by Pastor John Kim
To the LBC family and friends,
Jonathan Edwards Resolution #56
Resolved, never to give over, nor in the least to slacken, my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be.
The pursuit of holiness is a relentless path in fighting sin and the propensity to be given over to our sinful desires on a daily basis. There are good days when we feel that we are disciplined for the purpose of godliness (1 Timothy 4:7-8) and then there are days when it seems that we are completely given over to the dark side and we wonder if we will ever have victory over sin in our lives. Jonathan Edwards recognized early on that the battle would not be over quickly as there would be days where he would be unsuccessful but the resolve was to never give up, to never slacken the fight against sin, the fight to pursue holiness and to practice godliness.
There are days when it is tempting to look at those who are of the world and as they seem to be enjoying themselves in their self-centered pursuit of pleasure even at the cost of sin, we need to be reminded that there are many who are reveling in their lusts and indulging in sins of the flesh and eyes and pride of life (1 John 2:15-17) but it will only incur the wrath of God. There are going to be consequences for sinning willfully and recklessly against a holy God, particularly when He has shown His grace through the gift of His Son. That’s why as believers our only hope is in the cross, that Jesus took our place and that He became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Our justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone has secured our salvation through the substitutionary atonement of Christ and our righteousness is only possible because of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness on our behalf in the throne room of God. We are called to holiness but we are not left alone to pursue it. It is by the grace of God that we fight the good fight of faith and that because we love a holy, holy, holy God who calls us to be holy as He is (1 Peter 1:15-16), we seek His holiness to be displayed in our lives so that His holiness might be magnified through us to His glory.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote these words:
I am to be holy because God is holy; I am to be holy because, if I am holy, I shall thereby display the glory of God in a manner which will be well pleasing to Him.
It is part of being a good soldier for Christ, that as we seek to please our commander (2 Timothy 2:4) and there is definitely some suffering involved in the fight for holiness because we are at war. There will be days where we struggle and fail because we lose sight of our Savior, because we fail to fix our eyes on Him as we should (Hebrews 12:1-3) and sin causes us to stumble. But we should not stay down when we fall but instead get back up and keep running the race with endurance.
It starts with beginning each day committed to where we will carry out our affections or desires. Will they be given over to Christ? Or will they be given over to the flesh? John Owen wrote on how sin carries on its war by entangling our desires and drawing them away from Christ. Sin starts in the heart and we need to be interested in more than behavioral modification, we need to be more interested in heart change that then results in a transformation of our actions that align with our heart attitudes.
We also need to be concerned for the walk of our fellow brothers and sisters as they face the battle for holiness in their lives. We need to stand alongside and help them persevere by encouraging and exhorting them to keep fighting the good fight, to pick them up when they fall, and to cheer for them in their growth, no matter how small the steps might be. We are in this together and we need to really show our love for one another by helping one another as often as we have the opportunity to do so.
Though there are tough days, press on and keep fighting the good fight of faith!
Praying for you,
Pastor John