If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of
sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
¹¹ But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the
dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will
also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells
in you. ¹² So then, brethren, we are under obligation,
not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- ¹³
for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if
by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you
will live. ¹⁴ For all who are being led by the Spirit of
God, these are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you have not received
a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a
spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"
¹⁶ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we
are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, heirs also,
heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with
Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Three weeks ago I promised a third message on verse 13 about how
to kill sin. "If you are living according to the flesh, you must
die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the
body, you will live." I get the words "kill sin" from this verse:
"If you put to death (=kill) the deeds of the body. . . ." So this
verse says, If you want to live, you must kill. Be killing sin, or
it will be killing you.

A Violence against Our Flesh

There is a mean streak in the Christian life. There is a
violence. There is a militancy. But it is exactly the opposite of
selfish violence against people. It is a violence against the
"flesh" or against "the deeds of the body" – our
flesh and our body. The Christian is not mean to others.
He is mean to his own sinfulness – his own flesh.

We saw the meaning of "flesh" in Romans 8:7, "The mind that is
set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit
to God's law; indeed, it cannot." The flesh is what we are when
rebellion against God and insubordination and hostility to God rule
our bodies and our minds. So the way you put to death "the deeds of
the body" is to strangle the air that sinful deeds breathe.
Strangle the flesh. Cut the lifeline. Pinch the air pipe. Stop the
blood flow. Sinful deeds must be killed before they happen –
by severing the root of distrust and hostility and insubordination
toward God.

"By the Spirit" and through the "Things of the Spirit"

So we asked, How do you do that? Paul says it is "by the
Spirit." Verse 13b: "If by the Spirit you are putting to
death the deeds of the body, you will live." Now what does that
mean? This is a key to the Christian life. Putting to death the
deeds of the body "by the Spirit." Killing sin "by the Spirit."

Now what is that? We argued that putting sin to death "by the
Spirit" is probably related to what Romans 8:5 says about "setting
the mind on the things of the Spirit." "Those who are according to
the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who
are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." In other
words, one way to kill sin "by the Spirit" is to "set your mind on
the things of the Spirit."

So we asked, What are the "things of the Spirit." We answered
from 1 Corinthians 2:13-14 which says this: "We speak, not in words
taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit. . . .
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness to him." Here we have the very
phrase of Romans 8:5, "things of the Spirit." What are they? The
words of God, spoken by the apostles, taught by the Spirit, not
human wisdom.

So to put to death the deeds of the body (as Romans 8:13 says)
"by the Spirit" we must set our minds on "the things of the
Spirit," which we now see means: set your mind on the word of God
in scripture. What makes this ring so true is the connection with
Ephesians 6:17 where Paul says in our battle against evil we must
"take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God."

Among all the spiritual armor that we are to "put on" in our
warfare there is only one offensive weapon that is used for
killing. The sword. And what is it? It is described in two ways
that link it with Romans 8:13. 1) It's the sword "of the
Spirit." So if we are to kill the deeds of the body "by the
Spirit," and the one killing weapon in our armor is the sword and
it is called "the sword of the Spirit," we have good
reason to think that the agent for killing sin "by the Spirit" is
this sword. 2) And second, what is this "sword of the Spirit"?
Ephesians 6:17 says it is "the word of God," which confirms our
connection with 1 Corinthians 2:14. The sword that kills sin is the
word of God. And the way we kill sin "by the Spirit" is to set our
minds on "the things of the Spirit," that is, the word of God in
Scripture, which becomes then the sword of the Spirit.

The Paradox of Who Is Doing the Work

So the question we are asking and trying to answer is: What can
I do tonight to bring the power of the Holy Spirit into vigorous,
sin-killing action in my life? Because you see the paradox in
Romans 8:13, don't you? On the one hand, killing sin is something
Paul says you must do. You, must do it. "[You]
put to death the deeds of the body." But on the other hand, it
says, you do it "by the Spirit." Now the Spirit is not a tool or a
weapon. He is a person. He is God. Put to death the deeds of the
body by means of God, the Spirit. So, evidently, the Spirit is the
decisive killer. That's the paradox: you do it; but you do it in
such a way that it is he who does it. That is the difference
between the Christian life and a moral self-help program.

This is what Paul was saying in Romans 15:18, "I will not
venture to speak of anything except what Christ has
accomplished through me." And what he was saying in 1
Corinthians 15:10b, "I labored even more than all of them, yet not
I, but the grace of God with me." I labored, but it was not I, but
God's grace – God's Spirit – in me and with me.

So it is absolutely right that we are asking, What can I do
tonight to bring the power of the Spirit into vigorous, sin-killing
action? If we are going to live the Christian life – not just
an imitation of it – we must experience Romans 8:13: We must
put sin to death in a way that it is decisively the Spirit which
puts it to death. The glory of God is at stake here. Because the
ultimate sin-killer will get the greatest badge of honor. You or
God.

By Works of Law or by Hearing with Faith?

So we ended last time by looking at the key text in Galatians
3:5. Here Paul answers the question, How do you bring the Spirit
into vigorous sin-killing action? He asks, "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?" In other words, he is
asking, How does the Holy Spirit flow with miracle-working power in
our lives? How does He come into vigorous, sin-killing acting in
our lives?

He mentions two options: by works of law, or by hearing with
faith. And the answer he expects is clearly: not by works of law,
but by hearing with faith. Now why does he say "by hearing
with faith" instead of just "by faith"? The Spirit comes and works
mightily in our lives, killing sin, not just "by faith" but by
"hearing with faith." Why does he say it that way? The
answer is that the sword of the Spirit is the word of God, and it's
the word that you hear and believe. When the word of God –
the Sword of the Spirit – is heard and believed, the Spirit
is moving with vigorous, sin-killing action.

In other words, the connection between the Holy Spirit and you
is the word of God and faith. They are like socket and plug. When
the plug of your faith goes in the socket of God's Word, the Spirit
is flowing. And when he flows, he kills sin.

Before I give you some practical illustrations how this works
there are two important things to say.

We Kill Sin the Same Way We Get Saved

One is that you can see that we kill sin the same way we get
saved. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "By grace you have been saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a
result of works, so that no one may boast." Faith, not works, is
the way we are made right with God; and faith, not works, is the
way we engage the Holy Spirit to kill sin. So if you are here this
morning and you are not a Christian, what you are hearing in this
sermon is not some remote advanced form of Christian living way
down the line of Christian maturity. This is how you become a
Christian. And this is how you grow as a Christian.

To become a Christian you believe the promises of God: like,
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans
10:12). And to fight sin as a Christian, you believe the promises
of
God: like, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews
13:5). When Christ died for us, he bought with his blood both
justification and sanctification. And both are obtained by faith.
That's one thing that needs to be said. You never outgrow your need
to live by faith. We begin and end by trusting the gift of imputed
righteousness and the power of God's grace to kill sin and impart
practical righteousness.

The Glory of Christ Is at Stake in Living This Way

The second thing that needs to be said is that the glory of
Christ is at stake in living this way. All of life is meant to make
much of Jesus Christ. Everything we do should magnify his
greatness. Now ask yourself: Why isn't the way to bring the power
of the Spirit into vigorous, sin-killing action simply to pray for
it to happen? Why not just ask God to kill the sin in your life?
"Ask and you will receive" (Luke 11:9, 13).

Well, we should indeed ask. Prayer is crucial. But that is
not the sum total of what "put to death the deeds of the
body by the Spirit" means. Paul says, the one who supplies the
Spirit to you and works miracles among you does so by hearing with
faith. Not just asking, but hearing. And not just hearing, but
hearing with faith. Now, why does God design his triumphs in this
way?

For this reason: if God simply killed sin when we ask him to
without making our hearing and believing a part of the process,
Jesus Christ would not get the glory for our holiness. Jesus said,
"When the Spirit of Truth comes . . . he will glorify me" (John
16:13-14). The work of the Spirit, in killing our sin, is to do it
in a way that gives glory to Jesus Christ. Now how can that happen?
It happens because the Spirit only flows through "hearing with
faith." And what we hear is, at root, the gospel of Jesus
Christ.

Yes it includes all the promises of God. Because, as 2
Corinthians 1:20 says, "All the promises of God find their Yes in
him." In other words, Jesus paid for every promise for those who
trust him. So every promise that you hear and believe, gives glory
to Jesus Christ. If we merely pray and ask God to kill our sin,
without hearing the gospel of Christ or any of its promises, Christ
would not be honored by our holiness. And God means for his Son to
be magnified in justification and in sanctification. So he does not
design sanctification to happen by prayer alone, but by hearing the
Christ-exalting, blood-bought promises of God and believing them as
we ask God to kill our sin.

That's the second thing that needs to be said. Killing sin in
our lives must glorify Jesus. And Jesus is glorified when we kill
sin by the Spirit, that is, by hearing and believing the promises
that he bought and secured by his own blood.

Illustrations of How This Is Done

Now let me close with some illustrations. Right now three of our
missionary families are being forced out of Tanzania within 30
days. One of the missionary wives compared their situation to the
disciples after the death of Jesus and before the resurrection:
"They are sitting quietly and numbly at someone's house . . . and
they don't know about the resurrection that is to come. That's what
this time feels like to us in many ways: darkness, and an unknown
future. Out of the blue, we're packing up and leaving the country,
our home for the last 7 years, the only home our children have
known."

Now what are the dangers of sin here? What are the sins that
need to be killed before they get the upper hand? Anger. Despair.
Self-pity. Fear. Impatience and irritability. So how do you put to
death those sins and the deeds of the body that might come from
them?

Here is the answer from that same email from the missionary
wife:

We are clinging to these truths: God is good, He is in control,
He loves us more than we can comprehend, and He has plans to give
us hope and future, plans to prosper us (Jeremiah 29:11). Our
spirits are understandably low, we are emotionally and physically
exhausted. BUT . . . "because of the Lord's great love, we are not
consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every
morning" (Lamentations 3:22-23).

In other words, they are putting to death the deeds of the body
– they are killing sin – by the Spirit. They are
hearing the promises of God and believing them. And by that means
the Holy Spirit is flowing and sustaining and sanctifying.

Here's another illustration. A missionary couple was with us
ministering among refugees here in the Cities until last year. Now
they are headed with three small children to a country in Africa
which is so sensitive they can't name it. Their February prayer
letter was one of the clearest examples of how to put sin to death
by the Spirit that I have ever seen.

They listed the sins that were threatening them and then gave
the promises of God that they were using to put the sins to
death.

"Whereas the Constitution of [this country] may state one thing,
the Word of God says, "the one who is in you is greater than the
one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).

Where fear says, "what if . . . happens?" faith says, "So do not
fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I
will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my
righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:10).

When worry surfaces, faith responds, "Peace I leave with you; my
peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do
not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" (John
14:27).

When doubt and frustration scoff, "They'll never change, this is
a waste of time!" Jesus looks us in the eye and responds, "With man
this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with
God." (Mark 10:27).

Learn from our missionaries. Learn from the apostle Paul. Put to
death the deeds of the body by the Spirit. Not by the
works of the law. Kill sin by the Spirit. Not by works of
the law. Glorify Jesus Christ by taking the sword of the Spirit,
the promises of God, purchased by his blood, and set your mind on
them. Bank on them. Be satisfied by them. The power of sin will be
broken. Sin will not have dominion over you. Jesus Christ will be
magnified in your body! Amen.