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Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices, Device 1

28 Friday Dec 2018

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Thomas Brooks, Uncategorized

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The first device addressed by Brooks has two elements: presentation and concealment

Device (1). To present the bait and hide the hook; to present the golden cup, and hide the poison; to present the sweet, the pleasure, and the profit that may flow in upon the soul by yielding to sin, and by hiding from the soul the wrath and misery that will certainly follow the committing of sin.

There is the presentation of the bait & the concealment of the hook. Brooks places this device as having its original use in the Garden:

By this device he took our first parents: Gen. 3:4, 5, ‘And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.’ Your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods! Here is the bait, the sweet, the pleasure, the profit. Oh, but he hides the hook,—the shame, the wrath, and the loss that would certainly follow!

This device has sufficient biblical warrant. It lies in the basic structure temptation itself. In Proverbs 5, the adulterous woman is described in just this way:

Proverbs 5:3–6 (ESV)

3           For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,

and her speech is smoother than oil,

4           but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,

sharp as a two-edged sword.

5           Her feet go down to death;

her steps follow the path to Sheol;

6           she does not ponder the path of life;

her ways wander, and she does not know it.

Look at the structure here: What is seen is all desirable: honey and oil. But what is not seen is the end: wormwood, sword, death, Sheol.  There is nothing in the presentation which is not desirable: that is the very point of temptation.  When fishing we use baits and lures fit to the fish and the fish’s palate. The fish is offered something which it desires:

James 1:14 (ESV)

14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

Our desire ensares us. When we are presented with a satisfaction to our desire, it is normal and appropriate – in many circumstances to fulfill that desire.

For instance, I am hungry. I see food which is good to eat. I eat it, satisfying my hunger. There is nothing bad in that. I am cold and wear a coat. There is nothing bad in that.

Temptation uses that same mechanism. Often the desires are perfectly good – if met in the right way and the right place. A desire for material security is not bad; but if it turns to theft and coveting, it becomes sin.

The things which are sin to us are things which lead to our sorrow and hurt – and the hurt of others. God has not forbidden us any good thing. God has forbidden us things which are hurtful to us. The Devil baits the hook with forbidden solutions to desire:

There is an opening of the eyes of the mind to contemplation and joy, and there is an opening of the eyes of the body to shame and confusion. He promiseth them the former, but intends the latter, and so cheats them—giving them an apple in exchange for a paradise, as he deals by thousands now-a-days. Satan with ease puts fallacies upon us by his golden baits, and then he leads us and leaves us in a fool’s paradise. He promises the soul honour, pleasure, profit, &c., but pays the soul with the greatest contempt, shame, and loss that can be.

Notice something else in Brooks’ description: the contemplation. In its initial stage, the tempting object may be rejected because it is known to be wrong. But as the contemplation ensues, the strength of desire overcomes the objection with the resulting death. As we look at the desirable object, the result of the object fades from view. The contemplation creates a bondage of the will:

Take heed of the servitude and bondage which the flesh is wont to bring upon the soul where it reigneth. It maketh men very slaves; the heart groweth weak, and lust strong, Ezek. 16:30. They are not under the government of the Spirit, but under the tyranny of their fleshly lusts, doing whatever it commandeth, be it never so base, foolish, and hurtful. If anger provoke them to revenge, they must fight, kill, and slay, and hazard their worldly interest for anger’s sake, or at least cannot forgive injuries for God’s sake; if filthy lusts send them to the lewd woman, away they go like a fool to the correction of the stocks; and though they dishonour God, ruin their estates, stain their fame, hazard their lives, yet lust will have it so, and they must obey. If covetousness say they must be rich, however they get it; they rise early, go to bed late, eat the bread of sorrow, and pierce through themselves with many cares: yea, make no question of right or wrong, trample conscience under foot, cast the fear of God behind their backs, and all because their imperious mistress, ambition, urgeth them to it. If envy and malice bid Cain kill his brother, he will break all bonds of nature to do it; if ambition bid Absalom rebel against his father, and kill him too, it shall be done, or he shall want his will. If covetousness bid Achan take a wedge of gold, he will do it, though he know it to be a cursed thing; if it bid Judas betray his Lord and Master, though he knew if he should do it, it had been better he had never been born, yet he will do it. Thus they are not at their own command, to do what reason and conscience inclineth them to do. If, sensible of their bondage, they would think of God and the world to come, and the state of their souls, lust will not permit it; if to break off this sensual course, they are not able; they are servants of corruption. Some, God hangeth up in chains of darkness for a warning to the rest of the world of the power of drunkenness, gluttony, avarice and wretched worldliness; yea, of every carnal man it is true: (John 8:34,) ‘Whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin.’ Therefore if the slavery and imperious disease begin to grow upon you, the flesh hath prevailed very far, and you need more to look to it, and that betimes.

Thomas Manton, The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, vol. 12 (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1873), 52–53. When this device works upon the heart, the poor soul is in grave danger. Mark these words of Manton: “Thus they are not at their own command, to do what reason and conscience inclineth them to do.”

There is a great power in this device, because it sails along with the course of desires and the natural of offer of this world:

By a golden bait he laboured to catch Christ, Mat. 4:8, 9. He shews him the beauty and the bravery of a bewitching world, which doubtless would have taken many a carnal heart; but here the devil’s fire fell upon wet tinder, and therefore took not. These tempting objects did not at all win upon his affections, nor dazzle his eyes, though many have eternally died of the wound of the eye, and fallen for ever by this vile strumpet the world, who, by laying forth her two fair breasts of profit and pleasure, hath wounded their souls, and cast them down into utter perdition. She hath, by the glistering of her pomp and preferment, slain millions; as the serpent Scytale, which, when she cannot overtake the fleeing passengers, doth, with her beautiful colours, astonish and amaze them, so that they have no power to pass away till she have stung them to death. Adversity hath slain her thousand, but prosperity her ten thousand.

Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 1 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1866), 12–13.

 

For homework then:

 

Consider what sorts of sin you are prone to.  Then consider how the hook is baited: what is offered? Where is it offered? Consider the end. Use Proverbs 5 as a guide: immediately following the offer of the adulteress, there is a list of sorrow which will follow upon the sin.

Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices: Introduction

20 Thursday Dec 2018

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Theology of Biblical Counseling, Thomas Brooks, Uncategorized

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Brooks takes as his starting text, 2 Corinthians 2:11, “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”

He then makes a series of observations about the text. The overall context is the restoration of a man who had been under church discipline. Although there is some debate as to the person of whom Paul writes, it is commonly taken (as is here by Brooks), that the man put out of the congregation had been the man in the mentioned in 1 Corinthians who been an illicit relationship with his father’s wife.

Sorrowing for the Sin of Others

Brooks begins with a reference to the effect of the sin of others upon a believer:

Gracious souls use to mourn for other men’s sins as well as their own, and for their souls and sins who make a mock of sin, and a jest of damning their own souls. Guilt or grief is all that gracious souls get by communion with vain souls, Ps. 119:136, 158.

This leads to a question: if this is true, and if I am not experiencing sorrow over sin of others, then I must be experiencing some guilt, some contagion. Brooks will use the image of sin as an infectious plague in reference to the first device, below. If sin is indeed an infectious disease, one transmitted from person to person with great ease; then the only defense to the infection is sorrow for the presence of sin in others.

There are four points to consider:

First, how should I sorrow for another’s sin:

Psalm 119:136 (ESV)

136        My eyes shed streams of tears,

because people do not keep your law.

The Psalmist has the honor of God as his primary reference: This person in unrepentant sin dishonors the Lord. This one who dishonors the Lord is a danger to me and an enemy to God.

Second, sorrow for the sins of others (particularly when they are seen as in rebellion against God) disarms the temptation which is inherent in being near sin.

Third, sorrow for the sin of others protects me from a haughty attitude toward others: we cannot feel sorrow and pride at once. Sorrow creates pity.

Fourth, how little I sorrow for the sin of others. This then implies that I am being infected with their sin. If sorrow is the antitode, then a lack of sorrow is a grave danger.

And fifth – Brooks will make another observation about the importance of sorrowing for another’s sin, below.

The Sorrow of Repentance

Having made general observations on the text, Brooks moves to the nature of sorrow for repentance:

It was a sweet saying of one, ‘Let a man grieve for his sin, and then joy for his grief.’ That sorrow for sin that keeps the soul from looking towards the mercy-seat, and that keeps Christ and the soul asunder, or that shall render the soul unfit for the communion of saints, is a sinful sorrow.

Sorrow should drive us to Christ.

Before I go along, we must note Brooks’ facility with language:

That sorrow for sin

that keeps the soul from looking towards the mercy-seat,

and that keeps Christ and the soul asunder,

or that shall render the soul unfit for the communion of saints,

is a sinful sorrow.

First, he makes good use of alliteration: there is a conflict between the hard “c/k” and the soft “s”.

Second, there is the repetition of the sorrow & sin at the beginning and end of the sentence: “sorrow for sin” becomes “sinful sorrow”, thus inverting both the words and the concept.

Third, there are three criteria given to define sinful sorrow. The clauses themselves are easily spoken and have the feel of a line of poetry.

Sorrowing for the Sin of Others

Brooks notes an interesting movement in Paul’s thought: We must be show sorrow and pity upon the repentant sinner. Why so? I would think the rationale would be the need for kindness to the broken man. But Paul draws a different relationship: our failure to show pity is a danger to us:

In the 11th verse, he lays down another reason to work them to shew pity and mercy to the penitent sinner, that was mourning and groaning under his sin and misery; i. e.lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

The necessary sorrow for sin is to protect the others from a scheme of the Devil.

Satan’s Schemes

This leads to Brooks’ general theme: Satan has many devices to destroy Christians.

He begins with a general observation on the words. First, advantage:

Lest Satan should get an advantageof us; lest Satan over-reach us. The Greek word πλεονεχτηθῶμεν, signifieth to have more than belongs to one. The comparison is taken from the greedy merchant, that seeketh and taketh all opportunities to beguile and deceive others. Satan is that wily merchant, that devoureth, not widows houses, but most men’s souls.

We will not care about Satan’s efforts, if we are not convinced of Satan’s danger.

Next the concept of a scheme or device:

‘We are not ignorant of Satan’s devices,’ or plots, or machinations, or stratagems, Νοήματα. He is but a titular Christian that hath not personal experience of Satan’s stratagems, his set and composed machinations, his artificially moulded methods, his plots, darts, depths, whereby he outwitted our first parents, and fits us a pennyworth still, as he sees reason.

This leads to the basic doctrine for the rest of the book:

Doct. That Satan hath his several devices to deceive, entangle, and undo the souls of men.

These devices are more dangerous than persecution.  “So doth Satan more hurt in his sheep’s skin than by roaring like a lion.”

He gives two examples to prove this point: 2 Timothy 2:26 & Revelation 2:24.

This again leads to some questions:

First, is it true that temptation is more dangerous than persecution?

What examples from Scripture can see?

What are examples from history?

 

Second, do we really see Satan as an active danger?

Do we think of Satan as an actual person, or as a figure of speech?

Do we think of Satan and his minions actually doing things?

Do we see this as a real danger to us?

 

Third, before we begin to read Brooks’ list: what devices do we see used to ensnare souls?

Brooks list is not exhaustive.

 

Fourth, why are we so unaware of Satan’s devices? Paul says “we are not unaware”, but is that true?

 

Fifth, to the extent we are unaware of Satan and his devices, why is this so?

 

Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices: Reading (How to turn information into transformation)

14 Friday Dec 2018

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Theology of Biblical Counseling, Thomas Brooks, Uncategorized

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A WORD TO THE READER

This section of the work contains Thomas Brooks Directions for Reading. He begins with the proposition drawn from the Proverbs, that one must obtain truth. Thus, Brooks is not speaking of all reading, but of reading that which is profitable.

DEAR FRIEND!—Solomon bids us buy the truth (Prov. 23:23), but doth not tell us what it must cost, because we must get it though it be never so dear.

The Puritans were quite careful to distinguish between buying truth and buying anything else. Christian, at Vanity Fair, was only there to be “buy truth”. And Bunyan in the Heavenly Footman advises:

Take heed that you have not an ear open to every one that calleth after you as you are in your journey. Men that run, you know, if any do call after them, saying, I would speak with you, or go not too fast, and you shall have my company with you, if they run for some great matter, they use to say, Alas, I cannot stay, I am in haste, pray talk not to me now; neither can I stay for you, I am running for a wager: if I win I am made, if I lose I am undone, and therefore hinder me not. Thus wise are men when they run for corruptible things, and thus should thou do, and thou hast more cause to do so than they, forasmuch as they run but for things that last not, but thou for an incorruptible glory. I give thee notice of this betimes, knowing that thou shalt have enough call after thee, even the devil, sin, this world, vain company, pleasures, profits, esteem among men, ease, pomp, pride, together with an innumerable company of such companions; one crying, Stay for me; the other saying, Do not leave me behind; a third saying, And take me along with you. What, will you go, saith the devil, without your sins, pleasures, and profits? Are you so hasty? Can you not stay and take these along with you? Will you leave your friends and companions behind you? Can you not do as your neighbours do, carry the world, sin, lust, pleasure, profit, esteem among men, along with you? Have a care thou do not let thine ear now be open to the tempting, enticing, alluring, and soul- entangling flatteries of such sink-soulsf13 as these are. ‘My son,’ saith Solomon, ‘if sinners entice thee, consent thou not’ (Pro. 1:10).

Brooks’ directions are to bring information into one’s heart so that it transforms both conduct and affections. Therefore, these directions for reading are not appropriate for all things which we read. As Paul Baynes writes in Brief Directions for a Godly Life, “That all filthy, lewd and wanton books, yea, needless and unprofitable books be avoided.”

A. Meditation

Remember, it is not hasty reading, but serious meditating upon holy and heavenly truths, that makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul.

Meditation is a constant element of Puritan spirituality. Thomas Watson writes,

It is better to meditate on one sermon than to hear five. If an angel were to come down from heaven and preach to men; yea, if Jesus himself were the preacher, none would profit without meditation. The bee sucks the flower, and then works it in the hive, and it becomes honey. We must not only suck the flower of the Word, but work it in the hive of the heart.

Thomas Watson, Puritan Gems; Or, Wise and Holy Sayings of the Rev. Thomas Watson, A.M., ed. John Adey, Second Thousand. (London: J. Snow, and Ward and Co.; Nisbet and Co.; E. F. Gooch, 1850), 96–97. And:

Meditate upon what you read. Psalm 119:15: “I will meditate in thy precepts.” The Hebrew word to meditate, signifies to be intense in the mind. In meditation there must be a fixing of the thoughts upon the object. Luke 2:19: “Mary pondered those things.” Meditation is the concoction of Scripture; reading brings a truth into our head, meditation brings it into our heart; reading and meditation, like Castor and Pollux, must appear together. Meditation without reading is erroneous; reading without meditation is barren. The bee sucks the flower, and then works it into the hive, and so turns it into honey; by reading we suck the flower of the word, by meditation we work it into the hive of our mind, and so it turns to profit. Meditation is the bellows of the affection. Psalm 39:3: “While I was musing the fire burned.” The reason we come away so cold from reading the word, is because we do not warm ourselves at the fire of meditation.

Thomas Watson, “How We May Read the Scriptures with Most Spiritual Profit,” in The Bible and the Closet: Or How We May Read the Scriptures with the Most Spiritual Profit; and Secret Prayer Successfully Managed, ed. John Overton Choules (Boston: Gould, Kendall and Lincoln, 1842), 24–25.

In his sermon, A Discourse of the Right Way of Obtaining and Maintaining Communion with God, Matthew Barker writes:

We should, with David, “set the Lord always before” our face; (Psalm 16:8;) and not as he that he speaks of, of whom it is said, “God is not in all his thoughts.” (Psalm 10:4.) This is rather to live “without God in the world,” than to live in communion with him. And these thoughts of God should not be slight and transient, but fixed and serious; especially at some times, which we should more peculiarly devote to solemn meditation. Meditation brings the object nearer to the soul, and the soul nearer to it, though locally distant; unites the soul to it; mixeth itself with it; whereby it doth possess it, or is possessed of it.

James Nichols, Puritan Sermons, vol. 4 (Wheaton, IL: Richard Owen Roberts, Publishers, 1981), 48. Meditation is a deliberate focus and pondering of the proposition; it is the exact opposite of a transitory reading.

Brooks is not merely asking for one to read his book, but to wrestle with the book. A serious book which discloses the truth of God deserves our serious consideration. Much of our trouble comes from not considering what we read.

B. Application

The purpose of God’s truth is never for bare knowledge; this is an academic prize. I was once asked by a fellow Christian why I should take the time to know and understand, “After all”, he said, “when we’re heaven we’ll know it all any way.” But we are given truth for the end of godliness, faith working through love; never bare knowledge. Thus,

Thirdly, Know that it is not the knowing, nor the talking, nor the reading man, but the doing man, that at last will be found the happiest man.

As Thomas Watson wrote:

Learn to apply Scripture; take every word as spoken to yourselves. When the word thunders against sin, think thus: God means my sins; when it presseth any duty, God intends me in this. Many put off Scripture from themselves, as if it only concerned those who lived in the time when it was written; but if you intend to profit by the word, bring it home to yourselves. A medicine will do no good unless it be applied. The saints of old took the word as if it had been spoken to them by name. When king Josiah heard the threatening which was written in the book of God, he applied it to himself; he “rent his clothes and humbled his soul before the Lord.” 2 Kings 22:11.

Thomas Watson, “How We May Read the Scriptures with Most Spiritual Profit,” in The Bible and the Closet: Or How We May Read the Scriptures with the Most Spiritual Profit; and Secret Prayer Successfully Managed, ed. John Overton Choules (Boston: Gould, Kendall and Lincoln, 1842), 33–34. The application is to be complete:

We must be careful to apply that which we read wisely to ourselves; persuading ourselves that all duties are commanded us and all sins forbidden us all and all promises to be believed by us. Likewise, we must look that all exhortations and admonitions quicken us; all reprehensions check us; and all threats cause us to fear.

Paul Baynes, Brief Directions.

Christianity is not a matter of bare knowledge, it is a comprehensive manner of life. And, we cannot know as we ought when we refuse to live as we ought:

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Hebrews 5:14 (ESV). There is a necessary preparation and transformation of the human heart which makes it fit to receive the truth.

Brooks drives this home with an illustration:

Reader, If it be not strong upon thy heart to practise what thou readest, to what end dost thou read? To increase thy own condemnation? If thy light and knowledge be not turned into practice, the more knowing man thou art, the more miserable man thou wilt be in the day of recompense; thy light and knowledge will more torment thee than all the devils in hell. Thy knowledge will be that rod that will eternally lash thee, and that scorpion that will for ever bite thee, and that worm that will everlastingly gnaw thee; therefore read, and labour to know, that thou mayest do, or else thou art undone for ever.

The fact that knowledge increases condemnation is taught in the Scripture:

20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

Matthew 11:20–24 (ESV). They had seen and heard and rejected. The Word of God is a dangerous thing, it will either transform or harden. In Nehemiah 8, the returned exiles are taught the people the Law of God; and when they heard it, they wept. But Herod, who heard the condemnation of John the Baptist, put John in prison. To hear the word of God, and to not listen and comply with the reproof is to be destroyed:

He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck,
will suddenly be broken beyond healing.

Proverbs 29:1 (ESV)

Application of this to Counseling:

These directions for reading are likely the most common reason that Biblical Counseling fails. The Counselor conveys information and permits to be bare information. The counselee hears something, consents, even admits to its importance. But, after leaving the counseling time, the poor Christian proceeds into the world with more information but the information is inert.

Even the homework given typically does little good because it most often information conveyance. While information is insufficient: Information is a necessary but a sufficient cause for change: the information must drive down into the heart and transform affections and conduct.

Brooks is here underlying the primary elements of turning information into transformation: Meditation – which transforms the thought and affections; and obedience. Conduct and sustained thought do much to drive knowledge into the bones and blood.

Precious Remedies Against Satans Devices: Introductory Epistle (a model for pastoral ministry)

12 Wednesday Dec 2018

Posted by in Elders, Ministry, Thomas Brooks, Uncategorized

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Thomas Brooks’ work Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices begins with a pastoral letter to his reader(s). He first lays out the pastoral office:

Beloved in our dearest Lord, Christ, the Scripture, your own hearts, and Satan’s devices, are the four prime things that should be first and most studied and searched. If any cast off the study of these, they cannot be safe here, nor happy hereafter. It is my work as a Christian, but much more as I am a Watchman, to do my [1] best to discover the fulness of Christ, [2] the emptiness of the creature, [3] and the snares of the great deceiver

Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 1 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1866), 3. In short we are weak, the Devil is deception, but Christ is greater than both our weakness and the Devil’s snares.

There are several “devices” of Satan, because there are various weaknesses and failings of human beings; therefore, the Devil sets his snares to match his prey:

Satan loves to sail with the wind, and to suit men’s temptations to their conditions and inclinations

This work of Satan is no ideal threat; it is a constant, ubiquitous malice which works throughout the world:

From the power, malice, and skill of Satan, doth proceed all the soul-killing plots, devices, stratagems, and machinations, that be in the world. Several

 When we consider both the irrationality of our own sin, and the insanity of the world writ large, we are at loss if we do not consider the malevolence of Satan. Satan, in Paradise Lost (Book I, lines 643-649) realizing that God will not be overthrown by direct war turns his malice to deceit:

Henceforth his might we know, and know our own
So as not either to provoke, or dread
New warr, provok’t; our better part remains [ 645 ]
To work in close design, by fraud or guile
What force effected not: that he no less
At length from us may find, who overcomes
By force, hath overcome but half his foe.

This malice everywhere present in the world. Now Brooks’ willingness to attribute great effect to Satan is certainly odd in this world. To even posit Satan’s existence, much less agency, is to be considered a bit odd if not ignorant (or perhaps deranged). This is of course a great act of his deception:

He is supposed to be Turkish. Some say his father was German. Nobody believed he was real. Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him, but to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody could have worked for Soze. You never knew. That was his power. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.

The Usual Suspects. Having laid out his plan, Brooks then prays for his reader. This is a marvelous model of prayer:

My desires for you are,

‘That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ that passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God,’ Eph. 3:16–19;

and

‘That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increased in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering, with joyfulness,’ Col. 1:10, 11;

‘That ye do no evil,’ 2 Cor. 13:7;

‘That your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge, and in all judgment;’ ‘That ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere, and without offence till the day of Christ,’ Philip. 1:27, 4:1; and that ‘our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power;’ ‘That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ,’ 2 Thes. 1:11, 12.

And that you may be eminent in sanctity, sanctity being Zion’s glory, Ps. 93:5;

that your hearts may be kept upright, your judgments sound, and your lives unblameable.

That as ye are now ‘my joy,’ so in the day of Christ you may be ‘my crown;’ that I may see my labours in your lives; that your conversation may not be earthly, when the things you hear are heavenly; but that it may be ‘as becomes the gospel,’ Philip. 1:9, 10.

That as the fishes which live in the salt sea yet are fresh, so you, though you live in an uncharitable world, may yet be charitable and loving;

That ye may, like the bee, suck honey out of every flower; that ye may shine in a sea of troubles, as the pearl shines in the sky, though it grows in the sea;

that in all your trials you may be like the stone in Thracia, that neither burneth in the fire nor sinketh in the water;

That ye may be like the heavens, excellent in substance and beautiful in appearance;

that so you may meet me with joy in that day wherein Christ shall say to his Father, ‘Lo, here am I, and the children that thou hast given me,’ Isa. 8:18

My desires to you are,

That you would make it your business to study Christ, his word, your own hearts, Satan’s plots, and eternity, more than ever;

That ye would endeavour more to be inwardly sincere than outwardly glorious; to live, than to have a name to live;

That ye would labour with all your might to be thankful under mercies, and faithful in your places, and humble under divine appearances, and fruitful under precious ordinances;

That as your means and mercies are greater than others’, so your account before God may not prove a worse than others’;

That ye would pray for me, who am not worthy to be named among the saints, that I may be a precious instrument in the hand of Christ to bring in many souls unto him, and to build up those that are brought in in their most holy faith;

and ‘that utterance may be given to me, that I may make known all the will of God,’ Eph. 6:19;

That I may be sincere, faithful, frequent, fervent, and constant in the work of the Lord, and that my labour be not in vain in the Lord; that my labours may be accepted in the Lord and his saints, and I may daily see the travail of my soul, &c.

 Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 1 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1866), 5-6.

 

Let me be little in this world

19 Sunday Oct 2014

Posted by in Humility, Prayer, Thomas Brooks

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O Lord, I humbly crave that thou wilt let me be little in this world,
that I may be great in another world;
and low here,
that I may be high for ever hereafter.
Let me be low, and feed low, and live low,
so I may live with thee for ever;
let me now be clothed with rags,
so thou wilt clothe me at last with thy robes;
let me now be set upon a dunghill,
so I may at last be advanced to sit with thee upon thy throne.
Lord, make me rather gracious than great,
inwardly holy than outwardly happy,
and rather turn me into my first nothing,
yea, make me worse than nothing,
rather than set me up for a time,
that thou mayest bring me low for ever.

This prayer is found in Precious Remedies for Satan’s Devices by Thomas Brooks, device 8, remedy 6.

That Christ Should Come

31 Saturday May 2014

Posted by in Christology, Thomas Brooks

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That Christ should come from the eternal bosom of his Father to a region of sorrow and death;

that God should be manifested in the flesh, the Creator made a creature;

that he that was clothed with glory should be wrapped with rags of flesh;

he that filled heaven and earth with his glory should be cradled in a manger;

that the power of God should fly from weak man, the God of Israel into Egypt;

that the God of the law should be subject to the law, the God of the circumcision circumcised, the God that made the heavens working at Joseph’s homely trade;

that he that binds the devils in chains should be tempted;

that he, whose is the world, and the fulness thereof, should hunger and thirst;

that the God of strength should be weary, the Judge of all flesh condemned, the God of life put to death;

that he that is one with his Father should cry out of misery, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ Mat. 27:46;

that he that had the keys of hell and death at his girdle should lie imprisoned in the sepulchre of another, having in his lifetime nowhere to lay his head, nor after death to lay his body;

that that head, before which the angels do cast down their crowns, should be crowned with thorns, and those eyes, purer than the sun, put out by the darkness of death;

those ears, which hear nothing but hallelujahs of saints and angels, to hear the blasphemies of the multitude;

that face, that was fairer than the sons of men, to be spit on;

that mouth and tongue, that spake as never man spake, accused for blasphemy;

those hands, that freely swayed the sceptre of heaven, nailed to the cross; those feet, ‘like unto fine brass,’ nailed to the cross for man’s sins;

each sense annoyed: his feeling or touching, with a spear and nails;

his smell, with stinking flavour, being crucified about Golgotha, the place of skulls; his taste, with vinegar and gall;

his hearing, with reproaches, and sight of his mother and disciples bemoaning him;

his soul, comfortless and forsaken; and all, this for those very sins that Satan paints and puts fine colours upon!

Oh! how should the consideration of this stir up the soul against it, and work the soul to fly from it, and to use all holy means whereby sin may be subdued and destroyed!

The Unsearchable Riches of Christ.12

25 Friday Apr 2014

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Humility, Thomas Brooks

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The previous post in this series may be found here: https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2014/04/21/the-unsearchable-riches-of-christ-11/

A humble soul sees sin as rebellion against God. Rather than justify himself before God, making excuses for sin, he sees sin for what it is. Thus,

The ninth property of an humble soul is this, It will smite and strike for small sins as well as for great, for those the world count no sin, as well as for those that they count gross sins.

He continues:

A proud heart counts great sins small, and small sins no sins, and so disarms conscience for a time of its whipping and wounding power; but at death, or in hell, conscience will take up an iron rod, with which it will lash the sinner for ever; and then, though too late, the sinner shall acknowledge his little sins to be very great, and his great sins to be exceeding grievous and odious, &c.

Brooks made a similar point in Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices: One excuse which leads to sin is the habit of making sins seem small: this is no great sin and thus I need not worry. A humble man would never think such a thing. One “remedy” offered by Brooks speaks to this:

The third remedy against this third device that Satan hath to draw the soul to sin, is solemnly to consider, That it is sad to stand with God for a trifle. Dives would not give a crumb, therefore he should not receive a drop, Luke 16:21. It is the greatest folly in the world to adventure the going to hell for a small matter. ‘I tasted but a little honey,’ said Jonathan, ‘and I must die,’ 1 Sam. 14:29. It is a most unkind and unfaithful thing to break with God for a little. Little sins carry with them but little temptations to sin, and then a man shews most viciousness and unkindness, when he sins on a little temptation. It is devilish to sin without a temptation; it is little less than devilish to sin on a little occasion. The less the temptation is to sin, the greater is that sin.1 Saul’s sin in not staying for Samuel, was not so much in the matter, but it was much in the malice of it; for though Samuel had not come at all, yet Saul should not have offered sacrifice; but this cost him dear, his soul and kingdom.

It is the greatest unkindness that can be shewed to a friend, to adventure the complaining, bleeding, and grieving of his soul upon a light and a slight occasion. So it is the greatest unkindness that can be shewed to God, Christ, and the Spirit, for a soul to put God upon complaining, Christ upon bleeding, and the Spirit upon grieving, by yielding to little sins. Therefore, when Satan says it is but a little one, do thou answer, that often times there is the greatest unkindness shewed to God’s glorious majesty, in the acting of the least folly, and therefore thou wilt not displease thy best and greatest friend, by yielding to his greatest enemy.

1 It was a vexation to king Lysimachus, that his staying to drink one small draught of water lost him his kingdom; and so it will eternally vex some souls at last that for one little sin, compared with great transgressions, they have lost God, heaven, and their souls for ever. [Plutarch. Cf. Bp. Jeremy Taylor, vol. iv. p. 457. (Eden).—G.]

Ann Bradstreet, “My Soul Rejoice Thou in Thy God”

06 Monday May 2013

Posted by in 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Anne Bradstreet, Hope, Literature, Philippians, Praise, Prayer, Puritan

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My soul rejoice thou in thy God

Boast of him all the day[1],

Walk in his law and kiss his rod[2]

Cleave close to him always.

 

What though thy outward man decay

Thy inward shall wax strong;[3]

Thy body vile it shall be changed[4]

And glorious made ere-long.

 

With angels’ wing thy soul shall mount[5]

To bliss unseen by eye[6]

And drink at unexhausted fount

Of joy unto eternity.[7]

 

Thy tears shall all be dried up

They sorrows all shall fly[8]

Thy sins shall never be summoned up

Nor in memory[9]

 

Then shall I know what thou hast done

For me, unworthy me,

And praise thee shall even as I ought

For wonders that I see.

 

Base world[10], I trample on thy face,

Thy glory I despise[11],

No gain I find in ought below

For God hath made me wise[12].

 

Come Jesus, quickly, blessed Lord[13],

Thy face when shall I see?

O let me count each hour a day

Till I dissolved be.[14]

[1] “My soul shall make her boast in the Lord”  Psalm 34:2.

[2]

Silently to kiss the rod, and the hand that whips with it, is the noblest way of clearing the Lord of all injustice.

 

Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, Volume 1, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1866), 301. By “kiss the rod”, she means to realized that the affliction comes from God and thus will work good – even though the good will come at the cost of pain.

 

[3]

16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16–18 (KJV 1900)

 

[4]

21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. Philippians 3:21 (KJV 1900)

[5] Not that the human being will have angels’ wings, but that angels will carry the human being: “Luke 16:22 (KJV 1900):

22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

 

[6]

8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:8–9 (KJV 1900)

[7]

13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Romans 15:13 (KJV 1900)

 

      11       Thou wilt shew me the path of life:

                  In thy presence is fulness of joy;

                  At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

 

 Psalm 16:11 (KJV 1900)

[8]

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. Revelation 21:1–5 (KJV 1900)

[9]

 

      11       For as the heaven is high above the earth,

                  So great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

            12       As far as the east is from the west,

                  So far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

            13       Like as a father pitieth his children,

                  So the LORD pitieth them that fear him.

            14       For he knoweth our frame;

                  He remembereth that we are dust.

Psalm 103:11–14 (KJV 1900)           

 

[10]

2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. Ecclesiastes 1:2 (KJV 1900)

 

[11]

(5.) The fifth property. That knowledge that accompanies salvation, is a world-despising, a world-crucifying, and a world-contemning knowledge.1 It makes a man have low, poor, mean thoughts of the world; it makes a man slight it, and trample upon it as a thing of no value. That divine light that accompanies salvation, makes a man to look upon the world as mixed, as mutable, as momentary; it makes a man look upon the world as a liar, as a deceiver, as a flatterer, as a murderer, and as a witch that hath bewitched the souls of thousands to their eternal overthrow, by her golden offers and proffers. Divine knowledge put Paul upon trampling upon all the bravery and glory of the world, Philip. 3:4–9. I shall only transcribe the seventh and eighth verses, and leave you to turn to the rest. ‘But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung’ (σκύβαλα, dog’s dung or dog’s meat, coarse and contemptible), ‘that I may win Christ.’2 Divine knowledge raises his heart so high above the world, that he looks upon it with an eye of scorn and disdain, and makes him count it as an excrement, yea, as the very worst of excrements, as dogs’ dung, as dogs’ meat. Of the like import is that of Heb. 10:34, ‘For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.’ Divine knowledge will make a man rejoice, when his enemies make a bonfire of his goods. This man hath bills of exchange under God’s own hand, to receive a pound for every penny, a million for every mite, that he loses for him. And this makes him to rejoice, and to trample upon all the glory of this world, as one did upon the philosopher’s crown, Mat. 19:27–30.

 

Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, Volume 2, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1866), 439.

 

[12]

4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: 5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: Philippians 3:4–9 (KJV 1900)

 

[13] Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Revelation 22:20. The Aramaic prayer Maranatha found in 1 Corinthians 16:22 go back to the earliest days of the church.

 

His second wish is an Aramaic affirmation. Aramaic was the language of Palestine at this time in which Jesus spoke and preached. It was a cousin to Hebrew, the language of most of the Old Testament. “Maranatha,” Paul says, Come, Oh Lord! (16:22). This worship affirmation must have come from the earliest churches in Judea, for Paul would scarcely use an Aramaic phrase among the Greek speaking Corinthians if it did not have a significant history behind it. Clearly Jewish Christians from the very earliest days considered Jesus Lord, perhaps on the basis of Ps. 110:1: “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’ ”

 

Kenneth Schenck, 1 & 2 Corinthians: A Commentary for Bible Students (Indianapolis, IN: Wesleyan Publishing House, 2006), 238.

[14] The word “dissolved” is used in by Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:1, “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” The ESV has the word “destroyed” rather than “dissolved”. We must be careful here not to read back in Bradstreet an annihilation of her existence, but rather a transformation. The desire for this present vain state to be ended and the eternal state (a state without corruption – but a state which is nonetheless physical) to begin is a common theme in the NT and in Christian meditation:

 

6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. 2 Timothy 4:6–8 (KJV 1900)

 

The Confidence Man

19 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Puritan

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“Con man” comes from “confidence man”, that is one who gains the confidence of another and then proceeds to use that “confidence” to gain an advantage over another.

 

In my work, I have had the chance to meet a few confidence men. The best of them are extraordinary, truly.  They exude attraction, they draw one in and offer a promise of good. They instill faith and hope. But their power all lies in illusion.

 

At the first, they dangle some great benefit, some intangible tangible, some false truth which beguiles and bewitches until the mark bites long and hard. In that moment, the mark receives every good which will ever come. The promise was all one of hope, of expectation — a movie facade without a structure. As soon as the door opens, the building disappears. As soon as the mark bites, the promise vanishes.

 

All of the good lies in the offer, none in the reality. How then does the mark beat the confidence man? Only by knowing the offer is a lie before the offer is heard.  Unless you have experienced the work of a truly great con-man, you cannot understand the power of the offer.  The con man truly inspires confidence.

 

Brooks makes this point in remedies three and four to device one: If temptation works by presenting the bait and hiding the hook, the only protection will be to avoid the bait altogether. If complete avoidance cannot be had, then know before that the temptation will first overpower your sense and second bring on sorrow.

 

I will take 3 & 4 in reverse order. First, sin is bewitching

 

Sin so bewitches the soul, that it makes the soul call evil good, and good evil; bitter sweet and sweet bitter, light darkness and darkness light; and a soul thus bewitched with sin will stand it out to the death, at the sword’s point with God; let God strike and wound, and cut to the very bone, yet the bewitched soul cares not, fears no but will still hold on in a course of wickedness, as you may see in Pharaoh, Balaam, and Judas. Tell the bewitched soul that sin is a viper that will certainly kill when it is not killed, that sin often kills secretly, insensibly, eternally, yet the bewitched soul cannot, nor will not, cease from sin.

 

You cannot understand temptation until you understand that temptation will bewitch your sense. Moreover, you cannot discover the trick until the dagger has entered your heart:

 

21 With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.

22 All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast

23 till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.

 

Proverbs 7:21-23. The verb translated “compel is a very strong concept.  It elsewhere is used to refer to casting out (Ps. 5:10). In Deuteronomy 30:1 it refers to God driving the rebellious Israelites into exile.  The translator’s handbook for Proverbs notes, “She compels means she forces, pressures, or obliges him.” The power of the temptation compels — until the true end is revealed.

 

That is the second remedy offered by Brooks, know that sin will not merely seduce, it will destroy:

 

Solemnly to consider, That sin will usher in the greatest and the saddest losses that can be upon our souls. It will usher in the loss of that divine favour that is better than life, and the loss of that joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, and the loss of that peace that passeth understanding, and the loss of those divine influences by which the soul hath been refreshed, quickened, raised, strengthened, and gladded, and the loss of many outward desirable mercies, which otherwise the soul might have enjoyed.

 

How then does one put this information to use?  One must consider the sin in the absence of the temptation.  Temptation so overwhelms the sense that an unarmed man has no chance. A friend who lives in rural Montana has impressed upon me the need for care in the forrest. To come upon a lion or bear without defense could end one’s life. To come about temptation without defense is to fall.

 

First, avoid the temptation.

 

If the temptation cannot be avoided, then I must recognize the temptation for what it is: a deceit.  A movie compels as long as the illusion is maintained. But once you notice the reflection of a crew member holding a candy bar in the bedroom mirror, you no longer feel fear for the monster in the window.  Before the resolution arrives, know that is false. See it for a fraud.

 

But also, plug your ears and hurry away as quickly as possible: for the illusion is persistent, and the nagging of temptation will draw the heart should it divert its gaze from Christ.

 

Moreover, consider carefully – in writing is good, very good – the damage which this sin will wreck in one’s life. Sit down, write down every ill you can conceive will flow from the sin. Think of how often the sin has deceived you before, think of the sorrow it has brought in.

 

Aside: The earliest usage of the phrase I could find was as of William Thompson in New York:

 

Arrest of the Confidence Man.—For the last few months a man has been traveling about the city, known as the “Confidence Man,” that is, he would go up to a perfect stranger in the street, and being a man of genteel appearance, would easily command an interview. Upon this interview he would say after some little conversation, “have you confidence in me to trust me with your watch until to-morrow;” the stranger at this novel request, supposing him to be some old acquaintance not at that moment recollected, allows him to take the watch, thus placing “confidence” in the honesty of the stranger, who walks off laughing and the other supposing it to be a joke allows him so to do. In this way many have been duped, and the last that we recollect was a Mr. Thomas McDonald, of No. 276 Madison street, who, on the 12th of May last, was met by this “Confidence Man” in William Street, who, in the manner as above described, took from him a gold lever watch valued at $110; and yesterday, singularly enough, Mr. McDonald was passing along Liberty street, when who should he meet but the “Confidence Man” who had stolen his watch. Officer Swayse, of the Third Ward, being near at hand, took the accused into custody on the charge made by Mr. McDonald. The accused at first refused to go with the officer; but after finding the officer determined to take him, he walked along for a short distance, when he showed desperate fight, and it was not until the officer had tied his hands together that he was able to convey him to the police office. On the prisoner being taken before Justice McGrath, he was recognized as an old offender by the name of Wm. Thompson, and is said to be a graduate of the college at Sing Sing. The magistrate committed him to prison for a further hearing. It will be well for all those persons who have been defrauded by the “Confidence Man” to call at the police court Tombs and take a view of him.

 

Source: New-York Herald, July 8, 1849

 

http://chnm.gmu.edu/lostmuseum/lm/328/

Precious Remedies Device 1, Remedies.1

04 Tuesday Dec 2012

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, John Owen, Matthew, Memorization, Mortification, Prayer, Puritan, Repentance

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The first device is that sin allures with its promise, while concealing its true intention: our destruction. This device was discussed here:

https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/precious-remedies-against-satans-devices-device-1/

The “remedies” to the device are two-fold in type: First, avoid the temptation. Second, realize the deceit of the temptation.

Avoid the temptation: 

Anselm used to say, “That if he should see the shame of sin on the one hand, and the pains of hell on the other, and must of necessity choose one; he would rather be thrust into hell without sin; than to go into heaven with sin,” so great was his hatred and detestation of sin. It is our wisest and our safest course to stand at the farthest distance from sin; not to go near the house of the harlot—but to fly from all appearance of evil (Proverbs 5:8, 1 Thess. 5:22). The best course to prevent falling into the pit is to keep at the greatest distance from it; he who will be so bold as to attempt to dance upon the brink of the pit, may find by woeful experience that it is a righteous thing with God that he should fall into the pit. Joseph keeps at a distance from sin, and from playing with Satan’s golden baits, and stands. David draws near, and plays with the bait, and falls, and swallows bait and hook! David comes near the snare, and is taken in it, to the breaking of his bones, the wounding of his conscience, and the loss of fellowship with his God.

Proverbs makes much use of this principle. The young man who falls into adultery has been wandering in the adulteress’s neighborhood:

6 For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, 7 and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, 8 passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house 9 in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness. 10 And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart. 11 She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home; 12 now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait. 13 She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him, Proverbs 7:6–13 (ESV)

Therefore, Solomon lays great stress upon avoiding the opportunity for sin:

20 My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. 22 For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. 24 Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. 25 Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. 26 Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. 27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil. Proverbs 4:20–27 (ESV)

The Christian must make every effort to cut off the opportunity for temptation. Jesus illustrates this with the hyperbole of cutting off parts of one’s own body:

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. Matthew 5:27–30 (ESV)

How does one turn this into practical counseling instruction?  First, learn the nature and time of temptation.  A temptation journal can be quite helpful in this instance: all that is necessary is that one records the times of greatest temptation.  Time, place, thought.  Interestingly, the mere fact of actually considering the time and place of temptation will have a deterrent effect: temptation acts like a kind of fog, an intoxication – a splash of cold water may bring on his senses.

Now, the goal here is not behavior modification, but rather living in wisdom. We are to “make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:14). The flesh takes strength from sin’s opportunity:

And herein lies no small part of its power, which we are inquiring after,—it can admit of no terms of peace, of no composition. There may be a composition where there is no reconciliation,—there may be a truce where there is no peace; but with this enemy we can obtain neither the one nor the other. It is never quiet, conquering nor conquered; which was the only kind of enemy that the famous warrior complained of of old. It is in vain for a man to have any expectation of rest from his lust but by its death; of absolute freedom but by his own. Some, in the tumultuating of their corruptions, seek for quietness by labouring to satisfy them, “making provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof,” as the apostle speaks, Rom. 13:14. This is to aslake fire by wood and oil. As all the fuel in the world, all the fabric of the creation that is combustible, being cast into the fire, will not at all satisfy it, but increase it; so is it with satisfaction given to sin by sinning,—it doth but inflame and increase. If a man will part with some of his goods unto an enemy, it may satisfy him; but enmity will have all, and is not one whit the more satisfied than if he had received nothing at all,—like the lean cattle that were never the less hungry for having devoured the fat. You cannot bargain with the fire to take but so much of your houses; ye have no way but to quench it. It is in this case as it is in the contest between a wise man and a fool: Prov. 29:9, “Whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest.” Whatever frame or temper he be in, his importunate folly makes him troublesome. It is so with this indwelling sin: whether it violently tumultuate, as it will do on provocations and temptations, it will be outrageous in the soul; or whether it seem to be pleased and contented, to be satisfied, all is one, there is no peace, no rest to be had with it or by it. Had it, then, been of any other nature, some other way might have been fixed on; but seeing it consists in enmity, all the relief the soul hath must lie in its ruin.

John Owen, vol. 6, The Works of John Owen., ed. William H. Goold (Edinburg: T&T Clark), 177-78.

And so, avoiding temptation will not make one holy; but, it is a necessary element in wisdom and growth in holiness.

Second, memorize, meditate, pray to avoid temptation. Verses such as those quoted above, or other similar texts such as 1 Peter 5:8-9 can be used. Drawing a store of these verses into the heart can be of great benefit to become one who avoids temptation.

Third, bring other men or women into your life who will exhort and encourage you to avoid temptation. The congregation is to be a store of such exhortation (Hebrews 3:12-13, 10:24-25).

Fourth, read secondary materials (something in addition to Scripture) to encourage you in this work.