For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. (John 9:39-41)

It is the deadly perception that man has the capability to see that introduced evil into man’s life and causes him to remain in sin.

It was the awakening of the creature to its self-identity that destroyed the life of God that man was experiencing. Man must repent (be turned around from his old way of thinking) and be baptized in the name of Jesus (come under a new way of thinking by the Spirit, the thinking of God) or he is doomed to the hells of life. He will be caught in an endless search for life that will always lead him down deadly paths of destruction.

The deadly destruction of hell always comes to man, through deception, when his eyes are turned off of Jesus, the Way, onto another way. Man will always experience death when his mind (that which seemeth right) enters into the quest for life. The use of the mind always makes the mind useless in the search for life.

Paul described the death of such a man. He could describe it because he himself had traveled the deadly path of destruction. Although he once perceived he knew the way to life (the way to God) and did everything within his own power to experience that way, he soon found himself experiencing the wretchedness of hell. He wrote, "O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24).

With wretched meaning "enduring trial," Paul found himself in circumstances that were causing him to experience the hell of a life that had gone down the wrong road. Although he had previously experienced the heavenly life, he now was experiencing the hell of the earthly life. He stated, "I was alive . . . once: but . . . sin revived, and I died" (Rom. 7:9).

A clue to this mystery of being moved from the heavenly life to the earthly life is given, when he wrote, "So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin" (7:25). Every time the mind is used in the search for God, the quest for life, destruction, the law of sin, will always follow. The writer of Proverbs wrote, "There is a way which seemeth [literal meaning, "the face (as the part that turns)" from the root ‘to turn’] right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Prov. 14:12).

Paul was experiencing the deadly destruction of the earthly life because, although he was serving the law of God with his mind, his flesh served the law of sin. His face had been turned away from Jesus to another law. He had turned to a perception of his mind and the mind, apart from Jesus, always produces the law of sin in the flesh. It always produces the downward road of wretchedness, a life that is never what it should be.

The beginning of this downward road occurred when Paul moved away (his face was turned) from Jesus Christ as the Way of life. The end of the downward road occurred when he experienced the wretchedness of the "way which seemeth right unto a man." Paul recorded the complete tale of the diminishing of his life from its beginning to its end. He wrote,

Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also, are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence, For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me in captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. (Rom. 7:1-25)

Paul had come to the end of the road. His cry was "Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death" (7:24). Who will deliver him from the hell he was experiencing?

The initiation of death that comes at the end of the road began when Paul was deceived into thinking that something other than Jesus could be the source of his life. He wrote, "Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?" (7:1). In the context of the rest of the chapter, liveth is not talking about physical life (the life that one loses when he goes into the grave). It is referring to the life one thinks he has in his own perception.

Again, as Jesus said, "For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth" (John 9:39-41). Sin is always connected to the belief by man that he has the capability to see within his own ability.

The fruit of the tree of the knowledge [to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing)] of good and evil (Gen. 2:17) is always the foundation of all sin. When man begins to perceive that he has the capability to decide what is good or what is evil (living by a law), he opens himself to be ruled by that which he perceived to be good or to be evil: "how that the law hath dominion [to rule] over a man as long as he liveth" (Rom. 7:1). The very thing to which man turns to find life soon controls his life.

To the Romans, Paul then wrote, "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God" (7:4). By the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, man can become dead (cause to be put to death) to all laws of life that he "should be married [cause to be] to another" (Christ). Jesus Christ is the only Cause To Be of life, the only Way, the gospel, of life that does not produce destruction.

After establishing the fact that Jesus is the only Cause To Be of life, Paul then told how his face was turned from Jesus which eventually produced the hell of being wretched. He wrote, "For sin, taking occasion [literal meaning of the word translated occasion is "starting point"] by the commandment, deceived [to seduce wholly]] me, and by it slew [to kill outright] me" (7:11). The starting point of all sin is deception. Or, the seeing of a new way.

For example, although everyone keeps making "choices" to live, they keep experiencing death because they have been deceived into thinking they have the capability to make decisions that actually affect the production of true life. It is not what they choose that produces death. It is the perception, the moving into the belief that they can see or they can choose, that produces death.

Or, as Paul wrote, "Is the law sin?" Is what he chose to try to experience life, living by the law, sin? Is what anyone chooses to try to experience life sin?

In reality, everything that is ever chosen by man to attempt to experience life has been created by God (Col. 1:16). Moreover, as the writer of Genesis declared, all things that were created are good: "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (1:31).

Paul even carried it one step further. He implied that it is even the good thing that the individual has "set his heart upon" to try to experience life that eventually causes the individual "to see" sin. He implied that he would have never known sin, if he had not "set his heart upon" something other than Jesus:

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known ["to know"] sin, but by the law: for I had not known ["to see"] lust ["a longing" from "to set the heart upon"], except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet ["to set the heart upon"]. But sin, taking occasion by the commanded, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence ["longing" from "to set the heart upon"]. For without the law sin was dead. (7 :7,8)

It is only the outworking of hell in one’s life stemming from the choice of a wrong road that finally brings man to see the error of his deception. Trying to live life by a law of life other than Jesus will always produce the hell of sin; thereby, producing the knowledge of sin by the actual experiencing of sin.

Paul continued:

For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment which was ordained to life [as all things that were created], I found to be unto death. For sin taking occasion ["starting point"] by the commandment, deceived me and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. (7:9-13)

Again, the problem of sin is not the thing chosen. It is the perception that man can choose that which is good or evil for his life that causes the problem.

The hells of life always occur when man moves into the perception that he can direct his life by the decisions of his own mind. When man eats of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he will die. Destruction will always occur because man does not, neither does the thing he chooses, have the capability to produce the life he desires.

Life is only within God: "For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man" (John 5:26,27). Again, it is only when man begins to perceive that he can make life happen by the choices of his mind that hell occurs. In fact, the real hell of life is being caught in the never ending cycle of making choices and those choices never producing the life that is desired. It is living life in a continual series of one dead end street after another.

Paul lamented over this condition: ". . . I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died . . . For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me" (7:9,11). It began with deception. It would end with death. The illusions of his mind would take him downward to wretchedness (7:24). The deception of the road would eventually take him to hell.

Unfortunately, he has not been the only one that has traveled this road. Many others have had their eyes turned away from Jesus. They, also, have fallen prey to the illusion that life can be experienced by the choices of the mind. The downward road of deception is crowded.

Paul described the process of this deception when he wrote "For we know that the law is spiritual [non-carnal]: but I am carnal sold [to traffic (by traveling)] under sin" (7:14). Everyone that has been deceived and not experiencing the Life of God, Jesus, will be caught in the never ending travel of that to which the mind has turned to try to experience life. The perception of their mind will cause them to be caught in the traffic of their own thinking, trying to experience life by the choices the mind has made. They, too, will become travelers of the downward road of deception to wretchedness.

Apart from Jesus, the travelers of this road are trapped in never experiencing what they so desperately attempt to experience by the decisions of their minds. Or, as Paul wrote, "For that which I do I allow not: for what I would ["to determine"], that do I not; but what I hate that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good" (7:15,16). When the travelers of this road attempt (try to do what they would) to keep their new law of life and yet fail (they do that which they would not do), the fact that they desired to keep the law gives consent that the law is good.

Although man can never say (except in the illusion of his mind) a good thing has produced the good life, his failure to experience the good life in the good thing, nevertheless, accentuates the goodness of the good thing. In other words, when man desires to experience life and fails to experience life, the fact that he desired to experience life testifies to the goodness of life. The ultimate object of every desire is always good. It is only in how one attempts to satisfy that desire that deception can occur.

Paul continued with his description of the deception of this road, "Now then it is no more I that do it [the wrong thing], but sin that dwelleth in me" (7:17). When man does that which he does not determine to do, he can say it was not him, it was not a choice of his mind. However, the curse of the fall (Gen. 3:14) declares that once man attempts to live in the illusion that life is determined by the choices of the mind he must "live" in those choices that the mind has made: "For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them" (Rom. 10:3).

Amazingly, yet not so amazingly, man actually loses the opportunity to experience life, which he (by the choices of his mind) so desperately desires to experience, by making those very choices. Thinking he actually has the freedom to make choices, he becomes a slave to the sin of his choices. He becomes "entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (Gal. 5:1).

Becoming a slave to the deception of whatever road he has chosen to attempt to experience life, he now becomes totally controlled by the road. The road itself becomes his god and dictates to him his every action. He now preaches the road as the way to life. Jesus is no longer the essence of his life or the essence of his message.

Since Jesus is no longer the essence of his life, he becomes a slave to sin. Being in slavery to sin, acts of sin will occur in his life even though he does not want them to occur. Moreover, when an act of sin occurs, he can actually say it was not him (the act of sin did not occur by his own decision) "but [from] sin that dwelleth in [him]" (Rom. 7:20).

However, even though it was not an act of sin that occurred because he made a decision to sin but was in fact the results of his slavery to sin, he still suffers the consequences of any sin that is found in his life. Man is always without excuse. He is without excuse because any act of sin can only occur as a result of the sin that separated him from God. The sin (the awakening of self to its own perception by the perceived choices of the mind) which separates man from the Way of God, Jesus Christ, is what makes man inexcusable. Or, as Paul stated, "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants [slaves] to obey, his servants [slaves] ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" (Rom. 6:16).

There are only two classes of people in the world: those who are slaves of God and those who are slaves of sin. When an act of sin occurs in one’s life, it occurs because he has become a slave to sin. The perception of the mind has become the sinner’s master, the illusion that the choices of the mind can produce his life. He becomes a slave to sin.

This truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ is difficult, if not impossible, for the mind of western man to comprehend. The perceived freedom of the mind has been in control of man’s thinking for so long that man has become deceived into thinking he is something that he is not. Man lives his entire life, unless set free by Jesus Christ, in the fantasies created by his perceived choices.

Only religion will allow a man to think he is something other than what he is. Then, religion will further convince him into thinking that if he will just keep believing that he is something other than what he is, he will actually become that which he is not. It is the classic deception of the mind, which will always divert attention away from itself as being the real problem of man. By the constant offering of new and better ways to life and to God, the mind stays in control of the sinner.

Paul concluded:

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (7:18-24)

Apart from Jesus, Paul rejoiced in himself (the literal meaning of the word translated delight, [7:22]) that "with his mind [he, himself], served the law of God . . ." (7:25). Serving the law of God with the mind, however, automatically moved him into the arena of the flesh: "bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." Man cannot have one without the other.

Being in the flesh, Paul now found himself controlled by sin. Being controlled by sin, this traveler of the road now finds he can do nothing else but experience the wretchedness of the end of the road. Sadly, the deception of the road, the rejection of the gospel, always produces the chambers of death.