Till Sin Be Bitter

“Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.”

- Thomas Watson, The Doctrine of Repentance, p. 63

It Defiles the Tongue That Mentions It

“How then are you able to look these Scriptures in the face, and not blush? O what a sin is this! Are you willing to be ranked with fools, dogs, sinners, heathens, and take your lot with them? God has planted that affection of shame in your nature to be as a guard against such filthy lust; it is a sin that has filthiness enough in it to defile the tongue that mentions it, Ephesians 5:3.

- John Flavel, Impure Lust, p. 11-12

If We Were More Deeply Affected With Sin

“How happy it would be if we were more deeply affected with sin, and our eyes did swim in their orb. We may clearly see the Spirit of God moving in the waters of repentance, which though troubled, are yet pure. Moist tears dry up sin and quench the wrath of God. Repentance is the cherisher of piety, the procurer of mercy. The more regret and trouble of spirit we have first at our conversion, the less we shall feel afterwards.”

- Thomas Watson, The Doctrine of Repentance, p.7

Four Marks of People Who Know God

“Those who know God…

1. have great energy for God.

“Men who know their God are before anything else men who pray, and the first point where their zeal and energy for God’s glory come to expression is in their prayers.” (p.24)

2. have great thoughts of God.

“He knows, and foreknows, all things, and His foreknowledge is foreordination;  He, therefore, will have the last word, both in world history and in the destiny of every man; His kingdom and righteousness will triumph in the end, for neither men nor angels shall be able to thwart Him…Is this the view of God which our own praying expresses? Does this tremendous sense of His holy majesty, His moral perfection, and His gracious faithfulness keep us humble and dependent, awed and obedient, as it did Daniel? (p. 25)

3. have great boldness for God.

“Daniel and his friends were men who struck their necks out. This was not foolhardiness. They knew what they were doing. They had counted the cost. They had measured the risk. There were well aware what the outcome of their actions would be unless God miraculously intervened, as he in fact did.” (p. 25-26)

4. have great contentment in God.

“There is no peace like the peace of those whose minds are possessed with full assurance that they have known God, and God has known them, and that this relationship guarantees God’s favour to them in life, through death, and on for ever.” (p. 26)

- J.I. Packer, Knowing God, p. 23-27

A Puritan’s View of Lust

Impure Lust is a small book from Banner of Truth’s Pocket Puritans series. The author, John Flavel, addresses the sin of lust for the first half of the book (46 pages) and the second half was a concise introduction to Flavel’s life and his writings (34 pages).  The book breaks down into ten arguments to show the sinfulness of the sin of lust and warnings why you should avoid it, and then gives seven directions to follow if ensnared by lust.

Reflecting back on the book, I thought it was heavier on sin than on grace. (A big surprise coming from a Puritan.) Using scriptural arguments, he clearly communicated the evil of the sin of lust, but with that conviction I felt that the reader isn’t lead to the cross where that sin is atoned for (for the believer). I don’t know if I would recommend it to a believer who isn’t rooted in grace. But maybe I am the one who is imbalanced in my theology. Perhaps I need to take lust more seriously and not presume on the grace of God in this area. In our sex-saturated culture, I am certain that I am desensitized to the filthiness of lust. I probably needed to read this book (and need to return to it later).I don’t doubt that these warnings to avoid sexually immorality isn’t done in love, but I wanted to hear more of the Gospel that is available to adulterers,fornicators and impure sinners who repent of their lust and trust in the perfectly pure righteousness of Christ.  To be fair, it was a very short book, so it’s easy to say there could a have been more written. Also, I imagine that this was not intended to be an exhaustive book, but just a small selection of his writings on the topic of lust. Regardless, there are several nuggets worth chewing on that I have been posting recently (and will continue to post in the near future). Here is one quote that impacted me the most:

“Oh consider, how will [God's] almighty power rack and torment you! Think on this when sin comes with a smiling face towards you in the temptation. Oh think! If the human nature of Christ recoiled, when his cup of wrath was given him to drink; if he was sore amazed at it, how shall you, a poor worm, bear and grapple with it for ever?” (p. 31)

I read through this book slowly and I believer that is the way it was intended to be read. If battle lust in any way (and if you have a pulse, chances are you likely do), then you should read this book. I would especially recommend to it if you regularly practice this sin and you aren’t convinced of it’s impurity in light of a Holy God. If you do consider reading it, read and meditate on one argument/direction at a time for at least day or a two.

Overall, I give it 4 stars out of 5. Both the section on lust and the brief biography made me somewhat curious to read more of Flavel’s work. His writing is typically classed with other popular Puritan divines such as John Bunyan, Matthew Henry, and John Owen.

The Two Wings of the Saint

“The  two great graces essential to a saint in this life are faith and repentance. These are the two wings by which he flies to heaven. Faith and repentance preserve the spiritual life as heat and radical moisture do the natural.”

- Thomas Watson, The Doctrine of Repentance, p. 7

Idolatry is Called Adultery

“And we find that when the Spirit of God would set forth any sin by an odious name, he calls it adultery; so idolatry is called adultery, Ezekiel 16:32.”

- John Flavel, Impure Lust, p. 10

Knowledge of God vs. Knowledge About God

“A little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about Him…I am sure that many of us have never really grasped this. We find ourselves a deep interest in theology (which is, our course, a most fascinating subject–the seventeenth century it was every gentleman’s hobby). We read books of theological exposition and apologetics. We dip into Christian history, and study the Christian creed. We learn to find our way around in the Scriptures. Others appreciate our interest in these things, and we find ourselves asked to give our opinion in public on this or that Christian question, to lead study groups, to give papers, to write articles, and generally to accept responsibility, informal if not formal, for acting as teachers and arbiters of orthodoxy in our own Christian circle. Our friends tell us how much they value our contribution, and this spurs us to further explorations of God’s truth, so that we may be equal to the demands made upon us. All very fine–yet interest in theology, and knowledge about God, and the capacity to think clearly and talk well on Christian themes, is not at all the same thing as knowing Him.”

- J.I. Packer, Knowing God, p.21-22

Truth in the Particulars

“Many men are wise in generals, but very vain  in the reasonings or imaginations, as the apostle calls them, Romans 1:21. that is, in their practical inferences. They are good at speculation, but bunglers at application: but iy is truth in the particulars that, like a hot iron, pierces; and, oh! that you may find these to be such in your soul!”

- John Flavel, Impure Lust, p. 7-8 (emphasis in original)

God is Blessed

“God’s blessedness means that he fully delights in himself and in all the reflects his character. He himself is the focus of all happiness and delight; therefore, his complete fullness of joy is found in himself [Psalms 16:11]…We find our greatest blessedness and ultimate happiness in the source of all good things–God himself.”

- Wayne Grudem, Christian Beliefs, p. 35