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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. and reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

You can only worry about things you’ve never committed to the Lord. Think about it, you can only worry about the things you haven’t committed to the Lord. So why don’t you just commit everything to Him? And then you don’t have to worry about it. So I just let my wife do all my worrying for me. But now as you go down through this chapter, you’ll see the words death, death, death, death, death. It’s all over the place. The word death, it’s everywhere.

And at the same time you see the word death, you see the word life, life, life, life, life, life. See, death, my old nature, my old sinful man, this old wicked fellow over here, this amalek I got over here, death, death, death. And the works of the flesh die. There is no fruit that lasts forever from the works of the flesh. So the flesh will die and all of its work and everything that it does ends. But this book and this chapter is talking about the fruit now.

Now that you’re saved, you’ve got a new root, brain force, new fruit. And so this is why this is so important. Now look what he says down here in verse 14. For sin, that’s that old sinful nature that we have, shall not have dominion over you, look up here. And we use the illustration, but God says, this one is not to have dominion over the flesh, or over the spirit. But the spirit is supposed to have dominion over the flesh.

Our second birth is supposed to dominate over the flesh birth. And like they said, this Indians was trying to describe the two natures and he says like, got white dog, black dog inside. They fight all the time. So well, which one wins? One I say, sick them too. In other words, it’s a choice that you have to make. And if you wanna win in the Christian life, you can. If you don’t wanna win, you won’t. Your Christian life will be the way you want it to be.

If you go through life and you’re miserable, great. You ought to be. You deserve to be miserable. And if you go through life and you have the peace of God the joy of the Lord and so forth, great. You ought to have it because it was your choice. You simply reap what you sow. You will have it the way you want it. You can be as close to God as you want to be. You can walk as godly as you choose to be.

And as a Christian, you can be as ungodly as you want to be. So, choice is yours. And nobody can take that away from you. You see, you can’t go through like blaming somebody for your lack of spiritual spirituality. You’re a child of God. You got the word of God. Get as close to your heavenly Father as you want to get. Love Him with all that you have. You’d be surprised how much greater it can be. But sometimes we just get caught up in this old world and we get so entangled with the affairs of this life that we can’t please Him who called us to be a soldier.

But notice what He says in verse 14, first sin shall not have dominion over you. For you’re not under the law but under grace look up here. This birth, the flesh birth is not under grace. This one is under the law, born under the law condemned. That’s why the only way you can ever get free is that he had to die. So when Christ died and you accepted his death and God’s eyes, he’s dead. He can never be condemned again.

The law can never condemn him. Why? Because he’s dead. The law can’t touch it dead man. Whenever you literally die the government is not going to come after you for anything. Why? Because you’re dead. Now if you got some money left in the bank, they might want to get everything that you left, but you’re dead. They can’t collect anything from you. You’re dead. You’re gone. So in God’s eyes, this old man died. He was crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live.

Yet not I, but I live by the faith of the Son of God who led me and gave himself for me. So God sees you in the Spirit. So in the Spirit doesn’t mean you’re spiritual. It means that’s your position in Christ. the spirit birth. And so now as a child of God, God wants you to walk in the goodness of life, live like a child of God, act like a child of God, talk like a child of God, and trust your heavenly Father.

But now notice, this old flesh over here, Paul found this out later in this Christian life. He says, whenever I wanted to do what was right, evil was present with me. When I wanted to do good, I wanted to do bad. And every time I tried to do all of this, I ended up doing this. And so he says, this old man, he deceived me. He deceived me. You’d notice what he says here, just look at this so you can sit down in verse 9, for I was alive without the law.

But when the commandment came, the old man revived. See, this is what you and I do voluntarily. We choose to keep resurrecting this old man and then we want to satisfy his desires. And he’s a sinful man. He’s a wicked man. He’s ungodly man. And remember, it says in the book of Jeremiah 17, the heart, a reference to the old sinful nature, is deceitful and desperately wicked and who can know it? God does. And God says, don’t trust that old wicked man.

But now notice what he says here. He says in verse 7, this is of chapter 7, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? No, God forbid. There’s nothing wrong with the law. The law is good, it is righteous, it’s just, it’s spiritual, there’s nothing wrong with it. But what Paul says is something you need to understand from the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 3 when he says, you are yet carnal. But look what he says here.

In verse 11 of Romans chapter 7, he says, 4 sin, this whole sinful nature, taken occasion by the commandment, deceived me. Deceived me. How did it deceive me? Down in verse 14. I am carnal. Now what does it mean to be carnal? Lost? What does mean to be carnal? Fleshely minded. Is it possible that there could have been a time when the apostle Paul could have been carnal? I don’t know. That’s what he says. I was carnal means he was saved, but he struggled with the old man.

He struggled with the old sinful nature just like we do. And that’s why he says up here in verse 11, deceive me and by it it slew me because he still had the lust of the flesh and this old nature which many people think that well when you get saved it won’t bother you anymore because now you’re just gonna have a you know a holy desire to serve God and they’ll never bother you again and lo and behold you have the lust of the flesh and the law the commandment says thou shalt not covet and thou didst.

So there’s nothing wrong with the law it just simply revealed to you, hey, you just messed up bud, your carnal and your thinking. And it’s going to slay you. Remember, I preached a sermon one time on Amalek. You may be nice to Amalek, but Amalek will never be nice to you. Amalek is a rattlesnake and he’s designed to destroy you. You cannot trust the old man. That’s why God wants you to walk in the new man. And the new man can only grow and be strong by the studying of what God’s word says.

So that’s why now look there in verse 15. But that which I do, I allow not. And what I do, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. Yet then I do that which I would not. I can send into the law that it is good. Now then and is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me, that sinful nature still dwells in me. Now, look in verse 18, he says, 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 how can I live this Christian life.

And in the flesh, you can’t live the Christian life. It’s simply Christ living his life through you. And I like the statement that Dave Kennan made the other day, serving the Lord as not me working for the Lord, it’s me working with the Lord. Like I’ve always known it, but I just like that way of saying it. For the good that I would, I do not. The evil which I would not, that I do. And this do here is that word prasot, which means practice.

That means he continually was doing that which he was not supposed to do. It’s not the same word that she was over there in the book of 1 John 3 verse nine, which is poeo. This is prasot. It means after your sade, because you have a soul sinful nature, you are gonna continually sin. And that’s why you need 1 John 1, 9, to kind of keep yourself clean. That’s what it’s for. But anyway, go back to chapter six.

Chapter six. And notice down here in verse 16, it says, no you not, that to whom you yield yourself, servants to obey, his servants, he art to whom you obey, whether sent into death or obedience under righteousness. It’s a choice. You now have a choice. You can yield yourself to the Lord, or you can yield yourself to the members of the flesh. And that’s why he says, do not yield yourself. See there in verse 13, these are decisions that you and I make.

You see, you have some people who teach the perseverance of the saints, which is guaranteed automatic. Does this look automatic to you? It’s not automatic. The Christian life and having victory in your life is not automatic. These are results of you making the right decision, wise decisions and you can walk in the after the flesh or you can walk in the spirit. You can be obedient, you can be disobedient. You can take this one body that you have and use it as members of instruments of unrighteousness.

See what he says in verse 13, neither yields you your members as instruments of unrighteousness, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead. See I’m not making up anything. All this is in the Bible. It’s all an illustration right here in the book. And God says, you are the one who determined what’s going to happen in your life. Are you going to yield or not yield? Yielding is an action of your own will to submit to the will of God.

Now, this old man has his will and the new birth has a will of its own. This is the will of the serve God. So you got the battle going on. And so he says, you’ve only got one body. Which one is going to win? Who gets to use this body of yours? You only got one. And it’s temporary, so it’s not going to be forever down here. And God says, I’m going to reward you when you get to heaven because of what you did for me.

And so you’re going to be justified by your works for rewards. And I believe to a certain point, so many blessings that you can enjoy down here. Now you, all of us get automatic blessings. I mean, it rains upon the just and the unjust. There’s some things that happen to the lost man that happens to us. So whether you’re saved or whether you lost, there’s something that God has just got some goodness of God that happens to everybody. But there are some special blessings that God can give to his children if they obey him.

So I would suggest that all of God’s children obey the Lord. Now look what he says there in verse 16 again. You’ll notice the word obey, obey, obey servants and all that. This is not on how to go to heaven. This is how shall we then live? How shall you and I serve God? And so he says, no ye not that to whom ye yield yourself servants to obey his servants you are. And look at the choice to whom ye obey, whether of sin on the death at old man, or of obedience under righteousness is your choice.

If you serve the flesh, the works are never going to last long, and you can’t get rewarded in heaven for works that are dead and separated for all eternity. Because see, this old man, God doesn’t reward you in heaven for anything done in the flesh. You walk after the flesh, God is not going to reward you one word for that. How much time have you already lost walking after the flesh? It costs you an awful lot because God is not going to reward you for one step in the flesh.

But He is going to reward you for every step made in the Spirit. So you tell me where would you like to walk? In the spirit or after the flesh. But get this. He says, now there was a time when you could not, because you didn’t have a choice. But God be thankful. See, look at this verse. But God be thankful that ye were the servants of the Old Sinful Nature, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you, that form of doctrine that set you free.

I believe this is a reference back to those previous chapters that lets us know in chapter chapter four and chapter five about the redemption that we have because of the payment Christ made and that you’re justified by faith and faith alone and that’s what made you free from that all sinful nature. See the all sinful nature was under the law. The all sinful nature sins. The all sinful nature dies. So the only thing that can set you free from the law of sin and death is the new birth.

So when you trusted Christ as your Savior, you were separated from that old man. Now why let that old man guide your life? Why go back to the flesh? It’s just like some people wouldn’t get back under the law. So they couldn’t never keep it, but now they want to live their life according to the law, which they never could be for So now look in verse 18, being then made free from this old sinful man, you became the servants of righteousness.

Now this is how God sees you now. Now God wants you and I as his children to serve the Lord. It’s kind of like that when you trusted Christ as your Savior, remember you were adopted into the family of God by the new birth. Now that’s when he saved your soul. But remember, he hasn’t got the body yet. Now he bought the body but he hasn’t claimed the body. So you’re still living in a sinful body. And one day the body is going to be adopted because he talks about in Romans in chapter 8 to with the redemption of the body.

So this body is going to be adopted in a means it’s going to be changed in a moment, the twinkle of an eye and one day we’re We’re gonna get a new body. But now look what he says here in verse 19. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. So you may have the desire to do the righteousness of God, but you don’t have the power to do the righteousness of God. Just hold your place right there.

Look in Romans in chapter eight. And notice what he says in verse two. Romans chapter 8 verse 2, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. See when you trusted Christ as your Savior you were separated from that old man. That old man is going to die and the old man is in the flesh and the old man’s sinful nature that’s where it dwells. One day there’s an end to all of that but God took you and gave you a new birth.

Now you can make a decision. You can walk in the Spirit or you can walk after the flesh. That’s why God says, how shall we that are dead to the flesh live any longer than in? Because God didn’t put you there. God put you here. You put yourself over there. You revived that sinful man and you can’t blame God for that. If we could only see and understand it and live the way that God wants us to. It’s very powerful in our life.

But look what he says in verse three, for what the law get this, what the law could not do, and that it was weak to the flesh because man could not fulfill the rightest demands of the law. So he says here, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. Now get this, here’s the the reason why, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. But you ought to put two little words out from it, not by us.

Just three little words, not by us. Fulfilled in us but not by us. Who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. So we don’t walk after the flesh. We walk after the spirit. So you’ll get more of that when you get on chapter eight, and I go back to chapter six for a minute. So in verse 20 he says, for when you were the servants of sin, when you were, when you were lost, you didn’t have a choice.

But now you’re free. You’re free to serve the Lord. God said you free from this old man. He was under the law, said you free from the law. You can’t never be condemned again. Sin, this sinful nature can never get you. Because you see, the New Birth can’t sin. And it sets you free from death, this one will never die. So you have been set free from the law of sin and death from under the law. Now get what he says.

In verse 21, I want you to look at this word in circle if you don’t mind, the word fruit. So now we’ve established the root. Now you ought to understand there’s to be some fruit from that root. It is the will of God that every child of God bring forth the fruits of righteousness. This is what he told the children of Israel when he came and you’ll read some of that in the book of Matthew chapter 3 that he was going to lay the axe to the root of the tree and cut down every tree that does not produce the fruits of righteousness.

That’s people. So the first birth, the flesh, is all going to be cut down because all have sinned and all will die. It means they’re all going to be cut down. And so Christ is that new tree, that tender plant that brought forth the fruits of righteousness and all the other trees in the whole world, every man, woman, boy, girl, have all sinned and they’re all died. this one tree that did not deserve to die died for all of us so that we would believe we would become a little plants in the Lord.

We’re a new tree. We come from a new root. And that’s I think important to know, but look what he says here. In verse 21, what fruit had you then and those things where you are now ashamed for the end of those things is death. The man, Oh man, will die. All the works of the flesh will die. There is no future rewards for a man who walks in the flesh and produces the works of the flesh. The fruit will not last forever.

But now God says if you will serve him everything you do for him, your fruit will last forever. Memories talks about in the book of John chapter 15 and he says, I have chosen you that you shall bring forth fruit, fruit that will remain, fruit that remains. And so this is why in this verse 22, but now being made free from sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life. Fruit that last forever.

God is going to reward you. Hold your place right here and look over there in the book of Galatians and chapter 6, Galatians and chapter 6. And you’ll see something else that the Apostle Paul kind of works in some of this teaching. And you’ll notice what he says down here in verse 7 of chapter 6 of Galatians, be not deceived. God is not mocked. What’s man soeth that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.

Says the same thing as we’re reading in the book of Romans in chapter 6. Look at the next part. But he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. Now it’s not you getting eternal life, it’s fruit that remains forever. You see there in verse 22 and 23 of the previous chapter talking about the fruit of the spirit. You’re talking about something that is so wonderful that God’s going to do for His children. Not only in eternity, but the joy you could have now serving God and putting Him first in life and walking in newness of life.

You’re a child of God. Live like it. You’re a child of the King. Aren’t you? Aren’t Aren’t you? Are you worried tonight? Full of fret and fears, and troubles, and swamped, and, the whole world’s falling apart. Why? Is God falling apart? If God’s not falling apart, and if God’s not worried, why should we be worried? You see, the equality of your life will be a direct ratio to the caliber of your thinking. will end with that. I think that’s a pretty good statement myself.

I’ll write that down. Look up here. This is you and me and this wall represents sin. We all have sin upon us. God, He loves us, but He hates our sin. And for us to pay for this sin is eternal separation from God in pledge call hell. So we’re all guilty. But to go to heaven, we have to be perfect as righteous as God, and none of us are perfect. None of us are righteous. We cannot save ourselves. So this hand represents Jesus Christ.

He’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into this world because he loves us. He hates our sin because it separates us from him. So Jesus Christ, who had no sin, didn’t have to die. He took all the sin, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead, and said that if we would be lead that he did it for us, he would put this payment to our account. count, and He would save us. He would deliver us from the curse of the law.

He would deliver us from this old sinful nature that I have. He would deliver us from death and in hell. All we had to do was trust Christ as our Savior and look at all the value we got out of that. That’s the best news in the world. So once you trust Christ as Savior, this is what God does for you. Now I want you to look at this one verse before we close. You look at verse So when you look at verse 23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, I believe that this verse 23 is to the believer.

Now we use it to show a lost person that the gift of God is eternal life, and it is. But the wages of sin, even in a Christian’s life, is still death. So you and I are supposed to live as though they’re alive from the dead and not the other the way around. I wrote a little statement on my notes here. Instead of being death with Christ, you’re dead to Christ. There’s a lot of difference. As a child of God, are you dead with Christ or are you dead to Christ?

See, once you trust Christ to save, you see, died with Christ. Now we’re supposed to be dead to the old man, but alive under God. Let’s pray, shall we? But his bow and eyes close and no one looking around. If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, friend right now, right where you are, would you just talk to the Lord and say something simple like this? Lord, I know I’m a sinner. I don’t understand at all. But I believe that when you died, you got on that cross and paid for my sins.

And right now, I will believe that you did it for me. And for God said, if you’ll believe that, He would save you, give you eternal life. He puts that death payment to your account. You get to go to heaven on what Christ did for you. He gives you the free gift of everlasting life. It lasts forever. Not pray you’ll trust Him. And if you’re watching by internet tonight and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, it right now just in a brief moment.

So brief and yet it has eternal value to it because you can go to heaven whenever you die simply by believing that what Christ did, He did it for you. Would you trust Him? I pray that you will. Father, we thank You again for Your blessing. Thank You for all You do for us. We ask Your blessings upon ranch tomorrow night and the so when they do on Friday night and give us a good day on Sunday. Or we just ask now Your lesson upon each one of us.

Christ and we pray. Are you a new listener to Bibleline? Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr. Arnold? Well, if you’ve never contacted us before, we want to give you Dr. Arnold’s book, The Gospel Driven Man. Every day we receive many emails from folks who have questions about repentance and salvation, about faith in works, and about how to share the gospel with friends and loved ones. This book, The Gospel Driven Man, covers all those topics, And we want all new listeners of Bibleline to receive a free copy.

There’s no obligation, no donation necessary, simply call us at 1-800-576-3771 or write to us and request your free copy of the Gospel-Driven Main. The mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Again, don’t forget to include your mailing address, and God bless you and thank you for listening to Bibleline. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634.

And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believe in that the Lord is coming soon. just keep looking up.