Question: When may any one sin or lust be considered habitual and dominating?
Before I answer this question, I must make the following prefatory remarks:
1. All lusts and corruptions--even the worst of them--have their root and residence in our nature. The apostle James writes, "But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust" (James 1:14). Every person has their own lust, and every lust any one ever experiences has its source completely within them. This lust (or corruption) springs from our depraved nature and this nature is in all people. Even after conversion this remains a reality for this lust lies at the very root of our nature. For this reason the Apostle Paul writes concerning believers, "For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you (believers) may not do the things that you please" (Gal. 5:17). What does the flesh lust after? It lusts to do the works of the flesh. What are the works of the flesh? "Immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these." (Gal. 5:19-21). The flesh still lusts after all these abominable things in believers.
This truth needs to be emphasized in light of the evil days in which we find ourselves. Our Savior foretells of times of great troubles, desolations, and destruction which shall come upon the world and befall all sorts of men. He says that there is a day that "as a snare shall come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth" (Luke 21:35). Therefore, He exhorts us to "Be on guard, that your hearts may not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day come on you suddenly like a trap" (Luke 21:34). Clearly, the Lord Jesus teaches us that the best of men have need to be warned to beware of the worst of sins as the worst of times approaches. Who would think that the disciples of Christ should be in danger of being overtaken with dissipation, drunkenness, and the cares of this life in the midst of such troubles and distressing situations? Yet He who is the wisdom of God--Jesus Christ--knew how it would be with us. According to Jesus, professing Christians are never more in danger of committing sensual, provoking sins than when destruction is lying nearest at the door. "In that day," He says, "take care."
2. This root of sin abiding in us will attempt to gain an advantage over us and work itself out unto all sorts of evil. This should provoke in us a godly jealousy over our souls, and over one another.
3. If sin always abides in us and seeks occasions to work itself out unto all sorts of evil, then mortification of sin is a continual duty that we must exercise all our days. "For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). A blessed state and condition! There is no greater blessing in all the world! But what obligation do we have now because of this great truth. "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature." And what are these things? "Immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry" (Col. 3:5). The mortification of sin is a obligation binding upon the best of saints.
4. A particular sin does not gain a habitual status unless it has some particular advantage. Our sinful nature is universally and equally corrupt. However, particular sins obtain power by particular advantages. I cannot now write of all those advantages, but I shall name two preeminent ones:
The inclination of our constitution gives particular advantages to particular sins. Some may be very much inclined to envy, some to wrath and passion, others to sensual sins--gluttony, drunkenness--just to name a few. It is the lie of the devil to plead our temperament as an excuse to sin. "I am prone to be passionate in my nature" says one. "I am sanguine and love company," says another. Your temperament may aggravate your sin, but it can never be presented as a cover or excuse for your sin. Yes, I must go even farther than this. If grace does not cure constitution sins, it can cure no sins. How can grace be proved to be effective if it does not cure constitution sins. The great promise is that grace shall change the nature of the wolf and lion, or the bear, the asp, the cockatrice, and that they shall become as lambs. But this is what grace can never do, if it does not change habitual patterns of life that arise from one’s constitution. If grace, which is a habitual principle, does not change the inclination of constitution, then I don’t know what it does.
Outward occasions also give particular advantages to particular sins. Some sins gain an advantage through education. If we educate our children to be proud and self-sufficient we heap dry fuel upon them until such a time as their own lust will flame and destroy them. Also, different societal environments in life inflame particular sins.
With this preface, I will now proceed to answer the question: When may any one sin or lust be considered habitual and dominating?
Brothers and sisters in Christ, I take it for granted that the vilest of the lusts which our Savior and His apostles warns us to mortify may be working in the hearts and minds of the best of us. A particular lust may be habitually prevalent, where, for a number of reasons, it never brings forth outward effects. If you find that your mind and soul is frequently and greatly pressed upon by a particular lust and corruption, know that this in itself does not prove that particular lust or corruption to be habitually dominant. This may be only a hard season of temptation. Indwelling sin in conjunction with temptation will constantly fight vigorously and forcefully in order to bring you into captivity to sin.
Suppose you are in this condition. How can you tell the difference between temptation in general, or whether you have come under the dominion of a habitual sin? You can know that it is not a habitual sin if these three things are true:
1. If you are more grieved by the sin than defiled by it, then it is only a temptation, and not a habitual lust. In this case, sin and grace are both at work, yet both have contrary goals. The goal of grace is to humble the soul, and the goal of sin is to defile it. The soul is defiled when consent to sin is obtained. Active temptation on the mind does not produce defilement. Only temptation that produces a consent of the will does this. Whether consent is obtained initially or after a long period of temptation, it is the consent that defiles the soul with sin. However, if you are more grieved than defiled by it, then you can know that the sin has not become habitual. The temptation may be long, grueling, and seemingly never-ending, but as long as the soul refuses to consent to the temptation, the soul remains undefiled by its attack.
2. If you can truly look upon your particular sin as your greatest and most mortal enemy. When this is truly the way you view sin, then you are under the power of temptation but not under the dominion of habitual sin.
3. If you maintain your warfare and conflict against your sin constantly, especially in those two great duties of private prayer and meditation. When the soul is tempted away from these things, then sin surely is the conqueror. But as long as one maintains the conflict in the exercise of grace, I consider his sin to be a temptation, and not a habitual lust.
I shall now show when a sin is habitually dominant. You can know that a particular sin has dominion in your life when the following is true:
1. When you choose and willingly embrace known occasions to sin, then sin is habitual. Every honest Christian knows what occasions provoke sin within them. No one, unless they are extremely wicked, can choose sin for sin’s sake. We all know what occasions stir up, excite, and draw forth our particular corruptions. When we willingly choose to be surrounded by occasions to sin, then we are under sin’s dominion. We must reject every occasion that leads to sin itself, or we will never have the ability to refuse the power of sin.
2. When you find that arguments against your particular sin lose their force, then sin is habitual. Any Christian under the power of a particular sin will initially find arguments suggested to his mind from fear, danger, shame, and ruin against continuing under that corruption. When you find these arguments losing their force and not having the power upon your life that they once used to have, then fear that sin has become habitual.
3. When you find that your particular sin never fails to act itself when opportunities or temptations are presented to it, then sin is habitual. If a businessman cheats every time he is able to do so, then he has covetousness in his heart. If a person drinks to excess every opportunity and occasion that drink is available, then this is a sign of habitual corruption.
4. When you find that your conduct is completely motivated, at best, by restraining grace, rather than be renewing grace, then sin is habitual. Believers are under renewing grace. Sometimes when a believer under the power of temptation begins to slip, God will keep them in order by restraining grace--by fear of danger, shame, and humiliation. Outward considerations set upon the mind by the Spirit of God keep them from sin rather than an internal renewal. If you find that the only thing that keeps you from your particular sin is outward circumstances (restraining grace) and that there is no inward desire for renewal and change (renewing grace), then sin has got a perfect victory over you. In other words, you would sin to the end of your life were it not for fear of shame, danger, death, and hell. You are no longer acting by renewing grace--by faith working through love--but are kept in line by restraining grace. This is not far from the mindset of the unbeliever. A person with spiritual understanding can examine himself, and find out what inspires his conduct--renewing or restraining grace.
5. When the will is predominantly involved in sin, then sin is habitual. Sin may entangle the mind and bring chaos to the affections, and yet still not have dominion. But when it captivates the will, then it has the mastery.
Question: How can a habitual sin, lust, or corruption be consistent with the power of saving grace in the life of the believer?
Answer: This is a hard question. A precise answer will be hard to come by due to the difficulties involved in answering it. We must be very careful how we answer such a question which has to do with the present and eternal condition of the souls of men.
1. It is the duty of every believer to see that this does not become his case. We have enough troubles, fears, and doubts about our eternal condition without adding to them the weight of habitual sin. David acknowledged his errors and sins and prayed for cleansing, purifying, and pardon from them all: "Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults" (Psalm 19:12). But he was especially mindful of praying for protection from those sins of his which he had a consciousness willful part in. "Also keep back Thy servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression" (Psalm 19:13). Along the same lines, the Apostle Paul warned, "See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled" (Heb 12:15). There is a root of bitterness in every sin. I therefore beseech you brethren, I beg of God, for the sake of your own souls and mine, be careful that this may never be your case.
2. Whatever may be said concerning habitual sin’s compatibility with salvation, it is certainly incompatible with peace. I do not fear to say this, but I will say it tenderly, that any peace one might have that exists alongside a habitual sin is a false peace. Many people live in great peace with good hopes that they will one day be accepted by God all the while under the dominion of sin. They believe that it will be well with them in the end, or that they will deal with it at a more seasonable time or at their convenience. Those who give into habitual sin have drawn back from the faith. When someone who professes to be a Christian and who revealed it with a consistent godly life-style until some lust gained strength through his own constitution, temptations, or occasions of life draws him off his former life of renewal and growth in God, then this is a drawing back. And God’s Word to that person is, "And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him" (Heb. 10:38). And when God has no pleasure in the soul, then there is no ground for having peace. I plead with you, examine your grounds for peace. If you find that you have a peace that remains even when you are under habitual sin, then trust no more in that peace. It will not give you strength in the day of trial.
3. If habitual sin is not inconsistent with truth of grace, then it is certainly inconsistent with the true exercise of grace. Someone may still perform many holy duties before the Lord. Habitual sin is not inconsistent with that. But there will be no true exercise of grace in these duties while one remains in habitual sin. It is often observed that people in habitual sin will multiply religious duties in order to quiet their conscience or to try to compensate God for what they have done wrong. They may multiply prayers, follow preaching, and attend to other duties, all the while using these holy things in the deceitfulness of sin as a cloak for some prevailing corruption in their life. In all these duties there is no true exercise of grace.
It may be said that when sin is habitually dominant in our lives, that grace is suspended from actually renewing us through the means God has provided. Brothers, if you are under the power of habitual sin, fear that you will lose all your prayers and hearing of the Word because there is no exercise of true grace in these things.
4. A person’s spiritual life may be in a swoon, when the spiritual man is not dead. There is a kind of delirium of the spirits that may befall believers which show no signs of life, when yet the man is not dead. When I see someone through habitual sin who had all the evidences of spiritual life cast into a swoon, I do not immediately conclude that they are spiritually dead. Consider David. From the time of his great fall and transgression with Bathsheba until his repentance at the preaching of Nathan the prophet he was in a swoon. His fall beat the spiritual life out of his body. He lay like a man spiritually dead.
I will not judge a person to be spiritually dead who formerly showed clear evidences of spiritual life, even though I see them in a swoon as to all evidences of spiritual life. Here is the reason I will not do this. If you judge a person dead, you neglect him, you leave him. But if you judge them to be in a swoon, you use all means in order to retrieve their life. So ought we to do to one another.
5. There truly is a habitual state of sin which is inconsistent with salvation, which may befall those who formerly professed faith in Christ. A constant service of sin reveals the true master. "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?" (Rom 6:16).
Question: What shall a person do who finds himself under the power of a habitual and prevailing corruption, sin, or temptation?
Answer: This prevalancy of sin may have resulted in outward scandal in our lives. It may have resulted in the loss of our inward peace. Or it may have caused us to doubt our participation in Christ’s work. What shall we then do in such cases?
1. Labor to affect your mind with the danger of it. It is impossible to realize how subtle sin is in its ability to persuade us that there is no real danger. I urge you to do all in your power to remember that sin leads to death, hell, and damnation. Do not find relief in self-deceptive rationalizations that all will work out well in the end. It could be that your position is not as stable as you think it is.
2. Burden your conscience with the guilt of it. Our minds are slow to apprehend the danger of sin. Our consciences are very unwilling to carry about the burden of guilt for too long. We easily rationalize and excuse our situation without considering our own personal guilt before God.
3. Once we realize the danger and have been burdened with our own guilt, we must pray for deliverance. We must cry out to God with sincere "groans" and "shouts" for help (Psalm 32:3; Lam 3:8). Christ is able to "come to the aid" of those who "make an outcry" to Him (Heb. 2:18). The Greek word which we translate "come to the aid" from signifies a running in to help a man who is ready to be destroyed. This may seem hard to us, but this brings great glory to God when we recognize that we can't deliver ourselves from the snares of Satan.
4. Treasure up every warning from the Bible that is directed against your particular sin. God gives particular warnings in the Scriptures concerning every dangerous sin. God's warnings are given to us that we might not just read them, but heed them. If God is so good to give you such warnings, you should find them, write them down, treasure them, and never lose them. Ultimately, you must give account for them. "A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy" (Prov. 29:1).
Finally, two other rules to help and I shall be done. 1. No matter how hard and perplexing the struggle with sin becomes, never lose faith. You may be confused by sin's power. You may feel that you are almost lost and that all appears hopeless. But always remember that there is power in God through Christ for the subduing and conquering of sin!
2. It is futile to think that you can mortify any one prevailing sin without at the same time endeavoring to mortify all sin. You must seek to be obedient in every area and follow every command of God. It may well be that as you struggle with one sin, God is trying to teach you to obey Him in all areas. Your disobedience in other areas may be the reason you have such a hard time dealing thoroughly with the present prevailing sin. Therefore remember this rule: Never hope to mortify any sin which grieves your heart, unless you labor to mortify every corruption by which the Spirit of God is grieved.
(Modernized from Volume 9 of John Owen's Works, pages 381-392)