Mortifying Sin by the Holy Spirit

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones was the successor to G. Campbell Morgan as minister of Westminster Chapel, London, England. The following is from his book Romans: An Exposition of Chapter 8:5-17, The Sons of God:

"The term mortify really explains itself. 'To mortify' is to deaden, to put to death . . . so the exhortation [in Romans 8:12-13] is that we must 'deaden,' put an end to the 'deeds of the body.' This is the great New Testament exhortation in connection with sanctification from the practical standpoint, and it is addressed to all Christian people.

"How is this work to be done? . . . The Apostle makes it plain. 'If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body'--'through the Spirit'! The Spirit is mentioned particularly, of course, because His presence and His work are the particular and peculiar mark of true Christianity. This is what differentiates Christianity from morality, from 'legalism' and false Puritanism--'through the Spirit'! The Holy Spirit, as we have seen, is in us as Christians. You cannot be a Christian without Him. If you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit of God is in you, and He is working in you. He enables us, He gives us strength, He gives us power. He 'mediates' to us the great salvation the Lord Jesus Christ has worked out for us and enables us to work it out. The Christian must therefore never complain of want of ability and power. For a Christian to say, 'I cannot do it' is to deny the Scripture. A man who has the Holy Spirit residing in him must never utter such an expression: it is a denial of the truth concerning him.

"A Christian, as the Apostle John says in the 16th verse of the first chapter of his Gospel, is one who can say, 'Of his fulness have we received.' Later on in chapter 15, believers are described as branches in the true Vine; so we must never say that we have no power. Certainly the devil is active in the world, and he is mighty in power; but 'greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world' (1 John 4:4). Or take again that important statement in the First Epistle of John, chapter 5 vv. 18 and 19: 'We know that whosoever is born of God doth not keep on committing sin.' Such is the meaning of the 'sinneth not' of the Authorized Version. It is the present-continuous tense: 'We know that whosoever is born of God does not keep on sinning.' Why not? 'But he that is begotten of God'--that is the Lord Jesus Christ--'keepeth him, and that wicked one toucheth him not.' This, says John, is the truth about every Christian. The Christian does not go on living in sin because Christ is living in him, and that evil one cannot touch him. Not only does he not control him, he cannot even touch him. The believer does not come under the power of the evil one. And then to press it right home, John says in verse 19, 'We know that we are of God,' but as for the world, 'the whole world lieth in wickedness.' The world is in the arms and in the bosom of the evil one, who controls it . . . He has the world and the men who belong to the world entirely in his grip and under his control, and such men are his utterly helpless victims. There is no purpose in telling such people to 'mortify the deeds of the body'; they cannot do so because they are in the grip of the devil. But the Christian's case is far different; the Christian is 'of God,' and the evil one cannot even touch him. He can shout at him, he may frighten him occasionally; but he cannot touch him, still less control him.

"These are typical New Testament statements about the Christian; and as we realize that the Spirit is in us, we shall experience their power. We are called upon then to use and to exercise the power that is in us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. 'Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit'--who is resident in you--'do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.' The exhortation is to exercise the power that is in us 'though the Spirit.' The Spirit is power, and He is dwelling in us; and so we are urged to exercise the power that is in us.

"But how does this work out in practice? . . . To begin, we have to understand our position spiritually, for many of our troubles are due to the fact that we do not realize, and do not remember, who we are and what we are as Christians. People complain that they have no power, and that they cannot do this or that. What they really need to be told is not that they are absolutely hopeless, and that they must 'hand it over,' but, rather, what all Christians are told in the 1st chapter of the Second Epistle of Peter in verses 2 to 4: 'Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness.' Everything that 'pertains unto life and godliness' has been given us 'through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.' And again: 'Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these [by means of these exceeding great and precious promises] ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.'

"Yet Christian people moan and complain that they have no strength. The answer to such people is 'All things that pertain unto life and godliness have been given you. Stop moaning and grumbling and complaining. Get up and use what is in you. If you are a Christian the power is in you by the Holy Spirit; you are not hopeless.' But the Apostle Peter does not leave it at that. In the ninth verse of that same chapter of his Second Epistle, he says, 'He that lacketh these things'--in other words, the man who does not do the things he has been exhorting him to do--'is blind and cannot see afar off.' He is shortsighted, 'and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.' He has not got a true view of the Christian life. He is talking and living as if he were still unregenerate. He says, 'I cannot continue as a Christian; it is too much for me.' Peter urges such a man to realize the truth about himself. He needs to be awakened; he needs to have his eyes opened and his memory refreshed. He needs to be up and doing, instead of moaning over his deficiencies."