filtering in and so I thought anyway that we'd get started in any case and I'm going to open up in a word of prayer and so would you pray with me? Father in heaven as we come to your word this morning and also learn from one of your servants of in the church in a previous age, we pray that you would open our minds and our hearts to hear your word with faith, Lord. And we pray that as we hear your word with faith that you would continue your work in us of mortification of sin through your spirit who you've promised to us for this purpose. We pray these things in Christ's name, amen. Well, good morning. I want to begin by just doing a brief recap of where we were and where we're going. If you remember, two weeks ago, Jesse began by going through Romans 8, 13. And the book that we're studying, The Mortification of Sin by John Owen, is an exposition of that one verse. And in fact, really a portion of that verse, if you recall, If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. And what we learned that first week was that though this is stated as a condition, It's also a command. We saw that by comparing it with other texts that say a very similar thing in the form of a command, but also by examining the context of Romans 8.13 to understand that Paul is not just stating a possibility, but he's actually calling us to live a life that is characterized by putting to death sin in our bodies. And so we went through that and we discussed the importance of mortifying sin and why it is that scripture enjoins us to that end. And so this morning we come to chapter three and we're going to look specifically at the phrase by the spirit, if you will, or what we're going to see is that John Owen expounds the idea that any effort to kill sin or put to death sin in our bodies is only possible if it's done by God's Spirit in us. So what I intend to do this morning is really an exposition. Just as if I were to teach from a passage of scripture, I would do an exposition of that passage, I'm going to do an exposition of John Owen's chapter. in this abridgment of the mortification of sin. If you've not read it or you don't have it, it's not a problem. We'll review exactly what he says. But I would encourage you, if you have a mind, to get this little book. It is extremely helpful. I was even comparing it to the original version that John Owen wrote. And there are some of the succinct summaries that I won't call them an improvement, but I will say that they are very beautifully written and very concise statements of what John Owen is getting at in the original text. And so I really commend this abridgment from the Puritan paperbacks to you, if you have a mind to read that. So in any case, as we look at what Romans 8.13 says about putting to death sin and the fact that it's by the Spirit, there are really four points that Owen would have us learn this morning. And so if I just read to you from the text, he says, the Holy Spirit is our only sufficiency for the work of mortification. All ways and means apart from Him have no true effect. He only is the great power behind it, and He works in us as He pleases. And so what we're going to look at then this morning is the fact that it is the Spirit who is the only one who can put to death sin in our lives. We're also going to consider some of the ways in which we try to put sin to death apart from the Spirit. And the fact that those are ineffective, that they can never work, except that the spirit is behind them as the one who's using those as means by which he puts to death sinner alive. He's the only great power in the work of mortification. And finally, that it's the spirit who does this work according to his good pleasure, according to his will. And so we'll proceed from there. So when we consider What we'll consider first, though, is the idea that we make vain efforts to mortify sin in our lives. And so to put this in kind of a historical context, John Owen is writing at a time when the conflict between the Catholic Church and the Protestant churches is still very strong and still very present. If you think to English history, it even had a significant impact on their throne as different princes and princesses were vying for power in England, and they had different commitments of being Catholic or Protestant and wanted to enforce that in the lives of their subjects. And so when he writes, he writes with that in mind. And so he speaks about the way in which the Catholic Church encourages people to put sin to death. And in this abridgment, it has a really beautiful way of saying it, that they arouse the conviction of sin, but use poison as their cure. I just think that was such an excellent way of putting it. But you understand the context is that The Catholic Church had encouraged a great many practices that were all designed to help people be more obedient to God's Word, and yet they could not affect that which they were trying to achieve. And so, though that's kind of the historical context, and so he writes with very strong words against the Catholic Church, I think that it also may apply, especially for some here who have come out of that background. You may even, as you hear me speak, you may even think of experiences that you've had in your lives where perhaps you grew up in a Catholic church, and you experienced that kind of struggle, where you were constantly being told this is what you must do, this is what you must do in order to be holy, and yet you never seemed to be able to actually put to death sin in your lives because the means that were prescribed were ineffective. And so John Owen writes in that context. But I want to note that he doesn't just leave it at the doorstep of the Catholic Church. In fact, he says this, many who have more light and knowledge of the gospel also insist on and prescribe the same false teachings about mortification. So the point is that It's not just a problem that's a them problem. It's very much a problem that's an us problem too. He's talking about people who would have the same theological convictions and yet they're teaching means and methods to accomplish mortification of sin that are not consistent with scripture and that are not the work of the spirit in our lives. And so these methods can only be ineffective. And so it probably helps us to put, to clarify this by using some examples. And so I love that some of the best examples that we can find are, in fact, in the pages of Scripture. So I'm going to turn to Matthew 15. And I welcome you to turn there with me or just to listen as I read from this passage. I did not decide on my own to select this passage, actually. John Owen cites it. He alludes to it in his own writing. as he discusses some of the ways that we try to put to death sin. And so in this passage, what we're going to see is a confrontation between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees. So in Matthew 15, we read, then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat. He answered them, and why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, honor your father and your mother, and whoever reviles father or mother must surely die. But you say, if anyone tells his father or his mother what you would have gained from me is given to God. He need not honor his father. So for the sake of your tradition, you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. And that last verse is the phrase that Owen keyed upon as he described the ways in which we try to put to death sin apart from the spirit. because what often happens is we create commandments for ourselves that aren't commandments of God, and we treat these as though this is the method that you will use to prevent yourself from sinning, and they don't work. They're commandments, and in this extreme case, it even contradicted God's word, and the Pharisees, in that example, they had this tradition that they had created about how you must wash before you eat. And then they also had a tradition that said you don't have to take care of your parents if you take your money and set it aside and say, well, this is under a certain status of given to God. You could go and access that later, but it was a convenient loophole to avoid keeping the commandment to honor your father and mother, you see. And so What Owen does is he draws an analogy, a parallel between our activity and that of the Pharisees here in Matthew. And so I think that's just such a helpful description of kind of the things that we do when we create these rules for ourselves that are just man-made and imagined. They're ineffective. And so Owen talks about why these are ineffective. He gives two reasons why these things don't work. And the first is that there's no power attained from these means unless God has appointed them for this very purpose. In other words, what Owen is saying is that God has not given us this as a means for the mortification of sin. And so when we say that this is what you must do in order to be holy, in order to put sin to death in your lives, we are creating a rule that's not given by God. So certainly there will be no power behind it. God will not use it and work in it. to purify us, to sanctify us. But the second reason is that sometimes we use the things that God has given us, the means that God has given us, but we don't use them in their proper order. Think of an example of fasting, for example. We see many examples in scripture of people fasting for various purposes, but as a means of sanctification, and as a means of reminding oneself to rely upon God, just as when Jesus was fasting in the wilderness and tempted, And he was confronted by the devil to turn some stones into bread. His response was, man will not live by bread alone, quoting the scripture, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And so fasting can be a helpful way to remind us of that truth, that we depend upon God for all our needs. But we could use fasting. wrongly, out of its proper order, as an end in itself, as though we're checking a box on a list of, these are the things that I've done, and so I'm good, I'm building up my works, and that's ineffective. A beautiful example, I won't ask you to turn there, but in Zechariah 7, I should say, not a beautiful example, but a frightening example even, In Zechariah 7, we see an example where the people of this particular city send a representative to a prophet to inquire of God about this fast they have been keeping for years and years and years on the fifth month of every year. He said, do we need to keep this fast? Do we need to continue doing this? God's response is quite simply, do you keep that for me or do you keep that for yourselves? And then he points to the fact that in all of their fasting, they're neglecting their real duties to do justice and to love mercy and to serve those who are oppressed in their society. They're not doing the things that would be characteristic of sanctified people, even though that they're very disciplined in keeping this fast. So he confronts them saying, do you do it for yourselves or do you do it for me? You see, they've taken a biblical thing and they've misused it. So what Owen says about that, the problem is that many consider them as the fountain and not the stream coming from the fountain, you see. The means that are prescribed in scripture are not ends in themselves. They're not the source of our sanctification, but they're means that God uses, but ultimately it's the spirit who is the source of any change, any real change that must take place in our lives. So as we close our consideration of vain attempts to mortify, I wanna read this section from the book that it's troubling in some sense because it's such an accurate description of our own experience. And so as you hear me read this, I just ask you to consider if this describes your own life in some cases. When men are troubled with the guilt of a sin that has prevailed over them, they promise themselves and God that they will sin thus no more. But they seek to accomplish their own victory. They watch over themselves and pray for a short season until the pain of conviction waxes cold and the sense of sin wears off. You see the interesting, the sense of sin, the pain of conviction, it's gone. And that's a sure sign that this is not a work of the spirit. But what does the spirit do? He convicts the world concerning sin and righteousness. And yet this conviction is wax cold. In other words, the description is of a person who's actually had some measure of success in disciplining himself to resist the temptations that he formerly gave into. And in that success, he's comfortable. And so here's what Owen goes on to say, mortification then also goes out the door and sin returns to its former dominion. You see that even though there's a season of success, it cannot have any lasting change in the life of the believer. And so we must put aside, Owen entreats us, we must put aside any vain attempts to put to death sin in our lives that are only our effort, that are only born out of our imagination. Instead, we must turn to the spirit, for his help and his sustainment and his enabling of our sanctification. So this is what he goes on to say, is that mortification is accomplished by the spirit, and he gives three reasons for this claim. The first is that God promised his spirit for this purpose. And so I'll turn to Ezekiel chapter 36. He cites a few passages where where God makes such a promise. And they're all worthy of reading. But just for the sake of time, I'll summarize them. I think Ezekiel 36 is going to give us the most complete summary of God's promise, that he would send the Spirit specifically for the purpose of sanctifying his people. So in Ezekiel 36, beginning in verse 22, this is what the word of the Lord says. Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God. It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act. But for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came, and I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes." Here's what he's going to do. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness. And from all your idols I will cleanse you and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit. I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers and you shall be my people and I will be your God. And so what the prophet Ezekiel speaks of is a time when God will restore his people and he will pour out his spirit on them so that the spirit causes them to do that which they never did, never could do, walk in obedience to him. walk in faithfulness. And so Owen points to this and says that the scriptures promised this, that God would send his spirit for the purpose of putting sin to death in his people. Well, he gives a couple other reasons that we'll briefly just summarize. The second reason is that mortification is a part of the blessings that we receive in Christ. So he points to John 15, 5, where Jesus says, apart from me, you can do nothing. If we look at the larger context of that whole discourse where Jesus is speaking to his disciples, he frequently promises them that he's going to send the helper, he's going to send the Spirit, who will bring to mind God's word. in their minds who will enable the ministry that God is calling them to perform. And so in that, Owen cites the fact that apart from Christ, we can do nothing. All that we have, we depend on Him, on His blessings, and the Spirit is one of the blessings of Christ that we depend upon. He alone works in and on believers, Owen writes. Through his strength, sin can be mortified. Through Christ, our Prince and Savior, we have repentance, Acts 531. And mortification is a significant part of repentance. So he points to the fact that it's through Christ that we have repentance, and that repentance includes putting to death the former things, turning away from those sins. And so he's defending this point that mortification is ultimately and only accomplished by the Spirit. And then thirdly, excuse me, he goes on to, I think, address the question that's on many of our minds, the question of how. How do we modify sin, then? I think if you're like me, as you read Owen's work, you think to yourself, OK, so what do I have to do? How do I access this power, if you will? Owen doesn't ask that question. Well, not directly. He doesn't say, how do we do this? First he says, how does the spirit mortify sin? Because he's constantly redirecting that impulse in us to ask that question of what must I do, back to the fact that it's what God is doing. It's what God does in our lives. We must understand that. It's so crucial. We must begin there. And so he says, how does the spirit mortify sin? He gives us three ways. First, by causing our hearts to abound in grace and the fruits that are contrary to the works of the flesh. Let me turn to Galatians chapter five, and I was so helped by Owen's treatment of this passage. As I was studying, my initial reaction was to say, I don't see how John Owen gets that from the passage. Then as I reflected and studied John, excuse me, Galatians 5 further, I realized that it actually is right there, and he just has such a brilliant way of bringing out the implications of what Paul says in Galatians chapter five, particularly in verse 16, and I'll read beginning there. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. It's a key point. These desires are opposed to each other. It's a key point that Owen's going to bring out. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 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. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." And so what Owen draws out of this text is the fact that the believer, that these two works, these two fruits, if you will, they don't coexist. You know, they can't coexist in some kind of amicable relationship where we have some fruits of the flesh and some fruits of the spirit, and we're all just, you know, it's just happy. It's just a happy coexistence in this life. Because what Paul is saying is that these things are opposed to each other. These things are against each other. And so there can't be a happy coexistence between the flesh and the spirit. And so what Owen is then saying and how he's applying this, he's saying that one of the cheap ways in which the spirit puts sin to death in our lives is by causing us to abound in these spiritual fruits. You think of love, joy, peace, and you look at some of the things that he describes as works of the flesh, impurity, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, and jealousy. How can you have enmity, strife, and jealousy while you're having love, joy, and peace? How can you have those things when you're characterized by patience and you're abounding in these fruits? And so that's the first way that Owen applies, and I think just in a really helpful way, applies Galatians 5. That these things, they don't coexist happily in us. Certainly we see effects of our fallen nature that continue, that we continue to go back to our old ways. but there's this tension and there's this conflict constantly, whereas the spirit causes us to abound more and more with these fruits. It causes the death of that old man in us. And the second thing then he says is that the spirit works by the effective destruction of the root and habit of sin to weaken, destroy, and take it away. So this goes back to what Owen was saying about our vain attempts, our efforts that we make to try and put to death sin that don't work. is that so often they only address the outside appearance. They only address the things that we do, but they don't address the fountain from which our sins come. So what the Spirit does, Owen says, is He begins the work of destroying the root and the habit of sin, to weaken, to destroy it, and take it away. Interestingly, he looks to Isaiah 4, as a reference in scripture to justify this, saying that the spirit is one of judgment and of burning, and he, it's a brief citation, but the point that he's drawing out is that the work of the spirit includes kind of a destruction of those things that are opposed to God, and he applies it in us, that the spirit is working that same work in us, destroying and putting to death those things that produce unrighteous fruits. He begins this work as to his kind, and then carries it on by degrees, Owen says. So it's important also to understand that This work of sanctification is not, the spirit doesn't just do it and make us holy. I think we all know that by experience, but it's helpful then to be reminded of it, that the spirit does it by degrees. As Owen, as we said, as one of his points in the beginning, the spirit sanctifies us according to his pleasure, according to his will. And then the third way in which the Spirit works that Owen gives us, the third way that the Spirit puts to death sin in us, he says he brings the cross of Christ into the heart of a sinner by faith. and gives communion with Christ in his death and fellowship in his sufferings. And I think that this is an interesting point that Owen is saying is that he brings to mind the work of Christ, the life of Christ. He fixes our gaze upon our Lord and Savior. and that that has an effect of putting to death sin in our lives. It doesn't just restrict it to Christ's crucifixion, as if we can cut out the rest of the Gospels and we're just looking at the fact that He died for our sins, but all of His life, all of His activity, the Spirit brings that to mind as a help for us. I look to Matthew 4, 1 through 11, for instance, and the parallel passages in the other Gospels where we read of Jesus's temptation. And I think that we can find great encouragement from that. The Spirit certainly uses that example to help us and to put to death sin in us. Think of Matthew 4 and how Jesus responds to the devil's temptations. When the devil tempts him, he goes again and again to the word of God. We see the same thing in Luke chapter 4, in Luke's account of Jesus' temptation. But what happens is the tempter came to him and says, if you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But he answered, it is written. and shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And as the Spirit brings an example like this to our mind, what we're seeing is that Christ endured sufferings, that he was tempted in every way as we ourselves are tempted. He endured those things, and yet without sin, because he relied upon the word of God and faith. And so we read that, and the Spirit convicts us that this also ought to be the character of our lives. that we ought to rely on faith, just as Jesus himself, excuse me, rely on the word, just as Jesus himself relied on the word in that time of temptation. And again, you can read the whole account, but each time the devil tempts him, he says, again, it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Again, it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. But I want to point out an important characteristic of that account and all of the gospel accounts of Jesus' temptation that we tend to forget. I once heard a teacher talking about this passage and he was reflecting on how when he put it before his daughter, she said, well, that's easy for Jesus to do, he's God. I can't, I'm not God, I can't be perfect, right? That was her response. I resonated with that because I've thought the same things in my life. But what we actually see in the text is that as Jesus resists temptation, he's being led by the spirit. You see that in Matthew 4, then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. This falls immediately after his baptism when the spirit descends on him. And Luke makes an even finer point of it in Luke chapter four. He says, in the account of the temptation of Jesus, he says, and Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. The very same thing is seen in Mark. Every gospel writer who has this account, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they all testify to the fact that Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit, that he was full of the Spirit. And when he comes out of the wilderness and he goes and he preaches, he cites Isaiah saying, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach good news. And even John's gospel, though he doesn't give us an account of the temptation specifically, points to the testimony of John the Baptist, who said, I saw the Spirit descend upon him and remain on him. And so what Jesus is showing us is precisely the way in which we are to put to death sin in our lives, because he didn't do it in his power as God, but he did it in the power of the Spirit. So we look to him as one who has suffered in every way and been tempted in every way, as we ourselves are tempted, and yet he himself without sin. So I think this is what Owen is pointing to, that the Spirit brings examples like this to our mind, to fix our eyes on him as an example of one who's gone before us, one who's experienced what we ourselves experience, and yet shows us the way in which we might have victory, not in our own strength, but through the power of the Spirit. So as we come to a close, I think that we still have this question of what's our responsibility in all this? We're affirming again and again that mortification, this work of putting to death sin is a work of the Spirit. What do I do? What's my role in it? And Owen considers this very question himself. He talks about the fact that consistent in Scripture is this command to walk by the Spirit. We see that in Galatians, at the passage we read at the very beginning of it, Paul commands the Galatians, walk by the Spirit. And so we see these commands and we're trying to understand these. Well, what he points out is that Scripture often gives us a command with a promise. He cites Philippians 2, which is the quintessential example where Apostle Paul writes, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Four, it is God who works in you to will and to work for his good pleasure. And so we see this tension between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. Scripture commands us to do something, but it always affirms the fact that it is God who is doing that thing in us. And we could cite other examples, Owen himself does, but for the sake of time, we'll move forward. He also writes, he does not so work in us that it is still not an act of our obedience. So I don't, we ought not to think that what Owen is teaching us is that just let go, just sort of let it happen, that God does it and there's nothing for me to do. He still commands our obedience, and in fact, the commands are a means the scripture uses, that the spirit uses to sanctify us. as we receive the commands, and the Spirit puts that before us and draws our attention to the command of Scripture and causes us to obey it. The command is the means that God is using to sanctify us, you see. And so we ought to take seriously the commands that we receive in Scripture to obey God's word. As I was thinking about this, I still thought, well, I would be helped if there's something more practical that we could say about this, maybe a fuller instruction. And so I was reading, and I found an article. Maybe some of you are familiar with John Piper. And he was asked a question. He does this series where people ask him questions. And they asked him specifically, what does it mean to kill sin by the spirit? And Piper, in his answer, went directly to John Owen. He went directly to this work, and he went directly to Romans 8.13. So I was so helped by what he said about this, because he talked about the fact that it has to be by the Spirit, but then he talked about how does the Spirit do that? And he gave us two passages to compare to this. One is in Ephesians 6, and you're familiar with it, I think. You don't even have to turn there. The armor, put on the whole armor of God, that passage. And what Piper notes is that there's one piece of armor that's used for killing, and it's the sword of the spirit. And it's also, the sword of the spirit is the word of God. So we must remember that the sword that the Spirit wields to put to death sin in our lives is God's work. It's not to say that we read it, that we can take that and we can make it this kind of legalistic, list that we check. I did my devotions this morning, and that's not what Scripture is teaching us. But as we're constantly in the Word, day by day, we're studying God's Word, day by day, we're being reminded of God's Word by one another in preaching or in conversation. The Spirit uses that to sanctify us, to fill our minds with things that would cause spiritual fruit. So that was the first important point. And a second point which was also quite helpful is in Galatians chapter three. He points to Galatians three where Paul says this in verse one. O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this. Did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? He's speaking about their conversion. And the answer is clear. They received the Spirit not because of the works of the law they were doing, but because they heard with faith. And so what Paul then asks is, are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Is your sanctification now being accomplished because of the flesh in their context? As I think if you were here the last year as Ron went through Galatians, you know it was circumcision. They were saying you have to be circumcised if you're a Christian. You must do this. So are you being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain? It goes on in verse four. If indeed it was in vain, does he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. And so what Piper in this article pointed to is the fact that It's hearing with faith. Hearing with faith is a means that the spirit uses. And what does that mean? It means as we hear the scripture, as we read the scripture, as we're reminded of the scripture, we respond to it with the response of, this is God's word and I believe it. Not just intellectually, but I believe it in my life. As Jesus exemplified for us in the wilderness when he was tempted by Satan. And Satan said, turn these stones into bread. And he's hungry. He hasn't eaten for 40 days. And Satan's tempting him in the sense of saying, prove that you're the son of God. And it's not just a matter of, well, intellectually, I know that the Bible says man shall not live by the bread alone. But he believes it, that our life is not based on the food that we have. But in our lives, in our very lives, we're sustained by God through his word working in us. You see the difference, that we hear that and we respond in faith. And so we can take so much of what scripture teaches us in any instance when we're confronted by sin, when we're confronted by a temptation to sin. We can respond by looking to scripture and being encouraged. So I'll close with just kind of a personal example of this very experience in my own life. And just personally, one of the things that I prize, that I even would say idolize, is comfort. And comfort in the sense of, I want to have all my steps in order and know 10-year plan. What's it look like? Where's the money coming from? How do I pay my bills? Where am I going to work? And so on and so forth. And I have it all laid out in my mind, even if I don't reveal it to other people. And I'm thinking about these things and anxious about these things. And one night, I'm reading the Gospel of Matthew. I'm just going to start reading it and stop when I can't read anymore. I come to Matthew chapter 5, and I read Jesus' words about not being anxious, because your heavenly Father knows what you need. He cares for you. His spirit impresses upon me, and he opens my eyes to the fact that that I'm not doing this. And in that, there's a sanctifying work that the Spirit is accomplishing through God's word in our lives. And so we hear the word, we receive the word in faith, and that's how the Spirit works in our lives to put to death sin. So we'll close with that. If you would bow your heads with me as we go to God in prayer and seek his help in these things. Father in heaven, We just thank you that you have given us so many very helpful resources that we can read. Men who have been dead for hundreds of years and yet their works help us now to know how it is that we ought to follow you and the promises that you've given us. And so we're thankful for this book, The Mortification of Sin, but we're even more thankful for your word and the fact that it helps us to better understand your word and apply it in our lives. So we pray that, Lord, you would impress these things in our hearts and our minds, that you would work in us by your spirit to day by day continually mortify our sinful flesh and cause us to abound in good works that you produce by your spirit, that we might be characterized by these things, by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control, Lord. Against these things you promise us. There is no law that we are abundantly thankful. We pray these things in the name of your son, amen.