|
O what a company of lusts!
(J. C. Philpot, "The
Battle Is the Lord's" 1851)
"We are powerless against this mighty army
that is attacking us! We do not know what to
do. But our eyes are upon You!" 2 Chr. 20:12
There is no use fighting the battle in our own
strength. We have none.
O, when temptation creeps like a serpent into the
carnal mind, it winds its secret way and coils around
the heart. As the boa-constrictor is said to embrace
its victim, entwining his coil around it, and crushing
every bone without any previous warning—so does
temptation often seize us suddenly in its powerful
embrace. Have we in ourselves any more power to
extricate our flesh from its slimy folds, than the poor
animal has from the coils of the boa-constrictor?
So with the corruptions and lusts of our fallen nature.
Can you always master them? Can you seize these
serpents by the neck and wring off their heads?
To examine our heart is something like examining
by the microscope a drop of ditch-water—the more
minutely it is looked into, the more hideous forms
appear. All these strange monsters, too, are in
constant motion, devouring or devoured. And, as
more powerful lenses are put on the microscope,
more and more loathsome creatures emerge into
view, until eye and heart sicken at the sight.
Such is our heart. Superficially viewed—passably fair.
But examined by the spiritual microscope,
hideous
forms of every shape and size appear—lusts and
desires in unceasing movement, devouring each
other, and yet undiminished—and each successive
examination bringing new monsters to light! O what
a company of lusts! How one seems to introduce and
make way for the other! and how one, as among the
insect tribe, is the father of a million!
We must take these lusts and passions by the neck,
and lay them down at the feet of God, and thus bring
the omnipotence of Jehovah against what would destroy
us—"Here are my lusts, I cannot manage them. Here are
my temptations, I cannot overcome them. Here are my
enemies, I cannot conquer them. Lord, I do not know
what to do. Will You not subdue my enemies?"
This is fighting against sin—not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit. Not by the law, but by the gospel. Not by self,
but by the grace of God. And if your soul has had many
a tussle, and many a wrestle, and many a hand-to-hand
conflict with sin, you will have found this out before now
—that nothing but the grace, power, and Spirit of Christ
ever gave you the victory, or the least hope of victory.
"We are powerless against this mighty army
that is attacking us! We do not know what to
do. But our eyes are upon You!" 2 Chr. 20:12
|