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“When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped.” (Numbers 25:7-8, ESV)

Pastor Abel’s sermon on this passage is titled, “Satan’s Strategy”.

John Owen was a puritan preacher and writer who lived from 1616 to 1683 and is known for his work on how to fight sin with the same zeal that Phinehas had in the above passage. In a time without computers, he was a prolific writer and preacher. All sixteen volumes of his works are still available to buy today.

John Piper speaks highly of the puritan in his forward to Owen’s Overcoming Sin and Temptation when he writes (source):

Owen is especially worthy of our attention because he is shocking in his insights... He shocks me out of my platitudinous ways of thinking about God and man. Here are a few random recollections from what you are (I hope) about to read. You will find others on your own.

“There is no death of sin without the death of Christ” (Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, chapter 7). Owen loves the cross and knows what happened there better than anyone I have read. The battle with sin that you are about to read about is no superficial technique of behavior modification. It is a profound dealing with what was accomplished on the cross in relation to the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit through the deep and wonderful mysteries of faith.

“To kill sin is the work of living men; where men are dead (as all unbelievers, the best of them, are dead), sin is alive, and will live” (chapter 7). Oh, the pastoral insights that emerge from Owen! As here: If you are fighting sin, you are alive. Take heart. But if sin holds sway unopposed, you are dead no matter how lively this sin makes you feel. Take heart, embattled saint!

“God says, ‘Here is one, if he could be rid of this lust I should never hear of him more; let him wrestle with this, or he is lost'” (chapter 8). Astonishing! God ordains to leave a lust with me till I become the sort of warrior who will still seek his aid when this victory is won. God knows when we can bear the triumphs of his grace.

So, let us take full advantage of God’s gift of the old saints, and let’s study John Owen again, so that we may grow in our own holiness and love of God.

 

Further Study

  • Have you made it a study and a serious work to kill the sin in your life?
  • Do you know what the Bible teaches about how to correctly kill sin by the Spirit, not by the flesh?
  • Biography of John Owen by John Piper
  • Book: Overcoming Sin and Temptation by John Owen