It is not enough to have light & knowledge – We must have the Holy Spirit & his power. We must never settle for less than this, both in our private personal lives, and in the public pulpit.
War Insanity
If we take away justice, what then are kingdoms, but great robberies? For what are robberies themselves, but little kingdoms? The band itself is made up of men; it is ruled by the authority of a prince, it is knit together by the pact of the confederacy; the booty is divided by the law agreed on. If, by the admittance of abandoned men, this evil increases to such a degree that it holds places, fixes abodes, takes possession of cities, and subdues peoples, it assumes the more plainly the name of a kingdom, because the reality is now manifestly conferred on it, not by the removal of covetousness, but by the addition of impunity. Indeed, that was an apt and true reply which was given to Alexander the Great by a pirate who had been seized. For when that king had asked the man what he meant by keeping hostile possession of the sea, he answered with bold pride, “What thou meanest by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, whilst thou who dost it with a great fleet art styled emperor.”
Augustine, City of God, Book IV, Chapter 4.
The Word & Words
Believing the Words of Jesus cannot be done apart from believing the Word who is Jesus. This is why we read the Scriptures because to believe the Word of God is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Satisfied
We should be satisfied with the benefits of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that when we are grafted into his body and made one with him by belief of the gospel, then we may assure ourselves that he is the fountain which never dries up, nor can ever become exhausted, and that in him we have all variety of good things, and all perfection.
John Calvin, Sermons on the Epistle to the Ephesians (trans. A. Golding; Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1973), 355.
Holding onto Sin
John Bunyan lists 7 ways we hold onto our sins
1. If possible, the soul that entertains sin will hide it so that it will not be discovered.
2. The soul that cannot hide its sin will excuse it and plead that it really is not such a bad thing
3. The soul that justifies its sin will seek to cover it with a good name (i.e. change what I call sin into something good)
4. If our convictions will not let us call our sin, sin, then we might flatter God that we will put it away from us in due time – (it’s no big deal)
5. If God pursues us and seeks to see if we have put away our sin – we will give up some part of it but keep the choicest part for ourselves
6. All sin must be abandoned or the soul will have no rest – so we might let our sins go with reluctance
7. If our sins that we have pout away should meet us again – we will court them and commit them in the dark
So sin goes in a circle – it starts in death & ends in death – We must deal sin a death-blow daily, over and over again, as John Owen says. Strike the root. Dig it us and burn it – and then keep on doing that. It is a never ending task – but sin mortified will help us see sin for what it is and help us deal with it as we ought.
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