Hanging in the Same Briers, Part II

In a sense, we should probably be both more and less confident when we face temptation. We can be more confident when we turn our eyes toward Christ and away from ourselves. We can be more confident when we find, in the cross, the truth that we are neither forsaken nor condemned. For there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus—even those who struggle repeatedly with the same sin, who cry out repeatedly for the same forgiveness, and who pray repeatedly for the grace to turn. There is no condemnation. None. Back to Romans 8:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Look at “all these things” listed here, and remember that you have been called a conqueror. Remember that God gave to you Christ, and that he will withhold from you no truly "good" thing (oh, if we only knew what was "good"). No one can stand against you, for you are already justified by God. Is that celebrated diversion growing smaller and darker as you look into this glory? Romans 8 is why we are more confident as we enter temptation.

But we are less confident in the face of temptation as we come to better understand our hearts. Looking into the perfect law of God, we recognize the banality of our pet sin. We realize, more and more, that this sin—like every other-is a manifestation of the evil in our hearts. It can’t be blamed on a situation or even a disposition. If we have looked first into the Gospel, this awareness will teach us to be humble, watchful, and prayerful in the face of temptation. If not, we may fall into condemnation. This is why we must fly to the Gospel. As my pastor said this morning, “When we see our sin, we must preach the preach the gospel to ourselves and rely upon the pardon and perfection of Christ alone.” I think this is also true for temptation.

We can modify our circumstances, and we are often wise to do so, and yet the provisions against temptation must always be made in our hearts. We can try to reflect upon the temporal consequences of our sin, but we won’t find them efficacious for long. Anyone who has failed at a New Years’ resolution understands that the threat of the law can only motivate obedience for a short time. Only, as Owen says, “Gospel provisions will do this work; that is, keep the heart full of a sense of the love of God in Christ. This is the greatest preservative against the power of temptation in the world.”

Owen gives several practical suggestions. Here are two that I find to be particularly helpful:

*Consider the end goal of this temptation: “It never rises up but its intent is the worst of evils. Every acting of it would be a formed enmity against God. Hence look upon it in its first attempts, whatever pretenses be made, as your mortal enemy.”

*Meet temptation with thoughts of faith in Christ. “Entertain no parley, no dispute with it, if you would not enter into it. Say, ‘It is Christ that died—that died for sins such as these.’ This is called ‘taking the shield of faith to quench the fiery darts of Satan.’”

Owen is calling us here to disrobe these temptations-to expose them for what they are and what they would be. We won't call them addictions and predispositions at this point; we will call them sin and we will make short work in our minds of what might be a long journey in our lives. No, one cigarette won't make me a smoker...yet. But what does it aim at? And, at an even deeper level, who does it aim at? I think we know that the answer is God.

The answer is God. Indeed, it is. We cannot dabble around with our temptation, considering how we might domesticate it or just appease the lust in less destructive way. A lust appeased will only grow stronger. If we truly desire to fight sin we will look to Christ, in whose flesh sin was condemned and through whom the righteous requirements of the law are met in us. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. It is our flesh that is weak; it is His that was and is sufficient.

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree'" (Gal 3:13). Thus, when we are caught in those same briers, we remember and rely upon the one who hung in our place, that we no longer have to.