John Owen on the role of Law and Gospel in the mortification of our sin:
“But if a man is so dominated by the power of his lust that he has nothing but the law to oppose it, then that sin possesses his will. If he cannot fight against it with gospel weapons, and deals with it
“But if a man is so dominated by the power of his lust that he has nothing but the law to oppose it, then that sin possesses his will. If he cannot fight against it with gospel weapons, and deals with it
entirely by hell and judgment (which are the proper arms of the law), then it is evident that sin has conquered his will and his affections, and to a very great extent. Such a person has rejected the conduct of renewing grace. He is kept from ruin only by restraining grace.
He has fallen from grace and is now back under the power of the law. This must surely provoke Christ to anger. He has thrown off Christ’s easy, gentle yoke and rule, and put on the iron yoke of the law, just to indulge a lust.”
there’s more I forgot to add:
“Judge yourself by this: what do you say to your soul when sin forces you to make a stand? You must either serve the sin and rush into folly, like a horse into battle, or you must make headway against it to suppress it. How does the conversation go
“Judge yourself by this: what do you say to your soul when sin forces you to make a stand? You must either serve the sin and rush into folly, like a horse into battle, or you must make headway against it to suppress it. How does the conversation go
with yourself? Do you say, ‘The outcome of this will be Hell; vengeance will find me.’ If so, then it is time for you to look around; evil lies at your door. To clearly demonstrate that sin shall not have control over believers, Paul’s main argument is that they ‘are not under
the law, but under grace.’ If your battles with sin are all legalistic, what assurance do you have that sin will not control you and be your ruin?”
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