There is this idea in the church culture that people are saved by saying a prayer, and that prayer of salvation saves them no matter what they do. And a lot of the preachers in church, they expand on this deception by reading the words of the Apostle Paul, namely in Romans 7. And the idea is that no one actually is without sin on this earth. Everyone goes on sinning. Yet, if we put our faith in Jesus, then His blood washes over us no matter what we do.
Oftentimes, the pastors will say, “We work at perfection, but we’re never perfect.” But the thing is, guys, they use the words of the Apostle Paul and all of these different passages to actually justify sins that all of us need to truly repent of. Now, what I want to do today is show you the verses that the pastors are using in Romans chapter 7 and then show what the Apostle Paul is actually saying. Because this whole thing about once saved always saved and the words of the Apostle Paul — it’s just so blown out of proportion by the Christian church that people aren’t even receiving the true gospel anymore of repentance and having works of righteousness.
And a lot of Christians have completely confused works of righteousness with works of the law, to the degree that they will say if you think that you have works of righteousness, you’re not saved, because anyone who thinks that they’re being saved by their works is going the salvation-by-works gospel and not by grace. And so they act as though a Christian will not have works of righteousness or they can’t. And they call all their deeds filthy, because they misunderstand what the Apostle Paul was writing when he’s speaking against works of the law for salvation. But there’s a big difference.
So I want to read to you what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7. I’m going to start in verse 14. “For we know that the law is spiritual.” When we’re speaking about the law here, we’re speaking about the law of Moses, not the laws of the Americans or any other culture, but we’re speaking about the law of Moses. That was those 613 laws in the Torah. “So, we know 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 that the law 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.”
So what is the Apostle Paul saying here? Is he actually saying that he himself is a hypocrite, and that he’s teaching people to be holy and pure and to not cheat on their wives, to abstain from lust — but is the Apostle Paul really looking at pornography, cheating on his wife, having murderous thoughts? Is he really saying that? Or how is he using himself in this context? Because a lot of the Christian pastors from the pulpits will teach that the Apostle Paul is basically just sharing the same struggle that we all share. All men are looking at pornography. Everyone is cheating on their spouse. Everyone has evil intentions. And then the pastor will say, “But that’s okay because we’re saved by the blood of Jesus.”
Do you see how they have misinterpreted this? When we use a pronoun — I, we, they — it’s not always including us, or it’s not always including you. For example, if I said, “When you climb El Capitan, make sure you bring enough carabiners,” do I actually expect that you, the listener, are climbing El Capitan? Well, probably not. Maybe you have climbed El Capitan, but most likely you haven’t. And when I say “you,” I don’t mean you directly, but I am referring to anyone. Anyone who climbs El Capitan, if they’re going to achieve all 32 pitches, they need to bring enough gear to make the whole ascent.
So likewise, when the Apostle Paul is speaking about himself in this context, he is not saying, “Guys, I am committing atrocities. I’m cheating on my wife. I’m looking at pornography. I’m doing all these evil things, but just know I’m saved by the blood of Jesus.” That absolutely is not his point. But he’s using the first person to apply to any man who is living in the lusts of the flesh and agrees that what the Bible says is true. You agree with your mind that you should stop sinning, but you just can’t. You can’t give up those cigarettes. You can’t give up alcohol. You can’t give up looking at porn. You can’t get sin out of your heart. But you know it’s wrong. There is a disconnect between the spirit — that is our spiritual inward man — and the flesh. That is why every day we can wake up and say, “I want to do good. I want to do good for God.” But then when the crossroads come, we choose evil every time.
That doesn’t mean that Paul is doing this right here in this context. But he’s including himself in that: any man can fall into that category if they’re living according to the flesh and not according to the spirit. So here is the issue, guys. When the Christians read this passage, Romans chapter 7, they’re using it as a proof text to prove that all men have to live according to the flesh, and that as long as you are on this earth, you will be sinning. And they say, “Well, that’s okay. It doesn’t matter. Even the Apostle Paul was sinful and he was double-minded and he was a hypocrite.” This is not the point that the Apostle Paul was making.
Now, the conclusion to chapter 7 has to conclude with chapter 8. And if you don’t read chapter 8, you’re missing the whole context of what the Apostle Paul was trying to relay to his listeners, which is: you cannot please God by being a double-minded man, thinking in your mind you want to please God, but then in your heart pleasing the flesh.
And so the solution is not keeping the law according to how a man can try to agree with the law of Moses. See, no one’s going to be made pure by circumcision. No one’s going to be made pure by trying to go to church on Saturday to fulfill the Sabbath law. No one is going to be made pure by not mixing certain fabrics and making sure they keep dietary laws from the Old Testament. No one is going to achieve salvation by the works of the law. That’s the law of Moses, the law of God that was given to Moses for the nation of Israel.
But how is mankind then perfected? Well, this is Paul’s conclusion in chapter 8: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” Now, all the pastors point this out all the time, so I’m not sure why they don’t point this out for Romans. Whenever there is a “therefore,” you have to ask yourself: what is the “therefore” there for? The “therefore” is the conclusion to chapter 7, and you have to read chapter 8 to conclude what the Apostle Paul is saying. That’s what the “therefore” is there for. “So therefore there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
This is the crux of it. If you’re living according to the flesh, you’re of the flesh. But if you live according to the Spirit, then you belong to the Holy Spirit. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin.” Again, the law of Moses couldn’t make people stop sinning. It was weak through the flesh. It actually just brought out the fact that all of us can never keep God’s perfect law. And so that is when Jesus comes on the scene and destroys flesh with His own body being crucified.
“So He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Okay, here again you see demonstrated that the Apostle Paul is not putting himself in the category of not pleasing God. Paul knows full well that you can’t be a hypocrite and say with your mouth that you want to keep the laws of God, but with your heart live in the flesh. The Apostle Paul is practicing righteousness, and he is encouraging people not to think they’re saved by keeping the 613 laws of Torah or Jewish principles, but that they would receive Jesus Christ. This is his whole point of the argument here. You can’t be justified by works of the law, but you will be justified if you put your faith in Jesus and truly repent of your sins and live according to the Spirit, and no longer according to the lusts of your flesh, which includes true repentance.
“So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
So there we have it. If we want to please God, we have to receive what Jesus did on the cross. But we also then have to take up our own cross and live according to the Holy Spirit. All of those who live by the Spirit belong to the Spirit, and they are the children of God. But if you don’t have the Holy Spirit in you, then you’re not of the child of God or the kingdom of God. So if you want to be part of the kingdom of God, it’s not about trying to keep Jewish traditions or Jewish laws or keeping the Torah, but it’s about receiving Jesus, then truly repenting of your sins so that the Holy Spirit can come into your heart, and then you can live according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh.
I want to pray for those of you that want to come into the household of faith. Or maybe you’re someone who has backslid and you want to come back to Jesus. Maybe you’re wondering, “Is there hope for me? Is there hope for my salvation?” Maybe you’re thinking that you have messed up too much and now all you hear is condemnation in your ears, but you know you want to get back to Jesus. And so I want to pray for you, that you can cast out your demons in Jesus’s name, that you can be filled with the Spirit of life, and that you can live according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh.
So Lord Jesus, I pray for those who have an ear to hear. I pray for the one today who is listening to this message and that wants Your Holy Spirit in their heart to cleanse them from unrighteousness, to purge them from every evil desire. I pray that evil spirits would be cast out in Your name, that we can just speak against everything that is evil and leave it in the dirt, leave it in the dust behind, that we can walk forward in the newness of life with true repentance and true righteousness. I pray that someone today can receive Your message of salvation and put their hope in You and cast out the serpent, cast out Satan, to come into the newness of life. And I pray, Lord, that we would just constantly be filled with Your presence so that the devil would not be able to keep coming through the door and entering. But we want to shut the door to the devil and lock the door to the devil and be filled with Your presence so that no one and nothing else can fill us but Your Spirit and Your truth and Your life.
We want to eat Your flesh and drink Your blood and be nourished by You every single day, having the oil of Your Spirit in us. And we pray to endure with You to the very end. In Your name I pray, Lord Jesus. Amen.
