http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/A weblog by CVBBSen-usTue, 01 Jul 2008 14:17:18 EDTCopyright 1997-2008 Jonathan BarlowBarlow Content Management System Are you tempted to think that the devil, remaining sin, and this fallen world's seductive influence take vacations, let down their antics, or give us a free pass by saying: "They have had a tough year and deserve a break for the summer!"! Hardly. As a pastor, I have sadly observed some folk's fall into sin over the summer months, because they did not carefully walk with Christ and wear their spiritual armor (Ephesians 6:10-20). They had assumed that they could have a la-de-da attitude in this world's combat zone we are called to live, raise families, work and play in. I know for I have not been immune. I too can remember younger days when I did not commune with Christ on vacation because..."I was on vacation!". What a spiritual simpleton!! God chastened me by letting down His hedge about me and let the thorns and briars of the evil one teach me a lesson or two.

So here are some books for you to read this summer ALONG WITH YOUR BIBLE, as you commune with Christ, wear your armor and seek to be salt and light in your generation.

FOR SINGLES AND 2O SOMETHINGS:
Collin Hansen, YOUNG, RESTLESS AND REFORMED (A Journalist's
Journey with the Young Calvinists); Crossway--editor at large for CHRISTIANITY TODAY magazine recounts his travels around the country in discovery of the rising tide of delight in God's sovereign grace among younger Christians. Who is raising the ruckus? The usual Calvinistic subjects: John Piper, Jonathan Edwards, Al Mohler, C. J. Mahaney, Mark Dever, Mark Driscoll, et al. Interesting journalism and fascinating reading.

H. Clay Trumball, FRIENDSHIP: THE MASTER PASSION; Solid Ground
Christian Books (with an introductory essay by Maurice Roberts).
People always seem to complain about lack of friends. For my 35+ years in the ministry, I have heard people complain about their lack of friends. Often they have forgotten or failed to live out the truth of the Proverb which says to have friends you must show yourself to be a friend. How does one show himself/herself to be a friend? Clay Trumball shows us how. Maurice Roberts' Introductory Essay is worth the price of the book. It was a gem when it was a devotional in the BANNER OF TRUTH MAGAZINE. It stands up well over time. So does this book.

Frank Allred, WHY I LOVE JESUS; Grace Publications--Allred, a retired minister in England gives a warm and tender personal testimony of 23 short chapters as to why he loves Jesus. Beginning with Chapter 1, "He Loves Me", through Chapter 13, "He Gave Me Eyes to See" on the end,
Chapter 23--"He Will Give Me a Body Like His", it is a sweet journey into the Christian's store room of good things we have because of Christ. Some reasons he loves Christ (and we should too) are not so obvious but are delightful once you think about them: Chapter 4--"He Showed Me What I Was Really Like", and Chapter 22, "He Delivered Me From The Love Of Money". Take it on your vacation and read 2-3 chapters a day or read them out loud for family devotions. They are warm and biblical.

Scott Oliphint and Rod Mays, THINGS THAT CANNOT BE SHAKEN (Holding Fast to Your Faith in a Relativistic World); Crossway--taking their cue from John Newton's great hymn, seminary professor Oliphint and Reformed University Ministries Coordinator Mays take us onto safe ground in facing a disintegrating culture that is so confusing and corrosive. Written for college students and "20 somethings", it is a fine reminder of how precious and relevant is Jesus Christ and His salvation, even in the toxic brew of American culture. They answer the big questions with bigger answers!

Don't let your summer be a time of spiritual stagnation! And don't become a casualty of war because you forgot to wear your armor and buckle your chin-strap! Read for your life.

Your Book Servant,

Steve Martin

P.S. SHOULD YOU WANT TO READ ABOUT SPIRITUAL WARFARE...

Peter Jeffrey, STAND FIRM; Brynterion Press--the best little books for young Christians of all ages on spiritual warfare. In the tradition of the Puritans and Martyn Lloyd-Jones, to mention some greats, this little books is a gem.

Bryan Zacharias, THE EMBATTLED CHRISTIANS (The Puritans on Spiritual Warfare); Banner of Truth--a short book which is a reworked Master's Thesis under J. I. Packer at Regent College. This is not an academic tome, but a working manual, looking over the shoulder of Bryan Zacharias as he mines the Puritans for gold on dealing with the unholy trinity of the world, the flesh and the devil.

William Gurnall, THE CHRISTIAN IN COMPLETE ARMOR; Banner of Truth--the classic Puritan treatment of spiritual warfare, some 500+ pages on Ephesians 6, working out Paul's inspired treatment of the subject. (Should you want something a bit simpler, try the 3 volume paperback abridgment and modernization also from the Banner of Truth. Members of Christian singer, songwriter Keith Green's LAST DAYS MINISTRIES, took William Gurnall's classic and made it more accessible to moderns without gutting the carcass. (Besides, where else can you find Banner books that have endorsements by Dave Wilkerson and Leonard Ravenhill?)

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, THE CHRISTIAN SOLDIER; Baker
THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE; Baker
The classic contemporary treatment of a much misunderstood and open to abuse subject. Unlike the whacko treatments by those who do not use Scripture alone as their guide, Lloyd-Jones gives us great and good things to help us to fight and stand !]]> http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=46 http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=46 Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:09:00 EST
Studies done in the 1970's and 80's showed that pastors had sunk to the level that they were no longer readers. One Ph.D. study and another M.A. study showed conclusively that the average pastor (conservative or liberal, Catholic or Protestant) was not reading anything. The average time a pastor read in a given week, in any way, shape or form (sermon preparation, personal devotions, Christian journals and magazines, theology books, newspapers, etc.) came to about 2 hours and 24 minutes a week! To put this in perspective, if you read your Bible for 30 minutes of your daily devotion and did not have a devotional time with God on Sunday morning as you hurried to leave for church, you would still read your Bible for 3 hours!!) What an indictment of American church leaders. Nobody is reading nothing! That is bad English, but you get the drift.

SUGGESTIONS FOR BOOKS FOR YOU TO GIVE TO YOUR PASTOR OR
FOR YOUR PASTOR TO GIVE TO HIS ELDERS

David Wells, THE COURAGE TO BE PROTESTANT; Eerdmans--having written three of the more important books of the last decade, Professor and churchman Wells put us all in his debt by taking his four previous books and putting them simply, without footnotes, in a format that they can be easily digested and passed along. It is mandatory reading for church leaders of the early 21st century. Informative, moving, convicting, enlightening, insightful, prophetic, biblical, Protestant--all in all, a great book.

Don Carson, CHRIST AND CULTURE REVISITED; Baker--Professor and
churchman, Dr. Carson revisits Reinhold Niebuhr's CHRIST AND CULTURE and uses it as a foil as he attempts to show what the unfolding revelation of the Bible has to say in the pertinent areas. Rather than finding competing categories, Carson says that a closer read of the Bible shows the categories in play at different times and in different ways. Even if you do not agree with all of the book, it will provoke much thought and discussion.

Martin Klauber and Scott Manetsch, eds., THE GREAT COMMISSION (Evangelicals and the History of World Missions); Broadman & Holman.
Associates and friends, former students and peers of Professor John D. Woodbridge, for his 35 years at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Essays by Tom Nettles, Timothy George, Don Carson, Glen Sunshine, Douglas Sweeney and Erwin Lutzer, along with others, highlight the volume. Don Carson's chapter, "Ongoing Imperative for World Mission" is very good and speaks to the tendency of Reformed Christians to develop lockjaw when it comes to evangelism and missions. While some sadly allow remaining sin to fool them into hyper-Calvinism, others succumb to the tendency to become functional hyper-Calvinists ("We have the truth. If you can find out that it exists, that we have it, where we meet, and you show up on Sunday at the right time, we will tell you--otherwise to take the initiative would suggest to other Calvinists that we are becoming Arminians!") That is slightly exaggerated, but not much.

Robert Plummer, PAUL'S UNDERSTANDING OF THE CHURCH'S MISSION (Did the Apostle Paul Expect the Early CHristian Communities to Evangelize?); Paternoster/Wipf 'n Stock
This fine book, with a glowing endorsement by eminent Australian New Testament scholar Peter O'Brien, is an important study that evangelical and Reformed Christians need to read. Some Reformed Christians seem to think that taking the initiative in evangelism and missions is "Arminian", "para-church", "Finney-ish", and similar theological swear words. Robert Plummer is professor of New Testament and Greek at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. So we have a New Testament scholar, not a parachurch leader, mission board executive or erstwhile evangelist sifting through the evidence as to whether Christ's Apostle Paul expected the churches he planted to evangelize. (HINT: He did!)

Happy Summer Reading!

Your Book Servant,

Steve Martin]]> http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=45 http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=45 Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:50:51 EST
Christian parents have struggled to find good, let alone great, literature for their teens. This summer we have two new titles that should be read by your teens and then read aloud together--either for a Family Devotion/Discussion Time OR Mom & Daughter and Father & Son.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss, LIES YOUNG WOMEN BELIEVE (and the truth that
sets them free); Moody Press--popular and helpful author Nancy Leigh
DeMoss (helped by Dannah Gresh) used the popularity of her very
helpful LIES WOMEN BELIEVE to remix the material for young women
(12 to 20 something). Moms, you might want to be reading LIES
WOMEN BELIEVE simultaneously--it is an important book for women
who do not want to be cultural captives. Then take your daughter in
hand and read this material and prayerfully discuss it together!

Alex and Brett Harris, DO HARD THINGS (A Teenage Rebellion Against
Low Expectations); Multnomah--sons of home school guru Greg
Harris and brother of Sovereign Grace pastor and author Josh Harris
(I KISSED DATING GOOD-BYE; STOP DATING THE CHURCH) have
written an important book for teens to twenties to read--whether
boys or girls. Though written by guys and having that feel, it does
a great job showing the rising generation how they have bought
the lie that they should not aim for much, that they can't do much,
and maybe they should lie around watching TV or YouTube rather
than trying to do anything with their lives. Dads, this would be a
great family devotions if you have teens (younger kids will make the
adjustments) and especially if you have boys.

May the Lord bless your summer reading with your teens.

Your Book Servant,

Steve Martin]]> http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=44 http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=44 Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:19:52 EST (a declaration that we are in a right relationship with God) while AT THE SAME TIME we are sinners. That gap, that chasm, is the heartache of each true Christian. I am not yet what Christ saved me to be nor what I want to be. Here is where Owen helps us greatly.

Chapter 11--A Tender Conscience and a Watchful Heart
Owen tells us that we must take responsibility for our sins. The guilt of all our sins should be charged to us--not the devil, not my environment or surroundings at a given time, not Adam but us--you and me individually.
The Law of God finds out the remaining sin in us. Rightly understood, we should take it by the hand and let it lead us to Christ and the gospel. Should we throw out the Law to unburden our conscience, then our antinomian state leads us to open apostasy.
We must take our sins to Christ and the gospel. Sin is seen in much greater light when we see it against the backdrop of Christ and the gospel. To sin as a Christian is to sin against love, mercy, grace, goodness, peace, joy, consolation--Christ! Did Christ redeem me from the filth of my sin that I might return to them? Did He cleanse me that I might return to wallowing in them? Shall I disappoint the purpose for which Christ redeemed me? Owen tells us to let our conscience consider these things every day.
He also has under consider the number of times that our hearts were at the door of open sin, rebellion and defilement and the Lord in great mercy drew us back to Himself? Are to we trade on such mercy? Are we to tempt God by walking in sin or on the edge of sin?
Thinking about Christ and the many aspects of His great work helps to bring the sinfulness of sin into greater focus.
Persevere after holiness and a longing to be delivered from your sins and their power in your life.

Chapter 12--Humility
Meditating on things that humble and abase us is most important. Remaining sin in believers still causes them to have great thoughts of themselves and small thoughts of God. Meditating on truths that bite, cut, convict and condemn our sins, and thus humble us) are good in that such thoughts drive us to Christ and the gospel.
Be much in prayer that God the Holy Spirit would be your teacher. Unbelievers can know something of sin intellectually. But only believers can experientially see and know sin. To be in fellowship with the Spirit is to see much sin in your life. It is a ministry of mercy that we even see our sins. If God wants to condemn us, He does not have to DO anything. He can simply leave us alone in our sin. Unbelievers have hearts of stone already. God does not have to do anything to seal their condemnation. He just has to leave them alone. Sin will do the rest. It is a great mercy for God to intervene and send the Spirit such that we feel and see our sins and the coming Judgment.

Chapter 13--Wait For The Verdict of God
One of the sad unintended consequences of the Internet is that it has appealed to our pride. We can look up anything in the world, read an article or two or watch a video or two, and Voila, we are experts. This is not the Internet's fault; it is the fault of remaining sin.
So in the spiritual realm. We can "fix" ourselves too quickly. We can do a thing or two and pronounce ourselves well! Owen goes over 5 rules or principles which must be taken into account if we are not to judge our spiritual condition wrongly. Do we "fix" ourselves too glibly or do we look at Scripture closely and self-consciously entrust ourselves to the Spirit who will lead us into all truth. Read through this section of 5 rules to make sure you have it down.

Chapter 14--The Work of Christ and the Power of the Spirit
The Spirit of truth is also the Spirit of Christ. We must look to the Spirit of God and the Christ and His gospel if we are to defeat sin. In closing, Owen reminds us of six important truths:
1. The Holy Spirit alone clearly and fully convinces the heart of the evil,
guilt and danger of the corruption, lust or sin that is to be mortified.
2. The Spirit alone reveals to us the fulness of Christ for our relief.
3. The Spirit alone establishes the heart in the expectation of relief from
Christ.
4. The Spirit alone brings the cross of Christ into our hearts with is sin-
killing power.
5. The Spirit is the Author and Finisher of our sanctification. He gives new
supplies and influences of grace for holiness and sanctification when
our resolve to resist is weakened.
6. All of our soul's prayers to God in our need are supported by the Spirit.

A ton more could be said. These mini-reviews could easily be 10-100 times longer. We must go back to Owen again and again to see how to face down and defeat remaining sin. May I suggest that you review this copy of Owen several times 3-4, prayerfully reading and distilling its essence. Then may I suggest that you go on to the larger volume, OVERCOMING SIN AND TEMPTATION by Owen, edited by Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor; Crossway. That can be gone over again and again.
You can tell if your study did any good by asking yourself if you hate sin more, lover Christ more, seek more faithfully to put sin to death by the Spirit's power.

May we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and put our sins to the sword.

Your Book Servant,

Steve Martin

]]> http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=43 http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=43 Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:39:01 EST
Chapter 7--Only Believers Can Mortify Sin

1. Unless a man is a true believer and grated into Christ, he can never
mortify a single sin. (All people have the duty to mortify sin but only
believers have the means to mortify sin.)

Chapter 8--God Requires Universal Obedience
2. You cannot mortify a specific lust that is troubling you, unless you are
seeking to obey the Lord from the heart in all areas! (When Rudy
Guliani was Mayor of New York City, one of his first mandates in his
first term was to direct the police to stop and arrest every crime. New
York had one of the highest violent crime rates in America. Police were
only attempting to solve the most violent crimes and allowing others
to get by. The Mayor's new emphasis was upon universal prosecution
of CRIME period. And not so amazingly, violent crimes when down
when all crime was pursued and prosecuted.) Owen's point is that
such is true in our sanctification too! Unless we are seeking universal
obedience and thus universal mortification, no specific changes will
occur.

Chapter 9--The Dangerous Symptoms of Sin
Owen considers six deadly and serious symptoms of sin in the life:
1. Firm establishment over a long period of time and settlement as an
habitual practice.
2. The heart pleads to be thought in a good state, yet all the while allows
the continuance of a lust without any attempt at its mortification.
[We call these 'pet sins' that we not only tolerate and seek to justify
but love and coddle and pamper. It is as if we say: 'Lord, if I give this
sin a bath, spray it with Chanel, put a pink ribbon around its neck, call
it Fifi, can I keep it in the back yard where the neighbors don't see it
and it won't cause a public shame?']
3. Sin frequently succeeds in obtaining the consent of our will. [We
willingly go along with a sin, not seeking to fight against it or putting it
to death but willingly cooperating.]
4. We fight against a sin only because of the consequences or penalty of
that sin. [In other words, I'm not sorry I sinned or that I am sinning
but that I will be exposed or liable to punishment or exposure and so
seek to manage the sin to avoid consequences, not truly put it to
death.]
5. When my troubles caused by my sin or lust is a punishment from God.
6. When our lust or sin has already withstood particular dealings from
God against it, but we persist in it anyway. [A dangerous state to sink
into, nothing but sovereign grace can free us and we must plead for it
or sink.]

Chapter 10--Seeing Sin for What It Is
[That is, get a clear and abiding sense of your mind and conscience of the guilt, danger and evil of the sin with which you are troubled.]

1. Consider the guilt of it.

2. Consider the danger of it.
a. Being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin
b. Coming under great chastisement
c. The loss of peace and strength all a man's days
d. The danger of eternal destruction

3. Consider the present evils of it.
a. It grieves the holy and blessed Spirit.
b. The Lord Jesus Christ is wounded afresh by it.
c. It will take away a man's usefulness in his generation.

I had to race through too many good things. You need to go back and patiently work through these chapters in a spirit of humble prayer. The stakes are too high; the reasons too numerous.

Your Book Servant,

Steve Martin]]> http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=42 http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=42 Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:30:24 EST
Seeing how evil and powerful remaining, indwelling sin is in the believer's life, the believer is told to kill it, to put it to death, to mortify it.
But what does that mean exactly?

1. To Mortify a Sin is Not to Utterly Root It Out and Destroy it (so that it
no longer has a place or lives in our hearts)
--Though the Spirit and grace of Christ give us great victories over sin,
sin cannot be absolutely rooted out in this life.
--We still live in this body which is the dwelling place of sin. Not until
heaven when this body is transformed will we finally be without sin.
2. Mortification is not just the changing of some outward aspects of a sin.
--A person can seem to put to death an outward sin (like adultery)
while harboring an inward sin (lust).
3. Mortification is not just the improvement of our natural constitution
(personality, make-up, temperament).
--Certain inward temperaments, having learned discipline, seem
outwardly mortified. In reality, they may still be a sink-hole of
corruption.
--Owen suggests that quieter temperaments examine how they are
doing at putting to death unbelief, envy, and worry to get a true
gauge at how their mortification is doing.
4. A sin is not mortified when it is only diverted.
--Changing the flow of a stream is not the same as damning up the
source of the stream.
--E.g. An ambitious man who is climbing the corporate ladder can
become a Christian, attend seminary and aggressively climb the
ecclesiastical ladder, not becoming the CEO of a major corporation
but the Pastor of mega-church 1st Methobapterian. He has merely
changed the sphere of his personal ambition, he has not put it to
death. (See Francis Schaeffer's NO LITTLE PEOPLE on this).
5. Occasional victories over sin are not mortification. (Psalm 78:32-37)
--Occasional outbreaks of sin cause grief, fear and threat of
punishment. We scurry about seeking to bring the sin to an end.
--Sin lies low for a while. We relax because the fear of falling and
punishment is past. Sin then seizes the opportunity. We have not
mortified our sin as we thought.

Chapter 6--What Mortification Is!

1. A habitual weakening of the lust (inordinate desire)
2. A constant fight and contention against sin
i. We need to recognize the enemy we are dealing with and resolve
that it be destroyed by all means possible.
ii. We need to be intimately acquainted with the ways, wiles,
methods, advantages and occasions which give lust (inordinate
desire) its success.
iii. We need to continue to attack our lusts daily with the spiritual
weapons that are most detrimental to it.
--Even when we think it dead, we must give it new wounds daily
--It is good to always keep sin under the sword and be killing it.
3. A degree of success in the battle
i. This take persistence and patience in putting sin to death.
ii. But when we have made progress, the new man will find it easier
to jump on sinful desire the millisecond it appears.
iii. While we will not put all sins completely to death in this life, some
sins may permanently be put to death and a permanent conquest.

So.....

1. Am I (Are you) putting sins to death?
2. Am I (Are you) managing sin so that it will not be publicly shameful
or killing sin so that it will not have a foothold in my life?
3. Do I (Do you) ease up when sin seems to be routed?
4. How have i seen my sins counter-attack after I saw them in retreat?
5. Is mortification my life business or my occasional hobby?
5. Is holiness my Job Description and the Family Crest in the household
of God, or is it a quest for my ego such that i might have a reputation
as a man of God?

Things to think about and ponder.

Your Book Servant,

Steve Martin

P.S. We will pick up the pace the next couple of weeks, examining 4 chapters a week because the chapters are short.]]> http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=41 http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=41 Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:23:26 EST "Where Do We Go From Here" is a new evangelistic booklet from John Blanchard and Evangelical Press. It focuses on confronting people with the reality of their own death and the offer of salvation in Christ.



John Blanchard has the gift of making truth clear. This tract is just what to give sick and ailing friends, co-workers, relatives and professing Christians whose profession leaves us wondering at time. Sickness has it way in God's providence of questioning our faith, of forcing us to examine our foundations. This booklet is already being used on our book table.

Pastor Steve Martin]]> http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=40 http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=40 Fri, 30 May 2008 10:54:00 EST Heirs with Christ by Dr. Joel Beeke. Below is an interview with Dr. Beeke:



Joel Beeke has the gift of combining the pastor, the scholar and the humble, experiential Christian in one person. This material is no exception. Read it and savor it and pray through it.

Pastor Steve Martin]]> http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=39 http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=39 Thu, 29 May 2008 19:03:00 EST
How in the world are we going to kill as tough an enemy as sin? If Goliath seemed an unlikely victim to David, how much less does the monster sin seem impervious to our attempts to slay it? Praise be to God that only God the Holy Spirit Himself can enable us to kill sin.
1. There are vain and useless ways to try and kill sin. Roman Catholic teaching on mortification amounts to little more than dead men trying to kill sin. Even professed Protestants make a mess of mortification because they too do not understand the gospel and the power of God. Read the history of the early church hermits and Medieval monks, and see their flesh-generated means to kill their bodies but not their bodies of sin. Even Protestants have missed the boat on this issue. Owen says that's why he wrote this material.
2. Mortification is accomplished by the Spirit. God promised His Spirit to be given to us for several reasons, and mortification is one of the most prominent. The grace of mortification is given us by the Spirit at our conversion; it is one of the blessings of being united with Christ.
3. How does the Spirit do it? 1st, by causing our hearts to abound in grace and the fruits that are contrary to the works of the flesh. When we walk in the Spirit we are enabled to more and more act contrary to remaining sin, the flesh. 2nd, the effective destruction of the root and habit of sin is weakened, destroyed and taken away. 3rd, He brings the cross of Christ to us by faith and gives the believer communion with Christ in His death and fellowship in His sufferings.
4. The work of the Spirit and our responsibilities. If mortification is said to be the work of the Spirit alone, why can't we just leave it to the Spirit alone? A couple of reasons explain why. First, the Scriptures speak of God at work in us to will and to do His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13) yet we are exhorted ourselves to do it in conjunction with Him. Second, His working is always in conjunction with our obedience. He works in and through us but not apart from us.
This is the toughest battle any of us will ever be engaged in. If so many professing Christians do such a poor job putting sin to death, what must be happening with those who are not in Christ's Kingdom and not concerned for their souls? (Since I am only giving a synopsis of Owen, I suggest that you reread this chapter again because the content is so important.)

Chapter 4--How Life and Comfort Depend on Mortification

The present realization and enjoyment of communing in intimacy with our God depends on mortification. Owen has 3 cautions: (1) He is not saying that they automatically flow from mortification. Remember the example of Heman in Psalm 88. The use of means for the obtaining of peace and the other blessings of God is ours to employ; the bestowing of peace and other Christian graces are God's prerogative. (2) The foundation of our life, vigor, courage and contentment are the results of adoption and justification, not mortification. (3) But in the ordinary course of our walking with God and in the ordinary course of His dealing with us, the strength and comfort of our spiritual lives still depends much on our mortifying remaining sins.
If we don't mortify our sins, our sins will be doing two things: (1) They will be weakening the soul and deprive it of strength. It entangles our hearts affections. It fills our thoughts with enticements. Sins break out and hinder our duties. (2) Unmortified sin will also darken the soul, and deprive it of comfort and peace. Like a plant in a garden that is never weeded, it will not prosper or bear fruit. But weed and cultivate that same plant and it will thrive. So it is with mortification. An unmortified heart is like the sluggard field, so overgrown with weeds that you can scarce see any good crop.
(Owen is very clear in this chapter and it bears a second or third read to make sure you fully understand and are prepared to do what it says.)]]> http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=38 http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=38 Sat, 24 May 2008 16:01:24 EST For the purist, there is Volume 6 of the Works of Owen which contains his works on the mortification of sin in believers and the temptation of believers. There is also the 1983 edition, edited by James Houston with a introduction to Owen by James Packer. That edition is also very helpful and has been reissued by Victor Books, a division of the Sunday School suppliers, David C. Cook. In 1998, Kris Lundgaard digested Owen and then regurgitated him (not a pretty metaphor but not unlike a mother bird disgorging food semi-digested for her fledglings) for 21st century readers in THE ENEMY WITHIN, published by P & R. It is a very good first introduction to the whole concept. In 2004, Richard Rushing's updating was published by the Banner of Truth. IN 2006, it was followed by Wayne & Josh Mack's A FIGHT TO THE DEATH (Taking Aim at Sin Within), published by P & R as was Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor's OVERCOMING SIN AND TEMPTATION, with a foreward by John Piper, published by Crossway. We are using the Banner of Truth abridgment and updating because it is perhaps the most accessible.
A word about reading 'old books'. To paraphrase an argument made by C. S. Lewis in another place, the reading of 'old books' is very important to the health of a Christian and the health of Christ's church. This is for two reasons. First, modern people are guilty of the proud sin of "chronological snobbery', that is, the belief that human beings have become smarter as the centuries have advanced. Such that people in old times were ignorant and rather stupid but people today are brilliant and far advanced! But truly wise people know that human nature has not changed, nor advanced, only our pride leads us to believe so. Second, each age shares certain cultural blind spots. We have so much in common even with those with whom we violently disagree in our own day because we live in the same time, breathe the same polluted intellectual air, and think in the same categories. Each age is this way. Now when it comes to reading old books from past eras, they had their blind spots and biases, but probably not ours! So we can read them to get a fresh take on our times and our blind spots. So reading John Owen or any Puritan of the 17th century or any Reformer of the 16th century helps us to clear the air a bit of our culture's and era's intellectual pollution.
In viewing the above mentioned editions of Owen, significant names in the evangelical and Reformed world have put their blurbs on the covers of these editions, testifying to the great good in Owen's treatment: Packer, Ferguson, Dever, Mahaney, Bridges, Ryken, Marcellino, Newheiser, Scipione, Pratt, Lawson, Chapell, Brown and Martin (how slick was that last inclusion!). It seems that it would do us good to if these men are right. But enough of men's applause, let's get on with the cold-blooded business of killing sin. John Owen himself said that you are either killing sin or it is killing you! Grim but true. Scary but true!
Each week we will take two chapters and discuss them. I invite you to join the discussion on what I hope will be a life-changing study!
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Preface

Owen says that he is putting this material into print for two reasons:
(1) The present state of professing believers; and (2) Dangerous mistakes concerning mortification. (We would have to add that surveying the contemporary seen in America, the conditions are the same or worse!)

Chapter 1--Introduction
Owen takes as his main text Romans 8:13--"If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." There are five points to be made as this text is unpacked.
(1) To Whom it is directed--the exhortation is directed toward believers.
(2) The Condition--"If you..."--the condition expresses the certainty of the relationship--there is a guaranteed relationship between the cure and the result.
(3) The Means of Accomplishment: 'the Spirit'--That is, our strength in the performance of this duty (killing sin) comes through the Spirit.
(4) The Duty--"Put to death the deeds of the body"--Owen shows how the Apostle Paul means both the inward sinful attitudes and movements toward sin as well as the outward acts of sin. To 'mortify' means to take something that is alive and kill it! "To kill a man or any other living thing is to take away the principle of all its strength, vigor, and power, so that it cannot act or exert itself or put forth its normal actions. The person you are killing is 'the old man', the sum total of who you were before you were a Christian. Paul makes reference frequently to the old man in his letters. Christ rendered a death blow to sin on the cross but whatever life is left in it is to be put to death by the believer daily!
(5) A Promise: "You will live"--This is the opposite of the promise made to the person who is not truly a believer and does not put their sins to death--"If you live after the flesh, you shall die."
Reader, are you putting your sins to death? Is sin your mortal enemy or your cozy pet? Do you kill your sins or coddle your sins? Do you foolishly view some sins as publicly shameful and thus to be managed so as not to cause shame or do you put them to death, kill them, strike them lifeless? Your answer shows the reality of your Christianity and your destiny.

Chapter 2--Why The Flesh Must Be Mortified
You must always be killing sin; it is your daily work as a Christian. You cannot take a day off. You must always be killing sin or it will be killing you. Your new life in Christ and your exalted position in Christ does not excuse you from your duty to put your sins to death. Owen gives us 6 reasons why we need to be busy at this most important work:

(1) Indwelling sin always abides while we are in the world, therefore, there is always a need for it to be mortified. Some have wrongly and foolishly believed that we are able in this life to keep the command of God perfectly and are wholly and perfectly dead to sin
(2) Sin is still active and laboring to bring forth the deeds of the flesh. Sin is always most active when it is most quiet. We must therefore be always against it, day or night, rain or shine, when it is obvious and when it is quiet and most subtle. There is not a day but sin foils or is foiled.
3) Sin, if not continually mortified, will bring forth great, cursed, scandalous, and soul-destroying sins (Galatians 5:19-20). Reread these verses and tremble.
4) The Holy Spirit and our new nature are given to us to oppose sin and lust (that is, out of bounds desires, not just sexual 'lust'). We have been given these great gifts, it would be a great offense to God not to abide by them.
5) Neglect of this duty makes the inner man decay instead of renewing him (2nd Corinthians 4:16). When poor creatures will take blow after blow, wound after wound, and never rise up to a strenuous self-defense, can they expect any thing other than to be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin and their souls bleed to death.
6) Our spiritual growth is our daily duty. It is our duty to be 'perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord' (2nd Cor. 7:1). We are to be 'growing in grace' every day (1st Peter 2:2 and 2nd Peter 3:18). We will not make progress in holiness without walking over the bellies of our lusts. He who does not kill sin along the way is making no progress in his journey.

Brethren, we have sober work to do. We must put our head down, put our hand over our mouths, confess our sloth and laziness and coddling of sin and pray for the Spirit's promised help in killing our sinful habits in a cold-blooded and methodical fashion. Just as the children of Israel were to hunt down and destroy the Canaanites that inhabited the Promised Land, so must we put to death the remnants of remaining sins in our lives. Failure to do so is direct disobedience to God and consorting with the enemy, giving them refuge and weakening the plans of God. To persist in ignoring the enemy and thus allowing the enemy of our souls to maintain its former hold is to call into question if we truly are a Christian or merely someone who has fooled themselves with their profession (but not fooled God, of course). Examine yourself.

Your Book Servant,

Pastor Steve Martin

]]> http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=37 http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=37 Tue, 20 May 2008 10:47:44 EST
In the meantime, let me encourage you to purchase a copy of MORTIFICATION OF SIN by John Owen in Banner of Truth's Puritan paperbacks series. Volume 6 of THE WORKS OF JOHN OWEN is the original and unabridged version. I read it in seminary to help my soul which was becoming dry as I was tempted to become an intellectual Christian without becoming a holy Christian. (Only the blinding pride of sin could ever tempt me to think that I am an intellectual!) Reading Owen kept me real and honest as I daily faced my sins and began to understand the machinery of Christ's salvation that would enable me to put my sins to death and not just confess them.
Others have seen the great value of Owen's work and have issued abridgments or modernizations or both. Some twenty years ago, James Houston edited CLASSICS OF FAITH AND DEVOTION, with a powerful forward and analysis by James Packer. It is currently in print from David C. Cook Publishers and available from Cumberland Valley. I have read this edition 3-4 times. Crossway has released an edition edited by Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor, with a forward by John Piper. It too is destined to become a classic study edition. It has a thorough and helpful outline to follow the train of thought. P & R Publishing has come out with a most user-friendly edition to get the person new to Owen reading 21st century Owen. Kris Lundgaard had absorbed Owen and written THE ENEMY WITHIN, the best modern rewrite of Owen's great study. It is great for family devotions and small groups to begin this most important study. Finally, Wayne Mack has written A FIGHT TO THE DEATH (Taking Aim at Sin Within) from P & R. It is vintage Wayne Mack--clear, practical and warm, while always being biblical and pastoral. Each of these editons are worth having and reading. Such is the nature of remaining sin in believers that we must use any and all biblically faithful means to root it out, expose it and put it to death. Or to quote a classic line from Owen--"You must be killing sin or it will be killing you." Amen.

We look forward to next week and beginning this most important study. Let me leave you with a quote from a famous pastor and Reformed leader:
"Apart from the Bible, I have found his writings the best books ever written to help me stop sinning the same old sins."

May our Lord use Owen's well-digested biblical teaching to help us stop sinning the same old sins and glorify the Savior who bought us.

Your Book Servant,

Steve Martin]]> http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=36 http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=36 Tue, 13 May 2008 11:25:25 EST
It is hard to imagine that Puritan and other religious books were sold for a British pound for a ton during the coal shortage of War War I in England. So hard up were British households and so unvalued were religious books, especially Puritan books, that they literally went up in smoke in English chimneys!
One man whose understanding of the truth and love of means to studying the truth was Geoffrey Williams, an unassuming man who rescued tons of good books from oblivion and squirreled them away in the most basic facilities until they could later be appreciated as "the Evangelical Library".
The amazing story of one simple man's love of the truth and sacrificial work to hold on to the truth makes for an amazing story. The impact on the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), the British Commonwealth (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, et al.) and Europe was immense. The Evangelical Library (sometimes called Geoffrey Williams Library) has not had as much impact here in the States because books (and coal) were more readily available during and after World War I.
Thank God for the surfeit of good books we have today in America! (A little known fact is that more than 80% of Banner of Truth books are sold in the U.S. annually. Many of these volumes started their public life in the Evangelical Library that preserved them for future generations!)

Chapter 6--James I. Packer: "among God's giants"
Imagine a small boy, hit by a truck after being chased by bullies, ending up in the hospital with a hole in his head that would never heal, becoming one of the two or three most influential theologians and especially evangelical and Reformed theologians of the 20th century. Such is the amazing life of Jim Packer. KNOWING GOD, EVANGELISM AND THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD , 'FUNDAMENTALISM' AND THE WORD OF GOD, KEEP IN STEP WITH THE SPIRIT, REDISCOVERING HOLINESS,
CONCISE THEOLOGY, his classic "Introduction" to John Owen's THE DEATH OF DEATH IN THE DEATH OF CHRIST, A QUEST FOR GODLINESS (on the Puritans) [in the U.K., this book is entitled AMONG GOD'S GIANTS], GOD'S WORDS (just reissued as 18 WORDS), A PASSION FOR FAITHFULNESS (Nehemiah) are all classics. His newer works, just out, look to become classics also: PRAYING, IN MY PLACE CONDEMNED HE STOOD, KEEPING THE 10 COMMANDMENTS, FAITHFULNESS AND HOLINESS (on J. C. Ryle); and GUARD US, GUIDE US (on Knowing and Doing the Will of God).
How this nearly killed boy became a Christian, became an educated and Reformed Christian, how God introduced his parched soul to the Puritans, how Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones changed his life, how he came to write some of his classics, are all the subject of this chapter.
Jim Packer, Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Iain Murray have been my teachers. Seminary gave me tools to do research and an overview of the truths of the Bible and Christian theology. Packer, Lloyd-Jones and Murray have been my theological mentors and to them under God, I owe the best things I have ever seen--to the glory of God.

Chapter 7--Iain Murray: 'the new dress"
Howe God brought Iain Murray from obscurity to a leader in the Reformed world is the stuff of legend. How he came upon certain books at just the right time and had the grace to see their importance is notable. How God interfaced Pastor Murray along with other "little men" and some "great men" to begin the reprinting of Puritan and Reformed classics makes for compelling reading. What person who has purchased Reformed literature has not profited from the Banner of Truth titles? Thank God for raising up men to see the truth and republish the truth.
Have not our hearts burned within us as we have read these noble and God=honoring truths contained in Reformed books? How much smaller our view of God was when we did not see the great glory of the gospel as it truly is!
In my a-theological days, God seemed very small and far away. I was like a child looking through the wrong end of a telescope. When God graciously showed me more of His glory and the truths of the Reformed faith, the telescope was yanked out of my hand and turned around. God was immense and 'holy, holy, holy'. Now I understood why we are to fear God and love Him with all of our being! The republishing of Reformed books was God's appointed means to see this.
Iain Murray's classic books include: THE FORGOTTEN SPURGEON, THE PURITAN HOPE (Revival and the Interpretation of Prophecy), MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (2 volumes), JONATHAN EDWARDS: A NEW BIOGRAPHY, REVIVALS AND REVIVALISM: THE MAKING AND MARRING OF AMERICAN EVANGELICALISM, EVANGELICALISM DIVIDED, WESLEY AND THOSE WHO FOLLOWED, THE OLD EVANGELICALISM, SPURGEON VS. HYPER-CALVINISM, PENTECOST--TODAY? and several others.
If it was in my power, I would have every pastor read volume one of Murray's biography of Martyn Lloyd-Jones!

Chapter 8--John Murray: 'the old school piety"
Who would want a one-eyed seminary professor? Professor John Murray lost an eye serving in the First World War with his Scot's brigade. He returned to finish his education in Glasgow and then at Princeton Theological Seminary. He joined the new formed Westminster Theological Seminary in 1929, never to leave until retirement. A life-long bachelor, he married upon his retirement and returned to Scotland.
What would become his legacy would be his godliness and careful attention to the Word of God. Students who sat under his teaching and pastors who sat under his preaching can attest to two things about Professor Murray. He was a man suffused with godliness and holiness AND he was most careful in his handling of the Word of God. Other Reformed leaders might be known for their great rhetoric and galvanizing personalities, but Professor Murray was sober, quiet, meditative and above all, biblical. No flights of fancy, no imaginative speculations, no cold logic working its way to carnal conclusions. Professor Murray taught the Reformed faith with careful exegesis of Scripture, reverently and devoutly handled. Those who came to know him were marked for life by their brush with his holiness.
Reading his works today gives one a bit of the flavor of the man and a sense of his godliness. Not gifted with literary polish, no less a judge than James Packer said that Professor Murray would have been recognized as the greater Reformed theologian in the world if he could have written a bit more clearly and smoothly. But nevertheless, try his classic works:
REDEMPTION: ACCOMPLISH AND APPLIED, PRINCIPLES OF CONDUCT, THE IMPUTATION OF ADAM'S SIN, COMMENTARY ON ROMANS, and Iain Murray's 4 volume collection of Murray's shorter classics.

Chapter 9--Maintaining the Vision
John J. Murray, our author, writes that we have much to be thankful for in God's amazing working in the mid-20th century. God raised up great men, great books were rediscovered and reprinted, and great organizations were begun.
But the promise has not been fulfilled! What is still lacking is an outpouring of God the Holy Spirit such that these great doctrines might be preached in the power of the Holy Spirit with converting, reviving power across the English speaking world and throughout the whole world. Jesus Christ deserves to have so much more glory than He is currently receiving. The so-called 'doctrines of grace' are no less than the most stirring teachings of the Word of God on the glory of God's plan of salvation in His Son.
Reading this book moves me to pray that God would once again bare His strong right arm and scatter His enemies and lift high the glory of His Son, Jesus, with a mighty revival of biblical religion. May He revive my flagging spirits and mediocre ways and make me a vessel that he might choose to use for His glory!
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NEXT WEEK: We pick up the John Owen classic, TEMPTATION: RESISTED AND REPULSED. Get your copy and join us. Learn how to take your sanctification beyond confessing your sins to actually putting them to death by the power of the Spirit.]]> http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=35 http://www.cvbbs.com/blog/index.html?cm_id=35 Tue, 06 May 2008 08:59:35 EST