Month: February 2022

Posted by

0

TRUSTING IN SELF

“All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but . . .” (Prov 16:2 NIV).

“Obsession with self is a dead end. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing” (Rom 8:6-8 MSG).

“Mortification from a self-strength carried on by ways of self-invention, unto the end of a self-righteousness is the soul and substance of all false religion” John Owen (ref#244, p84).

“Some people are pure in their own eyes, but . . .” (Prov 30:11-12 NLT).

“There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, But . . .” (Prov 14:12 AMP).

“You declare yourselves just and upright, but . . .” (Luke 16:15 AMP).

“We may think we are doing the right thing, but . . .” (Prov 21:2 CEV).

“The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps” (Prov 16:9 ESV).

“[D]o not follow your own heart and your own eyes” (Num 15:39 NASB).

“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And clever in their own sight” (Isa 5:21 NASB)!

“He who leans on, trusts in, and is confident of his own mind and heart is a [self-confident fool” (Prov 28:26 AMPC).

“Never let yourself think that you are wiser than you are” (Prov 3:7 GNT).

“You have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way” (Hosea 10:13 ESV).

“There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth” (Prov 30:12 ESV).

“Where there is hatred of sin, there is grief and dissatisfaction with self” John Calvin (ref#164, Aug 22nd).

Posted by

0

LOOKING OVER SIN

“He who sees no sin in himself will feel no need of a Savior” William S. Plumer (ref#358, p2).

“Our problem is that we do not take some sin seriously. We have mentally categorized sins into that which is unacceptable and that which may be tolerated a bit” Jerry Bridges (ref#244, p18).

“Many of us are careful to maintain an outwardly upright life, but are we just as diligent to cultivate holiness in our thoughts? Since we are unable to do that on our own, are we not in desperate need of a Savior” John Calvin (ref#164, Jan 16th)?

“Christians taking in the teaching of the Bible can be deceived about their own sins. We somehow feel that consent to the teaching of Scripture is equivalent to obedience” Jerry Bridges (ref#244, p72).

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22 ESV).

“[A]s human beings, we’re all glory junkies. One bite of chocolate glory is not enough for us. The beautiful watch, the cool car, the best taco, the well-designed golf course, the perfectly appointed kitchen, and the stunning piece of music all get our attention and leave us wanting more.  But these glories were created and placed in our lives for a purpose. All of the glories of the physical created world serve this one purpose—to remind us of and point us to the glory of God. The physical world is wonderfully glorious, but it was never meant to be our stopping point any more than the sign that points to something is meant to be the end of the journey” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, May 31st).

“Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity” (1 John 2:15-17 MSG).

Posted by

0

UNDER THE DOMINION AND POWER OF SATAN

“A gruesome death like the one that Christ endured for me would only be required for one who is exceedingly sinful and unable to appease a holy God” Milton Vincent (ref#60, p33).

“[T]he awful condition of the unconverted. [They are] under the dominion and power of Satan, led captive by him at his will (2 Tim 2:26)” Octavius Winslow (ref#381, p46).

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—“ (Eph 2:1-2 ESV).

“[T]o live under the dominion of sin connotes a settled course of life” Jerry Bridges (ref#192, p71).

“[I]t is a faithful portrait of you, if you are yet not born again of the Spirit. The strong man armed, who is the devil, has still the full possession of your soul and will remain in undisputed, and willing occupation until a stronger than he enters, spoils him of his goods, and casts him out. It is his aim and policy to keep your soul in carnal security, in false peace, in the stillness and insensibility of spiritual death. Mistake not rash confidence for humble faith, groundless expectation for assured hope! Satan is a great counterfeiter! He not only can quote Scripture, but he can imitate grace” Octavius Winslow (ref#381, p46).

“As long as you are in the position of trying to justify yourself, you have not repented” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#189, Dec 29th).

“If you have quit being defensive and are now willingly and humbly approachable, you know that transforming grace has visited you. Sin makes us all shockingly self-righteous. It makes us all committed self-excusers. Because accepting blame is not natural, it takes rescuing, transforming grace to produce a humble, willing, broken, self-examining, help-seeking heart” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, Apr 26th).

Posted by

0

SIN’S POWER

“[O]ur sin is a burden that afflicts us rather than a pleasure that delights us” Jerry Bridges (ref#192, p72).

“The Devil knows that if he can keep me tormented by sin’s guilt, he can dominate me with sin’s power” Milton Vincent (ref#60, p19).

“Sin is not primarily an activity of man’s will so much as a captivity which man suffers, as an alien power grips his soul. [W]hile the presence of sin can never be abolished in this life, nor the influence of sin altered (its tendency is always the same), its dominion can, indeed, must be destroyed if a man is to be a Christian” Jerry Bridges (ref#192, p71).

“[S]in will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace” (Rom 6:14 ESV).

“There is a hard unyielding self, which stands up for itself and resists others, that will have to be broken, if we are to be willing for the disposition of the Lamb, and if the precious Blood is to reach us in cleansing power. We may pray long to be cleansed from some sin and for peace to be restored to our hearts, but unless we are willing to be broken on the point in question and be made a partaker of the Lamb’s humility there, nothing will happen. Every sin we ever commit is the result of the hard unbroken self taking up some attitude of pride, and we shall not find peace through the Blood until we are willing to see the source of each sin and reverse the wrong attitude that caused it by a specific repentance, which will always be humbling. This does not mean that we need to try and make ourselves feel the humility of Jesus; for we have only to walk in the light and be willing for God to reveal any sin that may be in our lives, and we shall find ourselves asked by the Lord to perform all sorts of costly acts of repentance and surrender, often over what we term small and trivial matters” Roy Hession (ref#97, p96-97).

“There is no such thing as salvation from sin’s penalty without an accompanying deliverance from sin’s dominion. This obviously does not mean we no longer sin, but that sin no longer reigns in our lives” Jerry Bridges (ref#192, p70).

“How can we who died to sin still live in it” (Rom 6:2 ESV)?

“The death of Christ secured for us not only freedom from the penalty of sin, but also deliverance from the dominion of sin in our lives” Jerry Bridges (ref#192, p61).

Posted by

0

FALLING INTO SIN

“For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me” (Rom 7:11 ESV).

“God’s commands, promise eternal life if one keeps them; and yet they lead to death, since everyone violates what God ordains. This happens when sin deceives a person and uses the law as its instrument” ESV Study Bible (ref#125, p2169).

“It is certainly wrong to feed a lust, even in the imagination. It is quite contrary to the holy rules of God’s words. ‘The thought of foolishness is sin’ (Pro 24:9)” Jonathan Edwards (ref#377, p23).

“As a man that walks in the sun is tanned before he is aware, so are the souls of men sullied and defiled by carnal company before they be aware. For the more accustomed to them, the less odious they seem; so, little by little, our spirits are shaped and fitted for such a sin” Thomas Manton (ref#375, p16).

“Temptation always talks about happiness, fulfillment, gratification, delight, comfort, pleasure, excitement, and the like. It can involve good things or foul perverse things: either way, temptation always lures the flesh to believe its promises instead of God’s Word” Jeff Pollard (ref#372).

“[T]he person who does anything with a high hand reviles the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him” (Num 15:30-31 ESV).

“If we would make peace with the world, the world would let us alone. If we could be content to walk in the ways of sin, Satan would give us no disturbance. But because grace has rescued us from his dominion, and the love of Jesus constrains us to live to Him alone, therefore the enemy, like a lion robbed of his prey, roars against us” John Newton (ref#376, p20).

“[T]emptation promises satisfaction. But when it leads to sin, only two responses exist: repentance and faith in Jesus Christ or damnation, no matter how ‘happy’ one is on the way to eternal hellfire” Jeff Pollard (ref#372).

Posted by

0

A MATTER OF THE HEART

“[T]he heart refers to the center of one’s being including the mind, emotions, and will” ESV Study Bible (ref#125, p1907).

“Sin isn’t primarily about acts of rebellion. Sin is, first of all, a condition of the heart that results in acts of rebellion. You and I commit sins because we are sinners” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, Jan 30th).

“Have you known anything of real, personal, inward consciousness of the awfulness of your guilt in the presence of a holy God? Have you seen the horribleness of a heart that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” Albert N. Martin (ref#221, p8)?

“[D]isobedience is personal. Every sin is a violation of a relationship—a sin against God. The first way we devalue sin is to think that sin is about behavior and behavior alone. Sin is always a matter of the thoughts, desires, motives, and choices of the heart. [Y]our body physically goes where your heart has already gone” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, Dec 11th ).

“[T]he LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.’” (1 Sam 16:7 ESV).

“The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust” (James 1:13-15 MSG).

“[I]t is only when God is in his rightful place in my heart that I desire to live in a way that please him. Every sin denies his existence and his authority. Every sin replaces him with something else. Every sin quests for his power and his glory. Every sin is after his throne” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, Dec 11th).

“You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way. [W]hat he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find” (James  4:4-6 MSG).

Posted by

0

He changes; I trust

TWO WAYS TO REACT TO SIN

“[T]he problem of man with respect to God is not only the problem of the guilt of sin. Merely to be forgiven is not enough; we have to keep the law of God that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. [B]ut we have not kept it; we cannot do so, and we can only keep it in Him. He has kept the law for us” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#211, p54).

“You can’t try to be better than you really are. [Y]ou try to re-create yourself by becoming spiritual. Jesus said that he came for sinners, for messed-up people who keep messing up” Paul E. Miller (ref#62, p33-34).

“Our first problem is that our attitude toward sin is more self-centered than God-centered. We cannot tolerate failure in our struggle with sin chiefly because we are success-oriented, not because we know it is offensive to God” Jerry Bridges (ref#244, p16-17).

Two ways to react to sin: concern to how it affects humans and concern to how it affects GOD: “In the one case, the heart is only mortified; in the other, it is truly humbled. The one is a feeling that deals only with others; the other is an emotion that has to do with God. Once the believer is solemnly conscious of acting beneath the eye of God, the gaze of other eyes barely affects him. Oh, how little do some who profess faith act as though they had only to do with God! How imperfectly do they look at sin as God looks at it! But if they lived more with the Lord always before them, how would they rise above the poor opinions of others! It would then appear a very little matter for them to be judged with man’s judgment” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, Apr 16th).

This is what happens to my sin when I concentrate on JESUS: I remember that I am a new creature—a person who does not desire to sin—a person who is more interested in maintaining a relationship with JESUS than striving to be righteous. Do I want to be right, or do I want to be with JESUS? For the more I love Him the more I want to please Him. St. Augustine one said, “Love God and live as you please.”

Posted by

0

EXCEEDING EVIL OF SIN

“God’s grace is active, rescuing, transformative grace. You celebrate this by being as serious about your need as the God of this grace is. God took sin so seriously that he did two things when the first transgression occurred—he immediately meted out punishment and he immediately set in motion his plan of rescue and redemption. Both demonstrate God’s seriousness about what we all too easily deny or minimize” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, June 5th).

“[T]he truth of what the Word of God declares concerning the exceeding evil of sin; for the same eye that discerns the transcendent beauty of holiness necessarily therein sees the exceeding odiousness of sin; the same taste which relishes the sweetness of true moral good tastes the bitterness of moral evil. And by this means a man sees his own sinfulness and loathsomeness; for he has now a sense to discern objects of this nature, and so sees the truth of what the Word of God declares concerning the exceeding sinfulness of mankind, which before he did not see. He now sees the dreadful pollution of his heart; and this shows him the truth of what the Scripture reveals concerning his nature, and his need of a Savior” Jonathan Edwards (ref#229, p83).

“Why did the Son of God come into this world of sin? He came ‘to save that which was lost’, to provide pardon and forgiveness of sin by the shedding of His own blood and the breaking of His own body upon the cross. If I say I have no sin, I am denying the incarnation, the death and the resurrection—I am making God a liar” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#332, p113).

“[F]ailure to realise that we as sinners need forgiveness is the failure to realise the nature of sin, to grasp that our own natures are sinful and to understand that we have all actually sinned and need forgiveness” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#332, p113).

“Corruption does not lie dormant in the Christian: though it reigns not supreme (because of a principle of grace to oppose it) yet it molests and often prevails to a very considerable extent. Because of this the Christian is called upon to wage a constant warfare against it: to ‘mortify’ it, to struggle against its inclinations and deny its solicitations” A.W. Pink (ref#269, p112).

“[W]hen divine justice is seen requiring the very heart’s blood of God’s only son in order to quench its infinite need for satisfaction; when God in Christ is seen in His humiliation, suffering, and death, all with the design of pardoning iniquity, transgression, and sin; how fearful a sin against this holy Lord God seems! Do not be discouraged if the more intensely the desire for sanctification rises, the deeper and darker the revelation of the heart’s hidden evil” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, Aug 13th).

Posted by

0

DOCTRINE OF SIN

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8 ESV).

“[O]ur very natures are sinful. The reference here is not to acts of sin, but to the nature that produces the acts of sin. [T]he state which is both the cause and the consequence of what we do” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#332, p111).

“[S]omeone who has never realised the gospel and precisely what is meant by sin fail to realise that particular truth about sin; they will persist in thinking of it in terms of sins—particular sins and actions. But according to the Bible that is a hopelessly inadequate view of sin. Sin according to the Bible everywhere, is a realm, a kingdom. The Bible tells us that there are two kingdoms in this world, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of evil and the kingdom of holiness and the kingdom of Satan and of iniquity. [T]here is such a thing as sin and evil, a realm, an attitude, an outlook, a mind” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#332, p109).

“It is one of the hardest tasks in the world to bring the heart to a sincere persuasion that sin is indeed as vile as God’s word represents it; and that it deserves all that His law threatens against it” John M’Laurin (ref#333, p263).

“The doctrine of sin is essential, and unless I realise I am a sinner and must repent, and if my only hope is not in Christ and His death for me on the cross and His resurrection for my justification, I not only have no fellowship with God, but I am dwelling still in utter darkness. Oh yes, to have fellowship with God we must not only be clear about the nature of God, we must be equally clear about ourselves and our own nature” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#332, p114).

“[S]in has an indwelling and captivating power, whereby it continually assaults the principle of spiritual life, beating down the Christian’s defenses, battering his armour, routing his graces, wasting his conscience, destroying his peace, and at last bringing him into a woeful captivity unless it be mortified” A.W. Pink (ref#269, p112).

“If we do not realise that we are sinners and need the forgiveness of God; if we do not realise that we have always needed it and that we still need it; if we think that we have always been perfect or that now we are perfect as Christians; if we do not realise that we must repent we are making God a liar” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#332, p113).

“The Jews, the chosen people, thought they were all right: ‘Those others, the Gentiles,’ they said, ‘are dogs; they need it, but we do not.’ But God convicts Jew and Gentile; there is none righteous; the whole world, every mouth, has been stopped. That is the doctrine of the Bible; so if we say we have not sinned, we are denying the doctrine of the Bible” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#332, p113).

Posted by

2

SATAN

“[T]he god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor 4:4 ESV).

“Man was made perfect by God, but he was tempted and fell, and the result has been that the whole world has been polluted” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#332, p109).

“This world has become the kingdom of Satan” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#332, p318).

“The devil tempteth many millions of souls with the offers of the kingdom of heaven itself” Richard Baxter (ref#333, p 195).

“There is no greater curse than for a man to get his will and desires in the world” James Fraser of Brea (ref#333, p236).

“Satan is putting forth desperate efforts to ensnare the world. He is devising many plans to occupy minds and to divert attention from the truths essential to salvation. In every city his agencies are busily organizing into parties those who are opposed to the law of God. The arch deceiver is at work to introduce elements of confusion and rebellion, and men are being fired with a zeal that is not according to knowledge” Ellen G. White (ref#331, p219).

“Satan himself changes his outward expression from one that comes from his inner nature and is representative of it, to one that is assumed from without and not representative of his inner being, masquerading as a messenger of light” (2 Cor 11:13-14 Wuest).

“Satan attacks the church’s perseverance and purity through violent persecution, through deceptive teaching, and through affluence and sensual pleasure” ESV Study Bible (ref#125, p2455).

“Wickedness is reaching a height never before attained, and yet many ministers of the gospel are crying, ‘Peace and safety.’ But God’s faithful messengers are to go steadily forward with their work. Clothed with the panoply of heaven, they are to advance fearlessly and victoriously, never ceasing their warfare until every soul within their reach shall have received the message of truth for this time” Ellen G. White (ref#331, p220).

“We are not to flee from Satan, but to resist, that he may flee from us” Lady Powerscourt (ref#333, p353).