Tony Guthrie Shares: Yelling Sin Out of Me?

When I was a kid attending church with my mom, brother, and sister I always thought the preacher was mad at us. Pastor Joe was one of those hard-liner preachers that pounded the pulpit as he yelled about our sins. He seemed angry and the subject of hell fire was among his favorites. When you're 8 years old you don't really know what sin is. But after listening to his sermons week after week I was able to put the pieces together and conclude that Brother Joe just wanted us to live righteously. Even at that age though I wondered why he felt he needed to yell us into submission.

In my teen-aged years I wanted nothing to do with church. I thought they were all the same. I had heard so many times what a worthless pile of sinfulness I was from pastor/preachers that I just didn't want to hear it any more. It seemed that to live right, in the preacher's mind, one had to be almost perfect. I knew I was a sinner. I knew that Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for my sins. I knew the basic stuff of Christianity. I just didn't want to attend church and get yelled at. I mean, if the gospel means "good news," then why the anger, threats of hell, and pulpit pounding? I rarely heard anything about the side of the Lord that compels me now: love, mercy, and especially grace.

When I became a pastor I determined that I would never be a yelling preacher who pounded the pulpit and threatened hell. But, I did find myself constantly talking about how my members weren't living righteously. I may not have screamed and yelled, but I focused mostly on how they were NOT living rather than encouraging them to build on the things they did in righteousness. My sermons were all about how and why to live "right."

Honestly, I didn't enjoy preaching that way. I often felt unclean after I came down from the pulpit. I felt like I had badgered my people. I mean, who was I to cast such stuff toward them? I had my own issues ... big ones. I knew I was saved but I myself struggled with daily righteousness. And you know, I am sure Pastor Joe did as well.

Reading Romans 7 in the late 1990s gave me a renewed understanding of God's grace. I get so annoyed at preachers and teachers who try to tell us that Paul was talking about his past. The entire chapter (and those prior to it) is clearly in the present tense. Paul did not say "Let me share how it WAS for me." No, he was talking about how it was at that present moment for him. Theologians who try to say that Paul was talking about his past life are simply trying to superimpose their theology on the Bible rather than draw their theology from the Bible.

Look at these awesome words:

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature[d]a slave to the law of sin.

Preacher's talk so much about the sin we "do." But notice that Paul said that it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ... Wow! He says in his heart and mind he wants to serve the Lord and live as righteously as possible BUT in his flesh he is still in bondage to his sinful nature. He cries out and asks who can deliver him from the turmoil of his life. Then he praises Jesus for having already done so.

Yes, I know. Many reading this will tell me that I am saying that we are under grace and still in our sinful nature and therefore we will just live without conviction. Good try. But Paul's burning desire from his spirit was to give all he had to the ministry. He burned with the desire to spread the gospel to all nations and peoples. True Christian people will possess that same desire. Admitting that sin still indwells us is not the same thing as saying that sin controls us so we may as well give in to it.

The passage is about GRACE. It reminds and teaches us that the work of the cross accomplished it's goal. So many people think that Jesus died for sin. They believe that he died on the cross to free us from sin. The truth is, though, the purpose of the atonement was to pay the price for sin: past, present, and even future. Now my friends, THAT is good news.

I have said MANY times that I believe the first few verses of Romans 8 should actually be the last few of Romans 7. "There is therefore NOW no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Paul just admitted that he had been delivered even though he does the things he hates (sin). He acknowledged that it is really not him committing the sin, but his fleshly nature. He praises Jesus for delivering him from the consequences of his nature. There is NO condemnation. Why? Grace. Undeserved favor.

I am a worthless pile of sinfulness. So was Paul. So are you. But the gracious good news is that if you are in Christ Jesus ... there is no condemnation. If God doesn't condemn you then why do those yelling preachers?

Blessings,

Tony Guthrie

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