Sinclair B. Ferguson

In his collected works it's actually got a title, On Some Blemishes in Christian Character.

If I remember rightly, Newton talks about seven different characters and we've thought only about a few of them.

But if you've been listening, perhaps you've recognized yourself or at least parts of yourself in one or other of these characters.

And I want us now as we come towards the end of the week to ask the question, if I recognize a blemish in my Christian character, something that seems to obscure the grace and graciousness of Jesus Christ, is there a remedy?

Is there a pathway I can follow to spiritual transformation?

Whatever you come to realize is distorting the image of the Lord Jesus in you, be sure to give it a name.

I think it's part of the wisdom of John Newton that when he described these people, he specified their name.

And, in fact, that's what Scripture does.

Scripture encourages us to confess our faults, but Scripture actually encourages us also not to be vague about them, to confess our faults in general, but to specify them, to give them names.

It's always intrigued me that in Ephesians 5 the Apostle Paul says there are things that shouldn't be named among believers, and yet in Colossians 3 verse 5 he actually names those very things.

What explains the paradox?

It's this.

If we don't have a clear sight of the target that we want to destroy in our lives, then we will miss it.

Unless we confess to the Lord, Lord, the blemish on my Christian character and walk is called whatever it is, it's unlikely that we really will be delivered from it.

So we need to learn to name the distortion.

Here's a second principle I think that's helpful.

Write down the name of the opposite grace of your blemish.

Write down on a piece of paper the nature of your blemish, name it, and then write down opposite.

the grace, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that is the opposite of your blemish.

And I do mean write it down.