We live between two significant days. Someone has called them D-day and V- Day, (without the E). D-Day and V-E Day, of course are historic dates in connection with World War Two.

The Allied invasion (code name, Operation Overlord) of France's Normandy region during World War II began on June 6, 1944 (D-Day). This operation, landed about 1 million troops by July 1. The Germans, unaware of the exact invasion point, had 50 infantry and 10 panzer (tank) divisions dispersed in France and the Low Countries.

For the two months preceding D-Day, British-based aircraft had systematically bombed rail lines, bridges, and airfields on French soil. Throughout the preceding night paratroops were dropped inland to disrupt enemy communications. Naval guns pounded shore installations, and in the early daylight at low tide about 5,000 Allied ships approached the Normandy coastline. The British and Canadians moved in smoothly at the eastern landing points--Gold, Juno, and Sword beaches, above Caen--as did the Americans at Utah Beach, the westernmost landing site. Within five days 16 Allied divisions had landed in Normandy, and the final drive to liberate Europe was under way.

V-E Day is the historic date which marks the end of World War II (1939-45). It was celebrated on May 8, 1945, following the surrender of Germany to the Allied forces. Today we remember those days, it being Remembrance Day this coming Wednesday.

I think the analogy fits. We are no longer fighting a world war, but we still are in what is known as Spiritual Warfare. Jesus Christ has come, and therefore the decisive victory over sin, the devil and the flesh has been won. However, the victory is not yet complete. Our D-day has taken place. Jesus Christ has invaded the world of sin and despair, but our V-Day has not yet arrived. We still await or day of Victory. There are still pockets of resistance, guerilla troops to be defeated. There are still battles to be fought. O we already posses salvation through Jesus Christ. In him we already have new life, but we do not have perfection. That is the victory we await.

So we live between two significant days, D-day and V-Day. If we have let him, we know Jesus has redeemed our lives. Too often though, we really don’t feel all that redeemed. If we have asked him, we know he has forgiven our sins. Yet, often, the feeling of guilt overtakes our entire being. We worship him, we adore him, we glorify him, and still, perhaps when we leave this place this morning, his power will not have fully impacted upon us. That is like living between those two significant days, D-day and V-Day.

Is there something we can do? Yes! Paul has the answer for us in Romans 6. He begins this chapter with a very thought provoking question. In the previous chapter he had been talking about grace. God’s grace is given freely to all through Jesus Christ, in the forgiveness of sin. In fact, ". . .where sin increased, God’s grace increased much more," which means then, the greater the sin, the greater the grace. Said in a different way, God’s grace always fits the sin. So Paul asks the question. "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" The German pastor and martyr of the Second World War, Dietrich Bonhoefer coined the phrase, "cheap grace." This kind of grace is not what Paul has in mind. Cheap grace refers to the attitude that says, "It’s OK. God understands. He knows I can’t help the way I am. He knows I can't do anything about my addictions, my alternate lifestyle. So, because he is the all loving, all gracious God, he will forgive me. And, he will continue to forgive me. So it's OK to do whatever, or live in whatever way I feel comfortable." That my friends is cheap grace, and it is wrong.

When Paul asked the question, he already knew the answer. "Certainly not! We have died to sin---how then can we go on living in it?" Do you know what it means to "die to sin?" Notice I said "die to sin?" I did not say "die in sin," which means a life and death of unconfessed sin. But dying to sin means to have confessed your sin to God, and doing your utmost best not to sin anymore. And the beauty of this is that when we do this, God buries our sins in the deepest sea, and then he posts a sign which reads: No Fishing!

Can you imagine what it means to be dead to sin and alive to God? Let's take it one step further. Can you imagine being free from sin, never having to worry about it anymore? Can you imagine how great it would be to live a life completely and totally dead to sin. That would mean we would be completely rid of it. We would be completely free of it. Another term for that would be V-Day, for that would mean complete victory with Christ our Lord.

Sin free life means that there is nothing to hide. When the drone of airplanes sounded over Germany's ancient town of Freilburg the night of May 10, 1940, scarcely a person looked up. Their city was, they knew, of no military significance. Suddenly bombs whistled down. Freilburg's picturesque "old city" was heavily damaged. The next day Adolph Hitler screamed that the Allies had violated an agreement to spare open cities. He vowed, "Five German bombs will fall for every enemy bomb!" and tried to live up to it. Nazi planes wiped out Rotterdam, swept across the Channel to pulverize Dover and Portsmouth and leave London's inner city and the cathedral city of Coventry in flaming rubble. The words "blitz" and "total war" were added to military language.

Now after prolonged insistence by the Western Allies who said none of their planes were near Freilburg that fateful night the truth has emerged. German officials digging into archives of the Institute of Current History at Munich found that the bombers that hit Freilburg were German. Field Marshal Herman Goring had ordered them from Landsburg for a raid on Dijon, France. Lost in heavy clouds, Goring's bombers had dumped their load on Freilburg by mistake. Goring and Hitler had covered up the facts and used the incident to help justify the ruthless Nazi invasion of the Low Countries.

That is an apt illustration of hiding one's sin. There will be no more of that. Once a person accepts Christ as Lord and Savior, he or she is well on the way to V-day because they are making a conscious effort to "die to sin." Because D-Day has happened their sins are forgiven; nailed to the cross of Calvary. Yet because V-Day has not yet arrived, the complete victory is not yet here. But do not despair. Victory is at hand. Always remember, the spiritual warfare we must still undergo is never fought from the standpoint of defeat, but always. . . always from the standpoint of victory. The enemy has been defeated. Christ is the Victor, who will come again, to take to himself, all those who have consciously died to sin.

You see, Paul is talking about believers here. He first calls our attention to our baptism. Our baptism signifies our death to sin, and a new life in Christ. It signifies membership in the family of God. It signifies our worthiness. Through baptism we become a child of the heavenly Father. Whether baptism takes place as an adult, or a child, is not the issue here. The meaning remains basically the same. By our baptism, “we were buried with him and shared his death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from death by the glorious power of the Father, so also might we live a new life” (vs 4). That is V-Day! We are not there yet. We are still in the D-Day era. But this as a sure promise of God. We have tremendous worth because of what Jesus did, and our baptism is a sign and seal of that worth.

Terry Wise, in his book Fundamentals of Spiritual Warfare, talks about "inverted thinking." I’ve mentioned this before, but I think it is worth revisiting. "Inverted thinking is when we have things backwards or upside down. It is believing that we are nothing, when God says we are something. It is believing the devil's lies about ourselves, instead of believing the truth of God's word. Greater happiness, greater impact, and greater victory is experienced when inverted thinking is corrected and one's identity is allowed to influence behavior." (P 88) What does Paul say? Listen to this! ". . .we know that our old being has been put to death with Christ on his cross. . ." (Vs 6). That must mean that we are now new beings! Which would you sooner believe; that you are totally worthless because of sin, or that you are a new being, because of Christ. Peter writes, ". . . you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light" (1 Peter 2:9). That is exactly what Paul has in mind here in Romans. "Since we have died with Christ, (that is, to sin). . .we will also live with him. For we know that Christ. . . will never die again" (vss 8&9). He died on that cross on our behalf and that was D-Day. And now we are to think of ourselves as worthy, living in fellowship with Jesus our Lord until V-Day.

We need to back up just bit here. Verse seven of this passage tells us that, "When a person dies, he is set free from the power of sin." What does this mean? Allow me to illustrate. A woman once had a small white Highland terrier which she kept spotlessly clean by frequent washing, brushing, and powdering. One night a winter storm dropped a fresh blanket of snow on the countryside, and the next morning the whole world seemed to glisten under the splendor of the morning sun. As the woman stood gazing out of her window, she saw a drab-looking dog walk across the snow. She wondered whose it was -- then suddenly realized it was her own well-groomed terrier! It was as clean as always, but against that dazzling background it appeared dirty.

In much the same way, our corrupt nature is clearly revealed when our lives are measured by the absolute standard of Divine holiness. The Bible says that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." We make a favorable impression when compared with other men, but none of us can stand up against the pure whiteness of the character of Christ, until we are where he is. Jesus once said, "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2). That is when we are set free form the power of sin. There’s a song I have used with the youth group. It’s called "Heaven is a Wonderful Place." That is V-Day for the individual, but that still is not a global V-Day. Listen to his next promise. "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" (John 14:3). There we have it. When Jesus returns. . .that will be V-Day! For then all this talk about sin will ever again be on anyone’s mind. For it was wiped out on D-Day, but it will come ti its fullest fulfilment on V-Day!

We are living between two significant days. In the meantime, will you take Paul’s advice, and "surrender your whole being to him?" (Vs 13b). It’s an apt illustration I think, taken from the historic dates connected with WW II. We have gained certain freedoms because of that war, which I would never minimize. But only Christ can give us inner freedom, because through him we have the freedom from guilt. Look to his death upon the cross, where tho power of sin has been destroyed forever. Look to his being raised form the dead, so that you too might live. V-Day is just around the corner.