Romans 7:23-25 (KJV)

23. 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.
24. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25. I think 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.

We have been looking at Romans 7 for the past several weeks and discussing the battle that goes on in the heart and mind of the regenerate person -- a desire to do the will of God, but often finding it difficult to follow through. Paul relays this personal struggle in very graphic terms in this chapter. This battle for the believer will not end until death. This does not mean there will not be victories along the way; it just means that you will not leave the battlefield until God calls you home. On the other hand, one of the facts of spiritual warfare often overlooked by believers is this -- God's people are often wounded in the battlefield. It could be that you have come to worship with many fresh battle scars.

1. You have violated the law of God and even possibly the laws of the land.
2. You have sought the joy of Christ but battle an overwhelming depression of the soul.
3. You have succumbed to the pressure to make endless promises to God to reform.
4. You have a keen sense of your sin, your inability to change, and your hopefulness.

Mark my words, some of the darkest times in a Christian's life are those times when there is a knowledge of what is right, a desire to do it, but a sense of futility in changing course. Paul calls it a "war" (v.23) between "my members (old man) and my mind (new man)." This is where Paul is in his own life and he cries out -- "O wretched man that I am!" I really believe that if we were honest with ourselves, we all would cry out like the Apostle Paul. Instead of "The Most Holy Reverend Bishop Father Wade Burleson" it would be "The Most Sinful and Depraved Worm of a Man Wade Burleson." Why should this be?

1. Only when you sense your depravity will you shout for a deliverer.
   Right after Paul shouts "O wretched man that I am! Who shall rescue me?" He says, "I thank God" literally "charis toi theoi" and translated "the grace of God."
   Christ is called "the Deliverer" who shall "turn ungodliness from Jacob" (11:25).
2. Only when you shout for the deliverer will you be sent your deliverance.
   When you see Jesus Christ as your only hope, when you trust Him to do what you have been unable to do yourself, only then will you be given the grace of victory. "God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble" (James 4:6). In other words, God often allows us to be wounded in the battle so that we might depend on Him.
3. Only when you receive your deliverance will you celebrate your deliverer.
   This is why the Christian is one who can rejoice in all things. A Christian is one who when he examines his life, his battles, his wounds, his pain, his tears, his sorrows, he does not despair. He is not dependent upon his successes and comforts for happiness, but rather he is completely dependent upon the grace of God. He rejoices in Christ!

   "Grace is glory begun, and glory is grace consummated. Grace is glory in the bud, and glory is grace in the fruits. Grace is the lowest degree of glory, and glory the highest degree of grace." Francis Burkett