Hanging in the Same Briers, Part I

Be acquainted, then, with your own heart: though it be deep, search it; though it be dark, inquire into it; though it give all its distempers other names than what are their due, believe it not. Were not men utter strangers to themselves—did they not give flattering titles to their natural distempers—did they not strive rather to justify, palliate, or excuse the evils of their hearts that are suited to their natural tempers and conditions than to destroy them, and by these means keep themselves off from taking a clear and distinct view of them—it were impossible that they should all their days hang in the same briers without attempt for deliverance.

-From Overcoming Sin and Temptation, (John Owen's works on sin and temptation, edited by Justin Taylor and Kelly Kapic)

How many of us have spent all our lives hanging in the same briers? We reflect often on how our personalities and our circumstances have ‘conspired’ to render us particularly susceptible to some one great temptation. We tend to forget that God was and is sovereign over these things, and so we find it easy to excuse ourselves where this one thing is concerned. “All the other points of the law I have kept,” we say. And we focus on the fact that, as my pastor says, we were “deprived” rather than the fact that we are depraved. Thus the lust, the indulgence, the addiction—the sin—lives on. We do the things that we hate even as we do the thing we love. The things are less important than the thing.

While I can’t be sure, I suspect that most of you can pinpoint this one great temptation in your life. It may have changed over the years, wearing different faces at different seasons, and yet you see it to be the same damned brier. You know that your chances of being tempted in this area are almost the same as your chances of waking up in the morning. I woke up weary of the fight today, and so I turned to John Owen—whom I trust to give me a clear picture of my Savior and of myself:

Do not so much employ your thoughts about the things whereunto you are tempted, which oftentimes raises further entanglements, but set yourselves against the temptation itself. Pray against the temptation that it may depart; and when that is taken away, the things themselves may be more calmly considered.

In the throes of temptation, then, it seems that we need to think much more about the cross of Christ than about the sin in question. We need to focus our hearts on his faithfulness unto death instead of our paltry disobediences. I prayed this morning that the Spirit would help me to replace my fear, hopelessness, and condemnation in this area with concrete and specific thoughts about Christ’s faithfulness unto death. Obedience derived from fear is not a sustainable obedience; obedience derived from faith is the only way to fight.

I'm considering Hebrews 2 today:

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

I no longer hear a "Sunday School answer" when people counsel me to focus on the Gospel. The Gospel is the solution to every problem about our hearts and our behavior. May God, by His Spirit, make it clear to us how we can apply the Gospel in our times of temptation, that we may mortify even that one great sin, to the praise of His glory.