Against What Is Against God: A Meditation on John Gill's Second 'Holy Acting with Respect to Sin'
Second, in a dislike of sin, and a displicency at it; it is displeasing to him, as it is contrary to the holy nature of God, a breach of his righteous law, and is in its own nature exceeding sinful, as well as disagreeable in its effects and consequences. [1]
God must be our greatest pleasure.
If God is our greatest delight and treasure, we will take a disliking towards that which is contrary to him if we wish to grow in our sanctification. If God is our greatest love, then sin must be our greatest displeasure. The sanctified man takes great displeasure in sin because it is an affront to the God he loves. He hates sin because it kills and destroys, bringing forth death (Jas. 1:15).
What this requires us to have is a grand view of God as he's revealed himself in Scripture. Without a grand view of God, our pleasures and our pleasures are out of order. Unfortunately, as C.S. Lewis states, "we are far too easily pleased." [2] Our delighting and pleasures are all thrown out of wack because we have often have such a small view of God. Our loves become distorted because God is not seen as the greatest one to be loved with all of our being (Matt 22:37-38). We fail to see him as holy and perfect and without sin (Deut. 32:4; Is. 6). We forget that he is goodness and light (1 Jn. 1:5; 3 Jn. 11) and the ground of being itself (Rom. 11:36). Therefore, we miss the reality that breaking his law, even in any minor way, going against goodness itself.
Sin must receive our greatest displeasure.
John Gill demonstrates to us that it is the duty of the sanctified man to disapprove of sin, whenever it arises in his heart, mind, speech or actions. In order to war against sin, it must not gain one bit of a foothold or be dismissed as something minor. All sin, no matter how small, is that which is against God, therefore all sin should be treated with the greatest displeasure.
Perhaps this is a rebuke to the reader as it is to me. How often do we treat sin lightly? "It's not a big deal, it's only a small thing." "It's not hurting anyone." These are things we tell ourselves. All the while, we forget that it is even the small sin that is against God and for which Christ died.
It may be, dear reader, that the lack of your displeasure of sin is a sign of your lack of delight in God. Sin does not seem all that bad because God does not seem all that good. If you are experiencing this, I'd ask you, dear friend, to drink of the well of the Word. It is in the Word that you experience and taste of the goodness of the Lord (1 Pet. 2:3-4). It is there that you gain a greater experience of the beauty and majesty of God.
[1] John Gill, A Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity Abridged: A System of Evangelical and Practical Truths, Deduced from the Sacred Scriptures, Edited by Jordan L. Steffaniak, et al (Wake Forest, NC: Hanover Press, 2025), 255.
[2] C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory: And Other Addresses (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1949), 26.
Comments