Know your Sin

 

Psalm 51:3 “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.”

For many of us in our personal lives, and sadly within many churches, we have become far to unconcerned with sin.  It’s rarely if ever preached on, never disciplined, and we personally have accepted it and gloss over it as part of who we are.  This isn’t something that’s occurred overnight, but has more been a slow progression and culture has aided in our callousness toward the recognition of sin in our lives.  We were born sinful and predisposed to overlook it in our lives.  In our culture, television, music, commercials, consumerist mentality, everything that we come in contact with has worked collectively with our nature to numb us toward sin.  Don’t believe me?  Just watch T.V. for a few minutes and you’ll either hear or see things that would not have been mainstream a few years ago but more likely been Rated-R.  It’s become so prevalent that it has actually worked to change the mindset of the everyday Christian.  Stop and think about what’s going on; our sensitivity toward sin has become so minimized that we now create faux arguments, which we claim to be Biblical, to support our sinful behaviors, such as our entertainment choices or so called “freedoms”.  The Bible calls for us to “be holy” (I Peter 1:15) yet that prosecuting statement gets often overlooked in our defense against sin.

Charles Spurgeon offers the following thoughts on the weightiness of sin in our lives:

Beware of the light thoughts of sin.  At the time of conversion, the conscience is so tender, that we are afraid of the slightest sin.  Young converts have a holy timidity, a godly fear lest they should offend against God.  But alas! Very soon the fine bloom upon these first ripe fruits is removed by the rough handling of the surrounding world; the sensitive plant of young piety turns into a willow in after life, too pliant, too easily yielding.  It is sadly true, that even a Christian may grow by degrees so callous, that the sin which once startled him does not alarm him in the least.  By degrees men get familiar with sin.  The ear in which the cannon has been booming will not notice slight sounds.  At first a little sin startles us; but soon we say, Is it not a little one?  Then there comes another, larger, and then another, until by degrees we begin to regard sin as but a little ill; and then follows an unholy presumption: We have not fallen into open sin.  True, we tripped a little, but we stood upright in the main.  We may have uttered one unholy word, but as for the most of our conversation, it has been consistent.  So we palliate sin; we throw a cloak over it; we call it by dainty names.  Christian, beware how thou thinkest lightly of sin.  Take heed lest thou fall by little and little.  Sin, a little thing? Is it not a poison?  Who knows its deadliness?  Sin, a little thing?  Do not the little foxes spoil the grapes?  Doth not the tiny coral insect build a rock which wrecks a navy?  Do not little strokes fell lofty oaks?  Will not continual droppings wear away stones?  Sin, a little thing?  It girded the Redeemer’s head with thorns, and pierced His heart!  It made Him suffer anguish, bitterness, and woe.  Could you weigh the least sin in the scales of eternity, you would fly from it as from a serpent, and abhor the least appearance of evil.  Look upon all sin as that which crucified the Savior, and you will see it to be exceeding sinful.

How true this is.  When we begin to sweep what we call “little” sins away until like a layer of skin to a callous our hearts become more and more hardened.  Our conscience becomes more willing to overlook sin until our lives take the appearance of being no different than that of nonbelievers.  We begin to watch the same shows, laugh at the same jokes, drink the same drinks, but yet we claim Christ as Savior and declare that He gives us freedom to do those things.  Meanwhile those of the world look at us a hypocrites and rightly so as we mock the name of the Lord with our actions.  Oh the dangers of not knowing our sin.

King David did not downplay his sin.  When confronted by Nathan about his murderous adulterous affair, he was sincerely broken over his sins.  How easy it would’ve been for him to sweep his transgressions away by claiming he had every right as king to do what he pleased.  We’ve talked here before about King Herod and his murderous schemes, his adulterous, incestuous affairs yet he felt entitled to act this way because he was king, but not so with David.  I often wonder if as Christians we don’t have a little bit of King Herod’s entitlement mindset and think that because we have been saved by grace through faith that we are permitted certain “freedoms” or pleasures.

David felt the weight of his sin in his life and was broken by it.  He knew his sins and came face to face with them.  And he cried out to God for forgiveness.  1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.  Selah  5acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah” Psalm 32:1-5 ESV

It’s time for us as believers in the body of Christ to likewise begin to feel the weight of sin in our lives.  We need to come face to face with the fact that we are not good, that even our good deeds are nothing, “all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” Isaiah 64:6 When we come to this realization and know our sin, we begin to see how unworthy we are to stand before the Holy God.  We can begin to understand that we’re not entitled to anything, but instead reliant on God for everything.  The weight of our sin should break us, it should make us feel like King David and swim in sorrow at night in our sheets.  Only then can a loving God put us back together and mold us in the image of His Son.  Only then can we truly realize our need for a Savior and that life apart from a total reliance upon Him is impossible.  Know your sin.  Repent of them. And run to Jesus Christ for forgiveness.

 

About the author

Christian saved by grace through faith.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

%d bloggers like this: