Ron Dunn Podcast - Saved From Ourselves

Episode Date: February 14, 2018

Ron Dunn preaches from Romans 8:14-17.

You are listening to the Ron Dunn Podcast. Ron Dunn is a well-known author and was one of the most in-demand preachers during the latter part of the 20th century. He led Bible studies all over the United States, Europe, and South Africa. For more information and resources from Ron Dunn, please visit rondunn.com. Before I read these verses, I want us all just to bow for a moment of prayer, asking God, the Holy Spirit, to take His Word now and to illuminate our hearts and minds. Lord Jesus, we pray that as we open the book and gather around Your Word,

that the Holy Spirit will be our preacher and he will communicate to us spiritual truth. And Father, I pray that now in a special way you would deal with us and speak to us according to our deepest needs. Father, I pray that you would reveal truth. I pray that you would reveal Jesus to those that need him. For we ask it in his name. Amen. Paul says,

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. Now the average Christian is like a criminal who has been pardoned and is still in his cell. He has forgiveness, but he doesn't have freedom. He has life, but he doesn't have liberty. The pardon is sure, but he can't get out of that cell. Legally, he's free, but actually he's still a prisoner.

And from time to time he tries to get out of that cell, and he discovers that he's just too weak to do it. He just can't bring himself to the point of strength. And so he discovers that he's been saved from sin, but he hasn't been saved from himself, and that he's his own worst enemy. And I say that this is like the average experience of the average Christian. This was the experience of the Apostle Paul.

And last Sunday, as we went through the seventh chapter of the book of Romans, we discovered that even though Paul was saved, he was still a slave. And trying, and with all the strength that he could muster, he tried somehow to walk out of that prison house in which he found himself, but was absolutely unable to do it. And the experience of that great Christian of so long ago is the experience of all of us at one time or another in our Christian lives. We have been pardoned, and yet we're still in ourselves. The door is still locked.

We're still living behind bars. Legally, doctrinally, technically, we're saved, we're free. But it is not real in our daily experience. We find ourselves still a slave to our habits, to our sins, to our weaknesses, to our fears, our frustrations. All of the anxieties that were on us before still seem to be there. And this is what the book of Romans is all about. And this is what Romans chapter 8 is all about. Paul has been telling us in the first seven chapters how we are saved from our sins, but now he comes to show us how we're going to be saved from ourselves. I remember when I was a teenager in my home church, the pastor, who was a very illustrious character, and when he said he

was going to do something, you just knew he was going to do it, he announced that after being in this church, being pastor of this church for several years, he was now going to preach on a Sunday morning the man in this church who has given me the most trouble since I've been here. He publicized it and put it in the paper, and of course a few people began looking into their own hearts and wondering because this fellow just had the gall, you know, to stand up there and publicly name so-and-so,

he's been giving me a lot of trouble since I've been here. And I never will forget that service. The place was packed out, and not all the hearts were glad, you know. Some of them were mad already. But old Sam Jones says, nobody glad nobody mad no meeting and so some were glad and some were mad already and the pastor stood up and he said the man in this church that has given me the most trouble and then he named himself most of my problems he says all of my problems, he says, all of my problems come from myself. And you know that's the truth. I'm my own worst enemy.

But I thank God that the gospel does not only save us from our sins, but it also saves us from ourself. And many of us cry, oh, to be saved from myself, dear Lord. Oh, to be lost in thee. Oh, that it might not be anymore I, but Christ that liveth in me. And if you could be saved from yourself this morning, you'd know that victory as well as that pardon. You'd have that freedom as well as that forgiveness. And so Paul says in that first verse,

there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Now it's important for us to understand what this word condemnation means. The word condemnation means literally penal servitude. Now let me explain this. The word condemnation means the punishment that follows a verdict of guilty. You may stand in a court of law and be condemned in the sense you are found guilty, but your condemnation comes when that sentence is executed. If you are condemned to die, the condemnation is that sentence carried out.

If you are condemned and sentenced, the condemnation is that sentence carried out. If you are condemned and sentenced to a life imprisonment, the condemnation is not the verdict of guilty against you. The condemnation is that prison term you must face for the rest of your life. Now, here's what Paul is saying. To those who are in Christ Jesus, there is no, absolutely not a bit of prison term left to those who are in Christ Jesus. What he's saying is that not only have we been pardoned if we're in Christ Jesus, not only have we been forgiven of all our sins if we are in Christ Jesus, but also the prison door of our cell is open and we are free if we so choose to walk out. There is therefore no more prison sentence,

no more penitentiary time for those who are in Christ Jesus. Paul says there is absolute and total and complete freedom to those who are in Christ Jesus. And I want you to underscore a little word, a little three-letter word that's found in that first verse. There is therefore now, N-O-W. There is therefore now no slavery to human nature to those that are in Christ Jesus. Now all of us believe in the sweet by and by. All of us believe

that when we die and we drop off this robe of flesh or when Jesus comes again to transform us and turn us into his own likeness, all of us then will agree, boy, freedom, liberty, no longer a slave to my desires, no longer a slave to my fears and frustrations, no longer a slave to this whole human nature that I have. Paul's not talking about the sweet by and by. He's talking about the sweet here and now. Paul says there is therefore now, right now, in this present time, no use at all for a Christian being a slave to sin and to self.

And that's an exclamation in the Greek. There's no verb in that Greek. Actually, what he's saying is no condemnation now to those in christ jesus it's just a shout of glory you see paul in romans chapter 7 has been talking about the slavery to himself that he discovers he just can't get victory over himself he's his own worst enemy and he cries out in despair and futility oh wretched wretched man that I am. I'm exhausted from trying to be what I ought to be.

Who's going to deliver me? And then suddenly the Lord Jesus Christ reveals all of the full salvation that Paul has and he gives a shout of victory, a hallelujah shout, and says, no condemnation,

no penal servitude, no prison term, no slavery to those who are in Christ Jesus. Now how does this happen? If this is true, then why is it that so many who name the name of Jesus are still living in their cells? If this verse of Scripture is true,

then why is it that so many of us in our average Christian daily experience are still slaves to the same things that we were slaves to before we were ever saved? That's what Paul is writing about. He's going to show us this morning how it is that God delivers us from this slavery. He's going to show us how God saves us from ourself. And I want you to notice the first thing is that God does it. God does it. Look in verse 3. For what the law could not do in that it was weak to the flesh,

God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. The first thing to notice is that God does it. What man could not do for himself, God does for him. And right there is the key to the failure of so many of us. We've been trying to do it ourselves. We've been trying to squeeze through the bars. We've been trying to bribe the jailer. We've been trying to pick the lock. We've done everything we know to do. We've on a great reduction plan trying to lose weight so we'll be thin enough to skin through the bars, and we just can't do it. God does it. God does it. One of the great fathers

of the early church was a man by the name of Jerome. Jerome tried in his own strength to obey the law of God, and he tried to overcome the desires of the flesh. And so he decided that if he became a hermit, that if he punished his body, if he denied himself of everything, that this is how he could get victory over the flesh, over his old nature. And so he went out and lived in the desert.

Boy, if he could just get away from the pleasures of Rome, everything would be all right. Change his environment, punish his body. He'll just steal every nerve. And so he lived in the desert. And I wrote down a letter that he wrote to a friend after this experience. He lived as a hermit. For weeks on end, he would fast. Now listen to what he says.

How often, when I was living in the desert, parched by a burning sun, did I fancy myself among the pleasures of Rome. Sackcloth disfigured my limbs, and my skin from long neglect had become as black as an Ethiopian's. And although in my fear of hell I had consigned myself to this desert prison where I had no companions but scorpions and wild beasts, I often thought myself, and he goes on to explain all of the thoughts that ran through his mind, all of the evil thoughts that ran through his mind. Here he was trying in the energy of his own strength and the energy of his own flesh to overcome the sin that was in his life,

but he couldn't do it. I often, he says, my face was pale and my frame chilled with fasting, yet my mind was burning with desire and the fires of lust kept bubbling up before me, even when my body was as good as dead. Now notice this last phrase, helpless, I cast myself at the feet of Jesus. Jerome discovered that only God could do that. Well, how does God do it? He does it in two ways, in two stages. First of all, God delivers me from myself. God delivers me from myself through the death of his incarnate Son.

Look at that third verse. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. I could not obey the laws of God. I could not overcome my own weaknesses and my own sins. And so an envoy from eternity came to this planet, and his name was Jesus Christ, God's son. And he came to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. He was like us in that he was flesh.

He was human, just as much human as I am, just as much human as you are. He was like us. The Bible says he was tempted in all points such as we are, yet without sin. He knew every temptation that I know. He knew every temptation that you know. He lived among men as a man. He was really man. And he says, I am coming and I am going to take upon myself this human nature that you have. And I am going to do for you what you cannot do for yourself.

I am going to obey the law of God for your sake.. I'm going to obey the law of God for your sake, and I'm going to charge it to your account. He was like us in that he was human. He was unlike us in that he was sinless. He never committed a single sin, tempted in all points such as we are, yet without sin. He stood before his accusers and says, Which one of you convinceth me of sin? And the verdict of the governor was, Behold, I find no fault in this man. And that's still the verdict of the centuries. I find no fault in this man.

He was pure and spotless. And all throughout his 33 years, he lived a perfect life. Not living it for himself, living it for me and living it for you, doing for me what I could not do for myself. And then at the end of that life, the Bible says, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21, one of the greatest verses in all the Bible, if you don't know it, you ought to learn it. For he hath made him, talking about Jesus, to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And here's what happened when Jesus died on the cross.

When Jesus died on the cross, he not only bore my sin, the Bible says he actually became sin personified. For God made Jesus to be sin for me. And God poured out all his condemnation. God poured out all of his wrath upon sin in the body of Jesus in order that I might go free. Do you know why there is no condemnation to me this morning? Do you know why there is no condemnation to me this morning? Do you know why there is no condemnation to me? It's because all of God's condemnation

was spent in the body of Jesus Christ. There is no condemnation left because God exhausted all of that condemnation in the body of Jesus Christ on the cross. So there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ dying on the cross, the Bible says, did what I could not do. If I had had to stand in the presence of a wrathful God

and absorb his condemnation, I would have been in hell forever. But God's Son, because he was sinless and because he was perfect, could absorb all the wrath of a just and holy God and take it. There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Why? Because all God's condemnation was exhausted in the body of Jesus when he died on the cross. And when I'm in Christ Jesus, this frees me from the sins that I've committed. Let me illustrate it this way. I may go out here today and try to fly.

One of the foolish little things I did when I was about nine or ten years old, I used to pray that the Lord would let me fly. I wanted to fly more than anything. I mean fly like Superman. I'm not lying to you. That's the truth. I remember as a little kid, I must have been younger than nine. Surely I had more sense when I was nine than that.

Maybe I was four or five. But I used to pray that the Lord would somehow perform a miracle and let me fly like the birds. I always wanted to fly. But there's no way that I can fly. The force of gravity just keeps me down. Now listen, I can go out to Love Field and I can step in an airplane and rise above the clouds because inside that airplane there is a force greater than the force of gravity that lifts me above the clouds and I want you

to know my friend you may try with all the strength that you have with all the education you have with all the religion you have to rise above the force of your own sins but you cannot do it but when you are in Christ there is a new power in your life that lifts you above the clouds of sinfulness and selfishness. The way that God saves me from myself, first of all, is through the death of his incarnate Son. But that's not enough. I want you to know that if all Jesus Christ had done was to die on the cross and be raised from the grave, and that was all of it, I would still be a slave to sin.

I might be pardoned, but I wouldn't be free. So there is a second step that is absolutely essential in order to be saved from ourselves. Not only the death of his incarnate son, but there must also be the dynamic of his indwelling spirit. Now listen, the key to victory over yourself, you want to know how to be saved from yourself? It is through the dynamic power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. You see, when Jesus saved me, he gave me the desire to live right,

but I still didn't have the dynamic to live right. I still didn't have the power to live right. And so when he saved me, he did something else. He also put within me the spirit of life. And the spirit of life is like putting an engine in an automobile frame. There's the power. There's the force. You see, here's the way it works.

Jesus obtains pardon for us, and the Holy Spirit opens the door of the cell and lets us walk out. The Holy Spirit makes real in my daily experience what Jesus Christ purchased for me when he died on the cross. All right, let's look at it. In the second verse, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Let me read that in the Williams translation because I think this makes it much easier to understand. For the life-giving power of the spirit through union with Christ Jesus

has set us free from the power of sin and death. The life-giving power of the Spirit has superseded the power of sin and death in my life. Over that word law in the second verse, you write the word power, and you'll understand it much better. The Holy Spirit indwelling me has freed me from the power of sin in my life. Every person has the power of sin dwelling in him, the power of indwelling sin. There's not anything you can do about that. There's not a single thing you can do about the power of indwelling sin in your life.

You cannot get rid of that indwelling sin. You may get rid of the outward sins. You may stop committing acts of sins, but you can never, you can never in a thousand years get rid of that indwelling sin nature that you have. As long as you're here on this earth,

as long as you're a human being, you're going to have a fallen human nature and that thing is going to drag you down. That power is going to assert itself over your life. It is going to dominate you and control you. That's the thing that makes you sin. That's the thing that causes you to fear. That's the thing that causes you to be selfish

and lose your temper and make you irritable and touchy and lie and steal and lust. It's that sinful nature, and you can never get rid of it. It's a power and an authority in your life. But when Jesus Christ saved me, he put in a new power, a new power, a new dynamic.

And this power is more powerful than the power of sin, the power of the Holy Spirit of God. God himself, through his Spirit, comes to indwell me and his power supersedes the power and the authority of sin and death. So as I submit myself to the control of the Holy Spirit and this is the decision I have to make you see because it says in verse 4 that this only happens to those who walk according to the Spirit and walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh.

You know what it means to walk according to the Holy Spirit? That means you have to let the Spirit map out your course. You have to let the Spirit control you

and lead you. You can let the flesh lead you and this is what some of us are doing day by day. We're allowing the old nature to dominate us. When you want to speak a word of gossip that's what the old nature wants to do you just go ahead and let it when you want to lie about something

you just go ahead and do it when this old nature this fallen nature wants to strike out an anger against someone you let it do it and you are submitting to the power of sin and death in your life. But the Bible says that if you will make a change of attitude and say, from now on, I'm going to turn the complete control of my life over to the Holy Spirit who dwells in me. I'm not going to think of self. I'm not going to seek what I want, what pleases me. I'm going to submit myself absolutely to the control of the Holy Spirit. Then the Holy Spirit has the permission in your life to overcome sin and self. But he has to do it by your permission. He has to do it by

your consent. He will not do it against your will. And the way that God delivers me from myself is through the power of his indwelling Spirit. His indwelling Spirit frees me from the law of sin and death, but it does something more. It also fulfills in me the law of righteousness. You see, the negative aspect is this. The Holy Spirit frees me from the power of sin in my life. That's negative. And then the Holy Spirit fulfills in me the law of

righteousness that means he makes me holy look at that fourth verse in order that the righteous demands of the law might be fulfilled and notice it says in us not by us listen the righteous demands of the law will never be fulfilled by you you'll never fulfill it yourself. But the Holy Spirit fulfills it in you when you walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh. That simply means that the Holy Spirit makes us holy day by day,

makes us more like Jesus day by day, produces those Christ-like virtues in us day by day, makes us more like Jesus day by day. There's a song that we used to sing, to be like Jesus, to be like him. It's great to have that desire, but where does the power come from? A man wrote a book several years ago in his steps. People said, we're going to try to act like Jesus would act. Man, I've tried that a lot of times. Paul tried that and he failed miserably. You may have the desire to act like Jesus, but you don't have the dynamic to act like Jesus.

You don't have the power to act like Jesus. You know you don't because you've been trying to. You've been trying to overcome those weaknesses and sins that are in your life and you haven't had the power to do it. You've been trying to obey God, but you haven't had the power to do it. Listen, some of you have been trying for years to obey God in the matter of witnessing and you haven't had the power to do it. Isn't that right? But I want you to know when you begin to walk according to the Spirit, and you turn the control of your life over to the indwelling Spirit, and let him fill you and control you, suddenly you have a strange new power to witness to people about Jesus.

The Lord made me do it. I've had half a dozen people in the past week come up to me and say, for the first time in my life, I've witnessed to somebody about Jesus. And it was easy. And it was easy. What's the matter? First of all, they allowed the Holy Spirit of God to fill them and control them, and he fulfilled the righteous demands of God in them.

They didn't do it themselves. He did it through them. He did it through them. I've heard testimony after testimony from members of this church who said, Preacher, for years and years, I tried to get to a place where I'd tithe. And I just couldn't do it.

I kept hearing people talk about tithing, talk about tithing. This man would get up and give his testimony about tithing. He said, I've tried to do it, but you know what happened? I could give you the names of a half a dozen or a dozen people in this congregation this morning that when they finally came to the place where they were willing to die to self and let the Lord Jesus Christ really be Lord in their lives and let the Holy Spirit absolutely control them suddenly,

they found the easiest thing in the world for them to do was just to tithe. The only way a person can be saved from himself is as the Holy Spirit absolutely controls him moment by moment

and day by day. There is therefore now, right now, 1971, August the 29th, here in the suite here and now, right now, there is no slavery to sin to those who are in Christ Jesus who walk according to the Spirit and not after the flesh. And you can be in Christ Jesus and still be a slave to sin if you're not walking according to the Holy Spirit. See, it takes both of them. It takes not only being in Christ Jesus, but it also

takes letting the Holy Spirit chart our course and control our lives. Now, the prison door is open. You can walk out if you want to. There's no reason for any person to go on a slave to himself. You know the most miserable person in this building this morning? It's the person who's filled with self. I was with some the other day, and we were talking about the misery that used to be in the lives

of their own hearts when they were filled with self. When it was I, the big I, doing what I wanted to do, being what I wanted to be, worried about me, anxious about me, watching over me. The most miserable person in all the world

is that person who's filled with self. And the happiest and most liberated person in all the world is that one who's filled with the Spirit, but you can't be filled with both of them at the same time. Now, which is it? It's either the self-filled life or the Spirit-filled life. Which is it for you this morning?

Is the Holy Spirit controlling you? Is He? Have you come to that crisis experience in your life where you've been willing once and for all just to say, Lord Jesus, you take over. No turning back. You take over. Absolute control. Absolute control. I'm yours. I give you the right of way. I give you permission to do whatever you want to do in me and through me and for me. Ron Dunn's podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. For more Ron Dunn materials, sermon outlines, devotions,

and scanned pages from his study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.