The grenade has been a device used in warfare for centuries, dating back to the 8th and 9th century. Starting out as gunpowder-filled stone and ceramic jars, to glass jars, to the iron grenades we all know today, the design has been relatively the same as they all performed the same purpose of exploding and dealing massive damage to the human body.
From what I have read, the modern grenade today has a detonation time of approximately two to six seconds after the pin is pulled and the grenade is thrown. That is not a lot of time, so soldiers would need to be certain that they threw the grenade far enough away so that they would not get hit by the shrapnel and be killed.
Sin can be like a grenade, in the way that both can kill, albeit differently. A grenade can cause death to a body but sin can cause death to the spirit of a man. Just like a grenade that needs to be thrown and gotten far away from yourself, sin needs to be “thrown away.”
Romans 8:6-14 “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
Paul taught that we need to “mortify” the deeds of the flesh, but what does that mean? Well, if you mortify something it means to nullify; to deaden, neutralize. To “kill off.” If you think about it, that is what a mortuary is, a place where dead bodies are stored prior to burial.
So as we read from Paul, if we live after the flesh, we will die. If we live in sin, we will die. But if we (through the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit) mortify/deaden those sinful actions and put them away from our lives, we will have life. That is the thing which keeps a person out of heaven; their sins. The desire to live after the flesh will lead to death.
Sin is like a road that goes halfway over a giant canyon and just ends there right in the middle, and everyone has driven on that road. Car after car might drive up to the edge of that road and go over the edge down into the canyon below and perish, but more still continue to stay on that road. To save oneself from that fate one needs to get off of that road. They need to deaden the sins and the lusts that has caused the unfortunate death of all those before them.
Put those sins away. Mortify the sinful deeds of the flesh and you shall have eternal life. Let go of that grenade.
In Christ,
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 