Good Like a Medicine

This is a really long chapter, so I think I’ll just go for it with the quotes:

Device (3) - By extenuating and lessoning of sin. Ah! saith Satan, it is but a little pride, a little wordliness, a little uncleanliness, a little drunkenness, etc. As Lot said of Zoar, ‘It is but a little once, and my soul shall live’ (Gen. 19:20). Alas! saith Satan, it is but a very little sin that you stick so at. You may commit it without any danger to your soul.

Remedy (1) - First, solemnly consider, That those sins which we are apt to account small, have brought upon men the greatest wrath of God, as the eating of an apple, gathering a few sticks on the Sabbath day, and touching of the ark… Oh! therefore, when Satan says it is but a little one, do thou say, Oh!, but those sins that thou callest little, are such as will cause God to rain hell out of heaven upon sinners as he did upon the Sodomites.

Remedy (2) - Seriously to consider, That the giving way to a less sin makes way for the committing of a greater… If we commit one sin to avoid another, it is just we should avoid neither, we having not law nor power in our own hands to keep off sin as we please; and we, by yielding to the lesser, do tempt the tempter to tempt us to the greater. Sin is of an encroaching nature; it creeps on the soul by degrees, step by step, till it hath the soul to the very height of sin. David gives way to his wandering eye, and this led him to those foul sins that caused God to break his bones, and to turn his day into night, and to leave his soul in great darkness… Satan will first draw thee to sit with the drunkard, and then to sip with the drunkard, and then at last to be drunk with the drunkard. He will first draw thee to be unclean in thy thoughts, and then to be unclean in thy looks, and then to be unclean in thy words, and at last to be unclean in thy practices…

Remedy (3) - The third remedy against this third device that Satan haith to draw the soul to sin, is solemnly to consider, That is sad to stand with God for a trifle… It is the greatest unkindness that can be showed to a friend, to adventure the complaining, bleeding, and grieving of his soul upon a light and a slight occasion. So it is the greatest unkindness that can be shown to God, Christ, and the Spirit, for a soul to be put God upon complaining, Christ upon bleeding, and the Spirit upon grieving, by yielding to little sins. Therefore, when Satan says it is but a little one, do thou answer, that oftentimes there is the greatest unkindness showed to God’s glorious majesty, in the acting of the least folly, and therefore thou wilt not displease thy best and greatest friend, by yielding to his greatest enemy.

Remedy (4) - The fourth remedy against this device of Satan, is seriously to consider, That there is great danger, yea, many times most danger, in the smallest sins. ‘A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump’ (1 Cor. 5:6). Greater sins do sooner startle the soul, and awaken and rouse up the soul to repentance, than lesser sins do… There is oftentimes greater danger to our bodies in the least diseases that hang upon us, because we are apt to make light of them, and to neglect the timely use of means of removing them, till they are grown so strong that they prove mortal to us…

Remedy (5) - The fifth remedy against this device of Satan, is solemnly to consider, That other saints have chosen to suffer the worst of torments, rather than they would commit the least sin, i.e. such as the world accounts. So as you may see in Daniel and his companions, that would rather choose to burn, and be cast to the lions, than they would bow to the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up… that they must either fall into sin, or be cast into the fiery furnace, such was their tenderness of the honour and glory of God, and their hatred and indignation against sin, that they would rather burn than sin; they knew that it was far better to burn for their not sinning, than that God and conscience should raise a hell, a fire in their bosoms for sin.

Remedy (6) - The sixth remedy against this device of Satan, is, seriously to consider, That the soul is never able to stand under the guilt and weight of the least sin, when God shall set it home upon the soul…

… Some who have but projected adultery, without any actual acting it; and others, having found a trifle, and made no conscience to restore it, knowing, by the light of natural conscience, that they did not do as they would be done by; and others, that have had some unworthy thought of God, have been so frightened, amazed, and terrified for those sins, which are small in men’s account, that they have wished they had never been; that they could take no delight in any earthly comfort, that they have been put to their wits’ end, ready to make away themselves, wishing themselves annihilated…

Remedy (7) - The seventh remedy against this device is, solemnly to consider, That there is more evil in the least sin than in the greatest affliction; and this appears as clear as the sun, by the severe dealing of God the Father with his beloved Son, who let all the vials of his fiercest wrath upon him, and that for the least sin as well as for the greatest. Oh! how should this make us tremble, as much at the least spark of lust as at hell itself; considering that God the Father would not spare his bosom Son, no, not for the least sin, but would make him drink the dregs of his wrath!

– Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices (pp. 38-45)

There are so many worthwhile thoughts to ponder here. For me, the most sobering ones are in Remedies 2 and 6: tempting Satan to tempt me more by giving in to ‘little sins,’ and realizing that a very real cause for depression can be the giving way to ‘little sins’ in our hearts, and then seeing the reality of how it can (or could have) been our downfall.

Often, as with many things, the battle with a sin gets worse before it gets better, and that can be a depressing place to be. I am convinced that too often we try to “wash away” depression in the heart and soul by making light of circumstances and altogether ignoring a great possible root of it. The bottom line is that giving in to small sins and thus opening the door to Satan’s work in our hearts can cause terrible, terrible agony of mind and spirit! In these situations our typical “earthly solutions” can possibly be the very enemies to healing because what we need is to see how, in our “small sin,” we are really playing with fire, dancing toward a cliff, standing over a deep well. I am ever learning: it is the disease of our stubbornness to put away small sins, not another disease, that can cause us such pain and turmoil.

Another thought… This is when, in my humble opinion, true Christian friends are needed the very most. A falling Christian who is beginning to grieve the Holy Spirit and wander away desperately needs a good friend, whether a spouse, friend, or both, to speak truth to him and pull him back and help put your eyes back on Jesus where they belong.

Of course it is up to us to be honest about our struggle with sin. A good friend will see how you are hurting (even if you are defensive) and love you back to the Cross. A good friend really takes the time and energy to listen, see where you are, and patiently prays with you and for you. A good friend understands that you may be very depressed from the guilt and accusations that Satan is throwing at you, and they love you with firmness and tenderness, rooted in confidence in the Christ. (And sometimes a good friend tells you to JUST STOP IT, and that may be exactly what you need!)