Part 1. STRATEGIES AGAINST SIN
or KILLING OUR KILLER

SCRIPTURE: GALATIANS 5:16-26

You would be horrified to discover the vicious germs that come into your body from time to time, but those germs won't kill you if your immunity is adequate. Satan is a vicious enemy, but he cannot harm you much if he does not find the sinful weaknesses within you welcoming him.

You know that when your physical resistance is low, you are more vulnerable to disease. It is that way also when it comes to the damage that indwelling sin does to your spiritual health. The lusts of the world can also be dangerous to your soul, but they do their deadly work mostly when they find you weak from the sin within.

The brilliant theologian, John Owen (1654-1706) who became Oliver Cromwell's chaplain, wrote a book that has helped me to see the nature of sin that remains even in believers. I commend to you his book, TEMPTATION AND SIN, Volume 6, published by THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST. So few take time to read these rich Puritan authors. I thought it would be useful to bring you a message from THE INTERNET PULPIT that distills what I think is the essence of his book. It is one of the best books on practical warfare against the remaining sin that dwells in the believer. Most of this message is based on his book. I have simply tried to explain it and illustrate it.

I would like to begin with an illustration. An interesting, true story came out of World War II, when enlisted men in a Florida training camp were given an exercise. The daily routine for the GIs in that training camp included a run through an obstacle course. On the final stretch of this endurance test they had to grab a rope and swing across a broad, shallow pool. Many of the men couldn't make it across that pool until they were given some help.

You see, under the blazing southern sun the water looked so inviting to the men that it proved too great a TEMPTATION. Hot and sweaty, most of them soon developed a "curious HABIT" of only making it HALFWAY across the POND. Then an enterprising lieutenant made that pond the new home for a large alligator. From that day on, the recruits left the ground 15 feet from the water's edge and fell sprawling in the dust well over on the other SIDE of the pond. I am not going to tell you that it was the first known case of GATOR AID being used to increase athletic ability in men, but the aid that gator gave them came from the fear the gator evoked.

I have entitled this message, KILLING OUR KILLER, for it is only when we recognize what a killer SIN really is that we will make it our determination to kill before it kills us. It is not a mere mistake. It is not a harmless indiscretion. A healthy fear of sin will fortify us against the temptations of life.

Romans 8:13 says: "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do MORTIFY the deeds of the body, ye shall live." It is hard to improve on that word "mortify," but it is not a well-known word today. The NKJV translates the verse this way: "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."

"Mortify" MEANS "to put to death." That's what we need to do with sin.

A newspaper article about AIDS said, "The always-fatal AIDS destroys the body's immune system, leaving a victim open to a variety of diseases--primarily cancer, infectious diseases and heart problems."

It would be hard to imagine a disease that could symbolize the nature of sin more than this one, for sin also leaves the soul exposed to the ravages of other sins, and the wages of sin is death, says Scripture.

It is our business, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, to follow Him explicitly, to confess our sins and to battle them as deadly enemies that will kill us if we don't kill them.

We have within us something that will do to our soul what AIDS will do the body, if the Holy Spirit does not keep us immune. What the Holy Spirit does is to enable us to kill that killer daily, the way our body kills the microbes daily that otherwise would kill us.

If you are in EARNEST about living the Christian life, you will appreciate some PRACTICAL HELP in WINNING the battle against daily sins. Most believers today have a great deal of difficulty in dealing with the temptations that surround them continually.

I. First, it is important to observe that SATIATION IS NOT SANCTIFICATION

Let me explain this by illustrating what I mean. The drunk who suffers a splitting headache the next morning and cries, "O God, I'll never drink again. I'm sick of it," IS telling the truth about being SICK of it, but he isn't SANCTIFIED; he just SATIATED.

He isn't filled with THE SPIRIT; he's just filled with SPIRITS. He has found them to be raging and mocking, just as Scripture says, but he can't deliver himself from them. It's easier to grab a wild cat, than it is to let go! Satiation isn't sanctification.

The thief who is handcuffed in the back of a police car on his way to jail is not truly repentant just because he says to himself, "I'm really sorry I tried to rob that house. Oh I wish I hadn't done it." He is 99% sorry that he got CAUGHT, and maybe only 1% sorry he DID it; and if he were sure he could get AWAY with it without getting caught, he would go right back and do it AGAIN in another week or so, if not sooner.

The GLUTON who ATE too much and FEELS it, resolves, "I'm going to eat vegetables and fruits and things that are GOOD for me, and stop over-eating the way I just did."

He's not FAITHFUL; he's just FULL. He's not sanctified; just satiated. When he gets HUNGRY again, he'll FORGET his resolves and stuff himself as he did BEFORE.

The TIME to TEST his SINCERITY is when he is HUNGRY, not when he is FULL.

The person who has caroused all night with someone who is not his wife has a GUILT attack the next morning and prays, "O Lord, I don't want to go to hell. And I don't want aids. I'm never going to do this again." He's not sanctified; just satiated with illicit sex.

It doesn't seem desirable NOW; but wait until he's HUNGRY again, and then he will find out how HYPOCRITICAL his prayer was. Then he will find out whether he really TRUSTS in the Lord and wants to go to heaven, or just SAYS that he does.

The hot-tempered mother who loses her temper and swears profanely at her children and mistreats them is not sanctified just because in the flush of EMBARRASSMENT over her rage and language she APOLOGIZES, says she is SORRY, and DESPISES herself for her behavior. No, she's just satiated. She has enjoyed the anger, in the sense that the outburst has RELIEVED what is wrong INSIDE of her, but it hasn't CORRECTED what's wrong.

It has actually FED it some more.

The MONSTER inside is just a little STRONGER, a little more PRACTICED in PROFANITY, and will be ready to FROTH and FOAM with FURY again NEXT time she is FRUSTRATED.

The deceitfulness of sin is a subject Christians need to know. Satiation isn't sanctification, that's one.

II. Second, we need to mortify the sinful deeds of the flesh.

God gives us this duty in Romans 8:13. "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 duty is "TO MORTIFY THE DEEDS OF THE BODY."

To MORTIFY means to kill. The "deeds of the body" refers to SINFUL deeds, the indwelling power of sin at work in us. The MEANS of PERFORMING this duty is the Holy Spirit. "IF BY THE SPIRIT...." A PROMISE is attached to that duty. "YOU WILL LIVE." A CONDITION wraps up the whole proposition. "IF YOU."

When we say to a sick man, "IF you will take this medicine, you will get well," the certainty of the CONDITIONAL "IF" lies in the CONNECTION between the medicine and health. This is the CONDITION of the PROMISE in our text. There is a CONNECTION between the killing of the deeds of the body, and living. Killing the deeds of the body is the MEANS for achieving what is called LIVING.

This duty is addressed to believers. God says, "If YOU," and a glance at the chapter will show that he is talking to those to whom, as verse 1 says, "there is no condemnation" and verse 10 who are "made alive by the Spirit of Christ."

The holiest of believers, who are freed from the condemning power of sin, must still make it their business all their life to kill the indwelling power of sin.

This work must be done by the Spirit of God.

When the verse says, "the deeds of the body," the meaning is the same as at the beginning of the verse, "If ye live after the flesh ye shall die." By the "BODY" is meant the corruption and depravity of our nature which tends to allure the members of the body to sin. For instance, LUST may make use of the EYES, and ANGER may make use of the TONGUE.

The DEEDS of the body refers to the outward actions, "the works of the flesh," as they are elsewhere called. Every lust aims at bringing forth ACTUAL SIN. Lust TENDS toward DEEDS. God compares indwelling sin to a living person, called "the old man." This is a metaphor, a figure of speech.

We had a sailor stay at our house a few days when I was a boy. He was an inlaw on my mother's side of the family. He referred to my dad as "the old man." Now that's a title of respect in the Navy, but my dad didn't like it one bit when I picked it up and referred to HIM as "my old man." That was the last I did THAT!

The BIBLE does refer to "the old man," as our sin nature. This "old man" of sin must be killed, put to death, mortified. Its power must be taken away by the Spirit. This is a work that must be carried on towards perfection all our life.

John Owen says this: "The mortification of indwelling sin remaining in our mortal bodies, that it may not have life and power to bring forth the works or deeds of the flesh, is the constant DUTY of believers."

There is a killer stalking believers. It will kill their vigor, joy, peace, power, and comfort. If they are NOT really believers, it will kill their soul, and they will find themselves to be apostates, and lost after all. It is vital that we learn how to kill this killer.

If you are TRULY a BELIEVER, regenerate, SAVED, then you are certainly free from the CONDEMNING power of sin, but you still need to make it your business ALL YOUR LIFE to kill the INDWELLING power of sin.

In Colossians 3:5, God says, "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth." To whom is he speaking? UNBELIEVERS? NO. He is speaking to such as he says in verse 1 were "risen with Christ," such as were "dead" with him, (verse 3),
such as those whose LIFE Christ was, and who should "appear with him in glory," (verse 4). He was clearly writing to BELIEVERS, but he exhorted them to be about this work of killing the killer.

III. Third, we must make this our DAILY work.

We must ALWAYS be at it as long as we live on this earth. We must be KILLING SIN or it will be KILLING US! Our being dead with Christ and risen with him through faith does not excuse us from this work.

As great a Christian as the Apostle Paul said, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection." "I do it daily; it is the work of my life." Because indwelling sin always abides while we are in this world; therefore it is always to be mortified. Paul knew that he had not "already attained, or were already perfect" (Phil. 3:12). Rather he said, Our inward man is to be renewed day by day. (II Cor. 4:16) In Gal. 5:17, he says, "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, so that we cannot do the things that we would."

When sin leaves us alone we may leave sin alone, but sin is never more dangerous than when it seems to be LEAST dangerous. Its waters are deepest where they are most still. If you read this thinking, "I have no dangerous sin gnawing at my soul," you need this message to arouse your suspicion against the exceeding DECEITFULNESS of sin.

Hebrews calls it "the sin that so easily besets us." (Heb. 12:1) Since sin is always at work at the business of killing our souls, we need to be always on guard against it. There is no safety against it except constant warfare. If you leave indwelling sin alone, it will bring forth scandalous, soul-destroying sins.

IV. Fourth, Sin always aims at the utmost.

Every time it rises up to tempt, if it could have its own way, it would go out to the extreme sin of that kind. Every unclean thought or glance would go all the way to adultery if it COULD, if you did not RESIST it and KILL it. Every COVETOUS desire would grow to THEFT, every thought of unbelief would become outright ATHEISM, if allowed to grow.

This is one of the most important points to remember if you are going to be successful in your STRATEGY AGAINST SIN.

Herein lies the deceitfulness of sin by which it hardens people and ruins them. It is MODEST when it first arises in our thoughts. It pleads, "I am just a little sin." But once getting a FOOTING in our heart, it constantly ADVANCES, pressing forward, SLOWLY and subtly, lest the soul take NOTICE of what is happening. It proceeds by DEGREES.

Once it has conquered a PORTION of your life, it HARDENS you to accept THAT AMOUNT of sin. It secures its CONQUERED TERRITORY before ADVANCING to take NEW territory. Nothing can prevent this ONWARD MARCH of INDWELLING SIN if we are not engaged in the work of MORTIFICATION; that is, KILLING THE KILLER.

Do you begin to see how important this topic is? Do you see how the points so far go together?

1. The deceitfulness of sin.
2. Its intent on killing us.
3. The need for us to kill it daily.
4. The way it aims at the extreme but advances gradually, hardening or anesthetizing us on the way.

The best saint in the world--whoever you might think that to be--would fall into as many cursed sins as any human being ever did--IF he were utterly to neglect this duty of which I am writing. The BEST BELIEVER in the world, I say. And if you think that might be YOU, sin has already advanced very far in your life!

God's Spirit ALWAYS enables the true believer to RESIST sin, at least to SOME extent. "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit," but praise God, "The Spirit also lusteth against the flesh." This is a two-way war. We are not pacifists when it comes to the war against sin. There is a God-given propensity of the Spirit to be acting against the flesh.

Thus II Peter 1:4 says, "by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

He who does not kill sin and does not set himself against it in every area of his life, is at peace with it but not at peace with God. Sin remains and works in the best of believers as long as they live in this world. The constant daily mortification of it is incumbent upon them.

If we do not undertake this work with persistence and diligence, we are in danger of accepting indwelling sin and making peace with it. When you can live with it, without bitterness, and swallow its daily sins, you are at the very brink of turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, and being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

To TOLERATE sin is rebellion. That is the door through which apostates have left the faith and proved they were not really saved though they had once professed the faith.

Oh, don't let any of us take that exit, Lord. Keep us by Your grace. Teach us from Your Word.

I have purposely avoided labeling all the sins that can attack you, for the Holy Spirit is the One who convincts of sin, and I am confident that He has a PROJECT for you to be working on right now. Each one knows what that project is. You may have many, many sins to fight, but there is probably ONE PROMINENT one that needs your best strategy just now.

I could run through a few sins just to refresh your memory. They all lead to ruin if given their way. Here are a few: demonism, lust, covetousness, drugs, alcohol, envy, rage, gossip, perversion, pride, gluttony, sloth, lying, judgmental-critical attitudes, marital infidelity, child abuse, vengeance, and a host of omission types of sins like the neglect of prayer, the Word, and Christian service.

In closing, I want to underscore how important this subject is for everyone. I once knew a Church Officer who was very knowledgable about the Bible. He was a successful businessman and a good Bible teacher. He could explain the Five Points of Calvinism as well as any layman I know, and better than some preachers. But the man became addicted to pornography. Strange temptations came to him, such as I have never heard happening to anyone else I know. He would be eating in a restaurant at a window table, for instance, and someone would come up to the window and do an incredible thing. I am not going to say any more about his demonic-temptations, but I used to wonder WHY such things happened to HIM. I used to wonder if he even made some of them up. He was not nit-wit by any means. He held a high position, lived in a big, expensive home in an expensive part of the city, was well-educated, and, as I said, a respected officer in the Church.

I THOUGHT the man was getting the VICTORY over those temptations at the time he told me and others about them, but LATER the man became rebellious, left the church in which he was an officer, and subsequently lost his BUSINESS and finally DIVORCED his wife. He suffered much in ways I won't reveal, but I can tell you that you would never want to go through a fraction of what he went through!

Why did a good man go down hill like that so fast? Why did that killer within HIM get such an ADVANTAGE over him?

I don't have all the answers in HIS case, for only the Lord knows what was in the man's heart, but I suspect that one sin led to another, for God often PUNISHES sin by allowing a person to fall into the temptation of a GREATER sin. We need to watch and pray that we enter not INTO temptation. We WILL be tempted, but we need not enter INTO the temptation. More about that in the next chapter.

Remember now that we must give diligence to our DAILY work of killing the killer within; that is, of mortifying indwelling sin. It is not sufficient that your body killed the microbes that were in your body yesterday. If your body does not kill those enemies within TODAY, you cannot go on living LONG. That is true not only physically, but SPIRITUALLY as well. Tonight, like that lieutenant in the Florida Training Camp in World War II, I have put the 'gator in the pond and pointed him out to you. I will show you HOW to kill him in subsequent messages of this series. May the Holy Spirit make use of these lessons from THE INTERNET PULPIT to invigorate us for this ongoing battle under His command.

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The series will continue on the next page, HELP FROM JOHN OWEN--2