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Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices, Device 1

28 Friday Dec 2018

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Thomas Brooks, Uncategorized

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Desire, Device 1, Precious Remedies Against Satans Devices, Proverbs 5, temptation, Thomas Brooks

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.

Soren Kierkegaard, The Mirror of the Word, Part 5

01 Tuesday May 2018

Posted by memoirandremains in Kierkegaard, Kierkegaard, Psychology, Uncategorized

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Forgetting, James, James 1, Kierkegaard, Lust, Resolutions, temptation, The Mirror of the Word

In this section, Kierkegaard makes some interesting observations about resolutions — and about desire.

Finally, if we true benediction thou art to behold thyself in the mirror of the Word, thou must not straightway forget what manner of man thou art, not be the forgetful hearer (or reader) about whom the Apostle speaks, ‘He beheld his natural face in the mirror, and straightway forgot what manner of man he was.’

Kierkegaard lays emphasis upon the immediacy of the action: I have seen something of myself, I will regard that, I will do that immediately — not tomorrow. The great promise, I shall never forget is of little value. It is the not forgetting right now which is key. It is what happens “in the next hour” which matters.

He then takes this positive resolution and speaks of more damaging resolutions. The man who resolves (he choses gambling) to never gamble will almost certainly gamble. The better determination is, I will not gamble tonight. It is the immediacy which grants strength.

He refers to a hoaxing lust: one who is hoaxed by lust, and one who hoaxes lust:

Lust is strong merely in the instant, if only it gets its own way instantly, there will be no objection on its part to make promises for the whole life. But to reverse the situation so as to say, “No, only not to-day, but to-morrow and the day after, & c.” that is to hoax lust. For it if has to wait, lusts loses its lust; if it is not invited to enter the instant it announces itself,and before everyone else, if it is told that it will not be granted admittance until tomorrow, then lust understand (more quickly that the most ingratiating and wily courtier or the most artful woman understand what it signifies to meet with such a reception in the antechamber), lust understands that it is no longer the one and all, that is say, it is no longer ‘lust’. 

 

The Faerie Queene: The Temptation of Mammon

28 Tuesday Feb 2017

Posted by memoirandremains in Literature, Uncategorized

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Edmund Spenser, Faerie Queene, poem, Poetry, temptation

Book II of the Faire Queene concerns the Knight Guyon, who represents the virtue of temperance. In Canto VII he comes upon an “uncouth, salvage, and uncivile wight”. Spenser describes him as follows (the strange spelling goes away when you read it out loud):

 

His iron Coat all overgrown with Rust,

Was underneath enveloped with Gold,

Whose glistring Gloss darkned with filthy Dust,

Well it appeared to have been of old

A Work of rich Entail, and curious Mold,

Woven with Anticks [fantastic figures] and wild Imagery:

And in his Lap a Mass of Coin he told,

And turned upsidown, to feed his Eye

And covetous Desire with his huge Threasury.

 

And round about him lay on every side

Great Heaps of Gold that never could be spent;

Of which, some were rude Ore, not purifide

Of Mulciber’s devouring Element;

Some others were new driven, and distent [beaten out]

Into great Ingots, and to Wedges square;

Some in round Plates withouten Monument;

But most were stamp’d, and in their Metal bare

The antique Shapes of Kings and Kesars strange and rare.

 

This strange evil beast cluttered and covered with money, is covetous Mammon, as Guyon discovers. Although freightened at first, he speaks to the beast:

 

 

What art thou Man (if Man at all thou art)

That here in Desart hast thine Habitaunce [dwelling]

And these rich Heaps of Wealth dost hide apart

From the World’s Eye, and from her right Usaunce?

The beast answers:

 

Thereat, with staring Eyes fixed ascaunce,

In great Disdain, he answered; Hardy Elf, [the Knight is referred as an elf]

That darest view my direful Countenaunce,

I reed thee rash, and heedless of thy self;

To trouble my still Seat, and Heaps of precious Pelf. [a negative word for wealth]

 

God of the World and Worldlings I me call,

Great Mammon, greatest God below the Sky,

That of my Plenty pour out unto all,

And unto none my Graces do envy:

Riches, Renown, and Principality,

Honour, Estate, and all this Worldes Good,

For which Men stink [labor] and sweat incessantly,

Fro me do flow into an ample Flood,

And in the hollow Earth have their eternal Brood. [Wealth comes from the earth]

Here comes the temptation: If you bow down and serve me, I’ll give you all this world:

 

Wherefore if me thou deign to serve and sew,

At thy Command lo all these Mountains be;

Or if to thy great Mind, or greedy View,

All these may not suffice, there shalt to thee

Ten times so much be numbred frank and free.

Mammon, said he, thy Godhead’s Vaunt is vain,

And idle Offers of thy golden Eee;

To them that covet such eye-glutting Gain,

Proffer thy Gifts, and fitter Servants entertain.

 

Guyon rejects the temptation, because mere money is not befitting a knight who seeks honor:

 

 

Me ill befits, that in der-doing Arms, [brave acts]

And Honour’s Suit my vowed Days do spend,

Unto thy bounteous Baits, and pleasing Charms,

With which weak Men thou witchest, to attend:

Regard of worldly Muck doth foully blend

And low abase the high heroick Spright,

That joys for Crowns and Kingdoms to contend;

Fair Shields, gay Steeds, bright Arms be my Delight:

Those be the Riches fit for an advent’rous Knight.

 

And here the tempter responds: Ah, I can give you what you want (you’re mistaken):

 

Vain-glorious Elfe, said he, dost not thou weet, [don’t you understand]

That Money can thy Wants at will supply?

Shields, Steeds, and Arms, and all things for thee meet

It can purvey in twinkling of an eye;

And Crowns and Kingdoms to thee multiply.

Do not I Kings create, and throw the Crown

Sometimes to him that low in Dust doth lie?

And him that reign’d, into his room thrust down,

And whom I lust, do heap with Glory and Renown?

 

Satan Baits His Hook

19 Tuesday Jan 2016

Posted by memoirandremains in Anne Bradstreet, Thomas Boston, Thomas Brooks, Thomas Manton, Uncategorized

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Anne Bradstreet, Hook, Satan, temptation, Thomas Boston, Thomas Brooks, Thomas Manton

The Puritans seemed fond of this image:

 

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The skillful fisher hath his several baits for several fish,

but there is a hook under all;

Satan, that great angler,

hath his sundry baits for sundry tempers of men

which they all catch greedily at

But few perceive the hook till it be too late.

Anne Bradstreet, Meditation 23.

Thomas Brooks wrote, of Satan’s Devices:

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. 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!2

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.

Thomas Manton, Sermon 1, The Temptation of Christ:

He persuadeth us to evil by profit, pleasure, necessity; we cannot live without it in the world. He hideth the hook, and showeth the bait only; he concealeth the hell, the horror, the eternal pains that follow sin, and only telleth you how beneficial, profitable, and delightful the sin will be to you: Prov. 9:17, 18, ‘Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell.’

Thomas Manton, The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, vol. 1 (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1870), 266.

Thomas Boston, Sermons on the Lord’s Prayer, 6th Petition:

The bait wherewith the hook of temptation is busked. This is always some seeming good, if it were but the satisfying of a lust or a humour. In drawing or alluring temptations, the bait it some seeming good to be got. Thus was the present world to Demas, and the thirty pieces of silver to Judas. In driving temptations, the bait is some seeming good to be kept, by preventing evil, as those spoke of, Matth. 13:21 who, ‘when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by are offended.’ And it is no small advantage in temptation, to see through the bait, that it is but a bait to deceive. For so one will perceive, that it will not quit the cost, that by the bargain they will never better their condition, Matth. 16:26. ‘For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?’

Thomas Boston, The Whole Works of Thomas Boston: An Illustration of the Doctrines of the Christian Religion, Part 2, ed. Samuel M‘Millan, vol. 2 (Aberdeen: George and Robert King, 1848), 627–630.

Mortification of Sin, Study Guide Chapter 11b (John Owen)

01 Saturday Aug 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, John Owen, Mortification, Sanctification

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John Owen, Mortification, Sanctification, Study Guide, temptation, Temptation of Jesus, the mortification of sin, Thomas Brooks

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You can find the previous study guide here:

The SIXTH direction is,—

Consider what occasions, what advantages thy distemper hath taken to exert and put forth itself, and watch against them all.

Quite simply: look for the things that tempt you and avoid them.

As Jesus admonished Peter in the Garden: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Mark 14:38 (ESV)

Owen interestingly ties this command to two eschatological passages. First in Mark:

32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

Mark 13:32–37 (ESV)

Secondly in Luke

34 “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” 37 And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. 38 And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him. Luke 21:34–38 (ESV)

Jesus in Mark 13 & Luke 21 is specifically concerned with the Second Coming, we must be careful to watch for the Second Coming. Owen is specifically concerning with watching our hearts to avoid temptation. These seem to be two separate topics: How does watching my heart to avoid temptation relate to watching for the Second Coming of Christ?

Read 1 Peter 1:13-17. How does Peter’s command to “set your hope fully” relate to Jesus’ command to “watch”?

What is the connection between preparing your heart and life for Jesus’ return and avoiding sin this afternoon?

Illustration: Whenever you teach an idea always follow up with a picture; give an illustration. Illustrations help the hearer (1) apprehend the idea and (2) remember the idea.

Here Owen gives the illustration of diet and health. Some types of food may not sit well with our stomach. We note those foods and avoid them. Certain plants or animals may cause an allergic reaction — we will remain the things which hurt us and avoid them.

What sorts of foods, animals, plants or circumstances do you avoid because those circumstances make your body hurt? Have you ever made such an observation about your temptation and sin? Why are you more careful about avoiding a stomach ache than sin? What does this tell you about how seriously you consider sin?

Biblical Illustrations: Continue reading →

Sail With the Wind

26 Tuesday May 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in Thomas Brooks

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Precious Remedies, temptation, Thomas Brooks

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

Thomas Brooks

Anne Bradstreet, Meditations: One Traitor Within

19 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Anne Bradstreet

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Anne Bradstreet, Meditations, Puritan, Sin, temptation

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The town which thousands of enemies without

have not been able to take,

hath been delivered up by one traitor within;

and that man,

which all the temptations without could not hurt,

hath been foiled by one sin.

Photo of Loarre Castle by SantiMB (flickr)

ODE ON THE DEATH OF A FAVOURITE CAT DROWNED IN A TUB OF GOLDFISHES

13 Saturday Sep 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Literature

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Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat, poem, Poetry, temptation, Thomas Gray

By Thomas Gray

’Twas on a lofty vase’s side,
Where China’s gayest art had dyed
The azure flowers that blow;
Demurest of the tabby kind,
The pensive Selima, reclined,
Gazed on the lake below.

Her conscious tail her joy declared;
The fair round face, the snowy beard,
The velvet of her paws,
Her coat, that with the tortoise vies,
Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes,
She saw; and purred applause.

Still had she gazed; but ’midst the tide
Two angel forms were seen to glide,
The genii of the stream;
Their scaly armour’s Tyrian hue
Through richest purple to the view
Betrayed a golden gleam.

The hapless nymph with wonder saw;
A whisker first and then a claw,
With many an ardent wish,
She stretched in vain to reach the prize.
What female heart can gold despise?
What cat’s averse to fish?

Presumptuous maid! with looks intent
Again she stretch’d, again she bent,
Nor knew the gulf between.
(Malignant Fate sat by, and smiled)
The slippery verge her feet beguiled,
She tumbled headlong in.
Eight times emerging from the flood
She mewed to every watery god,
Some speedy aid to send.
No dolphin came, no Nereid stirred;
Nor cruel Tom, nor Susan heard;
A Favourite has no friend!

From hence, ye beauties, undeceived,
Know, one false step is ne’er retrieved,
And be with caution bold.
Not all that tempts your wandering eyes
And heedless hearts, is lawful prize;
Nor all that glisters, gold.

If tempted … remember

26 Saturday Oct 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Matthew, Providence, temptation, Thomas Manton

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God, providence, Satan, temptation, The Temptation of Christ, Thomas Manton

That temptations come not by chance, not out of the earth, nor merely from the devil; but God ordereth them for his own glory and our good. Satan was fain to beg leave to tempt Job: Job 1:12, ‘And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power, only upon himself put not forth thine hand;’ there is a concession with a limitation. Till God exposeth us to trials, the devil cannot trouble us, nor touch us. . . . This cruel spirit is held in the chains of an irresistible providence, that he cannot molest any creature of God without his permission; which is a great satisfaction to the faithful: all things which concern our trial are determined and ordered by God. If we be free, let us bless God for it, and pray that he would not ‘lead us into temptation:’ if tempted, when we are in Satan’s hands, remember Satan is in God’s hand.

Thomas Manton, “The Temptation of Christ”, sermon 1 (Collected Works, vol. 1, p. 259)

Take Care, Brothers and Sisters

18 Friday Oct 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Ezekiel, Hebrews, Preaching, temptation, Watching

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Biblical Counseling, Counseling, covetousness, deceit, Deceitfulness of Riches, Ecclesiastes, Encouragement, Exhortation, Ezekiel, Ezekiel 33, Preaching, temptation, Vanity

The counselor and pastor would do well to consider Ezekiel 33:30-33:

30 “As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.’31 And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain.32 And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it.33 When this comes-and come it will!-then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

In verse 33, The Lord explains why the people can hear and even show some approval for the Word of God, and yet they will not receive it in a heart transforming way: “for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain.” They demonstrate a universal covetousness: either seeking people (lust) or stuff (gain).

The NIV 84 translates it “With their mouths they express devotion, but their heart are greedy for unjust gain.” If one takes it this way, then the covetousness in view is money, not money and sex. In either understanding, it is covetousness which excludes the words of God.

The Lord himself explains the same trouble in the parable of the sower:

18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word,19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

Mark 4:18-19. They hear, there is some apparent growth, but soon it dies: the weeds have grown up about it and have choked the shoot.

What can a counselor, a teacher, a preacher do in such a situation? We are not the Holy Spirit — we cannot regenerate a heart; we cannot make the seed grow. We cannot force the heart of others to reject the deceitfulness of false desire.

But we can warn the people. We can tell them to beware “the deceitfulness of riches.” We can warn of the vanity of the creature (Ecclesiastes 1:2). We can tell them that these temptations will show beauty, but must “not desire her beauty in your heart” (Prov. 6:25). We must warn them that transgression will seek to speak “deep in [your] heart” (Psalm 36:7); yet, they must not listen.

We can seek a congregational culture in which we all confess our sins one-to-another (James 5:16). We can explain that all of us are in danger as long as we are in gunshot of temptation, and thus we must not neglect to gather together and stir up one another to love and good works, encouraging one another (Hebrews 10:24-25), always keeping a careful eye upon the fickleness of our heart and another on the beauty of Christ:

12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

Hebrews 3:12-15.

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