October 4, 2026 Gerald Griffin - When Next Time Comes

amen thank you this church this chapel is totally unique from so many places every church i've ever been in every church I've pastored or served on staff when it rains we looked around said no one will be there it rains you all show up I don't get it I like it I just don't quite understand it there's a negative side in my head that says well it's because they They couldn't get on the lake, and they couldn't get on The Course. That's the negative side, but I know it's just because you woke up to the blessings of the rain.

You said, let's go worship. Amen. So we are all here together today and so happy, and we thank our helper for taking up everything.

That's really good. Really appreciate that. Tammy is not here. Didn't come with me because I had a wedding last night.

I have told my wife, and she laughed. I said, it's the last one. no more. No more weddings. Not going to do them. They always interfere with what I want to do. I had a call from one of you a few months ago. You want to go fishing?

I have a wedding to do? What do you think I'd rather do? Fish or put on a monkey suit and stand in front of everyone, and I can't make a mistake. I make plenty of mistakes here, but at a wedding, it is scripted. It is by the book.

Can't make mistakes. It's on video. So, yeah. And so then we were, of course, I told Tammy I was asked to do the wedding last night, and they asked me eight months ago. And I told the guy, a good friend of mine from the church, I said, said, man, I want to do your son's wedding, but I don't know. I'm not in Frisco a lot. I travel. That's what I do. I go meet pastors everywhere. It's what I do, and he said, well, if you could just check, so I went back to Tammy. I said, do we have anything family stuff on the calendar? Say yes. Say yes, and she says, I don't see anything, and then I called my daughter, who has our grandchildren, which which is the more important thing, and I said, are we going to be doing anything? She said, no, I think we're going to go to Florida, but that'll be at the end of September. It's not going to go into October. It went into October, so we flew and had to cut the vacation short and came back, and last night, I had to leave at three to get to Bonham, near Bonham and then drive back here, and Tammy said, that's like seven hours on the road. No, no, so she's not here today, although she does love being here. I was just wearing her out. Okay, today we're going to be in a passage of Romans. We're going start in Romans chapter 7. I love to tell you guys stories. I love narrative passages, but today we are going to looking at an exposition of Romans 7. We are going to start in verse 21, and we are go through chapter 8 and verse 11, and I am so happy to be doing this passage, but I also, when I woke up this morning and it's raining, I thought, man, I'm doing a pretty difficult passage, and it is raining, and people get sleepy. So I hope you'll hang with me as we go through it. I wonder if you've ever said something like this to yourself.

Romans 7 · chapter mention

I'm never going to talk that way again. I'm done. I am not going to say that again. or I'm done with that habit I've got to stop it or next time I'll handle that better than I did this time I believe that when we make all of those promises we mean them we mean them every time or we wouldn't do it because here's the thing we know what is right and we We actually want to do what is right. Because if we're God's children, the Holy Spirit convicts us. We want to go to the right place. We want you to do the right thing.

And then next time comes. And you're tired and somebody says something that gets under your skin. It may happen in the morning. And before you've thought about it, you respond with the very thing you promised you would never do again.

That is what we do. do. But I want to give you some good news. You're not the only one who struggles with that, and you're notthe only onewho struggles withthat in this time. Paul struggled with it, too. I can prove it. It's in chapter 7. Paul says these words, so I find it to be a law that when I wantto do right, evil lies close at hand. The law he's talking about is a recurring principle. He says it just keeps happening again and again. He's not talking about the law of God. He is talking about what happens in his very being. It occurs again and again that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. And close at hands means it's right here. I didn't have to look for it. I did not have to go looking for the wrong response. It's right right here. It is in me. Verse 22, for I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members or in the collective parts of who he is, another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law OF SIN that dwells in my MEMBERS.

That's a lot to read, but just wait, there's more. Paul is simply saying this, I'm really struggling. I struggle every day. I don't want to do the things that I do, but I do them anyway.

And then he says in verse 24, Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but my flesh, my body, who I am.

The very person I am I serve the Law of Sin. I get the impact of those words. I feel wretched man that I am but that may be a little bit too old so I'm just going to give you the living translation I thought it was interesting oh what a terrible predicament I'm in who's going to free me if that's the apostle Paul think it might be us do you feel it might быть something that's part of the human condition and Paul is saying yes it is you can hear the frustration he knows what's right but knowing and wanting have not won the war that was that is within him knowing what is right wanting to do what is right does not always win the war for us you notice when he asked or what he does not ask he does NOT ask what new promise do I have to make Isn't that the way we handle doing something wrong? I promise I won't do it again.

I'm going to promise myself. I'm not going to do it ever again. Paul says it's not promises that are working. I don't need another promise.

I need someone who will deliver me. And he gives us the answer. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So keep that in mind.

That first passage is simply I'm teeing up the ball for chapter 8. This is the reason for chapter 8 Somebody told me one time, it was an older preacher when I was just a kid He said, if you look through the book of Romans The first 7 chapters seem to be pretty intense about Paul fighting stuff And then in chapter 8, everything changes And that's because of the way we introduce chapter 8 So let's read that together Romans 8, starting in verse 1 There is therefore now no condemnation For those who are in Christ Jesus For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do. Let me stop right there because I can already tell you're glazing over. So let me say this. Paul is saying this, just knowing what was right, just having the law of God was not enough to stop me. You want to give me an example of that?

that? Driving within the speed limit. You know what the speed limit is, right? Your car can be set. I'm going to guess almost everybody's car. If you have a motorcycle, it's a different thing. But a car, you can set it and say, drive this speed. Do you set it to drive that speed? Knowing the law does not mean you're going to obey the law. By the way, don't feel guilty about that I'm just saying for God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us here's a key who walked not according to the flesh but according tothe spirit verse five for those who live according totheflesh set their minds on the things of the flesh those wholive according to The spirits set their minds on things of the spirit.

This is almost like you can look at it as spirit side, flesh side. In other words, walking with the Holy Spirit and walking in my own power and doing what I want to do. This is where he just keeps going back and forth. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God.

It doesn't submit to God's law. It can't. Those of the flesh cannot please God. But you're not of the flash.

You're of the Spirit. if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ doesn't belong to Him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, it just keeps doing Romans 7 over and over and over again. Even though it's dead because of sin the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you He who raised Christ from the death will also give you life to your mortal bodies through the spirit who dwells in you again long text good news is now we're going to break it down before we walk into it though i've asked sheila if she'd make a few slides to help us see things and um oh i can see it back back there great first we'regoing to look at bible says what god has done it is in verse three for god has done notice those are highlighted there has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. That is what God has done. That is past tense. It's already happened.

This is the workings of this whole passage. And then he says in verse 9, You, however, are not in the Flesh, but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Dwells, present tense.

Anyone who does not have the Spirit Christ does not belong to him. So dwells is the key word there. past tense god has done present tense god dwells right now in you that is what's happening to you at this very moment and then verse 11 if the spirit of him who raised jesus from the dead dwells in you he who raised christ jesus FROM THE DEAD WILL ALSO GIVE that's future tense he'll give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells IN YOU you, again, will also give life. This is why Paul starts off in chapter 7 saying, I don't know what to do about, there's always the next time. There's always a next time that I blow it. There is always the next that I say the things I don t want to say. What in the world am I going to do? And he ends chapter 7 by saying, thanks be to God, it is through Jesus that I now have hope. Now in chapter Chapter 8, verse, excuse me, point number 1.

Here is what God has already done. I could not clear my name, but God did. When I came to Christ, I was a teenager, just barely. I was 13.

And the man who told me about Jesus told me that I was a sinner. And I grew up in church, and it's hard to believe, grew up a pretty mainline church, but I didn't know a whole lot about sin. I knew the Bible characters. I knew those people of the Old Testament. and I knew all kinds of things but me being a sinner I wasn't that bad I remember he read me from the scripture and said you know about the wages of sin is death and I said well yeah but everybody sins he said yeah and everybody dies well that doesn't make sense everybody's gonna die everybody's going to die if they're really bad no if they are sinners really bad sinners sinners. Well, he got me out of that. He kept pushing on me to where I finally understood it, and so I understood that, oh my goodness, I'm a sinner before holy God, and I need to be forgiven of that, and because it was so strong in my life, I kept feeling like, oh, my goodness. Do I need to keep praying the sinner's prayer again and again? Do I keep telling Jesus I'm sorry again again and again and ask him to come back in my heart have I lost him is he gone and I went to my it was a youth minister and I said I really feel guilty I mean all the time and he gave me Romans chapter 8 verse 1 to memorize Romans chapter eight verse four verse one because it is the first verse that helped me understand that my consciousness was very quick to pick out my There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1

No condemnation is a verdict. We all know what a trial looks like. We all knows what it is like when somebody reads out a verdict, the judge has spoken and the case against us was real. We really have been sinners.

We really had reveled in our sin. We have lived in sin, born in sin and continue to sin. That is what God saw, but the verdict is real. Not just that we have to die in our sin, but also we can be forgiven through Jesus.

I've said a lot of things I can't take back. Often, the people we hurt are the ones we love most. And long after we have forgotten what we have said, they're still living with it. I can remember so many dumb things I have said all my life.

life crazy thing some of them they just kind of haunt me like the first time our daughter the youngest daughter started growing tall and she's growing tall, and she is playing all the sports and she really good at a couple of she's really good basketball and she was really good volleyball and we're with some friends and they haven't seen Brittany in a really long time and they said well well, how is little Brittany? And I said, well, she's growing up. She's big. My wife, you will never call our daughter big again. She is big. No, she is not big. She is tall. She has big shoulders. She isn't big. That haunts me. It is a little thing I wish, I know, I don't feel guilty about it. I just feel dumb. Things like that all all the time. Last night when I saw the bride, and she was beautiful, and I'm talking to her, I saw another girl walk in, looked almost just like her. I don't know her family. And so the bride came over right before we started, and i said, is your sister in the party? She wanted one of the, help me out here, thank you very much. And she said, she is. Did you notice which one she she was? I said, yes, it's her. She said, that's not my sister. Why don't I just keep my mouth shut? It doesn't help anything. But there are things that I've said that I didn't say it innocently. There are things, that I said that have been full of malice. And I wish I could take those back, but I can't do that. Now, here's the truth. We're forgiven, but we still need to admit to others that we may have hurt them we live together and although God forgives us there's times I have to apologize I need to try my best to make that right with someone but here's the here's the rub Paul's talking about when it just keeps coming back at me these are the memories we can't put down that we don't want I gave you an easy memory I've got plenty dark ones in my head. I don't want to mention those. Here's the thing. I wish my feelings would catch up with God's Word. I really do. I truly do. This is where I live in chapter 7 of the book of Romans. But when I do, I have to remember chapter 8. There is no condemnation for those in Christ. the consequences may still be there somebody may feel hurt trust may take time to rebuild but Paul does not erase any of that but notice he receives the verdict our hope is not a record we can defend our hope isn't Jesus now someone may hear this and wonder well does God simply overlook sin?

no he doesn't that's what the passage says God didn't overlook our sin God condemned our sin and he didn't excuse it so how can we say there's no condemnation because we have jesus and verse three begins with four uh and it says this in other words it's saying here's the reason he he and he wants us to follow this reason the spirit of life has set us free in christ that's how we have it and then again another verse says for god has done what the law could not do that's the the reason behind the law of God was not the problem the problem was us it always is God's law could tell me what was right but it couldn't give me the power to do it it could expose my sin it could never excuse my sin and it could not erase my sin that is when we look in scripture and we're convicted that's when we have to turn to Jesus because seeing my sin does not forgive me Paul then also says that the way that God forgave us was by sending Jesus. And he uses this term, in the likeness of sinful flesh. That term is a very well-worded term, what Paul is trying to say.

He's not saying that Jesus came in sinful flesh, he's also not saying that Jesus came and looked like a person was not.

He says that Jesus came fully person and looked like us but was not a sinner like us.

And Jesus shared our humanity, but not our sinfulness. And so at the cross, he took the punishment that should have been ours. Our sin was not overlooked. It was paid for.

That is Romans chapter 8. No condemnation does not mean no cost. It means Christ bore the cost. Are you still trying to clear your name?

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Is there something you're still trying to pay for? How many good days will erase a bad day? How many good things you say erase something that you shouldn't have said God has done what we could not do through his son and has dealt with our sin and through his spirit He's given us the power to live differently the order matters Every other religion in this world and of all time says if you will only change Then god will accept you christianity says accept god and he will change you totally different and that's what he tells us in Romans chapter 8 verse 1 I couldn't clear my name but God has acted number two I can't make myself new but God is changing me I can make myself someone different but God can in verses 5 through 8 Paul describes two ways to live one of it is It's basically, I do it my way.

Romans 8:1

And the other is, I'll follow the Spirit's lead. The first leads to death, and the second to life and peace. Paul is talking about the direction of our lives. Not claiming that we never sin.

We just listen to Romans 7. Instead, he is saying that we can live a life that is not set on the flesh. Not thinking the same way. Now, when he says set your minds on things of the flesh, he doesn't mean it's the first thing that came into your mind. For me, the first thing that came into my mind this morning was coffee. That's the first saying. And then after that, I had to think about what else is going on today and how I'm going to be ready for today. Am I going to get this message out today? So setting your mind is referring to what occupies your mind. What occupies you mind?

What drives you? Think of it as the home screen maybe on your phone. The home screen on your home phone has apps that you probably use every day. If it hasn't, somebody hasn't taught you how to clear up your phone yet.

Put the apps that you use every day on the first screen. That's what you need. And all the ones you don't use, push them in the back or delete them. The home screen is the way you automatically move forward.

That is setting your mind on the things of the Spirit. Now, let me put it to you in ordinary settings. Someone criticizes you unfairly. And by lunch, you've already answered them five times in your head.

and by supper you're ready to call a friend not to ask for wisdom but to make sure they understand how that person was so unreasonable to you and here's the deal you may need to address what was said the spirit does not ask you to pretend everything was fair but before you speak you need to ask yourself am i trying to tell the truth and seek peace or just trying to make them feel what I felt that is your setting you mind your mind is set on the flesh I want to get even your mind to settle the spirit I want to bring about peace that's where it gets really close to us not just out there but inside here the words have come out of our mouth have not come out our mouths yet but the fight is already on the inside now at this point if I were to tell you just think better thoughts that I've referred back to Romans 7 again. It's not just thinking better thoughts. Paul is speaking about something deeper than a technique for managing temper. Listen to the change in verse 9. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. The Spirit dwells in you, that is the difference. God has not cleared your record of your sin and sent you home home to manage your life the same way you used to it all changed because the spirit is within you last week a young man called me i was on vacation he called me and i called him back he said pastor gerald i'm just really mixed up right now i said what's going on he said well i i haven't i haven'T been in church in a long time. I haven't been doing what's right. And I've been doing some wrong things. And, I have now a lot of doubts. And he started choking. He said, I don't know if I believe anymore because I have doubts. Now, I know this kid. I've known him since he was a baby. And we talked a little bit. I kind of ended it this way. Telling him he needs to get back in church. Tell him he needs to change his life. Live in the spirit. But but I said this, the fact that you're struggling with your doubts says something. Think about that. Because if I don't struggle with my doubts, I just accept them.

You see, don't make a struggle with faith for the absence of faith. We struggle. And you're going to struggle more when you're not walking in the Spirit. You're going to struggle more when your living the old way you used to live. You are going to to struggle more when the settings on your home screen of your mind are bad apps let the spirit lead if the spirit lives in me you might say well why am i still living this way why am I still struggling the fight fact that you're fighting also says something you simply haven't accepted your sin and made peace with it my goodness as a pastor i did see that someone who would just accept their life and live with it and you know what happens when they do that they can look really good on the outside but they never feel good on the inside that struggle just keeps on going so sometimes we're fighting sin sometimes we were fighting doing what we already know is right to do but the Spirit does not give us permission to keep doing what no is wrong he helps give us he gives us to help to move forward now in verse 9 Paul brings us back to the question do you have the Spirit and that is if you you have Jesus, you have the Spirit. You see, the Spirit of God is not an extra gift for Christians who've reached another level. The Holy Spirit lives within each and every one of us. So take the struggle seriously, but be honest. The answer is not just to be harder on yourself. That's what Paul's doing in Romans 7. I couldn't make myself new, but God is present tense at work. Number three, last point. We've done the past.

We've don't the present, now the future. I cannot defeat death, but God will give me life. Not just a few more years. Not just life beyond death.

In a body that will never die again. It took me several years until I understood Hollywood's image of heaven was not biblical. i actually used to think that when you died you became some kind of a spirit thing and went up to heaven and for the rest of eternity you're just kind of floating around you know the bible doesn't teach that the bible says we're going to be like jesus why do you think the rock was moved away from the tomb it wasn't for jesus to get out was it it was for everyone to see that the body body was missing. Jesus' body was raised. I remember the first time I saw that Mel Gibson movie about the passion of the Christ. It was almost ready to publish. And I got a message from someone, I don't even remember who it was, but we were able to fly up to Illinois and go to a big church and see what he already had ready. And in that movie, we're watching and he's there and there's thousands of pastors here and one of my friends we flew together went up there to see it and the way it ended in the pre-production in the production period before they finished it Jesus is resurrected from the tomb and he looks and I don't know how to quite say it but the the camera pans down to his hand he does his hand and you can see through the hole in his hand and it hit me again he will have a resurrected body forever we will have a resurrected buddy for ever that's what the Bible teaches us not just a few more years, but life beyond death in a body that does not end. Verse 10, but if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. He who raised Christ Jesus from dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you sometimes we think the best thing possible, especially when we're in pain is to just lay this thing down and do the old song, I'll fly away. No more pain. No more hurts. You know, I used to be a runner. I mean, that was years ago, but I used to run. I loved to run, and you know the one thing running did for me? It kept the weight off of me, so it was a good plan. I ran. I run until my knee said, no more. Also, then Then I tried bicycle riding, and I rode the bike until I had a few scars, and the doctor said, no more. These days, I walk, and even today, with walking, it has introduced to me muscles I did not know that could complain. What are you complaining about? I'm walking. You know, we smile about that, but we know life brings more than aching knees.

When I was in seminary serving, excuse me, yeah, I was still in seminry, but I was serving serving in my first church staff, there was a couple, a young couple in our church, they hadn't been members very long, but they had joined, and she was pregnant, and I got word from the pastor, he said, hey, I need for you to go to the hospital, she just gave birth to the baby, and the baby's in distress, and, uh, I can't go right now, but I need you to come with me, and we're going to go down there and sit with a couple. So I went down there, not fully knowing what to expect, not knowing them very well yet they were about the same age as Tammy and I were and as we're sitting there the word came in that the baby did not make it pray for pastors what do you do?

what do I do? what do they say? well I know what I was taught in seminary you don't cry you have to be strong this is your moment for them to rely upon somebody buddy. But we had had a miscarriage a month earlier. I'm a blubbering mess because it's more than knee aches. It's more than headaches. It is more than the shoulder that you wake up and it's stiff. The truth is life is wonderful but it also brings loss. And sometimes we can sit beside people we love and there is nothing we can do to keep them from hurting. My cousin right now is was going through cancer treatments and she she called me the other day actually I called her and we're talking a little bit I'm trying to get down to see her and she told me about a lady who called her and what she said and what he said was just not thoughtful she meant well she didn't say the right words and so it hit really hard and I told my cousin Susan I said look sometimes the best thing you can do when somebody's going through a whole lot is just say, I am so sorry. I love you. End discussion. I'm bringing you a meal. That's it. Because we hurt and we don't, when we hurt, we sometimes don't know how to respond to other people. But I want to hear you say, I want you to hear what Paul says. He points towards something God has done. He's already already raised Jesus and that's what he will do for us. So what this verse is promising us is not just that people will remember us or that our influence will live on. Paul says we will live forever. Y'all know who Joni Eareckson Tata is? I read this story about her. She was at a banquet. again the speaker does something in my opinion that i bet he wish he could take back because she is sitting here on on the floor with everyone in the audience and the speaker says i would like for everyone to kneel in prayer now being a speaker for many years what hits me may not hit you she can't kneel and prayer and she's going to be above everyone else and feel really odd looking at everybody all around her he didn't mean anything bad but she said when I sat there I realized I'm way above everyone else and they're all kneeling and I started thinking about the resurrected body and someday I am gonna have new legs and then she said something I didn't expect because if the Bible if I read the Bible and I think about the Resurrected Body and I I think about new legs.

I can run again. She thought, I can kneel again. Wow. That means that the Spirit's presence right now is more than help for the remaining years of my life, which is so good.

Second point. But the Spirit who is in us right now, who lives in us, is carrying us towards resurrection. Some losses do not get repaired in life, and we know that. But God will raise us.

You know, we started with promises we make to ourselves. Like, I'm not going to do that again. And then we went to what God has done for us. And today I just want to finish up with this.

Your past is not the final word. And your old habits do not have to run your life. And even death will not have the final words. So, general invitation.

invitation if you don't know jesus yet all these promises past forgiven spirit living and changing you from within future coming glorious resurrection those are for people who have christ but don't despair because from not having christ to having christ is extremely short amount of time you can can simply trust him today and have him as your savior and you know here's the thing one of the first churches I served in we saw a 90 year old man come to Christ who had been in the church for 50 years and we thought he was everything and he came one day and he said for 50 years I've been wondering about it how deep down inside knew that I was just trying to be religious and he trusted Christ so I want to say something it's very important for us to have this one thing straight do we have Jesus because having Jesus makes all these changes in us if today you do have Jesus I hope maybe this has pushed you a little bit towards the idea of I can't do everything right I need to stop feeling guilty about what God has already condemned and God has already forgiven because I have Jesus and I pray that we will all live walking in the spirit knowing there's coming a glorious time you know the celebration we have here every week it's not going to stop it's just going to continue in a different place let's pray together Lord Jesus we love you so much and it's really amazing the more we look at scripture every time we look at it yes we feel for our sin and yes we understand we should have gotten to you even quicker and yes we understand that we don't always do exactly what we should do and we need to serve you you but oh my goodness all the promises that you've given us and all the things that you're doing right now in our lives you're still growing us no matter what our age is you're still growing as more to look like you and then one day Lord we will be with you and with each other forever and we thank you for that and it's in your name we pray Amen.