The body then is the corruption and depravity of our nature of which our physical body is to a great extent the seat and the means by which sin expresses itself. (For example, Paul talks about the members of our body being presented as slaves to impurity in Romans 6:19.) When Paul speaks of the body he means indwelling sin – the corrupted flesh or corrupted desires.

To kill outward sins we must make sure that “the axe is laid to the root of the trees” (Matthew 3:10), the root being our inward evil desires.

Putting to death is the killing of the indwelling sin remaining in our mortal bodies so that it doesn’t have life or power to bring forth the deeds of the body.

Indwelling sin is compared to a person, a living person, called the “old self,” with his abilities, attributes, wisdom, skill, subtlety, and strength. This, Paul says, must be killed – put to death – that is, to have the power, life force, vigor and strength it needs to produce its effects destroyed and taken away by the Holy Spirit.

Sin has already been killed meritoriously and by example when Christ died on the cross. That is, its ability to condemn us has been killed, and our sin and old nature have been nailed to the Cross. Hence in Romans 6 our “old self” is said to be “crucified with Christ” (v6) and we are said to have “died with Christ” (v8). When we believe in Christ and are regenerated (see vv3-5) a power opposed to sin and destructive to it is also put in our hearts (see Galatians 5:17). But the work of this sin-opposing power is not complete at the time of our conversion because of the indwelling sin that remains in us. It needs to be carried on towards perfection our entire lives.

Putting to death the deeds of the body is work for Christians – for true believers in Christ only.

The Holy Spirit is the only way to kill sin. All other helps leave us helpless. They will not work.

“Killing sin is the work of the Holy Spirit. By Him alone is it to be done and by no other power will it ever be done.” Trying to kill sin and behave morally through personal strength and efforts using personal tools and techniques is the foundation of all the false religion in the world.

Believers in Christ, though completely free of the condemning power of sin, still ought to make it their business every day of their lives to be killing the indwelling power of sin that still remains in them.

So be killing sin. All the time. Make it your priority every day. Always be doing it as long as you are alive in this world. Don’t take even one day off from it. Always remember: Be killing your sin or your sin will be killing you.

Your having been crucified with Christ and raised to life with Him does not excuse you from doing this work. Christ tells us how the Father deals with every branch in Him that bears fruit. “He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:2). He doesn’t just prune it once or twice, a day here or a day there. He does it continually while it is a branch in this world. And Paul tells us his own personal practice, saying “I discipline my body and keep it under control” (1 Corinthians 9:27). “I do it daily,” he says. “It is my life’s work. I don’t dare skip it or do it half way. It is my job.”

Indwelling sin will always be in us while we are in this world, so we must always be killing it

We know that indwelling sin lives in us, and that it will be at work in us in at least some way as long as we are in this world. It means we don’t dare think that we “have already obtained or are already perfect” (Philippians 3:12). Rather, as Christians we know that while “our inner self is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16), along with the renovations of the new life are the brokenness and decay of the old.

We have a “body of death” (Romans 7:24) that we can’t escape except by the death of that body (Philippians 3:21). Given our condition, and the explicit duty God has given us for dealing with it – namely to be killing sin while it is in us – we must be actively at work doing it.

When sin is leaving us alone, maybe we can afford to leave it alone. But sin is never less quiet and inactive than when it seems most quiet and inactive. When the waters of sin appear to be calm, that’s usually only because they are very deep. So our efforts against sin should be energetic all the time, even when there’s no reason to suspect an imminent breakout. Sin not only still abides in us, but “I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind” (Romans 7:23), and “the spirit that dwells in us lusts to envy” (James 4:5 KJV).2 Sin is continually at work in us: “the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit” (Galatians 5:17). Those desires of the flesh are still tempting us and conceiving sin in us (James 1:14).

In every action with moral consequences sin is always either trying to make us do what is evil, trying to hinder us from doing what is good, or trying to keep our spirit from fellowship with God. Sin always inclines us toward evil.

Believers whose souls long to be delivered from the troubling and persistent power of indwelling sin know there is no safety against it except through constant warfare.

Sin is not only always working in us, but if left alone it will ultimately lead us to commit major, scandalous, and soul-destroying evil acts. Paul tells us what the works and fruit of sin are in Galatians 5:19-21: “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.” You know what sin did to David and to so many other people. Sin always aims for ultimate destruction. Every time it rises up to tempt or entice us, if left to follow its own desires, it would go to the most extreme sin of that kind. Every lustful thought or glance would be actual adultery if it could be. Every covetous desire would be oppression. Every hint of unbelief would become outright atheism if it grew to be totally fulfilled in its desires.

It has no boundary it is willing to respect but constantly strives to make us completely turn our backs on God and actively oppose Him. The fact that it does this slowly, by degrees as it were, doesn’t result from sin actually being weak or slow-acting, but simply from how deceitfully it behaves towards us.

Absolutely nothing can prevent sin from having its way with us other than by killing it. We must ruthlessly attack the root and head of sin every hour, so that whatever sin is aiming at in our lives, its efforts are opposed. There isn’t a Christian in this world, no matter how godly or mature, who wouldn’t fall into as many horrible sins as anybody ever did if he neglects this sin-killing duty.

This battle is not a game – it’s for the fate of our lives and souls. Not to be every day using the Spirit and the new nature to kill sin is to neglect the biggest help God has given us against our greatest enemy. And if we don’t use what God has already given us, don’t expect Him to give us anything more. His grace and His gifts are given to us to be used. Not to be daily killing sin is itself to sin against the goodness, kindness, wisdom, grace, and love of God who has given us the means by which we can do it.

To use the blood of Christ that was given to cleanse us (see 1 John 1:7 and Titus 2:14), the exaltation of Christ that was given to bring us to repentance (see Acts 5:31), the doctrine of grace that teaches us to deny all ungodliness (see Titus 2:11-12) – to use all these to give us spiritual cover to commit sin, is a rebellion against God of the highest order that will ultimately break us.

Remember that nothing in religion has any ability to accomplish anything unless God gave it for the particular purpose in mind. This includes things like rough clothing, special vows, penance, various disciplines, the monastic life, and so on, of which God would say, “I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind” (Jeremiah 32:25) and “in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9) This is likewise the case with all the self-abasements non-Roman Catholics insist on too.

So if they fast so much, pray so much, and keep their hours and times and such, they think their work is done. As Paul says in another case, they are “always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). So they are always trying to kill sin, but are never able to actually do it. In short, they have various ways they try to kill sin in the physical body according to the physical part of our lives, but they don’t have anything for killing evil desires or corruption.

What extreme suffering did they put themselves through! If you look at their approach and the principles that underlie it, you’ll find that the root of their mistake is that in this very extreme form of legalistic sin killing activity, they attacked the physical body instead of the corrupt old self – the body we live in instead of the body of death.

That’s why He is called “a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning” (Isaiah 4:4) who is really consuming and destroying our evil desires. He takes away the stony heart by an almighty power. And as He begins that work in us, so He carries it on increasingly over time. He is the fire that burns up the very roots of evil desire.

He “works in us, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). He has “indeed done for us all our works” (Isaiah 26:12) – that is, “every work of faith by His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:11). He causes us to pray (Romans 8:26) and is a Spirit “of grace and pleas for mercy” (Zechariah 12:10). Yet in all of these we are commanded to do them ourselves. In short, although God does the work, we are still commanded to take action ourselves.

The Holy Spirit works in and on us as we are fit to be worked in and on. That is, He works in a way that preserves our liberty and freedom to obey. He works on our understanding, will, conscience, and affections in a way that is aligned with them. That is, he works in us and with us, not against us or without us. So His assistance to us is an encouragement for us to do our work, not one to make us neglect it.

This is the saddest kind of war that any poor soul can fight. People who are convicted by the law of their sin are motivated to battle against it, but they have no strength to do it successfully. They have to fight, but they can never win. They are like men intentionally impaled on the swords of their enemies simply to be killed. The law drives them into battle, but sin beats them back. Sometimes they think they have beaten sin when actually they have only kicked up so much dust that they can’t see it. They derail their natural defense mechanisms of fear, sorrow, and anguish so that they think sin is beaten when in reality they haven’t even touched it. By that time they are cold and weak, but must go into battle again with the evil desires they thought were killed, only to discover that the enemy wasn’t even wounded.

The strength, vitality, and comfort of our spiritual life greatly depend on our killing sin.

In our ordinary walk with God, and in the ordinary way of His dealing with us, the strength and comfort of our spiritual lives depend greatly on our killing sin, not only as an essential condition but as something that itself has a real influence on our attaining them. That’s because this alone keeps sin from robbing us of one or the other of the good things that we want. Every unkilled sin will certainly do two things: a) it will weaken the soul and take away its strength, and b) it will darken the soul and take away its peace and comfort.

An unkilled evil desire will drink up the energy and all the strength in the soul, weakening it in carrying out all its duties.

Evil desires fill the thoughts with fantasies about sinning. Thoughts are the great suppliers of the soul that bring in the provision to satisfy its desires. If sin is unkilled in the heart, our thoughts will always be making provision for the flesh to fulfill its evil desires. They will polish, decorate, and dress up the objects of the flesh to take pleasure in them. And this they can very much do in the service of a completely defiled imagination.

Sin breaks out and actually keeps people from doing their duties. An ambitious person will be studying. Someone interested in the pleasures of this world will be working or scheming. The sensual or vain person will be providing himself for that purpose. They are doing these things when they should be busy worshipping God.

That’s exactly how it is with the graces of the Spirit that are planted in our hearts. It’s true that they remain in the heart even when we partially neglect our duty to kill sin. But they are ready to die (see Revelation 3:2). They are withering and decaying. The heart ends up like a lazy farmer’s field – it’s so overgrown with weeds you can barely see the wheat. Someone like that may search for faith, love, and zeal for God, and yet hardly be able to find any. And even if he does, they are so weak and so clogged up with evil desires that they don’t do him much good. But let his heart be cleansed by the killing of sin, the weeds of his evil desires rooted up every day – and this has to be done daily since they grow again new each day due to the nature of sin – let room be made in the heart for grace to thrive, and watch how every grace will respond and be ready to be used for the purpose God intended for it.

It’s true that we always aim to totally and irreversibly kill sin, but this is not something we can ever accomplish in this life. Nobody truly sets about killing any sin who doesn’t desire, aim, and plan its complete death so that no trace of its root or fruit is left in his heart or his life. He would so completely kill it that it would never again rise up, call out to him, seduce or tempt him, for all eternity. Its non-existence is what he aims to achieve. Now he may have, by the Spirit and the grace of Christ, amazing success and victory against some particular sin so that he never again falls prey to it. Nevertheless, to totally kill and destroy it so that is simply ceases to exist in him is something that he simply can’t achieve in this life.

It almost goes without saying that killing sin is not about hiding it by changing merely external behavior without any change on the inside. When a person only outwardly stops practicing a sin, other people might look at him as a changed man. But in God’s eyes he’s only added hypocrisy to his list of sins, and is now on a safer road to hell than he was before. He may have a different heart than he originally did, but only one that is more cunning. What he doesn’t have is a new heart in Christ that is more holy.

Just the ordinary changes in our lives over time – the people in it, our interests, goals, etc. – can bring it about. Even the natural changes in our personalities as we age can produce changes like this. For example, old men don’t usually keep committing the same sins and chasing the same lusts they did when they were young, even though they never succeeded in killing any one of them. It’s the same with trading one evil desire for another. Someone who changes pride for worldliness, or sensuality for legalism, vanity about himself for contempt for others – don’t let anyone like that think he’s done anything to kill the sin he stopped committing. He may have changed the name of his master, but he’s still ultimately the slave of sin.

When he experiences some disaster or affliction that he believes is God’s judgment on his sin. When this happens all of a person’s heart and mind are consumed with one thing: getting out of whatever trouble he is in. He decides that the best way to do this is to clean up his act so that God won’t be angry at him anymore and will relent. So in times like these people swear to themselves that they won’t commit the sins they think are the source of their problem anymore – they’ll completely give it up. “Never again!” as the alcoholic might put it after a particularly vicious hangover. But as before, sin retreats and pretends to be dead. It’s quiet and not causing trouble and seems to have been killed. Not that it has actually received even one wound, mind you. It’s only that the person has briefly come to his senses and is resolved against sinning. But as soon as that resolve fades away – and it always does – sin is back in full force. The Psalms give a perfect example of what I’m talking about: In spite of all this, they still sinned;  despite His wonders, they did not believe. So He made their days vanish like a breath,  and their years in terror. When He killed them, they sought Him;  they repented and sought God earnestly. They remembered that God was their rock,  the Most High God their redeemer. But they flattered Him with their mouths;  they lied to Him with their tongues. Their heart was not steadfast toward Him;  they were not faithful to His covenant.  (Psalm 78:32-37)

Killing sin is a regular habit of weakening it

Every evil desire is a depraved habit or tendency that makes the heart incline toward doing evil. The Bible tells us what a person looks like when he hasn’t killed any of his evil desires, saying that “every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). Such a person is always under the power of a strong bent and inclination to sin. And the only reason why he isn’t always chasing after some evil desire day and night is that he has so many of them that they are competing for his attention. So instead of just one he probably has a wide variety of evil desires, but all of them are ultimately about satisfying the self.

I could go into the full description we have of sinful desires from Romans 7 – how they will darken the mind, extinguish the fires of conviction, drive us to illogical decisions, undermine the power or influence of anything that might act against them, and burst out in us like an eruption or explosion.1 But that’s not what this book is about. It’s about how to kill them. And the first step in killing sin is to weaken the habit of any evil desire so that it won’t – with that violence, seriousness, and frequency – rise up, germinate, cause trouble, provoke, entice, or upset us as naturally as it would normally (see James 1:14-15).

the first thing then in killing sin is weakening the habit so that it doesn’t: Propel us to evil and attack us as much as it used to, Seduce us and draw us away from God, and Divert us from the program of killing it The Bible calls this “crucifying the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24).

This is what Paul is talking about in Romans 6 (especially verse 6). “Sin,” Paul tells us, “is crucified. It is nailed to the cross.” Why? So that our old self, the “body of sin” will be destroyed, the power of sin weakened in us little by little, that going forward we would not serve sin like we used to because it won’t have nearly the hold on us it used to. And this is talked about not just in terms of sexual and sensual lusts, or the desire for worldly things – “desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life” (1 John 2:16) – but also the rest of the flesh, that is, in the mind and will that are by nature opposed to the things of God.

To be consistently applying resistance to sin is a big part of the killing process. When sin is strong and powerful, the soul is barely able to make any headway against it.

You have to know you have an enemy to deal with. To fight sin a person has to be aware of sin and treat it as a mortal enemy, then be resolved to kill it by any means necessary. As I said before, this is a hard battle – and also a dangerous one. Our eternal destinies are at stake. If a person doesn’t think much about his evil desires, that doesn’t mean those desires have been killed. The fight may not even be underway. The first step is in everyone “knowing the affliction of his own heart” (1 Kings 8:38). If you don’t do that, nothing else is possible. It’s sad that so many people today have so little knowledge of the enemy that is ticking away inside of them like a time bomb. So they are always ready to defend or make excuses for themselves. They reject any rebuke or advice about their sin because they are completely unaware that they are in danger (see 2 Chronicles 16:10).

succeed in your life. This is the beginning of any successful war. This is how people deal with real-life enemies. They try to find out the enemy’s plans and its objectives.

No one who is serious about this battle ever thinks his sin is dead just because it is quiet at the moment or he isn’t actively being tempted by it right now. Rather, every day he is out there trying to give it fresh attacks and new wounds (see Colossians 3:5). When a person is doing this, sin is under the sword and dying.

there are three main things he should want to accomplish: 1. The weakening of that sin’s power to tempt and propel him to perform evil and rebel against God. This is done by implanting and cultivating a power of grace that is opposed to sin and destructive of it. This is the foundation of weakening sin. So implanting and growing in humility weakens pride. Patience weakens impulsiveness. Purity of mind and conscience weaken sexual sin. Heavenly mindedness weakens the love of this world. These are the graces of the Spirit, empowered and directed by the Spirit, acting on or towards the same objects that evil desires also try to act, only in an opposite and holy direction. 2. Getting to where the Spirit or the new man quickly, strongly, and cheerfully fights against that evil desire. And doing this by taking advantage of every means God has given. 3. Finding frequent and increasing success against that sin, as the result of the first two items. If the sin in question doesn’t have a particular advantage over him because of some unique personal weakness, it’s even possible that there might be such a victory ultimately achieved that the sin may not be able to actively trouble him anymore and his conscience will find peace.

They tried to find a way to kill sin, but failed. Why? “Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works.” (Romans 9:31-32).

What is it that can deliver us from this hopeless condition? He tells us in verse 9: “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.” That is, those who are believers have the Spirit and so are not in the flesh. There is no way to escape from being a creature of the flesh except by the Spirit of Christ. And what if you do have the Spirit in you? Then the flesh has been killed: “the body is dead because of sin” (v10) – and also dead to sin. That death must be carried on by the continual killing of remaining indwelling sin. The new man has been resurrected to righteousness and must be continually growing in strength. He goes on to show how this works by saying that the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies (v11).

When the Jews, convicted of their sin after the preaching of Peter, cried out, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37), what does he tell them? Does he tell them to go work on their pride, anger, malice, cruelty, and so on? No, he knew that wasn’t possible in their current state. Instead, he calls them to conversion and faith in Jesus Christ, saying, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (v38). First a person’s spirit has to be thoroughly converted, then looking “on Him whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 2:10), humiliation and sin killing will begin on solid footing. That’s why when John the Baptist preached repentance and conversion he said, “The axe is laid to the root of the trees.” (Matthew 3:10) The Pharisees had been laying heavy burdens on people, imposing difficult duties and rigid legalistic means of trying to deal with sin like fasting, ritual washing, and things of that nature. All of it was pointless. So John says, “First come to conversion – the axe in my hand is laid to the root.”

Unless someone is regenerate, unless he is a believer, any attempt he makes to kill sin – no matter how clever or logical the plan or how carefully, energetically, and diligently it is carried out – is doomed to failure.

Killing sin is work fit for believers only. To kill sin one must first be alive. But since all unbelievers – even the “best” of them – are dead, it is actually sin that remains and will remain alive and well.

I want to add a special note to those of you who are pastors or who feel called to be pastors. It is definitely your job to be pleading with people about their sins, and even to focus on specific sins. But make no mistake about it: your ultimate aim should always be to bring people to the gospel.

This is where the Roman Catholic system goes so tragically wrong. They drive everyone to kill sin, or engage in behavior modification if you prefer, without any thought as to whether or not the person has the underlying belief in Christ necessary to make it happen. They call on people to kill sin instead of believing in Christ, when you can’t do the former until you do that latter. The sad truth is, they don’t know anything about either belief or killing sin. Faith to them is nothing more than a general nod to the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, and killing sin amounts to little more than taking a personal vow to live a certain lifestyle that involves giving up some of the things of this world (though never without compensation, I might add). These people don’t know anything about the Scriptures or the power of God. Their bragging about killing sin is just basking in their shame.

Besides being a true believer in Christ, there’s one other thing that’s needed before we can kill sin: the sincere pursuit of obedience to God in everything – universal obedience. Without that, don’t expect to be able to kill even one sin.

A lack of universal obedience shows that we only want to kill sin for selfish reasons

The strength and difficulty of battling a particular evil desire is often the fruit of a careless and negligent spiritual life in general,

When gospel principles haven’t worked, you can be sure legal motives won’t either.

Solomon says a man who was enticed by a promiscuous woman is “among the simple” and that he was “a young man lacking sense” (Proverbs 7:7). Why did he lack sense? Because “he does not know that it will cost him his life” (v23). He was unaware of the severity of the evil he was doing.

Sometimes the Bible refers to this as “vengeance,” “judgment,” or “punishment.” See Psalm 89:30-33 for example: If his children forsake my law  and do not walk according to my rules, if they violate my statutes  and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod  and their iniquity with stripes, but I will not remove from him my steadfast love  or be false to my faithfulness.

In the physical world, a strong desire for something has no value unless it motivates a person to actually take some action to make the thing desired actually come to pass.

This longing makes the heart keep a close watch for any opportunity to strike at the sin it hates. It is ready to offer active help and assistance to anything that looks like it will be useful for destroying that sin. Strong desire is the very lifeblood that supports the “prayer without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) that we’re commanded to be doing in every circumstance. And in no circumstance is it more required than when we are trying to kill a particular sin. Longing for deliverance is what sets our faith and hope to work on the problem, and in themselves those things bring us closer to God.

Just because you have some unique vulnerability to sins in your natural makeup, this is not an “extenuating circumstance” that frees you from your guilt. Some people will try to blame anything other than themselves for even the most horrible crimes.

The fact that you are particularly vulnerable to a specific sin just means that’s the way sin manifests itself in your life. And this should make you feel more humble, not less guilty.

You should keep your vulnerability to this sin always in mind and stay even more on your guard against it. Sin is always difficult to fight. If this one has a special advantage over you because of your personal makeup, then without extraordinary watchfulness, care, and diligence, you can be sure it is going to be victorious over you.

think about the situations where the sin usually attacks you, and all the ways it uses to try to get the upper hand. Then be sure to keep a careful watch against any of them happening in your life.

Consider the ways, the people, the opportunities, the activities, and the conditions that have in the past led to sin – especially if it happens often – and be extremely watchful about all of them.

you should act quickly and forcefully against your sin as soon as you find out it is acting against you. Fight fast and fight hard. Don’t let it get any ground. Don’t tell your sin, “You can go this far, but no farther.” If you give it one step, it will surely take another. It’s impossible to try to put a boundary around sin. It’s like water in a channel: if it breaks out, it will follow its own way. Keeping sin from getting started in the first place is actually easier than trying to keep it safely restrained once it does.

Because with every bit of success sin has in getting you to enjoy the thought of it, it also has success in making you think it’s not that severe.

In the moments of our greatest humbling of ourselves before God’s presence and watchful eye, keep in mind that our very nature is too small and pathetic to even handle knowledge of God’s actual glory.

Christ’s blood is the great cure-all for souls that are sick with sin. Set your faith on Him, live in this reality, and you will die a conqueror. I am serious. You will, through the providence of God, live to see your evil desires dead at your feet.

because without killing sin there is no true repentance.

“For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end – it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay” (Habakkuk 2:3). Though it might seem like a long time as you’re waiting for help in the middle of your struggle with sin, you can be sure that help will come at the appointed time. And you can also be sure that the time appointed by Lord Jesus is the best time.

And this is the first thing the Spirit does in order to kill any sin whatsoever. He convicts the soul of all its evil. He cuts off all its pleas and deceptions. He puts a stop to all its excuses and evasions. He exposes every false pretense. And He makes the soul own up to its own abominations and lie down in them. Unless this is done, nothing else matters.