Romans 7:5-13 (#24.2025.06.01)

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:02

Hi.

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:02

If you're looking for greater hope, assurance and confidence through the shifting sands of life, then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the Bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the Bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Hi and welcome to today's episode. As always, for a deeper experience, you can go to the show notes and download the blank insight sheet. Fill in the blanks along with the group. Depending on how you're listening to this, there will be a link to the episode website@beholding Bibletruth.com and a sheet with the answers is included as well. Enjoy today's episode.

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:52

Well, it was until I was 28 years old that the Lord Jesus Christ called me out of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved Son. I'd been in a church twice in my life. That was it. God was relatively irrelevant till all of a sudden, he burst into the seam. And you could have. You could have beaten me with boards. It was like I was walking, you know, three feet above the ground. I felt like the weight of my sin was gone.

Scott Keffer [: 00:01:19

I had that sense. And I thought, I'm just going to live for the Lord. And I remember I'm downtown and I thought, I'm obeying every traffic. Every traffic signal says don't walk. And I'm looking. I thought, those people are walking. I'm obeying the dragons. I'm doing all the right things.

Scott Keffer [: 00:01:36

And I was, oh, I was going to do that. It lasted about two days. Lasted about two days. And then I came to grips with the fact that I wasn't always wanting to do the right thing. I don't know. You struggle with that at all. Well, that's what we're going to look at today. Here's the Apostle Paul having laid this foundation of all that's happened for us in Christ.

Scott Keffer [: 00:02:02

And yet here we are dealing with what happens. The things that I want to do, I don't do, and the things I don't want to do, I do. Okay, let's stand again. All right, so that first verse is, we know that the law is spiritual, but I'm sold in bondage to sin. Okay, so let's do this again. I'm not practicing what I would like to do, but I'm doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the law, confessing that the law is good. So now no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

Scott Keffer [: 00:02:39

For I Know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. For the willing is present in me. But the doing of good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do. But I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I'm doing the very thing I do not want, I'm no longer the one doing it. But sin which dwells in me, I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man.

Scott Keffer [: 00:03:14

But I see a different law in the members of my body waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members, wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, on the one hand, I myself with my mind observing the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh, the law of sin. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Sometimes I wonder how I make it out of the house safely. People wonder, how do you make it? So the apostle Paul is talking about this thing called the flesh and the sin which dwells in my flesh. The flesh and sin. Flesh and sin.

Scott Keffer [: 00:04:12

Looked at the law of God and he says that the Scripture says the law of God is spiritual. It's divinely, divinely inspired, right? But we're of the flesh. We're of flesh. He says, literally, we are of flesh. There's this part of us, Scripture says flesh, and it's in bondage to sin. And we've been freed from sin, but we're still in bondage to sin. That part of us called the flesh. So Paul says, good thing I do not understand how many have been through that.

Scott Keffer [: 00:04:48

This surprise, you know, you become a Christian, but think of it's later in life you think, oh, I'm going to live for God. I'm going to do all the right things. And then all of a sudden, like, what is going on? What is going on feels like, you know. So he says, I do not understand, do not understand. And he says, the things that I hate, I don't just do. But he says, I work. Is the. Is the.

Scott Keffer [: 00:05:13

The Greek word literally means I work the things I hate. I work them, I plan them, and I carry them out. I work them fully. I don't just do them, I work them. I don't just do sin, I work sin. I plan it, I calculate it, I know the consequence, and I Work, work it. I work it literally to work fully. Csulu says, no man knows how bad he is until he's tried to be good.

Scott Keffer [: 00:05:53

Very interesting. There's a law in my flesh that's still at work. A law, a power within me. That's what the apostle Paul is talking about here. And someone would say, whether this section deals with Paul before Christ or after Christ. And generally it's irrelevant. I think it's after Christ, because if there's no good in the flesh, which we're going to see, then there's no battle. Before I came to Christ, I didn't have a battle.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:23

I didn't want to do good. There wasn't a part of me that joyfully concurred with the law of God. I joyfully concurred with the law of me. Right? I had the law of me. I didn't know I was in bondage to sin. I didn't even recognize it. So something's going on. So he says, my working, which is the Greek word, and my hating, right? Because he says the things that I hate, so I'm doing the things that I hate.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:51

Well, how is it even that I hate those things? Because it's not our nature to hate sin. It's our nature to give an excuse for sin. It's our nature to say, well, it's not so bad. It's our nature to say, well, what. Who's who created sin? The idea of sin, who made that up, falling short? Well, just either I will take the bar and press it down to the lowest possible level and ignore the fact that there is right, wrong. Get into a discussion of all of that. Why is it that people love to see leaders fall? Because we can say to ourselves, see, I'm not so bad. Look at what they're doing.

Scott Keffer [: 00:07:37

And as you look, all the media, of course, this is where it starts in. In. In. In art and then in literature. What it does is it takes sin and it makes it seem okay. And then it even flips. So evil becomes good and good becomes evil. You notice how it's twisted? That was twisted.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:01

So my working and my hating actually confirm that the law is good, that it's righteous and it's good. And Luther said, that is the proof. Because you tend to wonder if with all this going on in me, am I even a Christian? Am I even a Christian? Right? What am I doing? You know, is this just me? Am I the only one, the apostle Paul, saying, hey, this is going on in me. It's going on in you. This is there's a proof in that. He says it's the proof of the spiritual and wise man. He knows that he's carnal. You know when you're fading, you know when you're carnal, you know when you're of the flesh, right? And he's displeased with himself and he hates himself.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:55

And he praises the law of God, which he recognizes because he's spiritual, because he's born again, because he's of new right, he's of the new. But he said the proof of a foolish carnal man is this, that he regards himself as spiritual and he's pleased with himself. So there's a proof in that. Because at the core of this, when we start to understand the Lord. The Lord hates sin. He hates it. There are six things which the Lord hates, yet seven which are an abomination to him. Party eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, and feet that run rapidly to evil.

Scott Keffer [: 00:09:51

You think, well, I'm, I'm good with that. Let's see. I mean, I don't lie. I don't shed innocent blood, I don't devise wicked plans. And I, I mean, I don't run rapidly to evil, false witness, to others, lies. I'm good with that. And one newspaper lens, brother. Well, anyway, I'm really good with that stuff in the middle.

Scott Keffer [: 00:10:12

So he wraps it with beginning. The Lord hates haughty eyes. What does that mean? The downlook, the arrogance, the I'm better than you. I got this made. I've got my Checklist of the 7 Most Important Things aggression does. And I do them all. And I'm checking you out. I don't think you're doing those.

Scott Keffer [: 00:10:40

So he says, pride. So in the middle of that you say, well, I'm good there. And then he wraps it in the end with a right. He who spreads bry from brothers. Jeez, Lord, come on. That hate. You hate that. He says it's an abomination to him.

Scott Keffer [: 00:11:01

Oh, how blessed is the unity right of the brothers. Right. So the Lord gets us. Oh yeah, I get it. There's. There's no way to comprehend how God sees sin unless you look at the law. If you haven't really studied the law, you can't understand what God thinks about sin and how it's absolutely an abomination to him. Right? He sums it up.

Scott Keffer [: 00:11:35

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. Then you get down to, well, okay, what does that Mean? What does that mean? How does God see sin? The Lord hates sin. Hates sin. So the hating, even the fact that I have a hating within me is from the Lord. It's part of what we get as a gift, if you will, because the spirit of God is within us, convicting. So he says, now sin and evil. So he says, so now sin and evil dwell in me, in my flesh.

Scott Keffer [: 00:12:09

And the scripture says, in which there is nothing good, which is the core understanding of total depravity. That's the idea of total depravity, is that in my flesh there is no good thing. Well, come on, there's some good, right? I mean, I grew up on Star Trek, and on Star Trek, you're getting better, we're getting better. We just need more time, right? Man's getting better. We just need a whole lot more time. Just billions and billions of years and maybe we'll get it right. But inherently, he's saying, in. In my flesh there dwells nothing good.

Scott Keffer [: 00:12:58

I can't argue with that. I live with my flesh. I see my flesh in the mirror, in my life, in my dark moments. I get it. There's nothing good in my flesh. So there's this dual nature in this. There's this dual nature. I want to do good.

Scott Keffer [: 00:13:21

Sometimes I want to do good, but sin still dwells in me. So it says, I practice the evil. I work it, I plan it, I carry it out. The evil that I don't want to do, sometimes it feels like, ah, doesn't it? We says, to be saved from sin, a man must at the same time own it and disown it. We own it, we disown it. It's a paradox. It's a paradox. So unbelievers will say, gee, what a hypocrite.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:04

You decry this kind of behavior and yet you do it. No, I am. I am not. I am not a hypocrite. I'm validating the gospel. When I sin, I validate the gospel, right? To speak what is true and then to display it, I do. This is wrong, right? This is wrong. So this is the war.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:37

The war. I thought Christian life was bliss. Benefit, right? All the good stuff. Well, but there's a war, and this is the internal war. There's an external war and there's an internal war. The internal war is going on. Even when the external war is raging. You're not raging, right? There's an internal war going on.

Scott Keffer [: 00:15:05

The inner man joyfully delights in God's law. So that's a good on the dashboard kind of warning light. How's my delight in God's law? How's your delight in God's law? Which is a combination of am I in his law and do I delight in it? So on a scale of 1 to 10, above that, where are you now? Where's your delight index? Where are you? Where's your delight index? Gold pot. Because he says I joyfully delight, not just delight, but I joyfully delight in God's law. I don't know. Haven't been in it a minute. That's kind of dry. Oh no.

Scott Keffer [: 00:16:04

Where am I joyfully said I joyful delight in God's law. And then I see the members of my body there. Why the members want to work sin. Planet car it out. They want to work sin. Grifa. Thomas says it describes a man who's trying to be good and holy by his own efforts. See, this is what this is getting to, of course, is the message that you cannot do this in your own strength.

Scott Keffer [: 00:16:38

You cannot beat sin. Cannot beat sin. And it's beaten back every time by the power of indwelling sin. So in Galatians he says, the flesh sets its desire against. Against. In opposition is what it means. So the flesh is in opposition to the Spirit of God within you. The Spirit is in opposition to the flesh.

Scott Keffer [: 00:17:11

So that. What does it look like? We don't always do the things that you please, man. That's the Christian life, isn't it? That's the Christian life. At the same time, right? Apostle Paul says, what's that mean? So it's shall sin increase? That grace might increase, right? No, the same times. It's not a license, it's an explanation to understand where. Where are we? What's going on? Right. As I battle this holy smokes, the flesh is in opposition to the Spirit within me. The flesh, flesh which is in my members is in opposition to the Spirit, right? So there's this battle going on.

Scott Keffer [: 00:18:17

Of course he's going to say, who are you siding with? Because the flesh wants to work sin, wants to work it completely. So we ask the question, who are we siding with? So Paul sums it up. He says, oh, I'm doing okay. What's he say? Wretched, wretched. There's this recognition, wretched man, that I am afflicted, miserable. John Newton said, although my memory is fading, I remember two things very clearly. I'm a great sinner and Christ is a great savior. Of course, this describes the process of sanctification.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:20

Describes the process of sanctification. There's this Body of death. So Spurgeon, you probably heard this illustration before. He's the one who. Who put it out there. He said it was the custom of ancient tyrants when they wished to put men to the most fearful punishments, to tie a dead body to them y. Placing the two back to back. There was the living man with the dead body closely strapped to him, rotting, putrid, corrupting.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:50

And this he must drag with him wherever he went. Just sit in that picture for a moment. Sit in that picture for a moment. Dead and rotting body strapped to your back. Now, this is just what the Christian has to do. He has within him the new life. He has a living and undying principle which the Holy Spirit is put within him. But he feels that every day he has to drag about with him this dead body, this body of death, a thing that is loome as hideous, as abominable to his new life as a dead stinking card guest would be to a living man.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:36

That's the picture. How many. Explain. That explains your life, right? There's this. There's this dead part. So he's saying there's this. There's this law. There is this law.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:51

So what does he do with that? He cries out because he comes to the end of himself. If you tried. If you've tried to live holy of your own efforts, and you haven't fallen completely to the end of your. Because at the. At the end of your capability, at the end, when you run out, at the end when there is nothing left, at the end, when you're still Grand Canyon away, there's grace. So he cr. He cries out, who will set me free? In other words, not me. That's what that means.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:35

Not need. How many have come to the conclusion that you cannot do this, that you cannot do the Christian life on your own. It's not. Give me the, you know, seven. Seven steps to live more holy, righteous. Doesn't work, does it? Because we run out of our own. So he cries out and Paul says, it's not the boys who want desponding or doubting, but of one breathing and panting after deliverance. It's not doubting.

Scott Keffer [: 00:22:12

It's. There is an answer. It's just not in me. Well, it is in me, but it's not me. So I love this, right Where David says, in my distress, I sat in the corner and moaned. In my distress I tried twice as hard. In my distress, he says, I call and I cried to my God and I cried to my God for help. For help.

Scott Keffer [: 00:22:54

And what do you do? He heard My voice out of his temple, where is that? As high as the heavens are, above the earth, in another place. Because my cry for help before him came into his ears. I love the Lord because he hears my voice. He hears my supplications. Right? I cried to the Lord for help. There's a desperate faith in that, isn't there? So think about when was the last time you cried to the Lord? Sometimes in our deep brokenness, because we have no other choice, Bob in his brokenness, will cry to the Lord. But when things are going kind of okay. Yeah, kind of okay.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:41

Externally, then we think I'm doing okay. My sin's not so bad. I can't even think of sin. Do I sin? Maybe not today. I think I'm good. But last week, you know, in my distress, you can get a sense of where you are with the reality of sin in your life by your confessional life. How's your confession before the Lord? How's your confession of sin? If you have trouble, you just ask him. Search me and know me as if the Lord needs to know me.

Scott Keffer [: 00:24:26

Who's that for? Yeah, see if there's any hurtful, evil way in me, Lord. Bring it up, let me see it. But he says his word is so powerful, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing as far as the division of stolen spirit, bow joints and marrow. Unable to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. I can't judge my own thoughts and intentions. So he says, I cried out to the Lord. So the other way to say it is, how's my. What's my confessional life like? What's my confessional life? Definite.

Scott Keffer [: 00:25:07

Get that clear before you can come into worship, before you can have communion, Eucharist, you go to confession. There's that sense of right, the reality of you've got to confess, right? How's my life of confession where I cry out before the Lord? Because if the Lord shows me my sin, it should be I crying not only for right. If we confess our sins, say the same thing, he forgives us our sins and he cleanses us. That's the cry, Lord. Just because we come to grips with grace and the gospel in those moments, Lord, here I am again, right for the 72nd time today. Is there an end to your grace? There isn't. But then I say, lord, free to me a clean heart, restoring to me the joy of my salvation. Lord, help me.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:11

Cleanse me, help me. I can't do this. I can't do this. So he cries out, who will set me free? This is not me. This is a recognition. It's not a one time. It's a regular time to realize, I can't. I can't do this.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:27

I can't do this on my own. And by nature, we will start to do it on our own. Made. I'm doing pretty good as a Christian. Go to Bible study, got some verses memorized. I'm cooking, I'm cooking. I do a few good things and give some money. Then you start to say, hey, right? So it's just a reminder.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:52

It's a reminder. What's the answer? He says, thanks be to God. This is important. Did you pay attention to how the apostle Paul refers to the Lord Jesus? He says, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ. No, he says, through Christ Jesus our Lord. Through Christ Jesus. Here he says, jesus Christ our Lord. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:25

Why is it important? That's the. The fullness of his name, Jesus. Humanity, Right? Christ, divinity, the promised One and our Lord. The answer is the lordship. Jesus said, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He says, go ahead and do what you want. No, take my Y can find you. Learn from me, for I am humble and gentle of heart, and you shall find rest.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:56

It's in Jesus Christ our Lord, fully God and fully man. Like Guzik, it said you thought the problem was that you didn't know what to do to save yourself. But the law came as a teacher, taught you what to do and you still couldn't do it. You don't need a teacher, you need a savior. You thought the problem was that you weren't motivated enough. But the law came in like a coach to encourage you on what to do, what you need to do, and you still didn't do it. You don't need a coach. You don't need a motivational speaker.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:29

You need a savior. You thought the problem was that you didn't know yourself well enough. Oh, but the law came in like a doctor and perfectly diagnosed your sin problem. But the law couldn't heal you. You don't need a doctor, you need a savior. You need a savior. You need to say the law came to show you you need a savior. You need a savior.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:58

So here we are at the end of seven. Oh, my, oh my. We end with a thanks be to God, right in my mind. Right. The law of God in my flesh. Sin. Well, fortunately in the Greek there is no 78 verse. It's just continual.

Scott Keffer [: 00:29:18

And so to me there is the greatest, therefore. There is the greatest, therefore. Because Romans 8:1 shows up. There is therefore now no condemnation. The greatest verses in Scripture. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Messiah Jesus. For those who are in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus, there is an intimate living union with Messiah Jesus, with the divine human Savior.

Scott Keffer [: 00:30:04

So he says, for those who are in Christ Jesus. I love this. There is a now, there is a now. He says, there is therefore now no condemnation. What's the now? The now is. He is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature. And he upholds all things by the word of his power. By the way.

Scott Keffer [: 00:30:28

If he upholds all things by the word of his power, can he uphold you? Yes. When he had made purification of sins, what did he do? He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. You can't comprehend how glorious that news is or how significant that is if you don't know the law, if you don't understand the law of God, if you haven't been through the Old Testament, you can't understand that because the high priest could never sit down. Could never sit down. The high priest alone went into the holy of Holies, had a bell, and if the bell started ringing, there was a rope around the leg. Because you can't die in the holy of holies. They pull him out because it can't be a dead person in him. The.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:22

The high priest could never sit down. But it says, but he, Jesus Christ, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down. You can't sit down until it's done. You can't sit down until it's done. He sat down at the right hand of God. For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. One time he sat down. We should be saying he sat down.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:01

The high priest doesn't sit down. He sat down in the holy of Holies, which is the now. There is a now. In other words, now and forever now. There is therefore now no condemnation. That's the blank. No condemnation. What is there now? No condemnation.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:27

Not some condemnation, not a little condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation. Which is not only the judgment, but literally is the punishment which comes as a result of the judgment. There is therefore now no punishment, no wrath of God for those who are in Christ Jesus. That's the gospel. That's the answer to this battle that goes on within us. And the promise that when you see him, you will be made like him, that we are to be glorified. That's the promise in Christ In Christ, one day this will be gone.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:11

No more. No more sin. No more battle, no more capacity to sin. We're not returned to Adam. We're not in the first Adam where we could sin again and fall. We are in the second Adam, the last Adam, the once and for all Adam. That's great news. So the first thing I put down here is run to the throne of grace often.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:48

So here's the question, right beside this. Why am I still trying to do this on my own? Why am I still trying to do this? Because I'm pretty good perfectionist. Because I'm pretty good, right? As time goes on, you think I'm pretty good. Pretty good. I can do this on my own. We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness. He's been tempted in all ways as we have, yet without sin. So he says, you should come to me.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:28

You should come to me. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence. Literally, with a boldness. Draw near with a boldness that you may receive mercy. So mercy is why I draw near to him? Because I've fallen. I draw near to him when I sin. You're going to sin and think, I don't deserve. I shouldn't go there.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:55

That's what the enemy says. Who are you? You're not a Christian. You've done that four times today. Seven times today. Eighty times this week. So he's going to say, no, don't come here. The Lord says, come for mercy. Come for mercy.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:10

There is mercy nowhere else. You can't find it on your own. You can't find mercy. Just like you can't live the Christian life on your own. You can't find mercy on your own. You. You can't find grace on your own. So he says, come to the throne of grace to receive mercy.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:26

Come and receive mercy. In fact, come boldly. Luther used to say, sin boldly. What do you mean? Just do your stuff. You're going to sin boldly and then go before the throne of grace. There's a throne of grace? Well, Lord, you don't understand. Yeah, I do. I can sympathize with your weakness.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:51

I became flesh. There isn't. There isn't a temptation or sin that you have that I wasn't tempted by. I get it. Yet without sin, it's a throne of grace. Go there often and you can put up there and confess your sins there. It's at the throne of grace that you confess your sins. Run to the throne of grace often and confess your sins.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:25

That isn't one of the greatest blessings of being in Christ to be able to go before the throne with my brokenness and my sin and my rebellion and my arrogance and my hatred and my lust and all the stuff that I have go before there. And no, he's not going to throw me out. He's not going to say, you can't come in here. He's not going to say, oh, not again. It's a throne of grace. It's a fountain that never ends because it flows from his nature. The throne of grace. Confess your sins, because that's just not only cleansing, but the guilt is gone.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:07

He reminds us, don't battle in your own strength, but battle by the Spirit. If you buy the Spirit, put the death, the deeds of the body, you will live. Then remember whose you are and whose you are now, because you are his. Not just about who you are, but whose you are. But now, thus says Yahweh, your creator, O Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel, do not fear why, For I have redeemed you. I called you by name. You are mine, you're his. He's claimed you, he's bought you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:49

You're his. Simple terms. God doesn't lose his stuff. He doesn't lose his people. He doesn't lose your mind. Then he says, also remember who you aren't. You're not your old self. In reference to your former manner of life.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:13

You should lay aside the old self. How do you do that? I don't know. I don't know totally. It's not like, oh, I take off the code, See, now I take off my code. I put in the new code. I don't know. It's part of the battle. You just battle.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:28

How do I lay it off? I lay it off kind of daily. Lay it off, right. Sometimes it's harder than others. It's part of the battle to say, I'm not that anymore. I'm not that. Because he says, in reference to your right, former manner of life. Right, your former manner of life. That's not who you are anymore, which was being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:54

And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self. Do I have a new identity? He said, walk into the new identity. Well, how you doing? Well, not that I've already attained it. This is what the Gospel ball says. Not that I've already attained it or I've already become perfect, but I press on. I press on toward the goal of the upper call of God in Christ Jesus. Not that I've already attained it, but I press on. Because I press on realizing that that's not who I am.

Scott Keffer [: 00:39:28

That's not who I am. And he says in Ephesians, again in Romans, do not be conformed to this world, but be metamorphomized by the renewing of your mind. Renew your mind. Gotta think differently. Think differently than you used to think. Think differently than the world thinks. Think differently than the enemy wants you to think, right? So we think differently. Where? That's why he says, for I joyfully.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:01

I. I joyfully concur with the law of God. How blessed is he. Does not walk in the counsel of wicked or stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. In his law, he meditates day and night. He'll be like a tree planted by the water, extends its roots by the stream, will not fear when the heat comes, right? It's that sense of, I gotta get my head right, gotta get my thinking right, right? Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And for me, at the end of the day, I need help.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:43

So I pray the one thing prayer. Pray the one thing prayer. Pray the one thing prayer. It's clear to me, when I came to Christ, my life was not finish a book, start a thing, not finish it right. Get real excited. You know, My mom said to my friends, when it came to Christ, it'd be like vitamins. You'll get excited and then it'll stop, you know, that's me not finishing, but I love this prayer. One thing.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:13

One thing. It's one thing prayer. What? What? One thing I will ask from the Lord that I shall seek. So it's a combination of ask and seek. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. All the days is a. Is a Hebrewism for day and night, from the. From the rising to the setting of the sun.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:37

That's what I want. He's asking for that. Seeking it. Asking. Asking. Seek. One thing I've asked. I just said, lord, you know what? You're the shepherd, keep me.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:49

Don't let me go over there because I'll. I'll go. I'll go up, down here. I'll be over there. You know, just don't let that happen. And then he says that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Then to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in his temple. I even need the Lord to help me to see him as beautiful, beauty, full.

Scott Keffer [: 00:42:14

Because I don't tend to look at the Lord and say beauty. I look at the things of the world and think beauty. So it's even a changing of my heart, isn't it, that I want to be in there, right. For a day in my courts is better than a thousand outside. I'd rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Is that how I feel all the time? No. But I remind myself that's Lord, do that. Then I'm left with ask for help.

Scott Keffer [: 00:42:46

Ask for help. That's the point of this. You can't do it on your own. Bring the one thing prayer is, lord, I need your help. I need your help every day, every minute, every, every day. How many are there there? I need your help. And so we can run to the throne of grace. Often confess your sins.

Scott Keffer [: 00:43:05

Battle by the spirit. Remember whose you are. Remember who you aren't. Renew your mind. Pray the lending prayer. Ask for help. Ask for his help. He's abundant in mercy and grace to help in time of need.

Scott Keffer [: 00:43:21

Yes, all right. Write down Insight. It's God. Awesome or what? This gospel, good news, great news. The gospel with aggression, thought, insight. They have a. They have a routine to it which can make it rote. And then it becomes.

Scott Keffer [: 00:43:50

But there is. There is a routine to it. That's a good thing. It is a right thing. Right. It may have morphed into something, but there's a. There is a right thing to the regularity of that. To understand.

Scott Keffer [: 00:44:02

We cleanse ourself. Right? Cleanse ourself. And he's. He alone can. He alone can. Can. Can forgive us. Yeah.

Scott Keffer [: 00:44:13

Who else? Yes, you. When you think about that word, what a great word. Help, right? To cry out to the Lord. Help me just help the be. It's just a beautiful prayer. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. Amen to that. And maybe the God of all help.

Scott Keffer [: 00:44:34

God of all grace. May he bless you. May he keep you. May he cause his face to shine upon you. May he lift up his countenance and grant you his shalom deep in your soul. May you go to him often. Amen.

Scott Keffer [: 00:44:53

Thanks for listening. I hope you have greater hope, assurance and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in the God of the Bible, in His son, Jesus Christ. Until next time. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:45:10

And.

Scott Keffer [: 00:45:10

And may the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life. Until next time. May God bless you and keep you.