Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you, dear Lord, for having mercy upon our souls. We thank you for the grace of God. Dear Lord, I would pray that the Holy Spirit would move amongst His people tonight. I would pray, dear Lord, that the people would know that the approach to mortification results from grace, and that it does not come from legalism nor moralism, but that mortification comes from the throne room of grace and mercy. I pray you a blessing upon this message. In Jesus Christ's precious name, Amen. Romans 8 verses 12 and 13 today's message is we are debtors therefore brethren we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh but if you live according to the flesh you will die but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live is there a sin or a habit in your life that you seem unable to overcome? Is there a relationship with an ungodly person that you need to end? Is there the situation on the job that seems to never get resolved? Do you ask yourself, how can I find the strength to do what is right? You pray, but it seems that God does not answer. Why is God not intervening? Maybe you ask, do I even have a relationship with God? He seems not to answer my prayers. I would like to suggest an answer to these questions in our text today. Paul is talking about our obligation to do the right thing as Christians. As Christians we not only have an obligation to live a holy life, but we also have the ability. We have the ability to live rightly. The obligation and ability are both grounded in the fact that we are Christians, that we have become Christians. Let us start by looking at a few inadequate approaches to sanctification that Dr. Boyce mentions. He mentions first a method In some circles, what is recommended to believers who are fighting against sin, trying to live the Christian life, is a method. There's various methods. It may be a special approach to prayer, or to Bible study. It may be a special way of ordering one's daily life, or something else. You have your checklist on the wall. Do not misunderstand me at this point. certain methods of organizing your prayers pursuing Bible studies and disciplines one daily life is not bad I'm not saying it's bad there's nothing wrong in keeping a list of items to pray for or some program like reading your Bible in a year but what I want to say is that a method a method in and of itself does not guarantee sanctification because you follow this method or program that does not guarantee sanctification or does it give you the strength to do the right thing in the crises in your life when that crisis comes let us look at Martin Luther before his conversion when he was a monk monasticism is a method we have our own monasticism in evangelical circles today Just as the Catholics had monasticism, we also have. It's nothing but a method. Luther fasted. Luther prayed. Luther beat himself. Luther kept vigils. Luther confessed his sin. He subjected his body to rigorous training for hours on end, days at a time. A lot of people know that about Luther. But a lot of people don't know that even George Whitefield at one point in his life had practiced the same thing. The same exact thing. He almost killed himself from fasting too much. Yet he was unable, Luther and Whitefield, unable to find either peace or holiness in such practices. Luther's deliverance came in a different way entirely. First, a method will not sanctify you. Secondly, a formula A second approach to godly living which many recommend is a formula. You have probably heard of some of them. Let go and let God. Give Jesus control of your life. Make him Lord of your life. Let Christ have the throne. Take it by faith brother. You have to move out of chapter 6 into chapter 8. You have to get all these different formulas going on. The appeal of formulas is that they are easy to grasp. That's why they're popular. And for a time, they seem to provide the solutions that you are seeking for. For a time, for a season. But they are too easy, too simple, and in the end, they just don't work. Methods don't work, formulas don't work. In itself, no mere formula is adequate for the harsh realities of life. When the harsh realities of life come. Not waking up and going to work. That's not the harsh realities. When people drop dead or you get the word from the doctor you're gonna die. I'm talking about the harsh realities of life. Thirdly, people look for an experience. That's why they pack out arenas. Twenty, thirty thousand people. They're looking for an experience. Perhaps most common today is the recommendation that believers seek some life-transforming experience. Others describe it as the second blessing, or the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or talking in tongues, or talking like a dog, or falling out like a dog, or being slain, or doing something, some kind of an experience, either a method, a formula, or an experience. And this experience is supposed to make a major advance in the Christian life. after which the discouragements and defeats of earlier days are replaced by a new experience of holiness, joy, and victory. That's what's promised for your hundred dollars in the basket. Proponents usually think that this idea is supported by Paul's teaching in Romans 7 and Romans 8. In Romans 7, Paul is describing what seems to be a stage of life characterized by defeat in spiritual matters but in Romans 8 he is victorious the saying goes you got to get from Romans 7 into Romans 8 what is the difference? obviously so the argument goes the difference is an experience of the Holy Spirit who is not mentioned in Romans 7 but he's mentioned repeatedly in Romans 8 so that's why you got to go from Romans 7 to Romans 8 that's the way it's taught We are told that if we have this special experience of the Spirit, the victory of Romans 8 is finally ours. I gotta get out of Romans 7 and get into Romans 8. Then I'll have the victory. Unfortunately, as we have seen, this is just not the teaching of Romans 8. But his point is not that this is an experience. He does talk about the Holy Spirit in the chapter. He does talk about it in chapter 8. But his point the main point is not to experience this change that this defeated Christian is somehow to attain to become spiritually victorious that is not the focus of Romans 8 but rather the possession of the Holy Spirit is the very essence the very essence of what it means to be a Christian every Christian has the Holy Spirit this is not a second experience but an initial and determining one. Paul tells us clearly in verse 9. Look at Romans 8 and 9. This is not a second thing. This is not for special Christians. This is for every Christian. Verse 9. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. This is not a second experience. This is the experience for every Christian. The chapter argues that those who belong to Christ do have the Holy Spirit and as a result they live like it. See Romans 8 is Christians and non-Christians not this other group of Christians. What is the proper approach to sanctification then? Everybody wants to know how do I get the victory. If I was to stand up here tonight and say, this is how you have a happy marriage, this is how you have a happy relationship, this is how you have a happy this, a happy that, and a happy that. This is how you get the victory. You pack it up. You pack the people and come out in droves. How are Christians to achieve victory over sin and grow in holiness? Paul gives the one and only adequate answers in these verses. In some ways the most important word, look in verses 12 and 13, is therefore. See that word therefore at the beginning of verse 12? Therefore. That word is the most precise word for expressing the direct conclusion of a chain of reasoning. When you're reasoning with someone, the most direct word that you can use, the most precise word that you can express that we have just finished our line of reasoning is therefore. Therefore, what does it point to? It points to what Paul has just said. We've seen the same thing at the start of Romans 5. Look at Romans 5 with me. I'm going to tell you how to get the victory tonight. It just may not be what you thought. But I'm going to tell you how to get the victory. Romans 5 verse 1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The word, therefore. Paul had just explained the gospel in chapters 3 and 4. The word therefore introduced the consequences of the salvation achieved for us by God. That's what the therefore is. Therefore, because of what Christ has done, we have peace with God. If you believe it or not, that's what God Almighty says. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. The most important consequence being is that your salvation is certain or assured. Get that out of your mind. Romans 5.1 says you have been saved. In fact, everything we have been studying since Romans 5 has been working out of that therefore. As I mentioned numerous times, chapters 5 through 8 is on the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints or your assurance. we saw this word again in 5.12 look at 5.12 therefore just as through one man sin entered the world and death true sin and thus death spread to all men because all sinned Paul is telling us because of this we are debtors because of the assurance because of Him taking you out of Adam, putting you into Christ. Okay? He's leading up to why we are debtors. You have peace with God. You've been taken out of Adam and put into Christ. We have been delivered from the wrath of God against us for our sin. We've been brought into an entirely new realm, the sphere of God's rule in Christ. You've been taken out of Adam and you've been put into Christ. You've been translated out of the kingdom of darkness and you've been put into the kingdom of his beloved son. We have been given a new nature. Being made alive to spiritual things in which we were dead. You have possession of this new nature. You don't have to go to the metal lands to find out about a new nature or a new experience. We have been assured of an entirely new destiny in which not only will we live with God forever But even these physical bodies will be what? Resurrected as we're coming into resurrection day. These physical bodies, this corruptible will put on incorruptible. This mortal will put on immortality. These things God has done and will do. He says you have been justified, you have been sanctified, and you have been glorified. We have not done this ourselves. You were dead in your sense of justice. We couldn't have done it, nor could we have, no matter how hard we tried. Paul says, God has done these things for us. You were dead in your sins and trespasses, and God made you alive. And now, he made you alive, you have peace with God, you've been taken from Adam, you've been put into Christ, you've been sanctified, you've been glorified. He says, these are some of the reasons that you are debtors. Or as the NIV says, you have an obligation to live as Christ has lived. We must live this way. This is imperative. This is not optional. We must live this way. You must live for Christ. Everything we have seen in Romans 8 up to this point has been a general description of the Christian. Every one of these teachings has been the general description of every Christian, of your status, of your present experience of your character and future expectations now for the first time Paul draws a specific conclusion saying that the work of God for us and in us okay I've been telling you for years what you are in Christ now God says there's a work for you and he presents you with a very serious obligation very serious obligation It is to live for God and not according to the flesh. Our text says we are not to live according to the flesh. And we are not to give reign to the misdeeds or the deeds of the body. We are to live according to the spirit. Now here's the word that everybody loves today. We are to mortify. To put the sins of the body to death. and to yield the members of our body for righteousness. You are to take that enemy of your soul. I'm going to give you an illustration from wartime, from Vietnam. If you were a soldier in a war, you do not cuddle up next to your enemies and hug them and kiss them and bring them to bed with you and rise with them and play with them all day and then go back to bed with them. If you're in a war, when you see that enemy, you take the gun, you put it to his head and you blow a hole in it. That's how you deal with your enemies. You kill, you mortify, you put to death the deeds of the body. We are to live according to the Spirit. It is the Spirit that's causing you to mortify. He is the power behind it. The putting to death of every known sin in your life. Now this is not popular. The word mortification, morticians, people don't want to hear that. There used to be tombstones surrounding churches to remind you of death. The wages of sin is death. To remind you of the reality of death. Now we move them out 50 miles away. Move it away. We don't want to think about mortification. We don't want to think about death. We want everything nice, sweet, sugary and nice. Get me a Dunkin Donut. In Romans 6, verses 11-14, we dealt with this topic in a general kind of way. In that chapter, Paul was teaching about our union with Christ. The emphasis in chapter 6 was our union with Christ. He was teaching that if we are Christians, we have been united to Christ in His death. His death became our death and in His resurrection, His resurrection became ours. This was the focus in 6. And because of this union with Christ, we are no longer who or what we were. We have a new status and we are a changed people. Look with me in chapter 6 verses 11 through 14. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lust. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. The key word in that text is count or reckon. It means to proceed on the basis of what is actually the case. You're to proceed, you're to move forward reckoning, counting as to everything that you studied before in the book of Romans. You're to proceed from that point. You're a new creature in Christ. When we studied these verses I pointed out it was necessary that we do this. that you must count or reckon that is true you cannot go back I mentioned you cannot go back into that kingdom of darkness you live in a new kingdom you only can be shouted to we cannot go back our past is dead to us the only direction we can go is forward so now you've come to the point of moving forward now you come to the point what you gotta do here this is exactly what Paul is teaching in Romans 8 There's not this middle place. This is every Christian. The only difference is that now his chief subject is not our union with Christ. In chapter 6 it was our union with Christ. The chief subject now is the role of the Holy Spirit. The role of the Holy Spirit as the Father's agent in saving us. What is the Holy Spirit's role? The Holy Spirit joins us to Christ. Okay? Romans 6 was our union with Christ. Now we have the Holy Spirit, His role, that He has joined us to Christ. This is the point. Every Christian is joined to Christ by the Holy Spirit. In other words, all Paul is doing in these chapters is approaching the subject of sanctification from two different directions. In Romans 6, he approached it telling you of your union to Christ. That was his one approach. Yet no matter what direction he comes from, the bottom line is still the same. If we are Christ, if the Holy Spirit has joined us to Him, the past is dead for us. And we must live now as what we truly are. And what you truly are is this. You are a debtor. That is your obligation. You are in debt now to God Almighty. Since Romans 8, 12 and 13 is parallel to Romans 6, 11 to 14, put to death the misdeeds of the body. They show that this means offering the parts of our body to God for righteousness rather than to sin. Verse 13, look with me. In Romans 8, go back to Romans 8. It says, if you live after the flesh, you will die. What kind of death is this? Is it physical death or is it spiritual death? Commentators vary on this. Regardless of how we answer that first question, what we would actually have to do, how bad we have to be to experience. People say, well, if I'm going to die, well, how far can I go before I lost my salvation? That shouldn't even enter into your mind. How far? Is it talking physical death or is it talking spiritual death? Why does that even matter to you? The most common way of answering these questions, now this is why they come up with the carnal christian thing. For a teaching like that. Well, it. See? Turn with me to 1 John 5. I'll show you a few verses that people that teach carnal christians, what they use. 1 John 5, 16 and 17. If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask and he will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin and there is sin leading not to death. You see, it seems to say there is a sin leading not to death. These are difficult, but they seem to be speaking of some one sin or type of sin committed by Christians. early, that the Lord would take you home to Heaven. Bring you home early. Take the offended person out of the way. Turn to 1 Corinthians 11.30. You just heard me mention this. Sunday, during the Lord's Supper. See, people hear things so often sometimes, they don't even really look at what is being said to them. For this reason, sorry, 1 Corinthians 11.30. For this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many are dead." Well, it seems to say that there's Christians that are dead because of sin. Alright? And if you turn to Acts 5, everybody's familiar with that. Let me just show you two verses from Acts 5. Acts 5, verse 5. Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. Verse 10. Then immediately she fell down on the street and breathed her last. So it seems like a couple of Christians are getting killed up in here. The interpretation is popular to teachers who teach the carnal Christians in Romans 8. In Romans 8 these verses are popular. But it seems to say that if a Christian is carnal enough, that word carnal, he may die physically. Though of course he will not lose his salvation. That's the way the teaching goes. In Romans 8, though, Paul is not talking about sinning Christians. That's not what Romans 8 is about. So you don't take those verses over there and bring eisegesis in there and read it into the text. Romans 8 is not talking about Christians who are sinning. He's distinguishing between Christians and non-Christians who live by the Spirit and unbelievers who live according to the flesh. Romans 8 is a contrast. There's not this middle group are going to slip in here it's only about believers and unbelievers there's no third group that you read into the text that you read somewhere into the end of chapter 7 and the beginning of chapter 8 and we read into that the carnal Christian or we throw them in chapter 8 somewhere Paul's point is that those who live according to the flesh that is unbelievers will die spiritually that's what the text is teaching that unbelievers will die spiritually. Indeed, they are already spiritually dead. While those who live by the Spirit, that is Christians, that is every Christian, not some Christians, every Christian who lives by the Spirit. Paul must be saying this because this is what he has been saying all along. Righteous, unrighteous. Justified, damned. There's not a middle ground. Why then does he write as he does, saying to Christians, for if you live after the flesh you will die? The answer is that it is a general statement. Like saying to a child, if you put your finger in the fire, it doesn't matter, if you put your finger in that fire you'll be burnt. That's a general statement. It does not necessarily imply that a person hearing the words might ignore the warning, or even be able to ignore it. When Paul uses the word if in our text, this is key the word if in our text go back to Romans 8 so you can familiarize yourself again with it for if you live according to the flesh you will die but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live when Paul uses the word if he is not thinking in terms of cause and effect but of means and ends If is the means to the end. If is not the cause to the effect. That's where people get all out of whack. If is not cause and effect. It is the means that the Holy Spirit uses to accomplish His ends. He is not saying if you do this, then that will happen. Then you've got works righteousness. Then you have cause and effect. If you crucify, if you die, if you mortify, if, if, if. Then the cause and effect would be, okay, if you do this, then you have earned your salvation. It's not cause and effect, it's the means to the end. Just like people get all whacked out in Hebrews. Well, what do these verses mean? It seems to indicate you can lose your salvation. It doesn't indicate that. That is the means that the Lord uses to accomplish His end. He needs a means, and the means is the Word. What He says is, the means to that end is. let me say this as clearly as possible as clearly as possible paul is saying that if you live like a pagan if you live like a pagan dominated by the flesh rather than living after the spirit you will die you can argue all day is a physical death is a spiritual death the bottom line is if you live this way you shall die if you are a christian you will not live according to the flesh Instead, you will acknowledge what you actually are in Christ and live that way. A tomato will start to act and look like a tomato, not a watermelon. If you are a Christian, you will eventually begin to act like one. If you do not, you are not a carnal Christian. You are a pagan. Martin Lloyd-Jones concludes that here the apostle teaches quite clearly That the way of sanctification is realizing the truth about ourselves as Christians. And then you put it into practice. Realizing the truth about yourself. You are saved. You're always going to be saved. God loves you. On and on and on. All the teachers that we heard for a couple of years in the Book of Romans. Realize that truth about you and now put it into practice. It's that simple. This is the teaching of Paul. This is the teaching of James. This is the teaching of Peter. This is the teaching of John. All throughout their teachings. Every epistle that you go to. Every book in the New Testament. Peter, James, John, Paul. Spend the beginning of their books telling you what you are in Christ. Then they tell you what you should do then therefore. So the same in Romans, Paul has been telling you what you are. Justified, sanctified, taken out of Adam, put into Christ. On and on and on. Let me give you a few examples. From Paul, Peter, James and John. Look first at Romans 12. Where I'm talking to you about the means to the end. Romans 12 verses 1 and 2. I beseech you brethren, Okay, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. He's, first of all, telling you what you are. Brethren, by the tender mercies, now present your bodies a living sacrifice. You see? You see the means to the end? Do not be conformed to this world, be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The 11 chapters, Paul tells you all about yourself. Then he says, now listen, now this is what I want you to do. Because all these things are true, this is all you can do. Look with me at 1 Corinthians 6. I'm trying to emphasize the point of the means to the end. 1 Corinthians 6, 2 and 3. Do you not know that saints will judge the world? Here's Paul calling you a saint. I bet you didn't come here tonight feeling like a saint. Felt more like a devil. 1 Corinthians 6, 2 and 3. Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you? Here's Paul telling you that you're going to judge the world. He's calling you a saint. If the world be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge in the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain in this life he's telling you you're going to judge the world you're going to judge angels okay so now look at verses 14 through 20 and God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ so I take the members of Christ and make them members of all of it 79 you see the contrast he's just teaching those in the flesh, those in the Spirit. Okay? He's saying, listen, you're going to judge angels, you're going to judge the world, now what, are you going to go get yoked up with a harlot? Just like it's saying in our text. You see? That's the teaching all throughout the Scripture. In the New Testament. This is what you are, now therefore this is the way you act. Look out with me at 2 Corinthians 6. 14. 2 Corinthians 6. Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? You see the contrast? That's all that's in the scripture. Light and darkness. Fellowship. With righteousness or lawlessness? And what accord has Christ with B.L.? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. So how could you live in all kinds of wickedness? You see, the means to the end. He's telling you, you're this, so therefore this is the way you act. You're this, so now act this way. You're this, you shall act this way. Verse 16. And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? You're the temple of God. I'll dwell in them and walk among them. I'll be their God. They shall be my people. This is what it's saying over in Romans 8. In the Spirit. You have the Holy Spirit in you. Therefore, come out from amongst them. You see here? Okay? Here's the means. Alright? Come out from them. The means is, I'm dwelling in them. They'll be their God. They'll be my people. Then he says, okay. Therefore, come out from amongst them. Be separate, says the Lord. Don't touch the unclean. I'll be a father to you. He says, I'll be my sons and my daughters. Says the Lord God Almighty. Here's another therefore. Chapter 2, verse 1. Therefore, you see all things he just told you? Son of God, he's dwelling in you, judging saints, judging the world, and here's a therefore. Chapter 1. I'm sorry. Chapter 7, verse 1. Therefore, having these promises, considering everything I just said to you, having these promises, beloved, here he is again. Beloved, let me juice you up a little bit more. Beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit. Perfected holiness in the fear of God. He's teaching the same thing over in Corinthians, over in 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, and Romans. That's what it is. Did you see a corner Christian in there somewhere? I didn't see him. I can't find the fellow. Colossians 3. This is the normal Christian life. Colossians 3, verses 1 to 5. If you're raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things that are yest. You see the contrast again? For you died and your life is hidden with Christ, where Christ who is our life appears. Then you also will appear with Him. Okay, you see, this is the means He's using. Now verse 5, look at the therefore again. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passions, evil desires, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Considering this, you take whatever that thing is and blow a hole in it! Kill it! Murder it! Mortify it! Destroy it! Just like an enemy in the jungle, that sin that you are playing with seeks to kill you. Whatever that sin is, take it away from everything else and stare at it. I don't care if it's drugs, if it's alcohol, if it's illicit affairs, if it's covetousness, if it's manipulations, lust, whatever it is, take that thing in and of itself, sit it down, stare at it and see what it will do to you. Like in Proverbs, it tells a man, don't even go near a dog. Just driving here, I seen the billboard as I'm coming down the highway, a girl sitting up there in her underwear. She's on the billboard on the middle of the highway. A little bikini underwear, I'm driving with the beloved, going to teach mortification. Right there, you put it to death. That's what it means, right there and then. You don't say, well, let me look the second time. Let me look the third time. Let me put somebody else's face in there. See, that's how it works and you keep playing with it. The thought comes and then you keep on developing that thought. Instead of no, that is sin, that is wicked. And though you not know that you shall judge angels, son, do not love the second time. You kill that thought. Right then. Alright, look at the way James teaches us. James 1. I'm trying to show you how you put that thing right to death. That thing is sick to destroy me. Here I am with my beloved, somebody else. I'm on a billboard. James 1, 18-21. Show you how James does it. I showed you how Paul does it. James 1, 18-21. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of fresh fruits of his scriptures. You see? This is what you are. 19. Therefore, my beloved brethren, here he is blessing you more. Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21. Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls. James teaches the same exact way. This is what you are. Now this is the way you shall behave yourself. The Lord uses the word, that's the means he uses to bring you to the end. That's what he uses. That's the way James did it. That's the way Paul did it. Let us look at 1st Peter 1. 1st Peter 1. 3 to 5. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begun us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Here's Peter teaching the same thing Paul was teaching in Romans. To an inheritance that's incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. Okay? Who are kept by the power of God's true faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. I mean, how much more beautiful does it get than that? Now look at verses 18-50. Consider it. Consider this is true. That's what it is in the Spirit. Now this is what I want you to do with your flesh. 13. Therefore, gird up the loins of your minds. That's what I was telling you about that little boy. Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children, not conforming yourself to the form of lust, as in your ignorance. But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. You see? Peter's teaching mortification too. Look at 1 John too. John teaches mortification the same. 1 John 2 verses 3-6 now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments he who says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him but whoever keeps his word truly the love of God is perfected in him by this we know that we are in him he who says he abides in him ought to himself walk just as he walked Peter teaches the same thing, James, John, Paul, they all teach the same thing. I will end with the answer to two questions that I asked in the beginning of this message. How can I find the strength to do what is right? The reason I know you will have the strength to do what is right is that you already have it. You can do it. I did not say you have the necessary strength or willpower in yourself. I didn't say that because you don't. We cannot do anything of ourselves in our own strength. The reason you will have the strength is that you have the Holy Spirit. Which is true of every Christian. The reason that you feel troubled when you do not do right and when you are living in the wrong way is that you know you belong to Christ now and you want to please Him. That's why it bothers you so much. That's why you're so miserable because you play with that sin. and you know you belong to Christ and you want to please Him. God's Spirit is within you. So if you were to say, I don't have the strength to serve God, you would be really saying the Holy Spirit is inadequate. That's what you're saying. And the Bible clearly says otherwise. The other question I asked in the beginning was, you may ask, why has God not intervened in my life to do something special? What do we mean when we ask that question? Do we mean we want God to reorder events to suit our own personal wishes? We have no right to ask God that. Nor should we want to. We would just be playing God again. Aren't you tired of playing God in your life? Thinking that we know better than God? Oh Lord, if you would just reorder this and redo that. Or do we mean that we want God to solve our problem by some external means? Perhaps by removing the temptation. by changing our thinking so that we're no longer attracted by that wrong. Lord, please, I never want to lust again in my life, so therefore remove all billboards on the planet. See, there's external kind of means. Or maybe by providing the experience, an experience that'll strip temptation of its power. Oh Lord, if that was just stripping it of its power, temptation, is this true of you? Is that what you're always saying to God? But if God was to do that, which He could, it would mean that what we are able to do as normal Christians, unaided by some supernatural intervention of God, does not count. That would mean the Christian life has no meaning. What would be the point of being a Christian if in crisis situations God always has to intervene? What would be the point of being a Christian? You would just be a robot. To be a Christian means this. God has already done everything necessary to save you not only from sin's penalty. This is the problem with most believers today. He's not only able to save you from sin's penalty, but from its power. You have God's Holy Spirit dwelling inside you. And as a result, you can and you must live for Him. You do not need a secret formula, a secret method, or any ecstatic experience. God has already equipped you perfectly for every good work. It says that in Ephesians 2.10. You will live for Him. Not only will you live for Him, putting to death the deeds of the body, but you will live in accordance with the Holy Spirit's desires. And your life will matter. His desire in our text is that you, yes you, mortify the deeds of the body. The Holy Spirit's desire is this. John Stott says, mortification is the process of putting to death the body's misdeeds. It is a clear sighted recognition of evil as evil. Leading to such a decisive and radical repudiation of it that no imagery can do it justice except you put it to death. Run the sword through it. Shoot it. Chop its head off. A biblical illustration of the verb mortify is used in Luke 21. This is the same verb that's used in our text, people. That's used in Luke 21, 16. It can't be any clearer what the Holy Spirit is talking about in our text, using the same verb. Luke 21 verse 16 you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers relatives and friends and they will send some of you to your death see that word death? that's the same verb mortify in greek phan-at-u-aho phan-at-u-aho meaning kill someone hand over to be killed put to death all parts nothing is to live That's what the word mortified means in Romans. That's what you do with the deeds of the flesh. The indwelling spirit is the reason for mortification. That is the reason for mortification. The deeds of the body is it's sinful desires. What are the deeds of the body? It's sinful desires, it's molers, it's affections and it's purposes. Mortification is the effect and the evidence of being in Christ. You're in Christ, so the effect of that is that you will mortify the deeds of the body. That is the effect of the Holy Spirit in you and it is the evidence. The evidence is mortification of the deeds of the body. If you are not mortifying the deeds of the body, there is no evidence to support your claim that you are a Christian. For a Christian to say, I cannot do it, is to deny the scripture. A man who has the Holy Spirit residing in him must never utter such an expression. It is denial of the truth concerning himself or herself. What would it prove if God did the hard thing for you? It would prove nothing at all. You already know God is all powerful. But when Christians do the right thing, even when it breaks your heart, man. I know people yoked up with unbelievers. They were an unbeliever, got saved. They left their unbelieving girlfriend that they were shacked up with. Rips your heart out. Put to death the deeds. God could have saved the girl right then, right? But when Christians do the right thing, even when it breaks your heart or you suffer for it, when they do it in utter dependence on God, and here's the key, out of love for Him, out of love for God Almighty, that is the reason why that you put the death to teach. It's not, well let me prove I'm a Christian, this is what I know, I'll put that on my little checklist. It's out of your love for Him. Then your obedience to God proves everything. It proves that it matters to you and it matters to God. And that victory will endure to the praise of our great God throughout eternity. I have love for everything. Look at all the things I just read to you. From James, from John, from Peter, from Paul. Should you not now? You say, oh yeah, I love God. Well, he says, the more fight it needs in the body. God is saying this, soldier, stop complaining that things are not going well and you are not doing well. He is saying, attention, stand up, realize who you are, stop your slouching, you are a child of Almighty God. Why are you moaning and groaning and making excuses? Do you not know that the Spirit of God dwells in you? Do you not know that you are partakers of the divine nature? Why are you talking so much about the world, the flesh, and the devil? Do you not know that he that is in you is greater than he that is in the world? See, that's what all those texts are in. He's there, he's the one doing it. It's not you doing it, it's him doing it. Let me give you an illustration. At a wedding, the bride comes with the knife to cut the cake, right? And the bridegroom takes the bride's hand, right? And cuts the cake. You see the illustration? It's you putting your hand there with the knife, but all along it's God Almighty that's holding your hand with the knife in it. You can take the sin, stab it, shoot it, whatever way you like to kill something, just kill it. He that is in you is greater than he that is in the world. The Lord is saying stand up, attend heart, and march. The Bible says you're in a battle, you're in a war. Realize what God has done to you. Realize what you are and what he has made of you. March with your full armor on. I mean, what's the imagery he's using in Ephesians to put all this gear on here? He doesn't say to go to a party. If he's putting on a helmet and boots and a sword and a shield and everything, that's a battle, that's a war. How do you tell somebody in a nice kind of way, well you're in a war, you know, You tell him, listen, when I was in the military, listen, you do this, brother, and I'll kill you. So what's it going to be? Kill or be killed. Pretty simple. And in the end, may it be said of you, that your light so shined before men, that they saw your good works and gave glory to your Father who is in heaven. Amen. And dear Heavenly Father, I would pray, dear Lord, that you would Teach your people, dear Lord, that they need not pray to you to deliver them from temptation where the Bible says you have done it already. I would pray, dear Lord, that the body of Christ would stand up and shake off those sins that so easily beset it, dear Lord. I would pray that everyone here and whoever listens to this message, dear Lord, would take those sins that they've been playing with all these years and kill them. That they'd not play with temptation and sin for a second. That they would understand that that sin is to kill them. That sin does not love them. It is not their friend. It is not their buddy. The end of that sin that you are playing with, child of God, is death. And I would pray that out of love for God that you would mortify the deeds of your body and that you would stand up and fight this battle. I ask you all these things in Jesus Christ's precious name. Amen.