Precious Remedies against Satan's Devices part 2.

 Thomas Brooks , Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices-  No. 2 Thoughts from this delightful Biblical series written by an English puritan .

We begin with an illustration of our confusion .  

"Some years ago, The Archbishop of Canterbury was rushing to catch a train in London. In his haste, he accidentally jumped on the wrong passenger car and found himself on a car full of inmates from a mental hospital. They were all dressed in mental hospital clothing.

Just as the train pulled out of the station, an orderly came in and began to count the inmates, “1-2-3-4…” when suddenly he saw this distinguished looking gentleman there wearing a business suit and a clerical collar and he said:

“Who are you?” The answer came back: “I am the Archbishop of Canterbury!” And the orderly said: “5-6-7-8.”

The point of that story is this: It is so important to know who we are and who other people are. If we know what makes us tick and what makes other people tick, we get along better. If we understand where we are coming from and where other people are coming from, we relate better. There is more compassion, more empathy and more kindness. " 

from sermons@sermons.com

Today as we consider more lessons from Brooks book, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices we should know who we are in Christ .  

Device 1-Satan gets us to doubt our worthiness and says we are unworthy.

That actually is the whole point of the Gospel.  We have reversed it in our churches , a lot of them do for ex., and in the culture especially .  Unbelievers are made worthy by the righteousness and blood of Christ.  Our lives are now light in God .  This is not because we earned this or deserve it.  It simply is the beautiful words of Scripture that in Christ we are made worthy.

Would Christ ever receive such a sinner such as we are?

Remedy 1- " God has never said in Scripture that any worthiness is needed in us before we believe."

John 6:40 , 47   "...this is the will of Him who sent me , that every one which sees the Son , and believes on Him , may have everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you."  

" He that believes on me has everlasting life."

Remedy 2-" If the soul will keep off from Christ till it be worthy it will never close with Christ"

There is no way to make unworthy souls worthy but by believing in Christ. James 2:23 " Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the Friend of God"

This is such a good point that we should dwell on our own worthiness in Christ and that His love has been applied to our lives and hearts by His grace .

Now, we switch to another vein of thought in another Device of Satan.....

Device 2-" By persuading the soul that the work of repentance is an easy work, and therefore the soul need not make such a matter of sin."

Remedy 1-  Repentance is a difficult work.  It is not just a prayer of repentance , "Lord , have mercy"  That is just a beginning of the task .

Ezekiel 18:21 shows that true repentance is turning from all sin to good. Matthew 3:10 talks about the tree bringing forth good fruit. True repentance is a loathing of sin, and turning to God in all goodness.

It definitely is a sorrow for all of our sin, and a desire to see it completely gone from our minds, hearts and actions. " Repentance strips us stark naked of all of the garments of the old Adam, and leaves not so much a shirt behind." ( Here Brooks quotes an old saying without a source)

" My sin is ever before me" said the Psalmist in 51:3 so that repentance is a continual act of turning from all that would draw us away from God.

Device 3 -" By presenting to the soul the crosses, losses, reproaches, sorrows , and sufferings that do daily attend those that walk in the ways of holiness"

Remedy- someone said it this way, " In this disease I have learned how great God is, and what the evil of sin is"

Hebrews 12:10 " But He afflicts us for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness"

Jacob saw the angels of God ascending and descending when the stones were his pillows , and the ground his bed.  ( I can testify to that when in the field as an Army Chaplain---we had no distractions other than others and the mission at hand)

Remedy- The afflictions that happen to the saints are short and momentary. Ps 30:5 " Sorrow may abide for a night , but joy comes in the morning."

Remedy- The afflictions that happen to the saints proceed from God's dearest love.

We conclude this section of the Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices, " There is no solid joy, nor lasting peace, nor pure comfort, that attends sinners in their sinful ways.  "  But we remember God's people have an everlasting place where there is the LORD Himself , the Lamb of God who we worship  and adore forever and forever in a happy and holy place.