Sanctuaries of Evil

The following blog entry is part 7 in a series of blog posts entitled “A Fight Worth Picking,” in which I’m writing about John’s Owen’s Biblical principles for fighting sin in ‘The Mortification of Sin.’  I’ll be referencing Banner of Truth’s 2004 edition, abridged by Richard Rushing.  (If you’d like a detailed outline of Owen’s work, click here.)

I’ve taken 3 weeks off this blog, but hopefully no one has taken 3 weeks off of fighting sin.  We left off talking about Owen’s first (there are 11 total) particular direction for mortifying sin, namely - to consider the symptoms that accompany your sinful desire.  After an examination of sin’s symptoms Owen now encourages his reader to dwell on the actual sin itself.

He says: “Get a clear and abiding sense upon your mind and conscience of the guilt, danger, and evil of the sin with which you are troubled.  Cause your heart to dwell on them.  Let them begin to have a powerful influence on your soul, until they make it tremble.” (page 65)

Consider the Guilt.

Perhaps a guilty Christian is worse than a guilty non-Christian.  A Christian knows better.  A sinning Christian willingly tramples on grace.  A Christian may be saved from sin, but that does not make a Christian any less guilty of sin.  Don’t tell yourself otherwise.

Consider the Danger.

If sin is left unchecked it can harden someone’s heart so badly that they end up lost forever, happy to continue toward sin and away from Jesus.

Hebrews 3:12-13

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Hebrews 10:38

“…but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him."

As well, If sin is left unchecked a Christian may undergo temporal discipline from God.

Psalm 89:30-32

If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules,
31if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments,
32then I will punish their transgression with the rod
and their iniquity with stripes.

Consider the Evil.

Considering the danger of sin concerns us with the future.  Considering the evil of sin concerns us with the present.  Don’t just consider what may happen because of your sin.  Consider how evil and hurtful it is right now.  Truly, our sin grieves the Holy Spirit of God, wounds our Lord Jesus afresh, and renders us completely useless.

As Owen says, we should consider these things until we tremble.  That may seem extreme.  In our culture it is.  But it’s also necessary.  The voice condemning our sin must become louder than the popular voice affirming it.

Rob Bell Interview...

Our church is in the middle of a move, and I'm behind on my blog series on the mortification of sin (I plan to write a new entry next week).  But in the meantime, Rob Bell's new book came out.

It's called "Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person who Ever Lived." My copy is in the mail and I plan to read it as soon as I get it (though I expect to be grieved over its contents).  Here's an interview with Bell by Martin Bashir of MSNBC.

How Bad is It?

The following blog entry is part 6 in a series of blog posts entitled “A Fight Worth Picking,” in which I’m writing about John’s Owen’s Biblical principles for fighting sin in ‘The Mortification of Sin.’  I’ll be referencing Banner of Truth’s 2004 edition, abridged by Richard Rushing.  (If you’d like a detailed outline of Owen’s work, click here.)

John Owen gives 11 particular directions for mortifying sin.  His first direction (the subject of this article) is to consider the symptoms that accompany your sinful desire.  As we fight our sin, it is good for us to know what we’re up against by evaluating how bad a state we’re in.  Imagine a sick person sitting before a doctor and asking, “how bad is it?”  We need to ask the same question in terms of our sin, which will help us to (as we should) take our sin very seriously.  Here are 6 questions about our desires that help us to see how deadly our sin may be...

1.  Is it an old, familiar desire?  If so, you’re in serious trouble.

“Indwelling lusts grow rusty and stubborn because they have long continued in ease and quiet.  Such a sin will not be easily ejected.  It will never die by itself, and if it is not daily killed it will only gather added strength.” (page 56)

2.  When convicted of sin, do you search your heart to find some evidence of good to ease your conscience?  In other words, when convicted of sin, rather than feeling the weight of it, do you tell yourself what a good person you are and how far you have come?  If so, you’re in serious trouble.

3.  Do you give in to the desire frequently?  It’s one thing to have a sinful desire and to resist actually sinning.  It’s another thing to give in over and over again, growing accustomed. If this is the state you’re in, you’re in serious trouble.

4.  Do you agonize more over the consequences of your sin (worldly sorrow) than the sin

itself (godly sorrow)?  Are you more concerned with the personal pain of your sin than the pain it causes (and has caused) God?  If so, you’re in serious trouble.

“If you avoid sin due to fear of embarrassment or hell, you are sufficiently resolved to do the sin if there were no punishment attending it.” (Chapter 9)

5.  Has God handed you over to this sin as punishment?  Is it possible that you have persisted so long in this sin that God has handed you over to experience the full weight and consequence of your sin?  If so, you’re in serious trouble.

6.  Have you been disciplined by God for this sin and yet persist, hardening your heart?  Think back.  Is it possible that God has handed you over to this sin before… and you just keep on running back to it?  If so, you’re in serious trouble.

This should be our conclusion as we continue this fight against our flesh:  We’re all in serious trouble.

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Note:  These are all important steps in fighting sin.  It may seem to some that Owen is not actually equipping us to deal with our depravity, he is just causing us to wallow in it and become more depressed.  You may be thinking, "Enough already, when is he going to tell me how to kill sin!?"  But understand that where we fail most significantly in this fight against sin is in not grasping the full gravity of our condition.  Most of our fight is convincing ourselves how deep a pit we're in.  Don't assume you "get that" because you feel bad over your sin.  When was the last time you wept over it?  This process is painful and good and right.  So, for those of you following this blog and applying it, be encouraged to keep going.