To keep in step with the Spirit is to be intentional and aggressive in putting sin to death in our lives. This message was given on March 30, 2014 at New City Church in Calgary by Pastor John Ferguson. For more info, visit: www.newcitychurch.ca

1. The Quest for Joy:
Killing Sin in Our Lives
!
~ Galatians 5:16-17 & Romans 8:12-14 ~

2. #WatchingTheWorldBurn

3. “If only it were so simple! If
only there were evil people
somewhere insidiously com-
mitting evil deeds, and it were
necessary only to separate
them from the rest of us and
destroy them. But the line
dividing good and evil cuts
through the heart of every
human being. And who is
willing to destroy a piece of
his own heart?”
~ Aleksander Solzhenitsyn
(1918-2008)
The Gulag Archipelago

5. The Quest for Joy:
Killing Sin in Our Lives
!
~ Galatians 5:16-17 & Romans 8:12-14 ~

6. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and
Galatians 5:16
you will not gratify the desires of
the flesh….

7. For the desires of the flesh are
Galatians 5:17
against the Spirit, and the desires
of Spirit are against the flesh, for
these are opposed to each other,
to keep you from doing the things
you want to do….

8. “I do not understand my own actions. For I do
not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the
law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do
it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that
nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.
~ The Apostle Paul in Romans 7:15-21

9. “…For I have the desire to do what is right, but
not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the
good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I
keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is
no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within
me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do
right, evil lies close at hand.”
~ The Apostle Paul in Romans 7:15-21

10. The Christian…is practically a
self-contradiction. What takes
place within the heart, mind, soul,
and body of the believer is nothing
less than a civil war, a violent
confrontation of two opposing
forces, an irreconcilable
antagonism.”
“
”~ Phillip Ryken, President of Wheaton College

11. “These two forces
are constantly
fighting each other,
and your choices
are never free from
this conflict.”

12. So then, brothers, we are debtors,
Romans 8:12-14
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. For all who
are led by the Spirit are sons of God.

13. “…by the Spirit…
put to death
the deeds of the body”

14. “…by the Spirit…
put to death
the deeds of the body”
“Mortification”
=

15. To keep in step with the Spirit
is to be intentional and
aggressive in putting sin
to death in our lives.
Main Idea

16. Clarify…1
…what is at stake
image: revedavion.com

17. “Every time sin rises to tempt
or entice, it always seeks to
express itself in the extreme.
Every unclean thought or
glance would be adultery if it
could; every covetous desire
would be oppression; and
every unbelieving thought
would be atheism. It is like the
grave that is never satisfied.”
~ John Owen
1616-1683

18. 2 Declare war on your sin.

19. “Put to death therefore
what is earthly in you:
sexual immorality,
impurity, passion, evil
desire, and covetous-
ness, which is idolatry.
On account of these the
wrath of God is coming.”
~ The Apostle Paul in
Colossians 3:5-6

20. “I hear so many Christians murmuring
about their imperfections and their
failures and their addictions and their
shortcomings. And I see so little !
war. ‘Murmur, murmur, murmur. !
Why am I this way?’ !
MAKE WAR!”
~ John Piper

21. 3
Refuse to
negotiate.
image:Tim Ellis

22. “It is as if, having nailed
our old nature to the
cross, we keep wistfully
returning to the scene of
its execution. We begin to
fondle it, to caress it, to
long for its release, even
to try to take it down again
from the cross. We need
to learn to leave it there.
~ John Stott
1921-2011

23. “When some jealous, or
proud, or malicious, or
impure thought invades our
mind we must kick it out at
once. It is fatal to begin to
examine it and consider
whether we are going to
give into it or not. We have
declared war on it; we are
not going to resume
negotiations.”
~ John Stott
1921-2011

24. Always be
killing sin,
or it will be
killing you.
~ John Owen
1616-1683

25. 4
Aim for
the heart.

26. “For from within, out of the
heart of man, come evil
thoughts, sexual
immorality, theft, murder,
adultery, coveting,
wickedness, deceit,
sensuality, envy, slander,
pride, foolishness. All
these evil things come
from within, and they
defile a person.”
~ Jesus of Nazareth
in Mark 7:21-23

27. 5
Remember
the Gospel
image: Eifion

28. There is therefore now no
condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus.
For the law of the Spirit of
life has set you free in
Christ Jesus from the law
of sin and death. For God
has done what the law,
weakened by the flesh,
could not do.
~ The Apostle Paul in
2 Corinthians 4:4

29. “…By sending his own son
in the likeness of sinful flesh
and for sin, he condemned
sin in the flesh, in order that
the righteous requirements
of the law might be fulfilled
in us, who walk not
according to the flesh but
according to the Spirit.” ~ The Apostle Paul in
2 Corinthians 4:4

30. image: Christopher Brown
“There is no death of sin
without the death of Christ.”
~ John Owen

31. Keeping in Step with the Spirit
to Live the Kind of Life
Jesus Died to Give Us

32. revedavion.com: http://www.flickr.com/photos/francoisroche/2604339312/
Gianni: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aigle_dore/8299680591/
Tim Ellis: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14113765@N00/3802846468
flickr images courtesy of:
Lynn Morag: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/2958674081/
Eifion: http://www.flickr.com/photos/86794183@N00/324692907/
Christopher Brown: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7853490@N07/3531948937/
Ian Britton: http://www.flickr.com/photos/freefoto/2747072912/