Sin’s Reality.
SIN is an awful reality. It is one of the most stupendous facts in the universe. We feel and witness its dreadful power every day. Unless we are willfully or stupidly blind this must be so. Its devastating effects are appalling, and are quite beyond the wisdom or power of man to grapple with. There are few families in this country, with all its enlightenment, but have some skeleton in the cupboard as the result of sin. There are few that have not tasted its terrible bitterness, with heart-break and disappointment. It has put the whole world out of joint, and turned it into a moral chaos, a vast cemetery.
Conviction of Sin.
Let anyone try to stay the foul plague he finds in his own heart, and he will soon be convinced of sin’s reality. Your own utter helplessness to do so will soon convict you of it. Your experience will be that of a man as great in moral force, if not greater, than most men. He tried hard to stay the plague in his own heart, but without any fruitful effect, except to prove to himself its incurable nature, and his utter inability to cope with it. His graphic language, after a long experiment, is, “When I would do good evil is present with me, and how to perform that which is good I find not.” As a result he fell back into himself in the helplessness of despair and cried, “O wretched man that I am: who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:2424O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24)).
The disordered state of the world does not flow from nothing; there must be a reason for it. Every sane man must feel this. What can be the cause but sin, which is the result of the alienation of man’s affections from God, their proper object and glorious center? The corruption and violence within and around us all flow from this fruitful root.
Man’s chief end is “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” But man has not fulfilled the end or object of his creation. He has willfully departed from God, without a just cause, and put himself under the power of another master, to whom he is bound and enslaved by his lusts.
Sad fact: who dare deny it?
Confession of Sin
is the result of deep conviction of sin. In whatever way that conviction may be brought about, it must be the result of experience, and not of pure theory. Theory is good in any department of life, but experience is better.
When David said, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight” (Psa. 51:44Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. (Psalm 51:4)), and also, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psa. 51:55Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Psalm 51:5)), it was the result of deep experimental, penitential abasement before the One he had sinned against. No proud man like Paul would have said he was the chief of sinners if he did not feel it. Nor would a strictly self-righteous man like Job have said, “Behold, I am vile” (Job 40:44Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. (Job 40:4)), as he abased himself in dust and ashes, without a cause.
Forgiveness of Sin.
No one ever sought forgiveness until the conviction of sin was truly wrought in him. None ever confess sin until convicted of sin’s awful reality in themselves, through seeing their own corruption, like Job, or as the result of a fall, like David.
The deeper and greater the pressure of sin’s guilt or corruption is felt, the more pressing will the desire be to get clear of the guilt, and free from the power of the awful festering sore.
“There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared.” said the truly penitent psalmist. We do not receive forgiveness, and then go back to grovel in sin’s corruption, as some often say and vainly suppose. If God forgives us, it is that His fear may be implanted in our hearts. That will effectually deliver us from sin’s corruption, and thus from its enslaving power. I do not say that a believer may not be overtaken and ensnared by the flesh; but when the fear of God is in his heart he will be humbled about it, and will confess it, whereupon he is frankly forgiven. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:99If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)).
In the fierce light of Calvary’s dark and dreadful transaction, we can understand the necessity of repentance on the part of man toward God. Repentance is the result of deep conviction of sin, of which true confession to God is the direct and positive evidence.
“When they had nothing to pay he frankly forgave them both.” Repentance is the evidence of a man’s consciousness that he has nothing to pay, that he is hopelessly bankrupt. Had he anything wherewith to meet his liabilities he would not repent. Realizing that he is penniless and bankrupt, he comes to a forgiving God and seeks for mercy. When he does so he is freely forgiven, on the ground of God’s grace in Christ toward him.
Forgiveness is offered to all without condition, but all do not feel their need enough to embrace it. Those who realize their need are glad to accept God’s offer.
Deliverance from Sin’s Power
is the result of being brought under the power of another object. From sin’s awful presence we shall have deliverance when the Lord comes to change our bodies, or death conducts our spirits to be “with Christ, which is far better.”
It is of the utmost importance for those who know forgiveness to distinguish between the presence and power of sin, and also the difference between sin in the flesh and sins on the conscience.
In Hebrews 10 the believer is said to have “no more conscience of sins,” because all sin has been once and forever purged away by the blood of Christ. The believer’s conscience is perfected forever by the one perfect sacrifice of Christ, offered for all his sins once for all time. The daily offerings under the law could not do this, therefore the priest’s work was never done. Christ’s one offering having done it, His work is now complete, the evidence of which is that He sits at God’s right hand in heaven, in the value or completeness of His own finished work.
That does not mean that the believer is not conscious or sensible that sin is still dwelling within him as a foe and dreadful traitor against which he must ever watch and pray, that it might not reign within, and thus control him. Walking in the Spirit, and in the enjoyment and power of grace, we disown its unlawful claims upon us.
If God will never call to mind or think upon my sins anymore, because of the work of Christ, which met the claims of His justice, it is most foolish for me to do so. All my sins of thought, word, and deed were borne and purged away when Christ died, and therefore God says: “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins” (Isa. 44:2222I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. (Isaiah 44:22)). If they are blotted out His eye never sees them, hence He says: “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Heb. 10:1717And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 10:17)).
But while this gives settled peace to the awakened conscience, it does not deliver from the consciousness or sense of indwelling sin. In fact, it is when we learn that all our sins are purged away, and we are thereby brought into peace with God, that we begin to be most conscious of the evil in us.
This need not disturb our peace. God who loves us perfectly knows all about it. It never surprises Him that we should find sin working in us, nor does it alter. His great love to us. The knowledge of this should save us from being downcast or disappointed about it.
But though we should not be perplexed or disappointed, or lose our peace, the unchanging basis of which is the finished work of Christ, yet we ought to be much exercised before God in prayer that it might not reign in us and rule over us. We have received the Spirit to enable us to be occupied with an object greater than ourselves, and therefore greater than the power of sin.
Deliverance Through a Person.
The love of a person will control the heart and mind. What the mind and heart are under the power of will give character to the whole life. This was often proved with Napoleon’s soldiers, especially with one of his officers who was fatally wounded on the battlefield. As he lay dying, he called Napoleon to him, and whispered into his ear these words, “If I had ten thousand lives I would lay them down for your Majesty.”
The glorious Person of the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God ought in like manner (to say the least) to control us. He controlled Paul much more. No soldier ever suffered for a master what Paul endured. Read the list of his experiences as recorded in 2 Corinthians 11 until you stand aghast, and wonder and weep with shame at yourself. The moving, controlling force of that man’s whole life is summed up in two verses― “He loved me and gave himself for me.” “The love of Christ constraineth us.”
This is the true secret of power—of victory over every form of evil and every opposing foe. The nearer we get to Him the more we shall come under His powerful influence. The more we are influenced by Him the less the things that once controlled us will affect us, and we shall count everything but rubbish that we may win Christ.
Dr Chalmers said that “Christianity worked by the expulsive power of a new principle.” It has been said by another, “rather by the power of a new affection.” It presents Christ and the whole circle of His interests, so that the mind and affections should have the fullest occupation.
If the Spirit is in us to empower us to break with every idol, and make a bold stand for Christ, He does it by presenting Christ in all His moral beauty and attractiveness to us. Thus we are made to desire Him, and seek His blessed companionship, by which we get imbued with His Spirit and become like Him.
The more we desire Christ the more we shall seek Him: the more we seek Him the more interest we shall take in the things that belong to Him. As He becomes everything to us His interests become paramount with us and absorb us. When this is really so, we cannot help making Him known to others by life and lip.
P. W.