Hating Sin

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6

Two quotes from this mornings readings about the importance of dealing with sin,

“Labour to know God, and to be affected with his attributes, and always to live as in his sight.—No man can know sin perfectly, because no man can know God perfectly. You can no further know what sin is than you know what God is, whom you sin against; for the formal malignity of sin is relative, as it is against the will and attributes of God. The godly have some knowledge of the malignity of sin, because they have some knowledge of God that is wronged by it. The wicked have no practical, prevalent knowledge of the malignity of sin, because they have no such knowledge of God. They that fear God will fear sinning; they that in their hearts are bold irreverently with God, will, in heart and life, be bold with sin: the atheist, who thinks there is no God thinks there is no sin against him. Nothing in world will tell us so plainly and powerfully of the evil of sin, as the knowledge of the greatness, wisdom goodness, holiness, authority, justice, truth, &c. of God. The sense of his presence, therefore, will revive our sense of sin’s malignity.”

“Wait patiently on Christ till he has finished the cure, which will not be till this trying life be finished.—Persevere in attendance on his Spirit and means; for he will come in season, and will not tarry. “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning, and he shall come unto us as the rain: as the latter and former rain upon the earth,” Hos. 6:3. Though you have oft said, “There is no healing,” Jer. 14:19; “He will heal your backslidings, and love you freely,” Hos. 14:4. “Unto you that fear his name, shall the Sun of righteousness arise, with healing in his wings,” Mal. 4:2: ” and blessed are all they that wait for him,” Isa. 30:18.”

Hebrews 1:9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows

Psalm 97:10 Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked

Psalm 101:3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.

Psalm 119:104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.

Psalm 119:113 I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love

Psalm 119:163 I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love.

Proverbs 6:16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17 A proud F21 look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

Amos 5:15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

Romans 12:9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good

Hebrews 1:9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows

John Gill commenting on Matthew 5:6,

after righteousness; by which is meant, not justice and equity, as persons oppressed and injured; nor a moral, legal righteousness…but the justifying righteousness of Christ, which is imputed by God the Father, and received by faith. To “hunger and thirst” after this, supposes a want of righteousness, which is the case of all men; a sense of want of it, which is only perceived by persons spiritually enlightened; a discovery of the righteousness of Christ to them, which is made in the Gospel, and by the Spirit of God; a value for it, and a preference of it to all other righteousness; and an earnest desire after it, to be possessed of it, and found in it; and that nothing can be more grateful than that, because of its perfection, purity, suitableness, and use: happy souls are these,

The Sin of Gluttony

Richard Baxter’s pastoral council is always worth consulting. I’ve read it often since I purchased it and will continue to read it for years to come. A few notes about the sin of gluttony.

What gluttony is:

“Gluttony is a voluntary excess in eating, for the pleasing of the appetite, or some other carnal end.”

Baxter lists 10 causes or reasons for gluttony and the increase of want:

1/ a mind set on the flesh,

2/ lack of reason, faith and spiritual appetite and mind,

3/ gluttony increases because it is use to being sated,

4/ being board and lack of attention to duty,

5/ pride and covetousness,

6/ the custom of overeating with friends and companions,

7/ lack of understanding as to why you have abundance,

8/ unfamiliarity with the benefits of abstinence,

9/ lack of knowledge of health, and

10/ gluttony itself has because a common custom (I guess Baxter was dealing with the “biggie” sized fries of his day)

 

Two Things

First a lecture, “Renihan on Baxter and justification.”

Second a quote, From “THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD,” The Value of this Doctrine :

It is the solid foundation of all true religion.

This naturally follows from. what we have said above under the first head. If the doctrine of Divine sovereignty alone gives God His rightful place, then it is also true that it alone can supply a firm base for practical religion to build upon. There can be no progress in Divine things until there is the personal recognition that God is Supreme, that He is to be feared and revered, that He is to be owned and served as Lord. We read the Scriptures in vain unless we come to them earnestly desiring a better knowledge of God’s will for us—any other motive is selfish and utterly inadequate and unworthy. Every prayer we send up to God is but carnal presumption unless it be offered “according to His will”— anything short of this is to ask ‘amiss,’ that we might consume upon our own lusts the thing requested. Every service we engage in is but a “dead work” unless it be done for the glory of God. Experimental religion consists mainly in the perception and performance of the Divine will—performance both active and passive. We are predestinated to be “conformed to the image of God’s Son”, whose meat it ever was to do the will of the One that sent Him, and the measure in which each saint is becoming “conformed” practically, in his daily life, is largely determined by his response to our Lord’s word—”Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF LEADING A HEAVENLY LIFE UPON EARTH

A soul that does not set its affections an things above, disobeys the commands, and loses the most gracious and delightful discoveries of the word of God. The same God that hath commanded thee to believe, and to be a Christian, hath commanded to “seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God: and to set our affections on things above, not on things of the earth.” The same God that has forbidden thee to murder, steal, or commit adultery, has forbidden thee the neglect of this great duty; and darest thou wilfully disobey him? Why not make conscience of one as well as the other? He hath made it thy duty, as well as the means of thy comfort, that a double bond may engage thee not to forsake thy own mercies. Besides, what are all the most glorious descriptions of heaven, all those discoveries of our future blessedness and precious promises of our rest, but lost to thee? Are not these the stars in the firmament of Scripture, and the golden lines in that book of God? Methinks thou shouldst not part with one of these promises, no, not for a world. As heaven is the perfection of all our mercies, so the promises of it in the Gospel are the very soul of the Gospel. Is a comfortable word from the mouth of God of such worth, that all the comforts in the world are nothing to it? And dost thou neglect and overlook so many of them? Why should God reveal so much of his counsel, and tell us beforehand of the joys we shall possess, but to make us know it for our joy? If it had not been to fill us with the delights of our foreknown blessedness, he might have kept his purpose to himself, and never have let us know it till we came to enjoy it. Yea, when we had got possession of our rest, he might still have concealed its eternity from us, and then the fears of losing it would have diminished the sweetness of our joys. But it hath pleased our Father to open his counsel, and let us know the very intent of his heart, that our joy might be full, and that we might live as the heirs of such a kingdom. And shall we now overlook all? Shall we live in earthly cares and sorrows, and rejoice no more in these discoveries than if the Lord had never written them? If thy prince had but sealed thee a patent of some lordship, how oft wouldst thou cast thy eyes upon it, and made it thy delightful study, till thou shouldst come to possess the dignity itself! And hath God sealed thee a patent of heaven, and dost thou let it lie by thee, as if thou hadst forgot it? O that our hearts were as high as our hopes, and our hopes as high as these infallible promises!