“Set faith at work on Christ and his gospel!”

Chapter 14 is the “grand-daddy” of Owen’s entire book. Everything that precedes it, in various ways, looks ahead to it and anticipates it. All of our ponderings of the guilt of our sin, the mightiness of God, the “whys” behind the mortification of sin, etc., lead us to cling to Christ (the subject of chapter 14). If they don’t, they are simply empty religious meditations that—at best—lead us to a morality void of power. In this chapter, Owen urges us to live in the gospel, bringing it to mind thoroughly—even violently, and thus, renewing our minds (Romans 12:1-2) around the truths of the gospel.

“Set faith at work on Christ for the killing of your sin. His blood is the great sovereign remedy for sin sick souls. Live in this, and you will die a conqueror; yea, you will, through the good providence of God, live to see your lust dead at your feet.” (Owen, p. 132).

Neil Anderson, professor of Practical Theology at Talbot School of Theology, similarly argues that, “No person can consistently behave in a way that’s inconsistent with the way he perceives himself.” (Victory Over the Darkness, p. 43).

Reminding ourselves what’s true about us in Christ, now that we have died with Christ and together with him are alive forevermore, is essential to the killing of sin because it centers the power for change on God and not ourselves. If we don’t really think we’re saved (or if we don’t think about our salvation that much) we will likely not find much success in killing sin. But if we truly believe we’ve been called from the tombs through Christ’s death and resurrection (and if we bring these truths to mind regularly), we’ll much more likely be able to put off the old self.

But make no mistake: belief takes work! It’s not a passive thing at all, but rather something that takes time, energy, and regular Bible study. Believe! Then keep on believing! Run the race marked out for you! Fight the good fight! Keep the faith!

I really enjoyed going through this series with all of you guys. As I said on Sunday, I hope that you found some kernel—some nugget of truth—that you can cling to help you more effectively mortify sin in your lives from this day forward than ever before! It's been my prayer for you and will continue to be!

All for God’s glory,

Chris