My printing is poor, and I think my preaching is poorer, but at least we'll have it before our minds. The ultimate of the Christian life, I believe, is to be conformed to the image of the Son of God. You may differ, and we'll still be friends, but I want you to know I firmly believe that's the ultimate of the Christian life. With all of my heart, I believe that. And I'm convinced that we'll never realistically be yielding ourselves and giving ourselves and submitting ourselves and working in our own lives toward that goal until we're convinced that is the ultimate of the Christian life. Concept by far and large determines conduct. Someone steps in the door at the front of the building, in the back of you. and shouts one four-letter word, F-I-R-E. If we believe it, we're going to be making tracks toward the outside. Amen or oh me, this is it. Amen? That's right. You see, our concepts really will have a large effect on our conduct. If I'm not in the deep concepts of my mind convinced by God's word that that really is the ultimate of the Christian life, and that's the purpose for which I was predestinated, it's a good chance that I won't be involved in this process as I ought to be involved. I consider the power of the Christian life is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, You shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you. The person of the Christian life is Christ, and his place is obviously in the midst. He should have the center of our life as his domain. And then, of course, the problem of the Christian life is sin. Let us turn in our Bibles tonight to the book of Romans, chapter seven. I had the joy of taking a young man that I loved very much and do to this day, who wanted to be involved in the Lord's work. I had been traveling around the Lord's work and looking for a young man to study with me and travel with me and work with me. I felt that it's the principle of Scripture to take a younger brother with an older brother and take them to the work, actually train them while working, not having really felt that I am older in that sense, maybe as I should have felt that I'm older, but feeling that I didn't have any younger area of my life to work with it, that part was gone, and I had reached a certain age, and I wasn't going to get any younger, and I was likely going to get older. The Lord didn't call me home, and I had to get started. I believed that the older men took the younger men in Scripture and trained them in the Lord's work, and so I tried to find one. I looked for a year and a half and found one young man that I was really... really had my eyes and heart on traveling with me, and he couldn't go. He wanted to go, but then suddenly his mother took seriously ill with cancer, and he was required to stay home and help the family, and he couldn't go. When I wasn't looking for a young man, the Lord provided one. He came and lived with it six months, and after having trained in six months, he went over to his home state of Ohio and started a new assembly. But I had the joy of taking, dear Brother Butch Bower's, through eight chapters of the Book of Romans, not verse by verse, But word by word, in our Greek New Testament, we went word by word through eight chapters. We were supposed to go through the whole book. I never got to finish. He's on in Ohio working in the Lord's work, and I'm thankful for that. So you might have wondered, well, why didn't you start in the book of Romans chapter one? Well, I didn't look at it that way for this series. But I would like you to look into the letter with me tonight, breaking in into the seventh chapter and about the fifteenth verse. I want to start there at verse fifteen for our study this evening. on the problem of the Christian life, we'll call that sin. Or literally sins, really. Sins could be also included in that. I'd like to make a distinction between sin and sins, and I tried to do that the other evening, and perhaps I'll try to remind us once more of that distinction. The book of Romans, chapter seven, beginning at verse fifteen. For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would... That do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent under the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For the good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not, that do I. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me. I find in a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with a mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Now you'll notice that I probably read the order a little different in verse twenty-four than you have it in your King James Version. However, the marginal reading is the choice that I made. In my marginal reading, it says this body of death, which I take that to be the better order. Now having read these some eleven verses to get with you tonight, I'm wondering if you'll agree with me that the real problem in our Christian life is sin or sin. Most of us would immediately agree. If somehow we could be done with the sin question and the sin problem, then there would be no hindrance to our spiritual growth and maturity, and every one of us suddenly would begin to just blossom and bloom as a radiant Christian, bringing honor to God, glory to our Lord Jesus. Wouldn't that be wonderful? You realize? that the day is coming when we'll never have the problem anymore. It'll be forever gone. But now while we're here on earth, we still have the problem. You may have last evening fallen to your knees beside your bed before you went to sleep and said, Lord, I did that thing once more today. I'm sorry. I'm ashamed of it. Oh, I deplore it. But I found myself involved in it once more. No one here has that problem, do you? Ooh. Is that getting close to home? Is that reading your mail? Huh? Is that hitting the target? Oh, you say, well, Donald, when I confess a sin, it's confessing it's done, and I'm not involved anymore. Don't kid yourself. Stop lying. You just committed another one. The moment you said that, you just committed another one. You know that. Wouldn't it be wonderful if whenever we confess a sin, we would never commit that same sin again in our life ever? Wouldn't it be wonderful? I have found myself, beloved, on my knees before God, with shame and brokenness of heart saying, Lord, I did it again. I'm not going to ask for a show of hands because I don't want anybody to become dishonest over this issue. That's just adding to the end. But I am sure you know what I'm talking about. Amen or Ome? That's right. Ome also, isn't it? All right. Now you're kind of loosened up a little. Get your tie loose. Real good and loose now. We're going to barrel off into some deep water tonight. Hopefully have a good time. I'll tell you, I'm having a good time in St. Louis. I hope you do. And if you don't, I just feel sorry for you. I want to give you five reasons. that this is not Saul of Tarsus before he was converted. Did you realize that some commentary indicate this was Saul of Tarsus before his conversion experience? I get disgusted with commentary. I did years ago, and I just about quit him. Because the verse that I want him to really deal with, either they gloss over as though it was no problem text, Or get so far off it's disgusting to read it. Not all of them, thank the Lord. There's some pretty good ones. But most of them that I had were just disgusting. But they'd have just enough truth in them I wouldn't throw them away. I'd hang on to them. Well, they got a little help here and a little help over there. But when you really are in a tight and you think, oh, Lord, I need to understand that verse. And you run to a commentary. I never forget a young man ran to... Dr. Otis Strickland years ago at the Cater Baptist College, and he said, Dr. Strickland, Dr. Strickland, said, I really need help. What commentary, what book, what resource would you recommend to give light on this particular verse of Scripture? Could you give me a recommendation? He said, I sure can. And boy, boy, I found the right man. He's going to give me a book. He said, sure, I'll give you one. What did he do? Dr. Strickland, he said, he said the Bible. He said, the Bible sheds a lot of light on Scripture. Really does. Beloved, if you're hung up on books, get weaned. Get back on this one. I'm not saying burn your books. I'm not saying do away with them. I see some books back there, and I'm sure some of them can be a real help. But just don't allow yourself to get all hung up on books. You get in this book, and you stay there. Get the fives of Scripture. Read. Study. Meditate. Memorize. Obey. So you've got some verses for that? Sure do. First Timothy, chapter four. Paul to Timothy. Verse thirteen. Till I come. Give attendance to reading. Give attendance to reading. God wants us to read. Revelation chapter one. Blessed is he that read us. Read the word of God. Read it and read it and read it and read it some more. Read even the big words. Don't say Jones and Smith when you come to them. Pronounce them. Get familiar with them. Secondly, study. You remember, Jesus said in John five, search the scriptures. That's study. Acts seventeen, the Bereans were more noble than those in Thessalonica because they searched the scriptures daily to see if those things were so. That's study. And obviously a lovely verse for that was be steady to show thyself approved unto God. Be diligent to show yourself approved unto God. That means get involved in the word. Learn the path of life, then live it. It's not enough to read and not enough to study. We need to meditate. The psalmist tells us, Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornfuls. He is delighted in the law of the Lord, and in his law does he meditate both day and night. Paul to Timothy says in First Timothy, four, fifteen, meditate upon these things. Give thyself holy to them. Take the word of God and turn that verse over and over and over and over some more in your mind. Think about it. Meditate on it. But it's not enough to read, study, and meditate. Memorize. Oh, someone said, I can't memorize. What's your phone number? Come on. What's your phone number? You say, well, it's six, seven, four, five, nine, two, seven. How'd you memorize that? What's your address? Fourteen, thirty-three south, Leona. How'd you memorize that? Yeah, you can memorize scripture, if you will. One dear old sister was way up in her years, and she said, you know, I just can't memorize it anymore. So I asked her a few questions, and after a while I said, did you realize that you have memorized something recently? I took some recent incidents in your life, and she had memorized it. She said, oh, I guess I did. I said, yes, you can memorize scripture, too, if you will. Takes time. It's not enough to read, study, meditate, memorize. God wants us to ultimately obey. You can do the others, and if you don't obey, you've missed it. Never forget one time I was preaching in Fort Worth City Jail, in nineteen fifty-six. One day I was giving out, one Sunday afternoon, giving out a message, and a man kept interrupting, said, preacher, said, I can quote scripture. He said that two or three times. I said, sir, I stop. He said, sir, just a moment. You've told me two, three times you can quote Scripture. That's wonderful. I'll tell you what I'm going to do. If you'll just be quiet long enough for me to finish this message, I'm going to give you time to quote Scripture. It'll be your time. How will that be? Oh, he said, that'll be fine. I said, okay, let me finish. So I finished. I said, okay, sir, it's your time now. And that man quoted Scripture word perfect. Verbatim, King James Version gave the citations where every verse was found so long that the turnkey finally came and said, Wellburn, you've got to go out of the tank. It's your time to go. And the man was still quoting scriptures. Let me tell you, quoting scriptures won't keep you out of jail or sin. Sure won't. You can teach your man or bird to quote scripture. But beloved, let me tell you, you've got to obey. Get it? You've got to obey. If there's no obedience, the rest of it. It's going to be a very little value to you. So, I'd like to share with you tonight why I'm convinced this is Saul of Tarsus after he was converted. And why I'm convinced it applies to you and I right now. And it is the problem of the Christian life. Number one, an unregenerate man cannot delight in the law of God after the inward man because, here it is, He does not hate evil. Look at verse fifteen. For that which I do, I allow, or no not. Where it says allow in the King James Version, it's the word no. I know not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. Let me tell you, my beloved friend, that an unregenerate person does not hate evil. Christ loved righteousness and hated iniquity. And you're going to have to have Christ in your life before you begin to hate iniquity. You may deplore the consequences, but you love the sin. Reason number one. Number two. This has to be a regenerated man because an unregenerate man cannot consent to the law of God. He'll resist it. Look at verse sixteen. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Doesn't the Bible say in the book of Proverbs, every way of a man is pure in his own eyes, but the Lord ponders the heart. There is a generation that is not washed from their iniquities, yet in their own sight they are holy and pure. It goes on to say that they are pure in their own eyes, but they are not washed. Okay. An unregenerate man cannot consent to the law that is good. He doesn't really see the good, the intrinsic good of the law of God. He resists the law of God. Number three, an unregenerate man cannot see his own wickedness, but goes about to establish his own righteousness. Verse twenty-four, Oh, wicked man that I am! Look at Job. I read one time a commentary by a man named Francisco years ago who said Job wasn't converted until the last chapter of the book of Job. I don't believe that. When he said converted, and he meant converted from sin, that is, saved by the grace of God born again, any term you want to use regenerated, he said he was a lost man until then. I believe he had a conversion experience in the last chapter, but I do not believe it was his conversion spirit in salvation as far as we understand being saved from the penalty of sin. There's a converging spirit just like Peter had. Jesus said to Peter, When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren, that's the kind of converging spirit he had. Where was it? He said, I have harmed myself in repentance, dust and ashes. I've begun to see what I really am. Oh, God, how could you even love me? That's the idea. So, he could not see his own righteousness, but rather goes about to establish his own righteousness. Number four. An unconverted man, an unregenerate man, does not know anything about deliverance from the body of death. Verse twenty-four. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death, or this body of death? As far as he's concerned, he's just one being. You see, those of us who are born again actually are two persons in that sense, an old man and a new man. And last of all... It cannot be an unregenerate man, because an unregenerate man is never subject with any part of his being to the law of God. Look at verse twenty-five. I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind, I must have served the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. This has to be Paul, Saul we knew him, Saul of Tarsus, after he had met Christ and received Christ as Lord, and was born again saved. It has to be. There's no way around it. You say, you're always thinking with such absoluteness, yes, sir. I'd hate to get up here and say, I think and I hope, and I'll say, I don't go along with that. Wouldn't that be something if the Savior stepped on the scene and said, everybody that would like to go to heaven, there might be a chance. Most people I meet in Iowa say, where will you be a million years from today? Oh, they say, well, I hope to be in heaven. And you know what hope means to them? Uncertainty. They're not sure. Have you ever met anyone that said, well, I believe you can be saved by the grace of God, but after you're saved, you could be lost again? You ever meet anyone like that? Think about this. If I could be saved and lost again, what then was I saved from? Was I saved from the penalty of sin? No. Because if I could get lost again, I sinned and got lost again and died and went to hell. So I wasn't saved from the penalty of sin. I wound up in hell. Couldn't have been saved from that. Was I saved from the power of sin? Absolutely not. Because I fell back into sin. And that's what got me lost again. So there's no salvation from the power. It came back and got a hold of me and dragged me back up into sin. Was I saved from the presence of sin? Well, none. This side of the glory has been saved from that yet. So it wasn't saved from the... Presence of sin. Well, what then was I saved from? Nothing at all. Because you see, if you're not saved eternally, you're not saved at all. You've got to believe that. If a person is not saved eternally, he's not saved at all. The Apostle Paul is teaching that a real, regenerate person, one who's been born again, saved, is going to have a conflict with sin. Why? First of all, it's a part of our being. It was David the Thomas of Old who said, Psalm fifty-one and five, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Not sins, sin. Quite a difference. Not in sins did my mother conceive me. That would be charging the domestic relationship, the intimacy of marriage as sin. That isn't sin. It's beautiful when a husband and wife come together and the byproduct of the offspring of that union. happens to be children. Low children are in heritage of the Lord. Beautiful. The act of conception was not sin, but when conception took place, sin was there. It was passed on from Adam and right on down. So David got it from his father and his mother. Obviously, he could say, and sin did my mother. Conceive me. Well, we can see then that sin is a vital part of us. The Scripture says in First John one, eight, If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Not only that, it did not say if we have no sin. You and I could honestly say, meaning the right condition, that we have no sin. But you and I could not say we have no sin. Because the Bible says, in First John one, eight, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. We're liars. So, the writer here says, for the good... Notice now, for that which I do, verse fifteen, I know not, for what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then, and there's no more I that do it, but sins that dwelleth in me. Sin? Better put your glasses back on. Sin or sins? Sin. Get it? Not sins, but sins. Sin that dwell within me. My beloved friend, it's in you to the end of this earthly journey, and we'll be, and never get better. The old man in you is intrinsically evil, and will not be a bit better tomorrow. If anything, it'll get worse. I say it, if. If there's any alteration, it seems to get worse. Tonight, I'm just as full of an appetite for sins as I was the day God saved me. in my old man. My heart is just as deceitfully wicked and desperately wicked, and God knows it. Now I'm beginning to know a little bit about it. When I was first saved, I knew very little about my heart. I'm beginning to learn a little bit about it. Sin that dwells in me. How did it get in there? Birth. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for the will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Two times the Apostle Paul has made it clear it's sin that dwells in us. It's that indwelling sin we've got to deal with. That's really one of our problems. So the question might well be raised tonight. If we're going to have a real point to try to make, it might be well raised along this line. How can a Christian keep from sinning? Wouldn't you like to learn that? Wouldn't that be pretty good? Don't you think? You wouldn't admit that. Boy, I'll get that mirror one of these nights and pull it down and let you see yourself. You're really looking kind of hard at me. Kind of smile once in a while, so I won't get so scared. Wouldn't you really like to live a whole day without sinning one time? I'm not talking about when you're unconscious. I'm talking about that. I'm talking about a live Christian, very conscious, very alert, and going through a normal day of activities. Wouldn't you like to go through just one whole day without sinning one time? Oh, you say, well, I have. You have raised a tremendous suspicion in my mind about your integrity when you say that. I think, it seems to me most of us are pretty kindred-hearted around here. There may be a few that don't have the problem, but most of us, I think, got the same old problem. It's that problem of sinning. Okay. Now, here's what I'd like to say. If you read the last half of the seventh chapter of Romans, you seem, at first, to begin to draw upon this portion of Scripture, a picture of fatalism. It almost appears that there's just no escape. But God's not through yet. He's just dealing with it. He says in verse twenty, we'll read that one more time. I just got through reading, but let's repeat it and then pick up and go on. Now, if I do that, I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. Now, you know good and well that when you purpose to do something good and wholesome and right and godly, the moment you purpose to do it, it seems that the devil shoots an arrow, and right in your mind is the thought about doing something opposite of that. Yeah, there's a few of you. I could see your faces. I hit a target that time, didn't I? And the rest of you just didn't get it. You know good and well that when you purpose to do good, the devil comes along with evil. I have sat down with believers thinking about the Lord Jesus and his love to me in a redemptive way, getting ready to break the bread and eat of it and drink of the cup. And some of the most bolder thoughts have come to my mind. I wouldn't dare tell you what they were. All it could do is serve to defile your mind. I refuse to tell you. I know one thing, it's from the enemy of souls, and he hates my Lord, and he wants to depile my life with sin and sin. But, beloved, don't forget, temptation is not sin. It's yielding to it. I had a hang-up with that a long time. Don't forget that when the devil puts a thought in your mind, It doesn't mean a sin. Otherwise, you charged the Lord with it. You remember the devil came to the Lord Jesus and said, if in view of the fact that you're the Son of God, command that these stones be turned bread. That was in his mind. He heard what Satan said. That was a temptation. It wasn't a sin. He said, it is written. Oh, beloved, there it is. It is written. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. How then can he's Jesus, he's sinless, he's God, he never was born in sin, he's different than you and I, and that's true. And we can thank God for that. If he's just like us, we'd have no Savior. Thank God he is unique. He is the only unique, never to be duplicated, son of God, virgin born, sinless in every way. Blessed be his name. However, you and I find ourselves in the circle of sin. Here we are, sinners saved by grace, still having a problem with a sin question. Now he says, I find then, verse twenty-one, a law or a principle. Verse twenty-one, when you see the word namas, translated law, think of it in the light of principle or axioms. I find then a law that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. That's another clue that this man is regenerated. The unconverted don't have that. I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members or another principle in my members warring against the principle of my mind or the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Here's something moving in and capturing me and making me a slave. What can I do? It's at that point, at that moment, that the apostle cries out, Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me? And you know what most people are reading in there? What shall deliver me? It isn't there. It's who. That's the clue. It's not what shall deliver me. It's who shall deliver me. That's the whole issue right there. I think we're going to see it together. Who shall deliver me from this body of death? And the answer is given in verse twenty-five. Thank God that the deliverance comes out. He said it through Jesus Christ our Lord. He's the one. He said, don't get it. Okay, hang on for a moment and you will. Turning back to chapter six because it is connected, it is the preceding chapter. It's all linked together when God had it written. There were no chapters and verses. I'm glad for chapters and verses. It helps us find various portions of Scripture in a much simpler way. It has its tremendous advantages. Chapter six, we learned that we were crucified with Christ, buried with Christ, and raised with Christ. We find that our identification with Jesus Christ is so complete that what happened to Christ has been accounted to our name and our record. God held you and I responsible for our sins, and He said the wages of sin is death. Weren't we all sinners? Yes. What's the result? The impending result would be death. Can God change his mind? No. What's going to happen to you and I? We must die, or God has changed his mind. And the only way we can die and not be in hell is to die with Christ. Because Christ not only went into death, Christ came forth out of the dead. And let me tell you, beloved friends, those who go into the second death will never come out. The Word of God indicates clearly that they're going to be there forever and forever. And they'll never come out. The Lord Jesus went into death. That's Hades. And the Lord Jesus came forth out of it. And all of us who put our confidence, our trust, our faith in Him as God's offer of salvation, in Him as our Lord and Savior, my beloved friend, God indicates clearly that we've been crucified with Him. Galatians chapter two, verse twenty. I have been and am crucified with Christ. Have been, past time, presently am, present result. Perfect tense, past time, present result. There you have it. The new American standard is correct, and the King James Version is correct. They both put together, give us a full translation. I have been and presently am crucified with Christ. Here you have it in chapter six of Romans. Verse six, knowing this that our old man was crucified with him. It's the idea of what was once for all. It's the eric tense. It happens one time. The second eric's participle. All right. I'm sorry, it's just the second eric. The participle is another word I'm looking at there. All right. Now looking, if you will. at these verses, beginning now in the sixth chapter. What should we say then, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? That's suggested from the verse in chapter five that says, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound? That's verse twenty. So verse twenty really suggests the question of chapter six, verse one. What should we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? No, you're not. But so many of us, as we're baptized into Jesus Christ, we're baptized into his death. Beloved, we were immersed into his death. Therefore, we're buried with him by baptism into death. We're crucified with Christ. We're buried with him by baptism into death. And we've been raised. Therefore we're buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of light. And if you'll flip your finger in there at that place and flip over to Colossians if you'd like to turn in your Bible, if you don't, just wait on us and we'll turn over there and read it for you. In Colossians chapter two, the Word of God says in verse twelve, buried with him in baptism, wherein also you're risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised him from the dead. And then in Colossians chapter three and verse one, he says, if you then be risen with Christ. And it's a suggestive mood indicating the idea, since in view of the fact that you've been raised with Christ, be seeking those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection, not affection, singular. Set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth, for you're dead in your life is here with Christ and God. So here we see God is having us to look up. Hebrews chapter twelve, if you remember the passage there, In chapter twelve, verse one, he says, Seeing we also are compassed about with so great a crowd of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily be bettered, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. He often finished with our faith. Now we're getting down to the real clue about how to avoid sinning. Back to chapter six. Some have indicated... that since we're due to the fact that we've been crucified with Christ, buried with Christ, raised with Christ, and God has made it clear to us through His Word that we can quote certain verses of Scripture and we can avoid sin. Let's see if that's true. Verse five, we left off in verse four. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that from now on we should not serve sin. For he that is dead, literally he that has died. That's the secondary fourth example. He is freed from sin. And the word freed is the same word that is translated justified. It's because. Not the word luro for loose, but because, meaning, justified. For he that has died is justified from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death has no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once. But in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise, reckon, and the word reckon is also translated in Romans, counted. It's also translated, imputed. Can also be translated. considered. Likewise consider you yourselves or likewise count yourselves or likewise impute yourselves that you're dead indeed unto sin. Now reading it like we have it in our King James. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now pardon me but I'd like to come down on the first level here with you just for a little bit of dramatizing. You never know what I'm going to do. Now suppose as I'm walking through life, and as I'm going through life, I'm being tempted to do a certain evil. We do have an experience there, you know. So I said, well, wait a minute now, let's see. I've been crucified with Christ, and God says, ready yourselves to be dead, be in the sin. So as this temptation is really coming on strong and drawing, that drawing power, you know, if it didn't have a year of getting lost, it does. So I said, well, wait a minute, I'm dead to sin, you know. I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead. You know what he said, that's what it is? Well, you're not telling me the same news. I know that. But it's true, too. You walked right in there. And you can quote verse eleven till you can take practice. Now mind you, and for the word of God, I've tried to stress that from day one here. But I'm saying don't let the devil trip you up. There's only one deliverance, and it's a person. You can declare what you are all you want, and the devil will just laugh and suck you right into sin. You want to know why I know that? I've done it. I believe if you'd be honest, you'd confess you've done it too. Don't you get ashamed? You're tempted to do evil. And notwithstanding, sometimes we walk right into it. And you can quote every verse you know just about. But you know, beloved, I found out a little while ago, hadn't been many years ago, I found out something in my Christian life. I'd never known before. Looking at Romans seven, I saw... That deliverance was not in quoting a verse, though I need the verses. Deliverance was not in memorizing Scripture, though I need to memorize Scripture. That deliverance was not in ability to cope with problems in life, like some of us seem to be able to learn to do, to be able to cope with those problems, some of them. But deliverance was in a person, and the person is the Lord Jesus. I'm going to put something to you tonight that you may not have thought of or you may not even agree with. But I have found it workable in my life, and I want to pass it on to you. And I believe it to be a scriptural principle. You know what has been put before us up to this point? Starting in at chapter three of this letter, we get the death of Christ. You say, where do you get the death of Christ in chapter three? Glad you asked. Verse twenty-four says, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. How do you redeem us with his blood, his death? There you get it. Verse twenty-five gives us the blood, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. We get his death. In chapter four, we get his death. He tells us there, in verse twenty-five, he was delivered for our offenses. There's the death of Christ. In chapter five we get the death of Christ. Verse five. Verse six. When we're yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Verse eight of chapter five. God committed his love toward us in there while we are sinners. Christ died for us. Verse nine. Much more than being now justified by his blood. Once more the death of Christ is made real to us. And then verse ten, for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, what is God doing? The death of Christ, the death of Christ, the death of Christ is being brought before our mind.And then in chapter six, he sets forth the death of Christ so vividly. God forbid, verse two, he says, how should we that are dead just him, live any longer therein? No, you not, or don't you know that so many of us that were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Verse four, therefore we're buried with him by baptism into death. Like if Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, we also should walk in the ineness of life. For if we've been planted together in the likeness of his death, we should be also in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that from now on we should not serve sin, for he that is dead, is free from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, once more the death of Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dies no more, death has no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died in the sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth under God. Now, what are you getting at? I'm trying to show us that the key message of these chapters is D-E-A-T-H, death. And the key principle of deliverance from the problem of sin is in the person of Christ. In what respect, Donald? In this respect. God wants you and I, I tried to stress that. the beginning, and last night I tried to center on it, that Christ is to be the center. He's to be in the midst. And God wants us, when we're facing sin, as far as temptation, to let our minds go back to the person of Christ on the cross. Here's what I'm going to suggest. That I do not believe that you, as a child of God, can walk right into sin. And at the same time, be viewing the Lord Jesus, bearing your ungodly, defiling, dirty, uncouth, dark, wretched sins in his body, and go ahead and sin. I don't believe you can do that. I believe deliverance is a view of him in all the agonizing, suffering of love that he endured when there on the cross he was made sin for you and I. I do not believe, beloved Christian friend, we can view him like that and walk into sin. I don't believe it. And I believe deliverance from this body of death comes when we see him and it's to the degree that we see him in all of his suffering that we're going to get deliverance. And the principles throughout the whole Word of God, Peter started thinking only when he looked at The seed and not the Savior. The moment he looked at the seed, he had his eyes off the Savior. Down he went. Now you can look at Jesus as a good man. I believe you'll walk right into sin. You can see Jesus as a miracle worker and walk into sin. You can see Jesus as a healer. But when you see Jesus dying with your personal sins on him... And that very sin that you're being lured into, when you see that in your heart and mind, and you go back to the underhill and see God's blessed Son nailed there, fastened there for you and me, I do not believe, my dear Christian friend, that you and I can walk into sin. Now we may walk into sin, but I'll tell you what, we get our eyes off him. We get our eyes off him. Otherwise, a Christian life is fatalism. You can't help yourself. There's got to be a deliverance. And I believe it's found in the Lord Jesus. The Hebrew writer says, Looking unto Jesus, lay aside every way than a sin that so easily besets us and let us run with patience. How? Looking unto Jesus. That's the only way we can run. Paul writing to Colossians, set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Romans, Paul writing to the Romans. all the wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ the Lord. He's the deliverer. Always has been. Always will be. And I believe, beloved, if you and I, the next time you do this, you practice this, you try it out, the next time you're tempted to evil, you look immediately, immediately take it as to be a signal I've got to get my hands on the Lord, and begin to view him yonder on that little hill. Fastened to that tree. And see there the men of Saras. With all that love that he had. Going through the agony of being made sin for us. And see those sins on him. Not on us. On him. And then you come back and tell me that. Yeah, I've done a lot. And go right on him to sin. I'll tell you when you do that I'll quit preaching this. But I'm going to have a strong suspicion. that you didn't really look at him. Because I'm convinced if we get our eyes on the Lord and appreciate what he really went through to redeem and save us, we'll find he's the deliverer, and that's the way he'll deliver. I'd wanted to, my time's coming, gone. I've got two minutes, and I'll never be able to do it in two minutes. I'd wanted to go into First John chapter one and verse nine with you. I gave verse eight a moment ago. I want to get into First John one, nine, tell a little rabbit, grace story. But I'll have to say that some other time. But it fits in with this matter of sinning in our Christian life. The great problem of the Christian life. But sufficient perhaps to give this in closing, that it'll be well for you to memorize Scripture. It'll be well for you to understand the workings of the death of Christ. It'll be well for you to understand that we died with Him. But here's what's going to be most significant in this message that I'm trying to give in my opinion. that you realize that it's only those times when we allow ourselves in our, how will I put it? Our King James Version says, the eyes of your understanding, Ephesians one. Some Greek text rendered the eyes of your hearts. So any way you look at it, when you get your spiritual eyes on the Lord, Keep them fastened there, and don't let anything distract you from that view, because the moment you get them off, look out. You're going to walk in sin. May God help us to see him as the deliverer, not the Holy Spirit. Not even the Scripture per se as such. That is, when we quote Scripture and memorize Scripture, that's good. But don't forget that our everything is Christ. And it's the word that tells us about it. God has exalted his son. And he's put him in a place where we can look at him. Otherwise, why would the Lord say, and I tried to give it in connection with the first day's ministry, we all with open faith, are unveiled faith, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are transformed or changed or metamorphosed into the same image from glory to glory. God wants to work. grace and glory into our life. And the only way he can do it is when we're willing to stand still and begin to look at the Lord Jesus. And that's when it begins to happen. May the Lord help us to appreciate all that Christ is to us. Shall we pray? Father, we thank you.