Chapter 14 is the “grand-daddy” of Owen’s entire book. Everything that precedes it, in various ways, looks ahead to it and anticipates it. All of our ponderings of the guilt of our sin, the mightiness of God, the “whys” behind the mortification of sin, etc., lead us to cling to Christ (the subject of chapter 14). If they don’t, they are simply empty religious meditations that—at best—lead us to a morality void of power. In this chapter, Owen urges us to live in the gospel, bringing it to mind thoroughly—even violently, and thus, renewing our minds (Romans 12:1-2) around the truths of the gospel.
“Set faith at work on Christ for the killing of your sin. His blood is the great sovereign remedy for sin sick souls. Live in this, and you will die a conqueror; yea, you will, through the good providence of God, live to see your lust dead at your feet.” (Owen, p. 132).
Neil Anderson, professor of Practical Theology at Talbot School of Theology, similarly argues that, “No person can consistently behave in a way that’s inconsistent with the way he perceives himself.” (Victory Over the Darkness, p. 43).
Reminding ourselves what’s true about us in Christ, now that we have died with Christ and together with him are alive forevermore, is essential to the killing of sin because it centers the power for change on God and not ourselves. If we don’t really think we’re saved (or if we don’t think about our salvation that much) we will likely not find much success in killing sin. But if we truly believe we’ve been called from the tombs through Christ’s death and resurrection (and if we bring these truths to mind regularly), we’ll much more likely be able to put off the old self.
But make no mistake: belief takes work! It’s not a passive thing at all, but rather something that takes time, energy, and regular Bible study. Believe! Then keep on believing! Run the race marked out for you! Fight the good fight! Keep the faith!
I really enjoyed going through this series with all of you guys. As I said on Sunday, I hope that you found some kernel—some nugget of truth—that you can cling to help you more effectively mortify sin in your lives from this day forward than ever before! It's been my prayer for you and will continue to be!
All for God’s glory,
Chris
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
“Think Greatly of the Greatness of God”
In chapters 12 and 13 Owen discusses how having a big, holy, transcendent, mighty, and even “terrible” picture of God in our minds helps us kill sin, as it relates to the gospel; i.e., the same God who dwells in unapproachable light, whose glory causes people to despise themselves upon seeing it (Job 42:6), is the same God who lowered himself to become a man in order to redeem the lost by dying on a cross for the sins of the many. With the dual-thoughts of “fearful God” and “loving Savior” on our mind, it becomes increasingly less likely that we will entertain sinful thoughts, for our heart and our treasure will be in the same place: with Jesus. We will say with Joseph, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9). “Would I yet sin against him?”
“Be much in thoughtfulness of the excellency of the majesty of God and your infinite, inconceivable distance from him. Many thoughts of it cannot but fill you with a sense of your own vileness, which strikes deep at the root of any indwelling sin. When Job comes to a clear discovery of the greatness and the excellency of God, he is filled with self-abhorrence and is pressed to humiliation (Job 42:5-6)… ‘With God,’ says Job, ‘is terrible majesty’ [Job 37:22]. Hence were the thoughts of them of old, that when they had seen God they should die. The Scripture abounds in this self-abasing consideration, comparing the men of the earth to ‘grasshoppers,’ to ‘vanity,’ the ‘dust of the balance,’ in respect of God [Isaiah 40:12-25]. Be much in thoughts of this nature, to abase the pride of your heart, and to keep your soul humble within you. There is nothing [that] will render you a greater unwillingness to be imposed on by the deceits of sin than such a frame of heart. Think greatly of the greatness of God” (Owen, p. 110)
Revelation 1:12-18, Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
Chris
“Be much in thoughtfulness of the excellency of the majesty of God and your infinite, inconceivable distance from him. Many thoughts of it cannot but fill you with a sense of your own vileness, which strikes deep at the root of any indwelling sin. When Job comes to a clear discovery of the greatness and the excellency of God, he is filled with self-abhorrence and is pressed to humiliation (Job 42:5-6)… ‘With God,’ says Job, ‘is terrible majesty’ [Job 37:22]. Hence were the thoughts of them of old, that when they had seen God they should die. The Scripture abounds in this self-abasing consideration, comparing the men of the earth to ‘grasshoppers,’ to ‘vanity,’ the ‘dust of the balance,’ in respect of God [Isaiah 40:12-25]. Be much in thoughts of this nature, to abase the pride of your heart, and to keep your soul humble within you. There is nothing [that] will render you a greater unwillingness to be imposed on by the deceits of sin than such a frame of heart. Think greatly of the greatness of God” (Owen, p. 110)
Revelation 1:12-18, Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
Chris
Sunday, June 1, 2008
The guilt of our sin; the “pre-gospel”
Owen begins chapter 10 with these words: “It is one of the deceits of a prevailing lust to extenuate its own guilt. ‘Is it not a little one?’ ‘When I go and bow myself in the house of Rimmon, God be merciful to me in this thing’ [2 Kgs 5:18]. ‘Though this be bad, yet it is not so bad as such and such an evil; others of the people of God have had such a frame; yea, what dreadful actual sins have some of them fallen into!’ Innumerable ways there are whereby sin diverts the mind from a right and due apprehension of its guilt. (Owen, p. 97)
And to help us comprehend the sheer weight of our sin and the magnitude with which we must continually view it, we considered Sufjan Steven’s song lyrics about comparing ourselves to John Wayne Gacy, Jr. (the serial killer who raped and murdered 33 young boys):
““In my best behavior, I am really just like him.
Look beneath the floor boards for the secrets I have hid.”
The more we believe this (and especially the scripture it accompanies; e.g. Romans 3:9-18, Matthew 5:27-28) the more we’ll be driven to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and cleansing, which in turn will be the very thing that will enable us to kill sin! Conversely, the less we think of our sin, the less we’ll continue to rely on Jesus Christ, which—if not addressed—will eventually lead us away from the gospel.
Kill sin by meditating on your sin—even trembling at its guilt, danger, and present evils—so that you’ll all the more worship, celebrate, be thankful for, and rely on Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
Chris
And to help us comprehend the sheer weight of our sin and the magnitude with which we must continually view it, we considered Sufjan Steven’s song lyrics about comparing ourselves to John Wayne Gacy, Jr. (the serial killer who raped and murdered 33 young boys):
““In my best behavior, I am really just like him.
Look beneath the floor boards for the secrets I have hid.”
The more we believe this (and especially the scripture it accompanies; e.g. Romans 3:9-18, Matthew 5:27-28) the more we’ll be driven to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and cleansing, which in turn will be the very thing that will enable us to kill sin! Conversely, the less we think of our sin, the less we’ll continue to rely on Jesus Christ, which—if not addressed—will eventually lead us away from the gospel.
Kill sin by meditating on your sin—even trembling at its guilt, danger, and present evils—so that you’ll all the more worship, celebrate, be thankful for, and rely on Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
Chris
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