And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
— Genesis 6:3
And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
— Genesis 6:6
And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
— Judges 10:16
How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!
— Psalm 78:40
Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations.
— Ezekiel 16:43
And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.
— Mark 3:5
And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
— Luke 15:17-19
Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
— Acts 7:51
But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
— Hebrews 3:17
Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
— Hebrews 3:7-12
Quench not the Spirit.
— 1 Thessalonians 5:19
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
— Ephesians 4:30
How May a Deserted Believer Discover the Particular Sin or Sins by Which He Has Grieved the Spirit of God?, by Samuel Pike and Samuel Hayward. The following contains Case Nineteen of their work, “Religious Cases of Conscience Answered in an Evangelical Manner.” London, 1755.
Case Nineteen.
This is doubtless a most searching and experimental question, in which there is a need for the greatest faithfulness to be used, both by the one who resolves it, and by the one who attempts to make use of it for himself. In many cases, it seems very difficult to point out to a soul under declensions, what the particular reason is for the Spirit’s withdrawal. However, I will attempt to bring this matter as close to home as I possibly can, recommending myself to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
We must indeed acknowledge that the Lord may for wise and holy ends, withdraw from his people those comforts and quickenings with which they have been favoured. And He may do that without immediate respect to any particular sin or sins committed by them. Sometimes this withdrawal is for the prevention of sin, or for the revelation of sin, rather than as a punishment for it. But generally, divine withdrawals are in consequence of some iniquity by which the Holy Spirit has been grieved. And it is the duty and business of every gracious soul, when he finds himself deprived of these tokens of divine love which he has usually enjoyed, to ask this serious question: “Why does the Lord thus contend with me?” On all such occasions, he has reason to suspect himself as being the proper cause of his complaints. Thus the holy Psalmist seems to maintain a godly jealousy over himself when he says, Psa 139.23, 24; “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
The question under consideration may be placed in this familiar and soul-searching light: a believer who has been used to walking in the light of God’s countenance, and under the quickening influence of his Spirit, now finds that these comforts are withdrawn from his soul; he doesn’t experience such a spirituality of frame as he used to do. He now feels himself in a declining condition; his faith weak, his comforts low, his graces not ready for exercise. And notwithstanding all his attempts by prayer and endeavour, he cannot arrive at that spirituality and comfort of soul which he once enjoyed. And, therefore he cries out with Job,“O that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; when his candle shone upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness!” Job 29.2-3. Or as the same holy person said at another time,“Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; on the left hand where he works, but I cannot behold him. He hides himself on the right hand, so that I cannot see him,” Job 23.8- 9.
This becomes a matter of sad complaint, and the believer wants to know the reason why it is this way with him. Feeling that the Spirit is withdrawn, he sees the greatest reason to suspect that the Spirit has been grieved by him. When he comes to search, so far as he knows himself, he is perhaps conscious that he has been kept from gross immoralities and enormities. For this reason he cannot be certain what the particular sins are for which he is thus visited. If indeed, upon reflection, the believer finds that he has fallen into some grievous sin, either of heart or life, in such a case he cannot help but know the reason for the visitation. Thus, after committing that complicated sin of murder and adultery in the matter of Uriah, David could not help but see the reason for the present declensions of his frame, and the present decay of his comforts. Therefore he cries out, Psa 51.11-14,“Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with your free Spirit. Deliver me from blood-guilt, O God, you God of my salvation.”
Now then, if you are conscious of any enormity in your practice, or any wilful neglect of duty, don’t wonder if the quickening and comforting influences of the Divine Spirit are awfully suspended. We have a general rule laid down in 1Joh 1.6-7, which should be attended to with great concern in the present case. It consists of two parts. The first is mentioned in the sixth verse: “If we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness we lie and do not practice the truth.” The second part is contained in the seventh verse: “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another; and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.” From this we may observe that all those comforts are delusive, which are consistent with the love and practice of sin; and that those who are inclined to walk closely with God, may expect delightful communion with him. But the present case stands in this light: perhaps you don’t feel that delight and pleasure in spiritual duties, nor that spirituality of frame, which you were prone to enjoy. From this you very justly suspect that the Spirit has been in some way or other grieved by you. But you cannot be certain in what manner it has been done, because your conscience doesn’t charge you with any gross immorality and defects. It is true that, upon inspection, you see an abundance of corruption in your heart; but you cannot point out the particular sin or corruption which is the ground of your present complaint. You would therefore be glad to know how to discover it, so that the sin may be brought to the cross of Christ, in order to be crucified.
In answer to this question, doubtless the first and grand direction is this, to set about the duty of self-examination. Disconsolate believer, ransack your own heart; look through it, look into it as deep as you can; and while you are thus upon the search, beg of God that he would examine and prove you, that he would try your reins 45 and your heart. But it may be that you have thus been searching and inquiring, and you are still at a loss to fix your eye upon that particular sin for which you are visited. You will then ask,“What rule can now be given?” And you will be ready to say that if you cannot discover it by self-examination, then how is it possible that any other would be able to do it? Yet I will venture it, and endeavour to do the most faithful and searching part, and then leave the whole to your own conscience to judge. Let me therefore give you three or four directions by which you may be able to fix your eyes on the particular sins for which the Lord withdraws from you.
1. I say, the sin which was the immediate cause of your present declensions, and which most prevails under them, is very likely to be the reason for the present awful visitation. Look back, therefore, and observe the time and manner in which you fell into this declining, uncomfortable way. Perhaps, just at the time when your darkness began, you had some impatience under the divine hand, or perhaps you were left to slight or abuse those quickenings and comforts which you were favoured with. The spouse in the Canticles seems to be sensible that this must be the sin by which the Spirit is grieved. Sol 2.7,“I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and does of the field, that you not stir up nor awaken my love till he pleases.” You had been favoured for a time with the divine presence, and the light of his countenance. But you began to grow casual about these spiritual privileges, to be careless about them, or to grow remiss in your duty under the enjoyment of them — or perhaps at this time you gave way to the rising of some particular corruption. And immediately upon this, the Spirit withdrew, and left you in darkness and distress, or under coldness and indifference. If so, then you may be very certain that this was the particular crime which grieved the Spirit. Further, take notice what is that sin which most prevails under your present declensions. You will be able to learn this by a little inspection. It is generally found that the sin which causes the desertion is that which continues it. As it has gained such an advantage as to drive the Spirit away, it now rages and triumphs, and grows stronger and stronger under these calamitous experiences. By this you may know that this is the sin which lies at the bottom of your present complaints.
2. The sin, whatever it is, which you now want to extenuate and excuse, you have great reason to think is that which caused and continues the divine withdrawal. It may be that under your present darkness, you look into your own heart and ways, and find a great many corruptions working, and sins prevailing in your soul. The more you look, the more you see the corruption of your own heart, the abominations that are working within you; and those things appear in such multitudes that you don’t know which to fix upon as the particular cause of your declensions. And after all your searches, it is not at all improbable that you may overlook the very thing you are seeking. For those sins and corruptions which you are most ready to fix upon, are those which you are sensible of, lament under, strive and pray against — and these, however they may have caused the divine desertion, yet they do not continue it. Those sins which your soul is for magnifying, and for which you perpetually accuse yourself, you have the least reason to suspect. This is because, so far as you thus see your sins, it is a happy token that the Spirit is present with you as a Spirit of humiliation. Therefore, look further and see whether you aren’t making some excuse for, or palliating some of those evils which are in your heart and life; whether you’re not for making them as little as possible, and endeavouring to throw off the guilt of them from yourself.
Now then, as soon as you can observe this disposition with respect to any iniquity, you may immediately charge the fault upon that particular sin. For instance, have you been guilty of neglecting or slightly performing private, family, or public duties? Have you been negligent in keeping the Sabbath, or careless in the public or private exercises of God’s worship? Or have you conformed to any of the vices and vanities of the world? Perhaps in these cases, your heart is saying, “It is true, I have occasionally neglected private prayer; or I have in some little instances conformed to the ways of the world — but this is no great matter. I neglected private prayer because my heart was not in a frame for it, or because I didn’t have a clear opportunity for it; and I have given into the ways of the world because there was some sort of necessity for it.” And thus your mind palliates your offences. You are inclined to excuse your negligence or indifference. This plainly shows that these sins have gained and retain an awful prevalence in you. And therefore you may take it for granted that these are the iniquities for which you now are visited.
3. Those sins in your heart and life, which you find the greatest unwillingness to oppose, are the sins which cause or continue the withdrawal. There are many corruptions working in you, and many temptations assaulting you, to bring you into what is contrary to the law or Gospel. Some of these you can fight, strive, watch, and pray against. Others are so pleasing to your flesh, or so suited to your inclinations, that you cannot find it in your heart to vigorously resist them. You may then take it for granted, that these latter lie at the foundation of your spiritual complaints.
4. The sins which you are ashamed or unwilling to heartily confess before the Lord, are those by which the Spirit is grieved. Look attentively into your own heart, and perhaps you will find there is a sin committed or indulged by you, which you would keep secret in your own bosom. You cannot confess it with true freedom and sincerity. And as you are attempting to enumerate your transgressions before the Lord by way of confession, perhaps one (or two) starts up in your remembrance, which you find yourself unwilling to acknowledge to be as sinful as it really is, and as your conscience and judgment inform you it is. In this case, you know in your own conscience that you cannot frankly confess the sin before God because your heart is wedded to it, and you are unwilling to part with it. If it is thus, you no longer need be at a loss to know what hides the light of God’s countenance from you. But if you could know it without reservation, and pray, plead, watch, and strive against that sin which you find thus clinging to your soul, you would probably be immediately delivered, and find the Spirit of life and comfort restored to you. We have a clear instance of this in Psalm 32.3-5, where we find the Psalmist had withheld himself from a frank confession. So long as he thus kept silence, his guilt and distress remained and increased. But as soon as he said in his heart,“I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” God forgave him the iniquity of his sin.
Thus I have endeavoured in the plainest and most faithful manner I could, to lead you to the knowledge of those sins which are the causes of your spiritual complaints. It is very evident from the nature of the thing, that these must be the sins that separate you and your God. For those iniquities that you truly hate, that you lament under, that you desire to confess before the Lord, and to carry to the cross of Christ to be crucified there, are not the sins that maintain the distance between God and you. But those iniquities that you have such an affection for — whether spiritual or external, whether in heart or life — that you cannot heartily condemn yourself for; that you cannot confess without reservation before the Lord; that you cannot find it in your heart to oppose with vigour — these must of necessity cause a continued distance between God and your soul. These are the iniquities which are peculiarly provoking to God. These are the sins that harden the heart, that benumb the conscience and tarnish the soul. And remember, you can never expect a return of the divine quickenings and comforts until you can lay your hand upon these sins, heartily pray against them, and fly to the Lord Jesus Christ to have them pardoned and subdued.
Permit me to conclude this soul-searching subject by a few necessary and important advisements on the whole.
1. Beware of extenuating or excusing any sin. He that hides his sins shall not prosper (Pro 28.13). Yet this is what we are prone to. When we are tempted to neglect any duty, our corrupt heart will appear ready to find many excuses. It will suggest to us either that the duty is too hard for us to undertake, or we don’t have an opportunity for it, or there won’t be any great advantage reaped by it. Thus we are often betrayed into a criminal omission of what the Lord calls for from us. It is no wonder, then, if the Spirit is grieved, and we soon feel the sad effects of indulging our spiritual sloth. It is no wonder if our communion with God is interrupted, corruption gains an advantage, and shyness between God and our soul is produced. Again, when we are prevailed upon to neglect an incumbent duty, our corrupt heart will now proceed to alleviate the fault, and make many excuses for it in order to hinder us from freely acknowledging it, and repenting for it. And so we grow more and more hardened and careless, by which the grieved Spirit is still more grieved, and the separation between God and our souls is still continued and widened.
The same may be said concerning a temptation to the commission of sin. Our carnal heart will represent the iniquity as very small, or very pleasant, in order to induce us to comply with the temptation. And when we are actually“drawn away by our own lusts and enticed, then lust, having conceived, brings forth sin; and sin being finished, brings forth death” (Jas 1.14-15). This is the dreadful tendency of excusing and extenuating sin!
It is this sad disposition in unrenewed persons, that keeps them under the dominion of their own lusts. It is this that prevents them from seeing the danger of their state. It is this, likewise, that makes them continually careless, without an interest in Christ’s grace and righteousness. It deludes their souls with many vain and dangerous hopes. The same inclination when it appears, and in any measure prevails in a gracious person, is peculiarly provoking to God, and effectually robs the person of all his comforts and spirituality, makes him grow more and more carnal, and so produces and promotes divine withdrawals.
Therefore, let us all beware of extenuating any iniquity. Let us rather endeavour to aggravate it to ourselves, and before God. 46 It is true that to aggravate our own sins is very disagreeable to flesh and blood; it often occasions a diminution in our pleasure. Yet it is a necessary work; necessary to our true humiliation, and necessary to keep us in the love and under the smiles of our gracious God. None have a stronger view of the sinfulness of sin, than those who walk closely and comfortably with God.
2. Be watchful against the devices of Satan, and the deceitfulness of your own heart. We cannot have a stronger call to this necessary duty than what may be deduced from the foregoing discourse. For here we see that the devil and our own hearts will use all possible means to conceal from us the particular sins that are the most detrimental and dangerous to our souls. Are we afflicted in our persons, or distressed in our minds, and under the evident marks of divine displeasure? Satan and our corrupt natures join to so perplex us, that we won’t know why the Lord contends with us. Our perplexed minds will now condemn us for every other sin, besides the one that lies at the bottom of our spiritual distresses. And our unbelief will attempt to drive us into desperation because of those corruptions we see, lament, and pray against — while the foundation of the controversy between God and our souls lies hidden under a criminal excuse. See here a most remarkable evidence that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. See here the necessity for a narrow inspection, and of divine illumination, in order to attain the knowledge of our own case, and of the ground of our complaints. Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. By a thorough search, according to the foregoing rules, joined with prayer for divine teaching, you may be led to see the sin that most easily besets you, and that has gained the greatest strength in your soul.
3. Having found out the particular sin or sins which cause or continue the distance between God and your soul, now endeavour to lay it to heart as most abominable and detrimental. The least sin excused and alleviated by us, thereby becomes a most grievous abomination. Observe, therefore, how it has worked, and does work, in your soul. Hasn’t it polluted your soul, weakened your graces, taken away your spiritual strength and enjoyment? Doesn’t this indulged or extenuated sin, whatever it may be, destroy the sincerity of your confessions, and the uprightness of your prayers? Can you frankly acknowledge, or heartily pray against that iniquity which your heart clings to, and which it would gladly countenance? Surely not. Again, consider how provoking it must be to a gracious God, to find you harbouring his enemy in your bosom; to find you wishing that it may be spared or winked at. Surely you cannot wonder if the Lord withdraws from you. He does it justly; you oblige him to it. And he never will, never honourably can, restore his comforts to you until you are brought to hate, confess, and bewail it before him. O beg, therefore, that the divine Spirit would convince you of sin, and show you more and more the sinfulness of that particular iniquity and indulgence that lies nearest your heart, so you may see how abominable it is, as well as feel how detrimental it is.
4. Bring the iniquity to the cross of Christ, to be crucified there. Sin will live everywhere but under the cross of Christ. You may see your sin, you may strive, watch, and pray against it, and it will still prevail to maintain the separation between God and you, until you are directed to exercise faith in the blood of Christ for the forgiveness and mortification of it. “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh, with its affections and lusts.” Gal 5.24.
But perhaps you will ask,“What does it mean to bring sin to Christ’s cross, and crucify it there?” I answer, it contains the following things:
1. To behold the sinfulness of sin in the death of Christ. You may see much of the evil of it by looking into the holy law, and observing its polluting effect on our own heart. But such sights of sin, by themselves, will not subdue it. Look at the cross of Christ; behold him suffering, bleeding, dying, and under his Father’s withdrawal for the sin imputed to him. There you may look and wonder, look and mourn, look and raise your indignation against sin in the strongest manner. This will be a most effectual means of making you truly ashamed of it, and to mourn for it with a godly and evangelical sorrow.
2. To account every indulged sin in you as crucifying the Son of God afresh. By giving way to iniquity, by harbouring it in your bosom, or casting a pleasing glance upon the abominable thing, you are guilty not only of breaking the law, but of undervaluing the blood of the covenant. What! Did Christ die for sin, and you will indulge it? Surely this would be doing what lies in your power to bring him down, and nail him to the cross afresh. Oh! If we could only have such conceptions of indulged sin, they would greatly tend to set our hearts at the utmost distance from it.
3. To cast the guilt of our sin upon the atonement of Christ, by faith. Do we now see ourselves truly guilty and filthy? Are we ashamed of ourselves, and enabled to abhor ourselves, because of our abominations? Now surely we can only experimentally conceive that nothing short of an infinite atonement can procure remission. Behold, therefore, the atonement that Christ has made; see how satisfactory it is to divine justice; see how sufficient it is for our pardon; and let us now endeavour to answer the challenges of a guilty conscience, by the blood of Jesus Christ. Thus we will receive a divine pardon to our consciences; thus we will receive peace and reconciliation with God. And then we will find Him restoring comforts to us, restoring the joys of His salvation, and the quickenings of his free Spirit.
How unhappy is the believer while he lies under the guilt of unpardoned sin, and while the corruption and unbelief of his heart keep him back from a free confession of it! He has now lost all enjoyment of himself, all communion with God, and all special pleasure in, or profit by, his ordinances. He now sinks in deep mire where there is no standing; he has now come into deep waters where the floods overflow him. But when he is enabled to see his sin, guilt, and impurity, and to disburden his conscience by an application to the blood of Christ, then his soul is eased, his heart is purified, his spiritual liberty is restored, and a gracious God returns to him in loving kindness and tender mercies.
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