Sin That's Hard to Shake

Becoming a Christian does not instantly solve all life's problems!
The law convicts....
Romans 7:7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet."


Battle between the spirit and the flesh....
Romans 7:14-25
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 

15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 

16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 

17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 

18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 

19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 

20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 

22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 

23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 

24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 

25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Battling sin that is hard to shake....
Recognize that spiritual Christians struggle with sin.
Understand your spiritual condition.
Realize that the answer is the Spirit of God.

Recognize that spiritual Christians struggle with sin....
Reasons to have confidence that Paul is speaking as a born-again believer....
He makes reference to both his relationship to God and his relationship to sin.
He speaks only as a Christian could.
He has a desire to do God's will.
Our personal experience resembles Paul's.
Key point of application....
The more I grow in my faith, the more sensitive I'm going to be to sin's attempts to conquer me!

Understand your spiritual condition....
The situation: The "new him: is stuck in the "old flesh".
Our mistake: We often make human attempts to fix the flesh.
The struggle: I don't want to do some of the things I am doing.
Key point application....
One of the keys to spiritual victory in my life is recognizing my utter hopelessness.
The source: Sin!
Sin is a powerful thing! It's a law that governs every aspect of the flesh.
Before your conversion, you were in direct opposition to God. When you came to faith in Christ, a powerful war with sin broke out!

Realize that the answer is the Spirit of God....
No one benefits from the cross apart from receiving the Spirit, and no one receives the Spirit who is not justified by the cross.

Summary....
The Christian life is only possible because sin has been forgiven, guilt has been removed, and God's Spirit was provided.
The Christian life can't be lived in the power of the flesh; it only happens by the strength of the Spirit.
Don't ride the fence between walking in the Spirit and walking in the flesh.
Cry deeply and daily for the ongoing ministry of the spirit of God in your life!!

Thanks Dennis for this blessed teaching truth!!!