I trust if you're not, you can quickly return back to Romans 6. We will be in verses 11-13 tonight, but I will confess this evening that this is going to be more of a topical sermon, less exegetically based, in that we will not be spending our entire time in Romans 6. Understand what I mean by that. I want to begin this evening talking about sirens, not the kind that you hear going down the road in an emergency, but the sirens from Greek mythology. If you recall these creatures, they sat on three different islands, and in the middle of the water, They would use their music to capture the desires, the affections, and the lust of sailors so much so that their whole purpose was to steer the sailors towards them and that the sailors would crash their boats on the rocks. It was their entire mission in life in this Greek mythology to sink ships. And perhaps you're familiar with the historic quest of Odysseus on his way to do whatever it was that he was doing. I don't even wanna go down all the story behind that, but as they were passing near the sirens, he knew the danger that was involved, and so he had all of his sailors put wax in their ears. so they could not hear the songs of the sirens. But Odysseus wanted to hear it. He wanted to know what was the allure, what was the enticement. So he had himself put to the bow, wrapped up and tied up so he could not move and turn the ship towards the rocks, towards the sirens. He wanted to hear so badly, but he had himself tied to the ship. The men had wax in their ears and couldn't hear. And so as they passed by, he was prevented from turning the ship and in that way that they would pass, they would pass safely. Later on in a story from Greek mythology, there's a story of Jason and the Argonauts. And in their quest, they would pass the very same location, the very same place where the sirens would use their songs to call in sailors. And it was told to Jason that in order for them to be successful, they would need the help of one Orpheus. Orpheus was known to be a great musician. And their strategy was when they got near and Orpheus could hear the music of the sirens, he would play. He would play his harp, he would play his music, and it would be so beautiful that the sailors would not be entranced by the sirens, but would be so taken in by the music of Orpheus. And this is what happened, as such that they would go along and therefore they passed through that area safely. And I ask, of these two stories, it was Orpheus, not Odysseus, that conquered the reign of the sirens. And I hope you see how we can make application here in our spiritual battles, our battles of inward desire and lust, Sometimes we often think that we have mortified sin, that we have successfully put it to death by simply strapping ourselves to the bow of a ship, rather than replacing those destructive desires with desires more pleasant and wholesome and godly. If you recall last week on the last Lord's Day, In my sermon, I raise a situation about sanctification, but I didn't have time to pursue it and flesh it out. And it's been sitting with me thinking, I really think this needs to be developed. And as I came to conclude, in fact, my wife helped me come to the conclusion in her counsel. As I started developing this, I realized that this isn't just going to be one sermon. This is going to be two, and it could turn out to be more than that. But at the very least, I spoke on a situation and didn't walk down the rabbit trail, but I said this. And speaking of the idea that sanctification, as we looked at last week, it occurs first within, as it says in verse 11, consider yourselves or reckon yourselves dead to sin. It starts with the mind, your belief. It starts internally. Then verse 12, it works to the outside. I ask, what do we do if in those opportunities where our lusts and our minds have not been conformed to the desires of Christ, does that mean we should just do whatever on the outside? Answer I gave was no. And if in your sanctification you address your outward actions only and ignore your inward desires, you will inevitably and continually sin. Sin would still have dominion over you. If you only seek to conquer the matters of outward obedience but not inward desires. And I made the case, well, I mentioned it, really didn't make the case, that's the point tonight. It's not enough to put an internet blocker on your computer and think that you've mortified pornography. It's not enough for a convert to cease from homosexual desires, as long as they stay celibate. True sanctification in the matter of lust begins within at the level of desire. You saw a little bit of that in Romans chapter six. If you look again at verse 17. But thanks be to God that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient, look at this, from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed. And so we're going to see what I'm going to argue for this evening is that true sanctification in the matter of lust, in the matter of desire and affection, it begins within. If we're going to see mortification of external sins, true putting to death of these sins, then we have to address the matter of desire and affection within. So very briefly, I want to review what I preached on last week in verses 10 through 14, very briefly, and then we'll walk through that rabbit trail, and hopefully we'll probably realize that this is more of not just a trail, but an entire web of different directions that we can go. First we notice in verse 10, and really 10 and 11, that to progress in gospel sanctification, we must understand that it's grounded in the gospel grammar of the indicative statements, what is true, statements of what has occurred, and then followed after that is the imperatives, what ought to be, the commands of scripture. And there we saw that sanctification as a result. Verse 10 says, in the indicative, the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. There's the indicative, the statement of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He died, he rose. We're in Christ. We die. We rise with Christ. Now the imperative. And the imperative starts in verse 11 and brings us to the second point that sanctification begins within ourselves and our consideration and within our thinking, within our reckoning. Reckoning ourselves dead to sin. Taking the atroce, the indicatives, and now following them in the commands of Scripture. And so you consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God. Because of our union with Jesus, that's the indicative, that's the truth statement. We are in union with Christ. What is true of Christ becomes true of us. Therefore, Christian, be what you are. If you're declared righteous, then be righteous. And so we begin with understanding that sanctification begins within, on the inside, with the inward transformation, with the renewing of our mind. And then, the third point in verses 12 and 13, we see that sanctification proceeds to the outside, to our members. And we even notice how our members, our body, our mortal body, are referred to as instruments, or better yet, weapons, because this is spiritual warfare. And we're told, don't present your members, your body parts, to sin. Don't present these weapons of warfare to sin, because as you're being sanctified inwardly, they should manifest itself outwardly. And so, verse 13 of the latter half, it says, present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members, your body parts, to God as instruments or as weapons of warfare for righteousness. And lastly, the fourth point we saw was that the gospel is then again reinforced, or sanctification rather, is reinforced in the gospel again in verse 14, that the reason that we see guaranteeing of sanctification, it says, sin will have no dominion over you. This is an indicative statement from Paul. Why? Because of the gospel. You're not under the law as a covenant of works to earn God's favor in your sanctification. You relate to God in the covenant of grace. You're under grace that has come to you in Jesus. The promise of salvation has come to you in Jesus, and within that is the promise, not just of your justification and your redemption and your reconciliation, but included in that is also your sanctification. And so Paul can say, absolutely, because you're under the covenant of grace, you indeed will not have sin dominion over you. It will not have dominion over you. So I concluded then with exhortations to pursue sanctification. Pursue it in general, but pursue it in particular areas of your lives. But the dilemma still remains. What do we do about obedience that occurs in our outward members that we see in verses 12 and 13? We're obeying on the outside, but the inward desires don't match. What do we do when we obey in our lives, but our heart's desire is for something of a different affection? Something wicked? Can we truly say that we have proceeded in sanctification? Can we consider ourselves having mortified sin if our desires are full of lust, Though our outward members, our weapons, our instruments, are conformed to obedience to God's law. This is, I believe, a dilemma that we must face. Now, why is this even an issue? What is the reason that there is this internal struggle? I think the answer is quite obvious. There is remaining sin. The reason that this struggle will always be a battle for the believer is the remaining sin. The reason that you struggle and strive with your desires and affections and lust is because of remaining sin. And for some converts, getting over drug addiction, getting over alcoholism, could be a life-long struggle. due to God-granted repentance, that person, they may never imbibe in alcohol again, if they've abused a substance. They may never partake in drugs again, because their desire to honor God with righteousness outweighs their desire for that substance. But nevertheless, there is some desire for that substance that remains, and therefore that temptation is always there. Homosexuality is a hot button issue right now. And even some within conservative reform circles want to say that as long as a homosexual convert remains celibate and doesn't practice those sinful acts, if they deprive themselves of those things, then they have mortified all that they need to. That's why they'll use the term homosexual Christian. if you're familiar with what was called the Revoice Conference a year or two ago. As one Christian author talked about this, he says, is our hope for same-sex attracted Christians that they pursue gay celibacy or that they struggle to put their same-sex attraction to death? And I think that was lightly putting it. In other words, are we willing to say it's enough to simply say you just have to put to death the outward actions but not worry about the inward desires? If you recall, in our Constitution, we have an article on gender, sexuality, marriage. And when we updated the new Constitution, there was a short phrase added in that section that was not there originally. And I'm very appreciative that we added this. It reads in our Constitution that sexual relations between one man and one woman and the exclusive covenant of marriage are morally right, are the gift of God, and are affirmed by this church. All other forms of sexuality, and here's what we added, as well as the inordinate desires and lusts therein, and now we're back to homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, transgenderism, and any other sexual activity forbidden in the Bible are regarded as moral evils. We have to be clear on this that our desires and lusts and affection need to be mortified if we are going to proceed in sin. If Jesus authoritatively tells us that for a man to lust after another woman, he's already committed adultery in his heart, then certainly we have to be willing to say that if a man commits lust with two women, that's sin. Or if a man lusts with his mind for another man, that's sin. And so on we go. Amen. I might be speaking harshly to you tonight as one man to another man. I think we need to be very careful here because we are battling the world system that tells us to be a man is to womanize. Whether your stereotypical man is James Bond, or Hugh Hefner, who is always surrounded by many women at the same time, if your desire is to be like that person, a great womanizer, at least this is what you desire. You desire countless sex partners with many women even at the same time. If this is your desire, man, you need to repent. Because you are called by God to one woman at one time, and that's it. Your desires are disordered if you desire to be like Hugh Hefner. Well, I would love to be married in that kind of... No! Or if you desire to have as many women at the same time as James... No! We are called by God to one woman. That is our desire. And if we have desires outside of that field, we need to repent. Another easy example of this related is that men, we typically have a constant struggle and battle with inward lust, taking second glances. Ladies, if I were even to take a rabbit trail here, this is why it's so important that you do dress modestly. Because it's so easy for men to fall here. But I think if most men in here were honest with one another, we would admit that there is a constant battle that we have. I don't know of any situation in here, thank God, where there is open and outright adultery. So there is conforming to the outward standards, outward obedience in our members, in our instruments of righteousness. But having conducted oversight meetings, I know what your struggles are. And the wicked mantra of the world says it's okay to take a look at the menu so long as you don't make an order off that. If that is your mindset, man, you must mortify that. You must put that thinking to death. So let me pause for a moment and ask you, we need to consider, if this is occurring, that we do see obedience on the outside, though we're still struggling with the lust within, with these great matters of sin, the big sins, if it's not born out of desire, we're not doing these things out of desire, we're not obeying on the outside out of desire, we're doing it out of duty, then what is that duty coming from? I think that is a question worth considering. And I'd have to say that for the truly regenerate Christian, while he or she is on that boat, Still desiring the siren's song. The reason Odysseus wanted to be tied to the bow is he feared the rocks more than he desired the song. We read it this morning in our scripture reading in Psalm 119, verses 118 to 120. Hold your place in Romans. Turn with me to Psalm 119, verses 118-120. What is it that the psalmist says keeps him back from giving into sinful desires? Psalm 119, verses 118-120. You spurn all who go astray from your statutes, for their cunning is in vain. All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross. I've seen all this. I know what happens when you give in to the outward wickedness. Therefore, I love your testimonies. My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments. Count it a great mercy that if you are in this situation where you are obeying God outwardly and you're struggling internally, count it a blessing where you are dealing with those inward lusts that because God has given you a fear of Him, that outweighs your internal desires. That is a mercy. We should count that a mercy that we don't fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather, we fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. That is a mercy, but hear me. Brethren, be warned. Odysseus was not successful in conquering the Sirens. And had he lingered long enough, he probably could have gotten out of those cords. Sin's dominion is still present if our only motivation for not acting outwardly is the fear of God's wrath. True sanctification, as we saw in Romans 6, comes from obedience in the heart. So let's take this one step further. Yeah, it makes sense with the big sins. Most people, most Christians are perceived to be pious. They don't do those big sins. Adultery, alcohol abuse, homosexuality. What about some of these quote-unquote smaller sins? Does this battle between outward obedience and inward Lust only applied to big sins. And that's typically the tension. But inward lust, desire, could refer to a host of other things as well, and we may never act on them outwardly, but if we leave those desires untreated, they will eat at our souls. For example, the desire for peer acceptance. Teenagers. I know you know what this is like. I'm getting old, but I remember. I remember that desire to want to be accepted, though I never did anything to manipulate situations that would that would try to put myself in the favor of some. So easy to internally idolize the popular person or even idolize that position of popularity. Some of you, you have a desire, a struggle even, a sinful lust for straight A's and scholarship so you can receive the approbation of man. Guilty. I confess that. And so what do you do? You self-deprecate and you try to show great humility, but inwardly you know you enjoy it. The desire to look a certain way or to match some stereotypical version of some external beauty from a magazine you see. Though outwardly you accept your appearance at your present state, on the inside you covet. Oh, I want to be like that. And for some, maybe there is this inward despising of another ethnic group. Someone with a different skin color is yours. Given the temperature of society, you know right now being called a racist is the unpardonable sin, so you keep that in. You don't act on it. But somewhere deep inside of you, there is that inward desire of hatred. The point is that we ought never to be satisfied with these inordinate desires, whether they're the big ones or the smaller ones. We must not, because they're lust. It is a lust. And we must be daily seeking to mortify these, not just the outward actions, but as verse 11 of Romans 6 says, it starts with your consideration that you've died to sin. And we must start with the heart, with our desires. We must be putting these wicked desires to death. And though we might strap ourselves to the bow of a ship thinking that we'll get through this, It's far more likely that if we do not mortify these remaining inward sins, if we don't mortify these sinful desires within, we will be like Hymenaeus and Alexander, and we will make a shipwreck of our faith. That comes from 1 Timothy 1.19. What did Paul say in regard to these two who made a shipwreck of their faith? And you wonder if he was, if Paul might have been using some of Greek mythology there. What do they do? According to 1 Timothy 1.18. It says, because they did not wage the good warfare. Paul is talking about sanctification in terms of warfare. These right here are instruments. The word in Greek refers to weapons. And he says in 1 Timothy 1.18, holding the faith and a good conscience. Notice, the warfare starts within. It starts with your desires. It starts with your conscience. It doesn't start with obedience on the outside. And yet we're so good at that. We're so good at obedience on the outside. What's the danger here? What's the danger in this battle? Because inward lust inevitably will lead to outward corruption. If these matters of inward sinful desires are not treated, you end up with a shipwrecked faith like the two from 1 Timothy. And I think there's biblical justification for thinking that. That we start with the issue of desires and affections and lust and treat those and mortify those. Consider a few passages as we go here. Consider the 10th commandment. The 10th commandment, do not covet. That's the summary version. And it's that, of the second table, that one commandment that doesn't deal with the outward obedience issue, it deals with the internal struggle of affection. And you see Jesus and others mention this. So if you come to places like Matthew 5, and the issue of murder in Matthew 5.21, we know from the sixth commandment that murder is an outward action of sin, but we also know from Scripture that it's caused by inward hatred. As you're turning to Matthew 5, I'll read to you 1 John 3.15, everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. What does Jesus say in Matthew 5.21? He says, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, Gotta go to the inward affections. I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Why can he say that? Because at issue with the outward act of murder is an inward desire of hatred. Or we could do the seventh commandment, adultery. Jesus treats this in Matthew 5. Adultery, fornication, it's an outward action, but it's caused by an inward lust. Matthew 15, 18, I'll read it for you. He says, what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. What does Jesus say in Matthew 5, 27? You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust, lustful intent, has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And so what was Jesus' solution to these matters? What was His solution for one with murderous anger? Well, according to verse 23 and 24, it was humility. He says, if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. That requires humility to recognize, I've got sin and anger in my heart that I have to treat. Because if left treated, that anger will stir and marinate into some outward action. What was Jesus' solution for lust and adultery? I think this passage gets abused very often, especially with the subject of lust and adultery. Jesus' solution to lust, after He says, if you've looked at a woman with lust in your heart, with sinful intent, you've already committed adultery. Verse 29, if your right eye causes you to sin, this is in the context of lust, by the way. Tear it out. Throw it away, for it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, in the context of lust, by the way, your right hand causes you to sin in the context of lust, what do you do? You cut it off and throw it away. What is he saying here? Put an internet blocker on? Is that what it means to pluck out your eye? Is that what it means to cut off your hand? I don't believe so. He's saying if you're sinning with your eyes, if you're sinning with your hands, stop sinning. And how do we do that? It's because it's an internal struggle that you have to address. You don't just tie yourself to the bow and think that you're okay. You must replace those wicked desires with desires that are godly and pleasing. And so we look on the outside and we think that we've got it all figured out. No, we must look to our inward desires. There's good news, Christian. There's good news. Because if you're like me, you feel the failure constantly. You are inundated. with a sexual revolution, or if you've struggled with anger, it's so easy to have that anger fed to you in various mediums, whatever the internal struggle is, whatever your internal affection is that needs to be mortified. I know you sin, I know it's hard, you feel like giving up sometimes, what's the good news? And I have to keep coming back to it. It's going to sound like a broken record, but we have to come back to the gospel. The hope, the good news is that for the imperative, that command to go forward, we come back to what proceeds, and that is the indicative, the truth of Scripture, of God. You're forgiven. Now go and sin no more. And there is victory to be had. That's the good news. Not only are we talking about that day we look forward to in glory, where no more do we have to wrestle with this temptation, and that will be a good day. Oh, I look forward to that day. But there's victory to be had before that. Go to 1 Corinthians 6. 1 Corinthians 6 ought to be such an encouragement for those with these internal struggles, these inordinate desires, these wicked lusts and affections. 1 Corinthians 6 verses 9-11 ought to be a cherished passage of Scripture. Because it absolutely demonstrates that as wicked as these desires can be, The power of the gospel is sufficient not only to forgive you of these, to take the punishment, but to overcome the power that they have in you. 1 Corinthians 6, verses 9 through 11. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do you not be deceived? Neither the sexually immoral, we just talked about that, that's an inward lust, that's how it starts. Nor idolaters, we didn't talk about that, but that's how idolatry starts as well, it's an inward lust. nor adulterers, inward, nor men who practice homosexuality, that's one of those big ones we've been talking about, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Whether these are sins that are dealing with the outward act, every single one of them deals with an internal lust at some point. And what do we see? And such were some of you. If ever you need to take hold of grammar, that past tense is sweet. Such were some of you, past tense. You used to be homosexual with those desires. You were. But you were washed and you were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. What does it come back to? It comes back to the gospel. How does that sanctification occur? Not you. Yes, you have the responsibility to do this. I don't want to discount that, but I want us to come back to the gospel reality. It happens because of Christ. And the Spirit applies that work to you. Are you struggling with greed? Or drunkenness? Adultery? Sexual immorality? Look at verses 9 and 10. Are there sins there that you struggle with yourself? The good news is that in the cross of Jesus Christ, such were some of you. There is good news in the gospel. There is hope. That there will be victory. and very well that victory could be on this side of glory. But so often that doesn't happen because instead of applying gospel, instead of applying the spiritual, Weapons that God has given us instead of putting on the full armor of God we have contrived so many human Sanctification strategies that only treat the outward issue Could never transform the inward desire I want to conclude with some of these erroneous strategies. I feel like I'm kind of leaving you short. I'm giving you what not to do and leaving you with next time we'll get into what to do. So I will give you a drop from that bucket from the second sermon. But for now, I want to warn you as we conclude, what are some failed sanctification strategies that cannot transform your inward desires? First of all, we have the Arminian effort The Arminian effort which basically says I can do it. I don't need help I don't need I Don't need I have the ability within myself to do it. I can do it. I don't need help some people approach sanctification the same way they do their justification and their redemption and their reconciliation and They do it in a very similar way. They believe that they have all that they need within themselves to muster their own strength for proper sanctification on their own. If they can be justified because they made the choice to come to God, well they can be sanctified because they made the choice. Or worse yet, maybe, they even believe in more than their faith, but even more, that they can find it in, that they can, in and of themselves, despite the remaining sin, they can produce the effort to bring them to sanctified, holy living. I suspect that's not a strategy that's been used in this church, but I wanted to say it anyways, just in case. The Arminian effort that says, I can do it, I don't need help. And in this approach, some have rightly recognized that there is the sinner's responsibility to be sanctified. But this theology says, I have all that I need within myself to do it. And if that is your approach, please hear me. The warning is great here. You can't. Show me one place where in these issues of sanctification, Paul says, all these things you've mortified, you've put it away, and you did it! Every time, even in verse 11 of 1 Corinthians 6, such were some of you. He doesn't say because you and your effort did it, it was you were washed and sanctified and justified, and it was done in Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. And I don't want to discount Philippians 2.12. We're in 1 Corinthians. Go to the right a little bit to Philippians 2.12. This is such an important passage, such an important dynamic that we understand and have to wrestle with the tension in Philippians 2.12. There is obedience that we are responsible for. We are responsible for our desires. Paul says in Philippians 2.12, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. That is a call to sanctification. At the very least, that's a call to sanctification. You have the responsibility to work it out. And this is where that Arminian effort of sanctification stops. What's the next verse say? For it is God who works in you both to will and work for His good pleasure. So we have to understand that it's not just you alone and your effort and say, I don't need help. No, I can do it all myself. No. Secondly, there is pharisaical self-improvement. Pharisaical self-improvement. I can do it, and you'll see it. I can do it, and you'll see it. So this is upping the ante on the Arminian effort. And this can rear its head in multiple ways, but the main way is that you hope to convince people that you are being sanctified, that your inward sanctification is happening because you presented whitewashed tombs. You think a whitewashed tomb is a good thing. And its error is twofold. It seeks to sanctify apart from God's grace. It's resting in an exclusive effort of the sinner's strength. But it has as its goal, not God's glory and sanctification, it has as its goal the praise of other pious individuals. And if your success for inward sanctification is, if this is your strategy, this will always fall short if your motivation and sanctification, your inward desires, is the praise of men. If the reason you are seeking to be sanctified is so others will say, that's a holy person. There's a good, godly man or woman right there. If that is your motivation, that I implore you to read the book of Numbers that says, be sure your sin will find you out. The next strategy is what I call legalistic bar-lowering. Legalistic bar-lowering. Which says I can do it because I have invented a list of rules that are not in the Bible, which are within my own limitations and my own self-control. And so I invent issues of avoiding promiscuity, I demand a certain dress style, and I demand a certain avoidance of this and that, things that are not found in the Bible. I find that I can do it so long as I get to demand where the bar is set. I get to come up with my own rules. And every time you come across a legalist, like the Pharisees, what they're really after is to bring the bar down low enough that they can make it over. This is why it's so important we come back to passages of scripture like Psalm 119 where the law of God, the statutes, the commandments are precious. God's law are precious. Now I want to talk about a couple more strategies that are probably closer to home. Two more and then we'll conclude. I want to talk about the strategy of an accountability partner. This admits I can't do it, will you help me? And if your battle is on the outward, the outward obedience of your members, this is helpful. But I fail to see anywhere in Scripture where we're dealing with inward desires, your lust and affections, where God ever tells us to find an accountability partner for that. If you are staking the renewing of your mind on an accountability partner, I want to warn you, Scripture gives us no place for that on the internal, on the inward. Because what do we know from Scripture? That man looks on the outside. Your outward appearance, your outward struggles, that's what an accountability partner can help you with. But if your issue is on the inside, it's hard enough to confess those failures. But an accountability partner, he might be able to look at your search history. or she might be able to observe your Facebook records, but they cannot get internally to your desires. My last strategy that I would warn you and caution you about when it comes to internal lust and desires are what I call temptation blockers, which says, I can't do it. I don't have anyone to help. Technology, please. I remember a good friend of mine who sadly has now walked away from the faith, but I remember one of the struggles that he had was with drinking and driving. So he had to have installed to his car an alcohol blow test that before his car would start, he had to blow into this thing, and he had to blow hard. It was tough for him to do. By the time he was done, he was out of breath. But the only way his car would be allowed to start is if he had this temptation blocker to keep and prevent him from partaking of, for him, a very dangerous substance. And so our mortification, if that's simply our motivation, I can't drive unless I don't give in. Or internet blocker won't let me, so I'll have to find a roundabout way. or I can't read that romance novel at home, so I'll sneak it in at the library. I don't want to keep down these roads of examples. I don't know all of them that you're dealing with. You know what they are, but you have to understand that these strategies, these tactics, they're good for the outward issues, the issues of the weapons of warfare, but they don't address the heart. They deal with a physical manifestation of sins, but they're powerless in the battle of our mind. So my caution, my warning, do not put your hope for sanctifying your internal desires in these strategies. Do not put your hope in the schemes of man. I'm not saying that there's not a place for some of these. I'm not saying to get rid of your accountability partner immediately. I'm not saying that. I'm saying don't put your hope there. I'm saying that they, like the law itself, the law is incapable of bringing about an internal sanctification. The law doesn't do that. Don't rest your hope in these man-made strategies. Even if they're effective for you, you found out, but I've done so well. I have the good intentions of putting on what's called a cuss buster on my TV so I don't have to hear this sound so I'm not tempted to use the vowel language that's doing so well for me. Don't rest your hope in them. I want to leave you with a drop of the bucket before we get to part two or part three or whatever when we get to this. I want to give you a little bit of what is the scriptural strategy. Where do we start at least? And this is just the start. We conclude with this. How can we who are seeking and even seeing obedience in our outward actions, how do we find victory in our inward desires and affections? We start, at the very least, we understand we must be seeking to wield those spiritual weapons of warfare that God has given us. We put on the whole armor of God, the full armor of God. When we realize that we've been in the boat with Odysseus, who was tied to the mast, we finally come to the place where we realize We'd rather be with Jason and the Argonauts who had Orpheus to fix our desires on something better. We've got to ask, what is that something better? And I believe Augustus Toplady in his hymn, Rock of Ages, speaks of this. And he calls it the double cure. He says, rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy wounded side, which flowed, be of sin the double cure, save from wrath at first, and make me pure. So I conclude with the double cure. How do we first address Sinful desires. It's the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's finding relief. Finding victory. Finding that not only has sin's punishment been dealt with on the cross, but sin's power has been dealt with on the cross. So we don't engage in spiritual warfare with carnal weapons. We submit our strategies to the Word of God. We put on the full armor, including the helmet of salvation. And then we trust that Christ will sanctify us. We trust that He has won our sanctification. And we believe this, and we cling to this, and we come to Romans 6.14 says that you will not have sin have dominion over you with an indicative. It's not a command. He's not saying you must not have sin dominion over you. He says in the indicative in Romans 6.14, it won't have dominion. Why? Because you're in the grace of God. Purchased for you by Christ, applied to you by the Spirit, predestined by God the Father. The Father plans it, the Son purchases it, and the Spirit applies it. You think you're not going to have victory? You trust in the Gospel, you look to Christ, that He would give you victory. You plead with God, Lord, I trust. Help my unbelief. I need help, and I need Christ. So, Christian, I implore you, cling to the cross. This is why you need it every Sunday. You need the cross. You need the gospel. Because that's where we find salvation. Not just from the punishment of sin, but from the power of sin. We need Christ to enliven us. What a glorious promise that we have for those who find themselves in Christ. That He has definitively won sanctification. He's won it. And if we come to the golden chain of redemption in Romans 8, we know we're going to get to glorification. And we look to the cross and we see our justification. And somewhere in between that Paul didn't expressly state, I think it's included, sanctification is there as well. And here's why I say that. I want to conclude with Romans 8. Let us conclude with Romans 8. Here's why I absolutely believe that sanctification is part of that golden chain. After he's gone through the golden chain in verses 28 and 29 and 30, 31, what shall we say then? I think Paul's kind of out of breath at this point. If God is for us, who can be against us? And look at verse 32. Here's your sanctification. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. There's your justification, there's sin's punishment dealt out. How will he not also with him graciously give us all thanks? Not just a freedom from the punishment of sin, but victory over the power of sin. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Where does it happen? How does it happen? It happens in Christ. Look to Jesus. Look to Christ. Heavenly Father, we've only scratched the surface of the means by which you have put in your word the strategies that you have given us in your word to help us to mortify sinful desires. But Lord, at the very least, we know to look to Jesus, the one who has bought our salvation, and will certainly bring us to glorification. Lord, may we put away sinful desires, and may we do it not with the schemes of man, but with the spiritual weaponry that you have provided for your people. May we put on the full armor of God. Lord, may we be a church of sanctified believers, not sanctimonious believers, sanctified for your glory. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen. that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. God be with you.