There's bad in all of us.
"It doesn't matter how far you run, there are some demons you just can't escape."
It is impossible to run away from ourselves.
Sin lives in us.
What we want to do we do not do, but instead we do what we hate.
Even though we desire to do what is good, we cannot carry it out.
We want to do good, but evil is right there with us.
Our own bodies wage war against the law known to our minds.
We are wretched men.
Who will rescue us from our bodies of death?
There was a time when the church wasn't sure how to answer that.
It was a time that she became obsessed with earthly treasures, works, and merit.
She tried so hard to please her Lord that she had forgotten that His heart had already been won.
She became obsessed with her appearance, her facade, and her own glory.
She wore indulgences as a make-up to cover the scars of her sin.
She set herself to the fire so that she might be welded and straightened, waiting for the time that all of the imperfections would finally be purged away in the afterlife.
She had forgotten that she had already been made clean.
She had been given a pure garment of salvation and clothed in righteousness.
Her sin had been drown in a Baptismal sea of forgiveness.
The Lamb's blood had bleached away her filth, cleansing her from impurity.
Martin Luther tried to course-correct her.
He confronted her, talked with her, and scolded her.
He warned her of the crooked practices of those who claimed to serve her.
He reminded her that she could not cover up her sin with anything other than the Gospel.
He directed her to love her neighbors instead of her money.
But, sin still lives in us.
It haunts us.
The law plagues us and condemns us with the knowledge of our sin.
We must die to the law so that we might belong to another.
We must not live for works instead of Christ.
We must belong to him who was raised from the dead... in order to bear the fruit of God.
When we were controlled by the sinful nature, sinful passions were at work in our bodies.
We bore the fruit for death.
But now, by dying to what once bound us,
We have been released from the law which condemns us.
We are free to serve in the new way of the Spirit.
Selfless, in Christ.
Selfless, in Christ.
Who will rescue us from our bodies of death?
Jesus Christ our Lord!
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