Yesterday, as we dove into the lives of a “very exposed” Judah & Tamar, we saw the depth of their sin displayed before us, especially in Judah. Yet, we saw in the abounding of sin that grace abounds even more! God used the sin of Judah and Tamar for good and to eventually bring about his plan of redemption through their child Perez. Genesis 38, as Ruth 4 and Matthew 1 remind us, truly displays the amazing grace of our loving God to bring about transformation though we still struggle with sin during our mortal lives.

I mentioned in the sermon that we as God’s people need to have the Word of God so reflect in our hearts that it exposes our sin and in turn leads us to repentance. John Owen famously put it this way, “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” This quote comes from the book that I referenced, The Mortification of Sin, which is an exposition of Romans 8:13: “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Though we as Christians can never fully eliminate sin in this life, the Scripture encourages us to diligently fight sinful desires and put them to death. There are several books that help in this matter by diving into Scripture’s teaching of sin and our struggle. I would encourage you to get a copy of one or more of these books to help in this necessary fight.  I highly recommend:

• A modern edition of The Mortification of Sin by John Owen. I say modern because Owen, as with most puritans, is difficult to read. A modern version helps a great deal.  
• Speaking of modern books, Kris Lundgaard wrote a book in the late 90s called, The Enemy Within – straight talk about the power and defeat of sin. It is an excellent book in which he draws heavily from Owen making him even more accessible.
• Finally, I also mentioned yesterday a book by Mark Jones, Knowing Sin: Seeing a Neglected Doctrine Through the Eyes of the Puritans. It is a very recent and excellent book on the topic of sin with the help of several puritan writers including Owen. 

Owen says, “… it is the constant duty of believers to render a death blow to the deeds of the flesh, that they may not have life and strength to bring forth their destructive influence.” In considering our text from yesterday I pray that we as His people would take this to heart in this dark age in which we live. 

Peace of Christ,

Patrick