I. It includes in it a continual devotedness to God. As the first act of faith consists in a making a surrender of ourselves to Christ, depending on his assistance in beginning the work of obedience in the exercise of all Christian graces; so sanctification is the continuance thereof. When we are first converted, we receive Christ Jesus the Lord; and in sanctification we walk in him, and exercise a daily dependence on him in the execution of all his offices; make his word our rule, and delight in it after the inward man. How difficult soever the duties are that he commands, we take pleasure in the performance of them, make religion our great business, and in order thereunto conclude, that every thing we receive from him is to be improved to his glory. And as every duty is to be performed by faith; so what has been before observed concerning the life of faith, is to be considered as an expedient to promote the work of sanctification.
II. In the carrying on of this work we are to endeavour, to our utmost, to fence against the prevailing power of sin, by all those methods which are prescribed in the gospel, that so it may not have dominion over us; this is generally styled the work of mortification. The apostle speaks of our old man being crucified with Christ, and the body of sin destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin, Rom. vi. 6. and of our crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts, and of our mortifying the deeds of the body through the Spirit, Gal. v. 24. that is, by his assistance and grace, which is necessary in order thereunto, Rom. viii. 13.
This is a very difficult work, especially considering the prevalency of corruption, and the multitude of temptations that we are exposed to; the subtilty and watchfulness of Satan, who walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour; the treachery of our own hearts, that are so prone to depart from God; the fickleness and instability of our resolutions; the irregularity of our affections, and the constant efforts made by corrupt nature, to gain the ascendant over them, and turn them aside from God: this it does sometimes by presenting things in a false view, calling evil good, and good evil; representing some things as harmless and not displeasing to God, that are most pernicious and offensive, endeavouring to lead us into mistakes, as to the matter of sin or duty, and to persuade us, that those things will issue well which are like to prove bitterness in the end; and attempting to impose upon us, as though we were in a right and safe way, when, at the same time, we are walking contrary to God, and corrupt nature is gaining strength thereby. But this will be farther considered, when we speak concerning the imperfection of sanctification in believers[[69]]. Now this renders it necessary for us to make use of those methods which God has prescribed for the mortification of sin; and in order thereunto,
1. We must endeavour to maintain a constant sense of the heinous nature of sin, as it is contrary to the holiness of God, a stain that cannot be washed away, but by the blood of Jesus, the highest instance of ingratitude for all the benefits which we have received, a bitter and an only evil, the abominable thing that God hates; it is not only to be considered as condemning, but defiling, that hereby we may maintain a constant abhorrence of it; and that not only of those sins that expose us to scorn and reproach in the eye of the world, but every thing that is in itself sinful, as contrary to the law of God.
2. We must be watchful against the breakings forth of corrupt nature, observe the frame and disposition of our spirits, and the deceitfulness of sin, which has a tendency to harden us, and avoid all occasions of, or incentives to it, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh, Jude, ver. 23. abstaining from all appearance of evil, 2 Thess. v. 22. And to this we may add, that we are frequently to examine ourselves with respect to our behaviour in every state of life; whether sin be gaining or losing ground in us; whether we make conscience of performing every duty, both personal and relative? what guilt we contract by sins of omission, or the want of that fervency of spirit which has a tendency to beget a formal, dead, and stupid frame and temper of mind, and thereby hinder the progress of the work of sanctification? but that which is the principal, if not the only expedient that will prove effectual for the mortifying of sin is, our seeking help against it from him who is able to give us the victory over it. Therefore,
3. Whatever attempts we use against the prevailing power of sin, in order to the mortifying of it, these must be performed by faith; seeking and deriving that help from Christ, which is necessary in order thereunto. And therefore,
(1.) As the dominion of sin consists in its rendering us guilty in the sight of God, whereby the conscience is burdened, by reason of the dread that it has of that punishment which is due to us, and the condemning sentence of the law, which we are liable to; and as its mortification, in this respect, consists in our deliverance from that which makes us so uneasy, no expedient can be used to mortify it, but our looking by faith to Christ, as a propitiation for sin, whereby we are enabled to behold the debt which we had contracted, cancelled, the indictment superseded, and the condemning sentence repealed; from whence the soul concludes, that iniquity shall not be its ruin. This is the only method we are to take when oppressed with a sense of the guilt of sin, which is daily committed by us. It was shadowed forth by the Israelites looking to the brazen serpent, a type of Christ crucified, when stung with fiery serpents, which occasioned exquisite pain, and would, without this expedient, have brought immediate death: thus the deadly wound of sin is healed by the sovereign balm of Christ’s blood, applied by faith; and we, by his having fulfilled the law, may be said to be dead to it, as freed from the curse thereof, and all the sad consequences that would ensue thereupon.
(2.) As sin is said to have dominion over us, in that all the powers and faculties of our souls are enslaved by it, whereby, as the apostle expresses it, we are carnal, sold under sin, Rom. vii. 14. when we are weak and unable to perform what is good, and the corruption of nature is so predominant, that we are, as it were, carried down the stream, which we strive against, but in vain: in this respect sin is to be mortified, by a fiducial application to Christ, for help against it; and herein we are to consider him as having undertaken, not only to deliver from the condemning, but the prevailing power of sin; which is a part of the work that he is now engaged in, wherein he applies the redemption he purchased, by the powerful influences of the Holy Spirit, and the soul seeks to him for them. As it is natural for us, when we are in imminent danger of present ruin, or are assaulted by an enemy, whose superior force we are not able to withstand, to cry out to some kind friend, for help; or when we are in danger of death, by some disease which nature is ready to sink under, to apply ourselves to the physician for relief: thus the soul is to apply itself to Christ for strength against the prevailing power of indwelling sin, and grace to make him more than a conqueror over it; and Christ, by his Spirit, in this respect, enables us (to use the apostle’s words,) to mortify the deeds of body, Rom. viii. 13.
And, in order hereunto, we take encouragement, from the promises of God; and the connexion that there is between Christ’s having made satisfaction for sin, and his delivering those who are redeemed, from the power of it, as the apostle says, Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, that is, under the condemning sentence of it, but under grace, chap. vi. 14. as having an interest in that grace which has engaged to deliver from sin: in both these respects we consider Christ not only as able, but as having undertaken to deliver his people from all their spiritual enemies, to relieve them in all their straits and exigences, and to bring them off safe and victorious. This is the method which we are to take to mortify sin; and it is a never-failing remedy. What was before observed, under the foregoing heads, concerning our endeavouring to see the evil of sin, and exercising that watchfulness against the occasions thereof, are necessary duties, without which sin will gain strength: nevertheless the victory over it is principally owing to our deriving righteousness and strength, by faith, from Christ; whereby he has the glory of a conqueror over it, and we have the advantage of receiving this privilege as applying ourselves to, and relying on him for it.
Having considered the way in which sin is to be mortified, agreeably to the gospel-rule; we shall, before we close this head, take notice of some other methods which many rest in, thinking thereby to free themselves from the dominion of sin, which will not answer that end. Some have no other notion of sin, but as it discovers itself in those gross enormities which are matter of public scandal or reproach in the eye of the world, who do not duly consider the spirituality of the law of God; such-like sentiments of moral evil, the apostle Paul had, before his conversion, as he says, I was alive without the law once, chap. vii. 9. compared with 7. and I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. Sin did not appear to be sin, ver. 13. that is, nothing was thought sin by him, but that which was openly scandalous, and deemed so by universal consent; and therefore he says elsewhere, that touching the righteousness which is in the law, he was blameless, Phil. iii. 6. or, as Ephraim is represented, saying, In all my labour they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin, Hos. xii. 8. These persons think they shall come off well, if they can say, that they are not guilty of some enormous crimes; so that none can charge them with those open debaucheries, or other sins, that are not to be mentioned among Christians; or if, through any change in their condition of life, or being delivered from those temptations that gave occasion to them; or if there natural temper be less inclined to them than before, and, as the result hereof, they abstain from them, this they call a mortifying of sin; though the most that can be said of it is, that sin is only curbed, confined, and their natural inclinations to it abated, while it is far from being dead.