A Great and Gracious God

Then Job replied to the LORD :

“I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted…My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:1, 5-6)

“No wonder Jonathan Edwards, the 18th-century New England theologian and preacher so mightily used by God, wrote that he found the most gracious work of God was generally performed when he was preaching on the sovereign Lord.

When God is seen and sensed as the living Lord he really is, then the groundwork is laid in our lives for true spiritual restoration.”

Sinclair Ferguson, Man Overboard! The Story of Job, p. 52

HT: Against Heresies

Putting Sin to Death

Paul’s exposition [Colossians] provides us with practical guidance for mortifying sin… .

1. Learn to admit sin for what it really is. Call a spade a spade-call it “fornication” (v.5), not “I’m being tempted a little”; call it “uncleanness” (v. 5), not “I’m struggling with my thought life”; call it “covetousness, which is idolatry” (v. 5), not “I think I need to order my priorities a bit better.” …

2. See sin for what it really is in God’s presence. “Because of these the wrath of God is coming” (3:6)… See the true nature of sin in light of its punishment… Take a heaven’s-eye view of sin and feel the shame of that in which you once walked (3:7; cf. 6:21).

3. Recognize the inconsistency of your sin. You have put off the “old man,” and have put on the “new man” (3:9-10)… New people live new lives. Anything less is a contradiction of who we are “in Christ.”

4. Put sin to death (v. 5). It is as “simple” as that. You cannot “mortify” sin without the pain of the kill. There is no other way!

But notice that Paul sets this in a very important broader context. The negative task of putting sin to death will not be accomplished in isolation from the positive call of the gospel to “put on” the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 13:14).

Paul spells this out in Colossians 3:12-17. Sweeping the house clean simply leaves us open to further invasion of sin. But when we understand the “glorious exchange” principle of the gospel of grace, then we begin to make some real advances in holiness. Sinful desires and habits not only must be rejected but exchanged for Christ-like graces (3:12) and actions (3:13). As we are clothed in Christ’s character and His graces are held together by love (v. 14), not only in our private lives but also in the church fellowship (vv. 12-16), Christ’s name and glory will be manifested and exalted among us (3:17).
- Sinclair Ferguson, In Christ Alone: Living the Gospel Centered Life

Marks of Revival

The Lakeland “Revival” did not measure up. –JB

Sinclair Ferguson on revival:

   In his Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God, Jonathan Edwards draws on 1 John 4 to show that all true works of God share several features:
   1. A high esteem for Christ.
   2. The overthrow of Satan’s Kingdom in our hearsts.
   3. A reverent view of, and close attention to, God’s Word in Scripture.
   4. The presence of the Spirit of truth convincing us of the reality of eternity and the depth of our sin and need.
   5. A deep love for both God and man.
   But what does this mean in real-life terms?

A Microcosmic View

. . . Many years ago, I witnessed revival in its most microcosmic form in a sudden, unexpected, and remarkable work of God’s Spirit on a friend. The work was so dramatic, the effect so radical, that news of it spread quickly to different parts of the country. . . . I [asked] my friend . . . What this remarkable experience had involved. The answer was illuminating. Five things seemed to have happened . . .
   1. A painful exposure of the particular sin of unbelief occurred. Listening to preaching was a staple of my friend’s spiritual diet, but what came with overpowering force was a sense that God’s Word had actually been despised inwardly. God’s own Word, preached in the power of the Spirit, stripped away the mask of inner pride and outward reputation for spirituality. There was a fearful exposure to sin.
   2. A powerful desire arose to be free from all sin. A new affection came, as if unbidden, into the heart. Indeed, a desire seemed to be given actually to have sin increasingly revealed and exposed in order that it might be confessed, pardoned, and cleansed. Disturbing though it was, there was a sweetness of grace in the pain.
   3. The love of Christ now seemed marvelous beyond measure. A love for Him flowed from a heart that could not get enough of Christ, ransacking Scripture to discover more and more about Him.
   4. A new love for God’s Word was born—for reading it, for hearing it expounded and applied, and especially for knowing every expression of God’s will, so that it might be obeyed.
   5. A compassionate love for others now flowed. It came from this double sense of sin and need on the one hand and grace and forgiveness on the other. Christian witness ceased to be a burdenand became the ecpression of Spirit-wrought and powerful new affections.
   It was thus for King David:

Have mercy upon me, O God . . . According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight. . . . Purge me . . . Wash me. . . . Create in me a clean heart, O God. . . . My tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

—Psalm 51:1–4, 7, 10, 14

—Sinclair Ferguson, In Christ Alone: Living the Gospel Centered Life (Reformation Trust, 2007), 103–104.

HT: The Thirsty Theologian