But now we must face another problem, the problem of how we can be freed from death. If we would know this, we need to understand what death is. Everyone is under the reign of death and under its working. Within every living person is something which the Bible calls the working of death. Suppose a certain brother loves the Lord. One morning in his fellowship with the Lord he decides that from now on he will always honor and obey his parents, love his wife, and be kind to his children. This is the desire of his heart. He has also made up his mind never to lose his temper. However, soon afterward a difficult situation arises, and he loses his temper again. You may say that this is the result of the working of sin. I agree. But the effect of sin is death; it is death working in us. After being stung by death, we become so weak that no matter how hard we try to honor our parents or love our wives, we simply cannot do it.
In 7:7 and 8 Paul said, “I had not known coveting except the law had said, You shall not covet. But sin, taking occasion through the commandment, wrought in me coveting of every kind.” Covetousness is not an outward matter; it is an inward desire. One day a missionary in China was telling his cook that everyone was sinful. Arguing with him, the cook said that he was honest and never stole from others. Upon further questioning, it came out that even while they were discussing sinfulness and honesty, the cook was thinking about the missionary’s horse and how he could get the horse. Then the missionary told him, “This is covetousness, and covetousness is sinful.” In Romans 7 Paul also uses covetousness as an illustration. How difficult for us to control covetousness! The more we try not to be covetous, the more covetous we are. The Apostle Paul was trying to be righteous, holy, and perfect. To some extent at least, he was successful. He kept himself from stealing, but he could not keep himself from covetousness. In fact, he learned that it was impossible for him to control his covetousness. Therefore, he cried out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” (7:24).
What did Paul mean by “this death”? He meant the death that, in the form of covetousness, was constantly killing him. In like manner, something within us is killing us every minute of the day. If we are loose or careless, we shall not realize this. But if we try to be upright, holy, spiritual, and perfect, we shall find that instead of being perfect, we are constantly being killed by death. To experience death, there is no need for us to wait until we are old and about to die physically. Even with physical death there is the matter of dying gradually. Every day we die a little more, even as we are living. The older we become, the more we die. Suppose you have seventy dollars. If you spend five dollars, you have sixty-five dollars left. If you spend sixty-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents, you will have only a penny left. In like manner, we are spending our life span. Whether we are old or young, we are gradually dying. I am an old man with many grandchildren. When they tell me how old they are, I sometimes think, “You are not living. You are all dying.”
Death is a profound matter. It kills our body, soul, and spirit. Right now it is killing your body, mind, will, and emotion. It is killing your heart and especially your spirit. This is the reason so many come to the church meetings in a dead way. They sit in their chairs without praying or functioning because they are dead and buried. It is impossible for such a dead one to shout, “Praise the Lord!” Some brothers are dead in the meetings because they have lost their temper with their wife. Even if you are unhappy with your wife without losing your temper outwardly, your spirit will be killed. Sometimes the leading brothers ask me why so many brothers and sisters do not function in the meetings. I tell them that the reason is that these saints are dead and in a coffin. How can you expect a dead one to function? Do not exhort them or give them regulations. Instead, do something to cause them to be resurrected from their graves. Then they will speak in the meetings. My point is that we all have something within that the Bible calls death. Do not think that death will come only in the future. No, it may prevail within you today. Although its name is death, it is very active and strong, much more powerful than you are. By yourself, you cannot defeat it.
Many times in the meetings you have probably had the feeling to praise the Lord or to give a testimony. Immediately, however, you began to consider and deliberate, thinking that you should not utter anything carelessly. If you are careful like this, it indicates that you are under the influence of death. If you are summoned to appear on the witness stand before a judge, then you must be careful. But when you come to the church meeting, there is no need for you to be so careful. You need to lose your carefulness, release your spirit, and say, “Praise the Lord! Amen! I want to testify that Christ is my life.” Any consideration will deaden you. Do you know why you are careful in the meetings? It is because you want to glorify yourself and not lose your face. This kind of consideration kills your spirit.
We have seen that because of the element of sin in us, we have been constituted sinners. The issue of sin is death, which kills and deadens us. Today we have not only the problem of sin, but also the problem of death. The fact that sin and death go together is proved by Romans 8:2: “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and of death.” The law of sin and of death does not refer to two laws, but one law with two elements—sin and death. Where the law of sin is, there the law of death is also.