the Greek lexicon. Do Christians endure toils and troubles? Hello? Are Christians afflicted? Then, Christians in a sense are wretched.

Let's take a sneak peek, because I think Paul is actually just introducing, he's opening up a vein, that he's going to take us to in chapter 12. So let's peek ahead to chapter 8. Follow along as I read chapter 8 verses 20-23. I think this is just further down the same track. Romans 8, 20-23, Paul writes, For the creation was subjected to futility, Not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope.

Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also, we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, eagerly awaiting the adoption, the redemption of our body. What does that mean? Paul is talking about the world in which we live.

A world filled with corruption. When Adam sinned, he brought sin and death into the world. And now our world is permeated with it. It's everywhere. And even the creation is groaning for the time where that would no longer be true.

When the corruption is replaced with the incorruptible. And he says, even we who are born again, grown within ourselves, would We have the first fruits of the Spirit, a down payment of what it will be like in the future to be completely free. We have the power of the Spirit now, but in measure. It will be without measure in time. It will be complete total victory over sin in time.

And we're groaning for it. We groan within ourselves. We know we have the down payment. The down payment is for the surplus that is to come when our bodies are redeemed at the bodily resurrection. So is it fair in this condition, born again yet with remaining corruptions which keep exerting influence as long as I live to call myself wretched I say yes I say yes believers in Jesus are saved that is settled Our sins have been dealt with at the cross definitively, decisively, permanently.

Believers in Jesus are being saved. We are not perfect yet, but we are pressing on for the prize. It's just what Paul says in Philippians. Believers in Christ will be saved. Are saved, are being saved in the present, will be saved in the future.

The salvation through Jesus Christ is past, present, and future. We are the church militant now. It's just a fancy phrase theologians use to say, We're at war now. Militant reminds you of what? Military.

That's exactly right. We're in the war now. We are the people of God in the war now. We are the church militant. That is our current reality.

Paul is describing the current reality in Romans chapter 7. Don't you love the Bible? The Bible doesn't paint pie in the sky so that when you find out that it's bait and switch that you fall hard and fall, hard and far. A hard fall and a far fall. That's what happens with the bait and switch.

It leads to disillusionment. God shields us from this in his revelation by telling us it's not bait and switch. He tells you exactly what reality will be for your life, if we'll only listen, if we'll only be good Bible students. Rather than a hard, far fall, if you understand, we're in a dog fight. The falls aren't as hard, they're not as far, and the recovery is quicker, because you understand this is the reality.

I'm not the church triumphant. We will be the church triumphant, but that is future. Today I'm in the church militant, the war is on, so I have no time to wallow, I have no time to mope, the war is on. This is what the Bible prepares us for. We're in the church militant now.

We will be in the church triumphant later. I think Paul is trying to stimulate our appetite for the church triumphant. He's helping us to long for it. Can you wait for the day where there's no opposing principle, exerting influence in all the wrong directions all the time? Doesn't that sound dreadful?

Doesn't that sound wretched? Let's let Matthew Henry summarize it. Listen to Matthew Henry. So, in the quote he's drawing on Philippians 4.11 where Paul says, I've learned to be content in every circumstance. Okay, So Matthew Henry draws on that.

Matthew Henry says, a man that had learned in every state to be content yet complains thus of his corrupt nature. Had I been required to speak of Paul I should have said oh blessed man that you are an ambassador of Christ a favorite of heaven a spiritual father of thousands so Paul says a wretched man that I am Matthew Henry says if I were to speak for him I would say, oh blessed man that you are. He continues. But in his own account, He was a wretched man because of the corruption of nature. He speaks like one that was sick of it, that would give anything to be rid of it.

Looks to the right hand and to the left for some friend that would part him and his corruptions The remainders of indwelling sin are a very grievous burden To a gracious soul Amen that pretty much nails it the remainders of indwelling sin the remnants of hurricane Adam are a very grievous burden to a gracious soul. That's exactly what's happening here in verse 24. Now finally, verse 25. Verse 25. Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Verse 25, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." In verse 25, the deliverer is named. Named fills in the blank if that's the way you're taking those. The deliverer is named. Paul thanks God that there is a deliverer and that there is an ultimate deliverance, then he names the deliverer.

Jesus the anointed one, our Lord. Jesus Christ, the one who was anointed by God to come and deliver people who need a deliverance from bodies of death. The deliverance from this body of death comes to the believer through Jesus. The deliverance from this body of death comes through His person. As both God and man, as the God-man, he is perfectly suited to deliver those who are in a body of death.

As God, he could come and live the perfect life that is required to be a substitute. He could come and provide an infinitely valuable sacrifice so that one could save millions and millions and millions. How can it be that one could save all these millions who are fleeing to him for refuge because his sacrifice is infinitely valuable. As man He can be a substitute like his brethren. So the Word became flesh and dwelled among us.

The deliverance from this body of death comes through Jesus, his work, his active obedience. He always did what God says do in his law. Everything that he did was perfectly consistent with truth and good. He never did a single thing that God holds us back from to keep us back from destruction. Nothing he ever did was consistent with falsehood or evil.

And yet, though he was actively obedient all his life long, he was passively obedient in going to the cross What does that mean we think a passive is bad? No, no in this case passive is good He let something happen to him which didn't have to happen to him Jesus didn't need to die as a sinner because he was no sinner. Jesus didn't have to be taken because legions of angels were at his disposal. He was passively obedient. He let himself go to the cross as a volunteer.

No one took his life from him. He willingly laid it down. He willingly took up again. He lived an actively obedient life, always doing what pleased God, never doing what displeased God, and then he was passively obedient at the end, letting happen to him what nothing logically would say should happen to Jesus. He has no sins to die for and no one can take his life from him.

The person in work of Jesus Christ is perfect for delivering from the body of death. What Paul does, the believer does. What is that? Long for the ultimate, complete deliverance. If you're a real believer, surely there's something in you that longs to be free from this war, from this daily struggle.

Believers all have this impulse. Excuse me, I can't read my own notes. Believers all have this impulse. Let's conclude with Paul's own commentary. Matthew Henry's good, Paul is much better.

1 Corinthians 15, will conclude in 1 Corinthians 15. We visited here a lot recently, but It's perfect for this text as well. 1 Corinthians 15, the great resurrection chapter, concludes this way. I'll start in verse 54. 1 Corinthians 15, 54.

Paul is speaking of the bodily resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15, 54, Paul writes, When this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." Oh Death, where is your sting? Oh Hades, Where is your victory? The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." There it is, saying exactly the same thing in our text.

The victory is through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God who gives us that victory. But now look at where he concludes in 58. Therefore, Because all this is true, therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Here's the flow of logic.

Today is corruptible and mortal. Tomorrow is incorruptible and immortal. Since that's true, Be steadfast. Be immovable. Abound in the work of the Lord.

It's not in vain. We can't have victory. We can't have victory. Applications. I'll give you two.

One. Never, never, never think that constant war means constant defeat. Paul is not teaching that in Romans chapter 7. It's very easy to read Romans chapter 7 and say, well this means we're just going to lose all the time. Lose, lose, lose, lose, lose.

No victory. Constant war means constant defeat. Paul is not teaching that. Spoiler alert, we're about to go to Romans chapter 8, which is a chapter of victory. He's not leaving us in constant war means constant defeat.

He's actually going to take us and tell us how to make progress, how to win victories. Chapter 7 means never think the fight's over in this life. Chapter 8 is how can we have progressive victory in life. What Paul describes in Romans chapter 7 does not mean that the ground of war never shifts. Now follow me here, this is important.

You could read seven and say I can expect to lose the same old battles in the same way. That's not the right conclusion. The right conclusion is the war is never over as long as I'm breathing. You have warrant to conclude that. You don't have warrant to conclude the same old battles in the same old way.

The ground never shifts. It may be that the more sanctified you are, the less sanctified you feel. I talked about that a lot last week. That is true. As people make progress in the faith, They get a wider view of all the things they were blind to before.

So you're going forward, but it can feel like you're going backwards because you're just seeing more. And you're becoming more sensitive to these sins that were imperceptible to you yesterday, but now you feel them acutely. And so you say, I'm going backwards. Actually, no, it's just a change of perspective. So, it may be that the more sanctified you are, the less sanctified you feel.

But that does not mean that there is no progress. If there is no progress, you are still spiritually dead. If the ground of the war never shifts, so you can never say, God gave me victory over yesterday's, last year's, last decade's sins, those things I have a measure of victory and a measure of progress in, you're spiritually dead if you can't say that. That's number one. Never, never, never think that the constant war means constant defeat.

That's not what Paul is teaching. Two, we'll let Rob Ventura have the last word. Rob Ventura says this, rejoice if you find that your greatest burden is your remaining sin in this life. This is good proof that you truly are in a state of grace. This is not the case with the non-Christian.

What's he saying? He's saying that there's a strange sort of good in this, oh wretched man that I am impulse. There's a strange sort of good. It means that you are becoming sensitized to the remaining corruptions and that you have a longing in you for the time when we'll be free from all the remaining corruptions. And all of our impulses will be towards the things that honor the Lord.

Rob Ventura says, rejoice if you find that your greatest burden is your remaining sin in this life. It's a good sign, not a bad sign. Let's give thanks. God, I pray that over time you make this truer and truer and truer of this, that our heavy burdens, our sorrows would be these remnants of things that we hate but still find exerting influence over us. And that the great end would be a longing to be with you.

Say as the Apostle John does at the very end of scripture, Come quickly Lord Jesus. Come quickly. Thank you that you deliver from this body of death. As the God-man, you're the perfect one to do it, and you have done it. We praise you in Jesus' name.

Amen.