Just as a running start to remind us of the context of Romans chapter 8, chapter 6 and 7 that

obviously precede chapter 8, Paul describes a battle that Christians are in concerning the

dichotomy of our lives whereby when a believer, when a person gets saved and becomes a believer,

that is to say, when he or she puts

their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, your spirit is regenerated, but your flesh is not.

And so your spirit that wants to please God is living within a body that wants to live for self.

Before you become a Christian, self is king, and you live for your own pleasure.

When you become a Christian, Jesus is king, and you live for your own pleasure. When you become a Christian,

Jesus is king and you live for the glory of the Lord. But because there's this struggle within

your spirit that wants to please the Lord, still housed in a body that still enjoys certain

appetites and desires that are in conflict with your spirit, there is this battle.

There's this war.

Now, I mentioned last time that not every appetite and desire that you have is sinful.

Obviously, God has given us desires and appetites.

It's only when those desires or appetites are gratified outside of the boundaries of God's

prescribed ways, and then they can become

sinful. So we have to harness ourselves. We have to die to self. We have to realize the things

about our flesh that are sinful and die to those things that we might live to please the Lord

and live for the glory of God. And so Jesus even made mention of this kind of a

battle when he spoke to his disciples in the Garden of Githemite just before he was crucified. He's

praying there and he asks them to join him in prayer and he says the spirit is willing but the

flesh is weak. And then that's true about us. You know, your flesh, my flesh is weak. Our spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And then that's true about us. You know, your flesh,

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