I believe the Spirit can give us victory, but let me just warn you, the more victory you have,

and the more you mature in Christ, and the more you see righteousness winning over sin,

the more you will recognize the sinfulness of sin.

Every day you face decisions with eternal consequences. Of course, I'm not referring to decisions like

what you should wear to the office or eat for breakfast. I'm talking about the choice you face

to either go to battle against any desire, attitude, or action that contradicts God's law,

or to allow sin to control you. Where do you stand in that war? How can you fight it more effectively?

Consider that today on Grace to you as John MacArthur continues, his study on how through Christ,

you can know freedom from sin. If you have your Bible, turn to the book of Romans, and here is John.

Let's open our Bibles and look together at Romans chapter 7, Romans chapter 7, verses 14 through verse

25. It is a picture of the indwelling sin in the life of a believer. This is a very poignant

passage. It is a rare passage in the Bible, because it does something that rarely happens, and I cannot

think of another passage that does this just offhand. What it is is a series of laments.

It is a series of plaintiff cries. It is a series of desperate, sorrowful dirges,

and they are repetitious. There is one, and then there is two, and then there is a third.

They basically say the very same thing three times. This is the cry of a broken heart,

of a distressed soul, of a soul in great conflict. Each of these three laments follows the same pattern.

Paul describes his condition, gives proof of it, and then describes the source of it.

He describes his condition, gives the proof that he is in that condition, and then the source

of his problem. Let's look at the first lament, verses 14 to 17. We may spend a little more time

on the first, because having interpreted that one, the rest will just be apparent to us.

The condition is in verse 14, and he starts each one of the laments with a condition.

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