Brian G. Hedges : Puritans

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The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment (Book Notes)

Jeremiah Burroughs' The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment is of the great Puritan classics. I first read it over a decade ago, but still return to it when thinking about contentment. Here are my notes. Don't get distracted by the Puritaneque outlining. There are some real gems here. But, better yet, read the whole thing for yourself!

1. Christian Contentment Described

“Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.”

It is inward
It is quiet
It is a frame of spirit
It is a gracious frame
It freely submits to God's disposal
It submits to God's disposal
It takes pleasure in God's disposal
It submits and takes pleasure in God's disposal
It does this in every condition

2. The Mystery of Contentment

I. A contented Christian is the most contented man in the world, and yet the most unsatisfied man in the world.

II. A Christian comes to contentment, not so much by way of addition, as by way of subtraction.

III. A Christian comes to contentment, not so much by getting rid of the burden that is on him, as by adding another burden to himself.

IV. It is not so much the removing of the afflction that is upon us as the changing of the affliction, the metamorphosing of the affliction, so that it is quite turned and changed into something else.

V. A Christian comes to this contentment not by making up the wants of his circumstances, but by the performance of the work of his circumstances.

VI. A gracious heart is contented by the melting of his will and desires into God's will and desires; by this means he gets contentment.

VII. The mystery consists not in bringing anything from outside to make my condition more comfortable, but in purging out something that is within.

VIII. He lives upon the dew of God's blessing.

Because in what he has, he has the love of God to him.
What they have is sanctified to them for good.
A gracious heart has what he has free of cost; he is not likely to be called to pay for it.
A godly man may very well be content, though he has only a little, for what he does have he has by right of Jesus Christ, by the purchase of Jesus Christ.
Every little that they have is but as an earnest penny for all the glory that is reserved for them; it is given them by God as the forerunner of those eternal mercies that the Lord intends for them.

IX. Not only in good things does a Christian have the dew of God's blessing, and find them very sweet to him, but in all the afflictions, all the evils that befall him, he can see love, and can enjoy the sweetness of love in his afflictiosn as well as in his mercies.

X. A godly man has contentment as a mystery, because just as he sees all his afflictions come from the same love that Jesus Christ did, so he sees them all sanctified in Jesus Christ, sanctified in a Mediator.

XI. A gracious heart has contentment by getting strength from Jesus Christ; he is able to bear his burden by getting strength from someone else.

XII. A godly heart enjoys much of God in everything he has, and knows how to make up all wants in God himself.

XIII. A gracious heart gets contentment from the Covenant that God has made with him.

XIV. He has contentment by realizing the glorious things of Heaven to him.

XV. A godly man has contentment by opening and letting out his heart to God.

3. How Christ Teaches Contentment

I. The lesson of self-denial.

Such a person learns to know that he is nothing.
I deserve nothing.
I can do nothing.
I am so vile that I cannot of myself receive any good.
We can make use of nothing when we have it, if God but withdraws himself.
We are worse than nothing.
If we perish we will be no loss.
Thereby the soul comes to rejoice and take satisfaction in all God's ways.

II. The vanity of the creature.

III. He teaches him to understand what is the one thing that is necessary, which he never understood before.

IV. The soul comes to understand in what relation it stands to the world.

V. Christ teaches us wherein consists any good that is to be enjoyed in any creature in the world.

VI. Christ teaches the soul whom he brings into this school in the knowledge of their own hearts.

By studying your heart you will come soon to discover wherein your discontent lies.
This knowledge of our hearts will help us to contentment, because by it we shall come to know what best suits our condition.
By knowing their own hearts they know what tehy are able to manage, and by this means they come to be content.

VII. The burden of a prosperous outward condition.

There is a burden of trouble.
There is a burden of danger.
There is a burden of duty.
There is a burden of accountability.

VIII. Christ teaches them what a great and dreadful evil it is to be given up to one's heart's desires.

IX. The right knowledge of Godís providence.

The universality of providence.
The efficacy that is in providence.
The infinite variety of the works of providence, and yet the order of things, one working towards another.
The knowledge of God's usual way in his dealings with his people more particularly.

God's ordinary course is that his people in this world should be in an afflicted condition.
Usually when God intends the greatest mercy to any of his people he brings them into the lowest condition.
It is the way of God to work by contraries, to turn the greatest evil into the greatest good.

4. The Excellence of Contentment

I. By contentment we come to give God the worship that is due to him.

II. In contentment ther is much exercise of grace.

Much exercise of grace.
There is a great deal of grace in contentment.
It is also an argument of a great deal of beauty of grace.

III. By contentment the soul is fitted to receive mercy, and to do service.

IV. As contentment makes fit to receive mercy, so fit to do service.

V. Contentment delivers us from an abundance of temptations.

VI. The abundant comforts in a manís life that contentment will bring.

What a man has he has has in a kind of independent way, not depending upon the creature for his comfort.
If God raises the position of a contented man who is low, he as the love of God in it.
This contentment is a comfort to a manís spirit in this, that it keeps in his comforts, and keeps out whatever may damp his comforts, or put out the light of them.

VII. Contentment draws comfort from those things we do not really possess.

I would fain have such a thing, and then I could be content; but if I had it, then it would be but the creature that helped my contentment, whereas now it is the grace of God in my soul that makes me content, and surely it is better to be content with the grace of God in my soul, than with enjoying an outward comfort?
If I had such a thing, granted my position might be better, but my soul woul dnot be better; but by contentment my soul is better.
If I become content by having my desire satisfied, that is only self-love, but when I am contented with the hand of God, and am willing to be at his disposal, that comes from my love to God.
If I am contented because I have what I desire, perhaps I am contented in that one thing, but that one thing does not furnish me with contentment in another thing . . . but when I have got this grace of contentment, I am prepared to be contented in all conditions.

VIII. Contentment is a great blessing of God upon the soul.

IX. Those who are content may expect reward from God, that God will give them the good of all the things which they are contented to be without.

X. Lastly, by contentment the soul comes to an excellence near to God himself, yea, the nearest possible.

5. The Evils of a Murmuring Spirit

I This murmuring and discontentedness of heart reveals much corruption in the soul.

II. The evil of murmuring is such that when God would speak of wicked men and describe them, and show the brand of a wicked and ungodly man or woman, he instances this sin in a more special manner.

III. God accounts it rebellion.

IV. It is a wickedness which is greatly contrary to grace, and especially contrary to the work of God, in bringing the soul home to himself.

The usual way (to bring a soul to Himself) is for God to make the soul to see, and be sensible of the dreadful evil that is in sin. How contrary is this sin of murmuring to any such work of God!
It is strongly contrary to the sight of the infinite excellence and glory of Jesus Christ, and of the things of the Gospel.
A third work when God brings the soul home to himself is by taking the heart off from the creature, disengaging the heart from all creature-comforts . . . how contrary is a murmuring heart to such a thing!
A fourth work of God in converting a sinner is this, the casting of the soul upon Jesus Christ for all its good . . . has God converted you, and drawn you to his Son to cast your soul upon him for all your good, and yet you are discontented for the want of some little matter in a creature comfort?
The soul is subdued to God . . . now how opposite is a murmuring, discontented heart to a heart subdued to Jesus Christ as a King, and receiving as a Lord to rule and dispose of him as he pleases!
There is in the work of your turning to God the giving up of yourself to God in an everlasting covenant.

V. Murmuring and discontent is exceedingly below a Christian.

Below the relation of a Christian.
A Christian should consider that a murmuring and discontentedness is below the high dignity which God has put upon him.
Murmuring is below the spirit of a Christian.
It is below the profession of a Christian.
It is below that special grace of faith.
It is below a Christian because it is below those helps that a Christian has more than others have.
It is below the expectation that God has of Christians.
It is below what God has had from other Christians.

VI. By murmuring you undo your prayers, for it is exceedingly contrary to the prayers that you make to God.

VII. The woeful effects that come to a discontented heart from murmuring.

By murmuring and discontent in your hearts, you come to lose a great deal of time.
It unfits you for duty.
Consider what wicked risings of heart and resolutions of spirit there are many times in a discontented fit.
Unthankfulness is an evil and a wicked effect which comes from discontent.
It causes shiftings of spirit.

VIII. There is a great deal of folly, extreme folly, in a discontented heart; it is a foolish sin.

It takes away the present comfort of what you have, because you have not something that you would have.
By all your discontent you cannot help yourselves, you cannot get anything by it.
There are commonly many foolish attitudes that a discontented heart is guilty of. They carry themselves foolishly towards God and towards men.
Discontent and murmuring eats out the good and sweetness of a mercy before it comes.
It makes our affliction a great deal worse than otherwise it would be.

IX. There is a great deal of danger in the sin of discontent, for it highly provokes the wrath of God.

X. There is a great curse of God upon murmuring and discontent; so far as it prevails in one who is wicked, it has the curse of God upon it.

XI. There is much of the spirit of Satan in a murmuring spirit.

XII. If you have a murmuring spirit, you must then have disquiet all the days of your life.

XIII. God may justly withdraw his care of you, and his protection over you, seeing God cannot please you in his administrations.

6. Aggravations of the Sin of Murmuring.

I. To murmur when we enjoy an abundance of meryc; the greater and more abundant the mercy that we enjoy, the greater and the viler is the sin of murmuring.

II. When we murmur for small things.

III. For men of gifts and abilities to whom God has given wisdom, to be discontented and murmur, is more than if others do it.

IV. The consideration of the freeness of all God's mercies to us.

V. For men and women to murmur and be discontented and impatient, when they have the things for the want of which they were discontented before.

VI. For those men and women to be discontented and murmur whom God has raised from mean and low estates and positions.

VIII. For those tobe discontented who have been very great sinners and ungodly in their former life.

VIII. For men who are of little use in the world to be discontented.

IX. For us to be discontented at a time when God is about to humble us.

X. The more palpable and remarkable the hand of God appears to bring about an affliction, the greater is the sin of the murmuring and discontent under an affliction.

XI. To be discontented though God has been exercising us for a long time under afflictions, yet still to remain discontented.

7. The Excuses of a Discontented Heart

I. One that is discontented says, "It is not discontent; it is a sense of my condition." To that I answer:

There is no sense of any affliction that will hinder the sense of God's mercies.
If it were but a bare sense of an affliction it would not hinder you in the duties of your condition.
If it were but a mere sense of your affliction, then you could in this your condition bless God for the mercies that others have; but your discontentedness usually breeds envy of others.

II. "I am not so much troubled with my afflictions, but is for my sin rather than my affliction, and I hope you will give leave that we should be troubled and discontented with our sin." (You may be self-deceived, for . . .)

They were never troubled for their sin before this affliction came.
If it is your sin that troubles you, then even if God should take away your afflictions, yet unless your sin is taken away, and your heart is better, this would not content you, you could not be satisfied.
If you are troubled for your sin, then it will be your great care not to sin in your trouble, so as not, by your trouble, to increase your sin.
If it is your sin that troubles you, then you have the more need to submit to God's hand, and to accept the punishment of your iniquity.

III. "I find my affliction is such that God withdraws from me in my affliction. That is what troubles me, and can anybody be quite then, can anybody be satisfed with such a condition, when the Lord withdraws himself?"

It is a very evil thing for men and women over every affliction to conclude that God is departed from them.
If God is departed, the greatest sign of God's departing is because you are so disturbed. You make your disquiet the fruit of God's departing, and if it is examined, your disquiet is the cause of God's departing from you. If you could only cure your disquiet . . . then you would find God's presence with you.
Do you find God departing from you in your affliction? Will you therefore depart from God too?

IV. "I think I could be content with Godís hand so far as I see the hand of God in a thing I can be content. But when men deal so unreasonably and unjustly with me, I do not know how to bear it." To take away this reasoning, consider:

Though they are men who bring this cross to you, yet they are Godís instruments.
If this is your trouble that men do so wrong to you, you ought rather to turn your hearts to pity them, than to murmur or be discontented.
Though you meet with hard dealings from men, yet you meetin with nothing but kind, good and righteous dealings from God . . . set the one against the other.

V. "But the affliction that comes upon me is an affliction which I never looked for. I never thought I would meet with such an affliction, and that is what I cannot bear."

It is your weakness and folly that you did not look for it and expect it.
Is it unexpected? Then the less provision you made for it before it came, the more careful should you be to sanctify God's name in it, now it is come.

VI. "But it is very great, my affliction is exceeding great and however you say we must be contented, you may say so who do not feel such great afflictions, but if you felt my affliction, which I feel, you would think it hard to bear and be content." To that I answer:

Let it be as great an affliction as it will, it is is not as great as your sin.
It might have been a great deal more, you might have been in Hell.
It may be it is the greater because your heart murmurs so.

VII. "But however you may lessen my affliction, yet I am sure it is far greater than the affliction of others."

It may be it is your discontent that makes it greater, when indeed it is not so in itself.
If it were greater than others, why is your eye evil because the eye of God is good? Why should you be discontented the more because God is gracious to others.
Is your affliction greater than others? Then in this you have an opportunity to honor God more than others.
If all afflictions were laid upon a heap together . . . and every man should come and take a proportion of those afflictions, every one equally, there is scarce any man but would rather say, Let me have the afflictions that I had before, or else he would be likely to come to a greater share, a greater affliction if so be he should equally share with all the world.

VIII. They think that if the affliction were any other than it is, then they would be more contented.

You must know that we are not to choose our own rod that God shall beat us with.
It may be that if it were any other than it is, it would not be so suitable to you as this is.
Know that this is the excellence of grace in a Christian, to be fitted for any condition.
Know that the Lord has rewards and crowns for all graces and for honoring them in all conditions.

IX. "Oh, but the condition that God has put me in, makes me unserviceable, and this troubles me."

Do but consider that though your condition is low and mean, yet you are in the Body, you are a member of the Body.
Though you have only a mean calling in this world, and so are not regarded as a man of use in the world, yet if you are a Christian, God has called you to a higher calling.
You are in a high calling.
Your calling is low and mean; yet do not be discontented with that, for you have a principle within you of grace, which raises your lowest actions to be higher in God's esteem, than all the brave, glorious actions that are done in the world.
Know further that there is likely to be more reward.

X. "Oh, I could bear much affliciton in some other way, but this is very grievous to me, the unsettledness of my condition."

The Psalmist says, "that every man in his settled estate is vanity" (Psalm 39:5).
Perhaps God sees it better for you to live in a continual dependence upon him, and not to know what your condition shall be on the morrow, than for you to have a more settled condition in terms of the comforts of the creature.
This may be your comfort: though for outward things you are mightily unsettled, yet for the great things of your soul and eternal welfare there you are settled.

XI. "If I had never been in a better condition then I could bear this affliction, if God had always kept me in such a low condition, I could be content."

Is your eye evil because God has been good to you heretofore?
Did God give you more prosperity before? It was to prepare you for afflictions. We should look at all our outward prosperity as a preparation for afflictions.

XII. "But after I had taken a great deal of pains for this comfort, yet then I am thwarted in it. To be thwarted now after all the labour and pains I have taken, oh, this goes very hard."

The greater the cross, the more obedience and submission.
When you took a great deal of pains, was it not with submission to God?
There will be more testimony of your love to God, if so be that you now yield up yourself to God in what cost you dear.

XIII. "Though I confess that my affliction is somewhat hard, and I feel some trouble within me, yet I thank God I do not break out in discontented ways to the dishonor of God; I keep it in, although I have much ado with my own heart."

Oh, do not satisfy yourselves with that, for the disorders of your hearts, and their sinful workings are as words before God.

8. How to Attain Contentment

I. Considerations to content the heart in any afflicted condition.

We should consider, in all our wants and inclinations to discontent, the greatness of the mercies that we have, and the meanness of things that we lack.
The consideration that God is beforehand with us with his mercies should content us.
The consideration of the abundance of mercies that God bestows and we enjoy. It is a saying of Luther: "The sea of God's mercies should swallow up all our particular afflictions."
Consider the way of God towards all creatures.
The creature suffer for us; why should not we be willing to suffer, to be serviceable to God?
Consider that we have but a little time in this world.
Consider the condition that others have been in, who have been our betters.
Before your conversion, before God wrought upon your souls, you were contented with the world without grace, though you had no interest in God nor Christ; why cannot you now be contented with grace and spiritual things without the world?
Consider when God has given you such contentedness you have not given him the glory.
Consider all the experience that you have had of God's doing good to you in the want of many comforts.

II. Directions: what to do for helping our hearts to contentment.

All the rules and helps in the world will do us little good unless we get a good temper within our hearts.
If you would get a contented life, do not grasp too much of the world, do not take in more of the business of the world than God calls you to do.
Be sure of your call to every business you go about.
I am to walk by rule in the work that I am called to.
Exercise much faith.
Labour to be spiritually minded.
Do not promise yourselves too much beforehand; do not reckon on too great things.
Labour to get your hearts mortified to the world, dead to the world.
Let not men and women pore too much upon their afflictions.
I beseech you to observe this though you should forget many of the others: make a good interpretation of God's ways towards you.
Do not so much regard the fancies of other men, as what indeed you feel yourselves.
Be not inordinately taken up with the comforts of this world when you have them.

Regeneration - A Prayer

O God of the highest heaven,
occupy the throne of my heart,
take full possession and reign supreme,
lay low every rebel lust,
let no vile passion resist thy holy war;
manifest thy mighty power,
and make me thine forever.
Thou art worthy to be
praised with my every breath,
loved with my every faculty of soul,
served with my every act of life.
Thou hast loved me, espoused me, received me,
purchased, washed, favored, clothed,
adorned me,
when I was a worthless, vile soiled, polluted.
I was dead in iniquities,
having no eyes to see thee,
no ears to hear thee,
no taste to relish thy joys,
no intelligence to know thee;
But thy Spirit has quickened me,
has brought me into a new world as a
new creature,
has given me spiritual perception,
has opened to me thy Word as light, guide, solace, joy.
Thy presence is to me a treasure of unending peace;
No provocation can part me from thy sympathy,
for thou hast drawn me with cords of love,
and dost forgive me daily, hourly.
O help me then to walk worthy of thy love,
of my hopes, and my vocation.
Keep me, for I cannot keep myself;
Protect me that no evil befall me;
Let me lay aside every sin admired of many;
Help me to walk by thy side, lean on thy arm,
hold converse with thee,
That I may be salt of the earth
and a blessing to all.

--from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

Reading John Owen (Part 7): Two Keys to Killing Sin

According to John Owen's Mortification of Sin, there are two essential keys to killing sin. He gives these keys as "directions" in the final chapter of his classic book. Here are my notes:

DIRECTION 1: Set your faith upon Christ for the killing of your sin. His blood is the great sovereign remedy for sin-sick souls.

How?

1. By faith fill your heart with a right consideration of the provision that God has made in the work of Christ for the mortification of your sins. (p. 117)

Grace in Christ. John 1:16. Col. 1:19. Philip. 4:13. Exalted to give repentance. Acts 5:21. Abiding leads to purging. John 15:3. He makes us more than conquerors. Rom. 8:37.

2. Raise up your heart in faith with an expectation of relief from Christ.

“Christ is the fountain from which the new man must draw the influences of life and strength, or he will decay every day. If we are ‘strengthened with power . . . in [our] inner being’, it is by Christ’s ‘dwelling in [our] hearts through faith’ (Eph. 3:16-17).” (p. 121)

Two additional reasons for expecting relief:

i. Consider his mercy, tenderness, and kindness as He presents us as our great High Priest at the right hand of God. (p. 121); cf. Heb. 2:17-18. “He is able, having suffered and been tempted, to break through all reasons to the contrary, and to relieve poor tempted souls. Having suffered himself, he is moved to help.” (p. 122) “I shall be bold to say that this one thing of expecting relief from Christ, on the basis of His mercy as our High Priest, will be a better and speedier means of destroying your lust and the disorder of your soul than all the most rigid efforts of self-mortification that the sons of men ever engage in” (p. 123);

ii. Consider also the faithfulness of Him who has promised.

Two advantages that always attend this expectation of help from Christ.

(a) It engages the Lord to give full and speedy assistance.

(b) It encourages the heart to make diligent use of every means by which Christ may reveal himself to the soul.

Graces. Ordinances. “The ways and means by which Christ usually communicates Himself are His ordinances. He that is seeking help from Christ should seek Him in these!” (p. 124)

Particulars:

(1) Place your faith particularly upon the death, blood, and cross of Christ: that is, on Christ as crucified and slain. Titus. 2:14. Eph. 5:25-27. 1 John 1:7. Heb. 1:3. Rev. 1:5. Heb. 9:14. Rom. 6:2.

“We are dead to sin by profession; dead to sin by obligation to be so; dead to sin by participation in His virtue and power for the killing of it; dead to sin by union and interest in Christ, through whom and by whom it is killed.” (p. 126)

“Our being crucified with Him does not refer to time, but causality. His death was meritoriously the cause of our victory. By His death He secured the Holy Spirit for us to mortify sin. From His death comes virtue for our crucifying of the flesh. He was our Representative and Example. We shall surely be crucified to sin, as He was for our sin.” (p. 127)

(2) When you meditate upon the death of Christ, keep in mind the power available to us, and your desire to be conformed to Christ (Phil. 3:10; Col. 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:18-19).

“Let faith gaze upon Christ as He is set forth crucified and dying for us. Look upon Him under the weight of our sins, praying, bleeding, and dying (1 Cor. 15:3; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 5:1-2; Col. 1:13-14). Bring Him in that condition into your heart by faith. Apply His blood so shed to your corruptions. Do this daily.” (p. 128)

DIRECTION 2: Finally, consider the part that the Holy Spirit plays in mortification and the effects that are particularly ascribed to Him.

In one word, this work, which I have described as our duty, is effected, carried on, and accomplished by the power of the Spirit in all its parts and all its degrees.

1. He alone clearly and fully convinces the heart of the evil, guilt, and danger of the corruption, lust or sin that it may be mortified.

“This is the first work of the Spirit to bring about mortification. He convinces the soul of all its evil. He cuts off all of lust’s pleadings, uncovers all of its deceits, stops all of its evasions, and answers its self-justifications. He makes the soul to confess the abominations of its sin, and to be cast down under the guilt of it. Unless this is done, all that follows is in vain.” (p. 129)

2. The Spirit alone reveals to us the fullness of Christ our relief.

3. The Spirit alone establishes the heart in the expectation of relief from Christ.

4. The Spirit alone brings the cross of Christ into our hearts with its sin-killing power.

5. The Spirit is the Author and Finisher of our sanctification. He gives new supplies and influences of grace for holiness and sanctification when our resolve to resist is weakened.

6. All of our soul’s prayers to God in our need are supported by the Spirit.

Zech. 12:10. Rom. 8:26.

Reading John Owen (Part 6): How Sin Perverts Grace

"There is a twofold mystery of grace: one aspect concerns coming to God, the other, walking with God. The great objective of sin is to confuse these two. In 1 John 1-2:1 the whole design and use of the gospel is briefly expressed. The Person of Christ, and pardon, forgiveness and the expiation of sin by his blood, are revealed ‘so that you may not sin.’ This is the proper purpose of the doctrine of the gospel.

But what if we have sinned? Is there no relief provided for our souls and consciences in the gospel? Yes, there is full relief in the propitiation and intercession of Christ for us. This, then, is the proper order for those who are walking with God: first, we are to be kept from sin, and second, there is relief if we sin.

But here the deceit of sin enters. It changes the order of the application of gospel truths. When we desire to come to God by believing it will tell us we must first be free from sin, but when we are walking with God it will pervert the truth that there is pardon for sin."

--John Owen, Indwelling Sin in Believers, p. 105

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."

Knowing God

“We must know God to know our duty; we must know Christ to know the way of performing it; we must know God, therefore, in the perfections of his nature, and Christ in the sufficiency of his mediation. We must know God in his ravishing goodness, his affrighting justice, his condescending mercy, his adorable wisdom, his unshaken veracity; we must know him as offended by sin, as pacified by Christ. Without the one, we shall not be humbled; without the other, we shall not approach to him. We must know him in his precepts, else how can we obey him? in his promises, else how can we trust him? We must know Christ in his offices, as an atoning priest, as an instructing prophet, a protecting and governing king. We must know him in his transaction with his Father, descent to the world, we must know him upon the cross and upon the throne, and the ends of both his states . . . . ‘Know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings.’ How else can we be ‘conformed to his death,’ or have confidence in his life? We must know him in his nature, without which we cannot have a knowledge either of the truth or efficacy of his satisfaction.”

Stephen Charnock, Works, Volume 4, Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1985 reprint, p. 25

Seven Abominations in My Heart

John Bunyan, years after his conversion, wrote these words in the conclusion to Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners:

I find to this day seven abominations in my heart: 1. Inclining to unbelief; 2. Suddenly to forget the love and mercy that Christ manifesteth; 3. A leaning to the works of the law; 4. Wanderings and coldness in prayer; 5. To forget to watch for that I pray for; 6. Apt to murmur because I have no more, and yet ready to abuse what I have; 7. I can do none of those things which God commands me, but my corruptions will thrust in themselves. When I would do good, evil is present with me.

These things I continually see and feel, and am afflicted and oppressed with, yet the wisdom of God doth order them for my good; 1. They make me abhor myself; 2. They keep me from trusting my heart; 3. They convince me of the insufficiency of all inherent righteousness; 4. They show me the necessity of flying to Jesus; 5. They press me to pray unto God; 6. They show me the need I have to watch and be sober; 7. And provoke me to pray unto God, through Christ, to help me, and carry me through this world.

There is a wealth of wisdom in Bunyan's self-reflection and confession - wisdom that most of us as Christians (myself included) all too often lack.

Before you write Bunyan off as overly introspective or as someone with overly low self-esteem, consider this: isn't it the case, that more often than not, you tend to be either (1) more or less blind to your own sins and apathetic in your love for Jesus; or (less often) (2) so devastated with your faults, sins, and inadequacies that you feel depressed, maybe even debilitated?

Bunyan provides a different model. He was relentlessly honest with himself about his sinful inclinations. He didn't trust his own heart. But at the same time, he let this honest self-assessment drive him to Christ, to greater vigilance, to prayer. Whatever you might think when you read words like "they make me abhor myself," Bunyan didn't wallow in despondent guilt. He rather let the sight of his sin drive him to the Savior. You and I should do the same.

Matthew Henry's Outline of Psalm 55

I will be preaching this week on Psalm 55. As I was studying this passage this week, I read Matthew Henry's commentary on it and was helped. Here is the outline of his thoughts. (Note: I am not recommending this for a sermon outline! My preaching outline will be quite a bit different: both shorter and more practical).

I. David prays that God would manifest His favour to him and pleads his sorrow and fear (v. 1-8)

1. David praying (v. 1-2)

2. David weeping (v. 2-3)

3. David trembling (v. 4-8)

a. The fear that seized him (v. 4-5)

b. His desire for escape (v. 6-8)

(i) how he would escape: wings/fly (v. 6)

(ii) what he wanted to escape from: winds/storm/tempest (v. 8)

(iii) what he wanted to escape to: not victory, but rest (v. 6)

II. David prays that God would manifest His displeasure against his enemies, and pleads their great wickedness and treachery (v. 9-15, 20-21)

1. The character of the enemies he feared

a. The city of Jerusalem (v. 9-11)

b. The ringleaders of the conspiracy (v. 12-14)

(i) There have always been and always will be a mixture of good and bad, sound and unsound, in the visible church.

(ii) Carnal policy may carry men very far and very long in a profession of religion while it is in fashion and will serve them.

(iii) We must not wonder if we are sadly deceived in some that have made great pretensions to those two sacred things: religion and friendship.

2. His prayers against his enemies (v. 9, 15)

a. That God would divide them [Babel] (v. 9)

b. That God would destroy them [Korah/Dathan] (v. 9a, 15)

III. David assures himself that God would, in due time, appear for him against his enemies and comforts himself with hopes of it, and encourages others to trust in God (v. 16-19, 22-23)

1. David perseveres in his resolution to call upon God (v. 16-17)

a. He will pray fervently (v. 17b)

b. He will pray frequently (v. 17a)

2. David assures himself that God will in due time give an answer of peace to his prayers (v. 18-23)

a. That he himself will be delivered and his fears prevented (v. 18; cf. v. 4-5)

b. That his enemies will be reckoned with and brought down (v. 19-21, 23)

(i) Their character as the reason why he expected God to bring them down (v. 19-21)

[1] Impious and profane (v. 19)

[2] Treacherous and false (v. 20)

[3] Base and hypocritical (v. 21)

(ii) Their ruin foretold (v. 19, 23)

[1] God will afflict them (v. 19)

[2] God will bring them down to the pit of destruction (v. 23)

3. David encourages himself and all good people to commit themselves to God with confidence in him (v. 22-23)

a. Himself (v. 23)

b. Others (v. 22)

(i) God will sustain them (v. 22a)

(ii) God will never suffer the righteous to be moved (v. 22b)

Purification

Lord Jesus, I sin. Grant that I may never cease grieving because of it, never be content with myself, never think I can reach a point of perfection. Kill my envy, command my tongue, trample down self. Give me grace to be holy, kind, gentle, pure, peaceable, to live for Thee and not for self, to copy Thy words, acts, spirit, to be transformed into Thy likeness, to be consecrated wholly to Thee, to live entirely to Thy glory.

Deliver me from attachment to things unclean, from wrong associations, from the predominance of evil passions, from the sugar of sin as well as its gap; that with self-loathing, deep contrition, earnest heart searching I may come to Thee, cast myself on Thee, trust in Thee, cry to Thee, be delivered by Thee.

O God, the Eternal All, help me to know that all things are shadows, but Thou art substance, all things are quicksands, but Thou art mountain, all things are shifting, but Thou art anchor, all things are ignorance, but Thou art wisdom.

If my life is to be a crucible amid burning heat, so be it, but do Thou sit at the furnace mouth to watch the ore that nothing be lost. If I sin wilfully, grievously, tormentedly, in grace take away my mourning and give me music; remove my sackcloth and clothe me with beauty; still my sighs and fill my mouth with song, then give me summer weather as a Christian.

--from The Valley of Vision, Banner of Truth, p. 81

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].

The Only Way to Happiness

“There is no possibility of [attaining true happiness], but by pureness of heart, holiness of life, constancy in a course of sanctification, which only lead unto the face and presence of God, where, and with whom alone is the highest perfection of bliss, a river of infinite pleasures, the well of life, and endless rest of all created desires.”

--Robert Bolton (1572-1631) from Discourse About the State of True Happiness,

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 2)

So, why do I say that reading John Owen is the single most helpful thing I've discovered in fighting against sin and growing in grace? I don't mean to imply that someone who has not read Owen could not fight sin and grow in grace equally as well as I. I have no doubt that many people who have never heard of Owen have far exceeded me in their personal holiness and likeness to Jesus. So, I'm speaking personally about what helps me and may (or may not) also help others.

The reason I say Owen helps me is because he knows two things so well: first, the labrynthine subtleties of the sinful human heart; and, second, the multifaceted glories of the gospel of Christ.

Owen is a skilled physician of the soul. He excels in both diagnosis and cure. He knows how to both wound and heal.

And he does not simply make general statements: "Human beings are sinful." "Christ saves sinners." Though these statements are true, Owen knows that they are not enough. Owen avoids generalities and gets specific. His doctrine is not abstract, but concrete. He talks about how sin works. And he nails me. Every time.

But he does more. He also shows me not only that Christ is glorious and his gospel beautiful. He shows me how the beauty and glory of the gospel of Christ is perfectly suited to meet the specific needs of my soul.

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...

Calvary's Anthem

Heavenly Father,
Thou hast led me singing to the cross
where I fling down all my burdens and see them vanish,
where my mountains of guilt are levelled to a plain,
where my sins disappear, though they are the greatest that exist, and are more in number than the grains of fine sand;

For there is power in the blood of Calvary
to destroy sins more than can be counted
even by one from the choir of heaven.
Thou hast given me a hill-side spring
that washes clear and white,
and I go as a sinner to its waters,
bathing without hindrance in its crystal streams.
At the cross there is free forgiveness for poor and meek ones,
and ample blessings that last for ever;
The blood of the Lamb is like a great river of infinite grace
with never any diminishing of its fullness
as thirsty ones without number drink of it.

O Lord, for ever will thy free forgiveness live
that was gained on the mount of blood;
In the midst of a world of pain
it is a subject for praise in every place
a song on earth, an anthem in heaven,
its love and virtue knowing no end.
I have a longing for the world above
where multitudes sing thy great song,
for my soul was never created to love the dust of earth.
Though here my spiritual state is frail and poor,
I shall go on singing Calvary's anthem.
May I always know that a clean heart full of goodness
is more beautiful than the lily,
that only a clean heart can sing by night and by day,
that such a heart is mine when I abide at Calvary.

Calvary's Anthem, from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions, ed. Arthur Bennett (The Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1975), p. 173.

Black. Red. White.

Oh my black soul! now art thou summoned
By sickness, death's herald, and champion;
Thou art like a pilgrim, which abroad hath done
Treason, and durst not turn to whence he is fled;
Or like a thief, which till death's doom be read,
Wisheth himself delivered from prison,
But damned and haled to execution,
Wisheth that still he might be imprisoned.
Yet grace, if thou repent, thou canst not lack;
But who shall give thee that grace to begin?
Oh make thy self with holy mourning black,
And red with blushing, as thou art with sin;
Or wash thee in Christ's blood, which hath this might
That being red, it dyes red souls to white.

John Donne, Holy Sonnet IV

Jonathan Edwards Online

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