“There are two evils which certainly attend every unmortified professor;—the first, in himself; the other, in respect of others:— 1. In himself. Let him pretend what he will, he hath slight thoughts of sin; at least, of sins of daily infirmity. The root of an unmortified course is the digestion of sin without bitterness in the heart. When a man hath confirmed his imagination to such an apprehension of grace and mercy as to be able, without bitterness, to swallow and digest daily sins, that man is at the very brink of turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, and…
Sunday Morning Calls to Worship
Call to Worship March 17, 2024
“6. It is our duty to be ‘perfecting holiness in the fear of God,’ 2 Cor. 7:1; to be ‘growing in grace’ every day, 1 Pet. 2:2, 2 Pet. 3:18; to be ‘renewing our inward man day by day,’ 2 Cor. 4:16. Now, this cannot be done without the daily mortifying of sin. Sin sets its strength against every act of holiness, and against every degree we grow to. Let not that man think he makes any progress in holiness who walks not over the bellies of his lusts. He who doth not kill sin in his way takes no…
Call to Worship March 10, 2024
“5. Negligence in this duty casts the soul into a perfect contrary condition to that which the apostle affirms was his, 2 Cor. 4:16, “Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” In these the inward man perisheth, and the outward man is renewed day by day. Sin is as the house of David, and grace as the house of Saul. Exercise and success are the two main cherishers of grace in the heart; when it is suffered to lie still, it withers and decays: the things of it are ready to die, Rev. 3:2; and sin gets ground towards the hardening of the heart,…
Call to Worship March 3, 2024
“4. This is one main reason why the Spirit and the new nature is given unto us,—that we may have a principle within whereby to oppose sin and lust. ‘The flesh lusteth against the Spirit.’ Well! and what then? Why, ‘The Spirit also lusteth against the flesh,’ Gal. 5:17. There is a propensity in the Spirit, or spiritual new nature, to be acting against the flesh, as well as in the flesh to be acting against the Spirit: so 2 Pet. 1:4, 5. It is our participation of the divine nature that gives us an escape from the pollutions that…
Call to Worship February 25, 2024
“3. Sin will not only be striving, acting, rebelling, troubling, disquieting, but if let alone, if not continually mortified, it will bring forth great, cursed, scandalous, soul-destroying sins. The apostle tells us what the works and fruits of it are, Gal. 5:19–21, ‘The works of the flesh are manifest, which are, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft; hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like.’ You know what it did in David and sundry others. Sin aims always at the utmost; every time it rises up to tempt or entice, might it have its…
Call to Worship February 18, 2024
“2. Sin doth not only still abide in us, but is still acting, still labouring to bring forth the deeds of the flesh. When sin lets us alone we may let sin alone; but as sin is never less quiet than when it seems to be most quiet, and its waters are for the most part deep when they are still, so ought our contrivances against it to be vigorous at all times and in all conditions, even where there is least suspicion. Sin doth not only abide in us, but “the law of the members is still rebelling against the…
Call to Worship February 11, 2024
“I. That the choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin. So the apostle, Col. 3:5, ‘Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth.’ Whom speaks he to? Such as were ‘risen with Christ,’ verse 1; such as were ‘dead’ with him, verse 3; such as whose life Christ was, and who should ‘appear with him in glory,’ verse 4. Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease…
Call to Worship, February 4, 2024
“2 Thessalonians 1:1–4 Where there is the truth of grace, there will be an increase of it. The path of the just is as the shining light, which shines more and more unto the perfect day. And where there is the increase of grace, God must have all the glory. Where faith grows, love will abound, for faith works by love. It shows faith and patience, such as may be proposed as a pattern for others, when trials from God, and persecutions from men, quicken the exercise of those graces; for the patience and faith of which the apostle gloried,…
Call to Worship January 28, 2024
“Ezekiel 10:1–7 The fire being taken from between the wheels, under the cherubim, ch. 1:13, seems to have signified the wrath of God to be executed upon Jerusalem. It intimated that the fire of Divine wrath, which kindles judgment upon a people, is just and holy; and in the great day, the earth, and all the works that are therein, will be burnt up. Verses 8–22 Ezekiel sees the working of Divine providence in the government of the lower world, and the affairs of it. When God is leaving a people in displeasure, angels above, and all events below, further…
Call to Worship January 21, 2024
“2 Corinthians 5:16–21 The renewed man acts upon new principles, by new rules, with new ends, and in new company. The believer is created anew; his heart is not merely set right, but a new heart is given him. He is the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Though the same as a man, he is changed in his character and conduct. These words must and do mean more than an outward reformation. The man who formerly saw no beauty in the Saviour that he should desire him, now loves him above all things. The heart of the unregenerate…