Let's open our Bibles to the
book of Colossians. Colossians chapter 3. It's been a while since I have
been in the pulpit, as you know. The last messages that I was
preaching was a series that, as I was going through the book
of Colossians in my preaching, I was sort of stopped in Colossians
chapter 3 and verse 5 on the word mortify, mortification,
doing a series on what I call the Christian way of dealing
with sin, as brought down in the scripture. And that Christian
way of dealing with sin can be summarized under the heading
of this word, mortify, mortification. The word mortify means to put
to death. Put to death. And that's how
we're to deal with sin, in the realm of putting it to death.
And how is that possible? And it's not an easy issue to
deal with. Sometimes it can get pretty complicated,
especially in light of what Brother Randy just read in Galatians
chapter 5. go there but let me let me see if I can communicate what I think what
I believe the scriptures teach on this issue on how we as believers
are to deal with the issue of sin and that's the issue we have
to deal with every problem that we have can be traced to the
dreaded disease of sin And that's it. That word S-I-N. If it weren't for sin, we wouldn't
have any problems. If it weren't for sin, there'd
be no sickness, there'd be no sorrow, there'd be no death.
Sin is our problem. Now, by nature, in our sinful,
fallen, spiritually dead state, we don't even know the reality
of sin. Now, we know some things about
sin. even in a lost, unregenerate
state. And that's because God has given
us a conscience. The problem with the conscience,
you know, the conscience is that part of the mind by which we
judge, by which we judge between right and wrong. And by nature,
in our fallen, spiritually dead state, even our conscience is
fallen. We know some things are right
and wrong. For example, the Apostle Paul
was inspired by the Spirit to deal with that issue in Romans
chapter two, for example, when he was talking about the Jewish
people, the unbelieving Jews who had the law of Moses, and
he compared them to the Gentiles. He said, now the Gentiles were
not without law. They didn't have the Ten Commandments
from Sinai, but they had laws in their consciences by which
they accused and excused. You know, there were jails, there
were courts and jails, and death penalties in Gentile nations
too. And so, they had laws. But they didn't understand the
reality of what's right and wrong. None of us do by nature. Because
you see, in order to understand the reality of sin, it takes
a sovereign, powerful, invincible work of the Holy Spirit to show
us what sin really is. And in fact, when you talk about
the Christian way of dealing with sin, the first thing you
really understand about that is that God gives us a whole
new way of looking at sin. What it is, what it's not. And
you think about this. For example, when God the Holy
Spirit convicts us of sin, how does he do it in John chapter
16? He says he will convict the world,
that is the world of God's people, of sin because they believe not
on Christ. And then he said he will convict
the world of righteousness because he goes to the Father. Now how
did he go to the Father? As the Redeemer. As the one who
fulfilled all righteousness. As the one who put away sin.
And then he will convict the world of judgment because the
prince of this world, the accuser of the brethren, has been judged.
What is he telling us there? He's saying, look, you can't
view Deal with sin by looking at it
the way a lost person an unregenerate person looks at it you have to
look at it in the light of Christ and His righteousness alone and
what it tells us this Anything less than perfect righteousness
that can only be found in the person and work of Christ and
Anything less than that perfect righteousness that's found in
him, in God's eyes, is sin. Even the best efforts of morality
that an unregenerate or a regenerate person tries to achieve. You
say, well, I want to be the best I can be at whatever I do. I
want to be immoral. And that's fine. But here's what
the Bible teaches us. And unless we see this, you cannot
deal with sin in a Christian way. You might deal with it,
but you're not gonna be successful. And it won't be a Christian way
of dealing with it. Until you see, you say, well, I wanna be
the best father, the best husband, the best mother, the best wife
that I can be. And you should try to be that.
But here's what the Bible tells us. You're still gonna fall short
of perfection. and that's sin. And that's the
standard that God uses. That's the standard of judgment. Acts 17 31. You all probably
quoted just like I can because I've quoted so much. God has
appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained in that he hath given assurance
unto every man because he raised him from the dead. Here's what
The Christian way of dealing with sin teaches us that unless
we're found in Christ, unless we're washed clean from all our
sins in His precious blood, unless we're found with His righteousness
imputed, charged, accounted to us, then we are and do nothing
but sin inside of God. Even our best. Man at his best
state is what? Altogether, vanity. It's all sin. Well, the apostle
writes here, he says in verse five, mortify therefore your
members which are upon the earth. Now, as I said, I've kind of
branched out from that to deal with this issue of mortification.
Mortify, put it to death. And if you're gonna understand
biblical mortification, what it is to put sin to death, you're
gonna have to look at it in two ways. All right? The first way
is a legal mortification which describes an accomplished, finished
work that's already done, already been completed, already been
established. Can't improve on it. It's not
a process. It's not progressive. It's a
done deal. All right? Mortification. Sin put to death. That's the
first way. The second way is what I call
a spiritual mortification. And it's talking about as a desired
goal to be reached, desiring to put it to death. And I believe
from those two vantage points that true Christians in the Bible
are commanded to deal with the serious problem of sin. As we look at that, there are
basically four ways that it applies to us in our lives. The first
way, I've already dealt with the first two ways, but let me
just give you a refresher course here. Because this first way
and the second way lays the foundation for all of it. Number one, God
given faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the only one who put
away our sins. The only one who conquered our
sins. The only one who took our sins
away. We went over to Romans chapter
6 for that. What it's talking about there
is what Paul describes here in the first four verses of Colossians
3. Look at it. He says, if you then
be risen with Christ, What is it to be risen with Christ? That
means Christ was my representative when he died on that cross, was
buried in a rose again. To be risen, you gotta die first.
Christ died for my sins. My sins were charged to him,
imputed to him. To be risen with Christ is to
be dead with Christ. In Romans chapter six, talked
about if we be dead with him, And he says, if you be risen
with him, that means my sins were imputed to him and he put
them to death. He drank damnation dry. They cannot be charged to me.
They're gone legally in the sight of God. The law books in God's
court are wiped clean, washed clean by the blood of the crucified
one. Worthy is the Lamb. That was
slain. His death made an end of sin. Daniel spoke of that. Remember
Daniel chapter nine and verse 24? 70 weeks determined upon
thy people and upon thy holy city, talking about the coming
of the Messiah to finish the transgression. When was the transgression
finished? A lot of commentators think that's
talking about our fallen Adam, and that's okay. When was that
finished? When Christ died on that cross.
It is finished. He says, to make an end of sins. When was sin made an end of legally
in my case? When were my sins washed away?
When Christ died on that cross. He mortified him. He put him
to death. And to make reconciliation for
iniquity. When did the scales of God's
justice balance out for me? When Christ, it says, brought
in everlasting righteousness. My sins imputed to him. He put
him to death. He died. And the Bible says in
Romans 6 that I'm to reckon that I died in the same way. Now how
did I die to sin? Not in my own person. Not in
my heart. There's still enough sin in me
to sink a world to hell. Isn't that right? So how can
I reckon? That word reckon is the same
as the word impute. How can I make an accounting
that I'm dead to sin? There's not but one way. As my
sins were charged to Christ legally, and as his righteousness is charged
to me legally. And how do I know that? By God-given
faith in Christ. That's how I mortify sin. Here's David mortifying his sin
in Christ. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity, whose sins are covered. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works.
Here's Paul mortifying sin in Christ, by faith in Christ. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's Christ,
it's God that justify. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died, yea rather is risen again and is seated at the right
hand of the Father ever living to make intercession for me.
Now let me tell you what I've just told you. That's the foundation
and the motivation of every attempt to mortify sin. I cannot be condemned. And that's by God-given faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was manifested to take away
our sins. He put it to death for me legally
on that cross. And that's a reality, folks.
That's not just, that's not legal fiction. God does not charge
me with my sin. God charges me, a sinner in His
sight, to be righteous in His sight. That's the first way. Turn to Romans chapter 8. The
second way is by God-given repentance of dead works, mortifying sin,
putting it to death. This is when God gives us that
spiritual side of the reality of sin by the work of the Holy
Spirit, and we become convinced of sin, and it refers to what
we might call an initial repentance of dead works. Look at Romans
chapter eight. He starts out this chapter, there's
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
That's faith in Christ, isn't it? we know Christ put away,
I can't be condemned. I'm telling you now, isn't that
something to think about? Listen, let me tell you something. I deserve to be condemned in
myself. I've done enough to sink a world
into condemnation, but I cannot be condemned because my hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
And then he says, who walk not after the flesh but after the
spirit. What is it to walk after the flesh? It's to walk in unbelief.
Unbelief, that's what he's talking about here. To walk after the
spirit is to follow Christ, trust Christ, believe in him. And he
says in verse two, the law of the spirit of life in Christ
Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Sin
cannot condemn me. Death cannot separate me from
Christ. I'm a child of the king for what
the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh.
What is that the law cannot do? It cannot save you, it cannot
justify you, it cannot give you life. Why? Because there's something
wrong with the law? No, it's weak through the flesh.
We are the problem. God sent his own son in the likeness
of sinful flesh and for sin, or as a sacrifice for sin, he
condemned sin in the flesh. Christ condemned sin. That's
amazing, isn't it? And he says in verse four, that
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. Christ,
as our representative in a human body, God in human flesh, fulfilled
all righteousness. And who did he do it for? Those
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Those who
believe and trust and follow him. And so he says in verse
five, for they that are after the flesh do mind the things
of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit, the things
of the spirit. Now when you talk about somebody minding the things
of the flesh, don't limit that to the drunk laying on the corner
or the prostitute selling her wares or the drug dealer selling
his drugs or the pervert doing what he does. Don't limit that,
see. That refers to the most religious, dedicated person who's
seeking to establish their own righteousness before God. They're
walking after the flesh. The Pharisee, the religionist,
the preacher who preaches a false gospel. They're walking after the flesh.
They may appear righteous unto men, but the Bible says that
which is highly esteemed among men is what to God? An abomination. But he said, but they that are
after the Spirit, what does the Spirit do? He convicts us of
sin and of righteousness and of judgment, drives us to Christ.
The things of the Spirit, verse six, to be carnally minded is
death. To be fleshly minded, to be in
unbelief. To be spiritually minded is life
and peace. To look to Christ, who is our
life, who is our peace. Verse seven, because the carnal
mind is enmity, it's an enemy of God, against God. For it's
not subject to the law of God. It may be a person trying to
keep the law. But if you're trying to keep the law for righteousness,
to earn your way into God's favor, you're not subject to the law
of God. Let me tell you who's subject to the law of God. Those
who are submitted to Christ and His righteousness as the end
of the law. And neither need can be. Verse
eight, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
You know the Bible says without faith it's impossible to please
God. So without faith, you're in the flesh. Verse nine, but
you're not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be the spirit
of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the spirit
of Christ, he's none of his. And if Christ be in you, the
body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because
of righteousness. You see that? Now where are you
gonna find righteousness? Only in Christ. Not in yourself,
don't look in yourself. If you'd find it there, what
does that mean? It means you're a Pharisee. Verse
11, but the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in you. He that raised up Christ from
the dead also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth
in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors
not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For if you live after
the flesh, you shall die. But if you through the spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. Now, how am I
going to mortify the deeds of the body? Well, turn over to
Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. Let me
show you an example of mortifying the deeds of the body. The Apostle
Paul talking about his own past life before he was brought to
faith in Christ. He says in verse 4 of Philippians
3, though I might also have confidence in the flesh. Now what's he talking
about? Well he tells us. He says, if any other man thinketh
that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Circumcised
the eighth day. There was a time in Paul's life
that he believed that circumcision, his circumcision on the eighth
day, recommended him to God. Contributed to him being accepted
with God. He said of the stock of Israel,
he thought that being an Israelite, Fleshly descendant of Abraham
recommended him to God. Of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew
of Hebrews is touching the law of Pharisees, somebody who went
above and beyond the call of duty. He thought all of that
was an evidence of life, spiritual life, righteousness, acceptance
with God. Verse six, concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless.
But now look at verse seven now. Now, here's an example of mortifying
the deeds of the body. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ. It's all loss. You say, well, how's that mortification?
Well, read on. Verse eight. Yea, doubtless,
and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of
all things, and do count them but dung. that I may win Christ. Not only are those things that
I used to have so much confidence in, that I used to think was
the product of life, that I used to think made me righteous and
made me acceptable, not only do I count them but lost, but
they're dead. That's what dung is. It's dead.
It's waste. And it means exactly what you
think it means. Some translations say rubbish.
It's not rubbish, it's dung. That's what it is. Something
that's dead. Those things which I used to
think were life to me, now they're dead. I put them to death. Why? That I may win Christ and be
found in Him. Not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness. which is of God, by faith. That's
mortification. Put it to death. Somebody said,
you know, you ask people today about salvation. What do most people today, when
we talk about, are you saved, or when were you saved? Oh, when
I was 12, I walked an aisle. Put that to death. Mortify it. That's repentance. That's what Paul's describing.
He's describing faith in Christ and repentance of dead works.
That which I thought was life, I count it all but dung now.
It's death. Put it to death. Well, look back
at Colossians 3. Now that's what I call the legal
accounting. Mortification, a done deal, it's
done. Now it's not that we still don't
have self-righteousness in us, we have to fight, listen, we
have to fight every sin within us, don't we? One brother that I was listening
to preach several years ago, he said, if we're believers,
we're all recovering Pharisees. And that's true. Sometimes, and
I've suffered that here in the past month or so, I say, Lord,
why me? I don't deserve this. My soul, think about that. That's
Pharisaism. I've even said I could think
about 50 people, I'd rather this come on except my son. And that's not right. You see, In that sense, you think
about, we never measure up. And so when the apostle goes
over here in Colossians 3, now listen to what he says. Look
back at Colossians 3, 1. If you then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. That's talking about a finished work, isn't it? Because
Christ's seated at the right hand of God. Set your affection,
your mind, your heart on things above, not on things of the earth.
Think about Him. Consider Him. For you are dead,
He says. How am I dead? Only by virtue
of my union with Christ. When He died, I died. When He
was buried, I was buried. When He arose, I arose. And your
life is hid, protected, shielded with Christ in God. When Christ,
who is our life, shall appear, then you shall appear with him
in glory." Now, on that ground, here's what he's saying, mortified
therefore your members which are upon the earth. Mortified. And he says, fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, that's lust, covetousness, which
is idolatry, It's the kind of desire for things that causes
people to worship another God. And he says, for which thing's
sake? The wrath of God cometh on the
children of disobedience. Now, the children of disobedience
in the Bible are unbelievers. Can a believer ever disobey God?
Oh, yeah. Yes, we can. But we're not children
of disobedience. We're children of God. Children
of God. He says, in the which you also
walked sometime when you lived in them. He's talking about as
an unbeliever. And he says, but now you also put off all these
anger, wrath, malice. That's hatred. I heard a preacher
say one time, there's no room in a Christian's heart for hatred.
Oh, let me tell you something. You better wake up and smell
reality. Blasphemy, he even says. This
honoring the God, filthy communication out of your mouth. Don't lie
to one another. Seeing that you've put off the old man with his
deeds and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him that created him. Now, I'm gonna do a message
on the old man and the new man. But let me just give you this
idea. The old man, as far as a believer is concerned. The
old man is his or her former connection with Adam in an unregenerate
state. In other words, you're no longer
dead in trespasses and sins. You've been made alive in Christ.
The new man is our present connection with Christ in a regenerate state. But we'll talk about that in
a minute. But he says, in this state, With Christ, there's neither,
verse 11, there's neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all and in
all. It's all Christ. Now when he
says mortify, he's talking about spiritual mortification here,
where a believer is commanded of God to declare war on sin,
to fight sin. Look at Galatians chapter three.
Brother Randy read. And the goal, the goal is actually
to be free from sin even within ourselves. To be completely sinlessly
perfect. When you declare war on something,
what's your goal? It's to put it to death. Now,
that goal will never be achieved in this life. You're not going to make it in
this life. And I want to tell you something.
And I hope you'll follow me. I'm not going to be able to get
all this out in one message. But you're not even going to
get closer to it. As far as achieving that goal. A big part of growth in grace
and in knowledge of Christ is being made more aware of our
sinfulness. and our need of Christ. This
idea of a progressive holiness where you get better and better
and better and better, it's not scriptural, folks. That doesn't
mean we can't make improvements in our lives, but here's what
we realize. The best improvement I've ever
made does not make me any more righteous than what I am in Christ. But he says here in Galatians
chapter 5, I mean, turn to Galatians 5. He says, you've got liberty
in verse 13. Brethren, you've been called
to liberty. That's liberty in Christ. We're free. But don't
use that liberty for an occasion of the flesh, but by love serve
one another. It's not free to sin. We don't need any freedom
to sin. We've got that anyway. But we're
free to serve Him. motivated by grace and love and
gratitude. And then he goes down there,
he says in verse 16, this I say, walk in the spirit and you shall
not fulfill the lust of the flesh. The flesh lusteth against the
spirit, the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary
to one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that
you would. One old preacher said, you can't go the full scale of
the flesh, which would plunge us into unbelief and damnation,
and you can't go the full scale of perfection, which the Spirit
inspires us to. We're in a warfare. And it's a goal. Paul spoke of
it in Philippians 3, he says, the mark of the high calling,
which is in Christ Jesus. Fight sin, war against it, war
against the flesh. Don't give in to it. We know
that if we have any success in that area, it's not our power,
it's not our goodness, it's the power and goodness of God. But
let me just close with this question, and then we'll pick up on this
later. And this is a very human question, and really it's a very
sinful question. Somebody says, well, why should
I strive hard and fight hard for something that I cannot achieve
in this life? Now, that question basically
comes from a lack of a gracious motivation. But let me give you
these reasons. I'll tell you why we should strive
to be like Christ in every way, why we should fight sin, why
we should make efforts not to give in to the flesh. Number
one, because God commands it. And that really ought to be enough.
God commands it. The warfare of the flesh and
the spirit is honoring to God. It glorifies Him. It's a testimony
not to our goodness, not to our power, not to our strength, not
to our goodness, but it's a testimony to God's power, God's goodness,
God's strength, God's grace. Secondly, why should we give
in willingly and freely to anything that Christ died for? Why did
Christ die? He died for our sins. Our sins charged to him were
the reason for his death on the cross, to redeem us from our
sins. And he died not that we should
live unto ourselves, to please our own selves, but unto his
glory. Thirdly, here it is in Galatians chapter five, verse
17. For the flesh lusteth against
the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. We have desires of
the flesh, but we also have desires of the spirit. The spirit indwells
God's people. And he motivates us to strive
to be like Christ, not in order to be saved, not in order to
be made righteous, but because we already are. And because we
cannot be condemned, because God's been so gracious to us.
But the spirit lusteth against the flesh. His desires, which
becomes our desires because of our spirit, to be like Christ. And then fourthly, it's because the body is dead
because of sin. I heard a preacher one time make
this statement. He said, I can tell you honestly,
he said that I really hate sin. And then he made this statement,
he said, and I'm not just talking about the consequences of sin,
I'm talking about sin itself. And I thought about that and
I said, you know, I hate religion that inspires people to try to
act like something they're not. I really do. And that's what
human religion is. I mean, it kind of forces people
to claim something. Do I really hate sin? And I remember
at the time when I heard him say that, I said, well, I may
hate sin, but I don't hate it as much as I ought to. You see,
we all have desires of the flesh, which takes pleasure in sin for
a season. And that's going to be with you
till you die. Or until the Lord comes again, that's going to
be with me till I die. But what about the consequences
of sin? I can tell you right now that
if you want to claim to hate sin, that's the only way you're
going to hate it, by its consequences. Look what it's done to this world. Look what it's done to us. What's
going on with me? I've got backaches, wrinkles,
gray hair, sickness. I think about my son, cancer. Do you know why that all comes
about in this world? Why we're subject to that sin? And when I look at it from that
viewpoint, I can really say I do hate it. I do. Because I know that this body
is dead. Why? Because of sin. And so what's our only hope?
The spirit is alive because of righteousness. We have a righteousness
that answers the demands of God's law and justice, and it's a righteousness
that gives us eternal life. That's it. And that's where we
live. That's the real us, isn't it?
You look at me, and I look at you. We really don't see the
real person, do we? That's what Paul was talking
about in Romans 7. It's not I that do it, but sin that dwelleth.
The real me is the one who stands before God in Christ as a sinner
saved by grace. And that's our only hope. And
that's enough that the Spirit of God uses to cause us to desire
to walk after the Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh.