21st October 2023

21st October 2023


Pray (ACts)


Read (Romans 13v14)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


Did you know that the Christian is "simul justus et peccator"? Perhaps Latin is not your forte but you certainly see the truth of this statement every single day. To be "simul justus et peccator" is to be at the same time righteous and sinful. It accurately describes the nature of the Christian life in that whilst a dramatic change has occurred by faith in Christ, at the same time the old sinful nature remains.


Paul knew this all too well and in Romans 7 offered this lament "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing...Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Romans 7v19&24) I'm convinced you know the truth of these verses in your own life. You know that gossip is corrosive and sinful but you just can't help yourself. You know that you struggle to control your drinking but all too often you fall into drunkenness. You understand that the love of money has captured your heart but still you seek more. What is wrong with us? We are simul justus et peccator, at the same time righteous and sinful.


In response we must dress appropriately each day or as Paul would say, "put on the Lord Jesus Christ" (v14). To "put on" Christ is to be mindful that the Christian on this side of glory engages in a spiritual battle every single day, not least with our own sin. John Murray explains the putting on of Christ in this way "To put on Christ is to be identified with Him not only in His death but also in His resurrection. It is to be united to Him in the likeness of His resurrection life." Elsewhere, Paul would say "you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." (Romans 6v11) This is what we mean by putting on Christ.


We are to make no provision for sinful desires in our lives (v14b) but instead we are to seek to put sin to death. This is the work of "mortification" whereby we know our sin, we hate our sin and we repent of our sin. This work is not optional but vital and although it will not be completed on this side of heaven, we are to earnestly seek holiness and Christlikeness. Is mortification a solitary pursuit? Thankfully no. The Lord has graciously given us the ordinary means of grace and God the Holy Spirit dwells within. The Christian has every necessary tool to wage war against our sinful desires and the Christian has every reason to hope that the Lord will sanctify us and get us to the finish line.


A Christian by the name of John Owen once wrote a book entitled "The Mortification of Sin" and it was there that he offered this sincere hope "I hope…that mortification and holiness may be promoted in my heart and in the hearts and lives of others, to the glory of God; and that in this way the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ may be adorned in all things." I pray that you and I will hope for the same - mortification and holiness resulting in the glory of God and advancement of the Gospel. May it be so, for Christ's sake.


Pray (acTS)


Sing




WSC


Q76 Which is the ninth commandment? The ninth commandment is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
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