Self Control And The Barriers Against The Sinful Attacks Of Satan

"Like a city that is broken into and without walls...Is a man who has no control over his spirit." ~ Proverbs 25.28

"The good character of a wise and virtuous man is implied. He is one that has rule over his own spirit; he maintains the government of himself, and of his own appetites and passions, and does not suffer them to rebel against reason and conscience. He has the rule of his own thoughts, his desires, his inclinations, his resentments, and keeps them all in good order.

"a man who has no control over his spirit"

The bad case of a vicious man, who has not this rule over his own spirit, who, when temptations to excess are before him, has no government of himself, when he is provoked breaks out into exorbitant passions, such a one is like a city that is broken down and without walls. All that is good goes out, and forsakes him; all that is evil breaks in upon him. He lies exposed to all the temptations of Satan and becomes an easy prey to that enemy; he is also liable to many troubles and vexations; it is likewise as much a reproach to him as it is to a city to have its walls ruined."

~ Matthew Henry

A Working Definition Of Self-Righteousness

"Self-righteousness is being more aware of and irritated by the sins of others than you are conscious of and grieved by your own."

~ Paul Tripp

(HT: Josh Harris)

Mortification Of Sin

Below is an outline from Bob Thune on John Owen's Mortification of Sin.
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Why Must We Mortify Sin?

• Because sin is always active
• Because unmortified sin weakens and darkens the soul
• Because unmortified sin hardens others to the gospel

What Does It Mean to Mortify Sin?

What It Does Not Mean

• To mortify sin is not to utterly destroy it. (That’s Jesus’ job, not your job.)
• To mortify sin is not to outwardly forsake its practice. Those who do this are just “more cunning; not more holy.”
• To mortify sin is not to have a quiet, sedate nature. “Some men have an advantage by their natural constitution… they are not exposed to unruly passions and tumultuous affections as many others are.” This does not mean they have mortified sin.
• To mortify sin is not to divert it. “He that trades sensuality for Pharisaism has not mortified sin… He has changed his master, but he is a servant still.”
• To mortify sin is not to experience “occasional conquests” against it.

What It Does Mean

• A habitual weakening of sin.
• A constant fighting against sin.
• Success. Victory over sin!

How Do We Mortify Sin?

4 General Principles

1. You must set your faith on Christ. (Fill your soul with the consideration of who Jesus is and what he’s done for you)
2. You must rely on the Holy Spirit. “A man may easier see without eyes and speak without a tongue, than mortify a sin without the Spirit.”
3. You must be truly converted.
4. You must intend universal obedience. If you don’t intend to obey God in every area, you don’t hate sin; you hate the particular sin that is bothering you. Which means you don’t love Christ; you love yourself. A particularly strong, besetting sin commonly issues from a careless, negligent spiritual life in general.

9 Specific Directives

1. Get a clear and abiding sense upon your mind of the guilt, danger, and evil of your sin.
2. Load your conscience with the guilt of your besetting sin.
3. Long for deliverance from the power of sin. “Longing, breathing, and panting after deliverance is a grace in itself, that has a mighty power to conform the soul into the likeness of the thing longed after… Unless you long for deliverance you shall not have it.”
4. Consider whether you are prone toward a particular sin because of your personality or disposition. This should awaken your zeal. “So great an advantage is given to sin and Satan by your temper and disposition, that without extraordinary watchfulness, care, and diligence, they [sin and Satan] will prevail against your soul.”
5. Consider what occasions your sin uses to exert itself, and watch against them all.
6. Fight strongly against the first actings of your lust. “Sin is like water in a channel – once it breaks out, it will have its course.”
7. Dwell on thoughts that humble you and remind you of your sinfulness.
8. Know the warning signs of particularly dangerous sin patterns: persistent, habitual sin; secret pleas of the heart to leave sin alone; giving into sin without struggle; ignoring the conviction of the Holy Spirit; avoiding sin because you fear punishment. If a lust has any of these symptoms, it cannot be dealt with by an ordinary course of mortification; it requires extraordinary measures.
9. Do not speak peace to yourself before God speaks peace to you.

James 1.13-16 And Your Children

Over the last few weeks I have been preaching through James 1.13-16...

"Let no one say when he is tempted , "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren."

As a family we have been talking about all the many ways we are tempted to sin against God. One of the things that I was challenged to do is to find out what my wife is being tempted with each day and our older children. And one of the interesting and humbling things that has come out of these daily discussions with our children is that Stephanie and I now have one of our boys, Micah, who is asking us almost every day, "have you been tempted today to sin?" Wow!

This is something that I wasn't expecting to happen or even ready for, but in a good way is 'rocking our world'. I mean...I wasn't expecting to be held accountable by my six year old and have to give an account of the things that are tempting me in life...whether I stand firm against them or not.

So have any of you found this to be taking place in your family?

Maybe you're a few years ahead of us in the parenting years and can offer some good biblical advice or encouragement. I find this to be very interesting and healthy, but at the same time it is somewhat different for your child to ask you this question every day expecting a truthful answer.

I am happy and thankful to God that he is taking temptation to sin very seriously and I hope he perseveres in his life to always battle the enemy within and remain strong in the grace of God.

The Enemy Within

At the end of last year I asked our church to submit to me a list of their favorite books that have made a valuable impression on their souls. One of the suggestions was The Enemy Within by Kris Lundgaard. A good friend of mine was also reading it as he was preaching through the book of James. So a few weeks before I came to James 1.13-16, I read this book. I just finished preaching two sermons over these four verses and now I would like to give a brief description about this book and my recommendation. Thanks Julie Troxel for recommending the book it blessed me and pushed me to fight harder against the enemy within!

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The Enemy Within—Straight Talk About The Power And Defeat Of Sin

The Enemy Within was written by Kris Lundgaard. His aim is to answer the question, Why do I keep on sinning? A description of the book says, “This book takes dead aim at the heart of ongoing sin. Drawing from two masterful works by John Owen, Kris Lundgaard offers insight, encouragement, and hope for overcoming the enemy within."

This was definitely one of the best books that I’ve read recently. And since I read this book while preaching through James, specifically James chapter one, it certainly made it resonate with me even more. It is absolutely a ‘straight talk’ about the influence of indwelling sin.

It addresses the war that is present in every single Christian. It is a war that is made up of many battles against our unredeemed flesh. Christ has conquered the eternal defeat of sin for Christians, so what is left is a temporary earthly and worldly fight that we must engage in daily. Simply we must know the enemy that is within. Lundgaard says,

“Getting to know indwelling sin, as humiliating and discouraging as it can be, is our wisdom—if we have interest at all in finding out what pleases the Lord (Ephesians 5.10) and avoiding everything that grieves his Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4.30).

This indwelling sin has absolutely no power over the Christian. But it seeks to rule and reign, bullying its way through your mind, your heart, and eventually your will. And so the hope is that “the more you discover the power of indwelling sin, the less you will suffer its effects.”

Jeremiah 17.9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

In the Epistle of James he gives this counsel, “Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.” Pastor James’ counsel is…you’re the problem.

The Enemy Within is a great edifying work. It is worth your time and money, of course assuming that you take seriously your battle over temptation and sin.

The best price I found was at Westminster Theological Seminary’s online bookstore. Just click on this link The Enemy Within.

Is It A Sin To Not Like The Doctrine Of Election?

Below I have pasted an article from Piper answering the question, "Is it sin for me to not like the doctrine of election?"

Now the question is a very good one and the answer is as well, so take a moment and think through all the far reaching implications of this issue. Please understand the issue is not just election, but everything else that we may wrestle with concerning...God...as well.

The following is an edited transcript of the audio.

"I believe in the doctrine of election, but I don't like it much. Is it sin for me not to like the doctrine of election?

It's sin not to like the true doctrine of election. It's sin not to like what God likes. I want to say it like that because many people have conceptions of doctrines—all kinds of doctrines—that are inaccurate. And therefore their good hearts dislike them.

So you could say, "I dislike election," and be a good person, because you don't see election clearly. And what you're disliking should be disliked. Or you may be a person who is starting to see it clearly and your old self, which is bad, is rising up and not liking what ought to be liked.

So I don't know whether this person should be chastised or not. The principle would be, "To the degree that you see biblical truth clearly, you should like it."

Hell is a biblical truth. So when I say, "You should like hell," what I mean is that you should like it the way God does.

God, it says, "is not willing that any should perish." God "does not delight in the death of the wicked." God "afflicts us, but not from his heart" (Lamentations 3). So there is in God himself a willing that hell be and a liking that it exists in that big picture. And yet he grieves over sending anybody there.

So the word "like" is just a little bit difficult here, because you're going to have to do double perspectives again.

If God ordains that Jerusalem be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, should we like that? My answer is both yes and no. We should not like women boiling their children, but we should approve of God's decision that it happen.

And so there's a double perspective in which the things that you see in the small lens should be disliked, whereas what you see in the bigger lens of how God runs the world should be liked."

The Enemy Within

At the end of last year I asked our church to give me their list of books that have made a spiritual impression on their lives. As a pastor/shepherd I wanted to see what our people are reading and also I wanted to read several of their suggestions (which was almost 100 books). Out of all their recommendations I have chosen to read six books recommended by our congregation in 2010.

So I have been reading The Enemy Within by Kris Lundgaard that was recommended. This is an excellent book and it is addressing the very issue of indwelling sin that we are studying and preaching through in James chapter 1.

I wanted to highlight something that Lundgaard says concerning how the "flesh pumps up our heads and shrivels our hearts." He says,

"A person with a big head and a small heart can learn the doctrines of sin, yet never be convicted of sin. He can learn the teachings of grace and pardon and the great atonement for sin, yet never feel the peace of God that passes understanding. When the flesh gets a person to the point that he can sit under the teaching of the Word, and even delight in it for its intellectual beauty, yet not be changed, he has snuffed out the wick of his first love." (p.118)

We must be serious about the sinful pride of knowledge. It is true that we can attain knowledge without it ever changing us. Therefore as pastors, leaders, and as Christians we must pray as Paul prayed for the Thessalonians...

"for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction..." ~ 1 Thessalonians 1.5

This is a good word!

Two Mistakes in Thinking about the Redeemed Life

Cornelius Plantinga Jr., Beyond Doubt (p. 89):

"People tend to make two mistakes when they think about the redeemed life.

The first is to underestimate the sin that remains in us; it’s still there and it can still hurt us.

The second is to underestimate the strength of God’s grace; God is determined to make us new.

As a result, all Christians need to say two things. We admit that we are redeemed sinners. But we also say boldly and joyously that we are redeemed sinners."

(HT: JT)

Never Blame God For Your Sin!

I've been preaching through the epistle of James for several weeks and in the context of this Sunday's message James 1.13-17, I thought that I would quote Piper from his twitter page.

"To be caught in secret sin is a horrible thing. Only one thing worse. Not to be caught."

So here is a reminder of the origin of temptation and sin...

"Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust." ~James 1.13-14

The War Against Sin

This is a pretty good article and description on the 'war against sin' by Tim Challies. Warning: in this article he uses an extreme example of what sin could do in someone's life, when sin overpowers someone.

The Pacific Campaign of the Second World War has always fascinated me. In many ways, it seemed like a nonsensical series of battles between the United States and Japan. As the Americans sought to curtail Japanese aggression in the East, they fought their way across the Pacific Ocean, moving slowly and deliberately from island to island. Tiny, seemingly insignificant pieces of rock, jutting from the midst of a boundless ocean, hundreds of miles, thousands even, from the nearest mainland, became fierce battlegrounds. Tens of thousands of lives were lost in conquering these tiny little islands. And yet these islands were far more important than their size may have indicated, for they were able to serve as air bases from which strikes could be launched against other islands, and eventually against Japan itself. The insignificant islands were crucial stepping stones across the vast Pacific Ocean.

There are many lessons we can learn from the Pacific Campaign. Some apply to warfare, but others apply far beyond. One of the most important is this: little things lead to big things. This is as true in warfare as it is in the hearts of men and women.

The Spirit constantly challenges me to deal with little sins. As with so many other believers, I often tend to feel that I’m a pretty good guy. I have never committed any of the really “bad” sins. I’ve never killed anyone, I’ve never committed adultery and I’ve never stolen anything big enough for anyone to notice that it’s missing. I pay my taxes, stick near the speed limit, and try not to hate people. But while I have not committed those big sins, I’ve come to realize just how open I have become to the little sins. To use our military metaphor, while the mainland has not yet been conquered, I can see how I’ve gleefully allowed island after island to fall to Satan. Surely concentrated attacks on the mainland cannot be far behind. Surely big sins will follow these little ones.

You can read the rest of the article by clicking here.

The 'Acceptable' Sin--Gossip

Ray Ortlund defines one of the church's most popular and acceptable sins:

Gossip is our dark moral fervor eagerly seeking gratification.

Gossip makes us feel important and needed as we declare our judgments.

It makes us feel included to know the inside scoop.

It makes us feel powerful to cut someone else down to size, especially someone we are jealous of.

It makes us feel righteous, even responsible, to pronounce someone else guilty.

Gossip can feel good in multiple ways. But it is of the flesh, not of the Spirit.

. . . Gossip is a sin rarely disciplined but often more socially destructive than the sensational sins.

Gossip leaves a wide trail of devastation wherever and however it goes – word of mouth, email, blogging, YouTube.

It erodes trust and destroys morale.

It creates a social environment of suspicion where everyone must wonder what is being said behind their backs and whether appearances of friendship are sincere.

It ruins hard-won reputations with cowardly but effective weapons of misrepresentation.

It manipulates people into taking sides when no such action is necessary or beneficial.

It unleashes the dark powers of psychological transference, doing violence to the gossiper, to the one receiving the gossip and to the person being spoken against.

It makes the Body of Christ look like the Body of Antichrist – destroyers rather than healers.

It exhausts the energies we would otherwise devote to positive witness.

It robs our Lord of the Church he deserves.

It exposes the hostility in our hearts and discredits the gospel in the eyes of the world. Then we wonder why we don’t see more conversions, why “the ground is so hard.”

(HT: Justin Taylor)

The Truth Of The Cross--R.C. Sproul

Last year I received a copy of R.C. Sproul's book The Truth of The Cross, along with another 15 or so books, at the Together for the Gospel Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. I started reading it a couple of days ago. I've always loved listening to Sproul as he teaches during his famous, chalk in hand, lectures.

This work is really rich with meaning and depth on the atoning work of Christ. One thing that really gripped me was his illustration on how far the ramifications of our sin reaches. Sproul says, "Sin is cosmic treason."

"We rarely take time to think through the ramifications of our sin. We fail to realize that in even the slightest sins we commit, such as little white lies and other peccadilloes, we are violating the law of the Creator of the universe. In the smallest sin we defy God's right to rule and to reign over His creation. Instead, we seek to usurp for ourselves the authority and the power that belong properly to God. Even the slightest sin does violence to His holiness, to His glory, and to His righteousness. Every sin, no matter how seemingly insignificant, is truly an act of treason against the cosmic King."

I'm grieved to admit this, but I often find myself rather quickly responding to such a statement saying, "amen". I've recently come to do some soul searching, examining or just a plain spiritual heart check on my life when I hear such a statement, rather than just shout a quick 'amen'. I believe it to be a better practice by meditating on the significant reach for my sin and to quickly go to the cross where it has been paid in full, because it no longer condemns me, but has already been condemned in the cross of Christ.

This kind of practice is something that I have to coach myself to do. It doesn't come natural for me. What seems to come more natural to me is a quick 'amen' response, because I wholeheartedly embrace such a theological claim. But meditation on this doctrinal truth, I believe, is a much better practice that produces a response that ushers a much more resolved 'hallelujah amen' for the atoning work of Christ on my life!

More Full Of Grace Than I Of Sin

from Of First Importance

“Only by seeing our sin do we come to see the need for and wonder of grace. But exposing sin is not the same thing as unveiling and applying grace. We must be familiar with and exponents of its multifaceted power, and know how to apply it to a variety of spiritual conditions. Truth to tell, exposing sin is easier than applying grace; for, alas, we are more intimate with the former than we sometimes are with the latter. Therein lies our weakness.”

- Sinclair Ferguson, as quoted in an interview with CJ Mahaney