Tainted Saints

Romans 7:18-25

There is an awesome book that was written by Jay Kessler that is entitles “Being Holy, Being Human.” In the book he talks about the tension that is involved with being holy and likewise being human. And I think today as we discuss this matter that it is very important that you understand that I am not suggesting to you that sin ought to be gotten into at will. My pastor back home would suggest that it ought not to be premeditated. But I think that all of us can agree today that no matter how long you’ve been in church (and I know that you didn’t come today to get me to help you to raise your hand to this question) but I think that you would have to agree that after your salvation you have sinned. As a matter of fact, I don’t won’t to, but I guess I should, I really didn’t come here to do it but I guess I ought to… Just to make sure that I am not the only one, maybe you ought to raise your hand too if you sinned after salvation.

And the reason that I wanted to do that today is because we’ve got to become very sensitive to those who find themselves in sin, yes even after salvation. We have got to learn how not to become so critical of others who fall along the way. Because I am thoroughly convinced that we have lost the mandate of the Master – to be a place where we can reclaim, restore, and redeem those who have, yes fallen even after salvation.

Oh what tension there is in trying to be holy and human. Oh what a war that goes on in all of our minds and all of our bodies day in and day out. And if Satan is not bothering you that is a good sign that he’s already got you. But some of us today, every morning when we wake up Satan is waiting by the bed side. On our way to the job he’s riding in the car with us, we go to church and he’s already there staking out territory. And so my brothas and sistahs today I wanted to talk about Tainted Saints because really all of us are tainted! Are you walking with me? As a matter of fact if you are human you are tainted. As a matter of fact we have to redefine what it means to be a hypocrite. When I read this word hypocrite many people think that it’s church folks acting like sinners but it’s really sinners trying to act like church folks. Help me somebody.

We all know a lot of folks who will say that I am not going down to that church with all of those hypocrites. You don’t stop going to work there are some hypocrites down there. You don’t stop shopping at the mall there are some hypocrites there. As a matter of fact some people are living with hypocrites and you keep on going there. I have come to the conclusion that either I’m gone have to do my time with hypocrites in hell or in the church. And I am going to do all of my time with them in the church because at least when I go home I can go to sleep. Help me somebody.

Tainted? Yes. You don’t have to tell me that I am tainted when I went to bed last night, I knew I was tainted. All night long I was wrestling with some tainted-ness and then early this morning when I woke up I looked in the mirror to see if I was still tainted and then I looked at Romans 3:23 to make sure that it hadn’t changed to y’all have sinned it had remained all have sinned.

When I read the pages of the Bible I become thoroughly aware that God uses even tainted saints for there are stories in the Bible that you would not find in Christian literature today. They might not be found in Moody Press, maybe in the Globe, maybe in the National Enquirer, maybe in the Star but not in the local Christian book store. For when you read about Adam and Eve, the first man and woman that God gave life to. He sets them in the lap of luxury in the Garden of Eden and it was after he blesses them then they disobeyed God. Not only would we discuss Adam and Eve, there is Noah. We know him as the one who builds the ark. We want our children to know him as the one who saved mankind with that ark which is a symbol of Christ with its pitch. But we must come to grips with the fact that he did get drunk on the eve of reconstruction. You might know Abraham as the Father of the faithful and the friend of God. Oh but he did lie about Sarah. I hear you talking about Moses as that great emancipator of Israel. He marches out of Egypt with a million Israelites walking behind him but he did kill that Egyptian. I hear you talking about Jacob and I know about him. He was a trickster. He was a cheat. He was a stealer for the writer declares that he supplanted his brother twice. When you look at Tamar, Judas’ daughter in-law; she was a prostitute. You all remember David don’t you, Beersheba and the killing of Uriah? But he did write the 23rd Number of the Psalm and you don’t throw him away, as a matter of fact, when somebody dies somebody says we have got to get the 23rd Number of the Psalm. …when you think about Solomon and all of his strange women? What about Peter who was a curser and a cutter? When you think about all of these individuals who impacted the kingdom of God we have got to admit there was some tainted-ness in them.

But not only was there some tainted-ness in them there is some tainted-ness in all of us. And I know that you don’t want to admit it but turn to somebody and say “I’m tainted!” And really you are! Born in sin! Shaped in iniquity! That’s our lot! When you look at the lineage of the Christ. When you look at this lineage you will notice that there are some names that are in the lineage of the Christ that are unlikely candidates for this lineage. When you look you will find David’s name in that lineage. As a matter of fact take a look at Matthew the 1st chapter, verses 1-16 just in case you think that I am making it up. You’ll find Abraham’s name there (it’s right there!). Jacobs name is right there, Tamar’s name is right there, Rahab’s name is right there. Tainted saint!!! So contradictory. There’s constant tension between trying to be Holy and trying to be human. Tainted-ness, yes many believe that we are without our sins and that is why there are not more folks in the church than there should be. Because somehow or another we have walked around as if there is nothing wrong with us but there is. And so when some people see us outside the church and we fall as some of us will do along the journey, then they look at us as though we are hypocrites. But we are not hypocrites we are just human.

Again, not to suggest to you today that this sermon is so you can go do whatever you wanna do, that is not the purpose of this sermon. The purpose is so that you can come into contact with your tainted-ness so that the Lord can shed light on it and the closer you get to God the more your flaws begin to show.

1st Corinthian 10:12 says this “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” Let me work a little bit, turn to 1st John 1:6, because there is something very powerful here this morning that you and I ought to understand and when we come to the understanding of our own tainted-ness then we become able to respond better to the tainted-ness in other people. Now there are no big sins and little sins. The Bible says that if you have sinned in this part that you have sinned in all. So sin is just sin. I don’t care what kind of label you put on it, I don’t care what kind of package you put it in, it doesn’t matter how the container looks… sin is just what? SIN! 1st John says what? If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk (which implies a constant or a consistent walk) in darkness, we lie and the truth ain’t in us.

…yet we put on a façade and the folks on the outside of the church never want to get in. You see, I am sick but every Sunday morning I know where I am going, I am going to the hospital trying to get well. Some of you need ICU, some of you need intensive care, some of you need cardiac care some of you just need to get in a room but everyone of us needs to go to the divine hospital!

Now it might not be one thing it might be another. You know we have got to be very careful you know that in the baptist church we don’t just get caught up in the regular 3 sins of the baptist church… You know drinking, whore-mongering, stealing, and now homosexuality is the 4th. But there are some other sins you know. Are you walking with me? Lying is a sin. Eating too much, gluttony, that’s a sin. Wrath and malice are sins. Gossiping is a sin. Clamor is a sin. Talking other folks down that’s a sin. Drive-by shootings in the church that’s a sin. Murder is a sin. So there are not only three sins there are a whole lot of other sins that we don’t deal with. Yes, there is some tainted-ness in all of us. It might not be excessive drinking but it’s something else!

There are sins of omission and there are sins of commission. There are some things he told us not to do that we did it anyhow and there are some things he to us to do and we didn’t do it like tithing! Just stick your hand up and say I surrender all.

The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus and that’s how serious we have got to deal with this thing this morning. Our humanity. We are humans prone to travel down the wrong street. Down the wrong path, take the wrong turn. You’ve done it. As a matter of fact I started out and I wanted to get you early to make sure you didn’t get quiet on me up the road, that why I asked you how many have sinned after salvation. See I caught you and you didn’t know it! Kind of like treeing a coon you know you just get there early, you just make sure that everybody is in that category before you jump off into your sermon. So turn to somebody and tell them “I did raise my hand.”

So watch what he says, Paul says in verse 14 “we know; we are aware that the law or the Word of God is spiritual.” Now that don’t change, I don’t care who you are the Word of God remains the same. I don’t care how guilty you are this morning, I don’t care who you are this morning; if you are guilty you are just guilty. I don’t care who you are this morning, the Word of God remains the same. Unlike fads and fashions, it doesn’t change with the times. What was wrong in 1932 is just as wrong today as it was then. Stealing was wrong then and it’s just as wrong today. Lying was wrong in ‘62 and it’s just as wrong today. Talking bad about folks was just as wrong in the 1800’s as it is today. The law of God is right, we know that the law is spiritual but I am working with a contradiction, I am carnal! The word is sarthex, I am flesh, human. Now I am thankful today that the Lord did what my grandmother did long before she did. My grandmother understood that when milk clamored, you didn’t have to throw it away you just put it in the churn and turn it into butter milk. Now Jesus knew that a long time ago, you remember early that morning when He got up and He told Mary; He said now when you get to Jerusalem, I want you to tell the disciples and Peter. Now I want you to tell Peter; I know Peter ain’t no good, I know he denied me, he left me when the going got tuff he ran off and left me but I got to have somebody that knows this Gospel. I got to have somebody, I’ve got 3000 souls at stake on Pentecost and those other fellas can’t handle the Word like Peter… Go tell my disciples and Peter!

You see we are the only place that kills our wounded. We catch somebody down, we kill’em! You see you don’t ever know when you are going to make a wrong turn. It might not be you it might be your child; you’ll want mercy on your child while you don’t wanna give mercy to other folks children. It ain’t your child on drugs today but you don’t know. It ain’t your child on the corner today but you don’t know. It ain’t your child in jail today but it might be your grandchildren. That’s why you have to put bread on the water early for some turnaround!

Watch verse 15 he says this: “For that which I do, I allow not, for what I would, that do I not but what I hate, that I do.” In other words he says I’m a paradox of sort. I’m a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I’m a blended personality; sometimes I’m a powerful preacher other times I’m a pitiful person. I’m human trying to be holy, I’m holy trying to be human. I’m a mixture of good and bad, I’m a combination of right and wrong; I’m a contradiction of sort; I’m a ball of confusion and some mornings when I wake up I have to ask myself “did I do that?”

And is there not a witness here this morning that feels the same way? Is there not someone here that feels the same way when you wake up in the morning after looking at yesterday you have to say along with me this morning “Did I do that!?”

Gal. 5:7 paints the picture a little better. It paints a picture of a tug of war going on for our soul. Paul says there is a tug of war going on for our soul for therefore the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that you can not do the things that you would. Jer. 17:9 to everyone who dare say I would not do this or that, you don’t know what you’d do. Are you walking with me? I often here people say “well child if that was me I wouldn’t have done that.” You really don’t know. That’s why Jeremiah said “the heart is deceitful above all things, it’s desperately wicked, who can even know it?” Then David said the other day “who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from my secret thoughts. Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me then shall I be of right and I shall be innocent from the great transgression, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable unto thee o Lord my strength and my redeemer. Horace says this; I pursue the things that have done me harm and I shun the things that will do me good.

As I look across the church, as I look across even this room I see many stories. There are many stories in this place… People who have been brought out of sin, who some how or another every now and then fall. And you have got to understand that yes you can fall. Now when we look at the word “fall” it doesn’t mean it’s premeditated. It simply implies that sin is like a lion couched, getting ready to leap on you. You wasn’t out looking, sin was just there couched. And everyone here today would have to testify that every now and then sin will just couch out for you. Are you walking with me? You ain’t got it on your mind but all of a sudden something happens. The writer says when you fall we’ve got an advocate with our father.

You might not need this today but you hold on, up the road. I don’t care how long you’ve been in church, how big your Bible is or how long you’ve sang in the choir, up the road you’ll need this sermon. Matter of fact the next time that you get into something that you ought to not be in, you’ll remember that I preached this sermon.

He says in verse 16: “if then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good”, it has beauty, I don’t do what I do but I have to agree that God’s standards are still right and good. No matter how we act no matter what we do the Word of God remains the same. We’ve got to admit that even when we are bad, God is still good. The Living Bible says that I know perfectly well that many times what I am doing is wrong and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the law is good. But then he says, I can’t help myself because I have something tugging on my heart. Now then it is no more I that do it but it is sin. You know I have been looking for the culprit for why I sometimes act like I do. Thank you Paul for telling me that there is an unwanted squatter living in my house. I’ve been trying to put him out, as a matter of fact I have served a couple of eviction notices. But every time I turn around, he’s always moving back in. And that’s why Paul says, he settles down, he trespasses unlawfully. He says I know that I am rotten through and through – for the good that I would do I just can’t do because evil is all around me. Now if I do that I would not it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me. And I find then a law that when I would do good evil is present with me. The problem is not that I don’t delight after the law of God after the inward man but I got another problem, I got a war going on between my mind and my members. I won’t really take responsibility for all of it, it’s sin that’s residing in this old clay pot. And I hear David say; “blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in that law doth he meditate day and night.” My mind is on the Lord 365 days of the year but my old nature and my new nature they are constantly battling one with the other and I have to cry out with Paul who said “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?” And then he said “thank God for Jesus for He is the one that can deliver us from the power of sin.” I don’t know how you feel about it but I thank God every morning when I get up in the morning for Jesus. Every morning when I rise, I have to tell the Lord thank you sir, for that old rugged cross where Jesus died for me. Thank you God for Jesus – out there where He took my hand and took God’s hand and put them back together again. The writer had to write “the wages of sin is death…” But I am glad that he didn’t put his pen down until he wrote “but the gift of God is eternal life.” And I don’t know how you feel about it tonight but I know where I am and I know where I used to be and I have to tell the Lord, “Lord thank you for bringing me from a mighty long way.” I’m not what I ought to be but thank God I’m not what I used to be. Anybody here today you have to admit that the Lord brought you from a mighty long way? And if the Lord has brought you from a mighty long way you need to turn to somebody and tell them “I’ve come from a mighty long way.” I know where I am but the Lord has been good to me. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. That blood, power in that blood. That blood, the blood of Jesus flowed down Calvary 2000 years later it’s still flowing this morning. Thank you Jesus for dying on Calvary for my sins and the sins of the whole world. But thank you that early that 3rd day morning you got up with all power in your hand. Early before the cock crowed. Early before the dew kissed the roses. Early before the gardener got to work that morning. Early – before the street lights went on in Jerusalem. Early – your Lord and my Lord got up from that grave with all power in the palm of his hands and now sitting on the right hand of God making intercessions for you and for me when Satan comes in to God and says, “see he ain’t what he ought to be…” Jesus leans over and says “Yes! But he’s still my child!” Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus! Anybody here know my Lord? Anybody here know He’s alright? Anybody know He’s alright? If you know He’s alright wave your hand. If you know He’s alright say “yeah.”