Take Up the Cross

For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
— Romans 7:14

Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.
— Psalm 142:7

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
— Luke 22:31-32

But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:
— Luke 11:20-21

I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
— Psalm 6:6

The Captivating Power of Indwelling Sin, by John Owen. The following contains Chapter Seven of his work, “The Nature, Power, Deceit, and Prevalency of the Remainders of Indwelling-Sin in Believers. Together with the Ways of its Working, and Means of its Prevention. Opened, Evinced and Applied, with a Resolution of Sundry Cases of Conscience Thereunto Appertaining.”

1667.

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
— Romans 7:24, 25

The captivating power of indwelling sin, what it consists of — The prevalence of sin, from itself, from temptation — The rage and madness that is in sin.

The third thing assigned to this law of sin, in its opposition to God and the law of his grace, is that it leads the soul captive:

Rom 7:23,“I find a law leading me captive to the law of sin.”

The law of sin is captivating. In that verse is the utmost height to which the apostle carries the opposition and warring of the remainders of indwelling sin. He closes its consideration with a complaint about the state and condition of believers by it, and an earnest prayer for deliverance from it: Rom 7.24,“O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?” What this expression contains and intends by it, will be declared in the ensuing observations —

1. It is not directly the power and actings of the law of sin that are expressed here, but its success in and upon its actings. Success is the greatest evidence of power; and leading captive in war is the height of success. None can aim at greater success than to lead their enemies captive; and it is a specific expression in the Scripture of great success. So the Lord Christ, on his victory over Satan, is said to “lead captivity captive,” Eph 4:8; that is, to conquer the one who had conquered and prevailed over others. And he did this when, Heb 2:14,“by death he destroyed the one who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Here then is revealed a great prevalence and power of sin in its warring against the soul. It wars so as to “lead captive;” if it did not have great power, it could not do, especially against that resistance of the soul which is included in this expression.

2. It is said that it leads the soul captive “to the law of sin;” Rom 7.23 — not to this or that sin, not to a particular or actual sin, but to the “law of sin.” God, for the most part, orders things so, and gives out such supplies of grace to believers, that they will not be made prey to this or that particular sin — that it should prevail in them and compel them to serve it in its lusts — that it should have dominion over them — that they should be captives and slaves to it. This is what David prays so earnestly against:

Psa 19:12, 13,“Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; do not let them have dominion over me: then I will be upright.”

He assumes the law of sin continues in him, verse 12, which will produce errors of life and secret sins. He finds relief against these in pardoning and cleansing mercy, which he prays for. “This,” he says,“will be my condition. But as for sins of pride and boldness, as are all sins that get dominion in a man and make him captive, may the Lord restrain your servant from them.” For whatever sin gets such power in a man, whether it is small or great in its own nature, it becomes in that person a sin of boldness, pride, and presumption. For these things are not reckoned from the nature or kind of the sin, but from its prevalence and habit. It is in this that its pride, boldness, and contempt of God consists. If I am not mistaken, Jabez prays to the same purpose:

1Chr 4:10,“Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, so that it may not grieve me!”

This holy man took occasion from his own name to pray against sin, so that it might not be a grief and sorrow to him by its power and prevalence. I confess, sometimes it may come to this with a believer, that for a season he may be led captive by some particular sin; it may have so much prevalence in him as to have power over him. So it seems to have been with David, when he lay so long in his sin without repentance; and this was plainly so in these verses:

Isa 57:17, 18,“For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry, and struck him: I hid myself, and was angry, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him.”

They continued under the power of their covetousness, so that no dealings of God with them, for so long a time, could reclaim them. But, for the most part, when any lust or sin so prevails, it is from the advantage and furtherance it has gotten by some powerful temptation of Satan.

He has poisoned it, inflamed it, and entangled the soul. So the apostle, speaking of those who had fallen away from their holiness, through sin, says,

2Tim 2:26,“They were in the snare of the devil, being taken captive by him at his will.”

Though it was their own lusts that they served, yet they were brought into bondage to it by being entangled in some snare of Satan; and from this they are said to be “taken alive,” like a poor beast in a snare.

And here, by the way, we may inquire a little, whether the prevailing power of a particular sin in anyone is from the sin itself, or from the influence of temptation upon it; concerning this, for the moment I will make only these two observations —

(1.) Much of the prevalence of sin upon the soul is certainly from Satan, when the perplexing and captivating sin has no particular footing or advantage in the nature, constitution, or condition of the sinner. When any lust grows high, and prevails more than others on its own account, it is from the particular advantage that it has in the natural constitution, or in the station or condition in the world that this person has. For otherwise, the law of sin gives an equal propensity to all evil, and an equal vigor to every lust. Therefore, when it cannot be discerned that the captivating sin is particularly fixed in the nature of the sinner, or that it is advantaged from his education or employment in the world, its prevalence is specifically from Satan. He has gotten to the root of that sin, and has given it poison and strength. Indeed, sometimes what may seem to the soul to be the corrupt lusting of the heart, is perhaps nothing but Satan’s imposing his suggestions on the imagination. Then, if a man finds an importunate rage from any corruption that is not evidently seated in his nature, let him (as the Papists say) cross himself — or flee by faith to the cross of Christ — for the devil is near at hand.

(2.) When a lust is prevalent to the point of captivity, where it brings no advantage to the flesh, it is from Satan. All that the law of sin does by itself, is to serve the provision of the flesh, Rom 13:14; it must bring to it something of the profits and pleasures that are its object. Now, if the prevailing sin does not do so in itself — if it is more spiritual and inward — then it is much more from Satan by way of the imagination, than it is from the corruption of the heart itself. But this is incidental.

I say then, that the apostle does not address here our being captivated to this or that sin, but to the law of sin; that is, we are compelled to bear its presence and burden whether we would or not. Sometimes the soul thinks or hopes that through grace, it may be utterly freed from this troublesome inmate. Upon some sweet enjoyment of God, some full supply of grace, some return from wandering, some deep affliction, some thorough humiliation, the poor soul begins to hope that it will now be freed from the law of sin. But after a while, it perceives that it is quite otherwise. Sin acts again, and makes good its old station; and the soul finds that, whether it would or not, it must bear its yoke. This makes it sigh and cry out for deliverance.

3. This leading captive argues for a prevalence against the reluctant or contrary actings of the will. This is intimated plainly in this expression — namely, that the will opposes and makes headway, as it were, against the working of sin. The apostle declares this in these expressions:

Rom 7:19, 20,“For the good that I would do, I do not do; but the evil which I would not do, that I do. Now if I do what I would not do, it is no more I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.”

And this is what the lusting of the Spirit against the flesh consists in;Gal 5:17 that is, in grace contending to expel and subdue sin. The spiritual habits of grace that are in the will, resist and act against sin in this way; and the excitation of those habits by the Spirit, are directed to the same purpose. This leading captive is contrary, I say, to the inclinations and actings of the renewed will. No man is made a captive except against his will. Captivity is misery and trouble, and no man willingly puts himself into trouble. Men choose captivity in its causes, and in the ways and means leading to it, but not in itself. So the prophet informs us in Hos 5:11,“Ephraim was,” not willingly,“oppressed and broken in judgment,” — that was his misery and trouble; but he “willingly walked after the commandment” of the idolatrous kings, which brought him to it. Whatever consent the soul may give to sin then — which is the means of this captivity — it gives no consent to the captivity itself; that is wholly against the will. Hence these things follow —

(1.) That the power of sin is great — which is what we are demonstrating; and this appears in its prevalence to captivity against the actings and contendings of the will for liberty from sin. If it had no opposition to it, or its adversary were weak, negligent, and slothful, then making captives would be no great evidence of its power; but its prevailing against diligence, activity, watchfulness, and the constant reluctance of the will — this evinces its efficacy.

(2.) This leading captive intimates that there are manifold and particular successes. If it did not have any particular success, it could not be said to lead captive at all. It might rebel, it might assail; but without some successes, it cannot be said to lead captive. And there are several degrees of the success of the law of sin in the soul. Sometimes it carries the person to outward actual sin, which is sin’s utmost aim; sometimes it obtains the consent of the will, but it is thrown out by grace, and it proceeds no further; sometimes it wearies and entangles the soul that it turns aside, as it were, and leaves it contending — which is a success also. One or more, or all of these, must exist where there is captivity. The apostle ascribes this kind of course to covetousness, 1Tim 6:9, 10.

(3.) This leading captive manifests that this condition is miserable and wretched. How sad it it to be thus yoked and dealt with: against the judgment of the mind, against the choice and consent of the will, against its utmost strivings and contendings! To be compelled to bear the yoke again, when the neck is still sore and tender from former pressures — this pierces, this grieves, this even breaks the heart. When the soul is principled by grace to loathe sin and every evil way, to hate the least discrepancy between itself and the holy will of God, and then it is imposed on by this law of sin, with all that enmity and folly, that deadness and filth with which it is attended — what could be a more dreadful condition? All captivity is dreadful in its own nature; but its greatest aggravation comes from the sort of tyrant that has captivated a person. Now, what can be a worse tyrant than this law of sin? Hence the apostle, having mentioned this captivity, cries out as one who is quite weary and ready to faint, Rom 7:23, 24.

(4.) This condition is specific to believers. Unregenerate men are not said to be led captive to the law of sin. They may, indeed, be led captive to this or that particular sin or corruption — that is, they may be forced to serve it against the power of their convictions. They are convinced of the evil of it — an adulterer is convinced of his uncleanness, a drunkard of his abomination — and maybe they make some resolutions against it; but their lust is too hard for them; they cannot cease to sin, and so they are made captives or slaves to this or that particular sin. But they cannot be said to be led captive to the law of sin. And that is because they are willingly subject to it. It has, as it were, a rightful dominion over them, and they do not oppose it, except when it has eruptions that disturb their consciences. And then the opposition they make to it is not from their wills, but it is the mere acting of a frightened conscience and a convinced mind. They do not regard the nature of sin, but only its guilt and consequences. But to be brought into captivity is what befalls a man against his will.

This is all that will be spoken about this degree of the actings of the power of sin, manifesting itself in its success.

4. The fourth and last degree of the opposition made by the law of sin to God, and to the law of his will and grace, is in its rage and madness. There is madness in its nature:

Ecc 9:3,“The heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart.”

The evil that the heart of man is full of by nature, is that indwelling sin of which we speak; and this is so much in their heart, that it rises up to madness. The Holy Ghost expresses this rage of sin by a fit similitude, which he uses in various places such as Jer 2:24; Hos 8:9. It makes men like “a wild ass;” “she traverses her ways,” and “sniffs at the wind,” and runs wherever her mind or lust leads her. And he says of idolaters who are enraged with their lusts, that they are “mad with their idols,” Jer 50:38. We may consider a little what lies in this madness and rage of sin, and how it rises up to it —

1. For the nature of it; it seems to consist in a violent, heady, pertinacious pressing toward evil or sin. Violence, importunity, and pertinacity are in it. It is the tearing and torturing of the soul by any sin, to force its consent and to obtain satisfaction. It rises up in the heart, is denied by the law of grace, and then rebuked — it returns and exerts its poison again; the soul is startled, throws it off — it returns again with new violence and importunity; the soul cries out for help and deliverance, looks round about to all springs of gospel grace and relief; it trembles at the furious assaults of sin, and it throws itself into the arms of Christ for deliverance. And if it is not able to take that course, it is foiled and hurried up and down through the mire and filth of foolish imaginations, corrupt and nauseous lusts, which rend and tear it, as if they would devour its whole spiritual life and power. See 1Tim 6:9, 10; 2Pet 2:14.

It was not much different with those whom we instanced before, Isa 57:17. They had an inflamed, enraged lust working in them, even “covetousness,” or the love of this world; by which (as the apostle puts it) men “pierce themselves through with many sorrows.” God is angry with them, and reveals his wrath by all the ways and means that it was possible for them to be made sensible of it. He was “angry, and struck them;” but even though this may have staggered them a little, yet they “went on.” He is angry, and “hides himself” from them — he deserts them as to his gracious, assisting, comforting presence. Does this work the effect? No; they still go on frowardly, like men who are mad on their covetousness. Nothing can put a stop to their raging lusts. This is plain madness and fury. We need not look far for instances. We see men mad upon their lusts every day; and (which is the worst kind of madness) their lusts do not rage so much in them, as they rage in the pursuit of them. Are those greedy pursuits of things in the world — which we see some men engaged in, though they have other pretences for them — anything other than plain madness in the pursuit of their own lusts? God, who searches the hearts of men, knows that most things done in the world with other pretences, are nothing but the actions of men who are mad, and furious in the pursuit of their own lusts.

2. Sin does not arise to this height ordinarily, but only when it has a double advantage —

(1.) That it is provoked, enraged, and heightened by some great temptation. Though it is a poison in itself, yet being inbred in nature, it does not grow violently outrageous without some new poison of Satan contributed to it in a suitable temptation. It was the advantage that Satan got against David, by a suitable temptation, that raised his lust to that rage and madness in which it went forth to the business of Bathsheba and Uriah. Though sin is always a fire in the bones, it does not burst into flame unless Satan comes with his bellows to blow it up. And let anyone in whom the law of sin arises to this height of rage seriously consider, and he may find out where the devil stands and contributes to the business.

(2.) It must be advantaged by some former entertainment and prevalence. Sin does not grow to this height at its first assault. If it had not been allowed to make its entrance, if there had not been some yielding in the soul, this would not have come about.

The great wisdom and security of the soul in dealing with indwelling sin is to put a forceful stop to its beginnings, its first motions and actings.

Risk it all on the first attempt. Die rather than yield one step to it. If it makes any entrance into the soul, and is entertained at all —whether through the deceit of sin, or the negligence of the soul, or the soul’s fleshly confidence that it can set bounds on lust’s actings at other times — then indwelling sin gains strength and power, and will insensibly arise to the frame under consideration. You have never experienced the fury of sin if you have not been content with some of its dalliance. If you had not brought up this servant, this slave, so delicately, it would not have presumed now to be above a son. Now, once the law of sin in any particular has gotten this double advantage — the furtherance of a vigorous temptation, and some prevalence that was previously obtained, and by which it is let into the strengths of the soul — it often rises up to this frame of which we speak.

3. We may see what accompanies this rage and madness, what its properties are, and what effects it produces —

(1.) There is in it the throwing off (for a time at least) of the yoke, rule, and government of the Spirit and law of grace. Where grace has the dominion, it will never be utterly expelled from its throne; it will still keep its right and sovereignty. But its influences may for a season be intercepted, and its government suspended by the power of sin. Can we think that the law of grace had any actual ruling influence on David’s heart when, upon being provoked by Nabal, he was so hurried with the desire for self-revenge that he cried,“Strap on your swords,” to his companions, and he resolved not to leave one man alive of Nabal’s whole household? (1Sam 25:34); or that Asa was in any better frame when he struck the prophet and put him in prison, that spoke to him in the name of the Lord? Sin in this case is like an untamed horse which, having thrown off its rider, runs away with fierceness and rage. Sin first throws off a present sense of the yoke of Christ and the law of his grace, and then it hurries the soul at its pleasure. Let us consider a little how this is done.

The seat and residence of grace is in the whole soul. It is in the inner man; it is in the mind, the will, and the affections: for the whole soul is renewed by grace into the image of God, Eph 4:23, 24, and the whole man is a “new creature,” 2Cor 5:17. And in all these grace exerts its power and efficacy. Its rule or dominion is the pursuit of its effectual working in all the faculties of the soul, as they are one united principle of moral and spiritual operations. So then, interrupting the exercise of grace’s rule and power, by the law of sin, must consist in its contrary acting in and upon the faculties and affections of the soul, on which and by which grace should exert its power and efficacy. And the law of sin does this. It darkens the mind, partly through countless vain prejudices and false reasonings (as we will see when we consider its deceitfulness), and partly through steaming the affections, heated with the nauseous lusts that have laid hold on them. Hence that saving light which is in the mind is clouded and stifled, so that it cannot put forth its transforming power to change the soul into the likeness of Christ revealed to it, which is its proper work, Rom 12:2.

The habitual inclination of the will to obedience, which is the next way that the law of grace works, is first weakened, and then tossed aside and rendered useless, by the continual solicitations of sin and temptation; so that the will first lets go of its hold, and argues whether it will yield or not, and at last it surrenders itself to its adversary. And as for the affections, the beginning of this evil is commonly found in them. They conflict with one another, and torture the soul with their impetuous violence. By this, the rule of the law of grace is intercepted by the law of sin: by imposing on it in the whole seat of its government. When this is done, sin will make sad work in the soul. The apostle warns believers to take heed of it in Rom 6:12,“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” Set to it that it does not get dominion, that it does not usurp rule, not even for a moment. It will labor to intrude itself to the throne; watch against it, or a woeful state and condition lies at the door.

This, then, accompanies this rage and madness of the law of sin — It wholly throws off the rule of the law of grace during its prevalence; it speaks in the soul, but it is not heard; it commands the contrary, but it is not obeyed; it cries out,“Do not do this abominable thing which the Lord hates,” but it is not regarded — that is, not so as to be able to put a quick stop to the rage of sin, and to recover its own rule, which God restores to it in his own time by the power of his Spirit dwelling in us.

(2.) Madness or rage is accompanied with fearlessness and contempt for danger. It takes away the power of consideration, and all that influence that it ought to have on the soul. Hence sinners who are wholly under the power of this rage are said to “run at God, and the thick bosses of his buckler,” Job 15:26 — that in which God is armed for their utter ruin. They despise the worst that he can do to them, being secretly resolved to accomplish their lusts, even though it costs them their souls. A few considerations will further clear this up for us:

1. Often, when the soul has broken loose from the power of renewing grace, to keep it within bounds, God deals with it by a preventing grace. So the Lord declares that he will deal with Israel — Seeing that you have rejected me, I will take another course with you. I will lay obstacles before you that you will not be able to pass by, to where the fury of your lusts would drive you. He will oppose them from without, using that which will obstruct them in their progress.

2. These hinderances that God lays in the way of sinners, as will be declared at large afterward, are of two sorts —

1st. Rational considerations, taken from the consequence of the sin and evil that the soul is solicited to and perplexed with. Such are the fear of death, judgment, and hell — falling into the hands of the living God, who is a consuming fire. While a man is under the power of the law of the Spirit of life, the “love of Christ constrains him,” 2Cor 5:14. The principle of his doing good and abstaining from evil is faith working by love, accompanied by following Christ because of the sweet savor of his name. But now, when this blessed, easy yoke is thrown off for a season, so that, as manifested before, God sets a hedge of terror before the soul, reminds it of death and judgment to come, flashes the flames of hell-fire in the face, fills the soul with consideration of all the evil consequence of sin, in order to deter it from its purpose. To this end he makes use of all the threatenings recorded in the law and gospel. To this subject also may be referred all the considerations that may be taken from temporal things, such as shame, reproach, scandal, punishments, and the like. By the consideration of these things, I say, God sets a hedge before them.

2dly. Providential dispensations, used by the Lord to the same purpose; and these are of two sorts —

(1st.) Those which are suited to work on the soul, and cause it to desist and give up its lustings and pursuit of sin. Such are afflictions and mercies: “I was angry, and I struck them,” Isa 57:17 — I testified my dislike of their ways by afflictions. God chastens men with pains on their bodies, he says in Job, to turn them from their purpose, and to hide sin from them, Job 33:17-19. And he has other ways to come to them and touch them, such as in their names, relations, estates, and desirable things; or else he heaps mercies upon them, so that they may consider whom they are rebelling against. It may be that notable distinguishing mercies are made their portion for many days.

(2dly.) Those which actually hinder the soul from pursuing sin, though it is resolved to do so. The various ways by which God does this must be considered afterward. These are the ways, I say, by which the soul is dealt with, before the law of indwelling sin has thrown off for a season the influencing power of the law of grace. But now, when lust rises up to rage or madness, it will also contemn all these, even the rod, and the One who has appointed it. It will rush at shame, reproaches, wrath, and whatever may befall it; that is, even though these are presented to it, it will risk them all. Rage and madness is fearless. And it does this in two ways —

1st. It possesses the mind, so that it does not allow the mind to dwell upon the consideration of these things, but renders thoughts of them slight and evanescent; or if the mind does force itself to contemplate them, sin interposes itself between the mind and the affections, so that they will not be influenced by it in any proportion to what is required. The soul in such a condition will be able to take such things into contemplation, and not at all be moved by them; and where they do prevail for a season, they are insensibly worked from the heart again.

2dly. By secret stubborn resolves to risk all on the way in which it is located.

And this is the second branch of this evidence of the power of sin, taken from the opposition that it makes to the law of grace, as it were, by force, strength, and violence. The consideration of its deceit now follows.

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