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Sermon:
Mortification ...a
sermon about spiritual mortification
Double-down Phrases:
Proverbs 8:13
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil
- All evil in general, evil thoughts, evil words, evil actions, evil
company, evil worship, and evil doctrines; and by "the fear of the
Lord", which shows itself in an hatred of evil, because of the loathsome
nature of it, and being contrary to God and his will.
~John Gill Notice another commentary:
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil
- As it is impossible to hate evil without loving good; and as hatred to
evil will lead a man to abandon the evil way; and love to goodness will
lead him to do what is right in the sight of God, under the influence of
that Spirit which has given the hatred to evil, and inspired the love of
goodness: hence this implies the sum and substance of true religion,
which is here termed the fear of the Lord.
~Adam Clarke
This is one fantastic commentary as it catches the
essence of the verse. Let us break it down for your meditations:
1] It is impossible to hate evil without loving good.
Now, does the Bible have another term for, "fear of the
Lord"? Turn to Job 28.
Job 28:28
So what is the purpose of this sermon? What is spiritual
mortification?
Purpose:
Learn to hate sin. Manifest white-hot hatred for sin and all things
negative. Use this hatred to kill or mortify the sin from your heart,
mind, soul and action.
What will be the result of doing this? You will be led
to a powerful love of goodness and holiness and this will lead you to
Godly actions and all good works.
You cannot do this of yourself. Both the white-hot
hatred and the powerful Godly love are manifestations of the Holy Spirit
in you or, as we say, Jesus Christ living in and through you by the
power of the Holy Spirit.
Mortify sin and all evil and negative things.
Mortify sin.
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die:
Romans 8:6
Galatians 6:8
Note for "reap corruption":
"and die the second death in the world to come [the
Kingdom].
~John Gill
Another commentary has "corruption" as, "in the grave -
the home to which the sensualist rapidly travels."
~Barnes Notes
But if ye do mortify the deeds of the body
1 Corinthians 9:27
Galatians 5:24*
Through the Spirit (meaning
by the Spirit or power of God):
Ephesians 4:30
Ephesians 5:18
Now to the commentaries on our key verse of Romans 8:13 Quoted verse:
Romans 7:23
Through the Spirit
- By the aid of the Spirit; by cherishing and cultivating his
influences. What is here required can be accomplished only by the aid of
the Holy Spirit.
~Barnes Notes
Do mortify
- Do put to death; do destroy. Sin is mortified when its power is
destroyed, and it ceases to be active.
~Barnes Notes
The deeds of the body
- The corrupt inclinations and passions; called deeds of the body,
because they are supposed to have their origin in the fleshly appetites.
~Barnes Notes Ye shall live - You shall be happy and saved. Either your sins must die, or you must. If they are suffered to live, you will die. If they are put to death, you will be saved. No man can be saved in his sins. This closes the argument of the apostle for the superiority of the gospel to the Law in promoting the purity of man. By this train of reasoning, he has shown that the gospel has accomplished what the Law could not do - the sanctification of the soul, the destruction of the corrupt passions of our nature, and the recovery of man to God. ~Barnes Notes --------------------------
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall
die - Though μελλετε αποθνησκειν may mean, ye shall afterwards die, and
this seems to indicate a temporal death, yet not exclusively of an
eternal death; for both, and especially the latter, are necessarily
implied.
~Adam Clarke But if ye through the Spirit - If ye seek that grace and spiritual help which the Gospel of Christ furnishes, resist, and, by resisting, mortify the deeds of the flesh, against which the law gave you no assistance, ye shall live a life of faith, love, and holy obedience here, and a life of glory hereafter. ~Adam Clarke -------------------------------------
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die
- Such persons are dead, whilst they live, and shall die a second or an
eternal death, if grace prevent not. It may be asked, whether one that
has received the grace of God in truth, can live after the flesh; flesh,
or corrupt nature, though still in such a person, has not the dominion
over him: to live in sin, or in a continued course of sinning, is
contrary to the grace of God; but flesh may prevail and greatly
influence the life and conversation, for a while; how long this may be
the case of a true believer, under backslidings, through the power of
corruptions and temptations, cannot be known; but certain it is, that it
shall not be always thus with him. It may be further inquired, whether
such an one may be so left to live after the flesh, as to die and perish
eternally; Christ expressly says, such shall not die that live and
believe in him; grace, which is implanted in their souls, is an
incorruptible and never dying seed; grace and glory are inseparably
connected together; but then such persons may die with respect to their
frames, their comforts and the lively exercise of grace, which seems to
be here intended; as appears from the next clause,
~John Gill
But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the
body, ye shall live.
- This is not to be understood of the mortification of the body itself;
nor does it design any maceration or afflicting of it by any severities
of life; nor of the destruction of the body of sin by Christ: or of the
being and principles of sin in the saints by the Spirit of Christ; which
is contrary to Scripture, to the experience of the saints, who find it
in them, alive in them, and to their expectations, whilst in this world:
nor is this mortification to be considered as a part of regeneration,
which by some divines is made to consist in a sense of sin, grief for
it, and hatred of it, in avoiding it, and in an expulsion of vicious
habits and inclinations; but it should be observed, that the apostle is
writing to persons that were already regenerate; nor does he ever exhort
persons to regenerate themselves, which he would do here, if this was
the sense; regeneration is a work of the Spirit of God, in which men are
passive, whereas in the mortification here spoken of the saints are
active, under the influence of the Spirit of God; besides, regeneration
is done at once, and does not admit of degrees; and in and by that, sin,
as to its being and principle, is so far from being destroyed, that it
seems rather to revive in the sense and apprehension of regenerated
persons: but it is a mortification of the outward actings of sin in the
conversation, called, "the deeds of the body": and in the Claromontane
exemplar, and in the Vulgate Latin version, "the deeds of the flesh": or
as the Syriac version renders it, הופכי, "the conversations", or manners
of it, and so the Ethiopic version; that is, its outward course of life:
and it signifies a subduing and weakening the vigour and power of sin in
the lives and conversations of the saints, to which the grace and
assistance of the Spirit are absolutely necessary; and such who are
enabled to do so, "shall live" comfortably; they shall have communion
with Christ here, and shall live a life of glory with him hereafter.
Such a way of speaking as this is used by the Jews; say they: "what shall a man do that he may live? it is replied, ימית עצמו, "he shall mortify himself";'' which [is to say] "he shall humble himself"; walk humbly before God and men, in his life and conversation. James 4:10 and Micah 6:8 ~John Gill
Sin and death, or grace and life
I. If sin live in us, we shall die.
1.
To live “after the flesh” is to obey the orders of our corrupt nature;
to gratify its sinful desires without regard to or in contradiction of
the will of God. And this will appear if we consider—
(1) The actions of a carnal man (Galatians 5:19;
Ephesians 5:12; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Corinthians 6:10).
(2) His words (Matthew 12:34; Ephesians 5:4; James 3:6).
(3) His thoughts (Proverbs 23:7; Matthew 15:18; Psalm
10:4; Philippians 3:19; 1 John 2:15).
2.
Now, mark the consequence of living after the flesh; “ye shall die I”
(Romans 8:6; 1 Timothy 5:6; Ephesians 2:1; Romans 6:2). What else could
be reasonably expected? There are but two eternal states, and every man
is training up for one of these. The carnal man is unfit for [the
Kingdom]; for
all the joys and employments of the blessed are spiritual. II. If sin die in us, we shall live. 1. To mortify sin is to put it to death, as the magistrates put a felon to death by due course of justice; he is suspected, apprehended, tried, and executed. Crucifixion is the manner of killing it which God has appointed (Galatians 5:24). This is— (1) A violent and painful death. (2) A scandalous death.
(3) A slow and lingering death. 2. By what means may we effectually mortify sin? “Through the Spirit.” We must first have the Spirit, that we may experience His sanctifying power. The Spirit helps us to mortify sin— (1) By enabling us to discover it, and by showing us its abominable nature; filling our souls with a sincere dislike to it, and a holy determination to destroy it. (2) By giving us faith, and leading us to Christ for pardon, righteousness, and strength. 3. This promised help of the Spirit does not exclude the use of means on our part. The Spirit so works in us, as also to work by us. The duty is ours; the grace is His.
4.
Thus doing, we “shall live.” There is no condemnation to persons of this
character. This is an evidence that they have “passed from death unto
life” (John 5:24). They live indeed, for Christ liveth in them. They
live to God; and in this, their gradual sanctification, consists their
meetness for [the Kingdom],
where sin shall be all done away. But, oh sinner, what will be the end
of thy present pursuits? (Romans 6:21).
~Biblical Illustrator
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