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TEXT: Romans 8:13
SUBJECT: Mortification #2
Tonight, with God's blessing, we will continue our study of John Owen's great book, The Mortification of Sin. In the first chapter, he expounds the verse under five headings:
1.The duty prescribed--"mortify" or put to death your sins.
2.The persons denoted--"You...who are in Christ Jesus". Unbelievers are never told to strive against their sins, but receive the forgiveness of sin through faith in Christ.
3.The promise annexed--"You shall live". Eternal life is promised to every believer who mortifies his sin.
4.The cause or means--"If you through the Spirit...". Believers mortify their sins only because we're indwelt by the Spirit and only as we yield to His influence.
5.The condition--"If you mortify your [sins] you shall live". As Owen sees it, "if" does not imply uncertainty, but a connection between the thing done [putting to death your sins] and the certain result [eternal life]. A brother helped me last week by saying, "Maybe you ought to say, "When you mortify the deeds of the body you shall live". A very helpful way of putting it.
That's a quick review of chapter one. Now, on to chapter two.
Owen begins by stating the problem. He lived in a religious time, but the religion--he said--was mostly words.
"There is a broad light fallen upon the men of this generation, and together with the many spiritual gifts communicated has wonderfully enlarged the [number] of professed Christians...Hence there is noise of religion in every corner, preaching in abundance--so that if you measure the number of believers by light, gifts, and profession, the church may have cause to say, `Who has born me all these?' But if you take the measure by the [mortification of sin], you will find their number not so multiplied..."
Thus, everyone had to know about "mortification" and to practice it in their lives.
Here's how he puts it: "The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin".
That's the doctrine. He goes on to support it with six arguments.
1.You ought to constantly mortify your sins because your sins are constantly with you.
No one but our Lord is sinless. The Bible teaches this quite clearly. "There is not a just man on earth who does good and sins not" (Ecclesiastes 7:20).
The holiest men have had their faults. Job, for example, "fears God and avoids evil". Yet he too "abhors himself and repents in dust and ashes". Paul, the great Apostle, seems to do no wrong, yet he admits, he has "not attained neither [is he] perfect". In Hebrews 11, we have "the roll call of faith"--godly examples all. Yet on it we have Noah who got drunk, Abraham who denied his wife, Jacob the cheat, Gideon the doubter, and Samson the Philistine skirt-chaser. They were all good men, but far from sinless.
The most sincere believer has to confess, "The good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil that I will not to do, that I do". Why? Because "sin dwells in me". Not visits me now and then, but dwells in me. Sin no longer condemns us or masters us. But it remains with us.
Will believers ever be free from sin? Yes we will--thank God! But not in this life. When we die, our "spirits are made perfect". At the resurrection, our bodies are freed too. Only then, "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is".
And so, mortify your sins constantly because your sins are constantly with you.
2.You ought to mortify your sins constantly because they are constantly active in you.
Remaining sin is never dormant. It's alive and active and ready to rumble at all times! "The spirit within us lusts to envy" says James. Paul adds, "The flesh lusts against the spirit". The words are in the present tense--a lusting that never quits.
If left to themselves, the evil desires would be hard to control. But they're not left to themselves. Satan and the world are always stirring them up. The devil goes "To and fro in the earth and walks back and forth on it"--he's always up to no good; he never misses an opening to strike. The world is the same way: Bombarding us with its wicked ideas and images.
Your remaining sin, therefore, is not just "there"; it's active and energetic, and never resting. And if it doesn't rest, you can't either.
Owen says,
"When sin lets us alone, then we may let sin alone".
In other words, you can quit mortifying your sins only when they quit tempting you. That's the second reason to be constantly mortifying your sins--because they are constantly active.
3.You ought to constantly mortify your sins because, if you don't, they may grow into big ones.
Sin is never satisfied; it always wants more. John Owen is very sharp on this one:
"Sin always aims at the utmost. Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could, every covetous desire would be [theft], every thought of unbelief would be atheism..."
Where do oak trees come from? From acorns. Where do big sins come from? From little sins unmortified. David committed adultery and murder. Where did they come from? Idleness. Peter denied the Lord with cursing. Where did it come from? From self-confidence. Achan brought death and defeat to Israel. Where did they come from? A glance. "I saw, I coveted, I took".
What sins could be more "innocent" than these? Nobody will get on you for a little laziness now and then, for a little pride, for glancing at a bad thing once in a while. These little sins--Owen says--
"Will bring forth great, cursed, scandalous, soul-destroying sins".
If you've got to wrestle a grizzly bear, get him when he's a fifty pound cub, not a half-ton of raging muscle, tooth, and claw!
Mortify your sins constantly because the smallest sin may grow into the biggest.
4.You ought to constantly mortify your sins because God's Spirit was given to you for that purpose.
The Holy Spirit is given to everyone who believes. Why is He given? To make us holy--"The Spirit lusts against the flesh". Shall we receive such a gift and not put Him to good use?
The Puritan thinks that is very foolish,
"The contest is for our lives and souls. Not to be daily employing the Spirit for the mortifying of sin is to neglect the excellent aid which God has given us against our greatest enemy. If we neglect to make use of what we receive from God, He may justly hold His hand from giving us more. His graces are bestowed on us to use, to exercise, and to trade with. Not to be daily mortifying sin against the goodness, kindness, wisdom, grace, and love of God, who has furnished us with His Spirit to do it".
Think of the man dying of thirst with a glass of water setting in front of him; a man dying of hunger with a heaping dish of food on his table; a man dying of poison with the antidote in his hand! What would you think of such men? They're fools!
But not as foolish as we are--if we have the Spirit of God within us--and don't put Him to use in mortifying our sins!
That is the fourth reason to mortify your sins constantly, because you're indwelt by the Holy Spirit Who was given for that very purpose.
5.You ought to constantly mortify your sins because your graces grow weak if they're not exercised.
The soul is something like the body. If a strong man is bedridden for a few weeks, he can hardly stand up afterward. His muscles have become weak and uncoordinated. The same is true of the soul: the less we mortify our sins, the less able we are to do it.
If you want a strong body--exercise. If you want a strong mind--think. If you want a soul able to mortify sin--then start mortifying sin right now.
Nothing will strengthen your prayer life more than praying. Nothing will help you examine yourself like examining yourself. Nothing will increase your meditation like meditation.
That's the fifth reason to mortify your sin. It exercises your graces and makes them stronger.
6.You ought to constantly mortify your sins because you need to grow in grace.
Our duties are clear: "Pursue holiness...grow in grace...present your bodies a living sacrifice ...offer the sacrifice of praise to God...pray without ceasing...and so on.
The question is: Can we do these things without mortifying our sins. Is it possible to "pray without ceasing" while entertaining wicked thoughts? Can you "pursue holiness" and crave money at the same time? Can you praise God while cursing your wife?
Of course you cannot. "No man can serve two masters". Thus, if you're to "grow in grace" you must "put to death the deeds of the body".
To quote Owen,
"Let no man think he makes any progress in holiness who does not [mortify] his lusts. He who does not kill sin in his way takes no steps toward his journey's end".
Here are six good reasons to "Put to death" your sins. If you know the Bible at all, you know they're true to its message.
--Don't you know your sin is always with you?
--Don't you know your sin is always active?
--Don't you know little sins grow into big ones?
--Don't you know the Spirit was given you to mortify your sins?
--Don't you know your graces grow weak though disuse?
--Don't you know you ought to pursue holiness?
Of course you know these things! These are not "The deep things of God"; they're the "ABCs" of the faith. But it's the "ABCs" that matter most. And the "ABCs" we're prone to forget.
Are you "putting your sins to death"? You must; make no mistake about it. If you don't kill them, they'll kill you. Your sins are "armed and dangerous". If you're going to battle them, you'd better "put on the whole armor of God" and fight as though you intend to win the war!
A great contest is going on right now. It's bigger than the world wars. It is the battle for your soul. On one side we have indwelling sin, in league with Satan and the powers of this world. On the other side, we see no one but you. The odds seem impossible. And so they would be, but for this fact: You're not alone. You have an Invisible Partner who's eager to help. And able. Who is He? God Himself. He's a Man of War, who once drowned the Egyptian Army in the Red Sea. Who once cut down a million Ethiopians in a day. He will do the same for you. When you fight your sins, remember this: You're not alone. And "The Battle is the Lord's".
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