And good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Bible study tonight. Very glad that you have joined us on this Thursday night as we come to study the Book of Romans and we'll have a fantastic time, no doubt doing it. And I would love to say hello to you at the end of the broadcast. If you don't mind putting a little hello in there. If you happen to be watching us live, always good. You can chat on worship. I on YouTube. Wherever it is, I'll catch it and look forward to saying greetings to you at the end of the broadcast for Bible Study. And a couple of announcements that we give first and that is Unlearn. It got a new series coming up, unlearn it deprogramming the Evangelical mind and that one is going to begin April the 16th at our 1045. Those are the Sundays, it's a Sunday series at our 1045 service. This week is the celebration of the resurrection and we'll do that at 10:00 A.m.. But our normal time, as you know, is 10:45 A.m.. And some of you catch it live, some of you catch it archived, whichever it is, we would love to have you for this. Lots of deprogramming needs to take place, right? So we're going to unlearn some things beginning April the 16th. And then in addition to that, let me tell you that we now have registration open at the end of the broadcast. I'll go to our website and show you how to get there. But if you're just eager Randywightministries.org click events and there's all the information. We'll look at that at the end of the broadcast, right? Division issues and answers. I think it's going to be a good 1. September 1234, that's if you say Friday through Monday and be looking for that. Teaching is actually Saturday, Sunday and Monday in Branson. Our 9th annual Labor Day Bible Conference and retreat. And that is plenty of announcements. Let's move on over here and get into Romans rightly divided. I'm throwing my pin around. Excuse me, I got to reach down and get that because that is my pointer. Can't do without that. Romans rightly divided, verse by verse is what we are looking at tonight, the 18th time we have come together to do this and we're going to make it up to chapter eight. That'll be the midpoint of the Book of Romans. And there's an outline available for you at the RWM connect site or if you're watching on Worship I, it's right down there. Or Randywatt Ministries? Either one. And you can take a look at that and be all ready to go with Romans Rightly Divided. As we come into the scripture here, we will use Biblify tonight. We're going to use mostly the King James version here, although we may look just a little bit at some interlinear or we may look at some young's literal, who knows. And let's take a look. We're going to begin in Romans chapter seven, verse nine, where we left off last time. And we'll just have this one brief visit to Romans graphically presented that reminds us that this chapter, all of chapter seven is a message to believing Jews. In fact, chapter six and seven is a message to believing Jews. And we've spent probably four weeks at least in chapter six and seven looking to the Jews in the overlap times. And this message to believing Jews living in the overlap times and looking through that last week we got through verse eight. We did seven and eight of the past purpose of the law. And so we're going to pick up there and then look at verses 13 through 25 tonight also. And again, that is page 35 on Romans graphically presented as a supplemental for you tonight. But we won't be making much reference to it here tonight, but let's just pick right up and get in. I'm always a little hesitant to say this because I don't want to set your thinking, but Romans seven, nine through 25 has some difficult chunks in it just like so much of Romans does. And I don't want you to say oh my goodness, I can't understand this at all. But you might say, oh my goodness, I can't understand this at all. And if you do say oh my goodness, I can't understand this at all, I want you to keep plugging because eventually I think it kind of comes together. But always Romans is going to be this great gem in the, in the, in the, in the collection of jewels that we've got that's always going to be a little bit of looking and studying and coming at it over and over and over and more and more and more. So there we go. He's been talking about the law in a section that began in chapter seven, verse one. And we again had gone through verses one through eight last week. And now we're going to pick up in verse nine and spend a little bit of time in this and some of these verses we'll spend a lot more time on than other verses. In fact, when we get to the end we're going to take a big chunk of it all together. But verse nine he says, I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Now. He's given us the testimony about freedom from the law when death occurs and gave the illustration of that and given the point that there is the possibility to have been under the law and now be out of the law. And yet the law is a good thing. He begins to express the law is a good thing and he begins to express why the law is a good thing. And verses really seven through, I don't know, ten or 1112, verse twelve probably states, yeah, the law, in fact, the conclusion in verse twelve, the law is holy and just and good. The Law is not a bad thing. The Law is a good thing. Now he comes along then and he says this curious statement I was alive without the Law once. Well, if you're like me, you say, when was that, Paul, that you were alive without the Law once? It's definitely a past tense kind of thing. The verb here is in the imperfect meaning that it was kind of an ongoing thing. But the word translated here once, where is it? I've lost verse nine. Verse nine is not on the screen. That's why I lost it. I was alive pote right here once. That is always a word that is in the past. It's not in the present, it's not in the future. And so I was alive without the Law once in the past. But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. That sounds like I was saved outside of the Law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died again. I think the issue comes in to say, Paul, when were you alive without the law? I would be interested in knowing, when were you alive without the law? Now you could say, okay, he's talking about before he came to recognize the Law in its most simple sense. That would be it, paul giving this testimony, hey, before I came to understand the Law, I was outside of the Law without here without the law. The word that is used right here without we get the word TASM from it, there is a great separation. So at one time there was a great separation between me and the Law, and during that time I was alive again. Paul, explain a little more. When were you alive without the law? The simplest reading of this is, there was a time in my life when I was outside of the Law and I was alive. I wasn't under the Law then. I was living free and away from the Law. And the Law didn't bring the death that the Law can bring there. Everything was good. I was alive without the Law once, but then the commandment came. I'm taking the word commandment here to be he's speaking of one commandment, the 9th, the commandment against covening, which is previously in verses seven through eight. But I think we can take this and say you pick your commandment, whichever one commandment, as indicative of the entire whole. So I was alive without the Law once, but then the Law came and sin revived, and I died. But this doesn't describe Paul's life as a matter of fact. Let's just go ahead and look to one of those famous passages, philippians, chapter three, verses five and six, where Paul gives his testimony that he was circumcised the 8th day. Isn't circumcision a thing of the law? And wasn't Paul circumcised on the 8th day? Yeah. So I was alive without the Law once. What are you talking about like the first seven days of your life. Well, that doesn't really make any sense. Yeah, back when I was only a five day old. You can't be talking about that. I was alive without the law once. But his testimony is, I was circumcised on the 8th day, and then there is absolutely nothing to go on to say. Well, he strayed from the law, and then he began to live it. The reason I say there's nothing to go on is his own testimony circumcised on the 8th day of the stalk of Israel, of the tribe of benjamin, a hebrew of the hebrews. This doesn't sound like somebody who strayed from the law. This doesn't sound like somebody who walked away from the law and was living a number of years without the law, let's say like the prodigal son or something like that. And so, in fact, he says as touching the law, a pharisee. Well, a pharisee is not alive without the law. A pharisee. It would be anathema for a pharisee to say, though I was alive without the law. Wait a minute, you're not a pharisee if you say that. And yet paul says, I was a hebrew of hebrews. I was a pharisee. I was circumcised on the 8th day, and I was alive without the law. How do these things go together? This is what we want to know. He says in philippians, chapter three, verse six, concerning zeal persecuting the church, touching the righteousness, which is in the law. Now, that is completely opposite these words right here in the law. Completely opposite, wouldn't you agree? From chorus separated from the law, so touching the righteousness, which is in the law blameless. Now, methinks we have a contradiction here. What is going on, and how are we going to deal with that? Let's get back now to romans, chapter seven, verse nine, where paul says this I was alive without the law once. Now, to take that in its simplest form, we just can't do we have to set that aside. Because of paul's own testimony, we have to set that aside. I don't think there was a time in paul's life when he was alive outside of the law personally that's not his own testimony. So most commentaries assume that I was alive without the law. Let me just highlight that part right there. They take this, I was alive without the law and assume that means I was living in self righteousness and didn't realize what a wretched sinner I was. They would compare it, and most of them do end up comparing it to the one who went into the temple to pray and said, oh, lord god, I thank thee. I'm not like one of these or to the rich young ruler. I've done all these things from my youth. And most of the commentaries deal with I was alive without the law once to say when paul said, I was alive without the law. What he meant was how did I word this in your outline here? Well, now I can't find it. Yeah, okay. They take it in a in a what? Yes. Okay, I see it right there. Got the small print version here. Most commentaries then assume that Paul means that he thought he was alive without the law. So Paul here saying, I was alive without the law. He meant to say, I thought I was alive without the law. Like the rich young ruler, like the guy in the temple. I pray, I thank God. I just don't see anything in the text to say paul is saying, boy, was I self righteous in the law. That's a convenient interpretation because it fits what evangelicals want it to say, but it's just not what it says. Paul says, I was alive without the law once, and then the Commandment came and sin revived and I died. There is another way to take it, and this is the proposal that I am going to give and you're not going to immediately accept it. How's that? But that's okay. That is that Paul here in the eye. I was not alive. Excuse me? I was alive. Let's just take this little personal pronoun I I was alive without the law. That I'm almost scared to say it. He doesn't mean I. Paul uses I as a placeholder in a theoretical sense, as I is me and you and you and me and John Jacob Jinkleheimer Smid, I was alive without the law. So you could take it as suppose I was alive without the law. Well, then the Commandment came and sin revived and I died. Now in taking it that way, in that sort of I is the placeholder for any Jew at least, or for any person from that point earlier. I don't know that it would necessarily stand as a placeholder for us. But we're already nine verses into chapter seven, and we've realized that this is not a chapter that we would directly apply to us anyway. And so we're not putting randy was alive without the law once, but then the Commandment came and sin revived. And that wouldn't make any sense. But to put it from Paul's time and earlier, it begins to make a little bit of sense. Now. Let's take this imperfect interpretation of this. But I don't know what the perfect interpretation is. I can't just take it fully, literally, and I'm not comfortable with just saying, oh, what Paul meant is I was living in self righteousness, the opposite of what it says. So I take this I as a theoretical I, not necessarily I. Paul giving my personal testimony now. Let's try to build that case. Could this be a placeholder pronoun Tom, Dick, and Harry, Peter, Paul and Mary, whatever Moshe and Shimon and all those I was alive with it put in whose ever name you want. Now, is there any evidence for that in the book. There's an interesting thing in the book of Romans, in the letter to the Romans, there's an interesting thing that happens with this personal pronoun I. And here you see it in verse verse nine. Let me get back over here again and in verse, verse nine, for I was alive without the law. Here is the pronoun ego I was alive without the law. What's interesting is you and I have been talking about pronouns, and we have talked about we. Who the we is the first person plural. We've talked about ye. Who the ye is the second person plural. We've talked about they the third person plural. But up to now, we have not talked about the first person plural I. Do you know that this pronoun I, it is used 18 times, I believe, in the New Testament, 18 times. One third of those times is in the book of Romans. But in the book of Romans, romans, chapter seven, verse nine, is the very first time we have this pronoun ego, I. Why hasn't he used that before? Why just now, all of a sudden, I was alive. Now, let me make a little bit of a footnote and a clarification here, because some of you might already be thinking like, I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to those who believe the Jew first and also to the Gentile. And there is in English, no doubt there is the letter I. But in Greek, this little personal pronoun ego, it's not there. This is the first time you're going to see it. And he's got it again six times in the book of Romans. And let's see, I don't know if I have a count here. There's 18 altogether. He's got six of them, a third of them right here. They begin in chapter seven. Okay, I don't have the count of those six. I think four, maybe five even, are in chapter seven, verses nine through 25. That's the place he uses ego. So certainly you would have to agree if we laid out all the evidence there, you would have to agree. It is unusual for Paul to use ego. Now, there are some nouns in which the first person singular I is embedded within the noun. And so it does say, like in Romans, chapter one, verse 16, I am not ashamed, but the pronoun is not there. It's just embedded in the verb for ashamed. Now, he could have done this here and every place through nine through 25 of chapter seven, he did not have to put ego, but every single time he did put ego. Now, what it is, is it's an emphasis. It's like, I don't have to put this, but I'm going to put this. I'm going to say it even though I don't have to say it because this was alive. Zao, the way it's printed there, that does mean I was alive without saying ego zeo. It's a little bit redundant, but he clearly wants to be redundant here. He's redundantly, redundant all the way through. All the eyes in nine through 24 are going to have the ego and they don't need to have the ego. Now I look at that and say, okay, this is telling me there's something going on here with this eye. He hasn't used it to this point. He's not really going to use it much there's a couple of times he's going to use it afterwards, but he's not going to use it much after this. And so this is a matter in which you've got an oddity in. I was alive without the law once, but when the Commandment came, sin revived and I died. I think there's a sense in which Paul really is talking about humanity. Humanity was alive without the law once, but then the law came. Now remember that Paul personally was never without the law, and then the law came. I don't even think you could build an argument to say, well, Paul was born under the law, but then he strayed from it and then the Commandment came and boom, just woke him up one day and he said, oh my goodness, I've got to live like a Hebrew of Hebrews. I think you just have to totally make that up if you want to believe it. I mean, you can make things up if you want, but you can't get anything from the text there. So the commandment came. Well, when you were eight days old is when the Commandment came. You were born under it, or the Commandment came originally 1500 years before you were ever born. But there's a sense in which it can be taken this way, that, okay, mankind was alive without the law, but then the Commandment came, sin revived and died. And you've got this issue that the law made sin to abound and as sin abounded with its penalty, now the wages of sin is death. And there came about death, not because the law came, death prevailed prior to that, we know, but there came death with personal responsibility. You see, prior to that, nevertheless death reigned. From Adam through Moses, sin was not imputed, yet nevertheless death reigned. And yet now that the law comes, oh, by the way, it's your sin that brought it about because now this is illegal. That eating breakfast with bacon in it. That's illegal. That's your sin. So the wages of sin is now death. Romans 623. So I think he's giving, in a sense, a story of humanity here, a progression of humanity up to the law, bringing it up to this point. And he's using this emphasized I think we do it sometimes. I is not necessarily me. In fact, a lot of times and how many times do I have to sort of clarify this? I'll talk about Christianity and I'll say like we, what we always say as Christians is and then sometimes I'll stop and say, well what I mean is what they always say as Christians. But we use the first person plural we to mean the whole kitten caboodle. I think maybe linguistically he's using I as the whole kitten caboodle. Putting it all there together, that's the best I can do. On Romans, chapter seven, verse nine, I looked at a number of commentaries, I couldn't find anyone who did anything better. I found they either skipped the issue I was alive under the law once or they made up things about I was under the law once and made it into things that just really made no sense at all. So I was under the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Now, if this is just a story of humanity, okay, that begins to come a little bit more. And the commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. Okay, some interesting things right here. The commandment, remember that I am using this term right here, commandment to be a placeholder. Also, I is a placeholder for humanity up to that point. Commandment is a placeholder for the entirety of the law. We're using this one piece of the law, but it's a placeholder for the entirety of the law. So the law shown in this one commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. Why? Well, because I broke the commandment, that's why. And so the wages of sin became death. This is the progression of what happened. So it became really this personal responsibility that came upon humanity then as the commandment came. Now, there is something that I want you to note. I said last week when we begin verse seven, that I think what we've got in the book of in Romans, chapter seven is the discussion of the benefits of the law. It's not tearing the law down, it's praising the law. And we'll see that in verse twelve. And here's part of it as well in verse number ten, the commandment, catch this little phrase right here which was ordained to life. The commandment which was ordained to life, I know that the words was ordained are inserted there. But the commandment which was to life, which was set in order to life, I think was ordained is perfect to put in there. So the commandment or the law was given for what? For life? The commandment was meant to bring about life. The law was meant to bring about life. Now, if the law was meant to bring about life, then that's a good thing, isn't it? But do you know that Christians today really don't much teach that the law was to bring life? And in fact, what they teach is that the law simply cannot bring life. Here's an example, I won't put it on the screen for you, but as Christianity or definitely Calvinism, and most of evangelicalism teaches, the law was ordained to death even though the scripture says the law was ordained to life. Here is got questions. My favorite place for bad answers says we cannot keep God's law on our own. The result is only sin and death for those under the law. Okay? The result is only sin and death for those under the law. That is the standard Calvinist evangelical evangelical answer. The result is only sin and death. So it was ordained to life. It's interesting that the Calvinists one of the reasons they believe in limited atonement is because it's their belief that God cannot send his only begotten son to die for the whole world and the whole world not be saved. And since the whole world is not saved then therefore God's purpose couldn't be fulfilled. And so that must not be God's purpose but rather he must have just sent his own for a limited few. And that's one of the tenets of Calvinism. God just sent his son to die for a limited few limited atonement and it has to do with that fulfilling the purpose of God. But then they will say the law was given in order to prove that you could not live up to the law. Well in that case the law is given unto death. But the scripture says the law was given unto life. The law was ordained to life. Now, if the law was ordained unto life, don't you think that you and I ought to teach that the law would give life? But you would have a hard time if you went door to door, down church row and, I don't know, go to the Presbyterian Church, knock on the door, say presbyterian would tell me, was the law ordained to life or to death? Why to death? Nobody could do it. Let's go down to the Baptist church. Was the law ordained to life or to death? Ordained to death. Everybody who lives under the law would die. Go down to the dispensational independent dispensational church. Hey tell me was the law to life or to death? It was definitely to death. Everybody who tried to live under the law lived unto death. Go down to the evangelistic community church, knock on the door, hey is the law to life or to death? Well it's definitely to death. It just proves what cockroach you are and that nobody could live up to it. And yet the Bible says the law was ordained to life. I think we have to say that a person could live the law to life. Not today in that dispensation. The dispensation of the law is gone. It's not being offered today but when the commandment came it was to life. In fact how many times did Moses say do this and you shall live. The commandments are day to life. This is the dispensation of the law and I think we have to rejoice in the dispensation of the law. And I preached on this a little bit last Sunday. You know that I don't really like the question. How were people saved in the Old Testament? Because my answer is they weren't. Salvation to the individual is something that was offered only in this dispensation. But if I had to answer the question, I would say they were saved by obeying the law. The law was ordained to life. It was given to them as a means of life. Do this and you shall live. That's how they came to life, was to do the commandments. So that's again, what the scripture says. We could back that up so many places, I think we could give an entire sermon to show that the law was ordained to life. And if it was ordained to life, it was not this trick. This is the way to life and none of you can get there. Boy, I'm a good God. No, that's sick. What kind of perversion do you have to have to make God into that kind of monster? So the commandment ordained to life, but I found it to be unto death. Now, again, this is not a personal eye, I don't think. It's just showing the tendency to man, which is what we're going to see when we get into the heart of the matter here. Down further and he gives then in verse eleven, he gives the I don't know what really brought about death. If the law was ordained to life, how does he end up in death? For sin taking occasion by the commandment or by the law? Deceived me and it slew me. Now again, is Paul giving some kind of a personal testimony? And if he is, what's his personal testimony? It would have to be something that we don't know about. And if we don't know about it, I'm not comfortable making it up. So again, I think he's speaking somewhat generally, using the pronoun I sin taking occasion by the commandment. But what's the problem? The problem is sin, and it capitalizes on the commandment sin deceived me, sin slew me, sin. There's the problem. And again, we started this chapter with the last verse of chapter six. The wages of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life. He says, now let me speak to those under the law. And he's talking about these wages, how it comes to be sin. It jumps on it. Sin looks at this and says, here's a trap, the law is going to give him life. But what if I come in and say, oh, covet. You don't even know what it means, do you? You should look up covet. What does it mean to covet? I mean, study that a little bit so that you won't do it right. Then you find out what it means and you're like, oh, whoa, they got some nice stuff. And there's this concupisance that we've talked about last week and lust and coveting all that that comes in and. Sin took that and laid it out before and said, hey, here's an opportunity for you. So sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me and it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good. It's not the law we want to blame. The sin that we want to blame. But the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good. Now, the law is still holy and the commandment holy and just and good. But it's not the way to life today we recognize in our world. That's why I put these in black letters in our color coding edition, which we're happy to send out when you order the Romans graphically presented. Some of you have the entire chapter is in black, and the outline tells you the color coding as well. Wherefore the law? Holy. Commandment holy, just, good. It's not designed to send you to hell. It's not designed to condemn you. It's designed to give you life. Again, why doesn't the Christian world present the law as that which was designed to give people life? It was a different dispensation. Here was the avenue for life. Do this and you shall live. It's ordained unto life. It is holy. It is just. It is good. It's not the way the law is presented at all, I think, because there's a theological narrative that's doing the presenting rather than the text itself. So verse 13 was then that which is good made death unto me. No. Again, Paul wants to go out of his way not to blame. The law was that which is good. That which was ordained to life made into death. God forbid, he says. But sin, there's the problem again. Sin, that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. Now, let's back up here. Sin, that it might appear sin, that is, sin needed a way to manifest itself. And so it found this law of covetousness and said, okay, hey, there's one that we can get you on. And it began to appear as sin through breaking of this particular law. Prior to that, it didn't have much way to display itself. But now sin can display itself in covetousness, and so it takes advantage of that and it works death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. The law made sin abound is what Paul had said earlier. Verse 14. We know that the law is spiritual, but I'm carnal sold under sin. Now, again, I want you to remember that Paul said in Philippians I didn't look and compare to see if he wrote Philippians. I think Philippians is written after Romans, but nonetheless, either way, the argument will hold. Paul says in the book of Romans he was blameless according to the law. It's not in the book of Romans. In the book of Philippians, philippians, chapter three. So what's he saying here? I am carnal sold under sin. How can you be sold under sin and blameless under the law? What's up there? Again, I think his eye and again we've got it here. This I ego. He could have just used it all in one, but he didn't. He comes and he brings forth a pronoun here. We know that the law is spiritual. I am carnal. He's got a division here between the Pneumaticos and the Sarcos, the spirit and the flesh. The law is spiritual, I am fleshly sold under sin. And then he begins to give a very popular and familiar testimony beginning in verse 15, verses 15 down through verse 24. And this is the testimony that I would say has had all sorts of debate down through the ages, debate that has been quite heated at times on is Paul talking about himself? Looks like it. Paul can't be talking about himself. Is Paul talking about before he was saved? But then Paul was living righteously before he was saved under the law. So what is up with 15 through 24? Again, I think probably the best thing to do is take 15 through 24 as representative verses. Here's a little bit of what goes on between the spirit, that which is verse 14, that which is spiritual versus that which is fleshly or carnal. And there is this tug of war going on within mankind that has to be explained here. Now let's look at his testimony a little bit. We don't need to dive into it deeply because he shares it poetically but shares it pretty clearly. For that which I do, I allow not for what I would that do I not, but what I hate that do I again, it's a little bit poetic and so you have to go through that a little bit twice in your mind. And I think he wants us to, but he ends up doing the thing that he has prohibited, the thing that he wants to do. He doesn't do the things that he hates he does. Is that anybody's testimony going on in verse 16? If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good now, then it's no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me that is in my flesh this is a problem. In the flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me. But to perform that which is good I find not this is kind of interesting right here. To will is is to present with me. I got the want to, no doubt about it. I got the want to, but I don't have the follow through how to perform that which is good. I can't find it. So I got the what, I just don't have the how to. This is similar to what Jesus told Peter at the garden of Gethsemane. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And Paul comes in with this almost universal testimony saying hey, I got a willing spirit, it's just that the flesh is weak. By the way, you know that I'm not a Calvinist and that I like to speak against Calvinism. And I think Romans is a good argument against Calvinism. But the Calvinists teach total depravity. There is nothing good within us so totally depraved that we can't even want to do that which is good. But Paul says for to will is present with me how to perform that which is good. I find not that at best is not total depravity, it's maybe partial depravity. Well, partial depravity is not total depravity. So Calvin, what are you going to do with that? Going on verse 19 the good that I would I do not, the evil which I would not, that I do. Again, he's somewhat repeating himself if I do that, if I do that I would not it's no more I that do it sin that dwelleth in me. If I find a law that when I would do good, evil is present within 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. Again. He says the inward man ready to go. The inward man sold out. I would cross before me the world behind me. I keep throwing my pin around tonight, don't I? And he says that the inward man, the spiritual man, it's got the want to it's the physical man I'm struggling with. And so he comes down to the end then and he says, o wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Now that as we come into verse four, verse 24 excuse me, he concludes his his very broad use of eye, saying we need something better than this, we're struggling. The law leads to life, but the flesh keeps coming in. I break the law, it's another sacrifice, hoping I can make it through this one. What a tug of war going on within me. Who is going to deliver me from the body of this death? And then Paul answers his own question, I think in verse 25 when he says I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. It's interesting that when you get to verse 25 let me just confirm this here and yeah, right here at the the first I think yuca resteo, no ego here. He he might just be talking personally about himself. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. But then he goes back so then giving a conclusion of the universal eye and he comes back here and uses the ego as he says so 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. And again, I think he comes along with that. Hey, the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And what is it that I am going to do about this? That, ladies and gentlemen, concludes tonight's session. You're saying, well, wait, we're early. We can't be done. And the reason we're early is because to get into chapter eight was going to make us too late. So to stop right here in this very perplexing chapter or section from verses nine through 25 of Romans, chapter nine, I would say that again, if you come to the end of this and you say, I'm looking at these verses and I don't understand them all. I don't understand the point or where he's going. I don't understand why he said this versus that. And if your mind is a little bit spinning on this one, let me say you're in good company because when you go through the commentaries, down through the ages, I think if you were to pick, let's say, the commentaries of the earliest days, sometimes they're called the early church fathers. And then you were to get the commentaries of the medieval days, and then you were to get the commentaries of the Reformation period, and then you were to get the commentaries of the more evangelical period, let's say, with the 18 hundreds up to, I don't know, World War I. And then you were to get the commentaries post World War I up to these days, the modern commentaries. And you were to read those, you would find that all the way through. People struggle with these verses, always have. What exactly is the meaning here? So if you're struggling with them, don't worry too badly in all of that. Let's see, I want to show you something here, if I can get to it, and I think I can. How about that? So I'm going to switch back over. We have the newest version of our website Up Randywhiteministries.org. And here we go. That's right now, not sure why that one didn't load, but that picture anyway. But anyway, if you go there right now, if you're not watching live, it'll look a little different. It says live now because we're live now. And it always shows the recent content that is here. Let's come back to that recent content. But then here is a see what we've covered. Now, you could put in a verse right there. Let me tell you that we are updating this all the time, so it's partially good. It's a good first start search a verse we've covered. The reason I say a good first start is because we've got ten years of teaching out there that we didn't tag for all these verses. So we had to go back into it and get it all tagged so that it comes up in the right place. But we're working on those and eventually it'll all be tagged and you'll just be able to put a verse and boom, it'll pop up and show you just that. I don't know. Let's just try Hosea chapter one. And when you do it there comes up Hosea rightly divided verse by verse. There's a series right there and here's some episodes, sometimes it lists mentioned just an episode that we might do that and so that's a little bit about how that works. But there's more. But wage there's more. You can also go down and just find one of the books that we have covered right here. Let's take the Pauline Epistles right here and let's just go ahead and click Romans. And there we go. Romans, you got Romans graphically presented and you got Romans rightly divided two series that we've got there. And then here's a few episodes in the rightly divided Gospel. There was a mention in session one of Romans in there somewhere in the Taos Prophecy Conference. Here's a reference to Romans chapter one, verse 20 on session two. Just a mention of it but anyway it's there. So the newer stuff is pretty much there when you go to it. Now let me go back to the home screen and here we have there are the pictures loaded there's today's, ask the Theologian, yesterday's presentation there. So all the recent content is going to come right here, Live Now. There it is. And if you click on Live Now then guess what you get? You get live now. There's what we're doing just right now. And I could click Play but then we'll get doubled up on what's going on there. Here's the various sessions that belong to this. This is session 18 so you could scroll through and see all of those various sessions. There is a chat option right here and so you can click on Chat and it has been closed automatically 24 hours after the broadcast. That's because he's updating this right now. This chat will be here, it'll be the exact same chat as is on Worship I and you'll be able to click Chat and go right there. Log in worship. I log in. Randy. White Ministries. Same thing. And your chatting will come right there. And down here you've got the session outline that comes, this is the outline tonight, Romans chapter seven. And you can just take a look at that as it goes and you can kind of just scroll that down as you're keeping the screen on right there. You can also click right here it says Bible. And when you click on Bible you will be able to even as the session is going you can type in scripture verses and take a look at those and use the strong concordance and all that kind of stuff just using your study right there as you go on Randywhiteministries.org. And if you get there and say I was watching some gym in South Carolina called this week. Hey, we were watching one on the Reformers and we can't find it there, by the way. Let's see. I should have kept going down because down at the bottom, topical sermons. Here we go. There's some of these topical ones. Now, Jim said we can't find reformed theology. So we went back and got it tagged. It was one of the old ones. That's the one they were watching. But there's a lot more of these that will be there again every day. We're adding kind of stuff. So now, Jim, there's reform theology right there. But if you can't find it there's, this. Click here says, welcome to our new website. We're daily adding materials to this site. If you don't see what you're looking for, click here to go to our old site and it'll go there and you'll be able to find your stuff. Now, one other thing might I mention, and that is if you go right here and click Events. And when you get to events, look, there's our 9th annual Randy white ministries labor day bible conference. Let's learn more and we go to learn more. And Branson bound. Here we go. September 1 through four, Branson, Missouri. And it wouldn't be the same without you. There it is. Register now. Click here. You can do that. Our topic of study. Can I go ahead and just do a little advertisement before I say hello. We're looking at right division issues and answers, so see if I can make that a little bigger here. There we go. First, let's discuss how right division solves theological dilemmas, including the charismatic dilemma, the Calvinist dilemma, the prophetic dilemma, the mystical dilemma, and the legalism dilemma. Then let's address the critics and criticisms of right division is right division hyper is right division heresy. We're actually going to listen to clips of those who say right division is hyper. Right division is heresy. Right division you need to run from. We'll see what they're saying and why. We'll let you decide. And of course, I'll have a little commentary to go on it as well. Let's figure out if they are right. Along with this, we will develop a working definition of right division, including its basis, dispensationalism its controversy. When did the age begin its effect on the Christian life, including the gospel message, baptism, the Lord's Supper. If you're a right divider, what do you do with all of these? How do you share the gospel? Do you have baptism? Do you have the Lord's Supper? We'll talk about the three Acts positions and what theological difference that makes. Acts two mid acts. Acts 28. How does that affect your view of, say, baptism or your view of the Lord's Supper? Or your view of what the gospel is, or your view of social justice, for example? A lot of these things and no cost increase there's. All the costs same as last year. Same as last five years, actually. And it goes down and there's another click here registration that is right there. By the way, when you click here for that, it's a simple little registration that you can do. And there is no money that is taken at the registration process. We'll send you a little invoice. We asked for a $50 deposit, but it's fully refundable. Everything's fully refundable till August 15, I think it is August 20, something like that. So with that, I got my screen blocked there. Let me get over here with that. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. And let me do say hello to each of you who are with us tonight. Are we all refreshed and ready to go there? He's going to work on it. And I'm going to say hello to you and remind you that we would love to see you in Branson or Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. Different time. Neo and Vulcan, Alberta. Good to see you. First in the room. Scott comes in number two in the hill country of Texas and also in Texas from Forney, Texas. Got the Giles. Been praying for your wife, Chris, and hope all is doing well. We've got Everett in the Sholo, Arizona branch campus and oh, I like that question. For those attending Labor Day weekend conference in Branson, what treat shall I bring from Persnickities? Oh, boy. That red velvet cake last year was just fabulous. Anyway. The Benners in Inkerman, Pennsylvania. God bless you. And we've got Roger in Fresno, California. Roger in Maryland, in Wabashaw, Minnesota. Debbie and Darryl and Crystal Springs, Mississippi. Donald, good to see you. Merles Inlet, South Carolina. Darryl and Lisa from the middle of Kansas just west of the Flint Hills. Always glad you're here. Bill in Cypress, Texas. Always with us as well. Good to see you. Jack and Teresa down in Houston. Thanks for being here. And bev John up in Roberts, Wisconsin. St. Croix county. Edith in the show me state of Missouri. I kind of like that quote. It's a lot better than Oklahoma. What used to be Oklahoma is okay. They changed it. They went from okay to worse. Nathan, look up and see what the new state motto of Oklahoma is. I like show me state better. Whatever it is. West Plains, Missouri. Thanks. Glad you're here and appreciate that. Ed, Nancy and Forest around the big electronic table. Good to see you. Pueblo, West Colorado. And, oh, yeah, Debbie. We signed up for the retreat. I'm glad you did. Here's Chuck. I'm picking on Oklahoma. He says howdy to the best people on earth. That's a good Okie way of saying it. Did you find it yet? He's having a hard time narrowing it down. We'll give him time. Some of you might know it as well. Oh, Roger and Carol. They'll be in Fresno. Everett being Fresno. Got a number of you already signed up. I appreciate that. And Jack and Teresa, maybe two years in a row. Here. That would be nice. Oh, now there's a good word. Lorna. She says on the new website, I can't find out how to access RWM connect to get the study guide. We should get that connect link up. Let's see. He says lorna. It's there. Let's just see. We'll come right over here. Let's see. Because a lot of you will be wanting the RWM connect, no doubt. Is it on the bottom of any page or just got the wrong RWM connect? Let's see. RWM connect. Oh, so this one doesn't work. No. Current user go down to get started or current user. Let's try that. Okay. I'm not logged in on this browser. There's your answer. Don't click the one that says RWM connect. Click the one that says get started or current user. That'll fix you up for now. And we'll get that cleaned up just a little bit so it's not quite so confusing there. Glad you pointed that out. Appreciate that. Let's see. Keith and deb in arkansas. Good to see you. And oh, you had the all you all had that discussion about current user. You figured it out. Jim in piedmont, south carolina, glad you're here. Learning a little AI chat GPT. I haven't learned much of it. That's interesting. Let's see what you have to say after you're learning. Annie. P. Glad you're here. Thank you. John in west virginia. Thanks for being here. Gerard, good to see you. The netherlands. I appreciate it. Scott. Georgiana jefferson, Texas. Thanks for being here. Yeah. God would be very cruel if he gave the law unto death. Would be, wouldn't it? And yet that's the way it's taught so many times. God gave the law to prove us that we were going to die. I think that's wrong. Shirley Ridgecrest, California. Welcome. Glad you're here. And alex, a friend in london. God bless you. Sharon and russ, good see you in ellendale, Minnesota. Linda and lexington, thank you. Lots of good chats. I'm skipping those tonight as I go through and if I missed you, I was going through those rather quickly. If I missed you, I'm sorry about that. Thanks for being here. Tomorrow I will not be on ask the theologian. I am taking a little not really a morning off because I've got a day filled. My afternoon is full of appointments and my agenda is full of, uhoh, I got to get that done kind of stuff. So I am bowing out of ask the theologian just for in the morning. Sorry about that. We will be back on Monday morning. Hope you have a wonderful good friday, saturday, Sunday. May the weather be beautiful where you are. I know it's supposed to be where I am. And then we'll gather together again for one worship on Sunday and that'll be a real blessing. Thanks, each one of you for being here. Let me have a word of prayer and let's ask the lord to encourage us through this resurrection weekend, heavenly Father, thank you for your watch, care and your guidance for us. Thank you for the Bible study of a passage of scripture, which in one way again is so simple, yet in another way it's so difficult to say, hey, wait a minute, what's this actually talking about? And what's it actually saying? And that's true with a lot of the book of Romans, dear Heavenly Father, but as we slowly make progress through it, we pray that we understand it better by and by. We're grateful for the gathering around the great big electronic table tonight, as we have done so, so many hundreds of Thursday nights, dear Heavenly Father, and it's become a sweet fellowship and a tradition for us. And in this we're very blessed and pray that tonight has not been any different for all who gathered here. And we pray that on this Easter and resurrection weekend, dear Heavenly Father, that our spirit which is willing, would align and drive our flesh which is weak, but there would be a follow through in our service and our devotion to you and an encouragement in our faith and an opportunity to witness to others. Dear Heavenly Father too, on this Easter weekend and thank you most for the deathbed and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is the foundation of our faith. Encourage each who are here tonight, bless and keep them. I pray this in Jesus name, amen. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Again, I'll see you on Sunday morning, 10:00 a.m.. If you're watching us live, always a blessing to be with each one of you. Thanks for Nathan on the controls tonight and for all the work in the programming department. Good to see each one of you.