Open your Bibles with me to Colossians
chapter 3. This is the third message in
a series that I'm doing on the Christian way of dealing with
the problem of sin. The Christian way of dealing
with sin. And you can put it under the
heading of one word found in Colossians 3 and verse 5 where
the Apostle Paul was led by the Holy Spirit. to command the Colossian
believers to mortify, that word mortify. He says, mortify therefore
your members which are upon the earth. And when I read that in
going through Colossians, I decided just to stop there and deal with
this thing of mortification. the grace of mortification. So
it's kind of taken me away from Colossians, but I'm going to
get back there eventually to deal with these verses specifically. But the word mortify, it means
to put to death. That's what it means. It means
to kill something. And what Paul is talking about
here is a goal. It's not something that's been
achieved or been accomplished yet. because he's telling them
to fight sin within themselves. We all recognize if we're true
believers that our biggest problem and the source and cause of all
our problems as far as we go through this life and we live
what we call living the Christian life, the problem is sin. S-I-N. We have to deal with it in ourselves.
We talk about the three great enemies, the world, the flesh,
and the devil. The world is our enemy. That's
the unbelieving, unregenerate, cursed, fallen world. And that
includes the world's religion now, doesn't it? That's not just
the world's immorality as men see it. In fact, if you want
to deal with sin the Christian way, you'll stop looking at sin
only as immorality as men see it. You will. Now that's not
to say, yes, immorality is sin. And we're to avoid it. But we understand that sin falls
under the heading of anything that falls short of perfect righteousness
that can only be found in Christ. Now that's right, isn't it? So
even the most, the things that appear righteous unto men are
not righteous at all in God's sight. And that's who we have
to deal with. This is God's court. But we have to deal with sin
in ourselves and the flesh. We talk about the world, the
flesh, and the flesh is probably our greatest problem, it's us.
We're sinners saved by grace. We sang that last week, only
a sinner saved by grace. This is my story. And I'm telling
you, it is my story. I'm only a sinner saved by grace.
And if you're expecting any more than a sinner saved by grace
to stand by your pulpit, behind your pulpit, then you might as
well tell me. I'll sit down. I'm just one sinner preaching
to other sinners. Well, I'm in need. of God's grace,
just as much today as I need it anytime. And you are too. And so, that's our problem, sin. So how do we deal with this problem?
Now, all false religion has to do with human ways, sinful human
ways of dealing with sin. That's really what it is. Human ways of trying to attain
righteousness. You can put all false religion
in that category. And my friend, that kind of poison
has crept into what is commonly known as Christianity today.
When you think about how people talk about sin, how to deal with
it, how we look at it, how we judge it, how we treat people,
all of that, it's crept into false religion. And certainly
the Bible tells us that we're never to be a people who who
just simply take a casual, nonchalant, neglectful attitude towards sin. That's why Paul says, mortify
therefore your members which are upon the earth. Verse five,
fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence,
covetousness. You know mainly what he's talking
about there, don't you? Sins of the heart. Now, a lot
of commentators, well, he's just talking about sexual sins there.
Well, he is, but he's talking about any sin of the, covetousness.
What's covetousness? Well, it's the unlawful desire
for something that God hasn't already given you. He's given
it to somebody else and you want it. I'd rather have that than
him. That's the kind of thing. And
he said it's idolatry because it's such a strong desire that
it takes one away from the worship, the gratitude, the service of
God. In other words, your mind becomes
so consumed with it. It's like the person who says,
my goal in life is to make a billion dollars. Well, what should your
goal in life be? To glorify God in Christ? And
if he gives you a billion dollars to do that, then that's great.
Thank him. Thank him. But how many times
have you heard me say, the next breath you take is a gift from
God, isn't it? The next breath you take. I watched a man die
one time from emphysema. I guarantee he would have given
a million dollars for the next breath. It's not a pleasant sight. But this is what we're talking
about. Now how do we deal with this thing of sin? And basically
what I've done is I've seen it going through the scripture and
this word mortify, mortification, it's used several times. This
word here in Colossians 3, 5 is the only time the Greek word
here is used for mortify. We're going to look at Romans
chapter 8 in just a moment. There's mortify there. It's a
different word, but it's a synonym. It means the same thing. It means
put to death. And basically there's four ways
that we are commanded in scripture to engage ourselves as the spirit
leads us in this thing of mortification. And let me give you, first of
all, these two things again. Mortification, put to death.
First of all, there is a legal mortification of sin. And that
is to look at sin and the death of sin as an accomplished, finished
work, a done deal. And then there's what I put under
the category of a spiritual mortification, having to do with how the spirit
of God stirs us up in this area. And that's mortification as a
desired goal. We declare war on it. And we
seek to kill it. Now that won't be accomplished
in this life. And I'm gonna get to that later
on. Somebody asked will say, well, if I can't accomplish it.
First of all, you don't accomplish any of it. All right? It's the
spirit of God. It's Christ who, Christ is the
mighty conqueror. We're conquerors through him,
the scripture says. But we can't kill this thing
of sin. And I don't care what you do.
I mean, you can go off and live in a cave, or you can, a fellow
once, when I first moved to Albany, there was a fellow here in the
church that taught, he just got back from a religious seminar.
And the person who was running the seminar who was telling him
how to deal with sin, he said, go home and get rid of everything
in your house that causes you to sin. That's what he said. And I asked him, I said, well,
about the only thing you can do is just stand in front of
the mirror and cut your own throat. Because you're the problem. It's
not your TV that causes you to sin. It's not anything you have
to drink in your house that causes you to sin. Didn't Christ teach
that? It's not what goes in your mouth
that defiles you, it's what comes out of the heart. We're the problem. I was listening to somebody talk
about the Bible diet. You ever heard that? The Bible
diet. I said, I can give you the Bible
diet in one word. Moderation. That's the Bible
diet. Moderation. I know there are
things we eat that are bad for us, things we drink that are
bad for us, and whatever. And I don't mind anybody being
responsible and doing research on that stuff, but basically
the Bible has one word, moderation. And we're just not geared that
way, are we? I mean, when we find something
good to eat, we want a lot of it. And I'll guarantee, yeah,
that's why we got all-you-can-eat restaurants. Nobody goes in there
and eats all they can eat. They eat more than they can eat.
If you're like me, I go in and I pay that money. I say, well,
I've got to get my money's worth. But we're just not geared that
way. And why? Sin. That's the problem. But
this is the way the truth creates. But here I put it under four
headings, and I dealt with the first one last week. And that
is we deal with sin by God-given faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you know what that is? That's the legal accounting of
sin. Now let me show you that. Look at verse three of Colossians
three. Here it is. For you are dead. What does that mean, I'm dead?
Does that mean I don't have any sinful desires now? Well, if
that's the case, why did Paul say, now you're already dead,
but now mortify fornication. Uncleanness. Why would he tell
them that if they're already dead, if they don't have any
thoughts of fornication and uncleanness and covetousness? Don't we have
thoughts like that? All the time. We can't stop it. We're here to worship God today.
We pray, Lord, focus our attention on Christ. Do you ever listen
to me and something else pop into your mind? You didn't plan
it that way, did you? Let me hit you with a shocker.
I'm standing up here preaching to you and some things will flash
through my mind. And I know my whole attention this morning
should be on Christ and his glory and his honor. Shouldn't be thinking
about myself, my needs, my problems, but we do, don't we? But he says in verse three, you
are dead. Now, how am I dead? Well, he
says, your life is hid with Christ in God. You're justified. Now, we dealt with that in Romans
six last week. I'm justified before God. Now,
that doesn't have anything to do with how I feel. And the actual justification
that I am involved in before God didn't have anything to do
with how I saw it. It was a transaction between
God the Father and God the Son on my behalf even before I was
born. That's a legal account. Here's
how I'm dead to sin. I'm dead to sin because God will
not and cannot impute, charge my sin to me. He imputed them,
he charged them to Christ. And you know what happened? Christ
came to this earth as my surety and my substitute and he went
all the way into the death of the cross and he put away my
sin. He paid the debt. He established
righteousness for me. And it was all based upon His
righteousness imputed, charged, accounted to me. Over in Romans
6, I'll just read this to you. Remember last week we said this.
It says, in verse 11, well look, in verse 10 it says, for in that
He died, Christ died, He died unto sin once. He didn't have
to die 10 times, 20 times. We're not conducting mass here
this morning. Christ died one time. By one
offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. One
offering is all it took. And after that offering, what
did he do? He arose from the dead, he ascended to the Father,
and he sat down on the right hand of the Father, because the
work was finished. And remember over here in Colossians 3, in
verse 1, he says, if you're risen with Christ, seek those things
which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God. That means the work's finished. It is finished. What did Christ
do on that cross? He died one time and in His one
death He made an end of sin. He finished the transgression.
He brought in everlasting righteousness for all time. It cannot be reversed. The perfect
sacrifice. died as a guilty person for the
sins of his people, imputed to him. And so he says in Romans
6, 10, for in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that
he liveth, he liveth unto God. But here's, look at verse 11.
He says, likewise, or in the same way, reckon, that's account,
you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. I'm to account, that I
died to sin in the exact same way that Christ died to sin.
Now how did Christ die to sin? Now listen, Christ did not die
unto sin's corruption, for he had no corruption. He was made
sin, but not by any corruption transferred or imparted or infused
into him. While He was on that cross, having
our sins imputed to Him, He was still the spotless Lamb. He had no sinful thoughts like
you and I have, and still have. He had no contamination within
Himself. He felt the effects of sin, the
consequences of sin, but only sin imputed him, and he died
unto the legal accounting of sin unto him. He put away my
sin. He took away my sin. God cannot
impute it to me, because he charged it to Christ, and God gives me
righteousness, and so in however Christ died to sin, I'm to account
that I myself died. And that's the legal accounting
of sin. And that's what Paul's talking
about in Colossians 3 and verse 3, for you're dead. How am I
dead to sin? He says that in Romans 6. He
says it in Romans 6. You're dead to the law. How am
I dead to the law? The law cannot condemn me. The
law pronounces me righteous. And righteousness means life.
I'm dead to sin legally. And how do you do that? By faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how. I believe in Him.
Christ conquered sin for me. Christ died for me. He was buried
for me. He arose again for me. He's seated
at the right hand of the Father, ever living for me, making intercession. And in Him, we who believe are
dead to sin. Sin cannot condemn us. Oh, it
still bothers us. We still have to live with it
every day. But it cannot condemn us. Christ conquered death, hell,
and the grave. And you know, understanding the
difference between the consequences of sin and the condemnation of
sin, that's important, isn't it? Now, what I've just said
to you, turn to Romans chapter eight now. What I've just said
to you forms the foundation and the ground upon which every true
Christian is to deal with sin from now on. Whatever the Bible
says about us, as far as our dealing with sin, having to deal
with it, having to realize it, the foundation of it, the foundation
of it, that which establishes the right motives for it and
the right encouragement for it, is right there in faith in Christ
as the author and finisher of our faith, the one who died to
put away our sins. That legal accounting, that my
sins charged to him, his righteousness imputed to me. That's the foundation,
that's the ground, that's the motivation for fighting sin in
any whatever way. But let me give you the second
way that we mortify sin. And it has to do with this. It's
God-given repentance of dead works. Let me say it again. God-given repentance. Just like
faith is the gift of God, did you know repentance is the gift
of God too? God-given repentance of dead
works. And it also involves a legal
accounting of sin. All right? It's the spiritual
side of sin. First of all, God the Holy Spirit
gives us a real revelation of the reality of sin. We become convinced of the reality
of sin. And this is what we might call
initial repentance. The beginning of repentance.
Now later on I'm going to talk to you about a continual repentance.
The believer A sinner saved by grace lives a life of repentance.
But this is how all repentance begins right here. This is initial
repentance. And I want to tell you something.
This is a repentance that you don't hear preached much in these
days. And most people don't understand
what repentance is. Now let me tell you something. Repentance,
listen to this. Should we feel sorry for our
sins? Yes. More than we do. But did you know repentance is
not feeling sorry for your sins? Now, feeling sorry for your sins
in a godly way comes from repentance. But repentance is not just feeling
sorry. You know, these preachers that
stand at the end of the aisle and they'll tell people, do you
feel sorry for your sins? Well, you ought to. That's not
repentance. You know what repentance is?
It's a change of mind. It's a turning around. In the
Old Testament, the word actually meant a complete change of direction.
In other words, if you're walking one way, you turn around and
go the exact opposite, turning away. And then in the New Testament,
the change of mind concerning this issue of sin. Now we know
that this repentance is a gift of God. And it has to do more
with more than what we just naturally judge as sin. You know, the Bible
says the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, neither can he know them. But even the natural man has
a God-given conscience. Now granted that conscience is
fallen and under the dominion of sin. Even natural men in earthly
societies, we have laws. We know that murder is a sin.
We know that adultery is a sin. We know that it's a sin to rob
and to steal. We have prisons. We have jails.
We have policemen, thank God. And we're to look at those things
as sinful. When somebody breaks the law,
does some kind of immoral, perverted act, that's sin. But if we are
brought to deal with sin in a Christian way, one of the first things
that God shows us, the Holy Spirit reveals to us, is that all sin
must be measured as it stands, as it is measured, as it is seen
compared to Christ. And what he tells us is that
sin is much, much more than what the natural man sees as immoral. and as in breaking the law. And
here's what he shows us. Anything less than perfect righteousness
found in Christ is sin. Do you understand that? Now look at Romans chapter eight.
Look at verse one. He says, there is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. That's dead
to sin. Christ died for my sin. 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. Now
it doesn't matter whether you're a murderer sitting on death row
or you're a preacher behind a pulpit preaching a false gospel. If
you're walking in unbelief, you're walking after the flesh. I'll tell you a little thing
got me in trouble up in Kentucky one time. A lady had come to
me and her granddaughter had started reading these Harry Potter
books. You all familiar with Harry Potter? And somebody in
a church somewhere had told her that the devil's in Harry Potter.
And she come to me and she said, is the devil in Harry Potter?
And I said, no. I said, I look at Harry Potter like I look at
Mickey Mouse and Goofy and Donald Duck. It's just a fantasy. It's a child's fantasy. And if
your children read that stuff, you've got to put it in perspective
for them. This is like a cartoon. I said, but I'll tell you where
the devil is. And she said, where? I said, he's down there at that
church, that Free Will Baptist Church preaching a false gospel.
And she liked to sucked all the air out of the room. But you
know that's true, folks. Where preachers and people are
promoting salvation by any other way than the sovereign grace
of God based on the righteousness of Christ, that's satanic. I'll prove it, you don't have
to turn there, stay there in Romans 8. 2 Corinthians 4.3, what does
it say? If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ shine into them. Satan, 2 Corinthians 11, disguises
himself as an angel of light. Talking about salvation and heaven
and religion and obedience, but in a way that does not glorify
God and honor Christ. Now is that too hard for us?
If it is, we haven't repented. Well, look on verse two, chapter
eight. He says, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ
Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. That's
dead to the law. That's the legal accounting by
looking to Christ. He's my sin bearer, my sinner,
my righteousness. Verse three, for what the law
could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, or
as a sacrifice for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. What is it
the law could not do? The law could not exonerate me. It could not justify me. It could
not free me based on my works. So what did God do? Well, before
the foundation of the world, he already appointed and devised
the way, didn't he? He sent his son to do under the
law what we could not do. And he says he did it, verse
four, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us. That is, Christ, for us, and
in a humanity, in sinless humanity, fulfilled the law of righteousness.
And it's for us who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit. What is it to walk after the Spirit? It's to walk by faith
in Christ. Looking to Christ. Resting in
Christ. He's the author, He's the finisher
of my faith. He is my righteousness. Let me
tell you something, I don't have any other. He's my righteousness. And that's why I'm so confident,
because I know that He can't lose. But His righteousness imputed
to me will never be taken away, because if it were, God would
lose Himself, and it cannot be contaminated. My efforts to obey, let me tell
you something, they're contaminated. They never measure up to Christ. But I have him, I have his blood
to wash me clean. I have his righteousness to justify
me. So he says in verse five, for
they that are after the flesh, those who are walking in unbelief,
do mind the things of the flesh. They may be religious things,
but they're minding the things of the flesh. But they that are
after the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, what does the Holy Spirit do?
He convinces us of sin and drives us to Christ for relief, for
salvation. The things of the Spirit, verse
six, for to be carnally minded, to be fleshly minded is death. If you're trying to deal with
sin in a fleshly way, in a human religious way, that's death.
But to be spiritually minded, to look to Christ, to rest in
Christ is life and peace. He is my life. He is my peace,
verse 7, because the carnal mind is enmity. It's against God.
It's not just disagreeing. It's against God. For it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. You know what
it is to be subject to the law of God? It's to be submitted
to Christ as our only righteousness. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Verse 8, so then
they that are in the flesh cannot please God. They don't believe.
Without faith, it's impossible to please God, without looking
to Christ. Verse 9, 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. How do I know
if I have the Spirit of Christ? I'm walking after the Spirit.
I'm looking to Christ, resting in Christ. My assurance is Christ,
you see? Verse 10, and if Christ be in
you, the body is dead because of sin, this physical body, but
the spirit is life because of righteousness. I have life because
of Christ and his righteousness. Verse 11, but if the spirit of
him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you will be raised again from
the dead. And 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 do you
mortify the deeds of the body? Let me tell you how you do it. You consider them and put them
on the cross. All my deeds, all my deeds, We've
crucified the flesh. That doesn't mean it's dying. It means it's dead. It cannot
condemn me because Christ was condemned for me on the cross.
He made an end of sin. My works cannot save me. My works are nothing. My works,
when aimed at the ground of salvation, when aimed at making myself righteousness,
you know what my works are? Dead works. Fruit unto death. And once you are brought by God
the Holy Spirit to realize that, you will repent of those dead
works and you'll look to Christ. That's another legal accounting
of sin. My sins cannot save me. I want
to close with 1 John. Turn to 1 John chapter 1. Let
me just tell you this. The Apostle Paul gives us a great
example of the mortification of sin by this gift of repentance
in the book of Philippians chapter three. Now you turn to first
John one, and I want to just close with this. You remember
where Paul said, all those things that I thought were alive and
used to recommend me unto God, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews, a
Pharisee, all that. He said, I count it but loss.
And you know what he said there? He got even more graphic. He
said, I count it but dung. Now, I'm not trying to be smart
or funny, but you know what dung is, don't you? You know, some
translations say rubbish. That's not what Paul said. He
said dung, and he meant dung. And you know what dung is? It's
dead. That's why the body gets rid of it. He said, that which
I thought was so good and would recommend me to God, now in the
light of Christ and His righteousness and the perfection of righteousness
required by the law that can only be found in Christ, I count
all the things that I used to be so proud of as dead. I've repented of them. I've had
a change of heart, a change of mind. And you know when that
comes about? You know what you do when that
comes about? When you see that your sins of immorality cannot
condemn you and your sins of morality even cannot save you,
that is in essence in the Bible a confession of all sin. That's what it is. A buddy of
mine years ago, when I was in seminary, he told me he was listening
to a preacher preach, a man he admired. And the man said, now,
unless you, at night before you go to bed and say your prayers,
unless you confess openly every sin that you committed during
that day, you cannot be forgiven. I said, man, you must be miserable,
I told him. And I was a lost man then. I
said, you must be miserable. Remember David talking about
his secret sins? He wasn't talking about sins
that he's trying to hide from anybody. He knew he couldn't
hide his sin from God. He's talking about sins that
he committed he wasn't even aware of. But look here, verse 7 of
1 John 1. If we walk in the light, what's
the light? The gospel, the light of Christ.
As He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all
sin. In verse eight, if we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, the truth is not in us, and if
we confess our sins, that if there is an evidence of God's
grace, of the Spirit, of repentance, If we confess our sins, he's
faithful just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. You see, if God brings us to
repentance of dead works and idolatry in the light of Christ
and the glory of his righteousness, you see, repentance comes with
faith in Christ, legally accounting that I'm dead to sin and repenting
of ever thinking that my works, even my faith, even my believing
could recommend me unto God, it's dead works. That's where
repentance begins. And that's mortifying our sins,
the deeds of, mortifying our deeds, putting them where they
belong. They can't save me. They can't
make me righteous. I'm totally dependent upon God's
grace in Christ.