The Spiritual Duty of Mortifying Sin | Sermon 08/04/2024

The Revival and Moral Decline of Frontier Kentucky

If you know anything about the 1700s, Christianity had a period of dramatic highs and lows, with both periods of incredible revival, and times of wild spiritual disinterest. They both coexisted within the same hundred-year span.

Kentucky, which was at that time considered the western edge of civilization, was a frontier state and it dramatically exploded in population in the late 1700s. In fact, it went from only 179 people in the year 1779 to 250 ,000 people in 1800.

Now for the 1700s, with only a couple million people living in America, that is an absolutely tremendous amount of growth. And as we Christians tend to do, there were a number of believers who moved out to Kentucky, specifically with the hope and aim of reaching these frontier folk with the gospel.

Though to be honest, Christianity greatly struggled as this explosion of population was happening. By 1800, Kentucky was marked as a haven of particular ungodliness. It was the place where lawlessness was the rule, and you could expect to walk down the streets and find very few people caring about Christianity or righteousness at all.

Speaking specifically about the state of things in the 1780s to 1790s, a Presbyterian of that time wrote about those who were ministering in Kentucky. Here's what he said. Had they all been men of marked ability, devoted piety, and unblemished reputation, the influence they might have exerted in molding the character and institutions of the growing West would have been incalculable.

Unhappily, the majority of men were so far from being patterns of flaming zeal and apostolic devotion, a dull formality seems to have been their general characteristic. So the few believers present in the frontier were characterized by impiety, blemished reputations, and a dull formality.

In other words, they practiced the forms and patterns of Christianity.

They would go to church.

They would hear sermons. They would partake in the Lord's Supper. But they lacked something. They lacked the character of the Christian faith. They lacked the zeal which was true of those who had been born again.

They called themselves Christians, but they seemed by and large to have none of the power of Christianity. In the year 1800, exactly on the dot, however, this all changed in God's good pleasure. Presbyterian, a different Presbyterian minister, James Magritte, wrote this about that time.

The year 1800 exceeds all that our eyes ever beheld on earth. All the blessed displays of almighty power and grace, and the soul-reviving showers of the blessings of heaven have produced overflowing floods of salvation, which the eternal, gracious Jehovah has poured out like a mighty river upon this, our guilty, unworthy country.

Dramatic, unexpected revival swept through Kentucky. The spirit of the living God convicted sinners and sanctified believers on a widespread scale, the prior dull formality having been swallowed up by true, zealous piety.

Here's what one Christian wrote about this revival. He said this is what it produced in the believers who were living in Kentucky. A deep, heart-humbling sense of the great unreasonableness, abominable nature, and deadly consequences of sin, and the absolute unworthiness in the sinful creature of the smallest crumb of mercy from the hand of a holy God.

A considerable number of individuals appear to me to be greatly reformed in their morals. The songs of the drunkard are exchanged for the songs of Zion. Fervent prayer succeeds in the room where once there were profane oaths and curses, and the lying tongue has learned to speak truth in fear of God.

They're sensible of the necessity of sanctification as well as justification, and that without holiness no man can see the Lord. To be greatly desirous that they themselves and all that name the name of Christ should depart from iniquity, should recommend the religion of Jesus to the consciences and esteem of their fellow man, that they, seeing their good works, may give glory to God.

I know that's a lot of quotes from the 1700s and the year 1800, but I think it is incredibly relevant because to me, when I read this, the parallels between Kentucky and Utah were too incredible for me to ignore.

Kentucky being a frontier state where bajillions of people were moving to to start a new life, where Christianity seemed dead and seemed to have no power over the people living there. And yet God in His good pleasure saw fit to do a work, an incredible work, and a work that was marked by the righteous living of the saints.

Such is always the nature of God's work. When the Spirit of God moves, holiness abounds. Whether that work be in the frontier land of Kentucky, the frontier land of Utah, or in the valleys of our own hearts, we, His people, live differently when the Holy Spirit moves in us.

Church, we live in an age and an era of rampant antinomianism. That is, lawlessness, a rejection of moral standards. And we know that. That's obvious to us. But I think what is far more pervasive and more deadly amongst Christians is a profound.

Moral apathy.

We just don't really care about the presence of sin. We have a sluggishness in our heart and an indifference to the fact that sin dwells within.

Us.

My aim this morning is very simple. I want to convince you of this. Christians are a holy people, a righteous people. Righteous because we've been forgiven and cleansed, yes, but also because we have been indwelt by the Spirit of the Almighty God, having been born again.

And now we are created in Christ Jesus for good works. My point is simple. Because you have been raised in Christ Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, kill indwelling.

Sin.

Colossians 3:1-8 and the Three Commands for the Christian

I'm going to read through our text, Colossians 3, 1 through 8, pray, and then we'll walk through it verse by verse. This is the word of the Lord. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked when you were living in them.

But now you must put them all away, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Let's pray. Our great and holy God, Father, we off the bat confess to you that we are sinful. Even as redeemed peoples, we are sinful, and sin weighs mightily upon our hearts.

Father, by your word would you convict us this morning and cause us to see the vileness of the sin in our hearts, the heinousness of our deeds. And by the power of your Spirit, Lord, help us to kill sin which dwells in our bodies.

Father, I am all too aware this morning of my own inadequacy to preach this. I am sinful, Lord. You know my sins and the depth of my heart. Lord, please cause me to preach on the authority of your word.

And Lord, help me myself to hear what I am preaching. Lord, help us to be a holy, righteous people for your glory and for your sake. Thank you for your word which speaks with clarity and precision and is able to cut us.

Lord, cut us this morning by your word. Lord, we look to you as the author and perfecter of our faith and salvation. Lord, aid us this morning as we consider what you have revealed. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.

Seeking the Things That Are Above

Start with verse 1. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. If you were to look at these eight verses, they are split up into three main commands, three imperatives for the Christian.

In this verse, seek the things that are above. In verse 2, set your minds on things that are above. And in verse 5, put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you. You notice a bit of a motif with those three commands there?

Seek heavenly things. Set your mind on heavenly things. Put to death earthly things. Paul exhorts the Colossian Christians here, don't live like you're earthly, because you're.

Not.

Live as though you belong to heaven, because you do. He starts, if then you have been raised with Christ. And in this statement, we find the very aim and hope of Christianity. Raised with Christ. Resurrection with Christ.

Back in chapter 2, verse 12, Paul had explained how it is that we can be raised with Christ. He said there, you were also raised with him through faith, through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him. So two things, he says there. You were raised through faith, you were made alive together with him, and so as Jesus rose bodily, so too, one day, will you rise from the dead at his return.

But Paul makes reference to another kind of resurrection. Another kind of new life beyond what we await bodily. Though we were once dead, now we have been made alive. Where once there was a heart of stone, we now have a heart of flesh.

Our resurrection occurs in really two stages. The first stage happens at the new birth, at conversion. The second happens bodily, at the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what happens inwardly is designed to foretell and point forward to the final resurrection that we will enjoy.

And now, because you have been raised spiritually with Christ, sealed now by the Holy Spirit, you are citizens of heaven, members of the kingdom of God. Paul wrote in Colossians 1, he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.

So just by way of summary, the Christian who is raised with Christ has these things true.

Of him.

First, he has been united to Christ through faith. Second, he is awaiting future resurrection. Third, he has been made alive with Christ in his spirit. And fourth, he is thusly made a citizen of heaven.

A citizen of heaven. So if then you have been raised with Christ, the command, seek the things that are above where Christ is. Church, if you are a Christian this morning, sitting here, here is the command of the Lord.

To you.

Seek the things that are above where Christ is. Pursue them, long for them, desire them for heavenly things. And what are heavenly things? Things that characterize the Lord and his dwelling place. Righteousness, justice, goodness, mercy, love, the fruit of the Spirit.

You could probably fill in the blanks with any of those attributes that you likely have in your mind. And by way of implication, the other side of this coin is, if you seek after heavenly things, you cannot continue to seek after worldly things.

Let me say that again. If we are to seek heavenly things, we cannot continue to seek earthly things. Many worldly things are very obvious to us. The overt vices and sins of mankind. Selfishness, idolatry, lust, deceit.

Certainly we ought not seek after and long for those things. But I think worldly things encompasses a much broader category than overt sins. I want you to consider this. There are a great number of insidious desires that can be considered earthly.

Examine yourself and consider this question this morning. What do you practically seek after? Every day when you wake up, what do you long for? What do you want? What is your heart set on? There are likely a number of different things, but perhaps great success at work, even just.

That day.

Maybe just a moment alone, away from the kids. Maybe ease, comfort, health, fame, wealth, pleasure, recreation, you could fill this in with a whole bunch of things. Such things are not inherently evil.

Many of these things are great gifts from God. Enjoyment, the ability to enjoy life, that is a gift from God. And yet they are by definition, I think, of an inherently earthly nature. They are not properly heaven-bound desires.

With these earthly blessings comes, I think, a great danger for us. Because we live in an age of unrestrained excess and abuse. I don't think I need to convince you of that, I think you probably believe.

We are in an age of ridiculous excesses. Many gifts that are not inherently sinful have become curses in our age, consuming the souls of men. In John Bunyan's very famous work, The Pilgrim's Progress, there is a scene, this whole book is an allegory of the Christian life.

And there's a scene where Christian, who's the main character, has to trek up a hill that is called Difficulty. And it's a hill that all pilgrims must make. At the end of this very long, arduous path lies the celestial city, eternity, glory unending.

The good king has laid a path for his pilgrims. And though wrought with difficulties, he helps them. In the book, as Christian marches up the hill, he comes to a place called the Pleasant Arbor. It's a resting place on the path.

It's a gift, actually, given by the king to rest from the weariness of the hike up this.

Great hill.

And it immensely appeals to Christian. In the book, he's so enamored by it, he stops and he stays there for a bit and he rests and he enjoys the king's gift, yet he becomes so relaxed and so indulgent in the Pleasant Arbor, he foolishly falls asleep.

And a pro tip, if you're reading an allegory and something like that happens, it's probably.

Important.

He falls asleep. Christian in the book forgot that this was a mere resting place on the journey to true rest and true satisfaction. It was a thing to enjoy, but not a thing to be longed for. And it became for him a deadly snare with consequences.

Brothers and sisters, we are given immense earthly comforts. We are Americans. We have comforts aplenty. We have pleasures more than we could possibly enjoy given numerous lifetimes. We are the recipients of tremendous kindness and grace from God, even just in a material.

Sense.

But church, such things are inherently temporary. They are not the things we were built to long for. For many in our world, the enemy has used earthly delights to neuter them. It's one of his most effective tools.

It's effective even amongst Christians for this reason. Our eyes are far too quick to lose sight of where we're going. They're far too quick to lose sight of the future celestial city which we are bound for.

They lose sight of who God is, and they look down. We see earthly things. We see earthly comforts and earthly delights. And we fixate on them. Oh, it's so pleasant here. Don't you feel the breeze? And the stream?

It's so cool. Tastes nice. I'm thirsty.

I'm thirsty.

Why do I need to continue up the hill when I have everything that I want right here? This has met all of my desires and all of my needs. In this great war against our flesh, we far too often cripple our defenses against sin by desiring worldliness.

Desiring worldliness.

What do we want?

We want entertainment. We want pleasure. We want enjoyment. We want to watch our movies. We want to play our games. We want a good following on social media.

We want fame.

We want recognition.

We want money. We want comfort. We want ease.

Saints, you were not raised from the dead for those things. You were not resurrected for the sake of comfort. You were not resurrected for the sake of temporary fleeting pleasure. You were resurrected for something far greater.

Why should we be satisfied with a shady spot on the side of the road when we are going to the place where the king dwells? We've forgotten the beauty of God far too often. We've forgotten that we are not citizens here.

We're visitors.

We're sojourners in a foreign land. It is that glory to which we belong, and it is that glory that Paul says we must seek. Brothers and sisters, why do you think this world can give you what Christ could not?

If this world can satisfy you, even for but a moment, how much more is Christ able to fulfill the longings that you have? Jesus is better than the world. Heaven is better than the world. To seek after earthly things is to believe a lie, the lie being that you were made for earthly delights.

You were not, and those things will never satisfy you. So Christian, if you have become drowsy this morning in the pleasant arbor, giving your life in the pursuit of worldly delights, then wake up. How long will you lie there, O sluggard?

When will you arise from your sleep? Seek the things that are above, where Christ is. William Hill, who is a student in Virginia, wrote about a very similar event in Virginia that happened in Kentucky that we talked about a little bit earlier.

He described what the spirit wrought in his school after a period of particular revival. He said it was now as rare a thing to find one who was not religious as it had formerly been to find one that was.

The frivolities and amusements once so prevalent were all abandoned and gave place to singing, serious conversation, and prayer meetings. Indeed, such things are the fruit of the work of the Spirit of God.

If God can do such a work there like that, then surely he could do such a work in your.

Own heart.

Lord, turn us from our frivolities and our worldly amusements. The next command is given in verse 2. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. First he said, seek heavenly things, and now we are to set our minds on those things.

Set our minds, meaning think about, dwell on. This is not only an act of our mind, it's actually an act of our will as well. We must determine the things we are to think about and not be consumed, utterly consumed in thought about what is earthly.

Brothers and sisters, if you're fighting against sin, which we all are, and you guard your actions very tightly, but you have no watchman over your mind, you don't keep watch over what you think about, then I tell you, the battle against sin will be swiftly lost.

It's like leaving the back gate open in an all-out assault. If you don't guard your mind, your actions are sure to fall. A man with little discipline over his thinking is inviting the enemy to wreak havoc inside.

The gates.

It's a general rule of human nature that whatever we dwell on, we tend to delight in. When we think about something, we are training our heart to want that thing. So for example, if you think and talk only about movies, let's say you hate movies, and you think and talk about movies all day long, you will eventually end up loving movies.

If you think and talk about the things of God, you will train yourself to love God. It's like setting course on a ship. It's our heading, it's our direction, it's where our heart is headed. Romans 8 says, for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

So then consider this morning, what things do you dwell on? What occupies your thinking that is likely where your heart is? Satan has succeeded in turning many hearts cold. He doesn't need to kill us, he doesn't need overt persecution, he needs only distract our minds to fill us with things that are most hollow.

We are told to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. That means we must commit our minds to things above. When I was contemplating things that people dwell on, one thing that I was particularly aware of is our proclivity to dwell on problems, anxieties, things that we're stressed about.

For the record, we do need to process through how we will react to things. But there is a kind of obsession that our minds can have when we go through difficulties and troubles. An obsessiveness where we can't get out of our minds what's going on.

And anxiety becomes like a feedback loop where we dwell on it and we get more anxious. And our anxiety makes us dwell on it, which makes us more anxious, again and again, down in a spiral. And I think this is quite common.

Paul's command, the Holy Spirit's command, is to set your mind on things that are above. If this morning, very practically, you are in a season where you are prone to dwell on difficulties, then be disciplined to take time to dwell on heavenly things.

In your schedule, take time to devote yourself to prayer, meditation on God's Word. Consider the words of Psalm 1, Blessed is man whose delight is in the law of the Lord. On his law he meditates day and night.

Consider what you think about and learn to discipline your mind to dwell on heavenly.

Things.

Hidden with Christ and the Call to Put Sin to Death

Verses 3 -4 reiterate the grounds of why it is that we as Christians should seek after and set our minds upon things above. He says this, For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Why should you seek after these things? Why should you dwell on these things? Because you're dead.

That's his answer. You've died.

Your life is no longer on earth. Your life is hidden with Christ in the heavenly places. He says in Ephesians that we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. You don't belong to this world anymore, and your destiny is not earthly.

One day you will appear with Christ at his glorious appearing, possessing life everlasting. All that Paul is doing here is drawing out the necessary implications of that truth. How can you be so devoted to earthly things when you're not earthly anymore?

You're inconsistent. You're not living in accordance with truth. Saints, you have died. You've died. Your life is in Christ. So seek and dwell on the things that are where Christ is. With all this in mind, Paul then exhorts the Colossians in verses 5 through 8.

Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you. Notice the therefore, because of this reality, heavenly reality, put to death what is earthly.

In you.

And then he lists here sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked when you were living in them.

But now you must put them all away, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from.

Your mouth.

This is the final command in our set of three. Put your sin to death. Kill it.

That's very violent language.

It's meant to be violent. Destroy what is earthly in you. The theological term used for killing sin is mortification. We are to mortify, to kill our sin. Brothers and sisters, do you mortify your sin every moment of every day?

Do you wake up in the morning with the mindset that today I must kill what is earthly in.

Me?

There will be a battle each day for your very soul. And we must be prepared with marching instructions. Kill what is earthly in you.

Yeah, yeah.

You're saying, I know this. This is obvious. We're Christians. We're designed for righteous things. I'm a Christian now. I think I have a handle on my sin. Perhaps you're saying that. It's under control.

Or perhaps you're saying, listen, I do sin, but I know grace. I know grace. I know forgiveness. If I sin, there will be forgiveness. It's not that big of a deal. It won't affect my salvation. I do need to kill it, but it's not that big of a deal.

No one says that out loud, but maybe they think it. I think it's a common thought. Or maybe I really don't want to think about my sin. I don't want to deal with it. I want it to go away. Maybe if I ignore it, just for long enough it'll disappear, and then I won't have to tell anyone what I've done.

If you think yourself free of sin this morning, you've only been blinded to it. If you think yourself holy enough, you have lost sight of the holiness of God. If you think you can sin without any danger to your soul, you've lost the fear of the Lord.

If you're exposing the secret depths of sin in your life, then sin has made you out to be its ally, and it will conquer your soul. John Owen famously said, Be killing sin, or it will be killing you. And I think that is certainly true.

Permit me a moment to rail against the heinousness of sin and the deadliness of sin. Sin is a monster. It is a monster with insatiable hunger. Sin begets sin. Hebrews warns us that we can become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Too many of us live like sin has no consequences. Like we get away from it. Like we get off free. No one found out. I'm okay. I'm forgiven. It doesn't affect me. Church, please take this point to heart.

You will never, ever, in your life, get away with sinning without it affecting you. You will not sin and walk away unscathed. It is like fire. It will burn you. And if you think it will not, then you are a fool as to the dangers that surround your soul even this very moment.

Sin hardens the heart. It darkens the soul and our desires. It twists us. It twists our thinking. It has these effects on us even as Christians. Sin can easily make our hearts indifferent to its presence and in time can even turn us into willing co-conspirators.

It's dangerous. I was thinking about this. My mind went to the ring in Lord of the Rings. And I know it's cliche, but you know, you've got to throw a Lord of the Rings somewhere.

In there.

But the ring corrupted people. If they had it even in their possession, it corrupted them. It darkened them. It hurt them. You could not bear it without it causing damage to your soul. So, too, and even more deadly than some fantastic ring, is sin dwelling in your body.

It's dangerous. We cannot ignore it. It cannot be brushed aside. And hear me, it is not just going to go away. It's not like that. Unmortified sin is like weeds in your backyard. If it's there and you pick it, alright, next week, more weeds.

But if you miss one week, and I have experienced this, it takes over the yard. And then it is impossible to get rid of. That is like sin in your soul. If you give it an inch, it will corrupt your heart.

If you feel this morning that you have been in a season of restlessness, joylessness, carnality, feeling dissatisfied, then perhaps consider the possibility. There might be other explanations, but consider the possibility that the weeds of sin have overgrown your soul.

Beyond what sin does to us, it's terrible for our souls. Beyond that, sin is heinous because of what it is. It is heinous because of who God is. I like to say that sin is cosmic treason against God. Let me just go down on this a little bit.

Before there was time and matter, before there was light and darkness, there was the Almighty. Before angels filled the heavens with their songs, there was the Creator. Before the mountains that we see every morning loomed with grandeur, before streams rushed with torrents of water, before the winds blew, before the sun itself shone in all its brilliance, there was the Immortal Majesty on high, enthroned before times eternal, unchanging, immovable, stable, self-existing, incomprehensible, Almighty, and we are told, holy, holy, holy, the Supreme One enthroned in yonder heavens in unimaginable glory, whom no man has ever seen or can see.

There was God before the beginning in infinite holiness, and as an act of pure grace, as an expression of all that He is, the Lord Omnipotent created the heavens and the earth with beauty and goodness as a mirror to reflect who He is.

He said, let there be light as the One who was Himself light. And the very jewel of His creation, the diamond in the ring of everything that He made, us, made of dust and breath. But treasonous creatures were we, high treason, vile, rebellious.

We turned against that immortal, unchanging, thrice holy God, stupidly thinking that we should be God instead. And even beyond that, in mercy that is unfathomable, right after we sinned and turned against Him, what did He promise?

There shall come one, a seed of a woman, who will redeem you. And indeed the Son of God, humbling Himself, dying in our place on the cross, redeemed a people for Himself. You and me and every Christian have been redeemed.

Why in the world would God redeem us? I don't know other than His good pleasure, but He did. He saved you and He saved me. Once we were rebels, we were shown mercy. Once we were objects of wrath, now objects of grace.

We were citizens of a domain of darkness of our own creation. Now we're united in Christ, belonging to a heavenly kingdom. Once we were dead, now we are alive. We don't deserve this. This is grace upon grace upon grace upon grace upon grace.

Look at how much we have. And yet, what do we do still to this day? When you leave here this morning, it will likely happen, we sin. We are still treasonous in parts of our heart. How can we be like this, saints?

We were made for something different. How can we mock and spit upon the wondrous redemption that the Lord has wrought? Will we continue to stand against Him as though we are His enemy? As Paul would say, by no means.

On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these, you too once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away. The Christian man is the man who kills his sin, and he is the only kind of man who can do that.

You need to understand something. Unbelievers cannot kill their own sin. It is a snare to them, a trap to them. The unregenerate who try to live good lives is kind of like a man furnishing his coffin.

You can purchase nice furnishings and try and cram it in there somehow, but you cannot remove the stench of death. Even the most precious furnishings are defiled, impure, eaten by worms and maggots, and such a man is lying dead in the grave six feet under.

Sin has victory over him. But that is not true of the Christian. With us, Christ raised us out of that pit. He took us out of the coffin. He made dead bones come alive. He gave us new life, and then He set us free.

He put us in a mansion, and now we can furnish that mansion with real good works. No more are we trying to make something out of a coffin. No, we can furnish this glorious salvation that we've been given with good works.

Only the Christian can do that, and only by the power of the Spirit of God. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, the same Spirit who dwells in you, will also give life to your mortal body, for the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

When we consider the great task of mortifying our sin, we must understand that it is a cooperative work that we do by the power of the Holy Spirit daily. In other words, mortification can't happen automatically.

We can't just sit around and hope that our sin will just die.

No.

It takes work. It takes planning. It takes effort. And also, it cannot happen apart from the Spirit of God. It's cooperative. Though we know we need to fight our sin, as you know, we're weak. We need constant reminders and encouragements and exhortation.

I preach this as much to myself as to you. It is good for us to be reminded of these things, to hear these things, to be encouraged.

In this fight.

So I want to encourage you this morning in your warfare by giving several tactics, which I think the Bible and implications of the Bible give us to help us in the task of mortifying.

Sin.

Practical Tactics for Mortifying Sin

A few very, very practical things that I think is helpful for us to keep in mind. First, when we consider the task of putting our sin to death, we must know our sin. Brothers and sisters, know your sin.

You need to know the battle plans of the enemy. You need to know their allies and their weaknesses. John Owen wrote this. This is how men deal with their enemies. They search out their plans, ponder their goals, and consider how and by what means they have prevailed over them in the past.

Without this kind of strategic thinking, warfare is very primitive. This is our enemy. This is his ways and his methods.

These are his advantages.

This is the way he has prevailed, and if he will do this, and he will do this if he is not prevented. We must know our own weaknesses. One of my professors in college always said this, and it's stuck in my mind.

He said, it's what you don't know about yourself that will end up slitting your throat. It's the place where you're ignorant about your own frailties. When you realize that you're particularly tempted by lust late at night when you're alone, well, then you can plan for that.

You can prepare for that. You can take steps to ensure the enemy will not get an upper hand. If you know that when your husband gets home from work and the kids have been crazy all day, you're more likely to have outbursts of rage and anger that are unjustified.

You can more readily prepare for that. You can pray against that. You can prepare your heart. We all have sinful weaknesses. We must know our own. Second, you must train your conscience to be sensitive to sin.