Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that
dwelleth in me [Rom. 7:17].
In other words: It is no longer I (new nature) who am
working it out, but sin (the old nature) living in me. You see, Paul still
had the old nature.
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 [Rom. 7:18].
Paul learned two things in this struggle, and they are
something that many of us believers need to learn. “In me (that old nature
we have been talking about) dwells no good thing.” Have you learned that?
Have you found there is no good in you? Oh, how many of us Christians feel
that we in the flesh can do something that will please God! Many believers
who never find out otherwise become as busy as termites and are having about
the same effect in many of our churches. They are busy as bees, but they
aren’t making any honey! They get on committees, they are chairmen of
boards, they try to run the church, and they think they are pleasing God.
Although they are busy, they have no vital connection with the person of
Christ. His life is not being lived through them. They are attempting to do
it in their own strength by the flesh. They haven’t learned what Paul
learned: “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.”
Let me make it personal. Anything that Vernon McGee does in the flesh, God
hates. God won’t
have it; God can’t use it. When it is of the flesh, it is
no good. Have you learned
that? That is a great lesson. The Lord Jesus said, “That which is born of
the flesh is flesh …” (John 3:6) (and that is all it will ever be), but
“Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin …” (1 John 3:9). My, how
wonderful that is! We are given a new nature, and that new nature will not
commit sin. I assure you that the new nature won’t commit sin. When I sin,
it is the old nature. The new nature won’t do it; the new nature just
hates sin. That new
nature won’t let me sleep at night; it says, “Look, you are wrong. You have
to make it right!”
Paul found out something else that is very important for
us to learn: “for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which
is good I find not.” He found there is no good
in the old nature and there is no power
in the new nature. The new nature wants to serve God, but the carnal man is
at enmity against God; it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be (see Rom. 8:7). But the new nature has no power.
I remember when I started out, oh, I was going to live
for God! That’s when I fell on my face, and I have never fallen harder than
I did then. I thought I could do it myself. But I found there was no power
in the new nature. And that is the reason that an evangelist can always get
response in a meeting. I’m afraid ninety percent of the decisions that are
made in our churches today have been made by Christians who have been living
in defeat in their Christian lives. What they are really saying is, “I want
to live for God. I want to do better.” Often an evangelist in a meeting
says, “All of you that want to live for God, put up your hand. All of you
today that want to come closer to God, put up your hand. Those of you who
want to commit your life to God, come forward.” The minute an evangelist
says that, he’s got me. That is what I want to do. That new nature of mine
says, “I sure would like to live for God.” But there is no power in it. That
is what multitudes of believers fail to recognize. There have been folk who
have been coming forward for years, and that’s all they have been doing—just
coming forward! They never make any progress. Oh, how they need to
understand this truth!
For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which
I would not, that I do [Rom. 7:19].
Have you experienced this?
Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do
it, but sin that dwelleth in me [Rom. 7:20].
It is that old nature, my friend, that is causing us
trouble.
I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is
present with me [Rom. 7:21].
When you are attempting to serve God in the Spirit, have
you discovered that the old nature is right there to bring evil? Perhaps an
evil thought will come into your mind. Every child of God, regardless of his
state, must admit that in every act and in every moment evil is present with
him. Failure to recognize this will eventually lead to shipwreck in the
Christian life.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man
[Rom. 7:22].
“The inward man” is the new nature.
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 [Rom. 7:23].
You see, you don’t get rid of the old nature when you are
saved. And yet there is no power in your new nature. “I see a different law”
is the enmity of the old nature against God. It causes the child of God who
is honest to cry out, as Paul cried:
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? [Rom 7:24].
This is not an unsaved man who is crying, “O wretched man
that I am”; this is a saved man. The word
wretched carries with it the note of
exhaustion because of the struggle. “Who is going to deliver me?” He is
helpless. His shoulders are pinned to the floor—he has been wrestled down.
Like old Jacob, he has been crippled. He is calling for help from the
outside.
McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible
Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997,
c1981, S. 4:693-694