Books on Godliness (pt. 1)

A few books that have made a huge impact on my spiritual life and growth are When I Don't Desire God, The Enemy Within, Living the Cross Centered Life, The Pursuit of Holiness, and Overcoming the World. Each one of these books takes a strong stance on the Holiness of God and his great mercy and grace. Each author, Piper, Lundgaard, Bridges, and Beeke, all admire the Puritans and adopt their teaching and methods in personal godliness. Piper states as much in his plethora of writings, Lundgaard's work essentially is a modern rewrite of Owen's Mortification of Sin, Bridges accomplishes the same but in regards to Ryle's Holiness, and finally Beeke, but his work is steeped in Calvin's theology of Union with Christ. A gem... just read Romans 8.

Piper noted that,

God defines evil this way when he says, "My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water (Jer. 2:13) God pictures himself as a mountain spring of clean, cool, life-giving water. They way to glorify a fountain like this is to enjoy the water, and praise the water, and keep coming back to the water, and point other people to the water, and get strength for love from the water, and never, never, never prefer any drink in the world over this water. That makes the spring look valuable. That is how we glorify God, the fountain of loving water.... So preferring the pleasures of money or power or fame or sex over the "pleasures.... at God's right hand" is not like preferring caramel to hot fudge. It is a great evil. Indeed it is the ultimate meaning of evil. Esteeming God less than anything is the essence of evil."

Lundgaard wrote on the tactics of sin,

You know the flesh has made a breach in your defenses when your heart is hardened by its deceitfulness (Heb 3:13) so that you are careless about sin. You will look at your life and think about how often you need God's forgiveness, and so think of it as something common, nothing to worry over or take pains about. You'll know you are hardened when you begin to extend the boundaries of Christian freedom to include indulgences that in the past would have shocked you. Your flesh will whisper to you that strictness and anxious care about obedience are legalism -the gospel came to deliver you form such things! And besides, if you really do commit a sin, you cna be forgiven later.

For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

(I'll come back to Overcoming the World, Living the Cross Centered Life, and the Pursuit of Holiness.)

a tightened noose

Romans 8:11-14.
Do you live the Christian life? That God's ways are your ways? IN the words of the Psalmist, "your testimony I will declare." Do you and I live by and in the Spirit? The vigor of our spiritual vitality depends on our mortification of the deeds of the flesh. (Owen) Mortification is this: keeping your sin nature under the tightened noose.

Evangelicals today sacrifice the gospel with new and innovative techniques to mortify the flesh. I am thinking of one such approach as advocated in "Every Man's Battle." The method that the authors propose is that if you would "bounce your eyes" or look away from a woman or man then you defeat sin. Other Christians have proposed asceticism, trusting in yourself, and legalism (trusting in yourself and not Christ.)

When we pick up the sword and shield we must be sure not to use them in a wrong way. It is important to rely on Christ in the way that He said. God has not appointed other means to combat the flesh. (again indulgences and asceticism.)

Mortification is not:
--Conviction without a Solution - the Gospel is sufficient for the Believer's battle vs. sin. Christ freed, Christ defeated, Christ abides within us. It is all about Christ.
--Conviction without Action - Mortification of the sin brings conviction and repentance.
-- Conviction but selective in mortifying. As Augustine prayed, "Make me pure but not yet." True Mortification is total.
-- measured by temperment
-- diverted (think of Simon trying to buy the Holy Spirit)

Principles of Mortification:
-- Continually at way with sin
-- Entirely the work of the Holy Spirit
-- Habitual weakening of sin

do you want to be filled with Grace? Do you want to feast upon the given means? Prayer, Preaching, Singing, the sacraments? Do you realize that the Fruit of the Spirit are killers of Sin? love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control?

As Christ proclaimed, "Come all who are tired and heavy laden, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

A Single Mindedness

Owen once remarked that it is the duty of every believer to kill their sin. Piper also adds that it is the duty of Christians to delight fully in God and this can only be done by killing sin. It is easy to slip into a daily routine where I go with the flow. I am passive and not active, not challenging what lies ahead. Consequently that can and does lead to sin. It is so easy to forget that Christians, little-Christs, are called to have a single mindedness - Where minds are focused on Christ. Everything we say or do is to complement our God's Glory saturated lifestyle. Is it not easy to forget this? You know it is true.

The Holy Spirit convicted me, as if I was hit by a Spiritual 2x4. You and I forget what it means to bear the name of Jesus. It is easy to wallow in our sins, to cry out to God yet later turning to our sins. Which only hardens our hearts more. But bearing the marks of Christ within us there is hope. God gives us power to say no to sin, this power is life. We are renewed from our old selves. And now the tables are turned. Old Robbie is dead and Christ lives. Do not despair if you wallow in your sin. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is for the weary and heavy laden - it is for all men who want to cast off their struggle with sin.

If you do currently struggle with sin, look to Christ. Forget the methodology that Contemporary Evangelicalism offers you. Take one moment at a time and allow yourself to focus on the Cross, praying that your hardened heart, God will peel away like layers of an onion. Focus on Christ's Glory. (This is the only way to overcome temptation.)

Back to Bible Study: Temptation

Life is a blessing, a great gift from God, it is by His grace that we breathe. And yet there is this thing called temptation... what is temptation? Mr. Matthess opened this question up to us students, one of whom defined it as, "faced with a choice with the possibility of sin." Good choice of words here, note that temptation is not sin, for proof of this all one needs to do is realize that Jesus Christ faced temptation and was without sin.

God does not tempt us... instead it is part of our own lust, of our fallen natures, or the presence of sin within you.

The Apostle James tells us in James 1:12-15 of the steps of temptation:
- drawn
- enticement
- desire
- conception
- accomplishment

For a practical example, Genesis 3 records for us the fall of Adam and Eve.
The Serpent's deception in the garden of Eden is a pattern used by the flesh in our lives. (1) How did the Serpent persuade Eve to eat? Satan warped God's command through lies and deception
(2) What did he hide or disguise? the consequence of the action (3) How did he make sin attractive? You will be like God he said, which is idolatry, and you will know Good and Evil he said.

Simple lies that had drastic consequences. Why did Adam and Eve fail? Ultimately they listened to their own desires instead of looking to God. Remember the place of the mind in resisting temptation - temptation first addresses the mind. The mind makes the choice and is the watchman of the soul.

Personal Application:
1.) How is it that you yield to something that you know is sinful?
2.) What is the most bizarre excuse you have ever given to justify something you did wrong? Did it work? (Do you really need sin? Do you really think that pleasure will help you and satisfy you?)
3.) What are some of the physical results seen in people's lives as a result of sin?
4.) What are some of the ways we can guard against yielding to temptation? (Think of Joseph and Christ in the desert)
5.) what is it about the relationship between the imaginations and the affections that makes the imagination so important to guard?

a new semester, a new Bible study

Last night, the college students of Rose Point RPCNA met for our first night of worship, prayer and Bible study. This year our study is on The Mortification of Sin, led by Mr. Matthess who is a member of our congregation.
I gave Mr. Matthess a few books of mine that he may look over and read and see what he would be the most comfortable with. A few of the books were Ferguson's commentary on Mark by the Trust, another was Piper's new book on the demands of Christ on believers, and then the last one was The Enemy Within by Kris Lundguardd. Lundguardd was a campus minister at a PCA church when he realized that College students needed solid principles to guide them as they fight sin. So he read Owen and condensed him into a short book that is easily accessible by anybody [really]. And he did a great job.
Mr. Matthess did not stop there... he went directly to the source of this wisdom... He turned first to Scripture then to Owen's works himself, and from there read his commentary on Scripture. Let me say it is fantastic, it is a great reminder as I once again learn about the mortification of sin. Along with it, I am reading Owen's works for devotions...I trust we will know God's blessing this semester.

--- here are my notes from the study - i trust they will be edifying to you ---
GREAT is the mystery of Godliness - how can we comprehend it!? We need to understand how to grow in holiness, for that is our calling in the Christian life.

reading from Romans 3:10-20
- we cannot please God; sin is everything contrary to God - he hates it
- sin and fault is with us. The purpose of the Law is to reveal sin to us. Think of this, this is true, don't the 10 commandments teach you about your radical depravity??

Q: How does Conversion/regeneration affect sin's presence and power? [Romans 7:21]
A: It is a power in us, not to us. At conversion God takes the law used to reveal sin to us and infuses that law in our hearts. And we are now inclined to serve and please God. This enjoining of the law is different than the divine sense that all mankind has. (divinitas sensus) As we are united in Christ.

It is true that Sin is cut back, it is not dead and it can flare up at any moment. We have discovered this, Paul discovered this and describes it as a law... Sin brings forth fruit unto death - do you find this sin?

Why dont people recognize that they are sinners?
- ignorance (they do not know the law, they are so steeped in sin they suppressed their sense of God)
- do not want to - they are blind to the Gospel
- they are at one with sin... in Darkness you cannot sin

Christians have an obligation to share the gospel, and they must live the gospel in their daily life. As believers, we have the inclination to do good. We are free to please God, good thigns come from a good heart.
If we feel guilty over sin and we know that we have dishonored God - this is a blessing! because God is at work within us, softening our hearts to respond to Him.

**At this time we were kicked out of our room - we had it over our time limit... my bad :-/

Prayer

The past few weeks I went on a mental journey trudging through a few quotes by my friend John Owen. He spoke to my heart which the Lord has used to convict me and remind me often (I was reminded of his words today as I heard the Word preached). Owen told me that, a man on his knees before the Almighty God, that he is and that alone.

How true a statement? We can read comments, posters on a person's character all we want. One of these posters would say, "character is when no one is watching." The truth be told that God is always watching, and before God there are two responses - either spiteful rebellion or loving submission.

I like how Edward Payson says it, (taken from The Threshold)
"We may judge of the state of our hearts by the earnestness of our prayers. You cannot make a rich man beg like a poor man; you cannot make a man that is full cry for food like one that is hungry: no more will a man who has a good opinion of himself, cry for mercy like one who feels that is is poor and needy. The symptoms of spiritual decline are like those which attend the decay of bodily health. It generally commences with loss of appetite, and a disrelish for spiritual food, prayer, reading the Scriptures, and devotional books. Whenever you perceive these symptoms, be alarmed, for your spiritual health is in danger; apply immediately to the great Physician for a cure.
The best means of keeping near to God is the prayer closet. Here the battle is won or lost. If a man begins to be impatient because his prayers for any blessings are not answered, it is a certain proof, that a self-righteous dependence on his own merits prevails in his heart to a great extent; for the language of impatience is, "I deserve the blessing: I had a right to expect that it would be bestowed, and it ought to have been bestowed ere this." It is evident that a man who feels that he deserves nothing, will never be impatient because he receives nothing; but will say, "I have nothing to complain of, I receive as much as I deserve." Again, when a man wonders, or thinks it strange, that he does not receive a blessing for which he has prayed, it shows he relies on his own own merits. The language of such feelings is, "It is very strange that I, who have prayed so well, and so long, and had so much reason to expect a blessing do not receive it." Persons who feel truly humble, on the contrary, are surprised, not when blessings are withheld, but when they are bestowed. It appears very strange and wonderful to them that God should bestow any favors on creatures, so unworthy as themselves, or pay and regard to prayers so polluted as their own. This is the temper to which every person must be brought before God will answer his prayers."

John Owen is my homeboy

"Temptation is like a knife that may either cut the meat or the throat of a man; it may be his food or his poison, his existence or his destruction." Owen

Jesus Christ faced temptation and did not sin. That is an amazing truth. Many time we are tempted and we give in solely for the reason that we want to. We want to sin. But Owen, who is a surgeon of the soul, points out that we do not have to give into Sin when we are tempted. I John 4 tells us to that the person who abides in us is stronger than our sinful nature and the Devil. This soundbite from Owen challenges me to pursue righteousness, to hunger, to thirst; that i may be filled. As Jesus faced temptation he learned obedience, not that he was ever disobedient - he learned through experience, what it would be like to look temptation in the eye and cry out no with drops of sweaty blood on his forehead. As Christ did that, I can as well- for Christ abides in me and He is more powerful than this world.

if you see a temptation, see an obstacle and cast it aside looking to the author and perfector of your faith.

Book Review: The Enemy Within

Romans 7:19-21 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.

What is the nature of Sin? Sin is likened to a rhinoceros in a restaurant. As G.K. Chesterson says, "If a rhinoceros were to enter this restaurant now, there is no denying he would have great power here. But I should be the first to rise and assure him that he had no authority whatever." It is the same as in the body of the believer, God has promised us with His son Jesus Christ that we are free from sin, in fact we are ded to sin! The power f sin leads to death, and the aim of the gospel of grace is to glorify God and free us from the reign of the beast within us. The nature of sin has great contempt for God. And as God's chosen children we are called to exterminate the presence of sin remaining in us. Kris Lungaard writes in his book "The Enemy Within," killing sin is like a student in biology class when the teacher calls the students to dissect a live wolverine. When you go to kill it, there is thrashing and gnawing of teeth. Sin does not want to be killed and yet when you do so it hurts and the battle to do so is long. There are two chief ways to kill the sin within you.

1.) pray to God with God; focus on God for who He is in all His majesty.
2.) read the Word with the Word; the word is the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we read the revealed word we read it with the assistance of the Salvation of our souls.

Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!" Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.