One of the things we must learn in the Christian life is "how to kill sin." As John Owen put it "be killing your sin or it will be killing you." Last night in our study we looked at Romans 8 "the great 8." And part of the emphasis was on Romans 8:13

1. Victorious Living in Christ Romans 8:1 This provides for us a front view of the cross that we discussed in our “Trinity and Salvation” series in SS. Here we see the result of the doctrine of atonement, propitiation, and justification The result of the death of Christ on the cross was the very thing that allows believers to be reconciled to God. This deals directly with the way that God now sees us. Prior to our justification we were at enmity and His enemy with resulted in His wrath resting on us. However because of Christ’s death on the cross God’s wrath has been removed and we have been adopted in His family as heirs of the world.

2. Christ has taken our place on the cross. He absorbed the punishment that we rightfully deserved. And in paying the penalty of our sins He has credited to us His righteousness so that now then God see us He see the righteous of Jesus. Romans 8:2 Now we deal with the back view of the cross This has to do with our deliverance from sin, death and the devil. In our regeneration we have been graciously rescued from the power of sin and now have been delivered into the kingdom of His beloved Son. Again for more on this see our website and the notes from The Trinity and Salvation.

3. Last night we went verse by verse through Romans 8:1-13 but then we stopped and really looked closely at verse 13. I reminded the men that this verse is very similar to what Jesus preached in Matthew 7:13-14 in His sermon on the mount. Remember there is a broad gate and a broad way that leads to destruction. And then there is a narrow gate (Christ Himself) and a narrow (tribulated) way that leads to life eternal. In other words there is no middle ground you are either traveling the broad way or the narrow way. A person is either headed for destruction eternally or for heaven. And this is exactly the same kind of language we get from the apostle Paul in Romans 8:13. Thanks to Dr. Piper for some of these study notes and his insight on this particular verse.

4. Romans 8:13 – How to kill the flesh? The “so then” in verse 12 should direct us back to verse 11, which talks about being raised from the dead someday through the power of the Holy Spirit. So we owe the Holy Spirit our future resurrection because He is the One who dwells in us And we can see that in verse 12 we do not owe anything to the flesh but war and enmity, killing and violence. You don’t owe the flesh anything but rather you owe the Spirit everything You owe the Spirit your resurrection in verse 11 and you owe the Spirit the ability to get to that point as you go through this life

5. We are not debtors to the flesh in other words – “don’t pay for your own destruction” The flesh is against you and the only thing you owe to the flesh is all out assault and war! If you try to survive as a Christian in any other way other than by the Spirit, if you try it any other way – then you will die! Until you believe that life is an all our war and the stakes of this game are your own soul, then you will probably just play at and with Christianity. Don’t let the enemy lull you into a peace time mindset because millions of Christians are into a peace time mindset.

6. You need to be aware of the sins that are making war against your own soul ➢ Matthew 11:12 - From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force. Do you want to enter the kingdom of heaven – then take it by violence If you are going to be a Christian then you don’t play games but rather you declare war on sin and you take it by violence.

7. So what in the world does that mean? (Matthew 18:8-9) ➢ If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell. Do you want to enter life, then get violent! This is a radical picture of a violent assault on our own sin by where we enter into life or not.

8. Now lay this verse on top of Romans 8:13 and see that if you want to enter into life you better get violent with your sin Wake up if you are coasting, settling in or for some reason just have a peace time mindset Don’t make peace with you eyes, ears, feet, hands, tongue or mind, or any member of your body that is sinning! Kill them, because in this war time mentality – traitors are put to death. We must have exuberance for Jesus Christ and an all out hate for sin in our lives to the point where we officially and consistently declare war and kill it! You many Christians that murmur about their afflictions and additions and so little war on sin! And if you are wondering how to make war then go to the manual

10. The only foothold that Satan has in your life is your flesh and your sin, there is no one that will go to hell because of Satan, you are going to hell because of your sin It’s a whole lot more important to figure out that the biggest enemy you have is not Satan but it is self

11. What are the deeds of the body – actions of the body that are about to take you captive into sin like lust, pride, self pity or idolatry. Deeds of the body – Go back to Romans 6 and find out about this issue Romans 6:13 – when the body decides that it will do a Judas and betray you then kill it, make war on it, cut it off and gouge it out, don’t play games Romans 6:12 – when the mortal body is taken captive by sin and about to obey it’s desires – get mean and violent Romans 6:6 – There are lots of programs that are very much about moral self improvement, so what is unique about Christianity? Our unity with Christ through faith alone yields something very special and spectacular and that is we are no longer slaves to sin

12. When you put to death deeds of the flesh in practice then you become what you are in Christ and that is dead to sin If you hate sin then you get violent with it in your own life Life is a war until the day you die – Paul said “I have run the race, fought the good fight and keep the faith What does it mean to kill them – it is the suffocating of the life line of the deeds of the body so that they are in fact killed. The deeds aren’t the main problem, but rather the deeds have roots – the things that come out of the mouth are coming out of the heart The point is that the warfare here is to be on the heart and the intensity should be with the same passion as if you were gouging out eyes and cutting off arms. Because it is not your eye that offends you but rather you offend your eye

13. The root of the deeds of the body is the flesh that is hostile to God (Romans 8:7) How do you do it “by the Spirit” and kill the deeds of the body? Step #1 - Set your mind on the things of the Spirit – Romans 8:5 The mind is a moral muscle and Jesus and the disciples assumed that could be done and it can be done with the mind. You can set it and focus it and hold it there if you are willing to fight

14. Step #2 – 1 Corinthians 2:14 - But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised “ things of the Spirit” are the word of God and now look at the killing instrument of the Spirit which is the sword that is referred to in Ephesians 6. Why does He call it the sword? It is the word of God that we see in Ephesians 6 that is released in order to be able to kill the deeds of the flesh. If you are going to kill sin then you will need a sword and the sword is the word of God It is the word permeated through the Spirit and it is the Spirit through the word For the sword and the hand that holds it are one and they can not be separated

15. Step #3 – What is the only offensive weapon that is listed in Ephesians 6:10-17 It is the sword of the Spirit, which we learn is the word of God. Step #4 – How do you bring the Spirit to bear upon the deeds of the body? Look at Galatians 3:5 - So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? We all have flesh that raises its crucified head and tries to take us captive then we will hear by faith. Step #5 – And how does hearing with faith come? Romans 10:17 - “and faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.” Living by the Spirit means to live daily in and through the word of God. As we do this we will be constantly killing the flesh that is so deadly to our Christian walk.