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Turn with me in your Bibles,
if you will, to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight. Beginning with verse 12. If you
follow along with me, you'll find these words. Therefore, brethren, 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. For as many
as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For
you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children,
then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed
we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. This morning I'd like us to return
to our study entitled The Mortification of Sin in Believers. It has been
about a little over four months since we looked at this subject,
this treatise of Dr. John Owen, and perhaps a little
brief review would be helpful for us this morning. Let me read first the words of
Ed Roberts, or Rob Edwards, pardon me, as he writes in his little
book about Owen's work on the mortification of sin. He says, he calls this treatise
on the mortification of sin, he talks about the mortification
of sin as the dark side of sanctification. Now, some of you probably memorized
the Shorter Catechism's definition of sanctification, which is this. Sanctification is the work of
God's free grace whereby we are renewed in the whole man after
the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin
and live unto righteousness. Edwards says, If mortification
is the negative side of sanctification, then vivification is the positive
counterpart. He says, Owen does not intend
to say all that there is to say about the gospel in this short
treatise on mortification. His focus is on sanctification,
and in particular, on that aspect of sanctification that deals
with the remaining presence of sin within us. Remember, he says, that Christ
is your righteousness. Take heart to these two vital
truths, that his death is at work within you as you struggle
against sin, and that his resurrection is bringing new life to you so
that you may live to God. Peter says in First Peter, he
has begotten us again onto a lively hope or onto a living hope. Because
of the resurrection of Christ from the dead, we have the hope
of life in him. Owen opens up this treatise with
what he calls a foundational setting or the foundational platform,
if you will, of his whole treatise as he opens up and expounds Romans
chapter 8, verse 13b, which was read in
your hearing. 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. It is very important
for us to understand these things. And so as a brief review, let
me just run through this table of contents and remind you of
the things that we've covered thus far. In chapter 2, after
Owen has, in chapter 1, set forth this exposition of the 13th verse
of the 8th chapter of Romans, in the second chapter he comes
and he talks about the necessity of mortification. And he says
that the best of believers, no matter how long you've been in
the way, the best of believers must give themselves to this
work of mortification. In the third chapter, Owen comes
and he deals with the means of this mortification. And he says
the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is the only author of this work.
This work of putting sin to death can only be done by the efficient
cause, as Owen says, and that is the Holy Spirit who works
in us and causes us to put to death the deeds of
the flesh. In chapter 4, Owen talks about
the usefulness of mortification. He talks about how it aids us
and it supplies us with vigor and comfort in our Christian
walk. It gives us strength and peace in our walk. And isn't
that not what we want? To have some measure of strength
and vigor as we live the Christian life and are able to deal with
those sins which so easily beset us, the rite of Hebrew says.
And we desire comfort, we desire peace as we walk with God. In the fifth chapter, Owen comes
to the principle that is intended in all of this. And he's going to tell us and
instruct us in what mortification actually is. He talks about the usefulness,
I say, and then we come to chapter five. And Owen sets forth a case
of conscience. He writes, these things being
premised, I come to my principal intention of handling some questions
or practical cases that present themselves in this business of
mortifying sin in believers. Owen is a pastor. He's not just
concerned, he's not concerned about pontificating and writing
lofty truths, sit away in some ivory tower. He's concerned about
the people of God whom God has given him charge over, and he
knows that these people, each and every day of their lives,
are dealing with sin. And Owen wants to help the people
of God with this battle that they have with remaining sin. So he gives, he narrows it down. narrows his scope down here and
he gives this scenario of this or this case of conscience he
says suppose a man be a true believer and yet 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, disquieting
him as to peace and perhaps defiling his conscience, and exposing
him to the hardening through the deceitfulness of sin. What
shall he do? And a man in such a case as this,
Owen asked the question, what shall he do? What can he do to
rid himself of this malady? And Owen answers the question
this way. There are three things that Owen
says must be done in order for this man to fight sin. First,
he says, He's going to show what it is to mortify any sin, and
that both negatively and positively, that we be not mistaken in the
foundation. Secondly, a general direction
for such things as without which it is utterly impossible for
anyone to get any sin truly spiritually mortified. And then thirdly,
he's going to deal with and draw out the particulars whereby this
is to be done in the whole carrying out of this consideration. This
morning, we want to deal just with what mortification is. Last time we were together, Owen
talked about what mortification is negatively. When the puritans
say negatively, he's saying what it is not. And so Owen sets these
things forth. Lest we be mistaken about what
mortification really is, Owen sets forth, first and foremost,
the things that mortification is not. First, he says, mortification
is not utterly to destroy sin. If you think in this Christian
life you're going to get enough Bible verses memorized, David
says, thy word have I hidden in my heart that I might not
sin against God. So if I get enough Bible verses
in my heart, then I can reach a state of sinless perfection. That is fallacy, it's an error,
and it's not taught in the Bible. There is no perfectionism, brethren,
in this life. Sin will remain to us till our
dying days. And we must fight it till we
reach the grave. We must all our days be killing
sin. It is true, this is that which
is to be aimed at, but it is not in this life to be accomplished. Remember that. So don't be discouraged
when you think that, I've been a Christian for 50 years and
I'm still fighting sin. That's the lot of God's people
that we must take up arms in the church militant and fight
sin, not just the sin around us out there. Owen's talking
about something closer. He's talking about the sin that
resides still, that hangs around in our own breasts and seeks
expression. He says, it will not be eradicated
in this life. Secondly, he says, I think it
need to be said that this mortification is not some dissimulation. It's
not hiding sin. Just to hide sin is not mortification.
Sometimes people think if they hide their sins, if no one knows
what they're doing, then they're in a pretty good fair. You know,
well, I'm putting it where no one can see it. So that's not
mortification. Mortification of sin does not
consist of an improvement of a quiet and sedate nature. Some people think that if I'm
a calm, cool, and collected, mild-mannered person, it must
be that I'm mortifying sin. That could just be the way God
put you together in your mother's womb. It's just your temperament
to be that way. He says also, sin is not to be
mortified and is not mortified when we divert it to some other
sin. Sometimes people leave off one
sin and they embrace another. And they think that they've mortified
sin because they no longer do this. It's the picture of a young
man who's not gotten the grasp of his father's instruction to
be industrious and so he hangs around the house and he lays
around and the bills are paid by the parents and the food is
supplied by the parents and the meals are provided by mom And
he comes and enjoys the meal and he sits around and he just
loves it. Mom's cooking is the best ever.
And then he gets up from the table and he goes to his room
and leaves mom and his siblings to wash the dishes or to clean
the table. And so he doesn't cut the grass.
He doesn't take out the trash. He's just there enjoying the
good life. And the writer of the Proverbs
would call him a name. He's a sluggard. He's lazy. But maybe one day he gets, you
know, it's like this prodigal son, he came to himself. And
perhaps he goes and he says, you know what, this isn't wrong.
My dad's been exhorting me, he's been telling me I need to be,
not be a slugger, I need to work. And so he gets up and he gets
a job. And he loves his job. And he starts working. He starts
out working 30 hours, part time. Then he gets a 40 hour job, he
works now, full time. Now he's looking at his paycheck.
Oh, this is great. I got money. And so now he works
and he works and he works and he works 60 hours and 70 hours
and now he's what we call a workaholic. And some people might look at
that and say, he really mortified his sin. He's no longer a sluggard.
He's no longer a lazy bum. He's working, he's industrious.
Oh, but he's turned from one sin and now he's given to his
money and his love of money. And the reason why he's so industrious
is because he loves money. Now he's a covetous man and he
consumes all his days consuming and doing all that he can to
make money because he loves it. He hadn't mortified, he just
changed one sin for another sin. Owen says, mortification sin
is not just the conquest or occasional conquest of sin. Sometimes sins
erupts and men are disturbed by the eruption of sin in their
life or scandal in their lives, and then they change their ways
only for a season. Judgment or calamity might befall
them, and it's like the, we mentioned last time, the soldiers in the
foxhole who promised God that they would serve him till they
die if he would just get them home, safe and sound to see their
loved ones. And when they do, they come home.
And they go to church for a couple of weeks. maybe a couple months,
but then has soon forgotten the promises that they made when
they were under fire. And some people might think,
oh, when he came home from the service, he was such a mortified
man. It's like Ahab. Remember Ahab? God told Elijah, do you see what
Ahab has done? He's humbled himself. But it
was only for a season. And we see Ahab taking Micaiah and putting him away in prison
because he did not like his words. So Owen says these things are
not really mortification. So if you think that because
you have occasional conquests, if you think that maybe because
you left off one sin, perhaps unbeknownst to others, you've
adopted or incorporated another lust or sin in your life, or
if you think because you're quiet and sedate and calm and cool
and controlled that you're mortifying sin, or if you think because
you hide your sins that you're mortifying sins. If you think
that those things will be dealt with throughout this life and
be completed before you reach the grave, you're mistaken. That
is not the mortification of sin. So Owen comes to what mortification
actually is. What is it to mortify sin in
general? He's going to set forth. And
he sets forth what real mortification is under three heads. The first one is, real mortification
is the habitual weakening of sin. Every lust is a depraved
habit or disposition, continually inclining the heart to evil.
Dense that description of him who has no lust, truly mortified,
in Genesis chapter six is every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart is only evil continually. The un-mortified man's heart
is always conjuring up, it's a factory of uncontrolled lust
and desires, And Owen says, if you really are about the business
of mortifying sins, there is a habitual weakening of your
sins. This sin, Owen says, must be
dealt with and is dealt with in a habitual way. The definition of habit is it's
an acquired behavior or pattern regularly followed until it has
become almost involuntary. There are many things in this
life that are just second nature to us. And that's the way sin
is. It's just a part of our nature.
It's not something we have to study. You don't have to teach
children how to be selfish. You don't have to teach them
how to lie. We come away from the womb, the Bible says, as
soon as we are born, speaking lies. And so this habit of sin
is a part of us. It's like the habit of looking
both ways before you cross the street. You were taught that
when you were young. But now when you come to the
edge of the street in traffic, you look, it's just second nature. You look both ways for safety's
sake. It just happens. Now, I know
some of you don't look both ways. And your driver's license should
be revoked. But some things, brethren, are
habits. It's a dominant or negative disposition
or tendency prevailing in our character, in our quality. Romans 5 19 says, By one man's disobedience, by
one man's disobedience, many, many were made sinners. And because
we are sinners, we sin. Our nature is permeated with
sin and our disposition is towards sin. Listen to Richard Rushing
as he clarifies Owen's 17th century language He says, even though a lust is
not always exerting an influence on our imagination and thoughts,
we should consider that lust that we seek to mortify a strong
and deeply rooted habitual inclination and bent on the will and bent
of the will and the affections. Men are said to have their hearts
set upon evil and the inclinations in their spirit is to make provision
for the flesh. Romans 13, 14. Our moral and
holy habits, he says, exert themselves differently from lust. Moral
habits speak to the soul gently and appropriately as they should. Sinful and depraved habits arrive
with violence and impetuousness. These lusts are said to fight
and wage war against the soul. That's what we read in our consecutive
reading just the other Sunday in First Peter, last Sunday,
First Peter 2, 11. Abstain from fleshly lusts that
do what? They war against the soul. The things that we desire that
are not Godward war against the soul. John Brown, I can't resist to
take this little path down away from Owen and read these words
of John Brown as he speaks about this whole issue of this sin,
this remaining sin, these desires, and how they war against the
soul. He says these desires are not
to be regulated, but they're to be destroyed. They don't have
to be managed or shuffled around. He says they are to be destroyed. To abstain from fleshly lust
then is to refrain from doing that which is forbidden. It is, in other words, to yield
obedience to the 10th commandment. Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt
not desire that which God says thou should not seek to obtain. Then he says. It is not to be
tampered with, but destroyed, strangled in its birth. Repressed
on its first rising. nipped in the bud. But he uses
this language strangled in his birth. That's the language of
abortion. When it is conceived, abort it.
This is holy abortion. When sin seeks to rise, when
it's conceived in the heart, as James says in chapter one,
the 15th verse, lust, when it's conceived, brings forth what?
It brings forth sin. And John Brown says, it must
be aborted. But this is not all. To abstain
from fleshy lust is to refrain from all inordinate or excessive
desires, even what is in and of itself lawful. It is in this form of the evil
that Christians chiefly need to be warned against, fleshly
or worldly lust. Listen to his insightful words.
He says, it is a sad mistake to suppose that our desires are
lawful. It is a sad mistake to suppose
that our desires are lawful because the objects of our desires are
not forbidden. We think if it's not forbidden,
it must be okay. Brown says that's not the case
necessarily. It may be that they are so far
from being forbidden that we would sin if we did not desire
them. And yet in desiring them inordinately,
we may sin. To love one's wife is desirable. It's a command. God calls us
to love our wives. And to love our wives is not
forbidden of us, I say in the Bible, but commanded. But to
love our wives more than we love God, that is sin. There are some legitimate things
that we engage in that, in an inordinate way, that become this
sinful desire, this fleshly desire, this love of the world that Pastor
Sean spoke of in our past few Lord's Days. It becomes sin to
desire anything seen or temporal. to be it pleasure, knowledge,
power, fame, money, or anything else as absolutely necessary
to and sufficient for our happiness is a fleshly desire. That is,
in other words, to make that thing our God. And it is in direct
opposition to the commandment, thou shall have no other gods
before me. Brethren, we need to pray like
the psalmist who said, "'Whom am I in heaven but Thee, and
there is none that I desire beside Thee.'" Sin comes in all kinds
of ways, and Owen says this sin must be habitually weakened. Now, the first thing in mortifying
is the weakening of this habit of sin or lust that shall not,
so that it shall not with violence, earnestness, frequency, rise
up, conceive, tumultuate, provoke, entice, disquiet, as naturally
is apt to do. That's what it wants to do. All
of our sin wants to rise up and disturb us and have its way in
our lives and call us away from the things that God has called
us to do. And so Owen goes on and he gives these two words
of caution. He says, now, when you consider
this issue of habitually weakening sin, bear this in mind. He says, one lust or a lust in
one man may receive many accidental improvements, heightenings, and
strengthenings, which may give it life, power, vigor, exceeding
above what another lust hath at the same in him, that is,
of the same kind in nature. And it also may be vehement and
might work with energy and aggressiveness in a man so so much so that it's
different than the same sin in another man. Don't judge yourself
by other people. You may be a covetous man, and
it's very evident that you're covetous, and someone else might
be even a greater covetous man than you are, and so you think
your situation is all right because you're not like him. Is that
not what the man in the temple says, Lord, I thank you that
I'm not like other men? He's comparing himself to someone
else. And sometimes people think that they're mortifying sin as
they compare themselves to others. I'm not as bad as that man. Or
this sin that I'm putting down is not as vehement as the other
sins or not as unruly in my heart as the other sins in my life.
Owen says, Our natural constitution sometimes disposes us to certain
kinds of sins. Sometimes it's just the way we're
put together. We're prone to some sins. It's
just our natural constitution. Some people are given to fits
of anger. It's just their temperament. And beware, brethren, lest we
think that We're mortifying sin because we're not like that.
Satan has a lot of different ways that, thousands of ways
to come and to, as Owen calls it, get a handle on our remaining
corruption and cause us with violence to sin against God. And then he says there are temptations
also. He says, but especially lusts get their strength by temptation. Our Lord's disciples were in
the garden when he was praying, and they went to sleep, and he
called them and said, could you not watch with me but an hour?
In Matthew chapter 26, but he says to them these words, and
these words are for us as well. Watch and pray that you enter
not into temptation. The spirit's willing, but the
flesh is weak. So our Lord calls us to watchfulness,
to be on the alert, and to be on guard, and to give ourselves
to prayer. And that's a plug for this evening,
brethren. As we come here and plead with
God for the needs of the kingdom of God and for our needs, and
that we might join hands and join our hearts before the throne
of grace, our Lord calls us to pray. Watch and pray, our Lord says. Some sins and lusts are far more
sensible and discernible in their violence, he says. Paul puts a difference between
uncleanness and all other sins. He says, flee fornication. Every
sin that a man does is without the body, but he that committed
fornication sins against his own body. Hence the notion of
that sin, or the motions, pardon me, of that sin are more sensible
and more discernible than others, when perhaps the love of the
world or the like in a person is no less habitually predominant
than that sin. Pride may not be seen, but it
is just as wicked and it is just as active and is just as dominant
in men's lives as immorality. Now, I know immorality is at
the top of the list. When you read those catalogs
of sin and all the immorality and fornication and adultery
and murder, those always top the list. Sometimes we think,
well, I'm not over there. But my heart is full of pride,
or I love the world. And the love of the world is
not of the Father. And so Owen says, be careful,
be cautious. Don't think of yourself more
highly than you are, like the rich young ruler in Matthew chapter
19. All these I've kept from my youth up. He thought he was
pretty good. He thought he was mortifying
sin. He thought he was on top of his game. And our Lord dealt
with him faithfully just like he dealt faithfully with the
woman at the well. And he called her to go get her
a husband. She didn't have a husband. Jesus
pointing out her sin. He's going after the juggler.
And he tells this young man, go sell all that you have and
give to the poor. Now he's touching my idols. And the Bible says he went away
sorrowful because he had much possession. He thought he was
a good fella. He thought he was doing all right.
Brethren, that's how God came to us. Some of us thought we
were all right. and we judged ourselves by other
people. Perhaps we were in churches where we thought things weren't
going well, and the preaching wasn't what it was supposed to
be, and people were living immoral lives, and they're making professions
of faith, and they're in positions of leadership in the church,
and I can remember those days, and pointing at others and saying,
what hypocrites, and all the time living in sin myself. Paul
says, thou who steals, thou who says thou shall not steal, do
you steal? Brethren, be careful about making
other people and other men the standard of your holiness and
what is and what is not mortification in your life. He says it must
be this weakening of sin. This is called crucifying the
flesh with his lust, Galatians 5, 24. That is, taking away his
blood and spirit that give it strength and power and wasting
the body of its life and bringing it to death day by day. So he
says, this is the imagery from Galatians 5 of putting sin to
death. It's like crucifixion. As a man
is nailed to the cross, he says, he first struggles and strives
and cries out with great strength and might. But as his blood and
spirit waste, his strivings are faint and seldom. He cries low
and hoarse, scarce to be heard. When a man first sets on his
lust or distemper to deal with it, it struggles with great violence
to break loose. It cries with earnestness and
impatience to be satisfied and relieved. But when by mortification
the blood and spirit of it is let out, it moves seldom and
faintly, cries sparingly, and is scarce heard in the heart.
It may have sometimes a dying pain that makes an appearance
of great vigor and strength, but it quickly is over, especially
if it be kept from its considerable success. This the apostle describes
as in that whole chapter, especially in Romans chapter six. Sin, said he, is crucified, is
fastened to the cross. To what end? That the body of
sin might be destroyed or done away. The power of sin weakened
and abolished by little by little. And henceforth, we should no
longer serve sin. Owen says, you know you're mortifying
sin when you take away its strength and power, you're crucifying
it. And when you work and fight against it, it's gonna fight
back. It's gonna scream and holler and desire to have its own way. When husbands and wives have
to make decisions, They don't want to come to the Scriptures
to find the right way to approach this decision-making. One might
desire their way above the other, and selfishness starts to rise
up, as opposed to us looking to God's Word and the principles
of God's Word to discern how we should move forward or what
we should do. I want to have my way, and it starts rising
up, and you must suppress it and take the Scriptures in hand.
and do battle with that sin, and fight it, and it's going
to fight back. It's going to scream. And then
you bring some more scriptures to hand. Do you ever see a boxing
match? There are blows given, and there's
a defense, trying to defend oneself, but there's also, you'll never
win by just blocking. Now, there are some boxers they
say have won fights by just a defensive position. But you've got to strike
blows. You've got to score. You've got
to do all you can to pummel your opponent. And sin must be pummeled. It must be, and how do we pummel
it? We pummel it with the word of God. We pummel it with prayer. We fight and we pray to God for
strength to do battle with our sins and it will rise up. But
the more we fight it, This habitual weakening, Owen says, it will
get weaker and weaker and weaker. God gives us strength and vigor.
God gives us peace because we've done battle with sin and we subdued
it and we are able to live lives that are pleasing in God's sight.
And we're not kept back from our responsibilities to follow
Christ and to be witnesses in the world. Our mouths are not
shut. Our lives are free to serve God
and to glorify him and to proclaim the riches of him, the glories
of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light, because
this sin which wants to keep us from godly living is suppressed.
by not occasional slaps at it, but a constant, habitual battle
each day of our lives, we must give to this work of mortifying
sin. Owen goes on and he talks about it's a constant fight. It's a contending with sin. We must fight back, he says.
We must do all in our power to put it down and to put it to
death. We mustn't give up. We must know our enemy, he says.
We must consider his ways. We must consider how sin makes
its inroads into our lives. No one goes into battle while
we're in the season of football playoffs, college football playoffs.
No one goes into a game and doesn't consider how the enemy or how
the, I was gonna say Buckeyes, but how the other team plays and how they line up on
the field and on the line. They study the tapes. They look
at how that team comes at their star running back, and they study
his moves. And then they look at the tapes
of their games, and they say, wait a minute. OK, last game,
you missed a block here, and you missed a block there. And
young man, you need to get in a little better shape here. And
so they study the tapes, and they figure out, what can we
do to be victorious? but we study what we must do
better, and we study what our opponent is doing to foil us. The apostle says, we're not ignorant
of Satan's devices. Brethren, study his schemes.
Look in the scriptures and see how he has foiled many saints
from years ago. And God has left us a record
of all these things in his word, of how even the choices of saints
have been foiled and brought low because they've not been
serious about this constant battle and being aware of their enemy's
attack and how they come. David stood on a rooftop. A man
after God's own heart, he did not mortify his sin. David was
never the same, though he repented. And don't take comfort in the
fact that, you know, David sinned, I can sin too, but David repented
too, a great repentance. But he was never the same. Brethren, Know your enemy. Know your weaknesses. How has
sin conquered you in the past? What have been the occasions
for your sin? Where are there breaches in the
wall? What needs to be shrewd up in
your life that you might be able to fight sin? Where are you going,
and what are you listening to, and what are you watching that
is weakening your soul, that makes God's word just, ah, this
dull, and it's another scripture reading? Or is this word precious? See, sin will make this word
dull to you. It'll make preacher's sermons long to you. Because
you want to be somewhere else, and you want to be doing something
else, as opposed to learning about God and learning how to
serve God. Know yourself. Take a catalog, write it down.
I fell here. Actually, every time I go over
here, I fall. Well, why do you keep going over
there? Find another way. I remember when I was driving
through New York City, there's a section of Chinatown. You'd have to go there with your
hands like this. You're driving an 18-wheeler
like this. That's not good. But to get to your stop, perhaps
you need to go another way. but it's gonna take me another
30, 40 minutes to get where I'm going if I go another way. What's
more important, being a little detained or stuck in traffic
a little longer or your never dying soul? Are you concerned
about whether you get to heaven or not? Because these things
will bring you to apostasy if you do not mortify them constantly
and vigorously. Know your weaknesses, know where
you have fallen, know What needs to be shored up in your life? We'll consider next time Owen's
words about frequent success. That's real mortification. Frequent
success, not occasional victory and skirmishes. But Owen
says it's constant, it's real success, real dealing with sin,
real mortification is actually being successful, seeing sin
weakened in your life. May God give us grace to follow
Him and to walk with Him and to put to death the deeds of
the flesh. There are some of you here this morning. who are
not concerned about putting to death the deeds of the flesh,
or maybe perhaps you think the little effort you're putting
forth to quiet your conscience is sufficient. Mortification
does not save us. This is the duty of believers,
and only believers can mortify sin. If you don't have the spirit
of Christ, you do not, you do not have the ability to fight
sin. And that means you're on the
broad road that leads to destruction. Without God's Spirit, there is
no hope of mortifying sin. And so we plead with God and
we pray for you, and we trust that you will give your attention
to God's Word and listen to the preaching of the Word in this
place and at home when you sit in family devotion, that you
might understand the ways of God and how God saves sinners.
You might learn something about God and about Christ and about
your own soul and about this righteousness that's been provided
for needy sinners. I pray that if you're not saved
here, that you would come to the place where you might recognize,
I'm in trouble. I'm in real trouble. You ought
to feel like someone sitting on a railroad track, tied to
a railroad track when the train's coming. I'm in trouble. If you've not come to Christ,
if you've not laid the weight of your sins by faith upon Him
and trusted Him to save you from your sin, then you will endure
the wrath of Almighty God throughout all eternity. I plead with you,
throw down the weapons of your warfare and flee from the wrath
to come. There is a Savior provided for
sinners, and He's preaching this place every day, every Sunday. Christ Jesus, who bore the sins
of needy sinners on a cross, bid you come. Won't you come
to Christ? And He will give you the power
by His Spirit to put to death those things which are trying
to drag you to hell, Come to Jesus." He says, "'Come
unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden.'" Are you working
hard trying to mortify sin? You don't have the power to do
it? "'Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly, and you shall find rest unto
your souls.'" You're in trouble if you're not in Christ. Believers,
let's pray that God would help us to fight sin and that God
would give those who we love amongst us the grace to believe
and to repent. Let's pray. Father, we confess that this
is a difficult work. It is a hard work. But we will
not give up this work because we know that this work
is essential. And so we plead with you, Father,
even now, that you would give us fresh measures of power and vigor
to fight by your Spirit. Father, we pray for those who
are amongst us that have not come to Christ, who continue
to be enamored and in love with the world. We pray, Lord, that
you would strip that away and that they might see the world
for what it is and where it is going, that they might flee to
Christ for refuge. Father, we pray for the preaching
of the next hour. We pray for the worship of the
next hour. And Father, we pray that You would be pleased to
meet with us and that we might give You glory and praise because
You're worthy and that You might fit us for the work You've called
us to do, to be bright lights in a dark world. And we ask it
in Jesus' name. Amen.
The Christian's Duty to Mortify Sin - Part 8
Series Putting Sin to Death
| Sermon ID | 12722138395840 |
| Duration | 48:44 |
| Date | |
| Category | Bible Study |
| Language | English |
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