the road leads where it led

Obviously i'm aware that not everything written by and old dead dude is great...otherwise we wouldn't have needed the Reformation. I am at the moment reading 'Glorious Freedom' a 200 page exposition on 2 Corinthians 3:17 and 18 by Richard Sibbes. The puritans were thorough, you can give them that. I now reproduce some of it...

Therefore Christians must not be discouraged with the stubborness and unwillingness of the flesh to do good duties. If we have a principle in us to fight our corruptions and to get good duties out of ourselves that is an argument for the new nature. God will perfect His own beginnings and submit the flesh more and more by the Spirit. We see what a sweet excuse our blessed Savior made for His disciples when they were dead hearted and drowsy, when they should have comforted Him in the garden: 'oh,' said he, 'the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak'...it is not so much corruption, though that were an ingredient, but nature itself. Christ saw a great deal of gold in the ore, so we see how He excused them...

I say this for the comfort of the best sort of Christians who think they are not set at liberty by the Spirit because they find some heaviness and dullness in good duties. As i said, while we live here, sin lives in us, but it does not reign...the Spirit of Christ maintains constant battle agains sin...

When the Israelites had a promise that God would give their enemies into their hands, the meaning was not that He would do it without a blow. They would fight, but in fighting they would overcome. So this is the liberty of sanctification is not a liberty that ends our combat with sin, but a liberty to keep them under, until subduing them little by little we have a perfect victory. What greater encouragement can a man have to fight his enemy than to know he is sure of final victory before he has begun.

There is so much wisdom and truth in there, but there are two things i really want to pick out. First of all that the freedom the Holy Spirit gives is a freedom to fight knowing that that the fight is won. We can take heart in the fact that there is enough grace to keep us faithful in the future. Just like there was in the past. Christ could have given us total and complete victory over sin in this life, but in His wisdom He hasn't. I guess so we can taste and see just how much better and greater and more glorious He is than sin. Because we have to fight for Him. Also, Christ remembers our nature. Our wonderful Savior knows our flesh is weak, knows were are sleeping when He needs us the most. He wants our hearts to be towards Him, then He can go to work on the rest of us. And work He will, and win He will.