Mortification of sin - Owen - III - Chapters 7, 8 & 9.

Required reading
Mortification of sin by John Owen (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapters 7, 8 & 9.

My summary
Now Owen teaches us how to mortify sin.

Chapter 7 makes it crystal clear that 'unless a man be a believer - that is, one that is truly ingrafted into Christ - he can never mortify any one sin.'

Then Chapter 8 Owen lays down another principle - 'without sincerity and diligence in a universality of obedience, there is no mortification of any one perplexing lust to be obtained.'  If you're going to tackle one sin, you need to tackle them all!

Once Owen has laid down the general rules of Chapter 7 and 8, he turns to particular directions on how to mortify sin.  In Chapter 9 he teaches us that the first thing to consider is the dangerous symptoms that the sin has accompanying it.  The symptoms may be:
(i) Inveterateness (the sin is long standing);
(ii) Peace obtained under it by thinking about how good you are and God's grace toward your sin;
(iii) Frequency of success in sin's seduction over you;
(iv) Fighting it only by considering the punishments for the sin;
(v) Its being attended with judiciary hardness;
(vi) Its withstanding particular dealings from God

What grabbed me
This book just keeps getting better and better.

I liked the point about how Christians will apply grace and mercy to an unmortified sin so the sin may be continued.  I would vouch that everyone Christian has reasoned this way in his heart many, many times.

Owen does well to condemn the practice: 'When a man hath secret thoughts in his heart, not unlike those of Naaman about his worshipping in the house of Rimmon, “In all other things I will walk with God, but in this thing, God be merciful unto me,” his condition is sad. It is true, indeed, a resolution to this purpose, to indulge a man’s self in any sin on the account of mercy, seems to be, and doubtless in any course is, altogether inconsistent with Christian sincerity, and is a badge of a hypocrite, and is the “turning of the grace of God into wantonness;” yet I doubt not but, through the craft of Satan and their own remaining unbelief, the children of God may themselves sometimes be ensnared with this deceit of sin, or else Paul would never have so cautioned them against it as he doth, Rom. vi. 1, 2. Yea, indeed, there is nothing more natural than for fleshly reasonings to grow high and strong upon this account. The flesh would fain be indulged unto upon the account of grace, and every word that is spoken of mercy, it stands ready to catch at and to pervert it, to its own corrupt aims and purposes. To apply mercy, then, to a sin not vigorously mortified is to fulfil the end of the flesh upon the gospel.'

May we mortify the sin and not make a mockery of grace.

Next week's reading
Read Chapters 10, 11 & 12.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.