How many of us have heard this statement or something like it in a situation that became very uncomfortable, sometimes so quickly we do not even know quite how or why it became that way? It has a certain physiological effect on us, and everyone in the room can feel it. It happened not too long ago for me. Two members of the youth group had just broken up. It was bound to be an uncomfortable situation to begin with. The guy was there, and I could already tell that the tension was mounting. It became that very uncomfortable situation when the girl walked in... with her new boyfriend. Tense was the exact word for the predicament. High school relationships can be like that, unfortunately. I was very proud of one of my youth who recently said that dating in high school just was not worth it. I could not agree more. Dating should be looking toward marriage, and very few high school students have the maturity for that kind of commitment. I can think of only one couple, and they are certainly the exception to the rule. All dating in high school tends to do is break hearts and lead to uncomfortable situations like the one above. Besides, we have enough tension in our lives as it is.
Every Christian deals with tension. There is tension within our very nature, a tension that does not exist for the unbeliever. For tension to exist, there has to be disagreement, a collision of opposing wills. Within the darkness, there is no dissension. There is no disagreement because they are all dead to the spiritual life and closed off to God, "I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me" (Romans 7:9-11). Have you ever been told not to do something? Has being told not to do something made you want to do it all the more? That is a perfect example of sin working within you, and that is exactly the opportunity it took with the Law to trap, chain, and kill us. This has been the case for all people since the Fall of Man, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). So, sin has taken this opportunity within each of us, and we have all died. Therefore, in death there was no tension. We were all slaves to sin, and our minds were blind to the things of the Spirit. This is what the essence of an unbeliever diagrammed:
So, if it was by the Law that sin took hold of us, does that make the Law wicked? No! That makes sin all that more wicked and deceitful. The Law is perfect and holy. We are the ones who are messed up until we turn to Jesus. In Jesus, we are transformed and remade. We are no longer blind to the spiritual life; we are made alive to it! Our inner being is different from what it used to be:
The problem that still exists is the fact that we still have the flesh. We still have the influence of darkness upon us because Satan still exists and he is still in this world. As we work out our salvation, we strive to close the open door of Satan's influence on us. This will be a struggle as long as we are in this world. Ultimately, God has already won. He is already victorious! Sin has no power over us and death has no sting! When we, as believers in Jesus, physically die, we enter into eternal life.
Believer
Spiritual Life (Eph 2:4-7) + Physical Death => Eternal Life with Christ in heaven (Rev 22:1-5)
Unbeliever
Spiritual Death (Eph 2:1-3) + Physical Death => Eternal Death --hell-- (2 Thes 1:8-9)
Physical death is merely the transition into what you already have for eternity.
At that point we are not only rescued from the penalty of sin, we are rescued from the very presence of sin. We lose the ability to sin altogether, and I don't know about you but I long for this day in a way I cannot put into words.
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