I’ve been assigned an important and a wonderful
subject, Simultaneously Righteous and Sinful. And this is probably going to be a little
bit more like a theological lesson than a typical sermon because I want to do all that
I can to help you understand how important this is. But I want to begin with the story of Lazarus,
if I may. Lazarus, you remember, had been dead for four
days. And the Lord arrived at his grave. He had purposely delayed His coming to Bethany
to make sure that Lazarus was good and dead. And there kind of a… I guess, a kind of a floating urban legend
in Judaism that after four days the spirit of a body stopped hovering over the body and
departed for good. And maybe Jesus accommodated that legend a
little bit. Mary and Martha believed that if Jesus had
shown up before Lazarus died, he wouldn’t have died because Jesus had the power to raise
him from the dead. They weren’t convinced that… I mean, the power to heal him. They weren’t convinced that he had the power
to raise him from the dead. But Jesus purposely waited to arrive until
the four days had gone by to give display to the full scope of His power. He went to Lazarus grave and told the mourners
to remove the stone, which no doubt caused no small disturbance. And then, one of my favorite Bible verses. I remember as a kid memorizing this, along
with memorizing a lot of verses. But I think this was the favorite verse that
I memorized as a kid. Martha blurts out, “Lord, by this time he
stinketh,” in classic King James English. John 11:39, you probably didn’t memorize
that verse, but I found all kinds of uses for that verse. The stench would have been severe. The Jews did not embalm. And so all they did was basically put some
elements, some components on the top of the body, topically, didn’t do anything really
to eliminate the smell. It would have been very embarrassing to open
that grave and to have that smell come out. Jesus, however, ignored her concern, and cried
with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” And years ago, I read a commentator who said,
it’s a good thing He qualified Lazarus, or all the graves in the world would have
emptied on the spot because certain from John 5 He had the power to raise the dead, all
the dead. The sight of the mourners when they saw Lazarus
is recorded in Scripture. It says, he was bound hand and foot with wrappings
and his face was wrapped with a cloth. He basically, I think, came out of the grave
like a hopping mummy and stood there where people could see him. And then Jesus says that famous line, “Loose
him and let him go.” As long as the stinking grave clothes filled
with the decay and stench of death clung to Lazarus, he did stink, and he was unable to
fully express his new life. In a very real sense, I think, this is a graphic
analogy of our predicament as regenerate Christians. We have been raised from the dead. We have been raised to new life. We, however, are still stuck with the remnants
of our previous existence. We have been raised, but we stink. That’s the title of my message. We have been raised, but we stink. That’s the reality of our spiritual condition. However, there’s actually a deeper problem
than Lazarus had. Lazarus’ mummy rags were readily disposed
of. It was after all just a linen shroud. And once it was removed, the stench of the
corruption of death no longer clung to Lazarus. Our predicament cannot be resolved so quickly,
and it cannot be resolved so easily. Why? Because it is not just a shroud that clings
to us superficially. It is a full fledged dead carcass strapped
to us. Paul calls it in Romans 7, verse 24, the body
of this death. It is the presence of sin that remains in
us, in our mortal flesh. We live and yet the stench of death is not
just on us – but all through us. That is why Romans 8:23 says, we wait for
the redemption of the body. We wait for the deliverance from this body
of death. You say, well, what has happened to us when
we were saved then? And the answer to that if you will look in
your Bible, comes from Romans 6. And we’re going to look a little bit at
Romans 6 and 7. So much is here, we can’t cover all of it. But just to touch some things that are stated
in the 6th chapter of Romans, for example, verses 5 and 6. If we have become united with him, that is
Christ, in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,
knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him. That simply says, we’re not who we used
to be. Our old self, crucified, our old self is dead. And what is the effect of that? Our body of sin is done away – that that
entity, that we once were, is gone. We as a result of that are no longer slaves
to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. If you were a slave to somebody, and you died,
you are no longer that person’s slave. That’s the simple analogy. We have been freed then from slavery to sin,
freed from the domination of sin. Sin’s mastery has been broken. It is not to say that sin is no longer present. It is to say it no longer rules. It no longer has dominion. Follow down to verse 11. Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, -- very
strong language, -- but alive to God in Christ Jesus. We’re like Lazarus. We were dead. We are now alive. You see again in verse 14. Sin shall not be master over you. You see it again in verse 17 – thanks be
to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that
schema, that form of teaching to which you were committed, as a result having been freed
from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. This is a real change. This is a true transformation. And then verse 22, now having been freed from
sin and enslaved to God. You derive your benefit resulting in sanctification
and the outcome eternal life. Now, these verses are telling us that what
actually happened was, a real death. That there was an entity in existence that
is no longer in existence. This is a real transformation. I grew up hearing that salvation was addition. That you were an old man and an old nature,
and when you became a believer, you got a new nature added to your old nature. And people used to illustrate it by saying
the old nature is the black dog, the new nature is the white dog, and who wins? Whoever you say “sic-cum” to. That you are what you were, and salvation
added something. That is not the language of the New Testament. It is not addition. It is transformation. And the language cannot be stronger. It is death and life. It is the death of an entity, and the creation
of a new entity by the power of God. In fact, it is so dramatic, that the change
at your salvation was greater than the change in you will be at your death. You have already had the creation of a new
entity, which is fit for heaven. So that death for you is subtraction. You simply drop your unredeemed humanity. The dramatic, total, utter transformation,
in the language of death and life occurred at your salvation. Now, the question has to be asked at this
juncture. When Paul says all of this – sin shall not
be master over you – you are no longer the slave of sin – consider yourself alive unto
God, and dead to sin – is he saying that though sin is not master over us, is it possible
that we can become total masters over sin? Can we actually achieve sinlessness? Is that the goal, is that the objective? I recently read this from a national ministry
– a quote – no limit can be put on the degree of perfection attainable in this life. Doing so would be to limit the grace of God. Clearly the only limitation as to how holy
you can be is that which you impose by your own free will. So, scrunch up your own free will and become
perfect. That’s the message. This is called by many entire sanctification. That’s a technical term. Let me read you from the church of the Nazarene. This isn’t the church of the Nazarene, is
it? I don’t want the roof to come in here. The church of the Nazarene, articles of faith. This is in the articles of faith of the church
of the Nazarene. We believe that entire sanctification is that
act of God -- somehow based on our free will I might add – that act of God subsequent
to regeneration by which believers are made free from original sin or depravity. Next time you pass a Nazarene church think
about that. Entire sanctification is that act of God subsequent
to regeneration by which believers are made free from original sin or depravity and brought
into a state of entire devotion to God and the holy obedience of love made perfect. It is wrought by the baptism with the Holy
Spirit, and comprehends in one experience the cleansing of the heart from sin, and the
abiding, indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, empowering the believer for life and service. Entire sanctification is wrought instantaneously
by faith, preceded by entire consecration. This experience is also known by various terms
representing its different phases, such as Christian perfection, perfect love, heart
purity, the fullness of the blessing, and Christian holiness. We believe that there is a marked distinction
between a pure heart and mature character. The former is obtained in an instant -- the
result of entire sanctification. The latter is the result of growth in grace. So you can be immature and entirely sanctified,
in their view. Let me just follow this a little more, so
I can clarify this particular position. It is the idea that subsequent to your salvation,
you can attain in a moment, instantaneously, by an act of your own free will through faith,
entire sanctification so as to completely obliterate the reality of total depravity. It is an experience. It is not progressive. It is not like maturing. It is an instantaneous experience. If you trace this back, you will find, for
example, Martin Luther confronting it and calling it a false philosophy of Aristotle
adapted by Medieval scholastics. Luther said this, they teach that sin is entirely
destroyed by baptism or repentance, and so regard it as absurd that that Apostles should
confess sin dwells in me. As a converted or spiritual man they say,
he could no longer have any sin in him. Therefore they argue, he here speaks of himself
as an unconverted man. So way back in the day of Luther, there were
those who were teaching what became known as perfectionism, or some form of entire sanctification. B.B. Warfield, who has helped us so much in
the foundations of our understanding of many elements of Reformed theology, and had a great
influence on me when I was in seminary. B.B. Warfield has written a great work called
Perfectionism, and if you want a lot of the history of perfectionism, which is another
term for entire sanctification, he would be the one initially to read. He traces the modern influence back to John
Wesley, of course. It was John Wesley, says Warfield, who injected
and infected the Protestant world with this idea of entire sanctification – that a believer
can reach a point in this life, because of an instantaneous, willed faith experience
where depravity is cancelled out, and he’s entirely sanctified or reaches Christian perfection. Quoting Warfield, he says of John Wesley,
there was no element of Wesley’s teaching which afforded him greater satisfaction than
this. There is no element of Wesley’s teaching
which is more lauded by his followers. This was a huge component of Wesleyan theology. Warfield goes on to show that as wave after
wave of this holiness has washed up on the shore of the church, for sure it has had various
forms, but there is one consistent fundamental, one consistent fundamental. There are a lot of elements to it, but the
one consistent fundamental is that this kind of perfectionism and sanctification, and sanctification
itself for that matter is divided from justification. The essential core of this notion that repeats
itself in diverse movements is that justification and sanctification are divided from one another,
are two separate gifts of God, which we appropriate momentarily, instantaneously by a faith experience. Their view is: sanctification is obtained
the same way justification is obtained – by a simple act of faith – and not the same
act as justification, but a new and later act, optional but very, very desirable. Sanctification in their view is the second
work of grace. Have you heard that? The second work of grace. And of course, since you can lose it just
like you can lose your salvation, it could be the 3rd and the 4th and the 50th. But it is immediate and it is complete when
it happens. They also say, sanctification brings complete
freedom from sins. And you ask, how in the world do they get
away with that? They downgrade the definition of sin. For them, sins are those which are premeditated,
intentional, and conscious. Now, when you have achieved this sanctification
separate from justification also by an act of free-will faith, you have to be told that
it is not a stable reality. Consistent with their Arminianism, like salvation
it is an instable reality. It comes momentarily, and it must be maintained. So the way it works is, you’re only free
from sin if you’re free from sin. If you’re not free from sin, you’re not
free from sin. It must be maintained or it will be lost. It often is lost, but it may be instantaneously
recovered by another act of faith. How many of you ladies use Oneida flatware
in your kitchen? You even seen that little… anybody use that
stuff? Oneida. You know it’s a brand. You ever seen it? Look on the back of your tableware. Hugh flatware company. You say, this is an odd transition. That’s alright; stick with me for a minute. It’s early. I’m leaving out some of the transitional
statements. Can you understand that? Oneida is a flatware company as far as you
know, but its real history is Oneida was one of the best known of about 50 utopian communes
that operated in New York State after the ministry (if you want to call it that) of
Charles Finney. Oneida was a commune made up of 300 perfectionists. There was a man by the name of Henry Noiez,
who was a follower of Charles Finney. We’re talking 1849 to 1879, a 30 year period
of this Oneida commune. There were 300 of the people in the Oneida
commune. They followed the Arminianism of Finney, and
they came to this conviction of perfectionism. They started the flatware company that still
operates today. What very few knew and what was not discovered
till 1879 was that this perfectionist community, this perfectionist commune that had reached
entire sanctification, perfect love, Christian perfection, practiced communal marriage. All 300 of them were available to each other. And as soon as children reached puberty, they
were injected into the orgy. Every woman was available to every man, starting
young. And yet they were a Christian perfectionist
community. That requires some redefinition of sin. And while admittedly that is a bizarre illustration,
it’s a good one to use because you’re familiar with the name. They had figured out a way to live in a perpetual
orgy and still be entirely sanctified. I’m surprised it doesn’t come back today
because that would be a popular group. And while that’s a bizarre illustration,
perfectionism in every case, the advocates of perfectionism have to downgrade sin to
some degree. They’re forced to downgrade sin. They’re forced to redefine sin. They’re forced to redefine holiness to accommodate
reality – to accommodate reality. And today Methodist, old line Methodists,
Salvation Army, Nazarene Church, other Wesleyan groups, Pentecostals, Charismatics affirm
entire sanctification, even calling it by the name eradication because they believe
that there is the possibility of the eradication of original sin. Sin then becomes only what is premeditated,
only what is conscious, only what is intentional, and only what the given culture defines as
sin. Unconscious, unintentional, bad acts are labeled
mistakes. And some actually just label them temptations. Obviously, every perfectionist comes face
to face with clear and abundant evidence that sin resides in and troubles the most devote
Christian. They’re not kidding me, and they’re not
really kidding themselves. So to hang on to this idea, you have to redefine
holiness, you have to redefine sin, and you also wind up torturing your own conscience
– torturing your own conscience. You say, well I’m not in that movement,
and I’m pretty far from that movement. Here I am at a Reformed conference. You probably aren’t really far from this
movement. I grew up with the trappings from this movement
in my life. There have been modifications of this movement
that have found their way basically into the fabric of evangelicalism in this country. In fact, it highly defined it. I grew up as a kid in a church, Baptist church. Every time we had a youth meeting, we were
asked to come forward and rededicate our lives. Sound familiar? You ever go to camp? And if you want to rededicate your life, you
took a pine cone and threw it in the fire, or a stick, and they called it a faggot service. They don’t call it that anymore. Fortunately. I remember going to camp one time, and the
speaker was whipping us up, trying to get us to come to the second level. He was trying to catapult us by emotion to
this level where we would rededicate, reconsecrate. And we were very emotional. I had tears coming down my eyes. I was just trying to figure out what that
meant and what do I do. And I remember the kid next to me was just
having a real struggle, and you’re supposed to go up and get a pine cone and throw it
in the fire. And he walked up to the front, and they waited
for you to walk and maybe say a word. And this kid walked up and took off his watch
and threw it in the fire. His watch. He said, I want to dedicate my time to God. What? How are you going to do that if you don’t
know what time it is? That’s pretty basic. Was this kid was raised to some level of emotion. I trekked up there with my pine cone. You know, and then when you’d go home, the
youth pastor would always say to you. Now, we want you to be able to hold onto the
mountaintop experience. You ever hear that kind of talk? Yeah, we all kind of grew up in that stuff. In my early years at Grace, this actually
happened at the church. At the end of a service, and I told people
to consider their relationship to Christ at the end of a message, and a lady started down
the main aisle of the church with a dog – a dog dressed in a little red sweater – a
lady’s dog. And when she got to the front, I had come
down, and I said, may I help you ma’am. And she said, no, it’s fine. We’re going to the prayer room. My dog just rededicated his life. What? That actually happened. I really didn’t know what to say. People get very attached to their dogs. And obviously, she was a few bricks short
of a full load, but it just was sort of like a metaphor for that whole crazy idea that
in some moment of time you can catapult yourself into some other zone spiritually. Can I tell you this – this is close to all
of us because this is also a core teaching in the no lordship salvation movement. This is what that movement is about – that
you can have Jesus as Savior and maybe later get around to Him being Lord. I used to hear that as a kid growing up. Make Jesus Lord of your life. Make Jesus Lord of your life. I finally figured out, I can’t make Him
Lord. That’s not my responsibility. I don’t have the power or the right to do
that. He is Lord. But that’s what we heard growing up – Make
Jesus Lord. He’s your Savior. Make Him Lord. I went one time to Moody Bible Institute,
and I preached for a week, years ago. They used to have Founders Week, and they’d
have several of us speak. One guy would have the 10 o’clock session,
one guy would have the 11 o’clock session, and another guy would have the 2 o’clock
session, and then we’d rotate at night. So there were like three speakers. I was giving a series on Biblical sanctification
in the early hour, and the next hour one of the no-lordship teachers was there basically
saying, don’t worry about the second blessing yet. Don’t worry about making Jesus Lord. He actually said. I have this quote. Don’t even worry about that till you 30
or 35 years old. It’s enough that He’s your Savior now. Later on you can make Him Lord. So this is… this is close to us. This kind of teaching permeates. Every time you go to a church… I went to a meeting one time in Canada. And they started talking about revival. It descends into this – trying to whip people
up who are Christians to get revived and come to the front and reconsecrate, rededicated,
become revived. This basically is Wesleyan perfectionism in
its many forms running from that kind of experience all the way to the Oneida community and everything
in between. In the books that I’ve written on the lordship
issue, I’m really dealing with this very idea. You want some good help on this go get a classic,
standard J.C. Ryle book on holiness. In that book, written in 1879, Ryle says,
sudden instantaneous leaps from conversion to consecration I fail to see in the Bible. Of course, you fail to see them in the Bible. They are not there. He knew what all accurate theologians know,
that justification and sanctification are inseparable. They both come at salvation. Justification is instantaneous. Sanctification begins and is progressive. And there are no leaps into some other category
of eradication or perfection. This is, by the way, a serious and consequential
error. It’s been around a long time, and as I said,
it just permeates our contemporary evangelicalism. And if you’re trying to operate in this
matter of sanctification with a false paradigm, you’re in big trouble. You’re in big trouble. You’re chasing the wrong thing, down the
wrong path. If you think the way to be holy is to chase
the demons out of your life, that’s a wrong paradigm. If you think that the way to be holy is to
speak in tongues, that’s a wrong paradigm. If you think the way to be holy is to have
some kind of a rededication experience that catapults you to another level, that’s a
wrong paradigm. It is a serious and consequential error. In 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 30, Paul
says, “By His doing” – by sovereign grace – “you are in Christ Jesus, who
became to us wisdom from God and righteousness” – that’s justification – “and sanctification.” All at once. All at the same time. In the 6th chapter of 1 Corinthians and the
11th verse, “And such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified
and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our
God. You can’t separate sanctification from justification. At the time, at the moment of our justification,
we were set apart from sin. The old is dead. The new lives and progresses in holy development
to glorification. It probably would be helpful – I hope it
would be helpful to think about justification and sanctification a little bit, because I
think this is so essential. Similarities – here’s a few similarities. Both originate and stem from the free grace
of God. Both. It is only because of His grace that believers
are justified and sanctified, fully the work of grace. Secondly, both are part of Christ’s redemptive
work of salvation. He is the source of our pardon in justification
and our purification in sanctification. Thirdly, both will be present in the same
persons, so that anyone who is justified will also be being sanctified. And anyone who is being sanctified has been
justified. Fourthly, both begin simultaneously. The moment of justification is the moment
that sanctification begins. Fifthly, both are necessary to glorification. Those who reach heaven have not only been
forgiven of their sins, they have also been given new life. Now, there are some differences. Here’s a few. In justification, the sinner is counted righteous
because the righteousness of Christ is imputed to him. We know that. In sanctification, the sinner is actually
being made righteous, though to a limited degree, through the work of the Spirit. A second. The righteousness of justification is not
our own. It is Christ’s. The righteousness of sanctification is our
own, wrought in us through the Holy Spirit. Thirdly, our own works play no part in justification. Our works play an important part in sanctification. For God commands us to work out our salvation
with fear and trembling. Fourthly, justification is an instantaneous
and finished work, totally complete the moment the sinner believes. Sanctification is an imperfect work, lasting
for the rest of his life, not complete until glorification. And finally, justification does not increase,
does not develop, does not grow. The sinner is as justified at the moment of
conversion as he will be in eternity. But sanctification is progressive, as believers
grow in their spiritual walk until glorification. And if you understand the true doctrine of
justification and sanctification, you can just dismiss all this perfectionism. So many hymns that we sing, people who are
perfectionists can’t sing. We sang one this morning – talked about
our sinfulness, our wretchedness. Thomas Watson wrote this, saving faith lives
in a broken heart, always grows in a heart humbled by sin, in a weeping eye and a tearful
conscience. In other words, if you’re really being sanctified,
you are more and more and more aware of your sin. Young people come to me at the Master’s
College all the time, and they ask questions. And it’s just… it’s such a joy to work
with these kids. And one of the common questions that you get,
because you know, there are all kinds of temptations running at warp speed among our young people,
is… they call me – well, I probably shouldn’t tell you what they call me, but they call
me Johnny Mac – the kids, and I love it. I love it, so…. Hey, Johnny Mac, can I ask you a question. Sure. Will I ever, will I ever gain victory over
sin and temptation? You’re older than me. Tell me. And my answer is this: yes, yes, as you grow
in grace, in the knowledge of Christ, as the Word does its work, and the Spirit does His
work, and your sanctification increases, and you are being changed by the Spirit of God
into the image of Christ as you gaze at His glory, yes, you will gain victory over sin. You’ll have increasing victory and decreasing
iniquity. Yes, yes, you will be better. However, you will feel worse. What? That’s right. Because part of being better, is hating sin
more. So, if you’re honest about your sanctification,
you’re not going to announce, I had an experience the other day and I’ve arrived at eradication. First of all, I don’t believe that. Secondly, you don’t believe it. And that’s why I say. It’s the fast track to a tortured conscience. You don’t even know how to define yourself. You’re playing mind games. It’s bad enough that you could lose your
salvation. On top of that, you could lose your sanctification. This is chaos. And yet it’s a dominant idea in the church. What does Scripture say? Proverbs 20, verse 9, “Who can say I have
cleansed my heart? Who can say I am pure from my sin?” Rhetorical question to which the answer is
– no one. Or 1 John 1:8, “If we say we have no sin,
we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. We make God a liar, and His Word is not in
us.” That’s pretty serious. Or James 3:2, “We all stumble in many ways.” Or Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh sets its
desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are in opposition
to one another, so that you may not do the things you wish.” You say, well, Paul was a mature Christian. If anybody was entirely sanctified, he must
have been entirely sanctified. If anybody had the sin nature or depravity
eradicated, he must have had it eradicated. No, he’s talking about himself there. He’s talking about himself. In fact, we know that. Turn to Romans 7, because here’s his testimony. And this is really the definitive way to look
at a believer who is mature, who is progressively being sanctified, who gives this testimony. Listen to this testimony. Here are… before we look at Romans 7, you
can be turning to it, but do you remember Paul’s words? It is a trustworthy statement, and worthy
of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am foremost. This is a man who in his maturity, at the
very end of his life, the godliest of men, says, I am not was the chief sinner. And this is what I was saying earlier. Sin less and feel worse. Because the more intimately you know God,
the more you hate the sin that is in you. The same man who said he was the chief sinner
says in 2 Corinthians 1:12, Our proud confidence is this, the testimony of our conscience,
that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God,
we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially towards you. And you say, are you kidding? The same person said, I’m the chief of sinners,
and on the other hand said, my conscience doesn’t accuse me because I’ve lived in
godliness and sincerity. What is that? That’s being simultaneously righteous and
sinful. He could say, I am the chief of sinners, and
yet my conscience is clear because I deal with the sin. Now, look at Romans 7:14, you just need to
kind of follow the flow here. “We know that the law is spiritual. I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” Didn’t he just say in chapter 6, that he
was delivered from slavery to sin? What is this? Well, he’s going to have to clarify that
because it sounds like he’s saying the opposite. “For that which I am doing, I do not understand. I am not practicing what I would like to do,
but I am doing the very thing I hate.” This is the dilemma. I don’t do what I want to do. I do what I don’t want to do. Verse 16, I do the very thing I don’t wish
to do. But verse 17, very important, “So now, how
am I to describe this, it is no longer I doing it.” This is a very, very important statement. I don’t do what I want to do. I do what I do not want to do. I love the law of God. It is holy, just, and good, he said. I concur with the law of God. I wind up doing the very thing I don’t want
to do, agreeing with the law, confessing that it’s good. So he says, it’s no longer I doing it. It’s not the new ego, it’s not the new
man, it’s not the new creation. But it is sin which indwells me. He is saying, I came alive, I came out of
the grave. The old man is dead. The old self is dead. I live but I stink. I am permeated with the stench of death. And he keeps circling back to the same truth
again. I know that nothing good dwells in me, that
is in my flesh, my own redeemed humanness, the part of me that has not yet been re-created. The wishing is present in me but the doing
of the good is not. For the good that I wish, I do not do, but
I practice the very evil I do not wish. If I am doing the very thing I do not wish,
I’m no longer the one doing it. Now, this is the second time he said that. I’m not doing it. I’m not doing it. And yet I’m doing it. He separates an entity in him. It is not the new I. It is not that I which is crucified with Christ,
and now lives. It is not the new creation because God cannot
create something out of his hands sinful. So the new I, the new life, the new man that
is in me, is free from sin. But sin is still present. It still resides. And he says this specifically in my flesh
– in my flesh. Verse 20, “I’m doing the very thing I
do not wish. I’m no longer the one doing it. Sin dwells in me. I find then a principle. Evil is present in me.” He separates the evil that is there residing,
remaining from who he is. He is the one who loves the law of God. He is the one who wishes to do good. He joyfully concurs with the law of God in
his inner man. The inner man is the new creation. But there’s a different principle. There’s another principle 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. He’s very careful to say that the new man
is holy, the new man loves what is good, the new man created by God, so clearly defined
in the sixth chapter, longs to do the right thing, can only do the right thing, but it’s
permeated by the flesh, by the body, by members. This is not just physical body. The flesh encompasses all our humanness, mind,
will, emotions, actions. But Paul makes a distinction. He knows that if any man be in Christ, he’s
a new creation. He knows that he has been born of God, in
the words of Peter, with an incorruptible seed. That that new man is so free from sin that
it will live forever. It will live forever. You’re not going to go through another death
and resurrection spiritually to get into heaven. That’s already been done. The old life, the old man, the old self was
not partially sinful, not mostly sinful, but totally sinful, had absolutely no righteousness,
and no potential for righteousness, so it had to die. At salvation, it died. God killed it, and God created new life, a
new entity that is sinless, holy, righteous, and eternal. It is beyond sin’s reach. It is pure. It is ready for heaven, for God’s presence. Salvation, again, is transformation not addition. Well, why do we go on sinning? Because of this remaining flesh. That’s why we groan, waiting for the redemption
of our bodies. When I think about heaven, I don’t think
about streets that are transparent gold. That’s kind of… that’s kind of interesting. I’d like to see gates made out of one pearl,
and jeweled features, but what appeals to me about heaven is the absence of sin. I mean, I’ve been at this a long time. It gets old. Living with me gets old. But it’s not the new creation. It’s the sin that’s in me. We’re like a holy seed in an unholy shell. We’re a holy entity, incarcerated in unredeemed
flesh that affects our body, mind, emotion, will, affections, actions. So what do we do about it? Well, we have to subdue it. This is where the battle rages, and there’s
no way to catapult yourself into a sin free zone. Paul says in Romans 6:12. Don’t let sin reign. Don’t go on presenting the members of your
body as instruments of unrighteousness. Or 1 Corinthians 9:27, I beat my body into
subjection, so that in preaching to others, I myself don’t become disqualified. Romans 7:24, he sums it up, Wretched man that
I am, wretched man that I am. That’s a very mature statement. If somebody comes along to you and says, well,
I used to be wretched and now I’m perfect, you know, they’re far more wretched than
they understand. Wretched man that I am, who will set me free
from the body of this death. It was a custom among ancient tyrants, when
they wished to put men to the most fearful punishments, said Spurgeon, to take the body
of the victim they killed and strap the dead corpse to the killer – place them back to
back. And there was a living man, said Spurgeon,
with a dead body strapped to him, rotting, putrid, corrupting. And he must drag around the corpse wherever
he went, until the corpse infected him and took his life. And this is what Paul’s talking about here. We have new life, but we’re not just wearing
a shroud of sin. We’ve got the dead corpse strapped to us,
and its influence is powerful, powerful. It is, Spurgeon said, death incarnate, death
concentrated, death dwelling in the very temple of life. So what do we do about it? What do we do about it? Chapter 8 of Romans and verse 13, he says,
if you’re living according to the flesh, you must die. But if you’re living according to the Spirit,
you are in the process of putting to death the deeds of the body. Believers live, believers fight the battle,
believers, to use the old language, mortify the flesh. Believers do everything they can to kill the
sin that remains. This is the distinctive behavior of true Christians
– not imagining they have no sin, but constantly endeavoring by all the mean of grace, to mortify
the sin that remains, abstaining from sin, keeping themselves out of the way of temptation,
making no provision for the flesh, fixed on Jesus, walking in the Spirit, meditating on
Scripture, praying fervently as Jesus said, so you don’t fall into temptation. It is a life long battle you fight daily. And you have to fight it with a passion. I began with an illustration from the New
Testament of Lazarus, kind of an analogy. I want to borrow an analogy from the Old Testament
to close. Turn to 1 Samuel 15. And by the way, I haven’t scratched the
surface of all the things that we should understand about this, and I commend to you a careful,
thoughtful study of Romans 6 and 7, and get the good material on that to be enriched. Samuel said to Saul, in 1 Samuel 15:1, The
Lord sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel, now therefore, listen
to the words of the Lord, thus says the Lord of hosts. I’ll punish Amalek for what he did to Israel,
how he set himself against him on the way, while he was coming up out of Egypt. You remember the story – they attacked the
rear of the Israelites and they killed the women and the children. It was a low blow attack and assault. And so God says, go and strike Amalek, and
utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him, but put to death both man and woman,
child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. Wow. Obliterate the Amalekites. Obliterate them. Deal ruthlessly with them. They were vicious, vicious enemies of Israel. Deuteronomy 25 is the story. In fact, God had vowed in Exodus 17 and verse
14 to Moses, and said this, I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Because of their wickedness, God called on
Saul to do that, over in verse 7 of that same chapter. Look at it. So Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah
as you go to Shur, which is east of Egypt, and he captured Agag the king of the Amalekites
alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But, Saul and the people spared Agag and the
best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs and all that was good, and weren’t
willing to destroy them utterly. But everything despised and worthless – that
they utterly destroyed. They didn’t obey God. They spared Agag. They spared Agag, and no doubt others. Serious mistake. Serious mistake. Verse 23 says, for rebellion is as the sin
of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you, Saul, have rejected the Word
of the Lord – this coming from the Lord through Samuel – He has rejected you from
being king. Failure to destroy the Amalekites cost Saul
his throne and any future kings from his line. Go down to verse 32, So Samuel said, bring
me Agag, the king of the Amalekites, and Agag came to him cheerfully. Sure, he was alive, and Agag said, Surely
the bitterness of death is past. – Can’t we all just get along? -- But Samuel said, as your sword has made
women childless – which is exactly what he did to Israel – so shall your mother
be childless among women. And here’s the Hebrew – Samuel hacked
Agag to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal. Whoa. Hacked him to pieces? Yeah. Samuel obeyed God, but didn’t get all the
Amalekites. Scripture records that a few years later,
the reinvigorated Amalekites who are now even more ticked off than ever at the Israelites,
raided the southern region of Israel, this is in 30th chapter of 1 Samuel, and took all
the women and children captive, included some from the family of David, some from the family
of David. In that 30th chapter, David responds, verse
16 and 17, but again didn’t kill all the Amalekites. Five centuries later, a descendent of Agag
shows up. His name Haman in the book of Esther. What does he want to do? Obliterate the Jews. You say, what in the world are you talking
about? Well, it’s only an analogy, but I’m telling
you. If you don’t hack sin to pieces, it’s
coming back. And it will come back reinvigorated, and sometimes
stronger than ever. The sin that remains must be ruthlessly hacked
to pieces or it will revive and plunder your heart again. John Owens said, sin is not killed when it
is only covered up, and is not killed when it is internalized. Sin is not killed when it is exchanged for
another sin. Sin is not killed when it is repressed. Sin has only been killed when the conscience
has been appeased. It’s a life long effort with a promise,
that He who began a good work in us will perfect it in the day of Jesus Christ. Father, what a wonderful thing it is to consider
the reality of our spiritual struggle. We need to understand it. There’s no point in following some imaginary
path. We need to know the truth. We need to understand who we are. And my conscience, and all our conscience
resonate with this. We’ve been saved. We’ve been justified and regenerated, redeemed,
ransomed. We’ve been converted. We’ve been transformed. We understand that we’ve seen all the realities
of new life pouring through us – a love of holy things, affections for those things
that are pure and good, the love of your Word, the love of Christian fellowship, the love
of the truth, the love of the lost, all these evidences of a transformed soul. But at the same time we understand, we are
still, we are still carrying the stench of the death that dominated us in our former
lives, and we long for day when we will be redeemed from the body of this corruption,
and You will loose us and let us go free. Until that time, give us a mentality of Samuel,
to understand that we can’t allow the remaining sins that are our enemies to survive. We’ve got to be willing to take ruthless
action against them continually. Thank you, Lord. We can’t do this in our own strength, but
we are able to do it because you strengthen us through your Spirit. We plead for a pure and clear conscience,
because sin, the resident, is being killed. Give us that victory, Lord, daily we pray. For your glory, we pray. Amen
