Good morning and welcome everybody. Today we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
One morning I woke up and got ready for school. I can’t remember how old I was at the time, but I know that I was very young. I ran out to the kitchen and had some pancakes for breakfast, and after a full stomach, I went back into my bedroom to grab my books and my backpack. I went outside to wait for the school bus by our garage. Because we lived at the end of the road, the schoolbus would turn around in our driveway.
I sat there and waited patiently for him on that cold December morning. The bus was running a little late, and I was starting to get a little bored, so I looked over at the garage door and for some reason which I cannot understand, I was compelled to stick my tongue on the frozen handle. After a few seconds, I realized that my tongue had completely frozen to the metal. I began to get nervous because I didn’t know how I was going to free myself. With a quick jerk of my head I pulled my tongue away, but left a lot of the top of my tongue on the handle in the process. I was bleeding profusely from my mouth and ran inside to grab a rag. It took many days for my tongue to heal, but for many months, I could not taste anything. My tongue had become numb to all feeling.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
As I look back now at this true event, God was teaching me a lesson in the Christian faith. Just as I had no taste for food for a period of time, the Christian life is very similar. To inherit eternal life, we must become numb to any taste or desire for sinful living.
Romans 8:12-13 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 do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
In order to inherit eternal life, you must be capable of mortifying the sins of the body. To mortify means to subdue or deaden the body and its sinful appetites, so that you have no more feeling or desire for them anymore. Its the process of killing off the old man of sin, and the carnal nature. Living in sin will only lead to death.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Romans 6:21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
How many of you have woken up in the morning, attempted to get up out of bed, but you couldn’t even stand up because you’re leg was asleep. It was completely numb. You could slap your hand on your leg and not even feel it. The Christian life is about not having feelings for sin anymore. Christians are called to repent from dead works, and to change from the sinful life that you used to live in your past. We are supposed to serve Jesus, not the carnal nature.
Romans 6:6-7 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
The old man is corrupt, and both him and his sinful ways must be put to death.
Ephesians 4:22-24 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Colossians 3:9-10 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
So again, mortify means to deaden the sinful nature. Something that is dead is completely unresponsive. If the sinful nature is mortified, it no longer has any power over you. God grants us a free gift of grace, but it is supposed to result in a changed life, changing from dead works, to good works. Changing from disobedient, to obedient living. If this doesn’t happen, it is simply receiving the grace of God in vain.
2 Corinthians 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
We need to deaden off sinful desires in order to serve and follow the way of Christ. We must choose what is right over what is wrong. We must choose truth over lies. We must choose marriage over fornication and adultery. We must choose humility over pride.
How many of you have gone out on a cold winter morning to try to start your vehicle, but when you turned the key, nothing happened. This is because the battery was completely dead. When a battery is dead on your truck, it doesn’t have the ability to start the motor. Sin needs to be just as dead as a car battery in our lives, dead enough that it is powerless and incapable of stiring the motor of sinful desire within each of us.
Romans 6:12-13 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Those who dont exercise a sincere effort to become obedient to God’s will, and overcome the desires of the sinful nature will be punished by God just as a disobedient child.
Colossians 3:5-6 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Fornication is engaging in sexual pleasures with someone, but you are not married to them. To commit such things is to defile your own body. God’s wrath will come upon those who exhibit such behaviors.
There’s hope for each of us, and it begins by confessing and admitting our faults and turning to Christ, so that we can complete His will and walk according to His calling and purpose for us. We need to undergo a purification process, cleansing ourselves from sinful living. Just as one would boil water to purify it, we must allow ourselves to be heated in the black smiths fire, being put under the hammer, so that God can reshape us into what He wants us to become.
In Northern Minnesota, we can get some very cold wind chills, and when you come in from outside, you can’t even feel your fingers. As Christians we want to become numb to sin, not having a taste for it any longer, just like what happened to,…..
…………The Tip of my Tongue
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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