The Week In Review

“Why are you feeding the dead?” (Part 6)
March 25, 2007
Preached in Wisconsin by Jewel D. Williams

MAN’S PERFECTION

Man believes his way is the best, man refuses to listen to correction.
God’s way is best, for God is perfection.

Man talks of the glory of the world and its offer of unholy things.
God talks of the glory of his world, the kingdom from where hope springs.

Man thinks he knows all there is to know, that he has all power in his hand.
God knows all there is to know and he has all power to command.

Man believes not in things he doesn’t understand, but only what he can see.
God believes in us, even though we rarely show him what we can be.

Man thinks only of what he is doing now, and not what will tomorrow bring.
God knows our past, present, and our future and he wants us to let go of unholy things.

Man reads a little of the word of God, and believes he knows what is wrong with others.
God is the word, and he wants to cleanse your heart before you can help another.

Man is but a fool, yet he believes to highly of himself, of his works and his deeds.
God is all knowledge and only the work done for Christ will help you succeed.

Man’s perfection. He believes to highly in himself, yet each day he falls.
God’s perfection. He is the Almighty and he has the power to keep us all.

Man’s perfection. It exists in his mind and it only leads to sins sting.
He believes too much in his own works and honors and not enough in the Great King.

When the day comes that man depends, leans, believes, trust and lives God’s word,
He will truly be on his path to perfection, living by what his heart has heard.

Man’s Perfection, it is not so.
God’s perfection, it is the only way to grow.

The Week In Review

“Why are you feeding the dead?” (Part 5)
March 25, 2007
Preached in Wisconsin by Jewel D. Williams

Singles, I am not leaving you out. The world tells you because marriage is so bad it is best to just shack up with a person first, because then you won’t be caught in a bad marriage, you can test it out first. It seems the right thing to do. I don’t care how right it seems in the world’s eyes, it is not before God. Sex is made for marriage, period and that is the end of that story. There is no way around it, it doesn’t matter how much in love you are, it is not permissible. And God knows you are a sexual being, because he made you. But he also says this desire is to wait to be fulfilled in marriage. So if God tells you to wait, then he will strengthen you to do so. That means God does not want those that are calling themselves children of God, succumbing to sexual sin. When you succumb to sexual sin of any kind, God says to you, stop eating out the garbage. Stop eating that which will kill you, come instead and eat from my bounty.

God says stop listening to those that tell you evil is good and good is evil, and convincing you that the garbage you are eating is really good for you. That relationship you are in is really a good one, when God says, its garbage. If you need to read every scripture about purity, holiness, righteousness and being victorious over sin, then do so until you are full. So when the temptation comes, you will be able to avoid it, because the spirit man is strong and not weak and anemic. Remember these are the people Paul was address in his time, and the message is still of importance today.

Why was Paul giving this message? He was doing so that the people of his time could be conquers over the sin that entangles. He was doing so that not only could individuals live a successful life here, but also that they would be able to reap heaven. So we need to see if everything we do lines up with the spirit or is it lining up with the will of our flesh. Anything that has selfish motives is of the flesh. Paul sums up what our spiritual pursuit should look like in (READ Roman 12).

So I leave us with this today, stop feeding a dead body, church. Do you hear what God is saying to the church, stop breathing life back into that which Jesus came to do away with, the control of sin over our actions and thoughts. This may not seem to be a message of encouragement, because it doesn’t feel good, but it is. It is one to encourage you to release yourselves completely into the hands of God. When we live by the flesh we offend God because we are rejecting his provisions for our lives and are dumpster diving for our food. Let me say to the unsaved, you are losing this battle all the time.

It doesn’t matter how it looks to you, if you do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, you stand before the Lord and are found guilty of sins against a holy God. Paul’s letter told us that in the beginning that every man when compared to a holy righteous God is found lacking. Their destination is total damnation. Yet there is hope today for you, because there is no more condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. You must first confess you are a sinner before a holy God, repent (which is to turn from all unrighteousness, which is anything that goes against God). And then you must believe by faith that he has saved you. Now you must allow God’s Holy Spirit to lead you in all your actions and thoughts.

For those that are saved, Paul’s message did not exclude you. He spoke to the Gentiles and the Jews who had the law of God. As children of God we must turn from following after the flesh and turn to walking in the Spirit. God is calling us to come and take advantage of all the provisions that he has for us. Let us stop offending him in the things we do, say or think. Stop offending him in our marriages that should be a witness to those coming behind us. Stop offending him by saying with our mouths one thing, but our actions speak differently. Stop offending him by calling ourselves one of his children, but acting like an enemy. Stop offending him in our singleness when we tell others by our actions we cannot control ourselves, when in fact we can have control through the spirit of God. Let us stop offending in everything we do.

So today I invite you to come to a place of repentance. First, to repent of whatever you have done that offends God. And then for what you have done to others. When you have done it to the least of these, you have done it unto me. When we have treated others wrong, we also have done it unto God. Is he pleased with our actions, our words, or our walk? If not, then we need to come to a place of repentance. Then when we come, we come to receive from God a renewing of our hearts and mind. Create a clean heart in me, and renew the right spirit within. God promises us that he will revive us if we come and turn from our sinful ways.

If you want a different walk this year and years going forward, then you need to come releasing everything you are holding on to. If you haven’t heard anything I said today, remember this, God says it is time for his children to start following him with their whole hearts. God does not want us offending him anymore with our actions. For those going through a hard place, know that you can completely depend on God and he will see you through, but it calls for you releasing your control into his hands. Let him have the complete control of your life. I stand here today to tell you, I have made up my mind, that nothing is going to separate me from the love of God. I am more than a conquer. And who shall separate me from the love of God? Nothing will, not hardships or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? So no matter what the devil brings I will be more than a conquer. So your situations, your circumstances, your children not acting right, your friendships disappointing you, your marriage falling apart, your job gone, none of these things can separate you from the love of God.

In order to walk in the fullness of this we must stop selling ourselves back into bondage to sin by following the pursuits of our flesh. We must release our will into God’s capable hand and he promises to make us more than conquers because we are trusting, following and leaning on him. Let God be the one that controls your life. I end as I always do with a poem I wrote about 16 years ago.

Week In Review

“Why are you feeding the dead?” (Part 4)

March 25, 2007

Preached in Wisconsin by Jewel D. Williams

So why are we breaking God’s heart? Because he has given us all the tools we need to be successful in every place he has planet us, but we are not using these tools and we are trying to do things in our own steam and power. We are trying to make our marriages work based on our own understanding and not Gods. Husbands are refusing to look at the biblical example of what is God’s plan for the husband, and are saying instead, no thank you, I’ve got this one, and in doing so, are living by the flesh. To live by the spirit, it calls for you to love you wife as Christ loved the church. Many say this is impossible to do, and that the Bible is too idealistic in this request. Yet, I have to disagree, if God says it, then it can be achieved. It calls for you to follow. Are you sacrificing yourself? Are you sacrificing your time, your actions, and your energy to ensure that your family, your wife and children are loved, and cared for? Yelling at them, abusing them, with your words or actions is not in line with what the Bible teaches. So it does not matter how many times you get up to pray and worship before the Lord, until you get that right, you are hindering your own prayers, and you are eating from the garbage can and offending God.


Wives, I’m not leaving us out, are we honoring and respecting our husbands? Do we love them, as the Lord has required? That means even when they are being what we would consider unreasonable or put another way, a knot head. Guess what, that knot head is the one you married, so you better not talk about them too bad, cause what does that say about you, you married him? That means we cannot belittle them, disrespect them and think we can continue to seek God’s intervention if we are not doing as he is telling us to. God is not pleased with these actions, either. We need to check ourselves to make sure we are in line with God’s requirements. Do not be fooled that because things seem to be going well for you that you can continue to disobey God. We cannot take his mercy and grace for granted. That’s what Paul says, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? (6:1-2). And again anything, anything that is a willful moving away from God’s ways, is sin. If you know you are to be one way, but are choosing to do something different, you are in sin.

God may simply be holding back our punishment because he is giving us time to repent and come back to him. I’m still talking about the battle between the flesh and the spirit. As long as we are trying to do things from our flesh, we are not going to do this marriage thing right. God says stop offending him by eating the garbage we are eating. He says stop eating the advice from you friends, talk shows or people that mean you no godly good that tell you to abandon your commitments, he says stop eating that garbage that tells you, you have a right to find happiness outside of your marriage relationships. Garbage!! God says come and take what we need from the word to help us. So if we are not living as we ought to in our marriages, we need to look up every scripture that talks about love, marriage, sacrifice, and read them over and over again until they come out of our very pores. If we need to be the first ones seated at every marriage conference, then so be it. Because then we are coming to the Lord’s Table and partaking of the sustenance we need to keep our relationship and union with God in tack. That’s what the feast from Matthew reminds me of. Our union with Christ is hinged upon us being at the feast at the table and supping with him and we cannot be offensive at the feast. We must be attired in righteousness. But we will not be if we are eating from the garbage can. We will have the stink of that garbage on our clothes. And when we see the flesh trying to rise up, we need to simple beat it back down, we need to beat it like it stole something, because it is trying to steal your place with God and we need to speak the word of God to it and tell it, it has no place here. If your spouse isn’t what they ought to be, then pray for God to first have his perfect will in their lives. I know the temptation to pray your laundry list of God fix him or her, but instead I realize as much as I want a good marriage, what is more important than that is that my husband does not lose his way with the Lord. That is part of what it means to live by the spirit. When we live by the spirit we are willing to go through some hard times, so that God’s will can be done and not our own. Paul calls that in the 12th chapter, being a living sacrifice. So I want to encourage those that are right now going through that hard place of feeling rejected, alone, and do not see any release in sight. I know that pain, and I know it is hard to hold on. But I say to you, get a hold of the word of God and let it get a hold of you and that is what will hold you through. Turn your focus away from the problem and begin to ask God to help you pray in his perfect will. Ask him to help you pray for that spouse that is not doing, as they should. And then in God’s time, he will bring about his perfect will.

For the spouse that is not doing as the Lord requires, I bring you a warning from God. God says it’s time. It’s time to release yourself into his hands. He is calling you to come to him for the answers regarding your behavior, your attitude, and your flesh problem (because no matter how you want to place the blame else where, the problem is a fleshly one. It is if you are deciding not to obey what God tells you to do, then your problem is not with your spouse but in obedience to God and that is sin). Seek him to help you in your marriage, your job and anything else that is keeping you from committing completely to him. If you say you are his, then you must walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. What you or I cannot see in others, God does not miss at all. He sees every deed, every action, ever thought. What is he saying about yours? Is he saying you are eating from his table of plenty or are your actions offensive to him because you are eating the garbage and trying to pass it off like you are eating from his table?

Week in Review

“Why are you feeding the dead?” (Part 3)
March 25, 2007
Preached in Wisconsin by Jewel D. Williams

2. What does the things of the flesh look like? What does the things of the Spirit look like? In other words, what does it look like when you are functioning from the flesh or from the Spirit? Lets look at few practical applications that the Lord took me to.

Giving. Fleshly giving states:
I’ll give to you as long as I get something back.
I’ll give as long as others see what I am doing, so I can get praise.
I’ll give something, but not my best.

Spiritual giving states:
I will give my best.
I will give without expecting to receive in return.
I will give from the desires of my heart for God and not to please me.

What about control?
Well there is no fleshly control. The flesh says, I can do everything I want no matter who it hurts or how it makes others feels, as long as it makes me feel good, it’s all good.

Spiritual control states:
I will take control over fleshly desires.
I will release control of myself into God’s hand.
I will not pursue anything that will hinder my walk with God or others. One more practical application is Love.

Fleshly loves states:
I love you as long as I get something in return.
I love you as long as you give to me
If I don’t get something, I’ll stop loving you.
Love is only useful when it is beneficial to me.
I love you as long as you appeal to me, but if something else comes along better, I won’t love you anymore.
That is fleshly love!!

Love through the Spirit states:
Because I love you I will be patient, longsuffering, I will love you unconditionally, I will love you with a godly love, because God loved us when we were his enemies, so I will love you even when you refuse to be at peace with me. I will love you and place your needs even above my own comfort. What I desire for myself will not be above what is best for you, because my actions are motivated by love.

Now let me make a footnote here. Spiritual love is not sappy love. It is a thought out choice and action. It is also a firm love. Meaning that there are times when godly love says, I love you enough to try to warn you of your sins, but if you refuse to turn I will love you enough to allow you to deal with the full consequences of those actions. See God loves us and continually calls us back to a right relationship with him, but if we refuse and sin, he is just to forgive us, but he does not remove the consequences of those actions. I believe it is because he is allowing us to understand more fully why we should not be disobedient. When for instant our children do something wrong, we can love them and try to correct them, and we should forgive them, but we should not remove the consequences because they teach them a lesson that you are responsible for what you do. You reap what you sow.

Speaking of love let me dwell here for a moment. Do you know we Christians are breaking God’s heart? First let me address the married people. In the beginning there were two things that God made that were perfect. Marriage was one, we know this because God made Eve and took her to Adam. He also made work. We know this because he told Adam to name the animals and put him over the care of the land. When sin entered, that which God made perfect was marred. Adam and Eve before the fall were able to be one. They were a physical example of the unity of the Trinity. God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are three distinct persons with distinct characteristics and purposes, yet they are one in the Godhead. They are one in spirit (there are not three God’s but one God) and they are one in purpose. Marriage was to be the same. Adam and Eve were able to be one with each other and one with God. They walked through the garden with God and were not ashamed to be naked in front of each other or God. In other words they were completely open and transparent with each other and with God. They were one in purpose, to please God and follow his commands. They were one in spirit, because they were connected to each other through their worship of God and they were one in personhood, they were walking together and not in two different directions. Sin changed that.

When sin entered, marriage became one of the areas where Satan hits the most. He knows the purpose God created marriage for, that it was for a good thing, and he tries to destroy it because if he can destroy the marriage, he can destroy the family and the purpose God has ordained for it. Sin makes marriage burdensome for some and for others it seems it is impossible to obtain the goal of a good marriage, so they quit (divorce). It is the same thing with work sin marred it. We now think of work not as something God created for us to bring him honor and provide for our physical needs, but for our own self-promotion and self-expression. We rarely think of work as something God gave us to honor him. And we have become obsessed with our own status that we allow work to become our god’s instead of the true God. We allow our pursuit of work to move God out of the way and to move our families out of their places of importance. This again is how Satan tries to destroy the family. In the garden, fellowship with God was first, then fellowship with each other, then work. Sin has changed all things around. Work is first, maybe family and sometimes, God not at all.

The Week In Review

Why Are You Feeding the Dead? (Part 2)

Preached March 25, 2007

By Minister Jewel D. Williams

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."


In the scripture Romans 8:1-15, let us take a quick look at some points Paul is trying to make.

Vs 1-2 – Freedom is available to all that trust in Christ. You no longer have to be in bondage to sins you commit or to those committed against you that keep you from walking in the fullness of Christ. Sometimes the things done to us, keep us from trusting God. Because others have rejected us, we then reject God. God had to show me recently I was doing the same. Because I was feeling rejected and unloved, I in turn was doing the same to the Lord. I was blaming him for what was happening to me, instead of simply trusting that whatever he allows in my life is not to destroy me, but to make me better. He will take all things, not just some and work them for my good.

Vs 3-4 – Jesus took on every sin conceivable and stood in our place and received my punishment and yours so that God could exchange his righteousness (holiness, purity) for our unrighteousness, sinfulness and wickedness. And we need to stop trivialize our sins by such words as I made a “bad choice”, or a “mistake”, or that’s “just the way I am”, or the one I hate the most “I have always been this way” then you need to release it and let him change you before, that sin in your life leads you to bondage and from bondage to eternal damnation. It is sin if it is not in line with God, and you know he wants you to release it. When Christ took our sins, he opened to us the potential for victorious living. Hear what I say, I say potential because it does not manifest itself until we begin to walk in it.

That is why we must do as the scripture tells us. I had to set us up so that we can understand what God is speaking to us next,

For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness…But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. - Romans 6:6-13, 8:10

So I have a question. If you are dead to the flesh and alive to the spirit, why are you feeding a dead body? You or I should not be feeding the flesh. 1 Cor. 5:31 reads, “I die daily”. Which is dying to the lusts of the flesh daily. I believe however that we should understand this differently, not I die daily because our flesh will not die on its on, but I will kill daily (meaning I am active in the dying process) my flesh. I should not be feeding the desires of a fleshly appetite, but I should be feeding the Spirit that lives in me. I should be feeding the Spirit the life giving sustenance it needs to live. What are you doing daily to feed your spirit? Most of us get up in the morning and we rush to take our showers, brush our teeth, and get our morning coffee so we won’t bite someone’s head off, without our caffeine fix. But most will probably push the snooze button a few times to take that extra few moments of sleep. So we rush to our cars having taken care of our physical body’s needs, but our spirit man is still hungry. We didn’t get up and pray, we didn’t stop to read our word and meditate on it. So we jump in our cars and maybe we will or maybe we won’t listen to a Christian radio or CD. And some even if they have the music on, they are too busy yelling at the slow person in front of them and having road rage. And by the time you get to work, you’re probably frustrated, and your spirit man is still hungry, because he hasn’t been fed yet.

We most likely will not stop too often to read our word during the work hours, we rarely will stop to pray but we surely will not try to miss too many trips to the candy machine or lunches. So we will come home from work with a full physical stomach but a weak hungry spirit. We might stop and read the word now that we are home. But sadly, no, we have too many things that are too important to put aside to do that. We have work we have brought home, or we just need to relax because we had a hard day, or maybe your favorite movie is coming on so you just want to kick up your feet and relax. So you go to bed and maybe you’ll give a quick, weak attempt of a prayer when you say, “Lord thank you for today” and go to bed.

And day after day you continue in this way, and your spirit man is being starved of the nutrients it needs to survive. Yet your flesh is not being denied, so it continues to control your actions, and your motives. That false trinity is in full control. Everything is being decided through the “me, myself and I”. And because of that, many of the trials you are about to face or because of your own doing. Did you hear me? Some of the stuff we are facing is not because the devil came along and did something to us, but because we have gradually been building our flesh and weakening our spirit so we have a battle going on inside. And for some of us when the first trial comes along, we are knocked off our feet because our spirit man is not ready to handle the trial. There is going to be a battle between what the spirit man needs you to do and what the flesh wants to do.

As I was preparing for today, I began to think about how to give us a visual of what is transpiring inside of us. Many of you may have read of the story from Matthew 22 and the similar story in Luke. In Matthew the king is preparing a feast for a wedding for his son. The invitation was sent out for all to come and partake of the feast. Many didn’t want to come. So the servant went out and got others to come, and when they did come, they did not have on wedding attire. In the story in Luke it talks about an invitation going out for all to come to a feast, but many came up with excuses why they could not come. It was because of their stuff, their work, or their relationships being more important that the feast. So this is the visual my mind began to see. When God saved us and removed us from condemnation (or conviction, and sentence of death for our crimes) to liberty (freedom), he also opened up to us all the provisions we need to be able to stand. He sets a table before us filled with all that we need to feast our spirit man on. He prepared a wedding banquet to celebrate, the body (us believers) being married to or joined to his Son, Jesus. Yet what happens is we have this feast set before us, but we either refuse to come and dine because our stuff, our relationships or other things are too important or when we do come, we come as an offense to God.

Let me ask you a question? How would you feel if you prepared a meal for a friend and you made sure everything they need was in the meal and then they come to your house and instead of going to sit at the table, the go straight to the garbage can, lift the lid and begin to eat out of it? Well first you would think, what is wrong with them, they sure do need deliverance, eating out of the garbage, they have lost their minds. Then you would be offended that they would treat your meal so carelessly. Image if you will then how we look when we come to the most wonderful buffet table you can think of, the table that the Lord prepared for us to eat from? Let me tell you what’s on the menu of this feast. Today maybe you have a taste for how to win a battle and God prepared a meal for you to feast on about David and goliath and how you can strike down the giants in your life. Maybe you need some reassurance, so He prepared for you the psalms to digest, where he promises to take care of his anointed, or that he will be your hightower, your fortress. Or that he will give you rest under his wings. And when you eat from God’s word, it is sweet to your taste. So God provides this feast for you to help you grow, but you decide you would rather not eat from his banquet table. You decide instead to go to the garbage can, lift the lid and began to eat. The very thought of someone eating from the garbage can when you have provided for them is offensive to you, but how much more is our offense to God, when he provides us with what we need to build our spiritual man, but we refuse and continue to feast on that which weakens us and continues to give our flesh control. And all because we have made other things more important than him and we make excuses after excuse for offending him. So we have to ask the question, are we killing our flesh daily or are we feeding ourselves on the garbage that continues to resuscitate our flesh?

The Week in Review

This building does not look inviting. If we saw this building we would most likely not go inside.  Why?  Because it does not look like a safe place to be or one that is inviting.  So if we can look at a building at tell if it safe or not, why can't we look at actions and tell the same thing?  Why can't we tell when the actions we do are not safe for our spiritual lives?

“Why are you feeding the dead?”

March 25, 2007

Preached in Wisconsin by Jewel D. Williams

Biblical background – The book of Romans is broken into several sections.
A quick overview in chapter 1:1-18, Paul introduces the generosity of servant hood. He then gives a “diagnosis – The knowledge of God and the sinful fall of humanity” (1:19-3:20). He moves to his 1st prognosis – Justified by faith in Jesus Christ (3:21-8:17). He gives the 2nd prognosis – subjected to futility (uselessness), subject to hope (8:18-11:36), here he talks about the glorious freedom of the Children of God, whom God justifies he also glorifies, the mercy of God and the riches of His glory toward all, he then gives his prescription: faithful servants in action (12:1-15:13) he talks about sacrificial worship, humble use of gifts within the body, loving acts of service and hospitality, loving one’s neighbor, living as in the day and not in darkness. Then he gives his conclusion, (15:14-16:27) his purpose for writing so boldly and his final greetings, warnings, and doxology.

The book of Romans is said to be one of the most powerful of Paul’s writings, three historical figures attribute their salvation to the book of Romans, Augustine, Martin Luther and John Wesley. Paul writes this letter to give the people the good news (the gospel). Paul gives the good news because the bad news is so bad, and people are in desperate need of the good news (isn’t that true today). What is the bad news? The bad news Paul expresses is that all people are cut off from God and subject to eternal judgment because of their built-in tendency to ignore who they really are and their refusal to turn away from “self”.

Paul starts this letter off talking about the people of his day. They had an idea of God because they could see the beauty and splendor of God’s hand in nature, but instead of seeking this God, the creator of everything, they worship nature itself. They were indifferent to the God who liberates people from their bondage to evil, pagan rituals, homosexual practices, to sexual immorality and the like. Their minds were warped and their moral compasses were spinning wildly. Murder, malice, deceit, and heartless cruelty prevail. But Paul goes on the say that this bad news isn’t just for the idol worshippers, murderers, and sexual offenders, but he says in verse 3:19 that every mouth is silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Compared to a holy and righteous God, the morally religious person is no better off than the immoral criminal.

All were alike, Jew and Gentile are without hope, because all alike have sinned. This is the stage that Paul letters sets when he gives the diagnosis of man’s plight. He could have been writing to us today. In our day, we are aware of God, we see his splendor in the earth, but there are still those that decide to worship the created instead of the creator. And one of those created things, is ourselves. So we worship “self” instead of the one that created man. Men and women today are still indifferent to a God that will liberate from the bondage of evil, from rituals to “self” and other false beliefs, from bondage to homosexuality and bondage to sexual sin and the like. Our minds today are also warped. And not only is our moral compasses spinning wildly, I think sometimes we have thrown them out the window to the ideas of “what works for me, is good because it works for me” We have thrown away the moral standards of God for the ideas of relativism, how does it relate to me. Murder, malice, deceit and heartless cruelty still prevail today.

So Paul gives the prognosis or cure of what can change man’s standing before God. It is still the same cure you and I need today. He tells his audience that there is hope, hope in Jesus Christ. Christ alone opens up the way for man to be in a right standing with God. This is where we will stop for a moment.

Let us look at the scripture:

Romans 7:15-25 – “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 unto 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 things: 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 I do. 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. 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 the body of this 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 are different beliefs about whom Paul was speaking about. Some believe Paul is speaking about the struggles of the unsaved man. Some believe it is the struggle going on within the saved man, but that Paul is not speaking personally. There is also the belief that it is Paul speaking about himself, using himself as an example. I have no problem believing this is Paul speaking about his own struggles. I do not believe it is the unsaved, because they have not yet been changed so there is no good thing yet inside to struggle against, for the unsaved man is still filled with unrighteousness, yet we know that the Holy Spirit is working to draw the unsaved to the place where they can either accept or reject Christ. But, as of now the unsaved is still hostile towards God. And here Paul talks about the struggle against that which is good, and that which is sinful.

He is also addressing some of the popular believes of his time, for example that the soul struggle is essentially against a specific sin or habit, that human nature is essentially good, that sanctification is by means of the law, and that if one will only determine to do the right, he will be able to do it in his own power. These are some of the misconceptions Paul is addressing with this letter. These are some of the same misconceptions of our time. We believe that our problems will go away if we can only get rid of a particular habit or sin and we are going to be forever without struggles, that we have this inward good that we need to only tap into, and that if we are good upstanding people we will be sanctified, blessed or made holy and righteous because of our ability to want to do good and do it. We believe those “New Age” philosophies of we have the power to become God with our only wanting it to be so.

Reading other letters written by Paul we can know that Paul has no problem with using himself as an example to explain the truths of God. And if you know anything from listening to those that preach, that is how God does. He gives the preacher the message first so that when he or she comes to give it to the people, it is more than just words written on a piece of paper, but words that God has made real within their life. So let’s look a little deeper at one of the messages here in Paul’s letter to the Romans.

1. THE WAR INSIDE

What is dictating our actions?

The “Sin” inside –When we were sinners, we had no control over the sin inside we were in bondage to it, and we were lead by it. When Christ saved us, we were set free from the bondage of this sin. Yet we still have to deal with the flesh. When we were changed, our flesh did not disappear. We will contend with it as long as we are here on this side of heaven. What do we mean when we say flesh? The Flesh – is marked by no control over self or pursuit of self fulfilling things and lusts, it is self-sovereign (it’s own god), and it worships a false trinity of “Me, Myself and I” and it battles against…

The “Good” inside – God’s spirit was made alive in us through salvation. God imparted to us his Spirit so that we could live righteously before him. Now the Spirit in us – desires to do what is right before God, the spirit within wants us to flee evil, the Spirit wants control over the flesh, and the Spirit worships the true trinity of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

Paul asks the question, “Who can save me from this body of death” – the answer is, Jesus Alone. Paul is acknowledging that he does not have the power in himself to fight the war going on inside. Let me just say this, if I say nothing else, we could learn a valuable lesson from Paul in these verses. If Paul the great Apostle was aware that he was fighting a battle he could not win, why do we keep trying to change stuff ourselves? Why do we think we can work it out, figure it out in ourselves? Scripture tells us not to lean to our own understanding, and that is because our understanding is fleshly motivated and not spiritual and it will only mess things up really bad. You know you are using your understanding because ever sentence you say starts with “I”. That is you working from that false trinity of “me, myself and I”

You say things like I am going to do… I want to do… I won’t do…. What I need…and the list is endless. Instead we need to realize that if we are to be successful in this walk it will be us releasing our selves into God’s hand. We have to move our speech from “I” to saying things like, “God direct me…” “God lead me…” “God give your wisdom in this matter…” When we do we understand what Paul was saying, that Jesus alone will do it. Paul warns us not to think we can achieve through our own works. You or I cannot do enough to get this walk right. Us getting this walk right is based solely on you and I submitting completely to God and from that place we work out our salvation. This was one of those false beliefs I just mentioned that Paul was trying to show as a lie. We cannot just will it so; we must count completely on the Spirit of God in us, to be able to do what is right before God.

Check the Williams Innovative Network website, http://home.comcast.net/~inhisword/site/
 for the second installment of this message.