Chapter 16: Why the Saints Feel These Things So Burdensome
burden, as well as from the other burdens." Our rest is found only in Christ, from this burden, just as it is from the burden of the guilt of sin, the burden of the law, and the other burdens that have been spoken of.
Chapter 16 Why the Saints Feel These Things So Burdensome:
1. Because the Life of Grace is a Tender and Delicate Thing.
2. Because Grace Keeps the Soul in Continual Action.
And Why God Suffers Corruption, Despite Its Burdensomeness, to Remain in the Saints:
1. That He May Show Forth His Own Power.
2. That Their Faith Might Be Exercised.
3. That They May Be Driven to Prayer.
4. That They May Be Stirred Up to Repentance.
5. That He May Make Known His Wisdom.
6. To Manifest His Justice by Laying a Stumbling Block Before the Wicked.
7. That the Saints May Be Induced to Long More for Heaven.
With Two Consequences:
1. The Difference Between the Sins of the Godly and the Wicked.
2. Why the Saints Go on So Sadly in Their Ways.
It must indeed be that a gracious heart finds these things very burdensome.
First, because the life of grace, wherever it is found, is very tender and delicate. Nothing is so delicate and tender as the life of grace, and therefore it must necessarily be sensitive to the burden of corruption, depending on the degree to which it remains in the soul.
For example, a man or woman whose body is delicate, either through careful upbringing or naturally delicate spirits, will feel a burden more acutely than others whose spirits are more robust and able to bear burdens with less sensitivity. Grace, in turn, makes the heart's constitution delicate, fine, and pure. It puts the heart into a refined state, making it more sensitive to the presence of sin, however little may remain.
Secondly, where grace is present, corruption must also be very burdensome because grace keeps the soul in constant action.
Consider a man with a broken leg. If he could lie still and never move, the pain of his broken leg would not be as burdensome.
However, if this man must stir, walk, and move about, then his broken leg becomes exceedingly burdensome. Similarly, with the soul—if the soul were allowed to be still, asleep, and inactive, the presence of corruption would not be so grievous. But grace, wherever it is, stirs the soul into action. This is why grace is called the "divine nature"—because it is active and compels the soul to act for God and in the ways of life. Since grace drives the soul to action, and corruption is like the breaking of the bones, it must therefore be a heavy burden. That which hinders the activity of grace must necessarily be burdensome.
Take heed, therefore, when temptation to sin arises. Be careful not to "break your bones" spiritually. Why? Because once they are broken,
you will still need to keep stirring and acting for God. For a poor man, breaking a leg is a far worse plight than for a rich man. A rich man can sit by the fire or lie in bed for a month, but a poor man, if he breaks his leg, does not have that luxury—he must keep working. In the same way, those who have sluggish spirits may not find corruption as grievous, but those with active spirits, and especially those who have much grace, find their corruption much more burdensome. The more grace a man or woman has, the more active they will be for God, and the more burdensome corruption will feel to them.
Question:
But you will say, seeing the remaining corruption in the hearts of the saints is so burdensome, why does God, in His providence, order things such that His own dear saints are so troubled with their corruptions while they live in this world? God could deliver them from their corruptions, so why does He make them cry out, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?" God could just as easily perfect our sanctification as He has perfected our justification. Why does God order things in such a way that His own dear saints groan under this burden of corruption all their days?
Answer:
Briefly, though it is true that God could immediately take away all our corruptions as soon as we come to Jesus Christ, He does not. The Lord has many holy purposes for allowing His own people to be under this burden while they live in the flesh. Consider these:
First, that through this, He may show forth His own power. The power of Jesus Christ is exceedingly magnified in that He can uphold little sparks of grace in the midst of an ocean of corruption. He can
uphold poor, weak creatures under such burdens, carrying them on regardless, and ultimately bringing them to eternal life. The power and grace of Jesus Christ, and the power of God, is as much manifested in this as it is in keeping the heavens and the earth in their place, or sustaining them. The Lord does not appear more almighty in preserving heaven and earth than He does in keeping grace alive in the heart, despite all the remaining corruption. In this,
God receives glory in a way different from how He is glorified by the angels in heaven.
God's power is evident in upholding the angels, for if He did not, they would fall into evil, just as Adam and the fallen angels did. The glory of God is shown in upholding the angels, but His glorious power is even more evident in upholding the hearts of the saints amid their corruptions. This will be a special point for which the saints will praise God for all eternity—when they look back and see the condition they were in before their conversion, and even during their conversion. Though God granted them some grace, they will marvel at how much corruption remained in their hearts and how much struggle it took to maintain that little grace. They will stand in awe that such grace was kept alive amidst so much sin, like a tiny spark kept alive in the middle of a raging sea. It is one thing for a fire to burn when the sea is calm, but when the sea is tempestuous and yet a spark of fire survives amid all the tossing waves—this indeed is a demonstration of mighty power. The fact that grace is kept alive in your heart, despite so much corruption, shows the mighty power of God.
Second, the Lord orders it such that His own people remain under the burden of corruption because it draws out the exercise of faith in His Son, in which His soul takes infinite delight. God takes infinite delight in beholding the glorious working of faith in Jesus Christ.
You might ask, how does this appear so glorious in relation to our corruption? Consider this: for the angels in heaven to believe in God's eternal goodness is not as remarkable as when a poor soul, in the midst of all its corruptions, can still triumph in the free grace of God in Jesus Christ. Despite being vile, filthy, loathsome, and abominable to oneself, and justly deserving to be counted a burden and cast off by God and His saints, such a soul clings to Him. The soul casts itself upon Him, seeing Him as a gracious Father, a merciful God, a God who loves, and a God who delights in doing good. For the soul to exercise faith in God's grace in Christ is a glorious thing. But be careful not to mistake this for presumption.
Objection:
You might say, "For men to believe in God's mercy despite all their sin is rather presumption than faith."
Answer:
It is true, in many it is presumption; they mistake themselves. But in others, it is true faith, and God delights in it. You can tell the difference by this: true faith draws the heart to God, and the soul finds no better way to overcome the corruptions within than by exercising faith in the grace of God in Christ. I urge you to mark the difference between presumption and faith in Christ. Presumption trusts in God's mercy despite sin, but it only foments sin and makes one secure in it. On the other hand, when the soul truly exercises faith in the free grace of God despite corruption, it finds that there is no means more effective in curing and overcoming that corruption than this trust. If you find it so, you have no cause to fear—trust confidently in God's grace, for this is well-pleasing to Him. The Lord delights in it as much as He delights in the exercise of any grace whatsoever. In fact, since the saints will never exercise such an act of faith in heaven as they do here, God desires it to be in this world.
3. This is what drives God's people to Him in prayer. Nothing drives the saints to God with more earnestness than the weight of corruption they feel. Then they cry out to God most earnestly. God never hears such strong cries ascend to heaven in response to any affliction as He does when they feel the weight of their corruption.
Let me ask you this: has there not come as strong a cry from your heart to heaven over your corruptions as over any affliction you have ever endured?
4. The Lord is glorified in the exercise of repentance and humility.
Keeping His people in humility and a contrite spirit is exceedingly pleasing to Him. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and delights in the soul's evangelical repentance. The work of humility, mourning, and sorrow for sin in an evangelical way is a grace that pleases God greatly. This kind of repentance will not happen in heaven, so He allows it to happen here.
5. God also exercises His wisdom by bringing light out of darkness.
He not only turns His people's afflictions to their good, but He often works good even out of their sins. This is not to make us bold or presumptuous in sin, for we must avoid tempting God. But know this: God often works great good for the saints, even through their sins, by using those circumstances to accomplish His purposes in other ways.
6. There is also God's justice in it, as He lays a stumbling block before the wicked. When ungodly men see that even the godly, who have the most grace, still struggle with much corruption, they may rejoice in this and feel justified in their own condition. But they fail to see that God is using this to execute His just judgment upon them, hardening their hearts.
7. God allows corruption to remain so that the saints may long more for heaven. The Lord, in His providence, keeps His people under the burden of corruption in this world so that they will long to be with Him in heaven. When they finally enter heaven, they will fully realize the difference between their state there and their state here on earth.
Though corruption may be a great burden to us while we live here in this world, the Lord has many great purposes in allowing us to remain under it. Therefore, you cannot argue that God does not love you simply because He has not delivered you from this corruption.
Even if you have been praying for a long time to be delivered and are still not free, do not conclude that God does not love you. Remember,
Paul prayed once and again, and the answer he received was, "My grace is sufficient for you." So, even if you pray repeatedly under the burden of corruption, if God once says to your soul, "My grace is sufficient for you," that should be enough. Your corruption will not crush or destroy you—God will strengthen you, and that is sufficient.
Now from all that has been said, you may, by way of consequence, see:
First, a great difference between the sins of the godly and the sins of the wicked. The wicked sin, and the godly sin too. We often say, "We are all sinners," but sin is a burden to the godly, while it is a delight to the wicked.
Secondly, you may also see from this one reason why the saints of God sometimes walk so sadly in their ways—you do not know what burdens they are under.
But you may say, "We are better off for not feeling it." No, they do not have as much sin as you do. They have received some grace, while you have none. They have, in some degree, mortified their sins,
while you have not. Yes, their sins are pardoned, while yours are not.
Yet, even though they have some assurance that the guilt of their sin is removed, the very remaining corruption in their hearts is still a burden.
Objection:
You may ask, "Why should it be so burdensome if they know the guilt of their sin to be forgiven?"
Answer:
I urge you to observe this: there is a great difference between a carnal heart and a godly heart. A person with a carnal heart, once eased of the burden on their conscience, is no longer troubled. But a gracious heart, even if first burdened by the guilt of sin, and that guilt removed, still feels the burden of the remaining corruption. The very presence of some sin is a greater burden to them than all your sin is to you, even with its full strength and guilt upon you. But you, being dead in sin, do not feel it. If a whole building collapsed, those buried in the grave would not feel it. But if it fell upon the living, they would certainly feel it. So it is with the wicked—they carry the full weight of their corruption and guilt but feel nothing, for they are dead. The godly, however, though freed from guilt, feel even the slightest remaining sin as a burden. Even though they mortify their sin every day, what remains is still a heavy burden.
From this, you can understand why the saints are so watchful over their spirits—why they spend so much time and rise so early to hear the word. You might ask, "What is the reason?" It is because they know that if they do not labour under the burden of their corruptions to avoid sin, they will have to labour under the greater burden of sin itself afterward. You, on the other hand, do not watch over your sin because you do not understand how grievous a burden it becomes