Note: This is one sermon from a multi-message series. The various parts are at the following links:

This presentation doesn't deal exhaustively with Romans six, which you will find some discussion of in Real Grace for Real People.

Introduction

We live in a society based on the "excuse" plan. That is, instead of being responsible people, we tend to discover, search for, invent, and subscribe to excuses. So often we look for the answer to our problems outside of ourself. "I'm not the problem." Ever heard anyone say that? Haven't we all said it at one time or another?

And probably there have been occasions where we weren't the main part of the problem. But more often than not, the truth be told, we manage, if nothing else, to contribute to the problem.

But this is a church and this is a Sabbath morning worship service, and we are Christians. Somehow Christians are exempt from this, right? No. Christians have often been coaxed into viewing God's plan of salvation as a universal patch-it kit. Whatever we don't get fixed in our life before it closes--before heaven makes a determination whether we really let Jesus be our personal Savior in the way He had in mind or not--whatever is left is supposed to be filled in, covered over, patched-up, by God's "grace." Thus we are saved.

Well, a solid look into the Bible is going to lead us to revise that kind of thinking. But instead of taking on the whole thing, let's, on this Sabbath morning, look into one of the common excuses current among Christians. The one I am thinking of runs more or less like this: "I have a fallen nature, and so everything I do is tainted with sin anyway. So God doesn't really expect me to overcome, but just to try real hard and then He'll make up the difference. I am so glad for grace."

Let's work on this. Let's take a spiritual look today at what the Bible says about real grace and our situation. Romans chapters six through eight speak of the situation we are in as regarding our body.

For example, Romans 6:6 says, "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."

Romans 7:24 states "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

And Romans 8:10 records "And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness."

So. Some say that because of our fallen nature we have an excuse to sin. Perhaps to some it may look that way for the moment. Don't plan on God leaving us there though. Let's try to get a handle on some of these statements. What is this "body of sin"?

An Excuse for Failure to Overcome?

Whatever it is, notice carefully what verse six says about it: "Our old man is crucified with Him." The result? The destruction, or at least the rendering inoperative of the "old man," with the result that after that "we should not serve sin." Now let's realize something. The body of sin is something that can be overcome through the power of heaven applied to the life. Romans 6:12 says, "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." Yes, the body pulls on us from the inside, it urges us, because our natures are fallen, to indulge ourselves in selfishness at whatever cost. Sin wants to reign in our mortal body. But does a Christian permit it to reign?

The fallen nature must never rule the Christian. The mortal body is a broken body. We should not obey the impulse to sin arising from our mortal body. But without God's help we are powerless to overcome our nature. From time to time In its own best interest, our nature might make a change. We've heard of unconverted, nonchristian people getting victory over smoking or other self-destructive vices. But even some who are controlled by their fallen nature can readily see that it is in their own best, selfish interest to make such a change.

But in Christianity, a person living under grace is not living so as to perpetually offer excuses for those animalistic pulls from his nature toward selfish indulgence; instead he lives under the reign of grace where the Spirit of God is at work to change what we are into what God knows we want to be. God's Spirit is a Workman deeply desiring to remake us in His image.

But what about the experience of Paul? Why does he say in Romans seven that he can't do what he wants to do? Is this all that we can hope for in a Christian experience? Is that grace? Why does he finally cry out, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:24).

I mean, it sounds as if he has an excuse for failing to overcome. He has a body just like you and I, and appears here to call it "the body of this death." Isn't that what you and I have? Don't we know by experience the "O wretched man that I am" feeling? Yes, we darkly do. But consider Paul's next words: not an excuse, but an explanation.

"I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin" (Romans 7:25). Paul is not saying that he can't obey God's law, but rather that he can obey it when he makes the right choice. "So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God." Nor is it his mind on its own apart from God's supernatural power. He wants to obey God, but he has not the power within himself. So he turns to God to provide it.

Will Worship?

To some this may sound like "will-worship" (Colossians 2:23). But the will is a crucial part of the image of God in man. It is no exaggeration to say that everything depends upon the right action of the will. Paul's complaint about the Colossian's "will-worship" is not difficult ot understand. They added numerous rules and regulations "after the commandments and doctrines of men" (Colossians 2:22). Obeying the commandments and doctrines of God is not will worship but God worship. "If you love Me," said Jesus, "Keep My commandments" (John 14:15). Mindless asceticism -- being hard on your body as some kind of payment to a God who is hard on your soul -- is not heaven's plan. But what God asks is only our "reasonable service" (Romans 12:1). Woe to those misguided Christians who chip away at what God requires by teaching even the breaking of the least of His commandments.

Do you recall what Jesus said in Matthew 18:3? It goes like this: "Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Some count it as the highest achievement when the Christian begins to question everything. Now God doesn't mind our questions, but He urges us to have faith more than doubt, humility more than self-conceited intellectualism. Little children obey more and ask questions less. Our service is not to be unthinking, but is to be unwavering. We are to cultivate faith and obedience rather than the other.

Legalism and the Psychological War

Some would have us think our having a burning desire to obey God is a form of legalism. Well, such "legalism" is a fantasy they have dreamed up to satisfy their own inward sophistries. All we like sheep have gone astray. We all have, buried deep within ourselves, the seed of self-destruction. But it will be determined by the trend of our own personality whether we water the seed with justifications for sin leading to pride, or sin leading to dissipation and self-hate.

Satan's deceptions take many forms. To the spiritually "advanced," nose-in-the-air, "I'm so spiritual that I've gone beyond obedience" crowd, Satan offers a form of Christianity in which all borderlines of truth are muted. Lacking such definition, the self-declared spiritually elite can meander through the fields of his own sins, selectively indulging while all the while telling himself that he is a servant of God. Perhaps even thinking himself to be one whom God would have press forward in helping the deluded "fundamentalists."

To the person caught in a trap of low self-respect, even in some form of self-hatred, the devil launches other deceptions, chief among them perhaps even the thought, "Well, maybe I am a legalist after all, as they've been saying so long." O mark it well Christian; Satan's schemes always lead to the breaking of God's law, for this is how souls are destroyed. Satan's plan is always to attack God's law. But he has learned how to do it with all the subtlety for which he is so renowned.

Satan wants to take advantage of our good intentions. He wants to confuse us by means of our conscience. So the Christian, who humbly is seeking for what is right is bombarded with these subtle inward insinuations about being too pious, trying too hard, seeking to be saved by one's works, etc. Watch out dear children! What does the devil do? He goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour, right? Don't miss something in that passage. You see, the reason a lion roars is to strike fear into his pray; it's not to let you know he's coming, it is to cause you to fear. And that's just exactly what he's been doing to Adventists. Only his roar comes in subtle tones carefully modulated to put you off your guard.

The lion's roar today is, "You're obsessing with standards." "Ah, you're one of the 'concerned brethren.'" "That's very literalist of you." "Brother, you're doing that because of tradition." "You're a raving fundamentalist." "You propose a yo-yo form of salvation." One book published a few years ago (1994) even suggests that an interest in character perfection will lead to "insanity." Then of course there are all the variants on legal: "legalist," legal-thinker," "Pharisee," "narrow," "fundamentalist," "fundamentalistic-person," "black-and-white thinker," etc. The list of epithets applied by those revising the gospel of Adventism today seems beyond exhaustion.

And what is it all? It is the sound of the lion's roar. They are trying to shout down the truth, not merely to drown it out, but to prevent even its verbal or written expression. Can we wonder that at this time God has seen fit to let the internet unleash itself upon the world? If the pulpit goes silent, He will give His message through other means. "I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence" (Isaiah 62:6).

When you hear the lion's roar, realize that he is roaring because it is he who is afraid. He doesn't want you to see or hear or give the real thing! So he roars. He will roar until his lion teeth fall out. Watch out. He is seeking to devour you. He wants to scare you with words, with the attitudes you may fear your friends at church will begin to entertain about you if you become too earnest. Watch out. This is the hour of his power, the power of darkness; don't fail now, right as we approach the point of testing. Realize, the great tests are still coming. Don't cave now; don't sell out now. Things are just starting really to get interesting!

Quickened by His Spirit

We may look to our weakened humanity for an excuse not to obey. But there is a solution to this. Listen:

"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Romans 8:5-14).

The mind is where all the decisions are made, even those characterized by the "fleshly" agenda. To be carnally ("fleshly") minded is death. But to be spiritually (filled with the presence and motivations of the Holy Spirit) minded is life and peace. The fleshly mind is an enemy of God. It refuses to obey Him. "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." This explains what Paul was saying when he cried out "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" He stated the same thing later when he said that the carnal mind "is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."

What then of the Christian? "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." Is the Spirit of God dwelling inside of the nonchristian? No. Is the Spirit of God dwelling inside of the Christian person? Yes. So if the Spirit of God is dwelling inside of you, then are you in the flesh? No -- you are in the Spirit! Can you have the Spirit in you and not have Christ in you? Never! "And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness."

If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin. Remember, we are "planted together in the likeness of His death" (Romans 6:5). "As many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death" (Romans 6:3).

I'm not talking so much about a mystical union here. Much more, I am talking about the fact that Jesus offers His perfect life in place of your imperfect life in the heavenly sanctuary right now from the chamber room of the most holy place in heaven. Before the Father He pleads His life in the place of your life. But He doesn't merely say, "Accept My life in the place of this unchanged sinner," but rather, "Father, because My life was given in place of his life, and You accepted it, today I am here in heaven interceding. He has prayed to be changed inwardly, and with Your permission I have sent him overcoming power, and he has accepted it. Because of mercy He has received Your grace, and he is a changed person because of it."

Crucified With Christ

But what could this Scripture mean that if Christ is in us, then "the body is dead because of sin"? Consider Galatians 2:20: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Paul says he is crucified with Christ, and yet he (Paul) lives. But that makes sense, for Christ was crucified and today He (Christ) lives. But Paul says that the life that is in him is not his own, but that "Christ liveth in me." Now notice this too. He says he is living life now "in the flesh." He is not living a life of fleshliness, but he is living life obedient now while Still dwelling in fallen flesh. That is because if you permit the Spirit of God to be in you, then you can live in fallen flesh and be victorious all the way anyway. "The Spirit is life because of righteousness."

"The body is dead because of sin," because Jesus paid the penalty for sin when He expired on the cross for humankind. The body was condemned, so it died in figure with Jesus on the cross. We had no part in atonement, but we had part in condemnation. It was Jesus whom God called back out of the grave, who resurrected, not us. We made no offering accepted by God; our lives were unacceptable, condemnable, suitable for destruction.

No friends, the law has no power for man. It condemns. But it also illumines. And then the Spirit of God can work for us, for then only do we sense our need. What we need is the righteousness of God. And this righteousness He is more than willing to supply.

Mark you, this righteousness does not come by means of the law. The law is not its source. Only the divine is the source for our righteousness. Only through Jesus Christ may we attain unto righteousness, but through Him we may indeed attain unto real righteousness. Even I say, the righteousness of the law. For the Scripture saith, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Romans 8:3-4). If you don't believe this, then your argument is not with me. I'm just the preacher. Your argument is with God.

Who are Christ's? "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts" (Galatians 5:24). Colossians 1:22 says that we have been reconciled by Christ "In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight." The death of Christ on the cross for us accomplishes something brothers and sisters. If we will lay hold -- truly lay hold of what God has there done for us -- we shall be presented before God as "holy," "unblameable," and "unreproveable" in His sight. And His sight is all-penetrating. Nothing is hidden from Him with whom we have to do. His word is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).

Made Complete in Him Through His Power

We are made complete in Christ in whom dwells all power. Is that power ineffectual, quiescent, a glowing electrical spastic nothingness since it is not applied to us? I think not. God longs to apply His power to us. But He won't do it without our consent, and so so many of us remain powerless. It is more convenient to be powerless. It makes a great excuse. So since God won't help me I'm doomed to go on the tired way, sinning and living, sinning and living, until I come to my end and discover that the wages of sin is death of an eternal duration.

Consider the testimony of Colossians 2:11-12 which says of Christ that in Him "we are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead." Just as Christ now appears in heaven in a tabernacle not made with hands, one He pitched and not man, so too He offers us the circumcision made without hands. It is the circumcision of Christ's heart applied to our own.

Steadfastly our Savior resisted the temptation to indulge His humanity. His example of how to live would have been ruined for us had He consented to respond to the flesh. So He didn't. His burial therefore means the incapacitation of our fallen nature; no longer does it hold controlling power over us. The "motions of sins" (Romans 7:5) which had been the outworking of our broken nature in our thoughts and behavior are neutralized. Now we are risen with Christ. Now our members become "instruments of righteousness" (Romans 6:13).

The Counterfeit is Growing Bold

We must guard against automatically assuming that if we seem to be persecuted, it's because we are living godly in Christ Jesus; we can never assume that we've spiritually "arrived." But at the same time it is true that real grace, effectually working in our lives as we cooperate with God's Spirit will in fact lead us to live lives that are godly in Christ Jesus, and our bodies will become "instruments of righteousness." Don't be surprised if your life warm with the presence of God's Spirit brings out the coldness in others -- even in the church. It is a starkly blinking red glowing sign of our age that not only in the world outside our borders but more than ever within the precincts of the church we find departure from right.

How many in our day pride themselves on their enlightenment, walking in a theological dream-world of their own making and their own mind. Tripping in the dazzling glare of a "progressive" approach to Christianity, they truly seek that which is the least spiritual, has the least of Christ's cross in it, is the least humiliating to their broken nature. Whatever theory they concoct or is concocted for them they slurp up in haste, for it provides a means of quieting the violated conscience. What they desire is a method of forgetting God which shall pass as a method of remembering Him. And this they find.

Two classes of religionist revel in this new version of grace. Those who would be saved in their sins, and those who would be saved by their merits. The borderlines of sin are explained away in intellectual smoke-signals opening the door for whatever sin one would like to bask in, while the other class attains to salvation by their advancement in accommodation and "maturity." When you get to the place where you can call evil good and good evil, you've arrived.

May God have mercy on us pastors in the day of judgment (as you know we already are in) for being unbarking dogs and blind watchmen. We have slept at our posts and the enemy has entered the camp in force. He has brought in a blurry theological mixture he calls "grace," and stupidly we have swallowed great drafts from the poisonous cup.

The gospel of God's grace breaks the power of the body of sin. Whether we understand that body to be the fallen human nature we bear, or the habit patterns of sin built up over years, or whatever we may think it to be, if we will be "in the Spirit" rather than under the bondage of our flesh, God will have His way and our lives will thrill with the victory.

Conclusion

What is stronger brothers and sisters? The power of the body twisted by sin or the power of the Creator who gives grace? If sin abounds, if there is much of it, isn't it true that grace more abounds, that there is much more power in grace than there can be in sin? Real grace means real life in the Spirit, real victory. It means the effective creative power of Christ in the life. His power makes worlds and remakes sinners. It gives hope to the hopeless. It takes away our excuses and replaces them with our praises. We are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Let this be our prayer.