John Owen's (Surprising) Counsel to Struggling, Doubting Believers

In his masterful exposition of Psalm 130, the seventeenth-century Puritan John Owen gave the church  one of the most comprehensive theological and pastoral treatments of forgiveness of sin and assurance ever written. This is one of my favorite of Owen's books and one that I return to over and again.

Near the end of his exposition, Owen includes a wonderfully encouraging chapter for saints struggling with sin. Having already presented an extensive exposition of the nature of gospel forgiveness, Owen is now turning to objections. And among the objections he addresses are those "arising from the consideration of [the soul's] present state and condition as to actual holiness, duties, and sins." (Owen, Works 6:600). Owen further explains:

"Souls complain, when in darkness and under temptations, that they cannot find that holiness, nor those fruits of it in themselves, which they suppose an interest in pardoning mercy will produce. Their hearts they find are weak, and their duties worthless. If they were weighed in the balance, they would all be found too light. In the best of them there is such a mixture of self, hypocrisy, unbelief, vain-glory, that they are even ashamed and confounded with the remembrance of them."  (Works, 6:600, emphasis Owen's)

I suppose any earnest and honest Christian has experienced this: doubts regarding the reality of God's forgiveness, struggles with assurance, that are rooted in the consciousness of one's struggles with sin and weakness in holiness.

How do you suppose Owen responds?

Keep in mind that this is the author of that hard-hitting trilogy on mortification, temptation, and indwelling sin (which are, incidentally, bound in the same volume). This is the Puritan about which the Scottish professor John Duncan said to his students, "Prepare for the knife!" What do you think Owen would say to you when you are doubting your salvation because of your low-levels of holiness and on your ongoing battles with sin?

You might be surprised.

Don't just sit there, do something 

Owen first reminds his readers to "take heed of heartless complaints when vigorous actings of grace are expected at our hands." This is a reference back to one his previous directions for those who are waiting on God for assurance. His point is to counter an unbelieving kind of spiritual passivity. Think of the person who just blew it with anger or lust again, and so is again doubting his or her salvation. "I must not be a Christian at all," they conclude. Clouds of guilt hang overhead. But instead of seeking God's face, the struggling sinner starts channel-surfing. No bible-reading, no prayer, no waiting on God. To this person, Owen would say,

"why lie you on your faces? why do you not rise and put yourselves to the utmost, giving all diligence to add one grace to another, until you find yourselves in a better frame?" 

In other words, don't be passive: rouse yourself and seek the Lord!

But that is not all Owen says, for he knows that there are sincere, seeking saints who yet struggle with great discouragement over their sins. And it is to such persons that he now turns.

Don't trust in your sanctification for justification 

The next thing he does is show us that our remaining sins remind us that we are not justified by our holiness, but by grace alone: "known holiness is apt to degenerate into self-righteousness," he writes. "What God gives us on the account of sanctification we are ready enough to reckon on the score of justification...We have so much of the Pharisee in us by nature that it is sometimes well that our good is hid from us. We are ready to take our corn and wine and bestow them on other lovers."

What I think Owen means by this is that sometimes when we are doing well, we start looking at our holiness as if it were the righteousness that commends us to God. We trust in our sanctification as the basis of our justification. And when we're in this state of mind, indwelling sin brings us back to our senses and reminds us that we are saved wholly by grace.

Owen continues,

"Were there not in our hearts a spiritually sensible principle of corruption, and in our duties a discernible mixture of self, it would be impossible we should walk so humbly as is required of them who hold communion with God in a covenant of grace and pardoning mercy. It is a good life which is attended with a faith of righteousness and a sense of corruption." (Works, 6:600, emphasis mine)

In other words, Owen is saying, be humbled and remember that you are saved by grace.

Struggling against indwelling sin is an evidence of grace 

A couple of paragraphs later, Owen reminds us that,

"Oftentimes holiness in the heart is more known by the opposition that is made there to it, than by its own prevalent working. The Spirit's operation is known by the flesh's opposition. We find a man's strength by the burdens he carries, and not the pace that he goes. 'O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' is a better evidence of grace and holiness than 'God, I thank thee that I am not as other men.'" (Works, 6:601, emphasis Owen's)

The nuancing that follows shows that Owen is not veering into antinomianism here. He doesn't mean that we should continue in sin that grace may abound. He is speaking not to the profligate who has turned grace into a license for sin, but to the those who know the "close, adhering power of indwelling sin, tempting, seducing, soliciting, hindering, captivating, conceiving, [and] restlessly disquieting." Only those who pursue holiness and fight the good fight of faith have really experienced this intense assault of indwelling sin. But as Owen says, "He may have more grace than another who brings not forth so much fruit as the other, because he hath more opposition, more temptation..."

God accepts your imperfect duties because of Christ 

Perhaps the most surprising thing Owen says is this:

"Know that God despiseth not small things. He takes notice of the least breathings of our hearts after him when we ourselves can see nor perceive no such thing. He knows the mind of the Spirit in those workings which are never formed to that height that we can reflect upon them with our observation. Everything that is of him is noted in his book, though not in our ours . . . even whilst his people are sinning, he can find something in their hearts, words or ways, that pleaseth him; much more in their duties. He is a skillful refiner, that can find much gold in that ore where we see nothing but lead or clay. He remembers the duties which we forget, and forgets the sins which we remember..."  (Works, 6:602-603; emphasis of last sentence mine)

How can God do this? Only because of Christ. "Jesus Christ takes whatever is evil and unsavory out of [our duties], and makes them acceptable . . . God accepts a little, and Christ makes our little a great deal."

Grow in faith in order to grow in holiness  

His final response is to exhort us to faith in Christ for sanctification. Read carefully what he says:

"The reason why thou art no more holy is because thou has no more faith. If thou hast no holiness, it is because thou has not faith. Holiness is the purifying of the heart by faith, or our obedience unto the truth. And the reason why thou art no more in duty, is because thou art no more in believing. The reason why thy duties are weak and imperfect is, because faith is weak and imperfect. Hast thou no holiness? believe, that thou mayest have. Hast thou but a little, or that which is imperceptible? -- be steadfast in believing, that thou mayest abound in obedience." (Works, 6:603)

These excerpts demonstrate once more John Owen's wisdom and skill in the art of soul surgery. Owen is a surefooted guide on the narrow road of gospel holiness, avoiding both the precipice of legalism on the left and gulf of antinomianism on the right. When he counsels the doubting Christian who is discouraged by the presence of indwelling sin, Owen does not simply tell them (us) to quit sinning and work harder at being holy (the legalistic approach). But neither does he say holiness doesn't matter (the antinomian approach).

He instead shows us that our failures should cause us to slay self-righteousness and grasp tenaciously to God's grace and mercy in Christ. He reminds us that genuine struggle against indwelling sin is itself an evidence of God's grace in our lives. He points us to God's mercy in Christ, reminding us that God mercifully receives even the imperfect obedience of all those who are accepted in his Son. And he exhorts us to deeper faith in Christ himself, since faith is the root of holiness.

Exterminating the Pests in Your Life

I recently had to call the exterminator. My father-in-law was visiting and thought he spotted termites. I tried not to panic, hoped insurance would cover the costs, and had someone come inspect the house. Thankfully, no termites. That was the good news. The bad news is that we do have carpenter ants. And, based on this fella's look in our crawl space, a few mice to boot. When I got home that day, Holly (my wife) was ready to sell the house. She doesn't do mice. So, now I'm on a quarterly pest control plan and am a few hundred dollars poorer.

Dealing with pests is annoying. I don't have time for this kind of stuff. Why did God make ants and mice anyway?

But not dealing with pests is dangerous. Carpenter ants (along with termites) eat wood and can cause serious structural damage to a house. And mice carry diseases. If you don't exterminate the pests, they just might exterminate you. Or make you really sick. Or cost you a lot of money in home repairs later on. Better deal with the pesky pests now than ignore them and pay for it later.

It kind of reminds me of what a seventeenth-century theologian named John Owen once said about sin. "Be killing sin or sin will be killing you." Sins are the termites of the soul, the carpenter ants that eat away at our hearts, our inner lives, the subterranean parts of our very selves. Sins are like mice: they may seem harmless enough when you look at them behind glass in the pet store, but they also carry deadly disease.

Having to deal with sin in my life is sometimes annoying. I don't particularly enjoy confession and repentance. But not dealing with sin is dangerous. And the Apostle Paul tells us that they must be exterminated: "If you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live" (Romans 8:12, NIV). Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you.

So, how do you kill sin?

Look to the Cross

Well, first we must go to the place where sin has already been slain: the cross of Christ. "'He himself bore our sins' in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed'" (1 Peter 2:24, NIV). Or, to quote John Owen again, "There is no death of sin without the death of Christ." The only way you can really kill a sin is through faith in Jesus, who has already died for your sins on the cross.

Get to the Root

Next, it's important that we get to the root of sin in the heart. Jesus taught that wickedness and sin come from the heart (Matthew 15:18-20) and Paul exhorts us to go after not just sinful deeds, but evil desires (Colossians 3:5). To draw on the pest illustration again, it's not enough to just stomp on the ants when they appear. Our exterminator sprayed the perimeter of our house, our trees, and more. This was evidently the best chance of killing off the nest. Our sinful actions always spring from a deeper nest of disordered affections, sinful motives and evil desires. To kill sin, you have to go deep.

Make No Provision for the Flesh

Of course, that doesn't mean you can ignore the behaviors themselves. Paul, in fact, tells us to "make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires" (Romans 13:14, ESV). If you struggle with lust, you may need to cancel your Sports Illustrated subscription before February. If the temptation is drunkenness, then stay out of bars. Or, if it's gluttony (and almost no one ever talks about that weighty sin), maybe you need to avoid fast food restaurants and the snack aisle in Walmart. But whatever your sinful tendency is, you've got to pay attention to where and when you're tempted and avoid those times and places.

Depend on the Spirit

But don't think you can exterminate sin on your own. You can't. That's why Paul says that it's "by the Spirit" that we put to death the misdeeds of the body (Romans 8:12). This doesn't mean no effort on our part is required. It means, rather, that all of our effort must be dependent effort. It's kind of like parachuting. You can't parachute unless you jump. But you still have to trust the parachute to work. In the same way, you and I must act. But we act in reliance on the Spirit's power to carry us. 

Remember it's an Ongoing Battle

Finally, realize that this will be an ongoing battle. I can expect at least quarterly visits from my exterminator, and, if ants show up inside my house, I will have to call them back sooner.  They're going to keep coming back. Therefore, aggressive action is required. Left unchecked, sins will also creep back into our lives. In fact, quarterly bouts of repentance will be far too little in this fight. The pests of sin have to be hunted and killed daily. Aggressive action is required.

For more practical help on killing sin, see my book Licensed to Kill: A Field Manual for Mortifying Sin. 

This article was written for Christianity.com.

Active Spirituality: The Relationship Between God's Grace and Your Effort in Living the Christian Life

One of the most important questions I am asked as a pastor is how to understand the relationship between God's grace and our effort in living the Christian life. We know that we are supposed to walk in the power of the Spirit. But what does this look like?

Some forms of spirituality promote an unhealthy passivity in their approach to sanctification, by using such slogans as "Let go and let God" or "It's not in trying, it's in trusting." (Note: for an excellent historical overview and charitable critique of one significant stream of this teaching, see Andy Naselli's book Let Go and Let God: A Survey and Analysis of Keswick Theology.) Even among Reformed thinkers, who are rightly allergic to an overemphasis on moral effort that obscures the primacy of God's grace, there lurks the danger of speaking about the role of the gospel (or grace, or the Spirit) in sanctification in ways that mute biblical exhortations like "walk," "fight," and "run".

I'm working on a book that will address some of these concerns, called Active Spirituality, which will be published by Shepherd Press in 2012 or 2013. But here is a sampling of quotes from theologians across the centuries who seem to get the biblical balance right. 

“Give me the grace to do as you command, and command me to do what you will! . . . when your commands are obeyed, it is from you that we receive the power to obey them.” --Augustine, Confessions, Book X, Chap. 31.

"There can be no doubt...that the beginning of our salvation rests with God, and is enacted neither through us nor with us. The consent and the work, however, though not originating from us, nevertheless are not without us... What was begun by grace alone, is completed by grace and free choice together, in such a way that the contribute to each new achievement not singly, but jointly; not by turns, but simultaneously. It is not as if grace did one half of the work and free choice the other, but each does the whole work, according to its own peculiar contribution. Grace does the whole work, and so does free choice - with this one qualification: that whereas the whole is done in free choice, so the whole is done of grace. --Bernard of Clairvaux, De gratia, 14.46-47; Quoted in Dennis E. Tamburello, Union with Christ: John Calvin and the Mysticism of St. Bernard, p. 42.

"Our duty and God's grace are nowhere opposed in the matter of sanctification, yeah, the one doth absolutely suppose the other. Neither can we perform our duty herein without the grace of God; nor doth God give us this grace unto any other end but that we may rightly perform our duty. He that shall deny either that God commands us to be holy in a way of duty, or promiseth to work holiness in us in a way of grace, may with as much modesty reject the whole Bible." --John Owen, "A Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit," in Works of John Owen, Volume 3, p. 384.

"In efficacious grace we are not merely passive, nor yet does God do some, and we do the rest. But God does all, and we do all. God produces all, and we act all. For that is what he produces, viz. our own acts. God is the only proper author and fountain; we are the only proper actors. We are, in different respects, wholly passive, and wholly active." --Jonathan Edwards, "On Efficacious Grace," in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume 2, p. 557.

"In the gospel...there are actually no demands and no conditions. For God supplies what he demands. Christ has accomplished everything, and though he did not accomplish rebirth, faith, and repentance in our place, he did acquire them for us, and the Holy Spirit therefore applies them. Still, in its administration by Christ, the covenant of grace does assume this demanding conditional form. The purpose is to acknowledge humans in their capacity as rational and moral beings; still, though they are fallen, to treat them as having been created in God's image; and also on this supremely important level, where it concerns their eternal weal and eternal woe, to hold them responsible and inexcusable; and, finally, to cause them to enter consciously and freely into this covenant and to break their covenant with sin. The covenant of grace, accordingly, is unilateral: it proceeds from God; he has designed it and defined it. He maintains and implements it. It is a work of the triune God and is totally completed among the three Persons themselves. But it is destined to become bilateral, to be consciously and voluntarily accepted and kept by humans in the power of God... The covenant of grace does not deaden human beings or treat them as inanimate objects. On the contrary, it totally includes them with all their faculties and powers, in soul and body, for time and eternity. It embraces them totally, does not destroy their power, but deprives them of their impotence. IT does not kill their will but frees them from sin; it does not numb their consciousness but delivers it from darkness. It re-creates the whole person and, having renewed it by grace, prompts it, freely and independently, with soul, mind, and body, to love God and to dedicate itself to him." --Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: Sin and Salvation in Christ, Volume 3, p. 230.

“God’s work in salvation, in Paul’s view, never absorbs or invalidates man’s work, but arouses and stimulates it and gives it meaning.” --G. C. Berkouwer, Faith and Sanctification, p. 122.

"Passivity, which quietists think liberates the Spirit, actually resists and quenches him. Souls that cultivate passivity do not thrive, but waste away. The Christian's motto should not be 'Let go and let God' but 'Trust God and get going!'" --J. I. Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit, p. 157.

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." --The Apostle Paul, Philippians 2:12-13

Trinitarian Spirituality: John Owen and the Doctrine of God in Western Devotion by Brian K. Kay (Book Review)

While Evangelicals are hungry for authentic spiritual experience, we are, it seems to me, rather confused about how to get it. This hunger is a good thing, evidenced by the many books now available on spiritual formation and the disciplines, not to mention the plethora of devotional guides now on the market. But evidence of the confusion is seen in the actual content of some this material.

On one hand, there is a focus on technique over theology. Richard Foster, whose Celebration of Disciplines in many ways pioneered three decades of literature on renewed interest in the disciplines, is a case in point. In many ways, it’s a helpful book, full of practical guidance on practicing the classic disciplines. But it is so thin on theology that a Unitarian would probably find little with which to disagree in its pages.

On the other hand, even when there is theological reflection in books on spirituality, more appeal is often made to authors in the mystical and contemplative traditions than to their Evangelical and Reformed counterparts. (And this isn’t a new trend. A. W. Tozer’s Pursuit of God, now almost fifty-five years old, freely quotes Thomas a’Kempis, Nicolas of Cusa and the anonymous The Cloud of Unknowing.) Though I have no hard evidence for it, my suspicion is that the effect of our confused attempts to meet this hunger is something like trying to satisfy a voracious physical appetite by gorging on cotton candy – it may taste good at first, but it lacks the nourishing value of a well-balanced meal.

A partial course correction may lie in an under-noticed theological monograph on the infamously difficult-to-read Puritan theologian John Owen – Brian Kay’s Trinitarian Spirituality: John Owen and the Doctrine of God in Western Devotion (Wipf & Stock, 2008). The stated purpose of Kay’s book is “to answer the question of how the Christian doctrine of God has, and can, make an impact on Christian models of spirituality” (p. 1). Kay believes that since we practice our spiritual lives before the face of God who has rightful claims on our lives, our spirituality should therefore “be subject to external controls of divine revelation” (1). In other words, true spirituality is grounded on right theology.

Kay is particularly concerned to determine how Trinitarian theology should shape spirituality and sees John Owen as an “illustrative test case of what kinds of devotional fruit result when trinitarian doctrine is built right into the groundwork of a system of prayer and meditation” (2). Kay presents two criteria for evaluating various models of trinitarian spirituality.

1. “A good model should draw explicitly (and substantially) from the classic trinitarian doctrine of the ancient formulations”;
2. “The model [should] make use of the historia salutis [history of salvation] as the lens through which the believer gazes upon and responds to such a trinitarian God.” (4)

Kay’s book is a thoughtful and well-informed exploration of both theology and spirituality that situates John Owen’s trinitarian spirituality in its historical context of post-medieval and post-reformation spirituality, while contrasting and comparing Owen with a broad swath of conversation partners, from Bernard of Clairvaux and Thomas a’Kempis to James Torrance, Karl Rahner, and Karl Barth.

Five Gains from This Book

I’ve read few books in recent years that have yielded more spiritual profit and pleasure than Trinitarian Spirituality. I hope this review will help direct the attention of pastors (and scholars) to this important contribution. Let me suggest five gains to be had from a careful reading.

1. The first gain is an increase in historical consciousness about the different streams of thought in Western devotion and their relationship to Puritan spirituality in general and John Owen in particular.  

Too many pastors lack broad, first-hand familiarity with the people we quote so often in sermons – Meister Eckhart, Julian of Norwich, Thomas a’Kempis, Bernard of Clairvaux, Lewis Bayly, et cetera. Like the popular Evangelical books we read, we sometimes quote these writers without paying much attention to the fuller context of their teaching. And, of course, we can’t (unfortunately!) read everything. Books like  Trinitarian Spirituality, while selective in focus, can go a long ways in helping us better understand some of the distinctives of these different writers and the larger movements of which they were part, as well as give us some guidance for further reading.

2. The second benefit of this book is a deeper understanding of John Owen’s unique contributions to Trinitarian spirituality. 

This is the real focus of the book, of course, and Kay doesn’t disappoint the reader in providing fresh and insightful analysis of Owen’s work. Kay demonstrates that “Owen represents the closest pastoral appropriation of the theological trinitarianism of the Reformed scholastics,” but with emphases that are “somewhat unique when compared with other famous devotional writings of the period” (54). And, by highlighting the devotional warmth of Owen’s writings, Brian Kay also helps correct the mistaken notion, postulated by Alan Clifford and R. T. Kendall, that Owen “helped to ruin Protestant devotion by infusing it with a cold predestinarianism built upon deadening Aristotelian logic” (2).

3. A somewhat incidental gain could be in how this book furthers the discussion about the role of faith in sanctification. 

In light of the recent exchange between DeYoung and Tchividjian, I found Kay’s unpacking of Owen very helpful. Kay shows how Owen’s Federal theology and Trinitarian spirituality enabled him to avoid legalistic and moralistic directives for sanctification. Owen, of course, is best known today for his practical treatments on indwelling sin, temptation, and mortification. Holiness was clearly a high priority for Owen and he didn’t shun detailed and practical guidance on how to deal with sin and pursue holiness. In some ways, Owen is the premier Reformed theologian when it comes to sanctification.

Kay contends that “there is probably no better lens through which to observe Owen’s trinitarian view of communion [with God] than his teaching on sanctification” (157). After demonstrating that Owen’s system of spirituality is “born out of a doctrine of the Trinity that recognizes historically initiated and fulfilled covenant obligations between the members of the Godhead,” Kay infers that “the great advantage is that sanctification is prevented from functionally becoming either legalistic of human-centered, since human moral energy is itself rooted in a reward to the Son from the Father…To root sanctification’s power in so steady and determined an exchange between the Father and the Son is even more potent than merely saying that sanctification is somehow generally ‘by grace’” (158). Here, I think, are fruitful fields ripe for harvest.

4. Related to this is a fourth gain, as Kay explicitly traces out the “meditative technique” in Owen’s spirituality.  

He does this a few places (e.g. pp. 68-71, 89-91, 129-134, and 156-160). Most of chapter five is devoted to a detailed analysis of Owen’s 1657 masterpiece, Communion with the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Each Person Distinctly in Love, Grace and Consolidation. At its heart, Owen’s method calls for deep reflection on the grace and love of God. “If there is a ‘spiritual discipline’ to be drawn from Owen’s Federalism [covenant theology], this is it – to work hard to convince oneself of the Father’s determined love” (130).

But the Father’s love is expressed in the giving of the Son and the sending of the Spirit. “Because of its roots in the Trinity’s own ministrations, this is a way to practice sanctification that proves much more worship- and grace-centered than some kind of an endeavor to merely ‘imitate Christ”… This is a meditative technique to be sure, but one that has the believer glued to the divine drama for the basis of her consolation and moral energy” (160). Because Owen’s devotional method is rooted in the doctrine of the Trinity, it is also radically gospel-centered.

5. Finally, Kay’s exposition of Owen demonstrates the importance of the drama of redemption for a rich devotional life.

In contrast to both (a) the esoteric devotion of mystical spiritualities, which so easily veer into “platonic, hyper-spirituality” in their focus on immediacy and transcendence to the neglect of God’s redemptive acts in history, and (b) the “maudlin and short-lived” emotions manufactured through “revivalistic spiritualities,” which tend to rely on “sentimental music” and “forceful oratory” (198) in their attempts to produce an affective response to God, this book unpacks a biblical and attractive alternative for stirring the affections of the heart. Kay, using Owen, shows us that (in Dorothy Sayers’ words) “the dogma…is the drama” (197).

By giving sustained attention to the distinctive redemptive acts of our Triune God, our hearts are made to burn within us with the fires of love and devotion to God in a deeper way than mere exhortations and flat explanations can produce. As Kay summarizes near the end of his book (195, 197): “Emplotment captures us in a way that static explanations do not, so it should not be a surprise that a God who intends us to worship him has revealed himself in moving history . . . . The story is deep enough to tell us not only who God is, but who we are, what is wrong with us, what the cure is, and even where the Lord of the story is surely taking us in the final act. This is a story that has doctrinal content, yes, but it also has an epic power to strike the heart.”

Directions to Walking with God: Learning from a Puritan

Those Thick, Long, Intimidating Books

The Puritans wrote hefty, lengthy, thick books. Many of them sit on my shelves, and I've read quite a few. But their length can be intimidating, even to the most voracious reader. One of these tomes that has been collecting dust in my study for years is Richard Baxter's The Christian Directory, which Tim Keller calls "the greatest manual on biblical counseling ever produced."

It contains well over 1000 (mostly) double-columned pages with fine print, and according to J. I. Packer, contains a 1.25 million (yes million!) words. So, I'm pretty sure I'll never finish this book, or come anywhere near.

But that's not keeping me from benefiting. Over the past month or so I've picked it up a few times and each time I do, I profit. Fully ten percent of the book contains Baxter's "General Grand Directions for Walking with God, in a Life of Faith and Holiness: containing the Essentials of Godliness and Christianity," which can be particularly helpful in sketching out a scheme for spiritual growth and vitality for any believer's life.

Seventeen "Grand Directions for Walking with God"

There are seventeen of these grand directions, and most of them are then further subdivided into any number of other propositions, directions, questions, answers, and more. But, as with the entire volume, one doesn't have to read every word of these grand directions (I haven't) to benefit. In fact, just the directions themselves, without exposition, are helpful, in giving a comprehensive summary of Christian duties which arise from Christian doctrines.

Here they are:

1. Labour to understand well the nature, grounds, reason, and order of faith and godliness; and to believe upon such grounds, so well understood, as will not suffer you to stagger, or entertain a contrary to belief.

2. Diligently labour in that part of the life of faith, which consisteth in the constant use of Christ, as the means of the soul's access to God, acceptance with him, and comfort from him: and think not of coming to the Father, but by him.

3. Understand well what it is to believe in the Holy Ghost; and see that he dwell and operate in thee, as the life of thy soul, and that thou do not resist or quench the Spirit, but thankfully obey him.

4. Let it be your chiefest study to attain to a true, orderly, and practical knowledge of God, in his several attributes and relations; and to find a due impression from each of them upon your hearts, and a distinct, effectual improvement of them in your lives.

5. Remember that God is your Lord or Owner: and see that you make an absolute resignation of yourselves, and all that you have, to him as his own; and use yourselves and all accordingly; trust him with his own; and rest in his disposals.

6. Remember that God is your sovereign King, to rule and judge you; and that it is your rectitude and happiness to obey and please him.

7. Continue as the covenanted scholars of Christ, the Prophet and Teacher of his church, to learn of him by his Spirit, word, and ministers, the farther knowledge of God, and the things that tend to your salvation; and this with an honest, willing mind, in faith, humility, and diligence; in obedience, patience, and peace.

8. Remember that you are related to Christ as the Physician of your souls, and to the Holy Ghost as your Sanctifier. Make it therefore your serious study, to be cured by Christ, and cleansed by his Spirit, of all the sinful diseases and defilements of your hearts and lives.

9. Spend all your days in skillfull, vigilant, resolute, and valiant war against the flesh, the world, and the devil, as those that have covenanted to follow Christ the Captain of your salvation.

10. Your lives must be laid out in doing God service, and doing all the good you can, in works of piety, justice, and charity, with prudence, fidelity, industry, zeal, and delight; remembering that you are engaged to God, as servants to their lord and master; and are entrusted with his talents, of the improvements whereof you  must give account.

11. Let it be most deeply engraven on thy heart, that God is infinitely good and amiable; thy grand Benefactor and Father in Christ; the end of all that thou art and hast; and the everlasting rest and happiness of thy soul: see therefore that thy inflamed heart be entirely and absolutely offered up unto him by the mediation of his Son, to love him, to trust him, to delight in him, to be thankful to him, to glorify him, and through faith to long for the heavenly glory, where all this will be done perfectly forever.

12. Trust God with that soul and body which thou hast delivered up and dedicated to him; and quiet thy mind in his love and faithfulness, whatever shall appear unto thee, or befall thee in this world.

13. Diligently labour that God and holiness may be thy chief delight: and this holy delight may be the ordinary temperament of thy religion.

14. Let thankfulness to God thy Creator, Redeemer, and Regenerator, be the very temperament of thy soul, and faithfully expressed by thy tongue and life.

15. Let thy very heart be set to glorify God, thy Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier; both with the estimation of thy mind, the praises of thy mouth, and the holiness of thy life.

16. Let your life on earth be a conversation in heaven, by the constant work of faith and love; even such faith as maketh things future as now present, and the unseen world as if it were continually open to your sight; and such love as makes you long to see the glorious face of God, and the glory of your dear Redeemer, and to be taken up with blessed spirits in his perfect, endless, love and praise.

17. As the soul must be carried up to God, and devoted to him, according to all the foregoing directions, so must it be delivered from carnal selfishness, or flesh-pleasing, which is the grand enemy to God and godliness in the world; and from the three great branches of this idolatry, viz. the love of sensual pleasures, the love of worldly wealth, and the proud desire and love of worldly honour and esteem: and the mortifying of these must be much of the labour of your lives.

Conclusion: Grace Plus Effort = Greater Holiness, Deeper Joy

Now, perhaps just reading this table of contents was a tiring exercise for you. In fact, I'll bet most readers skipped part, or even most, of this list to get to this concluding paragraph! And I'll also bet that this exhaustive and exhausting series of directions leaves you feeling more than a bit overwhelmed, thinking: "if that's what it requires to walk with God, then I'm sunk! I just don't have the time or energy for this." I can relate.

But I'd also suggest that this very attitude may lie at the root of our low levels of holiness and happiness in our Christian lives. We don't want to put effort into it. And so talk about grace is more attractive to us than talk about effort and we do all that we can to sidestep lists of requirements, directions, and rules. Again, I understand. Really, I do.

But I'm also learning something from these Puritans, who tower like Redwood trees (Packer's image) above me in my sagebrush-like (short, shrubby, and dry) spirituality. I'm learning that grace + effort = both greater holiness and deeper joy.

And that leads me to end with Baxter's beginning to this 100,000 word series of exhortations on walking with God. As you read this, keep in mind that when Baxter says "habit" he means an inward principle or inclination. He said.

"Habits are for use: grace is given you, not only that you may have it, but also that you may know how to use it . . . It is grace in exercise that you must discern; and habits are not perceived in themselves, but by their acts; and the more lively and powerful the exercise is, the more easily is grace perceived: so that this is the nearest and surest way to a certainty of our own sincerity . . . He that useth grace most and best, hath most grace; and he that hath most, and useth it most, may most easily be assured that he hath it in sincerity and truth."

Reading John Owen (Part 5): How Sin Entices the Affections

I am continuing to benefit from reading and meditating on the writings of John Owen. Continuing on with my previous posts on Owen's book, Indwelling Sin in Believers, today I want to highlight his insights on how sin entangles the affections.

Owen uses James 1:13-15 to discuss the steps by which sin deceives us. The first step is to draw away the mind from watchfulness, obedience, and holiness. But then sin entices and entangles the affections. Owen unpacks this dimension of sin's work by showing three things: 1. What it is to be enticed; 2. How sin does this; and 3. How we may escape.

1. What it is to be enticed by sin

This is where Owen does some of his best spiritual diagnosis. He points out three evidences of being enticed by sin. I have found these helpful to use in self examination. I will paraphrase Owen and give them to you in the form of three sets of questions.

(a) Do you find yourself frequently thinking about something sinful? Is your imagination possessed by some sinful object, attraction, or desire? Peter speaks of those whose eyes are full of adultery and cannot cease from sin (2 Pet. 2:14). John warns us against the lusts or desires of the eyes (1 John 2:16). And both Eve and Achan were enticed to sin because of what they saw.

(b) Do you dwell on sin with secret pleasure? When you think about some temptation to sin, do you taste its sweetness with the tongue of the soul? It may be an illicit sexual desire, a lust for getting even, or some secret self-indulgence. It may even be something that you would never dream of actually doing. But the thought of it still gives you pleasure.

(c) Do you rationalize? Do you find yourself arguing against conviction? "It's just a little sin." "No one is perfect." "God will forgive me." "I won't go too far." "I'll give this up soon." This is what Owen calls, "sin's language in a deceived heart." He goes on: "When the soul is willing to be tempted, to be courted by sin, to listen to its proposals, it has lost its marriage affection to Christ, and is ensnared."

2. How sin entices us

Owen also shows us four strategies that sin uses to entice, entangle, and ensnare our affections.

(a) Sin distracts us from watchfulness by pointing out our recent victories. If you recently escaped some temptation or another, watch out. Sin is preparing the third assault. (The second assault has already happened: it's how good you feel about yourself for having defeated the first assault.)

(b) Sin presents itself as desirable and satisfying. It appeals to our most corrupt affections and desires. It uses what Scripture calls "the fleeting pleasures of sin" (Heb. 11:25).

(c) Sin shows the bait, but hides the hook. This is actually the language of another Puritan, Thomas Brooks, from his book Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. But Owen makes the same point when he says, "Sin deceitfully hides the danger that attends sin. It covers it, just as the bait covers the hook." Sin uses what Owen calls "a thousand subterfuges" to hide the true outcome of sin. The art of seduction is the art of diversion. Sin diverts us from its true danger.

(d) Finally, sin argues with us. Like a slick lawyer, sin presents a case for itself.

3. How to escape the enticements of sin

So, how do we escape the enticements of sin? Owen gives two basic answers.

(a) We must guard the object of our affections.

In general, this means that we must keep our affections fixed on "things above" (Colossians 3:2). Only then can we truly put sin to death (verse 5). Owen briefly discusses what these "things above" are: God, his beauty and glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, grace, glory, the mysteries revealed in the gospel, and the blessings promised by the gospel. "If our affections were filled, possessed with these things, as it is our duty that they should be, and our happiness when they are, what access could sin, with its painted pleasures, its sugared poisons, its envenomed baits, have to our souls?"

But more specifically, Owen points us to Christ himself, exhorting us to "set your affections on the cross of Christ." This may be my favorite paragraph in the entire book. Owen says,

Set your affections on the cross of Christ. This is eminently effective in frustrating the whole work of indwelling sin. The apostle gloried and rejoiced in the cross of Christ. His heart was set on it. It crucified the world to him, making it a dead and undesirable thing (Gal. 6:14). The baits and pleasures of sin are all things in the world, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” By these sin entices and entangles our souls. If the heart is filled with the cross of Christ, it casts death and undesirability on them all, leaving no seeming beauty, pleasure, or comeliness in them. Again, Paul says, “It crucifies me to the world and makes my heart, my affections, and my desires dead to all these things. It roots up corrupt lusts and affections, and leaves no desire to go and make provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts.” Labour, therefore, to fill your hearts with the cross of Christ.

(b) We must keep our affections for heavenly things in full vigor. "If they are not constantly attended to, stirred up, directed, and warned, they are apt to decay, and sin lies ready in wait to take every advantage it can against them."

So, how are your affections? Are they fixed on Christ or entangled with sin? Look to him, brothers and sisters. Fill your affections with the cross of Christ, that there may be no room for sin.

[Note, all quotations are taken from chapter 11 of Indwelling Sin in Believers].

Reading John Owen (Part 4): How Sin Deceives

My last post on Owen introduced his writing on the deceitfulness of sin. Owen uses James 1:13-15 to discuss the steps by which sin deceives us. The first step is to "draw away the mind from attending to a course of obedience and holiness." So, how does sin do this? Owen gives two broad answers, and breaks down the first answer into further steps. [All the following quotes are from chapter 8 in Owen's Indwelling Sin in Believers.]

"1. [Sin] endeavours to draw the mind away from a due appreciation of its own vileness and the danger that faces it."

"2. Sin also seeks to draw away the mind from a constant, holy consideration of God and his grace."

To paraphrase, sin deceives us by minimizing the sinfulness of sin and the greatness of God. Sin deceives us by drawing our minds away from both the truth about how wicked, vile, subtle, and dangerous sin is on one hand; and from how great, satisfying, ravishing, and liberating God's grace is on the other hand. Sin deceives us by causing us to overlook or excuse our own sins and by causing us to forget or neglect who God is and what he has done for us.

And note, the "sin" under consideration, which Owen speaks of, following Paul (see Romans 6), as an active force or power, is our own indwelling sin. It is what Paul calls "the flesh." Which means we're responsible for it.

How then does sin draw our minds away from seeing the ugliness and danger of sin? It does so, says Owen, by "a horrible abuse of gospel grace."

"The deceit of sin . . . separates the doctrine of grace from the intended outcome of it. From the assured pardon of sin, it concludes that there is no need to take heed of sin." Scripture, of course, warns of this repeatedly. See, for example, Romans 6:1-2, Titus 2:11-12, and Jude 4.

Then Owen gives three ways in which this happens.

(1) "The soul often needs relief from the gospel against a sense of the guilt of sin and the accusation of the law, so that it gradually comes to take this relief for granted. Having found a good medicine for its wounds, and having experienced the power of its efficacy, it applies [the gospel] less thoroughly."

(2) "The deceitfulness of sin abuses the doctrine of grace to extend the bounds of liberty beyond what God allows....Sin's plea is, 'The gospel provides relief from this over-strictness. Otherwise there would be no need for the gospel and nothing to pardon.'"

(3) "When temptations arise, sin will plead that there is no need for tenacious, severe contending against them. It will argue that sin will not ruin or destroy the soul because it either is or may be pardoned by the grace of the gospel....But when forgiveness of sin is pleaded as a reason to comply with temptation, it becomes a poison."

Reading John Owen (Part 3): The Deceitfulness of Sin

Since I have found reading John Owen so helpful to my own spiritual life, I'm planning to continue this series of posts explaining why, providing some excerpts from his writings. The last Owen book I finished was the Puritan Paperback modernization and abridgment of Indwelling Sin in Believers. Owen talks about the numerous ways that the sin remaining in the hearts of Christians works against them.

Sin is an aversion to God that both oppresses and deceives.

Owen uses James 1:13-15 to outline the steps sin uses in deceiving us.

Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Owen notes five steps in temptation:

1. Drawing away, in which the mind is drawn away by the deceitfulness of sin.
2. Enticement, in which the affections are enticed or entangled.
3. Conception, in which the will consents, and so conceives actual sin.
4. Bringing forth, in which sin is brought forth in the life of the person.
5. Death, in which the soul is hardened in sinning. This culminates in death, or eternal ruin.

Owen primarily focuses on the first three steps, since he is speaking mostly to believers, "in whom God generally prevents the fourth step, and always prevents the final step." (p. 62)

So, the first step sin uses to deceive is to "draw away the mind from attending to a course of obedience and holiness."

"The mind," writes Owen, "is the faculty which ought to guide and counsel the soul . . . It is the eye of the soul, without which the will and affections would perpetually wander in the wilderness of this world, drawn to every object which seemed to offer some present good. The first thing, therefore, that sin aims at is to draw off and divert the mind from the discharge of its duty." (p. 62-63)

To paraphrase Owen, the mind is the sentinel of the soul, the watchman, charged with guarding the springs of the heart (see Prov. 4:23).

In the next post on reading Owen, we'll look at the strategies sin uses to deceive us.

"We have crucified the flesh; we are never going to draw the nails."

The first great secret of holiness lies in the degree and the decisiveness of our repentance. If besetting sins persistently plague us, it is either because we have never truly repented, or because, having repented, we have not maintained our repentance. It is as if, having nailed our old nature to the cross, we keep wistfully returning to the scene of its execution. We begin to fondle it, to caress it, to long for its release, even to try to take it down again from the cross. We need to learn to leave it there. When some jealous, or proud, or malicious, or impure thought invades our mind we must kick it out at once. It is fatal to begin to examine it and consider whether we are going to give in to it or not. We have declared war on it; we are not going to resume negotiations. We have settled the issue for good; we are not going to re-open it. We have crucified the flesh; we are never going to draw the nails.

-John Stott, The Message of Galatians, p. 151-152

Reading John Owen

The single most helpful thing I've discovered in learning to fight against sin and grow in grace is . . . reading John Owen. I'm not kidding.

More to follow...

35 Reasons Not to Sin

1. Because a little sin leads to more sin.

2. Because my sin invites the discipline of God.
3. Because the time spent in sin is forever wasted.
4. Because my sin never pleases but always grieves God who loves me.
5. Because my sin places a greater burden on my spiritual leaders.
6. Because in time my sin always brings heaviness to my heart.
7. Because I am doing what I do not have to do.
8. Because my sin always makes me less than what I could be.
9. Because others, including my family, suffer consequences due to my sin.
10. Because my sin saddens the godly.
11. Because my sin makes the enemies of God rejoice.
12. Because sin deceives me into believing I have gained when in reality I have lost.
13. Because sin may keep me from qualifying for spiritual leadership.
14. Because the supposed benefits of my sin will never outweigh the consequences of disobedience.
15. Because repenting of my sin is such a painful process, yet I must repent.
16. Because sin is a very brief pleasure for an eternal loss.
17. Because my sin may influence others to sin.
18. Because my sin may keep others from knowing Christ.
19. Because sin makes light of the cross, upon which Christ died for the very purpose of taking away my sin.
20. Because it is impossible to sin and follow the Spirit at the same time.
21. Because God chooses not to respect the prayers of those who cherish their sin.
22. Because sin steals my reputation and robs me of my testimony.
23. Because others once more earnest than I have been destroyed by just such sins.
24. Because the inhabitants of heaven and hell would all testify to the foolishness of this sin.
25. Because sin and guilt may harm both mind and body.
26. Because sins mixed with service make the things of God tasteless.
27. Because suffering for sin has no joy or reward, though suffering for righteousness has both.
28. Because my sin is adultery with the world.
29. Because, though forgiven, I will review this very sin at the Judgment Seat where loss and gain of eternal rewards are applied.
30. Because I can never really know ahead of time just how severe the discipline for my sin might be.
31. Because my sin may be an indication of a lost condition.
32. Because to sin is not to love Christ.
33. Because my unwillingness to reject this sin now grants it an authority over me greater than I wish to believe.
34. Because sin glorifies God only in His judgment of it and His turning of it to good use, never because it is worth anything on it’s own.
35. Because I promised God he would be Lord of my life.

....by Jim Elliff and posted here.

HT: Gospel Centric

Holiness

I'm doing research for a chapter in Christ Formed in You called "Beautiful Holiness." Do you usually associate holiness with beauty?

Let's try a word association game.

What do you think when you hear the word "holiness"? What images come to mind? What emotions? What do you think the average church attender thinks? What about the outsider, the person on the street who is not used to Christian jargon? Ask an unbelieving friend what they think and post it.

Your answers will be helpful - who knows, you might even get quoted and published!