John Owen. When John Wilson, pastor of the Congregational Church in Boston left to fetch his wife from England, the church asked Williams to be their pastor. Much to their surprise he declined, saying that they were too closely tied to the Church of England, which allowed in its membership drunkards and whores. Williams was then approached by the Congregational Church at Salem, but he declined for the same reason. Then William Bradford and the Plymouth Colony of Pilgrims, separatists in their own right, asked Williams to be their pastor and he again declined saying that he would not fellowship with them. That is because some of their members, when returning to England, worshipped with Anglicans. Later, due to divisiveness, Governor Winthrop and the magistrates of the Massachusetts Bay Colony banished Williams to Narragansett, later called Rhode Island.1
The second way we tend to fight personal sin is through emotionalism. Anne Hutchinson and her husband came to the Bay in 1634 to follow John Cotton, the great Puritan preacher who had migrated there from England. Hutchinson was a very capable theologian and bible teacher and held a weekly study for women. First she led a discussion on Cotton’s previous Lord’s Day sermon, but then she would launch into her peculiar doctrines. One of these beliefs was her view on the sealing of the Holy Spirit. She believed this was subsequent to regeneration, something that many Puritans of the day taught. However she took this view much farther. She said that when the sealing with the Spirit came, one no longer needed biblical revelation as a guide, one was then able to receive direct revelation from God. Later when she was tried by Winthrop and the magistrates, she said that God told her they would be cursed for prosecuting her, that He would bring destruction on them for the Lord had spoken. She too was banished to Rhode Island.
We overcome sin in this fallen world, not by focusing on it, but by dwelling on our hope, riches, and power in Jesus. Perhaps your tendency is separatism, believing that perfection or near perfection can be reached in this life by withdrawing from the public forum. The Pharisees taught separatism, as did the Pilgrims and modern day fundamentalists. I am not saying that we should allow ourselves or our children to be exposed to any and all evil. Obviously we need to guard our hearts and minds against filth. But I am saying separatism eventually leads to pride, self-righteousness, and lack of love. When the leaders in Massachusetts Bay were approached by the Colony of Virginia for shot and gun powder to repel Indian attacks, the Colony refused, saying that Virginia was not holy enough to warrant their help. We see this today when Christians refuse to help HIV-positive homosexual men, saying that they are not worthy of their aid. You know you are given over to separatism when you think you alone, or your church or denomination alone have a corner on the truth, that all others are wrong, that God cannot be blessing them.
Or perhaps your tendency is emotionalism. The French Prophets of the eighteenth century were given to dreams, visions, and ecstatic speech. Preachers like Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and Gilbert Tennent took them to task. Essentially those embracing emotionalism look to experience prior to or in the place of God’s revealed will in His word. Charismatics who deny or downplay the significance of God’s word in favor of an emotional encounter with God are looking to their own experience to help them fight sin. You are falling into this error when you find worship stale, when you say the preaching of God’s word is not enough for you, when you think you need an extra-biblical experience.
We overcome personal sin by realizing the depth of our riches in Christ. By “the hope of His calling” Paul is referring to the certainty of all God promises because He cannot lie. He has called us effectually. He calls all people to love and obey Him; but only the believer, drawn by the Holy Spirit, obeys and submits to Him. A progression is intended here by Paul. This hope or certainty of our effectual calling makes itself known “in the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” So much could be said here, but I urge you to study carefully Romans 8, 2 Corinthians 5, and Revelation 21. The reality of a new heaven and a new earth, redemption, election, adoption, and glorification are all ours in Jesus Christ. And this inheritance will come to us by the “overpowering greatness of His power toward all who believe in Him.” The Holy Spirit who created all things out of nothing, the promised and delivered Holy Spirit on Pentecost, the One who raised Jesus from the dead, is the same Holy Spirit who indwells you.
Dear Christian, you are rich beyond measure. Focus on what you have in Jesus, not the sin that so easily entangles you. If you have ten million dollars and someone wants you to invest in a get-rich-quick scheme, you will not be tempted to go for it. Why? Because you are already rich. You don’t need the money. Likewise, when you understand all you have in Jesus, then you do not wish to go after worldly temptations. So put away your fear and your tendency to separate from others. Put away your desire to have something more than what God has prescribed in His word. Dwell on who you are, and on what God has given you. When you do, then separatism and emotionalism will become redundant and superfluous.
1. Gaustad, Libery of Conscience: Roger Williams in America, 44ff.
Prepare
Behold, I am about to remove you from the face of the earth.This year you are going to die.
Jeremiah 28:16
The newly elected and installed president of Princeton College, Jonathan Edwards, took over for his son-in-law Aaron Burr Sr. after Burr’s death. Edwards died a few months later in March 1758 from complications of a small pox inoculation. Shortly after Edwards’ death Samuel Davies, a Presbyterian evangelist from Hanover County, Virginia, became president of Princeton. Davies preached a sermon January 1, 1761 to the students of Princeton from Jeremiah 28:15–17, the account of Hananiah the false prophet whom Jeremiah said would die that very year. Davies was giving a sober warning to the students of Princeton, exhorting them to be prepared to meet their God. Davies himself died unexpectedly a few months after this sermon, preaching as one historian wrote, his own funeral.2
As you begin a new year or celebrate your birthday, perhaps you should ask yourself this question—are you prepared to meet your God? There really is no more important question than this one. When one closes his eyes in death and sees for the first time either the glories of heaven or the horrors of hell, nothing in his life, neither his accomplishments nor disappointments will matter. Are you prepared to meet God?
I urge you to prepare yourself on three levels—economically, relationally, and eternally. By economically I have in mind the exhortation of Proverbs 6:6ff, where we are urged to consider the planning of the ant. We are to put away lethargy and laziness and to pursue diligence. Work, tithe, save, procure adequate insurance for your family, invest, and make sure you have a will. By relationally I mean leave nothing unsaid or undone with anyone. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:23–24 that if we are presenting our offering before the altar and remember that someone has something against us, then we are to leave our offering, go and be reconciled (the Greek word has the idea of renewing again one’s friendship) to our brother, and then come and present our offering. Paul in Ephesians 4:26 gives a series of practical exhortations, among other things saying that we are to let no unwholesome words proceed from our mouths, that we are to be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ has forgiven us. We are to be angry and not sin, not allowing the sun to go down on our anger. Are there any people in your life from whom you are now estranged? You don’t want these people leaving this world with things unsaid or undone between you. The guilt you experience will be painful. Are their people in your life with whom this year you ought to resurrect a relationship? My friend Henry Krabbendam of Covenant College has said that love always moves toward the person. Are you doing so?
But by far the most important area in which you are to be prepared to meet God is the eternal one. Surely there are some who are reading this book who will not be on the earth this time next year. It may be you, it may be me. Are you prepared to meet God? Asahel Nettleton, the great nineteenth century Presbyterian evangelist, said that we ought to spend a few moments every day contemplating the glories of heaven and the horrors of hell.3 Consider, for a moment, the horrors of hell. Jesus