Additional Insights Regarding Lust
“You who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart.” Romans 6:17
Today’s Freedom Fighter is a follow-up from yesterday’s writings of Puritan Preacher, John Owen. If you missed it, go back on the Freedom Fighter blog and read it.“You cannot put to death a specific lust that is troubling you, unless you are seeking to obey the Lord from the heart in all areas. If a man finds a particular lust that is powerful and violent and it takes away his peace and troubles him, and if he sets himself against it, prays against it, groans under it, and sighs to be delivered; but in the meantime, he will not be able to gain the victory over that troubling lust. This is a common condition among the sons of men in their pilgrimage.
If we seek to correct a coarse or filthy outbreak of sin in the soul, but neglect the basic duties that promote our spirituality, we labor in vain, for it is a bad foundation. We must all hate sin, as sin, and not only because it troubles us. Love for Christ because He went to the cross, and hate for sin that sent Him there, is a solid foundation for true spiritual mortification (putting to death).
To seek mortification only because a sin troubles us proceeds from self-love. Why do you seek to put to death this sin? – Because it troubles you and takes away your peace. Yes, but you will be watchful against everything that grieves the Spirit. Do you think God will help you in such a hypocritical effort? Do you think He will free you from this so you can commit another sin that grieves him? “ ‘No,’ says God, ‘If I free him from this lust, I will not hear from him any more, and he will be content in his failure.’
We must not be concerned only with that which troubles us, but with all that troubles God. God’s work is to have FULL victory, and universal obedience, not just the sins that trouble our souls. (Voices from the Past – Puritan Devotional Readings/Banner of Truth)
Powerful word today. Lust is powerful in our lives, guys! BUT greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world! Are you battling a particular lust? He wants you to run to the cross and put it to death. Then you can become obedient from the heart. Think about it. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
Compass Pointers: We do not understand the intricate pattern of the stars in their courses, but we know that He who created them does, and that just as surely as He guides them, He is charting a safe course for us. Billy Graham
Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 9:10-11; Level 2: Proverbs 9:7-12
Anchored to the Rock: No prayers can be heard which do not come from a forgiving heart. J. C. Ryle
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