I couldn't settle on anything to narrate this morning and decided to just speak about some things that were reflections, and recalled a revival story I had read from James Hall and the Revival in North Carolina in 1802. At then end I read from Ruth Bryan's diary, and somehow tied it all together.

Believers may be taught what is the power and effectiveness of that plague of sin that is in and among them by the effects the same plague produces in and among others, the unregenerate—who have not those corrections of its poison and those preservatives from death with which the Lord Jesus Christ has furnished believers. John Owen Indwelling Sin Chapel Library Edition.

Indwelling sin brings men into habitual declension by taking men off from their watch against the returns of Satan. When our Lord Christ comes first to take possession of any soul for Himself, He binds that strong man and spoils his goods; He deprives him of all his power, dominion, and interest. Satan being thus dispossessed and frustrated in his hopes and expectations, leaves the soul, as finding it newly mortified to his baits. Owen, John. Indwelling Sin Chapel Library Edition.

The Law discovers sin. Sin in the soul is like a secret feverish distemper in the body. Its being unknown and unperceived is one great means of its prevalence. Sin in the soul is like traitors in a civil state: while they lie hidden, they vigorously carry on their design. The greatest part of men in the world know nothing of this sickness, yea, death of their souls. Though they have been taught somewhat of the doctrine of it, yet they know nothing of its power. They know it not so as to deal with it as their mortal enemy. John Owen. Indwelling Sin Chapel Library Edition.

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Consider the fearful eruptions of actual sin that have been in the lives of believers, and we shall find our position regarding indwelling sin evidenced. Should I go through at large with this consideration, I must recount all the sad and scandalous failings of the saints that are left on record in the holy Scripture. However, the particulars of them are known to all so that I shall not need to mention them, nor the many aggravations with which they are attended in their circumstances. chapellibrary org