In chapter fourteen of Indwelling Sin in Believers, John Owen examined how of the power of Sin can flare-up. In chapter fifteen, he moved on to examine how this power could also be seen in the habitual decline from a state of communion with God. The ways and means by which this decline succeeds in the life of believers are many.
When a person is converted, they usually have many refreshing showers of God’s grace bathing their souls. This is produces in them an elevated amount of faith, love, holiness, fruitfulness and obedience. Like a river with many streams running into it, when there is a heavy rain, it overflows its banks. If these streams are not fed continually by showers, “they must needs decay and go backwards.”
The newly converted has a strong sense of God’s pardoning mercy. They are sensible of great forgiveness as was Paul when he said: “of whom I am the foremost” (1 Timothy 1:15). This subdues their hearts to all in God and quickens them to all obedience—that such a poor and cursed sinner should be delivered and pardoned. “The love of God and of Christ, in their forgiveness, highly conquers and constrains them to make it their business to live for God.”
Secondly, the fresh taste of spiritual things has such a savor and relish in their souls, that worldly pleasures are sapless and disagreeable. Having tasted the wine of the gospel, they desire no other. They have such a savor and relish for the grace of Christ upon their souls, that they cannot think of rejecting it. They then see a new guilt and filth in sin that leads to an abhorrence of its old delights and pleasures.
Now, whilst these and the like springs are kept open in the souls of converted sinners, they constrain them to a vigorous active holiness. They can never do enough for God; so that, oftentimes, their zeal, as saints, suffers them not to escape without some blots on their prudence, as men; as might be instanced in many of the martyrs of old.
Indwelling sin attempts to stop or taint these springs. It grooms the individual for decline and decay in grace and obedience by works of sloth and negligence. It prevails the individual to neglect the things that influenced it to strict and fruitful obedience. If diligence and watchfulness are not used, the means appointed by God to keep a quick and living sense of this grace will dry up and decay. And the obedience that springs from this grace will also dry up. Prevailed upon by spiritual sloth, a decay grows insensibly upon the whole soul because of indwelling sin. Thus, God often complained that his people had forgotten him—that they had grown unmindful of his love and grace.
When people begin to become weary of the things of God, those things by which we have communion with him, they deceive themselves by becoming a hearer of the word and not a doer. They look intently at themselves in the mirror of the word, but go away and immediately forget what they were like (James 1:23-24). Owen said it does not make an impression on them; it begets no image of their likeness. They become content with slight and rare thoughts of the things of God. They talk of spiritual things, and perform their religious duties, yet they have poor, starving souls as to any real communion with God.
By the power and subtlety of indwelling sin, they have grown formal, and learned to deal about spiritual things in a careless manner, whereby they have lost all their life, vigour, savour and efficacy towards them. Be always serious in spiritual things, if ever you intent to be bettered by them.
Oftentimes, indwelling sin will stop the springs of gospel obedience by false and foolish opinions, by corrupting the simplicity of the gospel. “False opinions are the works of the flesh.” They proceed from the vanity and darkness in the minds of men, with a mixture of corrupt affections. The apostle Paul was afraid the Corinthians would be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ (1 Corinthians 11:3) by a decay in faith, love and obedience.
Owen said this is often what happens. He has seen some, who after receiving a sweet taste of the love of God in Christ, and having walked humbly with God for many years, being deceived by false and foolish opinions. They despised their own experiences and rejected all the efficacy of truth. There were innumerable instances then (and now). They put an unspeakable value on the pardon of sin in the blood of Christ and delighted in the gospel discoveries of spiritual things, and walked in obedience on account of them. But they were beguiled and turned aside from the truth in Jesus, to despise the springs of their former obedience.
And this is one way whereby indwelling sin produces this pernicious effect, of drawing men off from the power, purity, and fruitfulness attending their first conversion, and engagements to God, bringing them into habitual declension, at least as to degrees, of their holiness and grace. There is not a thing we ought to be more watchful against, if we intend effectually to deal with this powerful and subtle enemy.
Indwelling sin does this by catching people by surprise in their watch against the return of Satan, who left off from tempting Jesus only until there was a more opportune time (Luke 4:13). It is like this with believers as well. If the person does not stand continually on guard against him, Satan will quickly gain advantage, and disrupt their fruitfulness and obedience. He accomplishes this by having carnal lusts prevail over their convictions, making their soul fit to entertain returning devils.
Satan is a diligent, watchful and crafty adversary. He will not neglect any opportunity or advantage that is offered to him. Where ever our spiritual strength is impaired by sin, or where our lusts press us, Satan aligns with the weakness and presses towards its ruin. “All the actings of the law of sin are subservient to this end of Satan.”
Indwelling sin entangles the soul in the things of the world. And when he discovers that has happened to a person he has been cast out of, he is encouraged to pursue after them. He seeks by his temptations, to impel them by their own lusts. “And oftentimes by this advantage he gets so in upon the souls of men, that they are never free of him more wilst they live.”
“Believers come forth from the spring of new birth with some purity and cleanness.” Yet sometimes they associate with others whose profession may run towards heaven even as their does, but they are muddied with sin and the world. These are often corrupted and so decline from their first purity, faith and holiness. In other words, “in the body of believers, there is a great number of hypocrites.” We cannot say for certain who is or isn’t one, but know for certain there are some. So, take heed how you give yourself up in conformity to the professors you meet with.
Owen continues on with his reflections on how many professors are also sick and wounded. He said sin works by cherishing some secret particular lust. Where indwelling sin has provoked and given strength to a special lust, it proves to be a principal means of a general decline. Just as an infirmity and weakness in any vital part will make the whole body ill, so will the weakness caused by a perplexing lust do to the soul. “It every way weakens spiritual strength.”
It is so with men brought into spiritual decays by any secret perplexing corruptions. It may be they have had a vigorous principle of obedience and holiness; indwelling sin watching its opportunities, by some temptation or other, has kindled and inflamed some particular lust in them. For a while it may be they take notice of it, sometime they complain, but think they will do as in former times, until being insensibly weakened in their spiritual strength, they have work enough to do in keeping alive what remains and is ready to die.
A great sin will certainly give a great turn to the life of a believer. However, “if it be well cured in the blood of Christ, with that humiliation which the gospel requires, it often proves a means of more watchfulness, fruitfulness, humility, and contention, than ever the soul before obtained.” Like a broken bone, if it is well set, it leaves the limb stronger than before. But if not, it makes a man a cripple all his days. “These things we do but briefly name, and sundry other advantages of the like nature, that sin makes use of to produce this effect, might also be instanced in; but these may suffice to our present purpose.”
