tonight we turn in our Bibles to the book of Romans and if you're visiting with us we're continuing to work through this book and we come tonight to verses 9 through 13 and really this ends the section on the Christians struggle with sin Paul has been working through this and how the Christian is to think and tonight we conclude really he draws some summary statements here in these verses as he moves on to the theme of adoption in the next section but tonight we'll consider verses 9 through 13 of Romans chapter 8 what I've called the mortified Christian and maybe that's not a word that you're used to I hope by the time we're done you understand that a little better so Romans chapter 8 please keep your Psalter hymnals available because we'll be going to the back here shortly let's give our attention tonight to the word of the lord you however are not in the flesh but in the spirit if in fact the spirit of god dwells in you anyone who does not have the spirit of christ does not belong to him but if christ is in you although the body is dead because of sin the spirit is life because of righteousness 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 so then brothers we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh 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 may the lord bless tonight the hearing of his word well we have been studying for some time now uh the struggle of the christian with his sin and how he is to think through that struggle and there's been a lot that said i don't know how you have felt going through all of this but god has given a lot of space in the book of romans to have us think about this he understands how important this is for the christian to understand this and really he's been saying the same thing to us over and over just in different ways so that we would understand what the life and the death and the resurrection of christ has accomplished for us it all started back in chapter six when paul was being accused after he had preached the the doctrine of justification by faith alone he was being accused that his gospel would promote lawless living and that his message of free grace was attacking the law of god as something bad and so he has been laboring in these these chapters to to deal with these concerns to explain these two issues by having us think about what the person in the work of christ what he has secured for us paul is concerned though paul is concerned in these charges against him he's concerned that christians would not understand what the christian life is to be what this life means now how they are to think how they are to go forward what they are to do what their struggle is even in that and after all this this explanation that he's gone through what we have tonight is is a summary where he's summarizing things that he has been saying he draws a concluding statement if you will summarizing the christian life for us in light of everything that we've been wrestling through and i've i've tried to remind us that paul is is painting the the bigger picture here in romans 8 of salvation you could use the the very comforting words of Philippians that he who began the good work in you will complete it I love that because putting it in Romans language this is not a 50-50 deal this is not I justified you and now you've got your part to fulfill your end of the bargain that's not what Romans 8 is that's not even close to how he's presenting it that is so far from what he's doing that would be another gospel and so he is seeing it through and through as something of the lord and he's encouraging us with that when jonah said salvation is of the lord he meant the whole thing is of the lord so it's through this that paul has been seeking to comfort christians to give them the whole picture and to encourage them to strengthen them to help them think through, especially when the discouragements come because of sin in this life, to help them think through the whole picture. The key to understanding really this tonight, what Paul is doing, is to consider what we've highlighted so far in Romans. If we look at it from the work of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the work of the first two persons, think about what romans has presented that god the father did what he romans 3 set forth his son he through the propitiation by his blood the son came and substituted in our place he became the curse for us and gave us god gave us his son justifying us freely by the grace that is in him and paul now has been basically showing us that that work is not disconnected from the work of the Holy Spirit. There's this unbreakable connection between having believed in Christ, having been acquitted from your sins, been acquitted before the throne room, and now this life of sanctification that follows. This is why Jesus could say things like, and if you've ever been a little bit confused by them, But Jesus could say things like, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. This is why he could say things like, if you don't forgive, neither will your heavenly father forgive you. Why? There's this unbreakable connection between what the Lord has done for us. Having been justified, sanctification will follow. That's what he's assuring us of tonight. And so you'll notice that often the way that the biblical writers present this is that presents our salvation having us think about the work of the Trinity. Thinking about something like Ephesians 1. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. What has happened? He predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. And what was the consequence? Having believed, you're sealed with the Holy Spirit. So you see, in one chapter right at the beginning, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you see the whole picture, don't you? He's the guarantee, the Holy Spirit, of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory the holy spirit guarantees it when jesus comes there's no break here there's no break and that should be immensely encouraging uh tonight this is where paul ends the discussion on the christians fight with sin and he is saying to us that the christian is not left alone as he has been justified he has the solemn responsibility now not to walk in the old way and he's been given the holy spirit to now set his life toward that direction and do that so this is really glorious tonight let's begin at verse 9 where paul is concluding and here what he does is he sums it up by basically saying this everything he's been saying your past is over you've got a new beginning your bodies will be made new and that's how verses 9 through 11 are he's thinking in summary terms look at verse 9 you however are not in the flesh so he's having the christian think about the reality of things he's having the christian think as he should think i'm no longer in the flesh but in the spirit if in fact the spirit of god dwells in you anyone who does not have the spirit of christ does not belong to him now one pastor called this a ruthless logic and i like that think about the logic here if you don't have the spirit of christ you don't belong to christ if you belong to christ you have the spirit of christ if you have the spirit of christ you'll no longer be controlled by the sinful nature and control is the word that's been the crucial point he's been making when you were joined to jesus christ because he died you died the old adam was put to death no more middle ground there you were brought out you were made new by faith alone you received that benefit those benefits of christ and there has been a complete status change a complete standing change using the words of colossians he delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his son in love no middle this is what happened and that means that now the controlling principle of sin the the the mastery of sin and darkness doesn't have that mastery over you you're a new creature and so he says in verse 9 the reason this is so is because of the promised holy spirit remember last week what he did was set a contrast in front of us where he contrasts to help the christian think about the difference that the the person who is not a christian and we went through all of this we explained all of this that that there's a difference between living in sin and then fighting against sin and that was what we did last notice that last time the mind is controlled by the sinful nature he's spiritually dead he can't respond to the things of god this is what paul is doing in the first section of romans 8 he doesn't subject himself to god's law he doesn't love doing god's will so he's been setting that to say that's what the christian is not and now he's explaining the dilemma that even the christian even though he still has to deal with the sinful nature and struggle with the sinful nature the difference is the single great difference is you have the spirit you have the spirit you're sealed with the spirit and using the language that's all over the scripture you've been born again you've had life and planet in the heart you've been made new you've been circumcised in the heart this is all the same language to speak about the life the spirit gives us regenerated to show that now you're under him if you will you're not under the control of the old under its mastery But now, remember we looked at last time, that adjective, the basic disposition, the basic drive of your life is his. So that's what's happened. And in verse 10, he tells you what's happening. Now, if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. What does that mean? The body is dead because of sin. Since we still have the sinful nature, you understand that our bodies have to die. This body has to die. This body is dying. This body is going to the grave. But the Spirit is life. He's not talking about the Holy Spirit there. He's saying right now, your Spirit has been given life. And so in verse 10, your spirit has life. You are alive. And he's encouraging us to think this way. That he is even going to make in the future your bodies brand new. You see that in verse 11? The spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead, if he 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. So it's a whole picture, isn't it? Past is done. You're regenerated, given life by the Spirit. These bodies of death we carry around that will die will be raised brand new. And so, this is really encouraging. You know, Paul said to the Corinthian church that even though the outward man is perishing, the inward man is being renewed day by day. So I believe verses 9-11 are summarizing everything we've been considering. And it's a beautiful summary, isn't it? A beautiful summary. And you understand why the Heidelberg encourages the Christian and says, why do believers, if we're forgiven, still have to die? And it's picking up right on this verse, I believe. And it's thinking about this, that it's not a payment for our sins. But it puts an end to it. And it's an entrance into eternal life. And so this is a big picture for us tonight. And his whole point so far has been to demonstrate for us that God saved us. God loved us. He declared us righteous. He gave us new life. He set us free. He raised us spiritually. He has assured us now of the future resurrection. You've got it all. You lack nothing. What Christian is not moved by this? I mean, He just told you everything you need to know and everything that's been done so that you would live in the joy of this comfort. What a beautiful section in verses 9-11, isn't it? What a beautiful section. What does Paul do now to conclude how we respond? That's what I want to focus on for a bit here. Paul now takes us saying all of that. Future certain. Present secure. Past over. He now says, you do have in the present since you have life a solemn responsibility to now live as a believer and you'll notice that you'll notice this tonight in um verse 12 so then brother brothers brothers brothers we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh now the last therefore we got or so then was romans 8 1 and you'll remember that where he had said there's no condemnation and after he's rehearsed all of that we get another one here and notice what he says, here is your incredibly thankful response to God for all of this. Here's how you can thank him. The word for debtor means obligation. God's done all this. Therefore, here's the serious obligation that we have now as new creatures to no longer be directed and controlled by the sinful nature so think about this how he's presenting this you know maybe we've wrestled with in the past God's sovereignty and human responsibility and we wrestle with these things and we can't figure all that out no one's figured all that out but notice here the way that the apostle has presented this God completely sovereign in salvation and we'll see that in Romans 9 if you don't see it you'll see it soon but we have this language of our responsibility now what is he talking about responsibility and where is he talking about responsibility he has not talked any obligation or responsibility in getting justified before god did he none if you try to do that you're doomed you're in trouble he freely justified you by grace through faith and you were acquitted and forgiven and secured heaven right then and there but we speak of responsibility in the new life of sanctification and so this is this is how he's encouraging and and telling us now what our mindset needs to be when we come to the life of sanctification he gives us a strong obligation doesn't he turn to the heidelberg tonight and i want you to see how the heidelberg does this this is page 31 uh lord's day 24 notice uh question 62 let's let's confess a few of these tonight question 62 why can't the good we do make us right with god or at least help us help make us right with him because the righteousness which can pass God's scrutiny must be entirely perfect and must in every way measure up to the divine law even the very best we do in this life is imperfect and stained with sin notice here no good no works nothing we do enters into the equation with the doctrine of justification does it none that requires absolute perfection and that's why we have christ who came and freely imputes that perfect life his righteousness to us as we receive that by faith and notice that even the very best in this life we do is still full of sin so we go on to question 63 how can you say that the good we do doesn't earn anything when god promises to reward it in this life and the next this reward is not earned it's a gift of grace so nothing we do in this life earns or merits salvation very clear romans has been saying that the whole time but now this gets to the heart in question 64 tonight of how we think about the obligation. But doesn't, notice how this has been the problem in Romans Paul's been accused of. But doesn't this teaching make people indifferent and wicked? No. It is impossible for those grafted into Christ by true faith not to produce fruits of gratitude. Impossible. Now everyone should stop and say, how can that be possible? that it's impossible that's an amazing statement it's impossible in the christian life when you've been grafted into him that you're not going to produce fruits of gratitude in other words good works will come paul has been saying listen god has done all this for you god has loved you you have an obligation to a certain kind of life i had a a church goer one time tell me that his father when he told him to do something years ago and uh the child he said as a young guy i wanted to understand why the father would always say you know you don't ask any questions and then he would quote jesus when you've done all those things which you are commanded say we are unprofitable servants we've done what was our duty to do and he said that was his father's approach with him now that's an interesting why did jesus say it that way well jesus was dealing with certain issues in the gospels of people who were trying to justify themselves weren't they remember what paul said in romans 6 you're not under the law but under grace the amazing thing in Romans Paul says we are debtors God has not come to us with an unloving hand and said do this or else that's not how he's approaching it how is he how is he doing it tonight how is he motivating us tonight what has your heavenly father said to you in Romans I've sent my son for you I've loved you with an everlasting love I poured out my wrath on him I freely accepted all of i collected all of that from the righteous substitute in your place and i didn't stop there i have reached down you're going to hear in romans 9 i've pulled you out of all the sad people in this world i saw you i elected you from the foundation of the world for no other good reason than the good pleasure of my will and what did he do for you i've changed your minds and your affections. You've been set free by the gospel. No longer are you controlled and mastered by the sinful nature. You say, how could I ever pay God back for that? And I say, you can't. And tonight, he knows you can't pay him back. And here's where we come to the heart of this tonight. That should mean something to us when God is saying, you have an obligation, to set yourself to holiness. And then he says this, because that's the wonderful gift I've also given you. Understand this? You have an obligation because that's also the wonderful gift I've given to you. Take seriously this responsibility to live and be who you are because that's what I've set apart you to be by grace. And essentially he said that back in chapter 6 when he said you've got to learn to think of yourself this way as already dead to sin but alive to god in christ jesus you've got to learn in your minds to think of yourself as dead first believe it now romans 8 act on it because he says in verse 13 something that is so important and you know this if you live according to the flesh you will die what he's saying is you all know that living according to the flesh is death he's already said this remember paul would say this in ephesians 5 you know this you know this no fornicator unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of christ and god let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things the wrath of god comes upon the sons of disobedience therefore do not be partakers with them for you were once darkness but now you are light in the lord walk as children of the light here's where i hope it comes together for you tonight in all of the fighting against sin and all of these calls to holiness and all of this solemn responsibility and all of this language of being obligating to live this way, you know what? He knows you can't do it alone. He absolutely knows you cannot do this. And I believe that verse 13, the second half of verse 13 is one of the most meaningful sections of Scripture to understand the life of the Christian. John Owen wrote a whole book on this. It explains sanctification so clearly for us. In one statement. Notice what he says here. For if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, the deeds of the flesh, you will live. The word put to death is the old word for we have in the in the king james they used to translate mortification you mortify and i just love that word i wish we kept it today if you mortify imagine if it just said this tonight if you mortify the deeds of the flesh you'll live that would be the worst news given to us tonight because we'd never do it that's not how he said it there's a certain connection here between the mortified life the life of putting to death sin in our lives and the life that we have and so what he's saying is there's a predominant characteristic in the life of the believer that he will set himself to mortify the deeds of the body and the lord's saying i want you to take that seriously to put to death sin in your life augustine used to talk about sin and he used to say that the reason we're not caught up with every sin is because we all usually have one sin that particularly holds us and that we give our energies to fulfill and you know what you're prone to as a christian and you know now that your eyes have that you've been made alive the sins that dominate you god has said in romans he's broken the dominion and the bondage and this is why somebody can't go on sinning that grace may abound putting to death sin in our lives is something that god has set us apart to practice and to do and you say tonight why i don't have the strength in and of myself and that's why i think verse 13 should be a special verse to everyone if by the spirit you kill you mortify the deeds of the body you will live he is given to make that possible so you see the whole picture here he's not saying if you know by your vows your fastings your penances your stations of the cross your lent offerings you're putting things on the cross your 40 days of purpose your new resolution we have endless lists today that people are trying to use to do these things by the spirit if you do this and this is what he's saying is as john owen used to say a man may easier see without eyes speak without a tongue, then truly mortify one sin without the Holy Spirit. Sin cannot be killed if a man has no interest in Christ and is without the Spirit. The Spirit is the long-awaited promise who, through the death and exaltation of Christ, has been given to produce this new life in the believer. and so the lord wants us to think tonight about these things and the lord wants us to encourage us you're not left alone to do your part remember what he said there's no condemnation you're already saved but he's given the spirit to you now so that you would practice putting to death sin in your life that's what he's this is what the spirit's doing this is what sanctification is this is what a life of holiness is to look like putting it to death owen was very pastoral about this and in his book on the mortification of sin he was concerned to be pastoral and he presents this scenario which i i believe is very helpful suppose a man is a true believer and finds in himself a powerful indwelling sin leading him captive to the law of it consuming his heart with trouble perplexing his thoughts weakening his soul as to the duties of communion with god defiling his conscience exposing him to hardening through the deceitfulness of sin what does he do don't ever say the reform weren't practical they're very practical because he gives all sorts of ways to help the christian fight against sin and to kill sin and here are the things he gave and i'm going to give you a few of them in closing he said this first consider how bad the symptoms are of the sin in other words what is the sin leading you to do and how bad is it if the symptoms of sin are great and the sin has resided in the heart for a long period of time. An extraordinary course will be needed. Old wounds are often mortal, always dangerous, he says. The heart should be examined and the symptoms carefully considered. And he says this, and think of Eve this morning and Adam. You have to have a clear sense of the danger and evil of the sin that is in your heart. The objective of lust is to darken the mind and blind you from seeing it. Owen says you have to fix your mind on the guilt of it and how much it offends the Lord. And then he says, the guilt of the sin has to strike your conscience. That's why you have the law. The law, he says, seizes us that we bow the knee before the Lord and then we should be brought to His good gospel that we might look upon the Savior and become ashamed for defiling the heart that Christ died to wash. When you're properly convicted, he says, you should long for deliverance. There should never be a moment in which the heart does not long to be freed from the misery of sin. Listen to this. The desire for deliverance is a grace in and of itself. And without such a desire, mortification can never be achieved. Then he says this, consider what occasions and situations that you place yourself in that bring about the uprising of sin. In other words, people often cry out and they say, I easily give in to it, I don't know what to do. And what does he say? You're putting yourself right into the situation. What do you expect? Consider what things and situations you're in that bring that about. And then he says you have to rise up against the very first actings of sin. The particular lust should not get the least ground, nor be allowed one step in the wrong direction. If sin is given one step, it always takes another. And then he talks about humbling yourself before God. Considering the greatness of God, how little you reverence Him and worship Him. And then he warns against speaking false peace to yourself. We speak only, we understand only God's word of forgiveness through His word and His spirit. The whole of the Christian life is a whole picture. The gospel, narrowly focused and justification, freely acquits us. And when the thief was on the cross and his hands were behind his back, remember, he had everything he needed to enter into heaven that day without doing one work. But the time that he gives us following being acquitted before heaven and the angels of God rejoicing over one sinner repenting, the time that he gives us here, we need to view as a time that He's given us His Spirit to sanctify us according to His truth, to live in holiness, and to love what He loves. That's not a burden. That's why He's given us the Spirit. It's a blessing. It's a blessing that He's given to us. I'm thankful tonight for the work of the Spirit who is given to sanctify us. And I want to encourage you to not lose heart in the struggle. I'm reminded of the word of Hebrews. considered him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls you have not yet resisted the bloodshed striving against sin you're not doing that he'll never give us more than we can bear and tonight he has assured us that the one who dwells in us is greater than any other power that dwells in this world. Let's pray together. O Lord our God, we are thankful. We are grateful to You for giving us the Spirit. And we're also thankful as we consider this the way You motivate us to obedience. The new covenant work of the Spirit. The ministry of the Spirit. Where we can live in fullness of joy knowing that everything has been accomplished and that we are forgiven and that we have heaven secured for us and that now as a believer there's this unbreakable connection to this new life that you've given to us by your Spirit. And so we pray, Lord, that you would help us to consider the serious obligation to live out now what you have accomplished for us, to be thankful, to be thankful in all things. And so tonight we praise you that we have the Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance that we may tonight live as we put to death the deeds of the body by the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray these things, amen. Thank you.