t afraid so long as there is no one
threatening his reign, but the unarmed herald of a discrowned king.
His citadel will not surrender to the blast of the trumpet blown from
Sinai.

II. Christ's condemnation and casting out of the tyrant.

The Apostle points to a triple condemnation.

'In the likeness of sinful flesh,' Jesus condemns sin by His own
perfect life. That phrase, 'the likeness of the flesh of sin,'
implies the real humanity of Jesus, and His perfect sinlessness; and
suggests the first way in which He condemns sin in the flesh. In His
life He repeats the law in a higher fashion. What the one spoke in
words the other realised in 'loveliness of perfect deeds'; and all men
own that example is the mightiest preacher of righteousness, and
that active goodness draws to itself reverence and sways men to
imitate. But that life lived in human nature gives a new hope of the
possibilities of that nature even in us. The dream of perfect beauty
'in the flesh' has been realised. What the Man Christ Jesus was, He
was that we may become. In the very flesh in which the tyrant rules,
Jesus shows the possibility and the loveliness of a holy life.

But this, much as it is, is not all. There is another way in which
Christ condemns sin in the flesh, and that is by His perfect
sacrifice. To this also Paul points in the phrase, 'the flesh of
sin.' The example of which we have been speaking is much, but it is
weak for the very same reason for which law is weak--that it operates
only through our nature as it is; and that is not enough. Sin's hold
on man is twofold--one that it has perverted his relation to God, and
another that it has corrupted his nature. Hence there is in him
a sense of separation from God and a sense of guilt. Both of these not
only lead to misery, but positively tend to strengthen the dominion
of sin. The leader of the mutineers keeps them true to him by
reminding them that the mutiny laws decree death without mercy. Guilt
felt may drive to desperation and hopeless continuance in wrong. The
cry, 'I am so bad that it is useless to try to be better,' is often
heard. Guilt stifled leads to hardening of heart, and sometimes to
desire and riot. Guilt slurred over by some easy process of
absolution may lead to further sin. Similarly separation from God is
the root of all evil, and thoughts of Him as hard and an enemy,
always lead to sin. So if the power of sin in the past must be
cancelled, the sense of guilt must