The Christian’s Dead Body

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. This is Patrol one. Come in headquarters, Headquarters. This is Patrol one. Please come in Patrol one. This is headquarters. Go ahead. Yes, I'm at the First Baptist Church, and we have made a horrible discovery. We have found three hundred dead bodies. Do you copy headquarters. I'm at the First Baptist Church. We have made a horrible discovery. We have found three hundred dead bodies. Now is that a scene from some horror movie?

0:52 Is that a scene from some disaster movie? Or is that scene the key secrets to understanding the Christian life? And is that a secret that gives you the clue and how to live out your Christian life? Is the secret to the Christian life? Understanding that whether it's the First Baptist Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Lutheran Church, it doesn't matter the name on the church. When you walk in, it doesn't matter you pick the Wednesday, you pick the Sunday. You walk in. If there's one hundred people there, there's one hundred dead bodies. If there are three hundred people there, there are three hundred dead bodies. If there are ten thousand people there, there are ten thousand dead bodies. And every church when you walk in, all everyone there, their bodies are dead. Is that the secret to the Christian life. Well, we're going to try to figure that out in just a few minutes, But first let me remind you that it is Monday, September the twenty third, twenty twenty four.

2:05 It is currently two sixteen pm Central time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. And yes, I see dead bodies. I see dead bodies all around me. I see dead bodies every time I go to church. Am I seeing the right thing? Is that? The answer is the answer to the Christian life is like hey everyone, everyone, look around, look around, We're all all of our bodies are dead. That's the answer. Now. I know it sounds crazy, I know it sounds almost a little bit bizarre, but that is a very simplified, maybe oversimplified explanation to the Christian life. In my last live broadcast, I introduced you to a book entitled Six of the Christian Life by Zaye Hodges. Six Secrets of the Christian Life by Zain Hodges.

3:07 I told everyone to get a copy. You can get it on kindle for three dollars. You can purchase it a nactual physical copy for like four dollars. I told everyone to get a copy. And the reason I told I told everyone to look at this book, and the reason I told you I was going to at least consider these supposed six secrets, is because of things going on in Christianity right now. Now. The things going on in Christianity right now are not unusual because they've been going on for two thousand years, and that is sin, sin, sin, sin, sin. But we had a public scandal, we had a very well known pastor removed from the pulpit because of sin, and everyone's talking about it, speculating about it, condemning, judging, giving all of their thoughts and opinions. But I have decided, let's take this situation and look at ourselves, look at well, just look at Christianity at large. Does Christianity really have an answer for the reality of sin in your life and my life and your church is life, and your pastor's life and my church's life and my life itself.

4:17 Does Christianity really have an answer? Because Christianity inevitably tries to sell us this idea that when we become a Christian, practically speaking, we become a new creature. The old is gone, everything is new. We have a new heart. We basically can say no to sin, yes to God. We can be perfect. Well, I mean, we can't actually be perfect, but we can be pretty close to perfect. That's how Christianity sells itself. But the reality is is you sin all the time. You sin all the time. You're constantly in a state of sin. The Bible tells you to be holy as God is holy. You will never be that, meaning you're in a perpetual state of sin. You're in a perpetual state of disobedience to the command to be holy as God is holy. Jesus has be fect as your heavenly Father is perfect. You're in a perpetual state of disobedience to that because you'll never be perfect as God is perfect. You're told to love God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul. You will never do that, So you're in a perpetual state of disobedience to that very verse. You are in a continual state of disobedience to these verses, to these commands, But somehow Christianity's like, well, no, okay, well that doesn't really matter as long as I don't commit that sin, whatever that sin is, because if I commit that sin, then that's the end. So we have to do a lot of pretending. We have to live in this never ending basically contradiction, and some Christians are able to navigate it. They just convince themselves that they're I guess I don't know they're there. They've reached some level of self righteousness that they feel good about themselves

5:47 while they condemn other people. I think other people live lives of, you know, of quiet desperation and despair. I think they just live defeated and not understanding, questioning their salvation, not understand what's going on. And so we've talked about how does Christianity respond to it? And on Sunday yesterday at Victory Baptist Church, I talked about how lordship Salvation would try to respond to this reality right, and I feel that that leaves us not in a good place. And so I have documented, going all the way back to the early Church, throughout church history, all the different theilological approaches and answers to how why do Christians continue to sin and how do we understand it? How do we deal with it? And I wanted to turn on the microphone and document that, but then I stumbled across again.

6:40 There was a comments section under an article about this famous pastor who fell into sin, and of course everyone had their opinions, their judgments, their speculations, their questions, their demands that they get more information and or calling into question. This just a lot of wild speculation and condemnation. But someone said, is the book everyone needs? Is six Secret to the Christian Life? So I'm like, okay, does this book have the answer? So I purchased a copy. And the main reason I hate these books about oh I've got the secret, Oh here's the secret. But the reason I was intrigued by this book is it's written by Zaye Hodges, meaning it's not coming at this subject from a lordship position, which we talked about yesterday. It's coming at it from a free grace perspective or what many would refer to in a negative way, easy believism. And I'm like, okay, I want to understand this. So in the last episode I gave you, we read a little bit of the introduction or the forward and the prologue.

7:41 We did a little bit of that information. We started chapter one and I was just going to kind of like, well, I gave everyone the book, they can go get it. But chapter one just kept I'm like I couldn't just let it go. I'm like, I've got to talk about it because chapter one puts forth the idea that the the secret to the Christian life is for you and I to understand dead bodies. Dead bodies. The key to understand your Christian life, according to this book, the secret to really understanding your Christian life so that you can move forward and we can deal with the reality of sin is that we have dead bodies, so we can.

8:26 This is Patrol one. Come in headquarters, Headquarters. This is Patrol one. Please come in Patrol one. This is headquarters. Go ahead. Yes, I'm at the first Baptist Church. We have made a horrible discovery. We have found three hundred dead bodies. Now I started that way to hopefully try to grab your attention, but is that really the answer? Is the answer? Okay, when next time you go to church, just walk into church and look around and just say you can whisper to your kids, I see dead bodies. Just whisper to your kids, I see dead bodies, or whisper to your spouse, I see dead bodies. Or just go run up to your pastor and say pastor, pastor, and you're like, yeah, look, I see dead bodies. Now may he may tell you to go home and never come back, Okay, but I'm telling you. Do what I'm asking. Okay.

9:26 It will make you very popular. Okay, it will make you the most popular. Just walk around people in the church and say, do you see the dead bodies? Just do it. Just walk around here, do you see the dead bodies? Walk into your Sunday school class and go do you see the dead bodies? All right, everyone will think you're crazy, but maybe then it will spark a very important philological lesson. Is the problem within Christianity is the thing is the way we understand that the Christian life is a life of sin. I know Christians don't try to deny that, but it's the reality Christianity is a life of sin. Is The issue is dead bodies. Now what do we mean by that? Well, we're gonna try to figure that out, and we're gonna do so by looking at chapter one of Six Secrets of the Christian life. Now I'm gonna walk through it, right, Bet, I'm gonna do a lot of interrupting, adding discussing, and we're just we're just gonna try to figure out their perspective.

10:19 They base this entire secret that they think is the key to the Christian life based off Romans chapter eight. So we're going to look at this. There's a lot of things I wanted to do. I wanted to go, well, let's just look at Romans eight ten through eleven. Boom. Now, let's look at how this verse has been understood throughout the history of Christianity. Go through every interpretation, then circle back around to the book. But let's just start with the book and then maybe over the rest of this week we can expand this to do more work on Romans eight ten through eleven. Right, So, if you want a sermons two point oh sermon challenge for this week, it's Romans eight ten through eleven. You're gonna be looking up sermons, random sermons on Romans eight ten through eleven.

11:01 But we're going to see how they handle it. All right. I'm not saying they're wrong. I'm not saying they're right. I do think It's an interesting perspective that the reason this would be their answer if I came to them, hey, why is the Christian life a life of sin? And their answer would be dead bodies? Is that the answer? Do they have the answer? Or is it only going to leave us profoundly confused? Okay? Is it going to leave us altely? I don't know. I don't know. But are you ready? Here's how the chapter begins. How does a Christian live the Christian life? Now? That's a profound question, right, how do you live the Christian life? Now? I will argue, how do you live as a Christian knowing that your Christian life is a life of sin? I am going I am going to continually dogmatically assert that the Christian life is a life of sin? And I don't care if every Christian on the planet disagrees with me. Again, I can just I can give you the test. Be holy as God is holy. Unless you convince yourself that you're as holy as God, you are in complete disobedience of that verse, perpetually, be perfect as you're heavily you know, love God with all your heart, mind, body, And so I can just go through scripture after scripture you would have to acknowledge I'm in sin. So then how do you live the Christian life? Do you live the Christian life by working hard? Is that the key? Work hard,

12:33 work harder, try harder, do more, by making up your mind to just do it? Is it about just making a commitment. I'm gonna make a commitment that I'm going to do it well. You can make all the commitments, you can work as hard as you want. Here's what I know. No matter no matter how many commitments you make, no matter how many vowels you make, no matter how many church covenants you sign, no matter how many promises you make, no matter how committed you are, no matter how many times you write in a notebook all the things you're going to do, no matter how disciplined you are, no matter why, Here's what I can absolute guarantee you. You will never be sinless. You will never get to perfection, meaning you're still in sin, and for some reason there's something holding you back from getting to perfection. At best, now I'm going back to the book. Such answers as the ones I've given. At best, such answers as these do not tell us much. At worst, they misrepresent the Christian life by giving us an unbalanced view of it.

13:47 They suggest that the kind of life that pleases God is primarily a matter of effort and striving. Hey, if you want to please God, do this, do this, do this, do this, do this, do this, and how do you do this? You've got to be disciplined. You got to put forth the work. You got to put forth the effort. Now again, some Christians will like, no, no, no, no, no, no no no no no no, God will do it. Well, if God will do it, then the obvious question would be, well, then we should all be perfect, right if God is the one doing it in me and through me. If God is the one, then why wouldn't God just get me to perfection? All right? No matter which way you go with this, you're going to end up well where we always end up just confused, and it's all complicated and contradictory and discombobulated and what all the other words we can come up with, a right, many Bible believing Christians, many many Bible believing people would would want to add something like, well, but you got to get help from God.

14:48 You got you need help from God. See, if you'll get help from God, then that's what you need. The way to live the Christian life is you rely on God, you rely on his spirit. He will empower you, he will strengthen you, and he will do it for you. Okay, well again, if God is the one empowering, strengthening and doing it for me, anything not happening would be God's fault just by logical inference, right, if God's the one doing it, If I'm not doing it's God's fault. That's why you have That's why many theologies come along say well, then that means you're not saved. That means you're not saved, and then they end up throwing out basically everyone out of the Kingdom of God other than themselves. So that's problematic. The other issue is if God is doing it, then why can't I get to perfection? Because if God is doing it, he's omni omnipotent. He tells me to be holy.

15:36 If God wants me to be holy, calls me to be holy, and he's the one doing it, well then I should be holy. I mean, those are reasonable rational questions, all right, But then if we were to ask, well, wait a minute, you say God is the one who's supposed to be helping me, Well, how does he help? The answers may turn out to be very general, basically vague, and something like well, he gives us strength, And then you would be like, well, what does that mean? What is the nature of that strength? Is it spiritual? What do we mean by spiritual? In other words, the issue is, even when you try to ask people how to live out the Christian life, it's confounding, it's confusing, it's discombobulated, it's contradictory, and it's maddening if you care at all to really think it through. Now, according to the book, the answer to how to live the Christian life, the answer to all of our problems is found in two verses Romans eight ten through eleven. And if Christ be in you, and if Christ be in you, the body is dead. There's the dead bodies. The body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness.

17:03 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 the spirit that dwelleth in you. Now what they're going to put forth there, the way they're going to handle Romans eight ten through eleven. And now they're going to handle this in a very dogmatic way, and they're not even going to assert or acknowledge all the different interpretations there are to Romans eight ten through eleven. There's a long list of interpretations throughout church history and Romans eight ten through eleven, a long list. So as you're listening to sermons this week on Romans eight ten through eleven, try to document how many different interpretations one finds. All right, but in church history, let me tell you they are legion. Okay, there's a lot. So here is how they describe it.

17:55 Here's what they believe. The problem is, all right, in a nutshell. This this is from the book Six Secrets of the Christian Life. We have the fundamental problem of Christian living. Here's the fundamental problem of Christian living. Are you ready? Every Christian and habits a dead body. Headquarters. This is patrol headquarters. This is patrol one. Go ahead, Patrol one. This is headquarters. Yes, I'm at First Baptist Church. We have made a horrible discovery. There are three hundred dead bodies. I started with that. I've repeated that, I've repeated it. Now a third time. Why Because their argument in this book is that the problem, the fundamental problem is that you, as a Christian, you inhabit a dead body.

18:49 The problem is your your body. What is ifical body is dead? Therefore that's the problem. All of your problems with sin is your dead body. Okay, so then what's the answer. How do we overcome the dead body? Because it sounds like, now, okay, my body is the problem. Now when we say the body, does that include the nature? It seems that it's drawing a distinction from the physical, actual body, my actual body, and then what's inside of me?

19:33 That the Christian's problem is my body is dead, but something inside me is really different, and that that's the conflict. All right, I'm going to go back to the book a little bit here. We often forget this or we do not realize it at all, And they say, their argument is the problem is we forget this or we don't even realize it. We don't realize it. Hey, I'm I'm walking around in a dead body. After all, we are physically alive. We are not naturally inclined to regard our physical bodies as dead. I think that's true. We don't we're not naturally inclined to go, hey, look, I know you see me. But just note this body. It is dead, dead, dead, dead dead. But from God's point of view, the book argues, that's the reality that, from God's point of view, my body is dead. This is the argument. Paul leaves no doubt about this fact. He states plainly, now they're going to quote. Now they're quoting from their translation, and if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin. He does not say that the body is dead if Christ is not in you, but rather if Christ is in you. This describes the spiritual condition of a Christian's body. So they're saying, this

21:04 is the reality of a Christian's body even as a Christian you are your body is dead, all right. Now, So what they're I think where they're going they're going to lead to an inevitable conflict. And the inevitable conflict they're going to put forth is my body is dead, but inside of me there's life, and there's a there's a battle between the life in me and the body that surrounds that life. And so the problem is my physical body now inevitable. You can kind of see where this is going to go okay. So so because you think logically, then this would say this, okay, so then all I need to do it's just discipline my physical body.

21:56 Like all I gotta do is discipline my physical body and then I won't s right, that seems to be the inevitable concept because if everything in me that they haven't mentioned it yet, but if they're going to go to the direction that if everything inside of me has been changed or transformed, then that seems to it. I mean, there's no more a sinful nature, or if there's no more a sinful nature, there's no more a sinful heart, then where does the sin arise? They're saying, it's my body that's causing the problem. It's it's in other words, the engine that would drive the body to sin has been changed. Well, if the engine has been changed, then why wouldn't the engine drive the body. But they're saying that the engine is changed, but the body can still say no to the engine. This gets very almost schizophrenic and almost confusing in how to process this. So when we become a Christian, this is going to be the argument the book is going to make. When we become a Christian, the inward being or natature changes, but the physical body remains unchanged. It's the same as it was before. So, according to them, when you become a Christian, internally everything changed, your entire nature changed. So, according to their theory, their view is hey inside now they haven't used the words yet, but basically what they're saying inside, internally, you are a new creature. The old is gone. Everything is new, no

23:29 more sinful nature. You are completely free from sin internally, but somehow your external body is the problem. Now this seems confusing because this seems to state, so can the physical body overcome the new nature? Is the new nature slave to the physical body? Now, Jesus seems to indicate, and you can look up scriptures to see if you agree with it, that sin comes from inside, right, that the sin is coming from the call is coming from inside the house. They're saying, no, no, no, inside the house. The the serial killer has been removed, the enemy has been now, there's no inside the house. It's all good.

24:15 The call coming from inside the house is godly and pure and right now the problem has outside the house. This even becomes more confounding and confused. So the way they would if you want to draw a picture of this. This is what they would say. They would draw a picture of a human being and an inside if you want to even do it as a stick figure. On the inside of the stick figure. It's new. Everything is new, new nature, new heart, everything's changed, transformed. The body, right, the body of the stick figure, that's all dead. That's all dead, all right, So all right, let's see if they explain any of this. The body, they go on to say, the physical body is still infected by the dead virus of sin and as a result, is completely unresponsive to the new life in the Christian now that the Christian now possesses. So here's the issue. You've got new life, you've got a transform, but your body is unresponsive.

25:16 Your body is dead. Your body is just not it won't respond. So the the inward life can be like, come on, do good, come on, don't sin, and the and the dead body is just like, I don't it's just it's just unresponsive. It won't do anything. It just it won't do anything. It just does what the dead body does, which I guess is just sin because it's it's infected by the deadly virus of sin. So the end, so the call coming from inside the house is like, come on, do good, do good, do good? Do good? Do good, do good, And the body is like no, not doing it, not answering the call, unresponsive. So then how do you get the body to be responsive to the new nature supposedly inside? This is there there, This is supposed to the secret. If you'll understand that your body is dead, then you'll figure out the secret to the Christian life, or at least secret number one. Let's see if they explain this anymore. The Christian is inwardly alive, but his physical house is dead. That is totally incapable of response to the new life within. So inside you're completely alive, you're alive, but your body is just like sorry, it's completely unresponsive. Again, their words were, it is totally incapable of response. The body will not respond to the new nature. So now how does the new nature? What's the solution? Then they describe it as a great chasm

26:51 yawns between these two completely opposite conditions, That there's a great chasm, a great gulf in between these two reaction or two conditions that they would say. On a personal level, Paul was acutely conscious of this chasm early in his Christian life, he had personal experience what it meant to desire God's will inwardly yet be unable to perform it through his physical body. And then they point to Romans seven fifteen through twenty five. They're like, they're saying, this is this is this is the way it describes it. So we can read Romans chapter seven, verse fifteen. For that which I for that which I do, I allow, not for what I would that do I not? But what I hate that do I? If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

27:52 Now here's the confusing part. Paul, right there seems to say there's sin in him. This is arguing no, no, no, no, Paul, there's no sin in you. It's just your body. See. The problem is in you is like do it, and your body is like I don't. I don't know how to, I don't know how to describe unresponsiveness. Your body just sits. I'm just I can just be silent. Your body doesn't doesn't respond. But here says now that it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. To me, the text seems to indicate sin is still inside the house. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me. But how to perform that which is good I find not. Now they're arguing, Hey, in you, it's where the desire comes from. But your the you can't find a way to perform it because your body will not respond. So inwardly you're like God, Jesus, holiness, purity, righteous, and your body's just Again. I don't know how to describe unresponsibleness. It's just nothing. That's the way they are understanding this. For the good that I would do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now, if I do that, I would not. It is no more that I do it, but sin that dwelleth than me.

29:17 That's the second time it says sin dwells in me. Now they're trying to argue sin only dwells in the physical body. They're trying to say, in me only refers to the external flesh, not your inward nature. This is where I'm struggling with their concept. I find then a law when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. Now this is where they I think they find some they feel some textual support. See it's in my members where the sin lies. But in me is the new nature. So it's the inward man fighting the external body. This is where they feel is the answer to the Christian life. Well, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body, from the body of this death. And I've seen that that's using the body.

30:17 So then they're like, okay, and I can agree that. Now there's some verses here that sounds like it works right, But I think you're ignoring the other verses. But Paul, the way he describes it, I don't think he describes it according necessarily to their theory. He says, I thank God through Jesus Christ. So then with the mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Now, Paul seems to draw a correlation between the mind and the flesh. I think what he's trying to say is that my mind I know the truth now, because when we talk about repentance being a change of mind, I think this is how it fits. My mind has changed. I now accept that this is a sin, there is a God, this is right, this is wrong. But my flesh, my the rest of me, is still infected by sin. And I think that goes beyond more than just the external That goes beyond just the external body. They describe it this way. Romans seven fifteen through twenty five, which we just worked through, vividly describes the struggle that this produced at this early period.

31:23 No passage of scripture more clearly reveals the fundamental problem of Christian living than does Roman seven. Though some have thought that Roman seven describes Paul's unsaved days, this is not credible. As an unregenerate, self righteous Pharisee, he could not have had the sensitive spiritual struggle described in this chapter. In this passage, Paul declares his inward spiritual pleasures in God's commandments. He says, I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. Yet immediately adds, but I see another law in my members, that is, the member of his body warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. No wonder that uh an exasperation, he exclaims, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Now?

32:08 I do agree. Roman seven gives us a very you know, back and forth, a very almost a duality, a conflict, a disagreement, almost a schizophrenic kind of description, like there's two things going on. Now. I think the problem is when we start trying to break this down, like to which part? I think, if we, if we if we're not careful, if we if we take all the bad part and just make it to the external body, but inwardly everything is good. This to me seems problematic because the inward part is what is that not the motor that drives the body. But now they have the inward part that's right, but the body is unresponsive. So well, then how do you get the boy to respond? Now, he goes on to say, his own dead body frustrated him.

33:13 It is safe to say, therefore, that we have not grasped the true nature of Christian living unless we perceive this basic truth. So his argument is, hey, you've not even understand Christianity one oh one. You've not even understand the basics until you realize your body is dead. Now, what is he going to say here? If we imagine that by some effort of our own will, we can do what the Lord expects of us, we are seriously mistaken. So he's like, hey, now, if you think that somehow we can do what the Lord expects of us by our own will, it can't happen, all right, So now I know that I can fill the setup coming right, because it's going to be like, hey, you can't do it.

34:04 Your body is dead. Your body will not respond, so you can't do it. And I know at any point you can hear the dramatic music dun't dun dun dun du. But God will do it for you all again. If God will do it for you, then we should be able to cold be perfectly sinless because we already have a suppose that everything inside has been changed. So and then if God fixes the body part, well then we're ready to go. Right. And if God fixed the inward part, why didn't he just fix the body part as well? But Okay, let's see where they're going to go here, all right, now, So what we need to understand, according to their theory, is that number one, your body is dead.

34:49 Your body is dead, dead, dead, dead, and your body can so I can think if we wanted to break their theory down. Number one, you have to understand your physical body is dead. Number two, inwardly, you've been completely transformed. Number three, your physical body, though, is dead and will not respond to that inward nature. And then number four, the thing you need to remember is the spirit of resurrection. Oh boy, okay, so we got to know the body is dead. We got to know that inside everything's been changed. We got to know that the body that the new nature. Though, oh, the body is unresponsive to the new nature. This is their theory. And number four, we have to understand the spirit of resurrection. And they state it this way. The fact that the Christian body is dead is only half of the truth. Hey, your body is dead, but there's more to the story. And again they make a reference to Romans eight ten and if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. The other half of the story, according to them, is good news, all right. The spirit is life because of righteousness. In other words, God's own spirit of life inhabits the same spiritually dead physical house in which you live. So here's how they're going to

36:22 describe it. Right, your body is dead, but inside not only has everything been changed, not only has the nature been changed, there's inward transformation. According to their theory. Now God's spirit is there. Now are you telling me God's spirit can't get the body to respond? Okay, where is this going to go? Where is this going to go? He can dwell there, okay. And the reason he can dwell there is because of righteousness. That is, the Christian has been justified by faith and has received the imputed righteousness of God. So they're like, hey, how can the spirit?

37:14 How can the spirit now move in? Well, because it's moving into a body that's been declared to be righteous by imputed righteousness. Now, this is where it gets a little confusing, right, This is where it gets a little because imputed righteousness doesn't make me righteous though, So you're saying, the spirit can dwell inside my dead spiritual body that is sinful because of imputed righteousness. Imputed righteousness allows the spirit to move in because imputed righteousness does not make you righteous. Everyone needs to understand that imputed righteousness does not change you, does not transform you. It declares you to be that which you are not. That's the entire Protestant Reformation, which Catholics to this day reject. They believe it in confused righteousness. So I don't know how well their argument works there. But okay, they says, the Holy Spirit can and does take up a permanent resident in the Christian's very own body. So hey, but the thing they want you to know is your body is dead.

38:18 Your nature has been changed. Your body cannot respond to that new nature. But the Spirit of God takes permanent resident in you when you become saved. So, according to them, the body is dead, but inside you have a completely new nature. The old is completely gone, and you have God dwelling inside of you. This is the way they are describing it, all right. Therefore, the Spirit of God dwells in every believer, even though the believer's physical body is dead because of sin the reality of the Spirit's presence within us leads to an ass astounding possibility. All right, now, so now listen, please, now this it gets interesting. All right.

39:06 Please note we've kind of got the premise of their theory, their hypotheses here. Right, your body is dead, completely dead. Right inside you have a completely new nature. However, your body is unresponsive to that completely new nature. And though you have the actual spirit of God dwelling inside of you, a new nature and the spirit living inside of you, however your body is still dead. So then listen to how they describe this. This reality of the spirit and the new nature basically means now there is a great possibility. Please note they said possibility, not inevitability, not a guarantee, just the possibility now presents itself. What is this possibility?

39:53 The possibility is that His mighty power can resurrect the spiritually dead body we inhabit during our lives on earth. So now we have the possibility lying within us because of a new nature in the spirit that now our dead body that won't respond. Dundun, dun dun. He can resurrect that dead body here on earth. Now it's a possibility. Now, how do we activate this possibility to become a reality. And what happens if I have a completely new nature, the spirit living in me, and a completely resurrected dead body.

40:37 I mean, at that point, you've got to just declare me to be perfect, right, I mean I have to be I have to reach perfection. But no, they only describe it as a possibility. So when you go so you know, and around, if we go back to our kind of opening illustration, headquarters, this is patrol one, headquarters. This is patrol one. Patrol one, this is headquarters. Go ahead, Yes, we are at First Baptist Church. We have a horrible discovery. There are three hundred dead bodies. But don't don't send anybody. Don't send paramedics, don't send anybody, because the reality is they can be resurrected if they choose to, if they they don't need any help. They just currently don't want to be alive. That is that is that is that?

41:32 So the issue is you sin because you don't really want a resurrected body, Because if you just wanted a resurrected body, you've got all the power inside. You just got to tap into the power and then all of a sudden, by the power of is it grad school? What is it? Whatever? However? He man went, I can't remember. I wasn't a big fan of it, Okay, but the power of whatever true. And then your body is now alive. He's alive. It's alive. Okay, franken sign, Okay, all right, I'm just slaughtering pop culture references. You get the idea, his mighty power can resurrect the spiritually dead body we inhabit, are we inhabit during our lives on earth? This is the meaning of Romans eight eleven. So they say, Romans eight eleven. 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 the spirit that dwell in you. Now some would argue, no, this is the promise of what God will do, not what he In other words, it's more eschatology, it's prophecy. They're saying, no, no, no, God can do it right now. He can resurrect your dead body right now on earth. So then the inside and the outside would be imperfect aligne. So therefore then by

43:02 just logical inference, you should be perfect. So how does this work? How does this work? Then? All right, well, here we go. However, often they say readers take Romans eight eleven is a reference to a future resurrection. But this understanding overlooks the context and the flow of Paul's thought. The dead alive theme of ten continues in eleven and climaxes in twelve and thirteen, and the last two verses, Paul draws the conclusion, Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die reap the experience of the dead body. But if you, but of the spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live reap the experience of the spirit life. The apostle wants his readers to know that that the same power that operated in the resurrection of Jesus can operate in them as well. Since the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dwells in us, God can give life to our mortal bodies through the same spirit. So what they're doing here is just making the argument, Hey, hey, look, here's the deal. You've got the power, you've got the spirit, you've got the new nature.

44:14 All you've got to do now is somehow what words did they use here? See here it just says God can give life to our mortal bodies through the same spirit, So God can They haven't told us exactly how to make it happen yet, right, I mean, it's there, right, hey, headquarters, we got three hundred dead bodies. But just wait, they can do it. We're gonna watch. We're gonna videotape down. I want this from a YouTube channel. They're all going to be They're gonna come alive. Right, So how is this going to work? All right? Okay, so he says, he is talking about an experience that belongs to Christian living.

45:04 This is the splendid bottom line for the Christian It is this the spirit. If by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body, we shall live. That is, we shall live by means of the resurrection power of the Spirit of God. Of special interests, here is the word mortal. The original Greek word, like the English one, means subject to death. This presents an interesting perspective. The spiritually dead body, which is resurrected, so to speak, by the power of God's spirit, nevertheless remains a body that is mortal and therefore subject to death. Thus, in these frail, mortal bodies of ours, we can have an experience of life that manifests the resurrection power of God. The Christian life, therefore, is God's miracle and our mortal bodies.

45:46 It's not at all the product of human strength or determination. It is a supernatural work of God. That's an exciting realization. The words spoken to the prophet Zachari are fully appropriate, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. Now this gets really even more complicated. So now it's not what we do. We don't do anything about this. So wait a minute, all right, So we have a completely new nature. We have the spirit living in us, and this gives us the possibility that in this life, my moral body can be completely resurrected. But it has nothing to do with me. Okay, then there should never be a call to headquarters. Headquarters. This is patrol one. Patrol one, this is headquarters. Go ahead, we're at first Baptist Church. There's three hundred dead bodies. Hey, Patrol one. According to the book I have here, don't worry about it. The way for them to be resurrected, for the way that for them to come back to life, it's not based on what anybody can do. We can't do anything about it. You can't do anything about it.

46:59 God is the one who will do it. I mean, they're already believers, they are already Christians, so don't worry about it. And at some point God can just miraculously resurrect them and then they'll be basically perfect. You'll want to hang out at that church because it'll be three hundred perfect people who basically never sin again because their physical body will be in tune with the new nature that's inside of them. But until that happens, this is their conclusion that if we see a person living the true Christian life, we are looking at a resurrection miracle.

47:41 We are not looking at an experience based on human effort, determination, or willpower. So when you see someone you're like, man, they're living out the Christian life. It's basically perfect. They have a brand new nature. They have a resurrected body. That's a resurrection miracle. But it did not happen based on anything they did. God did it. And if you see someone else, you're like, well, they're a Christian inside, they're all new, but that body is not responding right now. But maybe sooner or later God will resurrect him. God God chose not to resurrect these four people, but he chose to resurrect this one. And now we're not talking about election and regeneration. This is talking about people who are Christians. This is their whole theory that you are a Christian, but your body is dead and now God, Now God has already changed you internally. Right, you're alive spiritually, but he just chooses when he may or may not resurrect you're external, your fleshly body. They go on to say, we are looking at the operation of the power of God.

49:00 For the first secret of the Christian life is this. It is a miracle of resurrection. In other words, it's the miracle of living a resurrected life, even before Christ resurrects us physically. Now, there's no explanation how this happens, why it happens, no explanation. Now it asks some questions in the book. It asks some questions in the book. I don't know if this is going to help us at all. It says, do you agree that dedication is not the fundamental nature of Christian living? Why or why not? Well, dedication can't make it out. Dedication can't make it work, because dedication cannot make the dead body operate according to their view. And what sense do Christians have a dead body?

49:44 It does not respond to God or the New Nature or the Holy Spirit. How does the fact that Christians have dead bodies relate to how Christians live the Christian life? Well, we've got to have that body to be resurrected, or I cannot live the Christian life. How is the Hodges explanation of the role of the Holy Spirit and the life of the believer different than the typical explanation. Compare the two different views on the role of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life, Hodges and the typical view. Well, all right, so basically, I think the typical view is that we have I don't know what the typical view is. It just sounds to me very similar to the typical view. I think the typical view is, now we have the power in God's doing it, so we you know, it's already there. And his view seems to be it's there, it's inside of us, but it doesn't mean anything's going to happen until the resurrection occurs. And when he says the resurrection, not the resurrection at the end, but resurrection now.

50:40 But the resurrection now, I guess it's just I don't know when it's supposed to happen. It doesn't sound like there's anything we can do. Now. I've got a lot here on Romans eight. I got a lot here on Romans eight. I did ask let me see if I can find it, because I was a little confused by this entire chapter. Right, I didn't really get us anywhere, but here here we go. All right? So uh. Some people will say, well, because he even said it that we have a new nature. Right, even even in the book and the sixth Secrets of the Christian Life, Hodges even said we have a new nature because everything inside has been completely changed. We're basically perfect on the inside, but our body won't respond to it. We even have the spirit, but our body won't respond to it. So I wanted to make sure we'll wait a minute. In that chapter doesn't really say the words new creation. He just seems to say we have a new nature. So I started having a conversation about Ai in this particular chapter.

51:44 And AI said this in the secret in secret number one in the book The Secrets of a New Uh, the Secrets of a New Life from six Secrets of the Christian Life by Zaine Hodges. He does not emphasize that we are new creations and the traditional sense of a complete transformation. Instead, Hodges presents presents a nuanced view of the new life as something that is already present within us, specifically through the end dwelling of Christ. He explains that this new life is not automatically expressed by every believer, but rather it must be realized and actively relied upon. So what Ai, how AI understands it? Is? Hey, all right, look, you're new on the inside. It's not going to be experienced by everyone because it has to be realized and actively relied upon. So somehow, even though the book says there's nothing you can do, even Ai is like, well you got to do something. So he's like, well, you got to rely on it. See if you'll just simply go, okay, you know what, I'm just going to rely on the spirit in me. I'm going to rely on my new nature and then boom, then the body will be resurrected. The book doesn't indicate that AI, I think, is just trying to understand. I don't think the AI even understands the book. AI goes on to say this, Hodges distinguishes between the life we received in Christ and our practical experience of it, while Christians have the life of Christ within them. He stresses the importance of faith

53:14 in allowing the life to be lived out in practice. See Ais like, you've got to allow it. Now. The book did not say I have to allow it. It says there's nothing I can do. But AI, to me is struggling with trying to understand the concept, because when you're done with that chapter, you have no clue what to do. Hodge's approach approach tends to focus more on the believers learning to depend on the un dwelling life of Christ, rather than emphasizing a total transformation into a new creation as described in parts of the New Testament. His message in the chapter is about tapping into the power of this new life through faith, recognizing that this life has already given but not necessarily fully being lived out in the daily experience of many Christians. Right well, AI doesn't really understand it either, because the book doesn't even explain it that way. The book is basically like, look, hey, your body is dead. So let's just kind of go through what the book is saying. Your body is dead.

54:17 Number two, you have a completely new nature. You've been completely changed on the inside. Number three, your body cannot respond to that new nature. Number four, you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. Number five. This now makes it possible for a complete resurrection. Next, the resurrection, if it happens, will then completely resurrect your body so that your body can respond to the new nature. And then, yeah, you can live out the Christian life. However, you can't make the resurrection happen by human effort. I say all of that, and I want to kind of put myself on the back end. I think that was very profound the way I broke that down. I think I did a very good job giving all of those points. I think everyone can write that down. And then I kind of laugh because I'm like, there's like a word salad.

55:19 It means nothing. It's just like words. It sounds all good. What do you do with that? So so, remember the book starts with these stories of people in total despair and no hope, and they're ready to get get out of ministry and they can't find any hope in the Christian life. And my hope in the Christian life is hey, look look here, here's the situation. You're dead. Your body is dead, it can't respond. There's nothing you can do, right, there's literally nothing you can do, but just note the possibility of resurrection lies within you, the possibility of it. So what do I do? Oh, I guess we wait until it activates? Well, how do I make it activate?

56:01 I don't know. Come on, come on, come on, come on. Resurrect my body, resurrect my body. And I don't know how you can say. If your body is resurrected, then you could not be I mean your new nature. You would have the nature, you'd have the spirit, and you would have basically a new body. How would you not be sin? Is that not speaking of glorification? Now we did not dig into the text. We're at fifty six minutes. I immediately want to start going through all the different ways to interpret Romans eight ten through eleven. But I've presented their way. I've given you their hypotheses. Now again, I still want you to go purchase the book Six Secrets of the Christian Life by Zay and Hodges. Again, it's only like three dollars or four dollars. I read I kind of read through that. I want you to read through the chapter carefully. I want you to bring talk about it with other people. Have other people going, hey, hey, what do you think about? Discuss it? Say what you can come up with. I mean, if you can, if you can, if you can draw this out, for those who are artistic, draw it out. What does it look like?

57:10 All right? There, I am inside of me. Look at that? Oh man, the call coming from inside the house? Now is all good? That got rid of the serial killer. I'm safe. There's no longer a stranger in the house. Right, it's all good. It's it's godly, it's new. Oh look at that. The Holy Spirit is inside as well. But wait a minute, I got a problem. My body is dead and it will not respond. All right, how do I get it to respond? Well, you need a miracle of resurrection? Well how do I get the miracle of resurrection to occur? Well? I don't know. Nobody seems to know.

57:51 The key is or there's some magic words? Right, Do I say some magic words? There? There? You know something I need to say? Do I need to have a ceremony? Hey, headquarters, this is patrol one. Patrol one, this is headquarters. Go ahead, Yes, we're at First Baptist Church. And well wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, we thought there were three hundred dead bodies, but one of them is moving headquarters. You're not gonna believe that. Three hundred dead bodies, but one of them is starting to move, it's starting to move, it's breathing, it's getting up headquarters. One of them is alive. Well, how did it happen? Now? If we're talking salvation, then we could be getting into Obviously you could argue, well, that sounds a little bit like election. So does it work? On the same principle that out of three hundred Christians, God may only resurrect the bodies of five, and then five of them get to walk around. But even if he was only five, those five would have to be perfect because they would have a completely new nature, a completely new heart, the spirit inside of them, and a resurrected body.

59:10 Ladies and gentlemen, they would be basically perfect. Okay, well, nobody has ever been resurrected, so I don't how is this the secret to the Christian life? This just leaves me utterly completely confused, discombobulated, and conflicted, and I don't get it. Now. We may need to do some more work on Romans aid So here's your assignment. Get the book. I want you to read that chapter like ten times and see if you can figure it out. You break it down, see if you can figure it out. I tried to break it down as much as I could.

59:57 You tell me what you think, all right. But here I want you to start listening to random sermons on Romans eight ten through eleven. You've heard their presentation. Now you can see what you can find. All right. I want to do more, but we're at an hour. Thanks for listening. Everyone, have a great day, and I hope, I hope you have a resurrection day and you can then show me how to live the Christian life. In the meantime, this has been the Theology Central podcast hosted by someone who not only has a dead body but still has a sinful nature. God bless