MORTIFICATION OF INDWELLING SIN Romans 8:1-17

Romans 8:1-17

Introduction

1. (ILL.) If you have two mules hooked up to a plow, Lilly and Viola, and someone asks you which mule plowed the field? How do you answer? In one conversation you might even take credit for plowing the field; in others you give the credit to the two mules. Switching to oxen or horses doesn’t fix the problem. Both animals in the yoke pulled the plow together. A human helped guide the plow as well. One animal can’t take credit for what the other did. They were yokefellows in the task. That is the way it is w/ the Christian life. We are yokefellows with the Holy Spirit. There are two people working together to complete the task. Who wrote the book of Luke: The Holy Spirit or Luke? Both are involved. The book has dual authorship. The Christian life is not let go and let God, or have the Holy Spirit come and replace you; neither is it that you do it all. It involves concurrence. It is two persons working together. Not like demon possession, they replace you, nor like a self-made man, he does everything himself. There are two persons working together. This requires teamwork.

2. (Review Rom. 6, 7). (Read Rom 6:11-14) Sin’s authority, Rom 6 teaches us, has been broken and replaced with King Jesus in the life of a real believer. Romans 7 tells us we still have indwelling sin. What is the cure for indwelling sin? Death. What can put sin into remission? Mortification. Killing it. Indwelling sin is powerful, deceitful, and inside us. That is true truth, but bad news. Rom 8 has the good news: the believer is also indwelt by the Holy Spirit, Who is more powerful, stronger, wiser, and He is also inside us. Justification is a work that God does alone. Sanctification is different. It is not an event but a process, and it is not done without us. The Holy Spirit will not renew our minds alone. We can’t do it alone. It is a team effort that involves the Holy Spirit, the body of Christ, the word of God, prayer, and Christian fellowship. We must read, study, memorize, and meditate on the word of God in faith for our minds to be renewed with the truth in a world full of error constantly contaminating us. There are no mystical secrets to the Christian life or a higher plane for a select few. The simple teamwork of the gospel and the Holy Spirit began our journey, and there is teamwork to complete it. This is where we see that humans have free moral agency. Let us consider the good news of Romans chapter 8.

3. Direction. We are going to explore the mortification of indwelling sin under three headings.

           Every believer needs to know about:

  I. The law, sinners, and salvation.

 II. That fallen human beings are unable to save themselves. 

III. Putting sin to death, the Spirit, and suffering.

 

  I. EVERY BELIEVER NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT THE LAW, SINNERS, AND SALVATION. [1-2] 

      A. Elect sinners will be delivered by Christ. (vs. 1-2) How?

            1. Delivered from everlasting death. Elected by God from before the foundation of the earth Eph. 1:4

            2. Delivered from the condemnation of sin and the law. (vs. 1)

a. The moral law says to the unbeliever, “Do this or die! Perfectly every time.” Lying, murder, adultery (even the natural law written on every pagan’s heart confirms the written moral law. (Remember Rom. 2)

                b. But the moral law says to the believer, simply, “Do this!”

                c. The believer is not free from obedience or duty to holiness, but is free from condemnation.

                d. Our substitute has taken the penalty of death, so now we obey in love, gratitude, and thankfulness while we seek to glorify and please our Holy God who still hates idolatry and coveting

            3. Delivered from sin’s bondage and authority. (vs. 2)

                a. We now have the power of the life-giving Spirit rather than being under the power of sin and death.

               b. The former bondage to sin was broken at our conversion

      B. Only those who are in Christ are delivered from condemnation.    (vs. 1)

1. Only the people who are in Christ by faith and repentance. They have a new covenant relationship that is both personal and corporate. They are in union with Christ.

2. This is not the modern decisional regeneration; it is one like in John 3, done solely by the Holy Spirit.

 3. You must be born from above first, before either seeing or entering the kingdom of God.

 4. Regeneration, followed by the gifts of Repentance and Faith, then the human act of trust using the 2 gifts, followed by Conversion and Justification (declared righteous). Here is when the sanctification process begins.

     C. (Argumentation): Salvation is a gift from God. The Moral Law’s job is not to save. It never was. It shines a light on the sin and exposes the desperate need for salvation. In your heart, you are a liar, a thief, a blasphemer, and an adulterer. All it takes is one sinful thought to earn hell. Salvation is of Yahweh. It is all about Jesus and not all about you.

     D. (ILL.) 

1. You are on a cruise ship 30 miles off the FL coast. It starts to sink. You do not have the ability to swim to land from that distance. If you are going to survive, you need someone else to rescue you, save you, deliver you from the water. The Coast Guard helicopter lowered a basket. You cannot save yourself. There is only one way out. You get into the basket or die. But your foot is caught in a fishing net. So, a diver jumps in, cuts the net, and pushes you up into the basket. How much glory do you deserve? Did you really save yourself because you were smarter than all the other passengers?  

2. Don’t be like Jonah’s whale and empty your stomach [vomit] when you hear, “Salvation is of the LORD.” Free Willy was a movie about a killer whale, and that might be a good name for Jonah’s sea creature. Hearing about the sovereignty of God made him ill, and up came the stomach contents. But those committed to free will theism are not carefully following the text of the Bible or reason. Your will is bound to your moral nature and is not an independent and free entity. Free will concepts are importing from Greek philosophy. Like Luther told Erasmus, if you have free will, choose to fly around this room and then do it. You cannot because your will is bound to the natural laws of gravity. It is not free to do whatever it wants.

     E. (Application) Friend, have you repented of your sin against God and embraced Jesus the Messiah by faith? Do you deeply trust Him as the One who paid for all your sins in full? Have you taken up your cross to follow Him? Believer, could it be time to stop patting yourself on the back for how wise you were to become a Christian and start giving all the glory to God alone. Romans 8, if understood, will humble you. The Holy Spirit regenerates with no help from you. He gives the gifts of repentance and faith to people who were spiritually dead right after He gave them new life from above so that the gifts can be exercised. If you are saved, He first brought new life into your soul. You were born again by His power, not by yours. Like the wind, the Holy Spirit is not under your control or bound by a spiritually dead person’s decisions that are always controlled by their sin nature. They can choose apples over oranges but cannot choose God on their own (Calvin). They hate God and His moral law. 

 II. EVERY BELIEVER NEEDS TO KNOW THAT FALLEN HUMAN BEINGS ARE UNABLE TO SAVE THEMSELVES [Read vs. 3-12]

A. God saves His people partly by keeping the law for them. (3-4) The moral law must be kept. It reflects the holy nature of God. Any violation requires death.                                    

           1. The work of God the Son: atonement, redemption, and propitiation (a wrath-bearing sacrifice). (vs. 3)

                * Jesus died in the place of His people and also kept all aspects of the law for them as a substitute.

     * Look at verse 3 “for what the Law could not do, [save rebellious sinners] weak as it was through the flesh, [people with a sin nature, the world system, and the demons are all against them, they don’t have a chance] God did: sending His own Son [Jesus lived a holy life in our place and died in our place] in the likeness of sinful flesh [God the Son looked like other humans because He being truly God also took on a true human nature] and as an offering for sin, [Jesus died in our place on the cross, the day of atonement] He condemned sin in the flesh” [Jesus bore our condemnation during His cross-work sufferings]

2. The work of God the Holy Spirit. He is a person. He has a mind, will, and divine emotions; and He works, speaks, and prays (vs.4)

[Forces like water or electricity cannot pray, speak, or think. He is a person, not a thing or an "it." The proper pronoun is "He."]

a. How is righteousness revealed to us? By the moral law. Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial law---all the old covenant worship regulations, diets, and Jewish separation rules. However, after His resurrection and the day of Pentecost, the Apostles repeated the Ten Commandments in the New Testament and applied them to both Gentile and Jewish Christians (Rom 13:9-14, Eph 6:4). God still hates idolatry (1 Cor 10:14; 1 John 5:21). We still must keep the moral law. It is a duty and different from the ceremonial and civil law of Israel. But we can only keep it with the help of the Holy Spirit.

b. Of course, we do not keep it perfectly like Jesus did, but our desire is to obey, our attempt to please our Holy God.

               c. The believer delights in the holy law of God in the inner man, but they also struggle w/ indwelling sin. There is a full-blown war inside us.

     d. 1 John 3:4 “Everyone who does sin also does lawlessness; Sin is lawlessness.” The opposite is also true. Holiness is obedience to the moral law. Holiness is lawfulness.

               e. The moral law is still in force, but the condemnation is gone for the believer. It can only say, “Do this!”

 

      B. There are two types of people in the world. (Read vs. 5-11)

              1. Unconverted followers of the flesh. (5-8) No ability, spiritually dead.

              2. Converted followers of Christ, led by the Holy Spirit. New ability, spiritually alive. (vs. 5-11) (Read 9-11)

 

      C. There is evidence that shows that someone is not yet converted and on the broad road. (5-8)                                       

              1. The unconverted do not keep God’s moral law. (Ten Commandments + other moral commands)

                     a. No other gods; the Creator God gets the first place in your life.

                     b. No idols, pictures, or images of any of the members of the Trinity. Don’t make them, don’t use them.

                     c. Don’t misuse God’s name.

d. Keep the Sabbath holy; work 6 days, give God 1 day. Rest properly and corporately worship each week, which includes learning the Bible, prayer, singing praise, and fellowship.

                     e. Honor and respect parents and others in authority.

                     f. Do not murder or hate other humans.  

                     g. Do not lust or commit adultery.

                     h. Do not steal.

                     i. Do not lie, falsely accuse, or swear to a lie in court (perjury).

j. Do not Covet─long for other people’s possessions, positions, or relationships. Coveting is stealing from others in your heart. This command alerts the reader that outward conformity is not enough.

         k. Yes, there are some changes to the 4^th and 5^th commandments when they come into the New Covenant, but the basic principles remain. The unconverted break all of these and more.

              2. The unconverted follow their sin nature. They cannot help it. They are blind (Matt 15:14, 23:17), paralyzed (Rom 5:6), and unable to obey (1 Cor 2:14).

              3. They selfishly set their minds on lawlessness. They seek their own glory. Pride rules.

              4. Their minds think wickedly.

              5. They are at war with God.

              6. They are not able to be subject to God’s law.

              7. They do not have the Holy Spirit in them.

              8. They are not spiritually alive.

              9. They are under sin’s control. It is their master. It is their boss.

Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.

For everything that belongs to the world─the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s lifestyle─is not from the Father, but is from the world. (1 Jn. 2:15-16 HCSB)

They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us. (1 Jn. 2:19 HCSB)

"Everyone who commits sin also breaks the law; sin is the breaking of law. You know that He was revealed so that He might take away sins, and there is no sin in Him. Everyone who remains in Him does not sin; everyone who sins has not seen Him or known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you! The one who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous. The one who commits sin is of the Devil, for the Devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the Devil’s works. Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because His seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God. This is how God’s children─and the Devil’s children─are made evident. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother." (1 Jn. 3:4-10 HCSB)

      D. There is evidence that displays that someone is converted and on the narrow road. (vs. 5-11)

              1. They keep God’s moral law with the Holy Spirit’s aid.

              2. They set their minds on God’s truth.

              3. They possess both everlasting life and peace with God.

              4. They gratefully seek to please God because they love and revere Him.

              5. They have the Holy Spirit indwelling within them. (Evidenced by the fruit of the Holy Spirit)

              6. They are spiritually alive and live for the glory of God.

              7. They mortify sin with the Holy Spirit’s help.

              8. They are led by the Holy Spirit.

              9. They suffer as Christ did from the world system.

           10. They reveal by their behavior and new desires that sin’s mastery is broken in their lives.

      E. God’s elect must obey Him. (vs. 12) (they are bankrupt debtors set free)

           (ILL.) In the OT Civil Law of Israel, a bondservant was to be set free after they had served their appointed time. But after their contracted time was complete, if they had a wonderful master and loved him, they could stay. They would go to the door frame and have their ear pierced to symbolize that they are now a totally voluntary slave of their wonderful master. They are free but remain, serve, and obey the master. This is a picture for us.

      F. (Argumentation) Unbelievers cannot decide to save themselves any time they want to.

Paul writes, “But the unbeliever does not welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually. The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone.” (1 Cor. 2:14-15 HCSB) Not able, means unable, inability. Pagans are blind (Matt 23:17) and paralyzed (Rom 5:6). The Holy Spirit must make the first move and give new life to those who are spiritual corpses (Eph 2:1-4).

      G. (Application) Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:15) He is the one who wrote the Ten Commandments twice with His own finger and handed the tablets to Moses. You do not mechanically and outwardly comply with the law in order to try to earn God’s favor. No. Out of love, awe, respect, honor, and gratitude, you show your love for God as you seek to glorify Him by obeying Him in your mind and body. He still hates stealing.

   III. EVERY BELIEVER NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT PUTTING SIN TO DEATH, THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND SUFFERING. [vs.13-17] 

            A. God’s elect must mortify their indwelling sin. (vs. 13)

Do not pretend the sin is not there. Face it and daily put it to death. Fight it! Kill it! Like Samuel with Agag, hack it to pieces.

                 1. Who kills the sin? You do, but only by the power of the Spirit.

                 2. What do you do? Kill it. This is called mortification.

3. How? You daily repent of your sins, iniquities, and rebellion. You daily take up the cross to put your selfishness to death and follow Jesus instead.

4. The fight with sin is serious. Jesus used hyperbole to illustrate it. Plucking out eyes, cutting off hands. I take the sin that has been dear to me as my hand or eye, and I remove this sin from my body. I flee some sins and stand strong against others.

5. Put to death indwelling sin is a present tense command that shows ongoing action; it is not a onetime event and done.

                 6. Paul writes, “So, if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. When the Messiah, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Therefore, put to death what belongs to your worldly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, God’s wrath comes on the disobedient, and you once walked in these things when you were living in them. But now you must also put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator.” (Col. 3:1-10 HCSB)

                7. You are at war; kill your enemy. Don’t believe the lies of the dangerous doctrine of perfectionism or that you can have some second work of grace that will put you above sin in this world. The pretense that is required to maintain this false view is dangerous. 

                8. (ILL.) A lion escaped from the zoo. There is a man who reads about it in the paper while sitting in his chair. He thinks he is petting his dog while he reads the newspaper, but it is the lion he is petting. Because he is ignoring this beast, he is in danger. It eats meat, and that is what he is made of. When we pretend our indwelling sin is not really there, we are like a man reading the paper, petting the lion. Good doggy! Denial is not your friend! Face the enemy within. Starve it. Take up the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. 

           B. God’s elect are all led by the Holy Spirit. [Here we have gentle control and willing submission] (vs. 14)

                 1. A canoe race requires two people working together to win. The guy in the bow cannot win alone.

                 2. A see-saw requires two people’s effort for it to work properly.

                 3. A 6-foot crosscut tree saw requires two people to cut the large tree.

           C. God’s elect are adopted children. (vs. 15-16)

                 1. Remember who you are.

                 2. Remember Whose you are.

                 3. If you are a child of God, you are identified with and in union with the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah.

           D. God’s elect must suffer with Christ. (17) We are called to suffer. The world will not accept your difference. [See the rest of Rom. 8]

E. (ILL) Killing indwelling sin is like killing a cockroach or a mouse. If you go to bed and think, I got him, that is done, there are no more, he was the last one. You are sadly mistaken. Every day the war must go on.

F. (Application) Stay in the battle. Use the spiritual armor of Eph. 6. Keep fighting, keep the enemy on the inside on the run rather than gathering and gaining strength by your neglect. [Bunyan's book Man-Soul]

G. Do not be surprised by suffering. If the world and the demons are your enemies, they will attack and use humans to persecute you. We will learn more about suffering later in this chapter.

Conclusion

Today we have seen from this chapter: 

I. Every Christian needs to know about the moral law, sinners, and salvation.

II. Every Christian needs to know that fallen human beings are unable to save themselves. 

III. Every Christian needs to know about putting sin to death, the Spirit, and suffering. 

(ILL) The army woke up to see a beautiful wooden horse outside the city gate of Troy. Maybe our enemy gave us this gift so we would make peace with them. They noticed it had wheels, so they pulled it through the gate inside the walls to show off its beauty. But now the enemy was inside the walls. When most guards were asleep and the ones near the horse walked their route to another part of the city, the enemy soldiers inside the horse snuck out. They opened the gate and let even more enemies in, and they started attacking the city. We too have an enemy that is inside our walls. It is remaining corruption, indwelling sin. Keep it weak and scattered.

(APPL) The word of God should be read, studied, memorized, and meditated upon throughout the day. Prayer links us to the power of God. Fellowship, encouragement, edification, and equipping by the church body builds us up.

If you are a true believer, you are at war. Kill sin, or it will kill you. Are you comfortable in this world? Are you a real believer? Call on God. Ask Jesus to save you. Repent and trust Jesus and the Bible, His Word. “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Do it today!