Temptation & Indwelling Sin

Questions to answer in this Equipping Hour 1. Who exactly were the Puritans? 2. What can they contribute to your everyday walk with the Lord? John Owen (1616-1683) fl “For if you live according to the esh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” —Romans 8:13 fi fl “The vigor, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the morti cation of the deeds of the esh.” —John Owen What IS the morti cation of sin? 1. An habitual weakening of it 2. Constant ghting and contending against sin (a) Recognize and know the enemy (b) Work to be acquainted with sin’s strategies (c) Never relent in the assault fi fi 3. A degree of success in the battle “Set faith at work on Christ for the killing of your sin. His blood is the great sovereign remedy for sin-sick souls. Live in this, and you will die a conquerer; yea, you will, through the good providence of God, live to see your lust dead at your feet.” —John Owen “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” —Matthew 26:41 Of Temptation: the Nature & Power of it (Matt. 26:41) 1. The evil cautioned against — Temptation 2. The means of its prevalency — Our entering into it 3. The way of preventing it — Watch and Pray fi “Temptation, then, in general, is any thing, state, way, or condition that, upon any account whatever, has a force or ef cacy to seduce, to draw the mind and heart of a man from its obedience, which God requires of him, into any sin, in any degree whatever.” —John Owen “While it knocks at the door we are at liberty; but when any temptation comes in and parleys with the heart, reasons with the mind, entices and allures the affections, be it a long or a short time, does it thus insensibly and imperceptibly, or do the soul take notice of it, we ‘enter into temptation.’” —John Owen “If this indignation be not daily heightened, but the soul, by conversing with the evil, begins to grow, as it were, familiar with it, not to be startled as formerly, but rather inclines to cry, ‘Is it not a little one?’ then the temptation is coming towards its high noon; lust has then enticed and entangled, and is ready to ‘conceive’ (James 1:15).” —John Owen “I shall only add, that the sin he tempts you to the law, it is not the thing he aims at; his design lies against your interest in the gospel. He would make sin but a bridge to get over to a better ground, to assault you as to your interest in Christ. He who perhaps will say today, ‘You may venture on sin, because you have an interest in Christ,’ will tomorrow tell you to the purpose that you have none, because you have done so.” —John Owen fi “So I nd it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.” —Romans 7:21 Indwelling Sin in Believers (Rom. 7:21) 1. The Power & Ef cacy of indwelling sin — Paul calls it “a law” 2. The way of discovering this law — Paul “found” it 3. The frame of his soul — “I want to do right” fi 4. The state and activity of indwelling sin — “evil lies close at hand” “It consists in presenting unto the soul, or mind, things otherwise than they are, either in their nature, causes, effects, or present respect unto the soul. This is the general nature of deceit, and it prevails in many ways. It hides what ought to be seen and considered, conceals circumstances and consequences, presents what is not, or things as they are not…” —John Owen “…To be able to keep the heart always in a deep, humbling sense of sin, abhorrence of it, and self-abasement for it, is a great effect of gospel wisdom and grace. This is the trial and touchstone of gospel light:—If it keep the heart sensible of sin, humble, lowly, and broken on that account,—if it teach us to water a free pardon with tears, to detest forgiven sin, to watch diligently for the ruin of that which we are yet assured shall never ruin us,—it is divine, from above, of the Spirit of grace.” —John Owen