Holy war against sin

So, there is a holy war. And true believers are not at rest in that holy war. If you are a true believer, you never make peace with sin. That is a good thing. But oh, it means is struggle. It means there are two armies, fighting within you. Satan, seeking to bring your flesh and its lusts under his command; the Holy Spirit, commanding the new principle of life planted in your heart and so the tug of war goes on. All our days. To the very end. I used to look at my dad, as a young Christian. I thought he was such a holy man. I thought he must be beyond the stage of struggle. But he said me, No, my son, the struggle goes on unto your last breath. I think I am understanding it a bit better now.

Oh, would to God, we could be done with sin! I think one of the most attractive things about heaven, next to being with Jesus forever and the Triune God, is to be done with sin. No more sin. Won’t you long for that day? Aren’t you weary of sin? Oh, to be sin-free, in Immanuel’s land. To be that perfect bride for the perfect bridegroom. And to hear him say to me, I see no sin in my Jacob, and no transgression in my Israel. What a happy day! But here below, the struggle remains. Yes, sometimes the struggle is not quite as poignant than other times. But our old nature, you see, remains in us sort of like a volcano. Most of the time a volcano may lie dormant; it sends up a small waft of smoke, but meanwhile there is fire; fire residing within the volcano. And if it is not restraint, it will break out again. And that is, you see, the power of that contrary law in our members which brings us into captivity, Paul says, to the law of sin within us. And it is this dilemma, this earthly mindedness, we should be heavenly minded, that makes Paul cry out, O, wretched man, that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

And please, do not misunderstand. There is no one so happy in all the world as a child of God. And yet, there is no one so much at war in all the world as a child of God. Both, said John Owen, are true at the same time. I am truly blessed in Christ. But when I am truly blessed, I truly love, because I am loved, first by him. There will be true unrest over sin. You see, love has a price tag. Love makes you vulnerable. Those who have been forgiven much, love much. And the more you love Christ, the more you treasure his blood, and the more you will hate sin. And the more you hate sin, the more you will cry out: O, wretched man, that I am.¹

Joel Beeke