How many times, O Christian, do you think John Owen has been quoted saying, “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you”? And of those times it has been quoted, how often have you considered the urgency of the saying?
What is our Lord's expectation of us in our obedience? Is it not said that we are to obey fully? Full obedience can be explained as immediately–exactly how we are instructed without deviation or variance–and with joyful attitudes. Why is it that the waters are muddied with excuses of “complexities” and rationalities of incremental, un-exact, and a pompous, high-nosed, self-righteous type of “obedience”? This is not obedience at all!
If sin is killing you, it will do it by whatever means necessary; incrementally, immediately, however you let it; but when fighting your sin and trying to kill it, ought it be more faithful to kill it immediately? Do not allow your sin to fester; do not allow your sin to hang around a little; do not allow your sin to be put on a shelf for you to look at later; do not put off your sin for tomorrow; do not flirt with your sin or sweep it under the rug. Do not whitewash over the evil of sin! Severest consequences depend on these thoughts.
Consider the “Doctrine of Repentance” by Thomas Watson, or “Practical Holiness” by J.C. Ryle, or “Respectable Sins” by Jerry Bridges.
Listen to the Word of God and some fathers of the faith, and examine yourself, for you are commanded to do so (2 Cor 13:5). Are you yet pure? For Christ will only have a pure bride. Or should you say with Paul that you have not yet finished your race (Phil. 1:6; Phil. 3:13-14)? There may be few of us in our later years that can claim 2 Tim. 4:7. We need God’s wisdom now more than ever.
The entreaties of this post contain simple, self-evident and explanatory truths that even a premature Christian can easily understand. Too often, we overcomplicate and attempt to rationalize the simple. Satan muddies the waters of clarity with information overload, and we are left wondering where the bottom of the matter is through this aphotic paralysis.
But praise be to God for the illuminating nature of the Holy Spirit through the Scriptures. The 1689 London Baptist Confession (Chp. 2, #7) states that “... not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of ordinary means, may attain to a sufficient understanding of them (the Scriptures).”
Childlike faith is required for this understanding. Take the Scriptures at face value and believe exactly what they say. Isn't this what we should expect of our own earthly children? Or how many can relate to the incessantness of a child?
Time to Take Out The Trash
To follow up on this call of faithful sanctification (i.e., to put off and to put on, or to mortify and to vivify), the following is a list for us to hunt down in our lives and destroy:
1. Worldly wisdom
2. Pragmatism
3. Temptation(s)
4. Partiality
5. Situational ethics
6. Double-minded Smashmouth ideas
7. Gradualism
8. Cowardice
9. Cheap substitutes
10. Following political hype
11. Perverting or delaying justice
12. Practice cunning
We could synthesize this entire list with one word: Incrementalism.
Put on Faithfulness
Here is our 1:1 vivification list:
1. Godly Wisdom (James 3:17)
2. Aligned Providentially (Joshua 24:15)
3. Steadfast to trials (James 1:12)
4. Equity (Lev.19:15)
5.Standing firm on God's precepts and principles (Isaiah28:13)
6. Single-Mindedness (Jeremiah 39:32)
7. Obedience (1 Sam.15:22)
8. Courage (Psalm 31:24)
9. Right Sacrifices (Gen. 4:4-7)
10. Follow Christ (Luke 9:23)
11. Do Justice (Micah 6:8)
12. Display the Truth (2 Cor.4:2)
13. Seek Immediatism without Exception or Compromise (1 Sam.15:33)
As You Go
Know the truth, my brothers and sisters: It is powerful to destroy strongholds by taking thoughts captive (2 Cor. 10:4-5); to set us free (John 8:32); and to one day fully consummate the abolition of abortion (Rev. 21:4).
Dear Friends, do you even know where we are in this fight? Read Isaiah 28 and tell me again how we need to learn the art of the deal. No! We need to learn to obey and be subjected to the Word of God!
Owen once remarked, “The duties God requires of us are not in proportion to the strength we possess in ourselves. Rather, they are proportional to the resources available to us in Christ. We do not have the ability in ourselves to accomplish the least of God’s tasks. This is the law of grace. When we recognize it is impossible for us to perform a duty in our own strength, we will discover the secret of its accomplishment.”
So then, may the face of the Lord Jesus Christ shine upon you all.
Daniel Gribble is a husband and father of two girls, co-founder of Abolish Abortion Tennessee and a signer of the Norman Statement.
