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The works of the Puritan divine John Owen (1616-1680), especially his works on the Mortification of Sin, are well worth the reading but they can be deeply challenging to 21^st century readers. Even the well-read Spurgeon said of Owen: “To master his works is to be a profound theologian”.

In an age of instant coffee, sound bites, and constant distractions, Owen is nearly impossible to read. But read him we must because Owen more than any other Puritan divine delved the deepest into the how and why of killing sin.

Many Christians secretly struggle with putting to death stubborn, deep rooted heart sins. Every genuine Christian who has the Holy Spirit dwelling in him will naturally have an aversion to sin and a deep desire to be holy.

But some sins are so deeply rooted that uprooting them and throwing them out of their temple into the Brook Kidron seems like an impossible task (2 Chronicles 29:5,16). They fall for the same sin again and again.

If you are struggling against sin and have an intense desire to repent and live a holy godly life, John Owen’s works are for you.James Packer argues that “For solidity, profundity, massiveness and majesty in exhibiting from Scripture God’s ways with sinful mankind there is no one to touch him”.

Below are some choice quotes for those Christians who may not have the time or the patience to wade through Owen’s great work on the mortification of sin.

Point One: On the need for the work and the power of the Holy Spirit to kill sin in the daily life of the believer.

Biblically-minded Reformed Christians can sometimes have a tendency to forget the person and the work of the Holy Spirit in mortifying sin and building holiness in the life of the true believer. The work and power of the Holy Spirit is essential in the life of a Christian who struggles to put sin to the death. How often we forget this and attempt to kill sin on our own self-strength. Listen to Owen’s admonition and advice:

All other ways of mortification are vain…. It must be done by the Spirit … Mortification from a self-strength carried on by ways of self-invention unto the end of a self-righteousness is the soul and substance of all fake religion in the world.

In another area Owen writes: “True and lasting resistance to sin comes not through willpower and self-improvement but through the Spirit who empowers believers with knowledge and love of God”.

As Christians we must always be on our guard in attempting to kill sin through our own effort without the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

Point Two: Does this mean that Christians should sit back and do nothing?

Owen answers this question with a distinct negative. Christians are to be watchful. They are to be on guard and vigilant. Alert Christians will certainly progress faster and further than dull Christians who do not strive to kill sin.

Owen wisely points out: “If sin is subtle, watchful, strong and always at work in the business of killing souls, and if we remain slothful, negligent and foolish in our attempts to ruin it, can we expect a comfortable outcome? There is not a day but sin foils or is foiled, prevails or is prevailed on; and it will be so as long as we live in this world”.

On the surface, this might seem to contradict Owen’s first quote on the need for the Holy Spirit in mortifying sin. Is it the work of the Holy Spirit alone or are we are also active participants in killing sin as well?

The 20^th century theologian John Murray clarifies this: “God’s working in us (sanctification) is not suspended because we work nor our working suspended because God works … God works in us and we also work. But the relation is that because God works we work”.

In other words, Christians are not to be mere passive observers in putting sin to death. If the Holy Spirit is working in mortifying sin in you then you too will be co-opted to work hand in hand with the Spirit. Christians who mortify sin are no couch potatoes; they are actively involved because the Spirit gets us off the sofa.

Point Three: Killing sin is a lifelong duty. Expect long drawn-out battles against sin our deadly enemy. Christians who are not engaged in the battle may not be true believers.

The 17^th century Scottish Puritan Samuel Rutherford has a quaint saying that bears this out: “The devil’s war is better than the devil’s peace. Suspect dumb holiness. When the dog is kept out of doors he howls to be let in again”.

The choicest Christians will tell you that they are not exempt from battling against sin. They will tell you of their great battles to mortify sin. Even when the Christian life seems to be going smoothly and you are living a holy life – beware!

Owen warns us: “Sin is never less quiet when it seems to be the quietest; its waters are for the most part deep when they are still. Therefore, our working against it ought to be vigorous at all times and in all conditions – even when there is less suspicion”.

Owen’s best-known command to Christians is: “Do you mortify? Do you make it your daily work? Be always at it while you live; cease not a day from this work: be killing sin or it will be killing you”.

And again: “The choicest believers, who are assuredly free from the condemning power of sin ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin”.

Constant warfare against sin will be our experience until the day we die. On the narrow road to eternal life, we have to walk through enemy territory.

Point Four: Killing sin will not be an easy battle. Christians must realise they are in for a fight that takes no quarters. This is a battle – not a picnic.

Owen reminds Christians that sin is a cunning enemy which will require putting it to death, not merely wounding it. Too many Christians play with sin. They keep it as some kind of dangerous pet which they bring out from time to time to play with. They regard sin as being trivial, never realizing it will bring ultimate death.

Sin is never to be kept within a secure safe box or cage. Sin is a poisonous snake which must be crushed to death. Too many Christians either cut off half the sin and it comes back to bite them or they give up as soon as they get into battle. Be strong and courageous and cut its head off.

Owen tells us: “Let no man think to kill sin with few, easy or gentle strokes. He who hath once smitten a serpent, if he follow not on his blow until it be slain, may repent that ever he began the quarrel. And so he who undertakes to deal with sin, and pursues it not constantly to the death”.

In another place Owen says: “It being our duty to mortify … we must be at work. He that is appointed to kill an enemy, if he leaves off striking before the other ceases living, does but half his work”.

Point Five: The true killing of sin involves not just removing the visible FRUIT of sin but more importantly the invisible ROOT of sin that feeds the fruit.

Australian society and governments believe very passionately that the way to reduce crime is to hire more police and erect more security cameras. One of the reasons why the current Queensland Premier Crisafulli won power at the last election was his promise to get tough on youth crime through his “Adult Crime, Adult Time” policy.

This may indeed reduce some crime, but it will never get to the heart of the issue which is the issue of the heart. If you truly wish to reduce crime, identify the root of the problem not merely the fruit. This, secular society will never do.

Christians too have a tendency to remove the fruit of sins but never tackle the root. We must not just prune the tree of sin – we must get an axe and cut out its roots.

Owen reminds Christians that “A man may beat down the bitter fruit from an evil tree until he is weary; while the root abides in strength and vigour, the beating down of the present fruit will not hinder it from bringing forth more. This is the folly of some men; they set themselves with all earnestness and diligence against the appearing eruption of lust, but, leaving the principle and root untouched, perhaps unsearched out they make but little or no progress in that work of mortification”.

Point Six: Satan, the world and our own personal delusions and follies will attempt to deceive us that the mortification of sin is not a serious matter in the life of a Christian.

We deceive ourselves that a Christian can repent of some sins but does not have to be serious about killing all known sins. If we are truly born-again Christians filled with the Holy Spirit, our desire will be to kill all known sin. We will dig to unearth any secret or unknown sin. Many sins are unbeknown to us. The true Christian’s desire is to kill all sin.

In Owen’s day most people attended church and called themselves Christians since it was socially respectful to do so. There were many professors of Christ on Sundays who did not live godly lives the rest of the week. Our times are different – many people are essentially nones and never attend church.

Still many today call themselves Christians or expect to enter heaven when they die. They may reform some sinful elements of their lives especially those which are not costly. But they will not surrender all to Christ. They will not put to death their favourite sins. This is a serious delusion which will inevitably lead to the soul’s destruction.

Owen admonishes professing Christians: “A false notion in which sin’s deceitfulness deludes men’s soul’s is this: that one sin alone can be indulged. Some persons have lived long in the practice of some gross sin, yet all the while maintaining a semblance of great diligence in other duties of religion. One sin willingly lived in is just as able to destroy a man’s soul as a thousand”.

Owen does not mince words on the inevitable outcome to those who profess Christ and expect to get to heaven, but who however have no desire to repent of every sin.

“God … will deliver none from destruction that continues in sin so that while any one lies under an abiding power of sin, the threats of destruction and everlasting separation from God are to be held out to him”.

Christians should never expect a perfect repentance in this life. We will never reach perfection while we walk this earth. Christians are therefore always repenting. They are always in a state of repentance. But there is a distinct difference between genuinely repentant Christians and those who make a profession of being Christians who are not particularly troubled by their sins.

Genuine Christians find on-going sin a great burden. They ask the Lord to cleanse their temple (1 Cor.3:16) of every impurity and to throw every impurity into the Kidron valley. They ask the Lord to search every nook and cranny and to go into the very centre of the heart to find any unclean thing. They ask the Lord to replace these impurities and uncleanliness with godly vessels (see 2 Chronicles 29:3-19). They will not hide any unclean thing in hidden rooms (Ezekiel 8:10).

Point Seven: Another serious danger that Christians fall into is habitual sin. Sins that become habitual deaden the spiritual senses over time making it easier to sin the same sin the next time.

A downward death spiral emerges, crushing and threatening the very spiritual life of the professor. Once a sin becomes deeply rooted through constant repetition it becomes difficult to uproot. Repetitive sin becomes easier each time you commit it. The first time you committed some gross sin you were incredibly ashamed and sorrowful. The second time the shame was less and the daring to go further strengthened.

By the time a sinner commits the same or similar sin a tenth or hundredth time, the gap between the temptation and the action is greatly shortened. He becomes emboldened in his sin – it becomes much easier and less burdensome to sin.

Therefore, “Repeated consenting of the will to sin may bring about a disposition and inclination to similar acts; it may bring the will into a proneness and readiness to consent to sin upon easy solicitations. This is a dangerous condition of the soul and greatly to be guarded against”.

Point Eight: One of the distinguishing traits or evidences of being a Christian is a hatred for sin and a desire for holiness. If you are battling against sin this is a sure sign that God is working in you.

Ongoing sin can seriously trouble many a Christian, even causing some Christians to doubt their salvation. Any sin is a great burden to a Christian but if it does indeed trouble you and you are engaged in the fight to kill it with God’s help, then take heart. It is not dead men who fight sin but men made alive.

Owen encourages every downcast and discouraged Christian with these encouraging words: “To kill sin is the work of living men; where men are dead (as all unbelievers, the best of them, are dead), sin is alive, and will live”

– Troy Appleton