An Evil IN Sin, an Evil AFTER Sin

[Joshua]

Thomas Manton (Works, vol. 4, p. 104):

[W]hat reason we have to mortify sin lest it mortify us; no sins are mortal but such as are not mortified; either sin must die, or the sinner. The life of sin and the life of a sinner are like two buckets in a well—if the one goeth up the other must come down. When sin liveth the sinner must die. There is an evil in sin and an evil after sin. The evil in sin is the violation of God’s law, and the evil after sin is the just punishment of it. Now, those that are not sensible of the evil in sin shall be sensible of the evil after sin. To the regenerate person, all God’s dispensations are to save the person and destroy the sin, Ps. 99:8: ‘Thou wast a God that forgavest them, and tookest vengeance of their inventions.’ God spared the sinner and took vengeance on the sin; but the unmortified person spareth his sins, and his life goeth for it; as the apostle Paul speaketh of himself when the power of the word came first upon him, Rom 7:9, ‘Sin revived and I died.’ Sin was exasperated, and he felt nothing but terror and condemnation. Oh! then, consider it is better sin should be condemned than you should be condemned; as the apostle speaketh of the condemnation of sin, Rom. 8:3, ‘For sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;’ that is, Christ being made a sacrifice for sin, sin was condemned to save the sinner. Reason thus within yourselves: It is better sin should die than I should die: ‘Thy life goes for its life,’ as it is in the prophet’s parable, 1 Kings 20:39; therefore let me destroy my sin, that my soul may escape.​

 

[clawrence9008]

This is a good quote, but things like this have always raised the question (and perhaps it is stemming from an incomplete understanding of what it means to mortify my sin) of "how do I know that I have mortified all my sins sufficiently?"

 

[Joshua]

This is a good quote, but things like this have always raised the question (and perhaps it is stemming from an incomplete understanding of what it means to mortify my sin) of "how do I know that I have mortified all my sins sufficiently?"

In this life, Brother, you will never mortify your sins sufficiently. This is, of course, in God's economy, a feature, not a bug, for His people. The question is, are we endeavoring after such mortification? Is it our aim and resolution to depart from iniquity? We will fail of it (in the sense of perfect obedience), but are we seeking to exhaust the means, acknowledging that if the Lord does not turn us, we shall not be turned, but that He does accept our works in the beloved (not as merit, but as encouragement to greater and new obedience).

Not only will we not this side of glory mortify all our sins sufficiently, we will never be sorry sufficiently for having failed to mortify them sufficiently... so on, so forth. But we believe God's promises, and utilize the means He has put in our hands for obedience, trusting that He will perfect that which He has begun in us, and that we will not weary in well-doing, believing as He has promised that we will reap in due time, if we faint not, and that such not-fainting is also His work. We keep on short accounts with Him, going from strength to strength, using the means, never trusting in them, but trusting in He Who makes such means effectual in His due time, and at His good pleasure.

The difficulty of a duty never negates the duty. Rightly we should feel the pinch of our insufficiency in obedience, which drives us ever, always, only, early, often, and alone to the Lord Jesus. He is the procurer of our inheritance, and we have the blessing of working in this inheritance even now, though it is not full and complete here. The Lord has not given the grace of perfection in this life, and on our path to Zion we shall meet with temptations and failures, sometimes seeming to go two steps forward, one step back. This will keep us humble, and entreating to the Lord, not as a slave to cruel master, but as sons to a loving Father, Who corrects His children, chastising them with a perfect rod, forming us into the perfect man at last, like our Head, Jesus Christ.

Further, in giving us gifts (Ephesians 4), we are not alone in this trek, and have the encouragement one of another as Christians, especially and primarily those with whom we covenant in our local chapters of Zion. No wonder, then, those who profess Christ, yet so frequently absent themselves from the visible church, are embittered, isolated, and alone. This gift of being a part of the congregation of the Visible Church, and all other of God's appointed means (usually disseminated in the local church), are given for our aid and comfort as we battle and mortify sin, though in this life, imperfectly.