Mortification of Sin (7) Only True Believers Can Mortify Sin

It is true that anyone who hears the law or the gospel preached is required to kill sin. It is his duty, but it is not his immediate duty; it is his duty to do it, but to do it in God's way. If you require your employee to go and pay a certain amount of money at a certain place, but first to go get the money from somewhere else, it is his duty to pay the money, and you will blame him if he does not do it; yet it was not his immediate duty—the was supposed to go get it first, according to your direction. It is the same in this case: sin is to be put to death, but something else must be done first to enable us to do it.