The 7-minute excerpt below is from part 2 of a 5-part series Dr. Trueman was teaching on mortification of sin; he was explaining the works of John Owen.
[Definition of mortification of sin provided at end of this post.]
I was particularly interested in posting the final 3 minutes of the video wherein Trueman speaks about the life-long struggle with sin that believers experience, the other 4 minutes provide a tiny bit of the context of the lecture which might help. The video is linked below for those who would hear more.
Born-again believers have all kinds of ideas about dealing with sin, and the contemporary church is mostly of no help, as it is largely unbiblical. Therefore, teachers like Dr. Trueman, who have studied and taught on the works of John Owen (possibly the greatest authority on dealing with sin the church has known), are essential hearing for serious Christians.
In the excerpt, Trueman notes that all Christians will of necessity be engaged in warfare against their sins. If you consider the days of Jesus, the tax collectors and prostitutes knew they were sinners and flocked to Jesus for forgiveness; but the Pharisees, who believed they were righteous, hated Him and did not take His offer of forgiveness via repentance seriously. They did not think they had need of Him.
In Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on The Mount, He noted that sinners fail to repent for two reasons, they are deceived by false teachers, and they are self-deceived.
If you put yourself under the authority of an unbiblical teacher, then you may not be convicted of your sinfulness; you may never understand that you are sinful, especially if you do not read through your Bible regularly.
In that case, you will not be at war with your sin. You will not be repenting and seeking forgiveness and obedience….
Dr. Trueman’s words in the final moments of this excerpt indicate that all Christians must necessarily be fighting their sins; and that the battle never ends. So, if you think you’re a ‘good Christian’ who has his sin in check… then you are likely in that category of those who are deceived.
The apostle Paul saw himself as the chief of sinners, after having served Christ for 30 years, meditate on that for a time, then take another look at yourself as you read through one of his epistles.
The following link will bring up videos wherein Dr. Trueman was lecturing on the mortification of sin. The 5-part series I took the above excerpt from is also on this page.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=carl+trueman+mortification+of+sin
To see other speakers on the works of John Owen in this blog, see CATEGORIES, John Owen.
Definition of Mortification of sin:
Mortification has several meanings in English. One is “a feeling of shame or embarrassment.” Another meaning has to do with death. The word mortify means “to kill or subdue.” In a biblical context, to mortify is to subdue the body (or its needs and desires) through self-denial and discipline (e.g., mortification of sin / the flesh). We get our English words mortuary and mortician from the same Latin root that gives us mortify. Therefore, mortification of sin / the flesh is the “killing” of sin and the flesh.
To continue reading https://www.gotquestions.org/mortification.html