Read this great bit this morning from A Gospel Primer for Christians. It reminds me of much that John Piper and Samuel Storms have said, echoing the words of Edwards, Calvin and others. Plenty to consider here.
Though saved, I am daily beset by a sinful flesh that always craves those things that are contrary to the Spirit. These fleshly lusts are vicious enemies, constantly waging war against the very good of my soul. Yet they promise me fullness, and their promises are so deliciously sweet that I often find myself giving in to them as if they were friends that have my best interests at heart.
You don’t hear many people talk like that. But this is the reality of our sinful nature and the power of temptation.
On the most basic of levels, I desire fullness, and fleshly lusts seduce me by attaching themselves to this basic desire. They exploit the empty spaces in me, and they promise that fullness will be mine if I give in to their demands. When my soul sits empty and is aching for something to fill it, such deceptive promises are extremely difficult to resist.
Yes, it is when we are empty that we linger or roam about looking for something to fill that hole in the soul. It can even be a good thing used wrongly to medicate the ache in our soul (zonked in front of the TV or internet). But sometimes we seek the forbidden to fill the hole. I hear today, for instance, that the porn industry pulled in over $7 billion last year. That’s 1/3 of what we spent on fast food (another vice of ours).
But we think we are the only one. And Satan likes us to think that! He heaps up guilt, shame and condemnation. We isolate ourselves (as Bonhoeffer notes) trying to find a scrap of self-righteousness that might ease the new pain of guilt.
Consequently, the key to mortifying the fleshly lusts is to eliminate the emptiness within me and replace it with fullness, and I accomplish this by feasting on the gospel. Indeed, it is in the gospel that I experience a God who glorifies Himself by filling me with His fullness. … And He lavishes gospel blessings upon me with the goal that I “be filled up to all the fullnes of God.”
What happens to my appetites for sin when I am filled with the fullness of God in Christ? Jesus provides this answer: “He who continually comes to me will never hunger or thirt again.” Indeed, as I perpetually feast on Christ and all of his blessings found in the gospel, I find that my hunger for sin diminishes and the lies of lust simply lose their appeal. … And nothing so mortifies the flesh like satisfaction in him.
This is what is missing in so much preaching today. This is why books like this, and especially Dynamics of Spiritual Life by Richard Lovelace, are so important. If you are a pastor, you need to read that book- repeatedly!
Cavman Considers 
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