Sermon: The Spirit Helps us Kill Sin
Date: 02/15/09
Speaker: Steve Fuller
Series: The Ministry of the Holy Spirit
Passage: Romans 8:12-13
The Spirit Helps us Kill Sin
Romans 8:12-13
Last week we talked about the fruit of the Spirit, things like love and joy and peace and patience. And we talked about how to nurture those virtues in our lives. But it’s not enough to nurture virtues in our lives; we also have to fight against sin in our lives.
Picture yourself as a gardener and your life like a vegetable garden. If you have been saved by the power of God through trusting Jesus Christ – then God has placed in your life wonderful vegetables of righteousness. He has put in you love for God, joy in knowing Jesus Christ, devotion to prayer and His Word, love for your brothers and sisters, zeal for reaching the lost, patience, goodness, and so forth.
But along with these vegetables of righteousness – your garden also has in it the weeds of sin. From time to time you find growing up in your heart prayerlessness, impatience, anger, love of money, the desire to be rich, sexual sin, and so forth.
So what happens if you ignore the weeds and just nurture the vegetables? The weeds will take over the garden and destroy the vegetables. So it is not enough just to nurture the vegetables. You also need to destroy the weeds.
And the same is true in the Christian life. If you want the vegetables of righteousness to grow – you have to put to death the weeds of sin.
And that is what I want us to talk about this morning. Jesus calls His followers to search out the sin in our lives and to kill it by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is our seventh week in our series on the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And one of the most important ministries of the Holy Spirit is to help us put sin to death in our lives. And that is what we want to look at this morning.
Let’s turn to Romans 8:12-13. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and one of the ushers will bring one to you. Romans 8 is on page 944 in the Bibles we are passing out.
The book of Romans is a letter Paul wrote to the church in Rome. In chapters one through the first half of chapter three, Paul shows how God has created all of us to love and trust Him, but that we have all knowingly rebelled against God and face His judgment forever.
Then in the second half of chapter 3 through chapter 5 he shows how in amazing grace God sent Jesus to the earth to live the perfect life we should have lived, and to suffer the horrible punishment we should suffer for our sin. And Paul says that if we trust Jesus then all our sin was put upon Him, and He was punished in our place for our sins; and all His perfect righteousness was put upon us, and we are accepted because of His righteousness. And because of that for the rest of our lives we will experience God loving us, guiding us, providing for us, comforting us, strengthening us, satisfying us, and when we die, raising us from the dead to be with Him forever.
And then, in chapter 6 through 8 Paul tells us how saved people live. And in vv.12-13 of chapter 8, Paul explains why it is so crucial that we fight against sin. Look at what he says --
12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
13 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.
So why is it so crucial that we fight against sin? Even though we have been saved, that does not mean we don’t sin. Being saved doesn’t mean becoming sinless. So every day we will find sin rising up in our hearts – bitterness, lust, gossip, impatience, prayerlessness.
Like just this past week I was reading a great blog article. But as I was reading it, I noticed envy and jealousy arising in my heart. I was envious of this writer’s wisdom and writing ability. Sin was arising in my heart.
And in v.13 Paul says there’s two different ways we can respond to sin. One is to live according to the flesh. That’s where we do nothing about the sin; we don’t confess it, don’t fight it, don’t put it to death; we just let sin continue to grow in us. The other possibility is that we seek to put it to death. That’s where we do confess the sin, we do resist the sin, we do fight against the sin.
So why is it so crucial that we fight against sin? Read v.13 again --
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.
The reason is because if we don’t fight against sin we will die, but if we do fight against sin we will live.
Now what does Paul mean by “die”? Commentators pointed out that Paul can’t mean physical death, because we all will die physically whether we fight against sin or not. They said that what Paul is talking about is spiritual death, eternal death.
So the reason it’s so crucial that you resist sin, fight against sin, is because if you don’t fight sin, if you just surrender to sin, you could die eternally; but if you do fight sin, if you do resist sin, you will live eternally. If I don’t fight against jealousy, I could die eternally, if I do, I will live eternally. If I don’t fight against bitterness, I could die eternally; if I do, I will live eternally. If I don’t fight against lust I could die eternally; if I do, I will live eternally.
But now if you are tracking with me, this might raise a question in your mind: can we lose our salvation? Can I be genuinely saved at one point, but then end up dying eternally?
I believe the Bible’s answer to that is “no, you cannot lose your salvation.” Once you have been saved, you will not die eternally, you will live eternally. One reason I believe that is because of what Paul says in Philippians 1:6 –
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Paul is saying that when God first saved you, he began a good work in you. It did not start with you fighting against sin, and becoming good enough for God to save you. No. It started with God’s work in you. Because of what Jesus did on the Cross, God changed your heart. He gave you faith in Jesus. He gave you repentance for sin. He put in your heart a passion to resist sin, fight sin, kill sin. That’s the good work God started in you.
But God not only begins a good work in you, He continues this good work every day until you stand before Jesus. Today God is continuing that good work in you – giving you faith in Jesus, repentance over sin, causing you to fight sin. Tomorrow God is continuing that good work in you – giving you faith in Jesus, repentance over sin, causing you to fight sin. So everyone who has been saved will continue to fight against sin for the rest of their lives.
But now what if I don’t fight against sin? Then what Paul says could come true – I could die eternally. Why? Not because I lost my salvation. But because that would show that I never was saved in the first place.
So with all that said, can you feel how crucial it is that we fight sin? It’s crucial, because if you don’t fight sin, then you could die forever, but if you do fight sin, then you will live forever.
So what must we do? Read all of v.13 –
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.
The deeds of the body is Paul’s ways of describing the ways the flesh manifests itself in our daily lives. He’s talking about words of gossip, thoughts of lust, desires for revenge, actions of greed. And Paul says that what we must do is put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit.
Notice that this is something we do. We put to death the deeds of the body. Now as you know, I love the Biblical teaching on God’s sovereignty. But some Christians focus so on God’s sovereignty that they ignore verses that call us to do something.
So when you are tempted to look at pornography, Paul doesn’t say – wait for God to do something. No. Paul says to you: “Do something!” When love of money arises: “Do something!” When jealousy arises: “Do something.” When spiritual apathy arises: “Do something!”
And notice that what we do is put to death the deeds of the body. We kill them! We don’t take them as prisoners. We don’t try to reform them. We don’t scold them. No. We kill them.
I remember when Jan and I lived out in the country years ago, one day when I was not at home Jan saw our two new puppies sleeping in the backyard and right near them there was a rattlesnake. Well Jan got our shovel and went out there and put that rattlesnake to death. She knew she had to kill it, or out dogs would die. Same with us. Just like John Owen said: either you will kill sin, or sin will kill you.
And we put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit. By the power of the Holy Spirit. The moment you were saved, the Holy Spirit came to live inside of you. And as God, the Holy Spirit has infinite power, and His power enables you to put sin to death. So the next time you are tempted, no matter how strong the temptation feels, you can kill that sin – not by your own power, but by the power of the Spirit.
So when pride wells up – you can kill it by the power of the Spirit. When impatience rises – you can kill it, by the power of the Spirit. When hopelessness starts to grow – you can kill it by the power of the Spirit. When bitterness and unforgiveness creep in – you can kill them by the power of the Spirit.
So how does the Holy Spirit enable us to do this? Here’s how. Temptations come in thousands of different shapes and sizes and varieties. But they all have one thing in common. They are all telling you that there’s more satisfaction in sin than in Jesus. There’s more satisfaction in nursing a grudge than in Jesus. There’s more satisfaction in losing your temper than in Jesus. There’s more satisfaction in exalting myself than in Jesus. Every temptation is telling you there’s more satisfaction in sin than in Jesus.
But that’s not true. And if you’ve been saved, you know it. If you’ve been saved, you have felt the glory of Jesus, felt the love of Jesus, been filled with joy in Jesus. And you know by experience that there’s infinitely more satisfaction in Jesus than anything else.
So why are we tempted? It’s because at that moment we’re not feeling that satisfaction in Jesus. At that moment we’re looking for some satisfaction. And because we’re not feeling satisfaction in Jesus, we’re vulnerable to other satisfactions.
Imagine that in the back of your refrigerator there was a two month old slice of pizza, green with mold. The only reason you’d be tempted by the two-month old piece of pizza is if you are starving and not aware of any other food around. If you were smelling the meat sizzling on the barbecue, you’d not be interested in the two-month old pizza. But if you’re not smelling the barbecue, you’d go for the pizza.
So what the Holy Spirit does is help us smell the barbecue. The Holy Spirit gives us a taste of the satisfaction of knowing Jesus. And when we smell the barbecue, when we taste the satisfaction of knowing Jesus, we’re not interested in two-month old pizza; we’re not interested in being greedy, or looking at porn, or slandering your boss.
For example, let’s say you are not forgiving someone. The reason we don’t forgive is because we get pleasure from holding a grudge; it feels good to be angry at them, to feel how we’ve been hurt by them, to think of how they’ve wronged us.
But the satisfaction of holding a grudge is nothing compared to the satisfaction of knowing Jesus. There’s just no comparison! Holding a grudge compares to Jesus like two-month old pizza compared to fresh steaks on the barbecue.
But until we once again feel the satisfaction of knowing Jesus, we won’t want to let go of the satisfaction of nursing a grudge. So what the Holy Spirit does is enable us to feel once again the satisfaction of knowing Jesus – so we feel His love, we feel His forgiveness, we behold His glory. And as we feel once again the satisfaction of knowing Jesus, we’ll have no interest in nursing that grudge. That grudge shrivels up and dies. You just killed it. And as a result, you’ll be able to forgive.
Now listen. There’s a lot of Christianized moralistic self-help approaches to overcoming sin. Like if you’re holding a grudge, go outside and smell the roses. Or if you’re angry, count to ten. But none of those kill the sin. The only way to kill the sin is by having the Holy Spirit enable you to smell the barbecue, to give you a taste of those ribs, so your interest in that two-month old pizza dies.
That’s how the Holy Spirit enables us to put to death sin.
So what steps can we take? Let me give four steps that I have found helpful.
First, understand the temptation. Every temptation is telling you that there’s more satisfaction in sin than in Jesus. That’s the issue. Satan doesn’t want you to think about that. He wants you to feel your hunger, and think about the two-month old pizza, and not think about Jesus. But you need to say: Wait a minute. Yes, I’m hungry, and yes I could eat that two-month old pizza – but there’s Jesus! I could be trusting Jesus, worshiping Jesus, loving Jesus. So understand the temptation.
Then second, pray for the work of the Spirit. The reason you are being tempted is because you are not satisfied in Jesus. That’s the only reason the sin of the two-month old pizza is attractive. So you need the work of the Spirit to give you a whiff of the steak on the barbecue. And Jesus will always pour upon you the power of the Spirit when you ask Him and depend on Him. So pray – earnestly and persistently – for the work of the Spirit.
Third – set your heart on the truth of Jesus in the Bible. Close the refrigerator door and open up the barbecue of God’s Word. Look at who Jesus is. See His love, and faithfulness, and compassion, and power. He is goodness, and wisdom, and righteousness.
Then fourth, continue this until you feel heart-satisfaction in Jesus. Continue this until the Holy Spirit changes your heart, and you feel heart-satisfaction in Jesus. Because when you feel heart-satisfaction in Jesus, the temptation will have shriveled up and died. You will have put it to death by the power of the Spirit.
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