Calvary Baptist Joliet Discussion

In this chapter Owen begins to inform his readers why it is critical to "be killing sin."  He encourages the Christian to take note of not only the presence of indwelling sin, but also its constant activity.  He then insists that if sin is not mortified it will produce "scandalous, soul-destroying sins."  In my opinion it is in this section that (to put it into vernacular) Owen brings his A game.  Consider the following:

Sin aims always at the utmost; every time it rises up to tempt or entice, might it have its own course, it would go out to the utmost sin of that kind.  Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could; every coveteous desire would be oppression, every thought of unbelief would be atheism, might it grow to its head (Overcoming Sin and Temptation, 53).

So Owen is saying that if sinful desires are left unchecked then they would result in the fullest manifestation of that sin.  Then he goes on to tell us why this principle is so dangerous:

And herein lies no small share of the deceitfulness of sin, by which it prevails to the hardening of men, and so to their ruin (Heb. 3:13)- it is modest, as it were, in its first motions and proposals, but having once got footing in the heart by them, it constatly makes good its ground, and presses on to some father degrees in the same kind. . . This new acting and pressing forward makes the soul take little notice of what an entrane to a falling off from God is already made; it thinks all is indifferntly well if there be no futher progress; and so far the soul is made insenisble of any sin. . . but sin is still pressing forward, and that because it has no bounds but utter relinquishment of God and opposition to him. . . (Overcoming Sin and Temptation, 53).

Who of us have not experienced this phenomenon.  Sin begins subtly.  It does not initially tempt us to commit an adulterous act, but rather to entertain lustful thoughts.  It does not begin by inviting us to murder, but rather to harbor bitterness towards another.  If we do not mortify these "lesser sins" we become desentized to them.  And as a result gradually it seems rather normal to complain at work, watch movies with inappropriate material or consistenly worry about life's circumstances.  These sins which at one time greived our consciences now do not bother us in the least.

If you put a frog in a pot of water on the stove and immediately turn the temperature up, the frog will jump out and escape. However, if you gradually turn up the heat the frog will remain in the pot until he cooks to death.  It is in this manner that sin seeks to deceive us.  It attempts to lull us into believing that sin is "no big deal."  It gradually elevates our sin and continues to tell us "don't worry about it." That tragedy is that if we do not rouse ourselves to mortify these practices, indwelling sin will not be content until we have renounced God himself.

The urgency of this call cannot be overstated.

Nothing can prevent this but mortification; that withers the root and strikes at the head of sin every hour. . . There is not the best saint in the world but, if he should give over this duty, would fall into as many cursed sins as ever any did of his kind (Overcoming Sin and Temptation, 53). 

How do you think war could be waged against the flesh's tendency to gradually desensitize us towards our sin?  

The word “desensitize” in your question reminded me of a book I read a long time ago by John MacArthur called “The Vanishing Conscience”.  In the appendix of the book he lists 5 things to gain victory over sin:

1.       Know – The entire Christian life is established on knowledge of divine principles, sound doctrine, and biblical truth.  Those who repudiate knowledge in effect jettison the most basic means of spiritual growth and health, while leaving themselves vulnerable to a host of spiritual enemies. (Romans 6:6-7)

2.       Reckon – Reckoning moves our faith out of the realm of the purely intellectual and makes it supremely practical.  Our union with Christ ought to be something more than a theoretical truth.  We can count on, deem it a reality, and consider it done. (Romans 6:11-12)

3.       Yield – This “body of our humble state” and all its facilities are still susceptible to the lure of sin.  So, we must “yield ourselves unto God”. (Romans 6:12-13)

4.       Obey – “We are Gods own workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10)

5.       Serve – Christians should serve righteousness exactly like we once served sin – as slaves. (Romans 6:19-22)

The truth is, when we look into our own hearts, every one of us must echo those words of frustration.  Though sin is a defeated enemy, though we wage our battle against it from a position of victory, it is still a life-and-death struggle.  And it is a battle we must continue to take to the enemy as we mortify sin and attack its remaining influence in our lives.

Well said.  Regards as usual to Big Mac, and for those of you who have not seen John MacArthur; he is big.  He's in his seventies, but he looks like he could play linebacker today.  

So what does the Romans 6 progression of know, reckon, yeild, obey and serve look like in practical terms.  In essence, in those moments of mind-dulling temptation, how by these principles do we rouse ourselves so that we are not lulled to sleep by the tactics of the flesh? 

I remember a year or two ago reading Josh Harris' "Sex is not the problem, lust is" and in it Josh wrote about how one day he was home alone and saw a Victoria's Secret (I think) catalogue in the mail. In that moment he had a choice to either believe the lies his flesh was feeding him (that it wasn't a big deal to look, that nobody would ever know, that the stuff he was looking at wasn't bad compared to what is out there, etc) or to believe that Christ meant what He was saying when He said that anyone who looks at a woman to lust commits adultery (see Matt 5:28), that if he looked at that he would be breaking a trust between him and his wife, and that he risked making himself more likely to sin in bigger ways by allowing the small things to reign. Josh continues the story by showing how he moved beyond just intellectual acknowlegement of these things and took action. He not only didn't "browse the merchandise" but he went outside, threw it in the garbage and then got on the phone right away with a man from his small group. 

 I think a big part of this particular victory was that he didn't try to just do the right thing based on will power, but reflected upon Christ and His sacrifice and THEN took action. He also was willing to be humble and call for help and prayer. He could have easily thrown it out and not told anyone, but I suspect he knew on some level that making that phone call would help him be encouraged and stay accounatble since this man could check up on Josh later to make sure he didn't go dig it out of the trash to look at. 

Recently several of us were involved in a conversation that was centered around sin's of the mind. The conversation gravitated to being equally guilty of the sin in the mind as compared to committing the sin in the physical arena (Verse Matt 5:28 and similar verses).

This reminded me of an event that occurred a couple of years ago. I vividly remember a person in leadership position for a ministry of about 50 people (at a "seeker friendly" and less than doctrinal church) make a statement in front of 40 Christians that "If you thought about it (sinning) you might as well do it because your just as guilty."

I ponder on that statement and think of the devastating ramifications that it may have had on others in attendance.  It could have unrighteously influenced those in attendance by leading them astray (Matt 7:13-14).  The statement most likely was not purposely designed for evil but more likely it stemmed from a lack of knowledge on the mortification of sin.  

Our recent conversation went on to how one would counter such a statement and explain by biblical support why not bringing sinful thoughts to physical action is less sinful and righteous in God's view. 

Obviously, those of us in this conversation knew that we are commanded to fight sin and ideally we must at all times be pursing Holiness unto the Lord...through progressive sanctification. 

A few verses that help in this regard are: 1 John 5:2-3 and 1 Peter 1:13-15.  The chapter that comes to mind is Romans 6.

However we were looking for a more practical and effective manner in countering the erroneous statement. 

If I ever hear a similar statement like that again I want to be able to articulate an effective rebuttal in order to shepherd the Lord’s people unto righteousness and crush such sentiment.

In order for encouragement and gain ammunition against Satan's work:

How do you explain not bringing internal sin to its physical consummation to someone of relatively less wisdom and discernment of God’s character and make it resonate with them?

What practical illustrations are there?

What additional scriptures can be used as support to such a statement or sentiment?

Mike,

Perhaps Annanias and Sapphira would be a good example of the difference between thinking about a sin and actually doing it.  God did not kill them for thinking about lying.  He killed them for actually doing it.  It also seems that particularly in the case of Sapphira she was given a chance to repent.  That is, if she would have simply turned from her sin before she lied she would not have died.