Dead Weight – Romans 8:10-12

 The only time that most of us think about cloth is when someone comes along wearing a new kind of clothing. I know that some of you ladies think about it for sewing and other things, but men in particular hardly ever give it a thought. And yet, for thousands of years man has been experimenting with various fibers, and what they might do. And then science keeps coming up with different kinds of materials, accomplishing different things. But whether old or new, cloth is made in basically the same sort of way – Whatever the fiber, it is made into a thread, and then it is woven into a mesh along with hundreds of other fibers or other kinds of thread. They are made into sheets of that particular fabric and then made into clothing or bedding or whatever.

Paul is not unlike a weaver, taking a dozen or more different colored doctrines and linking them all together. Some of them go up and down in the cloth, and then sometimes he takes the same color and runs them from side to side. Once in a while he lays that color down and moves on to another color, but then comes back to it later. And, of course, the best way to make the brightest colors look more bright, is to weave them into colors that are dark or drab. Right now, Paul is taking some of the most beautiful thread and adding it to a somewhat ugly variety.

What is the major theme of the Apostle at this point? As the Lord Jesus said: “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall NEVER perish.” As Apostle Peter said: We are “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” I think that one of the primary colors of this chapter is the security in which our soul’s reside. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” “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. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.” Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Those statements sound simple enough, and we accept them by faith, but there are a number of spiritual components involved in that security. The Omnipotent God has some complicated problems to work out to accomplish this blessing of security. And these are some of the things that make up this chapter.

One of the problems is the question of “the flesh” and it’s cousin “the body.” This is one of the darker fibers in this garment of salvation and glory. How can God save the soul out of the midst of a corrupted flesh? Or should we say “while still in the midst of corrupted flesh”? And then, “Can He save the body as well as the soul”? If he does save the body how shall He do it? And what about the differences and relationship between “the flesh” and“the body?”

Thinking about a body, let’s look at these verses using these five key words: corpse, culprit, quickening, cause, and conclusion.

Every Christian carries about a corpse, a dead body, and he will until the day leaves world.Years ago I received a letter from a missionary friend who then served the Lord in the Fiji Islands. That letter was kind of sad and comical at the same time. It seems that a little boy who attended his church had died. In Fiji they don’t have undertakers – funerals are handled by the family and their church. So Brother Hagan had picked up body of this boy from the proper officials and carried it home. His freezer was small, so the body had lay on his kitchen table for while. Then the men of the church made a casket into which they placed the body and borrowed a pick-up to take the remains to the place of burial. But there were things which had to be done even in Fiji before the interment could be completed. They had to stop at a couple of governmental offices, at a store, and then to pick up other family members. Sister Eileen and another English lady even had to ride in the back of the pick-up with the casket. For at least half a day, just about everywhere Brother Joe went, this body followed behind him. You can imagine that it would have been an eerie feeling. But there has been another dead body attached to Joe Hagan a lot longer than that. And it’s been following every Christian throughout their lives.

What does Paul mean when he says, “If Christ be in you”? I know that we’ve dealt with this before, but for the sake of a consistent piece of cloth, bear with me. First, as is frequently the case in the Bible, this is a rhetorical question. As I’ve tried to prove already, there isn’t any doubt whether or not Christ dwells in the Christian. This is just like our key phrase last week: “Assuming that …” Assuming that Christ be in you……. certain things automatically take place, or at least should. “If ye then be risen with Christ (and I assume that you are), seek those which are above.” Paul assumes that Christ is “in” the Christian. And again, how is that possible? Christ dwells in us through His Holy Spirit, as we described last week. The Holy Spirit is as much the “Spirit of Christ” as He is the “Spirit of God.” Verse 9 – “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.” If Christ dwells in us, we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit.

And the verse before us this morning says, “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” So then what is the corpse? What body is dead? Do we need a good forensic expert here to find the body? Let me point out that in his original language Paul uses a different word here than “flesh” in other verses. “Flesh” is “sarx,” but “body” is “soma.” They are not related words even though the thought is remotely related. As Paul generally uses it, “flesh” refers to our fallen sinful nature – our Adamic nature. But “body” refers to the tissues, the skin, the organs, the brain, and the blood of body. Just as does our spirit, the “flesh” resides in the “body” but it is definitely easier to relate body and flesh. And in addition to the different words, Paul says that this body is already dead – not that it is dying. Your living soul is residing in a dead cocoon, like a butterfly’s chrysalis. Baring the miraculous intervention of God, your body has no other prospect but the grave. It hasn’t yet been interred – buried – it’s just bouncing around in the back of your pick-up, or to be more biblical, it’s strapped to the back of your soul and you are toting it around everywhere you go.

In other words, unlike what he says in other places, this time Paul is actually talking about the Christian’s body. The one that is so sore after camp with sleeping on the ground, playing so physically hard and climbing up that hill three dozen times. He’s talking about a body with eyes that don’t work as well as they once did, if they work at all. He’s talking about a body with stiff muscles, a tired hands and minds which just want to fall asleep.

And who is the CULPRIT in the death of this body?The answer is pretty clear in Roman 5:12 – “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” I know that this verse teaches spiritual death as well, but the Lord makes sure that we learn about spiritual death by carrying around the physical bodies of our dead loved ones.

I was witnessing to a friend of mine, trying to talk to him about his soul. He was raised in a Catholic home, which colored just about everything that he heard. For example he interrupted me by asking, “Do you believe in original sin?” I tried to avoid the question, but he was insistent. He didn’t like the doctrine that Adam, 6,000 years ago, made sure that all of us were spiritually dead. I tried to tell this man, while I don’t deny that we all died in Adam, because he chose to sin against God, let’s change the direction of our thoughts just a bit. We are, body, soul and spirit, because of sin, no matter where it originated. There is a murderer who has already invaded your home – your body – and he will kill you. His name is sin. Even if someone wants to deny spiritual death, he can still be made to see sin, through the examination of physical death. There is a disease which kills every human being, and every living thing on earth.

The body is essentially dead because of sin.

But for the Christian, there is a QUICKENING – In the Spirit there is life.This chapter is talking about the blessings of being a child of God throughout eternity. But the body that you have right at the moment cannot face eternity – it is not eternal. Who was that Spanish explorer who was looking for Fountain of Youth – Max Factor? Ponce de Leon? You young ladies, forget it, no matter how hard try you can’t save that body. Even though men might not care quite as much about how they look, they still want to live forever. And yet, it cannot happen, no matter how many fountains there are and how many pills or botox injections.

But the soul, ah, there is another question and another answer. The soul is eternal and will spend that eternity in either Heaven or Hell. Unfortunately, the Spirit, too, is dead because of sin.

But Paul is not talking here about the children of Satan, or simply the children of Adam. “If Christ be in you, the body is dead, because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians and made a thrilling statement at the beginning chapter 2. “And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.” Then in verse 5 – “Even when we were dead in sins, hath God quickened us together with Christ.” Or as we read by way of illustration in Luke 15:24 – “This my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” Each of these statements is talking about spiritual deaths and spiritual returns, but they are in a context of a physical body which is as good as dead.

The Christian can almost forget about his body, because his spirit is alive in the Holy Spirit. We can almost forget about the body, but not quite, because the Lord wants us to continue to live and serve him with our bodies here upon the earth. Until the interment, we have earthly work to do in the service of the King. And the reason that we can serve the Lord is that we have been made alive – quickened – resurrected.

What are we told is the CAUSE of this Quickening? – It is Righteousness.Paul doesn’t repeat here what he said in chapter 5, but we can repeat it – “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” Going back even farther into chapter 3, Paul said, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” There is an ingredient necessary in all of us before we can be admitted into the presence of the Lord – righteousness. But, because of sin neither you nor I possess any righteousness at all. Isaiah says that what we may think is personal righteousness really is nothing but disgustingly filthy rags.

But when the Holy Spirit regenerates the sinner – When the Spirit of Christ comes upon a person – When a sinner is saved by God’s grace – the righteousness of Christ is applied to the account of that repenting believer. Romans 3:22 speaks about the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. Again, Romans 5:17 talks about the gift of righteousness; Christ’s gift to the repenting sinner.

There would be no point in quickening either body or soul, if the spirit wasn’t born of righteousness. Without the holiness of righteousness there can no man see God. So God has tied regeneration – being born again – to the imparting of the righteousness of Christ. The two must go together.

And what is the conclusion of this as far as the body is concerned? “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.”

God is not finished with that body of yours. It may be essentially dead, and it may release your spirit into the presence of God as early as this afternoon. We may have to plant that body in a 7 foot grave, or perhaps even burn it to ashes. But like the diver who leaves a small buoy every time he goes into the depths, God has a mark over every grave and every ash. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise …” – I Thessalonians 4:16. “We know that he who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you” – II Corinthians 4:14. “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed” – I Corinthians 15:52.

These are shouting words. But they are words of joy, only for those who can properly say, “Christ is in me.” The resurrection of the body will be a joyful thing only for those who have been made spiritually alive first. Jesus said unto Martha, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” And to Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again.” Have you been born again?