Ron Dunn Podcast - Post Salvation Blues

Episode Date: April 29, 2020

From the sermon series on Romans

In Romans chapter 7 beginning with verse 14 and reading through verse 25. Romans chapter 7 beginning with verse 14 and reading through verse 25. I said this morning that there is probably not another chapter as important in all the Word of God as is Romans chapter 7. Someone asked me the other day when are we going to get to Romans 8? Well, I'm anxious to get to Romans 8, but you've got to go through Romans 7 in order to get through Romans 8.

And listen, you won't understand Romans 8 unless you understand Romans 7. Romans 7 is kind of the wilderness, you know, and Romans 8 is the promised land. And in the 7th chapter of Romans, God is preparing us for the eighth chapter. I'm sure he won't mind me sharing this. I talked with David just a few minutes ago, and he said,

Boy, you're in my favorite part of the Bible. I said, The book of Romans? He said, Romans 7. I said, Well, it's a great passage. He said, That's the passage that God used to bring me back to Jesus Christ. And it's amazing how every person's history and spiritual biography is found in these verses tonight. So beginning with verse 14, Romans chapter 7, Paul says, For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 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 thing, for to will is present with me. There's the desire. The Spirit is willing. 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. Now, look at verse 24. Paul's cry of despair, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death, the Romans were noted for their ingenuity in torture. The cross is a Roman invention. But the Romans had another way of torturing a man.

Occasionally, when a man killed another man and was caught and was found guilty, in order to punish this man for his crime of murder, they would take the corpse of a murdered man and strap it to his back. And they would open, they would perhaps cut the man's back so that all of the poison from that dead corpse could communicate itself to the living man. They would strap the corpse of the murdered man to the back of the guilty man in such a way that he could not escape from it. And this was his torture, this was his punishment, to walk around, to sleep, to eat, to constantly, 24 hours a day,

to have that decomposing body strapped to him, making his life wretched and miserable, and communicating the death of poison to his own life. Now, Paul is using this instance and this figure of speech to describe the plight in which he finds himself in verse 24. This is what he is referring to, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this dead body? Paul is a man with a dead body on his back. And this dead body is the old man, the flesh, the old nature.

Now listen, Paul made two great discoveries and you have to make the same two great discoveries if you're to enter into fullness of life. The first great discovery we talked about this morning, the law cannot save a lost man. What I do, my efforts, my endeavors, all of my religion, keeping God's law, cannot bring salvation to a lost man. I imagine when Paul was saved, he thought what some of us thought. Oh, what a relief, I'm saved. Now I'll be able to pray. Now I'll

be able to obey God. Now I'll be able to overcome sin. Oh, I'm so glad I'm saved because now I can just follow the rules and follow the regulations and I can be of obedience to God and everything's going to be great. And Paul came to another shattering discovery. He discovered not only that the law cannot bring salvation to a lost man, he also discovered that the law cannot bring sanctification to a saved man. The law cannot bring life to a lost man, and it cannot bring liberty to a saved man. Now, Romans chapter 7 is autobiographical. This is Paul's personal testimony. Verses 7 through 14 or 13 are in the past tense, you'll notice. For instance, in verse 9, for I was alive, I found to be unto death. Everything is in the past tense. That is his pre-conversion situation. And before he was saved, he had this dead body

strapped to his back, and he was trying to get rid of it, trying to cope with it, trying to shake it loose, and he discovered he could not do it. But he made an astounding discovery, I said. After he was saved, he found that same dead body was still strapped to his back. He found that he was still unable to please and to obey God. So beginning in verse 14, you'll notice all of a sudden the tenses of the verbs change to the present tense. He says, For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal.

For that which I do, I allow not. And what I would not that I do. Now he's talking about his post-conversion experience. And this is a classic study in a man's struggle to get this dead man off his back. The old nature, the flesh, that part of our life, that part of our personality which is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. That part of us which does not know God, which does not love God, that part of us which does not know God, which does not love God, that part of us which always rebels against God, Paul said that he found out that he still had it after he was saved. And you still have it after you're saved.

And every person in this place tonight has gone through, or is going through, or will go through, Romans chapter 7. And so I'm calling verses 14 through 25 the post-salvation blues. Oh, what a disappointment! What a letdown! What a letdown! All of his life Paul had struggled to please the Lord. All of his life Paul had struggled to live up to a certain standard, to have peace in

his heart and peace in his mind. Now he comes to Jesus Christ and trusts him as his Savior. He knows now that he is saved and suddenly he thinks everything is going to be different. Now that which was difficult before will now be easy. And he wakes up one day to discover that dead man is still on his back. And you cannot get away from it. You cannot run from yourself. Everywhere Paul goes he carries this dead man on his back. Everywhere you go you carry your old nature. You carry the flesh. You carry that part of you which is opposed to the will of God in

your life. You cannot escape from it.. How many of us tonight have not experienced this? I always like to try to stick close to a new Christian because I know there is going to be a post-salvation letdown. I know there is going to come that dismal discovery that they are still bound by sin. Notice what Paul says in verse 14. Now this is after he's been saved, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal sold under sin. Verse 17, now it is no more I that do it,

but sin that dwelleth in me. Verse 20, sin dwelleth in me. Verse 21, I find in a law that when I would do good, evil is lying right close at hand, is what the Greek says. Verse 25, I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord, told me with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

And I submit to you that that is the testimony of every Christian in this place. And I, with my mind, I serve the law of God. I want to serve the law of God my mind I serve the law of God. I want to serve the law of God. I delight in the law of God, but I find that I'm unable to obey God. This old man, this dead man, this old nature is still strapped to me, and I find that no matter how many resolutions

and resolves and vows I make, they all end up in smoke. All right, let's look at this experience. There are three stages to the post-salvation blues. Stage number one is failure. Failure. The first thing that happens after a person has been saved, a little while he discovers failure in his life. Failure in his life. As I said a moment ago, he thought now everything is going to be different. The things that at one time were impossible and difficult, he just naturally assumed were now going to be easy. But he finds there's failure. And so in verse 15, Paul says, For that which I do, I allow not. Paul says, I don't even understand myself.

The word allow means I don't know, I don't understand, I don't comprehend. Paul says, I don't understand what's going on. I can't figure it out. I don't even know myself anymore. I want to serve God. I delight in the inward man, that saved part of me. I delight in the inner man, the new man. I want to serve God, but that which I do, I can't. That which I hate, that's what I give consent to. I don't even

understand what's happening to me. Failure, failure. Remember the three things that we said were true of a lost man? First of all, the law is powerless. Secondly, the inwardness of sin. And third, the inability of the flesh. Listen, did you know that after you're saved, those three things are still true? After you're saved, those three things are still true. After you're saved, the law is still powerless to help you. After you're saved, sin still dwells in you. After you're saved, that flesh, that part of you, that old nature is still unable to serve God. Now those of you that have been in our class have heard me say this several times,

that when God saved us, he did not touch the old nature. He didn't even lay a finger on the old nature. He didn't even give it a casual glance. He has not changed. He has not improved. He has not saved the old nature. That part of you, if you're lost tonight in this place, that part of you which resists God and which finds it difficult and impossible to obey God, that part of you God does not change, He does not fix, He does not repair in salvation whatsoever. It is incurable. God cannot do anything with it. He doesn't try. He doesn't try. There is failure after a person has been saved. Sin still dwells

in him. Paul says, I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. I don't want to take away from what Miss Bertha is going to do when she comes, but she has a marvelous illustration of this. Some of you false freaks saw her do this. So when she comes in January of next year, don't tell her I told you this. And you forget about it after the night, all right? It's not hard for you to forget my sermons, is it? Boy, I had a humiliating blow the other night.

Ward Walker was over at one of our members' house, and I'm not going to tell everybody that it was Don Stankoff. And he asked him to name the points of my Sunday sermon just a day or two before, and he couldn't do it. And I want you to know that's humiliating. That'll humble me. And I don't appreciate Ward coming and giving me that news. Just keep it to yourself.

All right, listen. She has this little flannel draft, this little board up here, and it's got black sheep. And the black sheep represents sinful nature, this old body of death, the flesh. That black sheep, that sinful nature, is not subject to the law of God. It cannot be subject to the authority of God. So she

saves. And when God saves a person, he clothes them in robes of white righteousness. And so she puts a little white sheep on the front and top of the black sheep. Now it's white, righteous, perfect in the sight of God. Now she's about 80 years old. She's been a Christian a long time. She's been a missionary a long time. And so she stands up, and in her humorous way, she says, Oh, after all these years of being saved, and after all these years of serving as a missionary,

I'm sure that old black nature has changed a little bit. I'm sure now that the old nature nature has changed a little bit. I'm sure now that the old nature has gotten just a little bit whiter and not as black as it used to be. For after all, 50, 60 years of being saved and serving in China and other places, the missionary, certainly this old nature has changed. And she goes over and she pulls off a white sheet and she goes, oh, it's still just as black as ever. It's still just as black as ever. The old nature hasn't changed one bit. It hasn't even turned gray. It's still what it always was. And Paul discovered this. He said, I find then that I'm struggling with failure.

Before I was saved, I tried to please God. After I was saved, I said, I will please God now, but I find I still can't do it. I still can't do it. I want to pray, but I can't. I want to get victory over this temper, but I can't. I want to get rid of these evil, impure thoughts, but I can't. I want to be able to control my tongue, but I can't do it. First stage is failure.

Second stage is failure. Second stage is frustration. You have to admire Paul. He didn't give up. And most Christians don't give up. They redouble their efforts. So suddenly Paul becomes frustrated. And this is what he's talking about in verse 15. For that which I do, I don't even understand.

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 under the law that it is good. Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Paul says, I don't understand. He's frustrated. He's frustrated. And this is what happens to most Christians. First of all, they this is what happens to most Christians. First of all, they realize there's failure in their life. What do they do? They redouble their efforts.

They take a study course. They go to revival. They come down the aisle. They rededicate themselves at the altar. They have some high spiritual experience. They're inspired. They tense every muscle. They begin to study the Bible.

They take courses. They are equipping themselves now to be able to serve God. So they redouble their efforts. They just intensify the effort to try with all of their strength to please God. And some of us just wear ourselves out trying to please God. We just wear ourselves out trying to please God we just wear ourselves out trying to please God and always hoping always hoping that the next revival will turn the trick the next sermon the pastor preaches he'll say something I'll just will completely give me that the power and the Liberty

to be what I want to be and constantly one right after another we meet frustration upon frustration, failure upon failure. We just cannot make it. We just cannot make it. You know who adds to that frustration? Your local Baptist pastor. He adds to that frustration.

He stands in the pulpit on Sunday and says, listen, you ought not to be doing the things you're doing. You ought not to be thinking the things you're thinking. You ought to be out here witnessing and winning people to Jesus. And so you sit there and you listen to this pastor who's supposed to be a man of God, who's supposed to know what he's talking about, and you say, all right.

The pastor stands up and says, everybody that will come down now and become a soul winner, you get on down here. So we say, all right, I'm going to do it for the church. I'm going to give it one more try. We come down. We somehow think just by walking down here, God is going to put an extra touch on us or something, and we go out. And you know, for a day or two everything's different. And then God just

pulls the rug out from under us again, and we fall again. Frustration, frustration, frustration, frustration. You just can't make it. Third stage comes, fatalism. Listen to what Paul says. Oh, Paul is exhausted. You know in verse 24 when he says, O wretched man that I am, that word wretched in the Greek New Testament means to be exhausted after hard labor. I get out of breath every time I read this passage. You can just see old Paul working, working, working, rededicating, rededicating, going to this meeting, going to this revival, doing everything in his power to try to please God

and live the kind of Christian life he knows he ought to live. But finally, after failure, after frustration, he just assumes the attitude of a fatalist. Absolute despair and futility. So what does he do? He makes peace with his failure. He says, I find then a law. That means the situation's hopeless. I find in 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. Now listen, I want you to get this picture. First of all, Paul says, I delight in the law of God, and for the word law you put in authority. This will help you to get this picture. First of all, Paul says, I delight in the law of God. And for the word law, you put in authority. This will help you to understand it better. I delight to be under the authority of God in the inward man. But I see a higher authority in my life. Here's what Paul assumed.

He knew that the power of God was in his life, but he came to this fatalistic conclusion that the power of sin was greater than the power of God was in his life, but he came to this fatalistic conclusion that the power of sin was greater than the power of God in his life. And that's exactly the conclusion that some of you have come to tonight. I find then another law, a higher authority in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and what? Bringing me into captivity to the law of sin. You say, how do you know Paul believes that this law of sin is more powerful than the law of my mind and what? Bringing me into captivity to the law of sin. You say, how do you

know Paul believes that this law of sin is more power than the law of God? I'll tell you why. Because he says it brings him into captivity to the law of sin. Now listen, if the law of God was greater, it would bring him into captivity to the law of God. But the result is he is brought into captivity. He is a slave to the law of sin in his physical body. What's Paul doing? He's giving up. He's giving up. Absolute despair, absolute futility. Here it is, a settled, irrevocable law

by the supreme court of human nature. No matter how much I delight to be under the authority of God and the inward man, I discover that there is a higher power in my life, and that's the power of sin. Paul came and made unconditional surrender to defeat. A lady sat in my office not too long ago. She said, Brother Dunn, she said, God's been so good to you.

He's given you so much. I said, let me tell you something. God hasn't given me anything that he hasn't given you. She said, oh, no. I said, oh, yes. I said, did you know that I'm nobody special? I mean, did you know that God hasn't favored me above anybody else, above you?

You know what she was saying? She was taking a fatalistic view. She was saying, you have something that the Lord won't let me have. You're a super saint. You're elect. You're special. And oh, it'd be nice if other people, something that the Lord won't let me have. You're a super saint. You're elect. You're special.

And oh, it'd be nice if other people, if I could know the victory that you have, but I just can't do it. And I don't know if I ever convinced her or not that God hasn't given me anything. He hasn't given every member of this church. But many of us are like that, dear lady. We have come to the place where we believe that this kind of victory and abundant life is only for a few, only for those who can make the grave. Like Paul, fatalistic. Now listen, at which stage are you tonight?

Oh, I want you to know, there's nothing bluer than the post-salvation blues. There's not a bigger drag in all this world than the frustration and the futility of trying to measure up to what we know God expects of us. So Paul comes, like you and I have come, to this conclusion. Fatalistic. Well, that's the way it is. Hey, sirrah, sirrah. Whatever it's going to be, it's going to be. The situation is hopeless. I'll just make the best of it I can. I'll do the best I can. But I'll tell you, no Christian is satisfied with that. And Paul cries out in verse 24, Oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me

from the body of this death? Now he's getting close to him. You know what he's always said before? He said, what's going to deliver me from the body of this death? That's what he's looking for. New methods, new strength, new power. Suddenly, he turns his eyes from himself. Now he's making the transition. A little gleam, a little ray of light coming through the darkness. He says, Who shall deliver me from this dead body? And his mind fastens on that pronoun, Who. And then he's burst out in that next verse, and he says, I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord.

Now, I want to tell you something. I read that verse for years and years and years and missed the blessing. I just thought that Paul was giving thanks to God through Jesus. You know, we pray through Jesus, and we give thanks through Jesus. And I thought what Paul was saying was, I thank God through Jesus Christ. And I said, Paul, what have you got to be thankful for?

You just said you're a wretched man. Then one day I discovered there ought to be a comma between God and truth. Now, you put your comma there, and you read it this way. Paul says, Who is going to deliver me from the body of this death? Thank God, through Jesus Christ, my Lord comes to live.

That's what he said. That's what he said. He said, Boy, I wish I was looking for a better answer than that. What a letdown. You mean that's the answer?

You mean that's the way to get victory over my failure? You mean that's the answer to my frustration? You mean that's the answer to my futility and my despair? Is Jesus Christ? You haven't told me anything new. Why I believed in Jesus ever since I was this... I've had Jesus in my heart for 20 years.

That's right. That's right. You've got Jesus in your heart and then you sit out to do the best you could to live for him. Try to serve him as best you could.

Try to overcome sin as best you could. But I want you to know that you overcome sin after you're saved the same way you overcome sin after you're saved the same way you overcome sin before you're saved. How did you overcome sin before you were saved? By grace through faith.

That's what the book of Romans is all about. Saved by grace through faith apart from anything that I do. All of us believe that. No feeling necessary, just naked faith in the great grace of God. I just come to Jesus Christ and say, Lord Jesus, I know that I'm lost. I know that I'm a sinner. I'm not looking for any weird feeling. I'm not looking to hear angel wings flapping. All I want to do is to turn my life over to Jesus Christ, and I'm trusting Jesus as my Lord and Savior to take away the debt of sin that's against me.

And that moment is done by grace through faith. Well, now listen. God has only one way of operation. God has only one MO. He has only one method of operation. He never changes it. And everything God does for us, He does it by grace through faith.

And after you're saved, listen, you still have that old dead body strapped to your back. You're no better than you've ever been. You're the same old sinner you always were. The only difference is now, Jesus Christ through his Spirit dwells in you. And the only way you're going to know deliverance from the failure and frustration and futility of your daily life

is to come to this place where you give up on yourself you give up on yourself you come not to the end of the rope because when you come to end the rope you just find a better rope you come to the end of yourself and say lord i i give up who is going to deliver me jesus j, I'll just resign from the Christian life and I'll let Jesus Christ come in and take my place. I'll get out of the way. I can't think of a better illustration than what 69,000 people said last Friday night. 69,000 people were saying last Friday night, get Morton out of the way and let Roger come in in his place.

That'll solve all the problems. Just get old Morton out of the way. Let Staubach come in and everything will be all right. 69,000 people began to criticize Landry for not running the game the way it ought to be run. Now listen, I want you to know tonight if the apostle Paul could come back from heaven and visit us and preach a sermon, we'd come up to Paul and say, Paul, oh boy, I'm right in the smack dab middle of Romans 7. I see Romans 8 over there on the shore. I'm swimming for it with every ounce of strength that's in me, but I just can't make it. You know what Paul would say? He'd say, listen, you get out of the way. You resign from the Christian life. You retire from your activity,

from your service, and you let Jesus Christ come in in your place. Just turn it all over to him. Submit yourself to his lordship. You just die to yourself and enthrone Jesus Christ come in in your place. Just turn it all over to him. Submit yourself to his lordship. You just die to yourself and enthrone Jesus Christ as Lord in your life. He's the one that delivers you from the body of this death. Boy, it's simple, isn't it? It's so simple. You and I stumble all over the place over it. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification,

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