Me and Sin
As followers of Christ, we claim to be delivered from sin's power. Yet multitudes of believers today continue to cling to lusts, habits, grudges, bitterness. Where are these Christians, you ask? They're all around you. You find them worshipping in churches every Sunday. If it isn't uprooted and destroyed, it takes over the very throne of your life. It affects your conscience, causing you to lose all discernment. Slowly, it begins to justify your lust to you - even giving you scriptural arguments to support it. If you think the Holy Spirit is going to free you from sin's grip without your full cooperation, you're mistaken. God forbid that any Christian should sit back and indulge his lust while waiting for the Holy Ghost to pluck it out of him.. "By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil" (Proverbs 16:6). "Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil" (3:7). "The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death" (14:27). The "fear of God" referred to here indicates much more than reverential awe and respect. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant" (Psalm 25:14). Without the fear of God, we cannot experience lasting deliverance from sin. "There is no fear of God before (their) eyes" (36:1). Many Christians are not aware of the terrible danger they're in when they continue in sin. Only the Holy Spirit's flaming arrows of truth can awaken their souls to the godly fear they need to shake off sin. Let me share with you a few of the flaming arrows of reality the Lord has used to pierce my soul.
1. God sees the sins of Christians as worse than those of unbelievers. Most believers think their hidden sin isn't serious simply because they don't act on it. But God sees the heart - and the sin he sees within us far outweighs that of wicked sinners. Let me explain.
Try to think of the vilest act ever committed by an evil, unsaved man or woman. We see an example of God's perspective in Revelation. He tells the Laodicean church, "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot" (Revelation 3:15). He's saying, "You're not what you profess to be. You tell yourself, 'I'm in need of nothing.' But I say you're getting lukewarm. Everyone else sees you as upright and prosperous. But I see your heart - and I know that the zeal you once had for me has dried up." Proverbs tells us, "Out of (the heart) are the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23). Likewise, "As (a man) thinks in his heart, so is he" (23:7). These verses are sharp arrows of the Holy Ghost. They pierce our hearts, telling us, "You can't hide from God's sight. Everything you've secretly hidden in your soul is going to be brought into the open. It doesn't matter if you act on it or not. God won't excuse your secret lust."
2. The book of Hebrews continually tells us that we will harden our heart.
"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin" (Hebrews 3:12-13).
Perhaps at one time you trembled at hearing God's word. You melted whenever you heard a fiery-hot sermon you knew was meant especially for you. You had an ear to hear the Spirit's voice. But for some time now, you've been flirting with sin - toying with it, rolling it around in your mind. And now, because sin has worked its deceit in you, you can sit unmoved through any sermon, no matter how anointed it is. But instead, your sin becomes less and less obvious to you. Soon you'll end up totally blind, with a false peace. And, finally, your sin will spill over the boundaries you set for it, flowing wildly into every kind of evil act.
3. God is a Father, and He will have to take you to the woodshed.
The Psalmist writes the following about one of God's prime covenant promises: "If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips" (Psalm 89:30-34).
The Bible tells us that whomever the Lord loves, he chastens. it hidden for months on end. Finally, God said, "Enough" - and he sent a prophet to expose David's sin. Nathan used an analogy to tear apart every excuse David had, until finally the king admitted, "I've sinned - I'm guilty." David knew all of this could have been avoided. Every painful event was an agonizing reminder of the consequences of his sin. He expressed his unending pain in the Psalms, writing that his soul was in constant torment, that he was cast down in confusion, that his couch was a bed of tears. He cried out in agony, "God, why have you forsaken me?" And he wept in fear, "Holy Spirit, don't depart from me." God's rod of conviction brought David to the very brink of his sanity. And, as you'll see next, it also brought him to the very brink of the grave.
4. You will not experience the power of the Holy Spirit and loose the peace of God.
David wrote, "My strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed" (Psalm 31:10). Like a hole in the oil tank of a car, your sin will slowly drain you of all resources. Your peace, joy and strength will literally drip away until they're gone completely.
David confessed, "Neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin" (38:3). He was saying, "All my strength is gone because of my sin. My body has become weak because of what I've done. My iniquity simply won't allow me to rest."
David was experiencing God's piercing arrows. He wrote, "Thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore" (38:2). Yet this beloved servant was being taught the fear of God. And part of his painful lesson was that he had lost the peace of the Lord. Now he cried out, "He weakened my strength" (102:23). It doesn't matter who you are - if you harbor a secret sin, you'll experience continual disturbances in your life, your home, your family, your work. Everything you touch will be out of kilter. You'll become increasingly restless, confused, tossed about by endless worries and fears. And all your peace and strength will be drained from you.
5. God will not use you! I have seen men mightily used of the Spirit who were later put on the shelf by God. The Lord simply told them, "I'm sorry, son. I love you, I forgive you, and my mercy will come through for you. But I can't use you."
To me, this is one of the most awful things imaginable. Yet it happened to King Saul. The Bible tells us, "Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commands of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue" (1 Samuel 13:13-14).
What awful words. God told the king, "Saul, you could have had my blessing in your life continually. I was on the verge of establishing your kingdom in Israel forever. I had great plans for you, plans to use you mightily. But you wouldn't deal with your sin. Instead, you became even more bitter and hardhearted. So, now I'm through with you." Immediately, God's Spirit left the king - and in that moment, Saul was no longer of use to the kingdom. From that point forward, everything Saul did was in the flesh.
In the past several years, we have seen God's Spirit blow grievously on the ministries of fleshly pastors, evangelists and TV preachers. God removed his blessing from them overnight, causing their work to wither before the world's eyes. And right now, God is on the verge of telling others in the church they no longer have a place of usefulness in his kingdom. I think of professors in Christian colleges who delight in robbing students of any faith they possess. These teachers' spirits have withered, becoming hollow, empty and fruitless. Now their only goal is to escape hell.
That is where it all ends when you continue in sin: you become absolutely barren and fruitless, of no more use to God's kingdom.
Is the Lord dealing with your sin right now? Has he shot arrows of conviction into your heart, causing you to feel guilt over your sin? Don't fear - that is the gift of God. He is planting his divine power in you, teaching you, "Only through my holy fear will you depart from your sin." Once you're convinced of the exceeding sinfulness of your sin, you'll be ready for the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Acts tells us, "Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied" (Acts 9:31). So, what exactly does it mean to walk in the fear of the Lord? It means reminding yourself of his warnings.
