Author	Thread: "How may I know that sin is being mortified in me?"
dljrn04 View Profile History	"How may I know that sin is being mortified in me?" Posted : 3 Nov, 2011 02:18 AM by Octavius Winslow, 1856 (edited for today's reader by Larry E. Wilson, 2010) Bible Verse "Sanctify them in the truth; your Word is truth" (John 17:17). Devotional "How may I know that sin is being mortified in me?" is the anxious inquiry of many. We reply: by a weakening of its power. When Christ subdues your iniquities, he does not eradicate them, but rather he weakens the strength of their root. The principle of sin remains, but it is impaired. See it in the case of Peter. Before he fell, his easily besetting sin was self-confidence: "Even though they all fall away, I will not" (Mark 4:29). Behold him after his recovery, taking the low place at the feet of Jesus�and at the feet of the disciples too�meekly saying, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you" (John 21:17). No more self-praise, no more self-confidence�his sin was mortified by the Spirit and he became as a different man. In this way, often the very outbreak of your sins may become the occasion of their deeper discovery and their more thorough subjection. As well, do not overlook the power of the truth, by the instrumentality of which the Spirit mortifies sin in us: "Sanctify them in the truth." The truth as it is in Jesus, revealed more clearly to the mind, and impressed more deeply on the heart, transforms the soul into its own divine and holy nature. Therefore, your spiritual and experiential acquaintance with the truth�especially with him who is essential Truth�will be the measure of the Spirit's mortification of sin in your heart. Is the Lord Jesus becoming increasingly precious to your soul? Are you growing in poverty of spirit? Are you growing in a deeper sense of your vileness, weakness, and unworthiness? Is your pride more abased? Is your self more crucified? Is God's glory more simply sought? Does your heart more quickly shrink from sin? Is your conscience more sensitive to the touch of guilt? And do confession and cleansing become a more frequent habit? Are you growing in more love to all the saints�even to those who, though they do not adopt your entire creed, yet love and serve your Lord and Master? If so, then you may be assured that the Spirit is mortifying sin in you. But oh, look away from everything to Jesus. Do not look within for sanctification; look up for it from Christ. He is as much your "sanctification" as he is your "righteousness" (1 Cor. 1:30). Your evidences, your comfort, your hope, do not spring from your fruitfulness, your mortification, or anything within you; they come solely and entirely from the Lord Jesus Christ. Looking unto Jesus by faith is like removing the covering and opening the windows of a conservatory, to admit more freely the sun, beneath whose light and warmth the flowers and fruits expand and mature. Draw back the veil that conceals the Sun of Righteousness and let him shine in upon your soul. Then the mortification of all sin will follow, and the fruits of all holiness will abound. Jesus, keep me near the cross; there a precious fountain, free to all�a healing stream� flows from Calvary's mountain. (Refrain:) In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever; till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river. Near the cross, a trembling soul, love and mercy found me; there the Sun of Righteousness spread his wings around me. (Refrain) Near the cross! O Lamb of God, bring its scenes before me; help me walk from day to day with its shadow o'er me. (Refrain) Near the cross I'll watch and wait, hoping, trusting ever, till I reach the golden strand just beyond the river. (Refrain) (Fanny J. Crosby, 1869 [st. 2 alt., LEW, 1984]) Post Reply
View Profile History	"How may I know that sin is being mortified in me?" Posted : 3 Nov, 2011 03:39 AM This is not written in the light of the new covenant, it is not in agreement with the new birth. Post Reply
dljrn04 View Profile History	"How may I know that sin is being mortified in me?" Posted : 3 Nov, 2011 12:39 PM What does Paul mean when he says we died to sin? It's fairly obvious he doesn't mean we died to the daily committal of sin. If that were true, no honest person could claim to be justified because we all sin daily. None of us truly loves God with our whole being and none of us actually loves our neighbor as ourselves (see Matt. 22:35-40). Nor does it mean we have died in the sense of being no longer responsive to sin's temptations, as some have taught. If that were true, Peter's admonition to abstain from the passions of the flesh would be pointless (see 1 Pet. 2:11). So what does Paul mean? Post Reply
dljrn04 View Profile History	"How may I know that sin is being mortified in me?" Posted : 3 Nov, 2011 12:53 PM The New Testament writers both assume growth (see 1 Cor. 6:9-11; Eph. 2:19-21; Col. 2:19; 2 Thess. 1:3); and continually urge us to pursue it (see 2 Cor. 7:1; Heb. 12:14; 2 Pet. 3:18). There is no place in authentic Christianity for stagnant, self-satisfied, and self-righteous Christians. Rather we should be seeking to grow in Christ likeness until we die. Post Reply
dljrn04 View Profile History	"How may I know that sin is being mortified in me?" Posted : 3 Nov, 2011 01:09 PM Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: "My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives." 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. 14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; 16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears. 18 For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. 20 (For they could not endure what was commanded: "And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow." 21 And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.") 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. 25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, "Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven." 27 Now this, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire. Post Reply