I just completed Of the Mortification of Sin by John Owen. What an outstanding work! True, it’s tough trudging at times, but well worth the labor. I have had exposure to many treatments dealing with the subject of indwelling sin in the lives believers and the Spirit’s work in us. None have been as thorough, devotional, or pastoral as Owen’s treatment. My hope is that at some point in the near future, someone would take on the project of writing an updated work based on Owen’s treatment in order to make this book more accessible to some who would find the language and literary style a little too difficult.
A Prayer for Mortification
One of the books I have been working my way through is Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers by John Owen. Last week I was reading through chapter 12 and I was struck by its devotional and prayerful nature. I was pierced, humbled, and convicted as I read along. There was no doubt in my mind that the Holy Spirit was using these words of Owen to convict me of the indwelling sin that lingers within my heart. Given the prayerful nature of this particular chapter, I decided to compose a prayer using many direct quotes from Owen.
May I delight in your Holy Law. That it would be written on my heart and always present on my lips; day and night, night and day. As I view my corruption in light of your statues, I pray that my soul would be affected, pierced, and seized by your Holiness. May your law expose my guilt and may your Spirit convict my heart of any sin hidden or evident in my heart.
Speak to me. Open my ears and speak with a voice that shall make me tremble, that shall cast me on the ground and fill me with astonishment. Allow me to fully apprehend the guilt of my transgression and the full extent of my corruption, that my “iniquity may ever be before me.”
Grant me clarity as I see my guilt in light of the beautiful truth of the gospel. Convict my soul as I ask:
“What have I done? What love, what mercy, what blood, what grace have I despised and trampled on? Is this the return I make to the Father for his love, to the Son for his blood, to the Holy Ghost for his grace? Have I defiled the heart that Christ died to wash, that the blessed Spirit has chosen to dwell in? Do I account communion with him of so little value, that for this vile lust’s sake I have scarce left him any room in my heart? How shall I escape if I neglect so great a salvation?What shall I say to the Lord? Love, mercy, grace, goodness, peace, joy, consolation – I have despised them all, and esteemed them as a thing of naught, that I might harbor a lust in my heart. Have I obtained a view of God’s fatherly countenance, that I might behold his face and to provoke him to his face?”
May my soul sink and melt as I entertain this treaty.
Remind me of your infinite patience and forbearance which you have extended towards me. When I have seen my sin for all that it is, and I was ready to conclude that it is utterly impossible that you should bare any longer with me; that you would cast me off, and be gracious no more, and yet above all my expectation, you returned with visitations of love.
Let me never forget how often I have been at the door of being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, and by your infinite rich grace, have been recovered to communion with you. May I never again venture to the brink of hardness. Bring to my rememberance all of your gracious dealings with me, in providential dispensations, deliverances, afflictions, mercies, and enjoyments.
Grant me the true grace of repentance that I might be overcome with a constant longing, and breathing after deliverance from the power of sin. Suffer not my heart one moment to be contented with my present frame and condition.
Grant me wisdom, restraint, and discretion in all my activities. May I give honest consideration to what occasions, what advantages my distemper has taken to exert and put forth itself, and watch against them all.
Finally, give me the strength to rise mightily against the first actings of my distemper, it’s first conceptions; suffer it not to get the least ground.
I pray that this would be by your grace alone, to your glory alone!
Mortification and the Deceitfulness of the Heart
These and many other ways and wiles a deceitful heart will sometime make use of, to countenance itself in its abominations. Now, when a man with his sin is in this condition [justifying sin upon the merit of supposed mortification in other areas, i.e. self righteousness], that there is a secret liking of the sin prevalent in his heart, and though his will be not wholly set upon it, yet, he hath an imperfect velleity towards it, he would practice it were it not for such and such considerations, and hereupon relieves himself other ways than by the mortification and pardon of it in the blood of Christ; that man’s “wounds stink and are corrupt,” and he will, without speedy deliverance, be at the door of death.
Later Owen states:
Such a man as opposes nothing to the seduction of sin and lust in his heart but fear of shame among men or hell from God, is sufficiently resolved to do the sin if there were no punishment attending it; which, what it differs from living in the practice of sin, I know not. – John Owen, Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, Chapter 9
Owen pierces to the heart of our desire in order that we might not walk in self-deception and self-justification. It is possible to focus on the good we do, even if it is mere superficiality, and convince ourselves of our obedience and good works despite a besetting sin that remains unmortified; which in truth, we do not wish to mortify. Our reflection upon evidences of grace or the fruit of repentance have not sprung from a well of gratitude or thanksgiving, but are rather a superficial ointment applied to our conscience in order to pacify the conviction of the Holy Spirit. That conviction being the mercy and grace of God extended to us despite our denial and disobedience.
So the question remains, if you had a freebie, would you take it. All punishment and public disgrace aside, is there a sin that you still cling to that would rise to the surface and take advantage of such an occasion? Ultimately this is a question addressing the desires of our heart. Do we or do we not treasure Christ above all else? This is not a matter or tidy law keeping but rather a litmus test, attesting to the true condition of our heart. Let us turn from any sin that we still cling to, believe the gospel, depend upon the grace of God, rest in Christ alone and treasure Him above else.
