The Sifford Sojournal

Our journal of what we pray is our sojourn of life along the narrow way, even the old paths, submitting to the Bible as a light unto both.

Category: David’s Digest (Page 10 of 16)

David’s Digest: Sins of the Heart

September 14, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Some time ago I had come across someone giving the example that as long as someone who desires homosexual relations doesn’t act on them, they are okay in God’s eyes, the idea being that if someone abstains from an outward manifestation of sin, they are keeping themselves from actual sin. This idea is what prompted this blog post.

The Bible speaks otherwise of this idea, and calls this concupiscence.

Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines this as:

Lust; unlawful or irregular desire of sexual pleasure. In a more general sense, the coveting of carnal things, or an irregular appetite for worldly good; inclination for unlawful enjoyments.

This is not just in the sexual realm — it covers all carnal desires of the heart.

Here is where concupiscence is mentioned in the Bible:

Rom 7:8 – “But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.“

Puritan commentator John Gill says of the concupiscence here:

“The law forbidding every unclean thought, and covetous desire of unlawful objects, sin took an occasion through these prohibitions to work in him, stir up and excite concupiscence, evil desire after all manner of things forbidden by the law; hence it is clear that not the law, but sin, is exceeding sinful.”

Col 3:5 – “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:“

Here Dr. Gill says it

“includes every fleshly lust and inordinate desire, or every desire after that which is not lawful, or does not belong to a man; as what is another’s property, his wife, or goods, or anything that is his.”

1 Thess 4:3-5 – “3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: 4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; 5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:“

Again Dr. Gill, regarding fulfilling the lust of concupiscence:

“for a man so to possess his vessel, is to cherish the sin of concupiscence, the first motions of sin in the heart, by which a man is drawn away, and enticed.”

Acts of sin are only the outward workings of the evil—yes, sinful—desires of the heart. In fact, sin starts in the heart:

Prov 4:23 – “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.“

Luke 6:45 – “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

And here are scriptures talking about the sins of the heart, which is by nature sinful:

Gen 6:5 – “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.“

Psa 28:3 – “Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.“

Psa 58:2 – “Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.“

Psa 101:4 – “A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.“

Prov 6:18 – “An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,“

Prov 10:20 – “The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth.“

Prov 21:4 – “An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.”

Jer 4:14 – “O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?“

Matt 15:18-20 – “18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.“

Acts 8:22 – “Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.“

1 John 3:15 – “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.“

Finally, Puritan Thomas Manton has some words in regards to heart sin:

This is from Manton, vol xviii, sermons upon Proverbs x 20, sermon II, the full text which can be read here:

(4.) That we must make conscience not only of our words, but thoughts. Men are cautious in their speeches and how they discover themselves; but they think thoughts are free. No; heart-sins are sins as well as the sins of the tongue and life : Prov. xxiv. 9, ‘The thought of foolishness is sin’; they are contrary to the law of God. Therefore David saith, Ps. cxix. 113, ‘I hate vain thoughts.’ Usually we take more liberty in our thoughts than in our words and actions. Men will not rob, steal, murder, or assault the chastity of a neighbour’s wife; but let their hearts run riot in coveting, and that is theft in the heart; or lusting, and that is adultery in the heart: Mat. v. 28, ‘Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart’; or malice and revenge, and that is killing in the heart.

And this is from Manton, vol xviii, sermons upon John i 29, sermons II, the full text which can be read here:

Others, if they would be freed from sin, they respect only the preventing the outward act, but you must abstain from the lust [desire] : 1 Peter ii. 11, ‘I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts [desires], which war against the soul.’ If they look after the heart and inward man, it is some branch of sin, not the root, or the change of the heart, and so die impenitent. Evil practices do not flow from a present temptation, but an evil nature. All these lose their labour; they neither get rid of trouble nor prevent the act, nor are free from the breach of God’s law, but Christ would make a thorough cure.

May God change our heart to ones desiring Christ, His righteousness and holiness; may He keep our hearts pure, removing sinful desires; and may He grant us the desire and strength to pray and fight against the sinful desires of the heart!

— David

David’s Digest: My Heart Is Good

August 17, 2017 / / 2 Comments

“My heart is good!”

Have you said that, or heard that said? I believe we all think it to some degree, and certainly want to believe it.

But what does the Bible say?

Gen. 6:5 – “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

Gen. 8:21 – “And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.”

Jer. 17:9 – “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

Rom. 3:10-12 – “10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”

Rom. 8:7 – “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”

Mark 10:18 – “And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.”

Ezek. 36:26 – “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”

The heart of fallen man by nature is a heart of stone, a dead heart, a desperately wicked heart, is enmity against God, not subject or able to be subject to the law of God, with no desire to seek for God and no good in it. Only some One good can bring goodness to it, and that is the good God, removing the dead heart and giving a lively heart. It is His act of putting His goodness there.

And even if you are truly a Christian, you recognize and lament the evil that is still within you.

Prov. 20:9 – “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?“

From Puritan John Gill’s commentary:

Who can say, I have made my heart clean

The heart of man is naturally unclean, the mind, conscience, understanding, will, and affections; there is no part clean, all are defiled with sin; and though there is such a thing as a pure or clean heart, yet not as made so by men; it is God that has made the heart, that can only make it clean, or create a clean heart in men; it is not to be done by themselves, or by anything that they can do; it is done only by the grace of God, and blood of Christ: God has promised to do it, and he does it; and to him, and to him only, is it to be ascribed;

I am pure from my sin?

the sin of nature or of action: such indeed who are washed from their sins in the blood of Christ; whose sins are all pardoned for his sake, and who are justified from all things by his righteousness; they are pure from sin, none is to be seen in them, or found upon them in a legal sense: they are all fair and comely, and without fault in the sight of God; their iniquities are caused to pass from them; and they are clothed with fine linen, clean and white, the righteousness of the saints: but then none are pure from indwelling sin, nor from the commission of sin; no man can say this, any more than the former; if he does, he is an ignorant man, and does not know the plague of his heart; and he is a vain pharisaical man; yea, a man that does not speak the truth, nor is the truth in him, (1 John 1:8)

And Prov. 28:26 – “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.“

Dr. Gill again:

He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool

Since the thoughts and imaginations of the thoughts of the heart are only evil, and that continually; they are vain and vague, sinful and corrupt; the affections are inordinate, the conscience defiled, the understanding darkened, and the will perverse; there is no good thing in it, nor any that comes out of it, but all the reverse; it is deceitful and desperately wicked: he must be a fool, and not know the plague of his heart, that trusts in it; and even for a good man to be self-confident, and trust to the sincerity of his heart, as Peter did, or to the good frame of the heart, as many do, is acting a foolish part; and especially such are fools as the Scribes and Pharisees, who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others, when a man’s best righteousness is impure and imperfect, and cannot justify him in the sight of God; it is moreover a weak and foolish part in men to trust to the wisdom and counsel of their heart, to lean to their own understanding, even it, things natural and civil, and not to ask wisdom of God, or take the advice of men, and especially it, things religious and sacred; see (Proverbs 3:5 Proverbs 3:6)

but whoso walketh wisely

as he does who walks according to the rule of the divine word; who makes the testimonies of the Lord his counsellors; who consults with his sacred writings, and follows the directions of them; who walks as he has Christ for his pattern and example, and makes the Spirit of God his guide, and walks after him, and not after the flesh; who walks with wise men, and takes their advice in all matters of moment, not trusting to his own wisdom and knowledge; who walks as becomes the Gospel of Christ, and in all the ordinances of it; who walks inoffensively to all men, and so in wisdom towards them that are without, and in love to them who are within; who walks circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time

he shall be delivered

he shall be delivered from the snares of his own deceitful heart, which he will not trust; and from the temptations of Satan; and from all afflictions and troubles he meets with in the way; and from a final and total falling away; and from eternal death and destruction: “he shall be saved”, as some versions render it, even with an everlasting salvation. The Targum is, “he shall be protected from evil.”

Finally, here is a warning I believe we should consider from Puritan Thomas Manton from his 2nd sermon on Mark 3:5, which you can read in full here:

4. None are so confident of the goodness of their hearts, as those that have an hard heart: for the more any spiritual disease increaseth upon us, the less it is felt. There is hope whilst there is some complaining of sin, that there is some tenderness left.

The hardest heart must needs be the most confident, because they use no recollection and reflection upon themselves; Jer. 8:6, ‘No man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done?’ What am I, what have I done? Yea they slight their danger, take up every vain pretence and allegation to maintain their carnal peace and quiet: Deut. 29:19-20, ‘And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst. The Lord will yet spare him, &c.’

Broken-hearted christians are sensible of the holiness of God, and what an hard matter it is to hold communion with him, and observe their own weakness and unworthiness; and therefore they complain of the badness of their hearts, that there is no greater bent towards God, and are always suspicious of their spiritual condition.

May God grant us an understanding of our carnal hearts and His holiness, may we humbly recognize from Whom any goodness in our hearts we might have comes, and may we diligently seek it from Him!

— David

David’s Digest: Sin and The Christian

July 6, 2017 / / 2 Comments

It seems to me often when people believe they are saved, even if they realize they are a sinner, they lose perspective of sin and their relation to it, almost that their sin in their life generally has mystically disappeared. In fact, we were told one time at a church I attended in the past to not look at ourselves as sinners saved by grace, as we now have a new identity and should look at ourselves that way.

While when someone is saved their sins are washed away from a penal perspective, and they are removed out from under the eternal wrath of God (ie. they are not held as guilty due eternal punishment), it’s not actually like they never sinned, and it’s not like they don’t continue to sin throughout their lives. A saved person still carries with him the carnal man, the corrupt nature, and while they have a new nature as well, the sin nature continues, with its same traits and same evil efforts and desires, although dethroned as ruler, but at war now with the new man.

Rom 8:7 – “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”

We continue to carry this carnal man with us during our time here in this life, and this is what Paul laments during his ministry:

Rom 7:24 – “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

Here is what Puritan John Gill says from what Paul desired to be delivered:

from the load of sin, and burden of corruption, under which he groaned, and still bespeaks him a regenerate man; for not of outward calamities, but of indwelling sin is he all along speaking in the context: wherefore it is better by “this body of death” to understand what he in (Romans 6:6) calls “the body of sin”; that mass of corruption that lodged in him, which is called “a body”, because of its fleshly carnal nature; because of its manner of operation, it exerts itself by the members of the body; and because it consists of various parts and members, as a body does; and “a body of death”, because it makes men liable to death: it was that which the apostle says “slew” him, and which itself is to a regenerate man, as a dead carcass, stinking and loathsome; and is to him like that punishment Mezentius inflicted on criminals, by fastening a living body to a putrid carcass: and it is emphatically called the body of “this death”, referring to the captivity of his mind, to the law of sin, which was as death unto him

While reading Puritan Thomas Manton, in his sermons on Genesis 24:63, in Sermon VII, he wrote something I thought most excellently laid out the perspective a Christian should continue to have for sin, and you can read the full sermon here:

4. None are exempted from bewailing the evil of sin. Though the children of God shall never feel it, nor have the dregs of God’s displeasure wrung out to them for it, yet they must bewail the evil that there is in sin. The death and merit of Christ doth not change the nature of sin, nor put less evil into it, why should we look upon it with a different eye after conversion than we did before? Sin is still damning in its own merit and nature, and it is still the violation of an holy righteous law, and an affront to the holy God, and an inconvenience to the precious soul. Sin is the same as it was before, though the person be not the same. Nay, the children of God are not altogether exempted from the effects of sin neither, it is a disease, though not a death, and who would not groan under the heat of a burning fever, though he be assured of life?

God hath still a bridle upon you to keep the soul in awe. And though the godly can never lose their right in the covenant, that doth remain, yet they may lose the fruition of it, and this is enough to make a child of God mourn: Notwithstanding all the privileges of grace, you may be branded, though not executed; and though the Lord hath made them vessels of mercy, yet he doth not use and employ them as vessels of honour, but they are set aside as useless vessels.

Sin will still be inconvenient, it will bring disgrace to religion, and discomfort to your souls, and furnish the triumphs of hell, and make Satan rejoice, and eclipse the light of God’s countenance; and who can brook the loss of God’s favour, and of intimate communion with him without sadness, and bemoaning his case? I may ask you that question, Job xv. 11, ‘Are the consolations of God small with thee?’ Do you make so little reckoning of those rich comforts of the Holy Ghost?

Though you cannot be damned, for there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ, Rom. viii. 1., yet your pilgrimage may be made very uncomfortable; and he that prizeth communion with God, would not lose the comfort of it for the least moment.

Besides, if there were no inconvenience, yet love is motive enough to a gracious person? Where is your love? Christians! You sin against mercy, the warm beams of mercy should melt the heart, Ezek. xxxvi. 31, ‘Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities, and for all your abominations.’ As long as there is love in the heart, you can never want [lack] an argument to represent the odiousness of sin. Put the matter in a temporal case; it would be ill reasoning for an heir to say, I know my father will not disinherit me, therefore I do not care how I offend him. Where is your love to God, if you do not hate sin? Psa. xcvii. 10, ‘Ye that love the Lord, hate evil.’

Though your right in the covenant be safe, yet you should still have the evil of your own doings in remembrance.

May these things be on the forefront of our remembrance, may it keep us humble and in awe of divine grace and mercy, may it elevate the perfectly righteous Lord Jesus Christ, and may God grant us a hatred of sin because it’s an affront to the One we love!

— David

David’s Digest: It’s Not Easy Being Saved, Part 8 – Going from Strength to Strength

April 20, 2017 / / 0 Comments

This is Part 8 of a series of writings from Puritan Thomas Manton’s excellent case showing that it is no easy thing to be saved. This part comes from his sermon on Psalm 84:7. While this is a different sermon than the original discussed in the first six parts, as with the last part, I came across this one and thought it was relevant to the topic of how difficult is the path to salvation. This is the final planned part of this series.

These sections below are only part of the sermon, so I hope you will take the time to read the entire thing, as the whole sermon is beneficial, and you can find it here:
https://books.google.com/books?id=dTpDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA314&lpg=PA314

And here are the previous blog posts:
Part 1 – Astonishment at Rich Men’s Difficulty
Part 2 – Doubt at Difficulty, but Generally Proved
Part 3 – Human Nature & the Habit of Worldliness
Part 4 – The Power of Worldliness
Part 5 – Why This Is Important
Part 6 – How to Use This Information
Part 7 – Living for Worthless Shadows

From Thomas Manton:

Psalm 84:7 – “They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.”

Application.

2. As it is a duty.

Use 1: It showeth the folly of them who count an earnest pursuance of eternal life to be more than needs, and that a little holiness will serve the turn. Oh no! A christian should always be growing and always improving, still pressing nearer and nearer towards the mark, going on from strength to strength. There is no nimium [too much] in holiness; you cannot have too much holiness, or too much of the love of God, nor of the fear of God, nor of faith in him.

There are many that come near and never enter: Luke xiii. 24, ‘Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.’ Certainly he that knoweth what was lost in Adam, and must be recovered in Christ, cannot think he can do enough or too much.

How hard a matter is it to keep what we have! Such is the vanity, lightness, and inconstancy of our hearts in good, and so furious are the assaults of sundry temptations, and so great is our impotency to resist them; our proneness to turn from the ways of God so great; so strong, subtle and assiduous are our spiritual adversaries; so many are these difficulties, discouragements, diversions, and hindrances which we have to wrestle with and overcome in the way to heaven, that it concerneth us to give all diligence to advance in our christian course.

Once more, there is so much promised, that certainly a man knoweth not what christianity meaneth if he striveth not to be more holy. So exact is our rule, and strict, so holy is our God, so great are our obligations from all the means and providences of God, that such a vain [useless] conceit cannot possess the soul of a serious christian.

Use 2: It reproveth those who, if they have gotten such a measure of grace, whereby they think they may be assured they are in a state of grace, they never look further, but set up their rest, and think hereafter Christ will make them perfect when they die. Consider—

1. They hazard their claim of sincerity that do not aim at perfection; for where there is true grace, there will be a desire of the greatest perfection; as a small seed will seek to grow up into a tree. He that is truly good will be growing from good to better, and so is best at last; the more his light and love is increased, the more he is troubled about the relics of sin, and grieved at his heart that he can serve God no more perfectly.

2. All promises are accomplished by degrees; and so far as we hope for anything, we will be endeavouring it: 1 John iii. 3, ‘Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure.’

3. According to the degrees of grace so will our glory be. The vessel is filled according to its capacity. They that are growing here have more in heaven. He that improved ten talents hath a reward proportionable, and so he that improved five, Matt. xxv. As our measures of grace are, so will our measures of glory be, all according to their size and receptivity. As there are degrees of punishments in hell, so of rewards in heaven. He that loved God more on earth has more of his love in heaven.

Use 3: It showeth the miserable estate of them that do not go strength to strength, but from weakness to weakness; that waste their strength by sin, that are fallen back, and have lost the savouriness of their spirits, and their delight in communion with God, and grow more careless and neglectful of holy things, weak in faith, impatient under the cross, formal in holy duties; their heart is not watched, their tongue is not bridled, their conversation is more vain [useless], they wax worse and worse. Oh! take heed of such a declining estate. When men fall from their first love: Rev. ii. 4, ‘I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.’ First faith: 1 Tim. v .12, ‘Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith.’ Or first obedience: 2 Chron. xvii. 3, ‘The Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David.’ David in his later time fell into scandalous crimes.

Use 4: Is to persuade you to go on from strength to strength. It is the gift of God’s free grace, and the work of the Spirit: Eph. iii. 16, ‘That he would grant you to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.’ By maintaining and actuating grace, notwithstanding all difficulties.

May the Lord grant us a desire to be more like Him in His holiness; that He grant us to daily grow in His graces and never grow slack; to be troubled about the relics of sin and grieved we cannot serve Him better; may we continuously pray for these things; and may He see us through to the end in His faith, with patience and thankfulness, through all the difficulties of being saved!

— David

David’s Digest: It’s Not Easy Being Saved, Part 7 – Living for Worthless Shadows

April 7, 2017 / / 0 Comments

This is Part 7 of a series of writings from Puritan Thomas Manton’s excellent case showing that it is no easy thing to be saved. This part comes from his sermon on 2 Cor. 4:18. While this is a different sermon than the original discussed in the first six parts, I came across this one and thought it was relevant to the topic of how difficult is the path to salvation.

These sections below are only part of the sermon, so I hope you will take the time to read the entire thing, as the whole sermon is beneficial, and you can find it here:
https://sites.google.com/a/oldpaths.org.uk/oldpaths/m/manton/mantonvol18/m000000012/page274sermonupon2corinthiansiv182coriv18writewelooknotatthethingswhichareseenbutatthethingswhicharenotseenforthethingswhichareseenaretemporalbutthethingswhicharenotseenareeternal

And here are the previous blog posts:
Part 1 – Astonishment at Rich Men’s Difficulty
Part 2 – Doubt at Difficulty, but Generally Proved
Part 3 – Human Nature & the Habit of Worldliness
Part 4 – The Power of Worldliness
Part 5 – Why This Is Important
Part 6 – How to Use This Information

From Thomas Manton:

2 Cor. 4:18 – “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

3. To negligent and sensual worldlings, who wholly busy themselves about the matters of this life, and are hurried hither and thither: Ps. xxxix. 6, ‘Surely every man walketh in a vain show; they are disquieted in vain.’ Our life is but a picture, image, shadow, or dream of life; it vanisheth in a trice. All must be suddenly parted with here, all the riches and honours; and yet we cark and labour and turmoil to get these transitory things, as if they would continue with us to all eternity, and had some durable satisfaction in them. Present pleasures and profits cloud our minds, and till we can get this veil drawn aside, this cloud scattered, we do not discern our mistake. Oh, consider who “would redeem the short pleasure of a dream with the torment of many days!

Our days upon earth are as a shadow, and yet this shadow do we cleave to instead of the substance, and though earthly things be short in their continuance, and uncomfortable in their end, yet these take up our life, and love, and care, and thoughts. Just as those that want children take pleasure in keeping little dogs and cats, so do they embrace the shadow for the substance, vainglory for eternal glory, a little pelf for the true riches, a little paltry business for the great work and end of our lives; and when all is done, it is but a spider’s web, Job viii. 14. The trust of the carnal man shall be but as the spider’s web. As the spider out of his own bowels weaveth a web to catch flies, and frameth it with a great deal of art, but it is gone with the turn of the besom [a broom made of twigs tied around a stick], so is the fruit of all their plots, and cares, and labours, and running up and down, when in the meantime we are unmindful of eternity.

Oh, when will these distracting worldlings find a time for God and everlasting happiness? Childhood is not serious enough, youth must take their pleasure, manly age is too full of business, and old age is too feeble.

4. It reproveth God’s children, who are too lazy, and have not that life and seriousness in a spiritual business which they have in an earthly. If eternity be your aim, why are you so dead and dull in a course of holiness? The apostle biddeth Timothy to follow after holiness: ‘To fight the good fight, to lay hold on eternal life,’ 1 Tim. vi. 12; implying if the one were his aim, he would do the other.

If we press towards the mark, why are we so frozen and cold in our zeal for God, so inclinable to every motion of sin, so easily overcome by temptations? Alas! making eternal things our scope is but a notion, unless we provide forthwith with greater care, exactness, and diligence. There should be a suitableness and proportion between the exactness of our conversation [behavior] and the greatness of our hopes: 1 Thes. ii. 12, ‘Walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.’ That worthiness is the worthiness of condignity [as if our reward for works was heaven], congruity [appropriateness], and condecency [the decency of living a holy life].

But alas! do we labour as for eternity? so follow after righteousness, so fight the good fight of faith, so despise the world, deny ourselves, run through all straits, triumph over all difficulties, mortify and subdue our own carnal inclinations? Alas! we are so bold in sinning, so cold in holy things, and do so little exercise ourselves unto godliness, as if we had no such great matters in view and chase; and carry it so as if our hopes were only in this world, and not as if the eternal God had promised these eternal things to us. Surely if our belief of them were stronger we should be other persons than we are, in all holy conversation and godliness, 2 Peter iii. 11.

May the Lord grant us a desire and help to spend our time, instead of building our treasures of earthly, worthless shadows, following after righteousness, fighting the good fight of faith, despising the world, denying ourselves, running through all straits, triumphing over all difficulties, and mortifying and subduing our own carnal inclinations!

Stay tuned for part 8, if the Lord wills!

— David

David’s Digest: It’s Not Easy Being Saved, Part 6 – How to Use This Information

March 23, 2017 / / 0 Comments

This is Part 6 of Puritan Thomas Manton’s excellent case showing that it is no easy thing to be saved. It comes from his sermon on Mark 10:26.

I am editing these sections down, but I hope you will take the time to read the entire thing, as it has many more examples and Scripture references, and you can find it here:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A51840.0001.001/1:17.13?rgn=div2;view=fulltext

And here are the previous blog posts:
Part 1 – Astonishment at Rich Men’s Difficulty
Part 2 – Doubt at Difficulty, but Generally Proved
Part 3 – Human Nature & the Habit of Worldliness
Part 4 – The Power of Worldliness
Part 5 – Why This Is Important

From Thomas Manton:

Mark 10:26 – “And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?”

Use 1. This shows us the reason of that presumption which is so common. We used to say that despair kills thousands, but presumption its ten thousands. What’s the reason that many presume? O the difficulties of salvation are not well weighed. True hope is a middle thing between presumption and despair. … Hope considers its object as hard, for that which is easy to come by is as if it were already enjoyed; a man cannot be said to hope for that which he may have with the turn of his hand. Well then, it considers the good to come as difficult, to awaken diligence and serious endeavours; but then it considers it as possible, for otherwise we are really discouraged from looking after it; for why should we look after that which is impossible? Paul’s mariners gave over working when all hope that they should be saved was taken away, Acts 27.20.

But now presumption leaves out the difficulty, and reflects only upon the possibility: some may be saved, surely God will not damn all his creatures, therefore I shall be saved: but suppose the contrary, few are saved, then what shall become of me?

On the other side, despair reflects only upon the difficulty, and leaves out the possibility: O it is hard, it is impossible with men, therefore they give it over! I shall make no work of it, saith despair. Now the scripture that would breed and nourish in us a true hope, doth all along lay forth the difficulty, to prevent slightness of spirit, and yet represents the possibility to prevent despair: the difficulties to quicken our endeavours, and the possibility to encourage men to hope for the grace of God.

Use 2. It presseth us to mortify our addictedness to present things. O Christians! If you could overcome the world, you pluck out the root of all temptations, and then the commandments of God would not be grievous, John 5:3-4, ‘For this is the victory whereby we overcome the world, even our faith’. The world is the great let [preventer] which hinders us from keeping the command, from being so exact, punctual, and sincere with God: overcome the world, and the work will be easy.

Take heed of pleasing the flesh, or letting the world have too great an interest in your hearts; let it not seem a great thing in your eye. Until your hearts are drawn off from present things, and you are wholly baptized into that spirit that suits with the world to come, to make that your main care and desire, you will never prosper in heavens way, until your thoughts be loosened from the world, and you are carried out more to heaven and heavenly things. Consider, why should you be addicted to present things? You that are strangers and not inhabitants, your happiness lies not here; if our hopes were only in this life, we were of all men most miserable, 1 Cor. 15.19. We are but probationers for heaven: our conversation [behavior] should be in heaven, Phil. 3.20.

Use 3. To fortify us against the difficulties in the way of salvation. You must be at some pains and labour, John 6:27, ‘Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat that endureth unto everlasting life’: do not slacken your endeavours. To quicken you, consider

(1.) If you love your salvation, you will be at some cost about it. It is a sign you make no reckoning of heaven, and have no great sense of things to come, when you grudge your pains; it is a sign you slight it, when you are so slow in the pursuit of it, Phil. 3.14, ‘I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’. O did you value heaven, or had you any esteem of heavenly things, you would not think much of a little pains, of striving with God in prayer, of wrestling, and denying your lusts [desires], to bring your hearts to a readiness and cheerfulness in the service of the ever-living God. No trade in the world you can drive on by idleness. Who ever prospered in any course of living, if he followed it with a slack hand? We cannot think to have those great invisible things of the Lord’s kingdom, and his glory, if you will do nothing for it.

(2.) There is difficulty both in the way to heaven and hell. Lusts are ravenous things, and cannot be fed or kept without much self-denial: you must deny yourselves either for God or the devil: you must deny your comforts, and your estate. Men will venture much for their lusts, and for their sensuality [pleasing to the human senses], there must be a great deal of charge to feed this humour, to satisfy the pleasures of the flesh.

Worldliness wastes the spirits, racks the brain: for ambition, how many hazards do men run for their greatness in the world? How many men sacrifice their lives upon the point of honour, for revenge, and for a little vain glory? Now if a man will take pains to go to hell, shall he not take pains to go to heaven? When men will be at such costs for lusts, as to deny conscience, and slight many of the comforts of the present world for lusts sake, shall we take no pains, and exercise no self-denial for heaven?

(3.) If we be at a little labour, it will not be in vain in the Lord, 1 Cor. 15:58, ‘Be steadfast and unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord’: whether you consider your vales or wages, your labour is not in vain. Your vales: Christ’s servants have a great deal of comfort and sweetness, Prov. 3:17, ‘Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace’: and for the world to come, there is a full and sure reward, therefore do not stick at a little pains; though it be difficult, yet remember it is for salvation.

Use 4. Let us look to our own selves, how is it with us? Are we in the way to hell or heaven? Let us look to our own standing, do we leave the boat to the stream? Do we give up our selves to the sway of our corrupt and carnal affections? Or else do we row against the stream and current of flesh and blood? It is no easy matter to be saved.

I do not ask now what will become of those that never minded salvation; that never busied their thoughts about it; but even in effect say, Let them take heaven that list [will]: but I ask, what will become of those slothful perfunctory Christians that count a little slight and formal religion enough, which is without any life, alacrity and power? Will this do the deed? Such will fall short of heaven.

May God grant us a true desire for Him, to be with Christ forever, and the desire and strength to busy ourselves in the ways of holiness!

Stay tuned for part 7, if the Lord wills!

— David

David’s Digest: It’s Not Easy Being Saved, Part 5 – Why This Is Important

March 16, 2017 / / 2 Comments

This is Part 5 of Puritan Thomas Manton’s excellent case showing that it is no easy thing to be saved. It comes from his sermon on Mark 10:26.

I am editing these sections down, but I hope you will take the time to read the entire thing, as it has many more examples and Scripture references, and you can find it here:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A51840.0001.001/1:17.13?rgn=div2;view=fulltext

And here are the previous blog posts:
Part 1 – Astonishment at Rich Men’s Difficulty
Part 2 – Doubt at Difficulty, but Generally Proved
Part 3 – Human Nature & the Habit of Worldliness
Part 4 – The Power of Worldliness

From Thomas Manton:

Mark 10:26 – “And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?”

III. This difficulty must be sufficiently understood, and seriously thought of by us. And here

(1.) Negatively. We should so reflect upon the difficulty,

1. Not to murmur against God because heaven is not to be had upon cheaper terms, and his ways lie so cross to our desires. Take heed of this; as if he were envious, and had not a good respect for the happiness of his creature. It is but reasonable that we should labour for heaven as we do for all other things that are good and excellent: that which costs nothing is worth nothing. Besides, there are so many corruptions to be mortified, duties to be performed, and trials to be endured, that the faith of the elect may be found to the more praise and honour’, 1 Pet. 1.7. and therefore all the pains, and shame, and loss, and trouble, is but necessary. This is an ill use and end, to murmur against God, and repine against his sovereignty and dominion over the creature; and yet this is the use that many make of it.

2. Not that we should despair, or wholly despond, … When men hear how hard it is to go to heaven, they throw off all in a despondency, they shall never bring their heart to this work. But we should not despair, and think it altogether impossible; there cannot be a pursuit of that which is impossible; past cure, (they say) past care. Many their affections are so strongly set upon carnal things, and they are so inveigled with the comforts of the world, and the pleasures of the flesh, that they are discouraged, and so think it impossible to do otherwise than they do. O no, that’s not the use of it, … God would have the fallen creature to despair of himself indeed; with man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible; as in the next verse.

(2.) Positive: Why should these difficulties be thought of, and laid to heart? To what end?

1. To prevent slightness of spirit: there is not a greater bane to religion, nor a greater judgment lights upon a creature, than a vain frothy slight heart, and therefore to prevent this, and that we may in good earnest mind the things of our eternal peace, it is good to understand sufficiently the difficulty of it. A slight heart thinks it no such great matter to get to heaven, there is no such danger of missing it as men talk of; though they be not so religious as preachers would have them, nor so strict in conscience as to abstain from every smaller matter; yet through the grace of God they shall do well enough; hell is made for the devil and devilish men, and outrageous sinners; if they live fairly, and do as their neighbours do, they shall do well enough, though they do not pine and whine over their sins, or busy their brains about clearing up their interest in God; though they be not so nice and scrupulous, and take God’s word too strictly, they shall do well enough for all that. Christians, these conceits, with which most men are leavened, are the bane, and eat out the heart of all religion.

It is no such easy matter to go to heaven as the world imagines; a cold faint wish will never bring us thither, nor a desire to enjoy it when we can live here no longer: no, there must be watching, and labouring, and striving, this must be your great business and employment … O! whatever is neglected, this business must be looked after day after day, namely, in what posture we are for the enjoyment of the blessed God,

Now it is necessary men should be sensible of the difficulty of being saved, to quicken their endeavours, and to bring them out of this slight frame of heart, which is so natural to us; they think there needs not so much ado, that we make the way straiter than God hath made it, they will not believe it is half so hard as it is: we see how great is our sloth and negligence; now if after he hath told us it is as hard as to go through the eye of a needle, what would we do if all were easy? Think of the difficulty to prevent this slight heart.

2. To keep us in a due dependence upon, and an admiration of grace, God would have us sensible of the difficulty. What carnal hearts have we? How hard a matter is it to guide and govern them in the fear of God, that we may keep up an admiration of the power of God that is perfected in our weakness. … This awakeneth our prayers for special grace from day to day, and maketh us to look up to God for new supplies, because we find it is not in our selves; ‘The way of man is not in himself, it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps’, Jer. 10:23. ‘We are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves, but our sufficiency is of God’, 2 Cor. 3:5.

3. That we may be forearmed with resolutions. They that take a walk for recreation do not prepare for all weathers, as they that resolve upon a journey; or they that go to sea for pleasure, if they see a storm coming, easily go to shore again, but they that go for business resolve upon all hazards, to finish their voyage. Now that we may resolve to make a thorough work of Christianity, and to hold on our way in Christ’s strength notwithstanding all difficulty, our Lord would have us to sit down and count the charges, Luk. 14:28, to consider what it will cost us to go to heaven; not to discourage us, but to provoke us to put on the more resolution, lest we tire when we find more difficulty than we did expect, and that we may resolve to hold on with God whatever it cost us.

May we trust God as sovereign Lord; may we pray for His graces to seek Him with all our hearts, bodies and souls; and we pray He grant us His graces to persevere to the end!

Stay tuned for part 6, if the Lord wills!

— David

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