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{The Application
Application for the Ungodly
Embark with Christ
The Need of a Sinner for a Deep Sense of His Sin and Misery}
No person who does not see himself to be a sinner will pay attention to a savior. The healthy do not need a physician. Therefore the Lord Jesus said223 that, when the Spirit of God would come to Christianize the world, He would first convict the world of sin (John 16:7–11). He will:
Convict the world of sin;
Demonstrate them to be sinners;
Bring up their sins before their eyes;
Bring home their sins to be on their consciences;
Make them see and feel themselves to be the most vile and abominable of all creatures.224
Sin hides itself from the sinner’s eyes, and also hides all of its vileness and deformity. Or, if it is seen, it presents itself to the sinner as the sinner’s god, just as the witch of En Dor brought up the devil in Samuel’s cloak in front of Saul (1 Samuel 28:11–19).225 Look how many sins evil men have; this many are their gods. Their sins are their gods. Their gods feed them as they make a living from their sins. Their gods comfort and refresh them as they take pleasure in iniquity. Their gods shelter and hide them; they strengthen themselves in their wickedness. But now the Spirit of God plucks off the cloak and makes sin to be seen as sin and makes all of the sinner’s gods to be seen as so many devils. He brings forth into sight the blackness and filthiness of sin. He makes the sinner see himself to be an unclean and abominable thing. And with all of this, the Spirit brings forth the guilt of sin and sets all of these devils [sins, gods] to tormenting the sinner, filling him with fear, terror, and consternation. In this respect, He is called the Spirit of Bondage that works fear and trouble in the heart (Romans 8:15).226 The Spirit awakens a sleepy sinner into a kind of waking up in Hell. Lord, where am I? What is the meaning of these legions around me? What are these chains and fetters that are on me? What is the meaning of that black roll that is before my eyes full of curses, wrath, and woes? Lord, where am I? Have I been playing, sporting, and making merry, and my soul is in a such a case as this? But is there no hope of escaping out of this wretched state? I can see that this is no way to live. I am a dead man if I continue as I am. What may I do to be saved?
And, when a sinner is brought to this, there is some progress toward his embracing Christ. Yet, this is not all that is needed. He must be brought to utter despair of himself and all else except Christ.
223In John 16:8, Jesus prophesied concerning the work of the Holy Spirit from Pentecost forward.
224By “most vile and abominable of all creatures,” Alleine’s meaning is that each of us must personally accept and apply to ourselves what God said about all people both before and after the flood of Noah: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5 ESV). In God’s eyes, there is not a fundamental difference between any of us and any of the most notorious criminals, mass murderers, or tyrants that have ever lived. Also, unlike humans and angels, animals and other creatures are not moral beings and cannot sin; thus they cannot make themselves vile. As an aside, the editor wishes to suggest that perhaps one reason pets are so popular is that they do not sin against us. Whatever they may do that displeases us, such as chew or claw furniture, they are just acting according to their natural, animal nature without evil intent.
225Alleine’s point here that sin is essentially idolatry is completely biblical. Unfortunately, his example of Saul and the witch of En Dor may be a poor choice. Scripture does not say how things happened, only that Saul conversed with Samuel. For example, 1 Samuel 28:15 says: “Samuel said to Saul …” Obviously God overruled the original wicked intent. It is barely possible that Saul actually saw the devil and God forced the devil to present himself as Samuel and be the communications channel, but it is much more likely that God simply overruled the wicked intent by means of a divine vision or something. Whether Samuel was actually involved or not is uncertain, but Jesus, in the Transfiguration, did converse with Moses and Elijah. It is also certainly true that the devil can disguise himself as an angel (messenger) of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).
226Let the reader make a careful distinction here. The devil is an evil spirit of bondage who enslaves the sinner. He is an accuser of the brethren who brings sins to mind for evil purposes. But when the Holy Spirit acts as a Spirit of Bondage, He is a loving tutor who shows the sinner that he is in bondage to sin and that to seek to remedy the matter other than by Christ can only result in more bondage. He graciously brings the sinner to Christ, after which the Spirit of Bondage then acts as a Spirit of Adoption. Matthew Henry views this as also a reference to Old Testament times under the yoke of the ceremonial law and sacrificial system.
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