I Do Not Understand What I Do Series

INTRO.- I don’t understand what I do at times! What about you? I think this is true for most people.

ILL.- Wayne Smith preached at the Southland Christian Church in Lexington, KY, for 40 years and had a great ministry. He was a well-loved preacher and full of laughter, but sometimes, he blew it just like everybody else does. Wayne told this story on himself one time at the OCC Preaching convention in Joplin, MO. He said a family came forward during the invitation time to place their membership with the church. A little girl accompanied her parents and she had a Cabbage Patch doll in her arms. Without thinking, Wayne something about the doll being ugly looking. Well, naturally, that hurt the little girls’ feelings. Later, Wayne reflected on his remark. He said, “Why did I say that? I don’t know, but it was dumb.”

Well, seriously, haven’t most of us done some dumb things in our lives or said some dumb words?! It would be nice if we never did anything wrong or never did anything to offend anyone, but we do. Did you ever do any dumb or sinful thing in your life?

ILL.- I remember one time when my dad who hauled cattle for a living was on the road that I decided I would try smoking one of his pipes. Dad smoked cigarettes most of the time but occasionally, he would smoke a pipe. He had one or two laying in a large ash tray and I was probably 17 years old at that time. I bought some of that sweet smelling cherry blend tobacco, stuffed it in that pipe and lit it. I puffed and puffed on that pipe and kept it lit for probably an hour. It wasn’t too long after I stopped puffing on that pipe that I started to get sick and boy, did I ever get sick! I was so sick that I had to go lie down. My head was swimming. I was nauseated and I thought I was going to vomit or else die and after that sickness wore off I never smoked a pipe again!

Dumb, dumb, dumb! Of course, smoking that pipe was not the worst nor the dumbest thing I ever did, but we all do dumb or sinful things in life and wonder, “Why did I do that?”

It’s taken me a while but I finally figured out why I did and do dumb and sinful things in life and this is what the apostle Paul is talking about in this text. Paul explains it well.

PROP.- Paul struggled with his sin nature, just like us. Here is what he said about the sin nature and God’s deliverance.

1- Sin lives in me

2- God’s law delights me

3- Rescue awaits me

I. SIN LIVES IN ME

14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

ILL.- Will Rogers was quite a humorist. He said a lot of funny things and particularly about the US government.

- About all I can say for the United States Senate is that it opens with a prayer and closes with an investigation.

- Alexander Hamilton started the U.S. Treasury with nothing, and that was the closest our country has ever been to being even.

- Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for.

- Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.

- I bet after seeing us, George Washington would sue us for calling him "father."

- I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.

When people say that something is “rotten in Denmark,” they mean there is something rotten in our government and perhaps on both sides of the fence. We once thought Watergate under Nixon’s Presidency was bad stuff, but most people think there is far worse stuff going on today in the government.