"For your name�s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great" (Psalm 25:11).
Posted : 14 Aug, 2011 12:21 PM
The knowledge of indwelling sin�its existence and power�is often exceedingly defective at conversion. And this ignorance may continue for years after. You see just enough sin to alarm your conscience, awaken conviction, and drive you to Christ. As a thing against God, you hate it, mourn over it, and seek its pardon through the atoning blood of Jesus. This is followed by a sweet and lively sense of its blotting out, and a growing desire after conformity to God.
But, oh, the unknown depths of sin! These you have never explored. What infinite wisdom and love are seen in hiding these depths from you at first! If our Lord were fully to have revealed the hidden evils of your heart when grace was only in the bud, when faith was feeble, when your views of the Lord Jesus where dim, when the "new creature" yet in its infancy, then deep and dark despair would have engulfed your soul. With, perhaps, just enough knowledge of Christ to go to him as a Savior; with just enough faith to touch the hem of his garment; the Eternal Spirit disclosed to you just the existence and the guilt of sin. A full disclosure might have shut you up in hopeless despair.
O beloved, it is sweet to remember the tender love of our Lord in your wedding to him. It is sweet to trace the gentleness of his first dealings with you in conversion. It is also sweet to bear in mind that what he then was, he still is�at this very moment.
But trace the work of the Spirit in the after days of your experience. Having called and regenerated you, he comes�in accordance with the design of the covenant of grace�to sanctify you. He is about to hallow God's Name within you. He is about to enlarge God's kingdom within you. He is about to stamp more deeply, and bring out more vividly and extensively on your soul, the varied contours of God's image. He is about to purify his temple more thoroughly. He is about to take a fresh possession for God. He is about to expel every rival that by slow and imperceptible degrees may have insinuated itself there. In a word, he is about to sanctify you.
And how does he commence this work? By disclosing to you the depths of indwelling sin. He shows sin, whose existence you had never imagined, to have its foremost dwelling inside your heart! He reveals iniquity, that you had never thought of, as lurking in secret ambush within.
Oh, what darkness, what evil, and what harmful principles are found to have so long existed, where you thought all was light, holiness, and decency! You startle, you shudder, and you shrink away, aghast at the discovery! "What!" says your alarmed soul, "does all this evil dwell within me? Do I have the seeds of such deep and dark depravity dwelling in me? Have I so long carried about these vile affections? It is amazing that these deep evils have not long ago broken out, to the wounding of my peace, and to the dishonoring of my God and Savior."
Thus better acquainting you with your own heart, almost a stranger to you before, the Holy Spirit awakens in your soul an ardent panting for holiness. In view of such a discovery, where can you fly except to the throne of grace? And so there you go, weeping, mourning, confessing. And your prayer is, "Lord, subdue these evils of my heart. I am overwhelmed with astonishment! Yes, 'I lie down in shame, and my dishonor covers me' (Jer. 3:25), that for so long I should have harbored these treacherous foes against you, O God of holiness and love. 'Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me' (Ps. 69:1�2). 'Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!' (Ps. 139:23�24)."
And now the Spirit deepens and strengthens your panting for sanctification. You, O believer, become set upon earnestly seeking holiness of heart. You see such an iniquity in sin as you never saw before. And seeing it, you abhor it. And abhorring it, you take it to the Spirit of holiness, that he might overcome and subdue it.
In this way, O believer, by leading you into a deeper acquaintance with the existence and power of indwelling sin, the blessed Spirit sanctifies you by making it the occasion of stirring up your desire for holiness.
And so, beloved, do not be utterly demoralized at the discovery of the hidden evil of your heart. That very discovery is sweet evidence to the fact that the Holy Spirit himself is working there. Whatever the sin that is brought to light�pride, deceit, carnality, inordinate affection, evil thoughts, unbelief, impatience�whatever it is, he is revealing it to you, not to wound and grieve you unnecessarily�oh no, he is a living and a gentle Spirit�but to beget this earnest desire in your heart, "O Lord, please conform me to your image. Please make me holy, as you are holy."
"For your name�s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great" (Psalm 25:11).
Posted : 14 Aug, 2011 01:55 PM
When a person is born again there is no sin in their heart is is brand new and not only is it totally brand new, it's conscious is swept clean.
Their is no sin nature in a christian whatsoever.
Satan (sin) leaves the building when Jesus comes on board.
Now when one is born again it is only the spirit of man that is new, the soul (the mind, the will, the emotions) are not made new, just as the body is not changed. but it is washed clean.
Eph 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
This man is spoken of in 2nd Cor 5:17:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
This man is described in 1st peter:1Pe 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
Usually when the bible speaks of the heart of man it is speaking of man as a spirit, also known as the inward man.
Ro 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
2Co 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
Jas 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
In this context the soul is mentioned the mind, the will, and emotions they are to be renewed by the word of God as this verse instructs us.
The holy spirit is man's helper not his doer, otherwise is totally against the nature of God.
When a christian sins it is because they have allowed their mind and body to do is it desires, instead of the new man in Christ dominating the body and the soul. as instructed in Rom 12: 1,2:
Romans 12:1 � I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
!2:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
The you in these verses is usually refereeing to the new man, or man the spirit is to present his body, to renew his mind.
The old man, the man of sin was buried with Christ in Baptism, he no longer exists.
Heb 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
"For your name�s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great" (Psalm 25:11).
Posted : 14 Aug, 2011 02:16 PM
1. We have the instruction in Eph. 6, for example, about putting on the whole armor of God and by so doing to equip ourselves to resist the Devil and ward off his fiery darts. But that is a figurative manner of speaking. It is an inspiring and helpful image, but it is not an explicit guide to resisting temptation. Taken together it still means that, in one way or another, we must answer sinful desires with our Christian faith -- with what we know to be right, with the promises God has made to us, with the warnings God has given us -- and must have the will to do so when it counts.
2. Or, there is the wisdom repeated often enough in the Bible that those who would be holy should, whenever possible, avoid the occasions of sin and temptation. That is, the best way to resist temptation is to avoid it whenever possible. "Do not go near the door of her house" the father in Proverbs tells his son concerning the sexual temptress. "Flee youthful lusts," we read in James. And we see Joseph doing just that in Potiphar's house. Instead of standing and discussing the adultery that Potiphar's wife was proposing, he ran from the house leaving his cloak behind him.
But, everyone who knows the spiritual warfare, who is familiar with the sinful desires that war against the flesh knows that that advice, true as it is, in a sense, only carries the issue back a step. For, as McCheyne admitted concerning himself, our problem is that we want to be tempted, we want to get as near to the sin as we can, telling ourselves all the while that we will not finally succumb. Whether it is gossip, lust, greed, or the fear of man, we take steps toward the sin which are already sin! To avoid the occasion of sin requires that already, at that first point, we resist the desires that war against the soul.
3. Or, there is the Bible's emphasis on the active pursuit of one's spiritual duty as a great protection against sin. Like Nehemiah, we should be able to say to sinful desires when they surface in our hearts and seek to draw us away from the will of God, "I am doing a great work and cannot come!" We see David fall at exactly that moment when he lays down his responsibilities. "In the Spring, when the Kings go out to battle, David stayed in Jerusalem." And because he did he saw Bathsheba bathing and a chain of events was set in motion that would have been impossible if he had only been where he belonged, doing what he was to be doing as the King of Israel. Paul says the same thing in Gal. 5. "Keep in step with the Spirit" and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Live the Christian life in all its parts with a vengeance; it is the best way to ride roughshod over your sins. And, in any particular case, if you struggle with stinginess, practice generosity with a vengeance; if you find your eye wandering, throw yourself heart and soul into loving your wife; if you find it within yourself to take advantage of others, make it the great interest of your life to be scrupulously careful to give others more than anyone could say was due from you, and so on.
Sin and sinful desires of the mind, will, and affections will continue for all of Gods elect until he comes. You can deny him all you want.
"For your name�s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great" (Psalm 25:11).
Posted : 14 Aug, 2011 02:37 PM
There is truth in that concerning sin the I want is not in line with scripture, the spirit of man does not desire sin, for he is willing if he is born again, the problem with those that speak as such have never received the holy ghost, as scripture teaches, thus denying the power.
"For your name�s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great" (Psalm 25:11).
Posted : 14 Aug, 2011 02:47 PM
So you would also deny Romans 7:21 So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me. 7:22 For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. 7:23 But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 7:25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
"For your name�s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great" (Psalm 25:11).
Posted : 14 Aug, 2011 03:16 PM
i will read it over and over again and it will say the same thing, because God is the same today as he was yesterday and a he will be tomorrow. I praise the almighty God of my salvation for opening my eyes to the truth and pray for those who are still in darkness and rejecting his word.
"For your name�s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great" (Psalm 25:11).
Posted : 14 Aug, 2011 08:02 PM
Really very strange answer is to what is said in chapter 7 of Romans.Who the father is has nothing to do with what came out of Pauls mouth in the letter to church at Rome.
When I was born again the spirit of truth came in me and took up residence, and I was probably not a month old in the lord when someone tryed to tell me I was still a sinner, do you know what happened the lord filled my mouth laughter. I came out of religion unto life not nothing any in the word of God, but the spirit of God in me new.
You will find two answers against the sin doctrine in that chapter if you will allow him, the spirit of God to show you.
One thing he taught me early was read an epistle just as if it was a letter, because it is, it was not in chapter and verse.
The man in chapter seven is who, and what is his spiritual state.
"For your name�s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great" (Psalm 25:11).
Posted : 19 Aug, 2011 06:03 PM
Biblical Terms for Sin
The Bible explains human rebellion against God from several perspectives and with various images:
�doing . . . evil� (Judg. 2:11)
�disobedience� (Rom. 5:19)
�transgression� (Ex. 23:21; 1 Tim. 2:14)
�iniquity� (Lev. 26:40)
�lawlessness� (Titus 2:14, 1 John 3:4)
�trespass� (Eph. 2:1)
�ungodliness� (1 Pet. 4:18)
�unrighteousness� (1 John 1:9)
�unholy� (1 Tim. 1:9)
�wickedness� (Prov. 11:31)
The Definition of Sin
Sin is anything (whether in thoughts, actions, or attitudes) that does not express or conform to the holy character of God as expressed in his moral law.
Elements of the Definition of Sin
1. Sin is moral evil (e.g., murder) as opposed to natural evil (e.g., cancer). Moral evil is personal rebellion against God, and it is what brought natural evil into the world.
2. Sin is always and ultimately related to God. While sin has devastating societal, relational, and physical ramifications, the central problem of sin is that it offends and incurs the wrath of God. David demonstrates this understanding in his confession of adultery and murder: �Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment� (Ps. 51:4). This is not to minimize his sin against Bathsheba, her husband Uriah, or the people of Israel, but rather to recognize that, relatively speaking, it is God he has ultimately offended, and it is to God alone that he must finally answer. Sin is a personal attack on the character and ordinances of God.
3. Sin is breaking God's law, which can take several forms. There are sins of omission (not doing what we should) as well as sins of commission (doing what we should not do). Breaking one of God's commandments is rebellion against the entire character of God, and in that sense it is equivalent to breaking all of the commandments: �For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it� (James 2:10; cf. Gal. 3:10). God's unified law is a reflection of his personal nature and claims, which means that rejecting one of his laws amounts to rejecting him.
Although breaking one commandment makes one guilty of breaking God's entire law, God recognizes that there are gradations of sin. These gradations are based on differences in knowledge (Ezek. 8:6, 13; Matt. 10:15; Luke 12:47�48; John 19:11), intent (Num. 15:30�31), kind, and effect. Nevertheless, even sin done in ignorance is still sin, and everyone still equally needs Jesus to pay the penalty for their sin. While God recognizes degrees of sin on a human, ethical level, it remains the case that all people are equally guilty before God and equally in need of Christ's atoning work.
4. Sin is rooted deep in our very nature, and sinful actions reveal the condition of a depraved heart within: �Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander� (Matt. 15:19; cf. Matt. 7:15�19). Internal attitudes are frequently identified as sinful or righteous in the Bible, and God demands not only correct outward actions but also that the heart be right (Ex. 20:17; Heb. 13:5).
5. Sin has brought about a guilty standing before God and a corrupted condition in all humans. The pronouncement of guilt is God's legal determination that people are in an unrighteous state before him, and the condition of corruption is our polluted state which inclines us toward ungodly behavior. By the grace of God, both this inherited guilt and this inherited moral pollution are atoned for by Christ: �If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness� (1 John 1:9).
The Origin of Sin
Sin entered the human race in the Garden of Eden through an attack of Satan, who led Adam and Eve to doubt God's word and trust their own ability to discern good and evil (Genesis 3). Sometime prior to this, Satan (a fallen angel) must himself have rebelled against God and become evil, though Scripture does not say much about that event (cf. notes on 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6). Satan's strategy was to bring disorder to the created order by approaching Eve and getting her to lead her husband away from God. Adam, so it appears, allowed his wife to be deceived by failing to take up his God-ordained responsibility to lead and protect her. Satan then questioned God's goodness, wisdom, and care for Adam and Eve by suggesting that God was a miserly legalist in his prohibition of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan then simply lied, saying, �you will not surely die� (Gen. 3:4). Such deception and rebellion against God stem from a failure to trust him and be satisfied with him and his commands and arrangements. Satan and our first parents demanded autonomy and rejected God's authority, and this has been the source and shape of human sin ever since. Unbelief (Rom. 14:23; Heb. 11:6), pride, and selfishness lead us to think we know better than God and to try to put ourselves in his place. All people, in their fallen condition, are indeed �lovers of self . . . rather than lovers of God� (2 Tim. 3:2, 4).
The Consequences and Condition of the Fall
God rightly judged the rebellion of Adam and Eve and brought a curse on them and all their offspring. The curse brought physical and spiritual death, separation from God, and alienation from him and others. All people are now conceived, born, and live in this fallen, depraved condition: �None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one� (Rom. 3:10�12); �All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all� (Isa. 53:6).
Inherited guilt and corruption leave every person completely unable to save himself or to please God. There are at least six ways this pervasive inability affects everyone. Until God intervenes with his sovereign, gracious, saving power, mankind is totally unable to:
repent or trust Christ (John 6:44; cf. John 3:3; 6:65)
see or enter the kingdom of God (John 3:3)
obey God and thereby glorify him (Rom. 8:6�8)
attain spiritual understanding (1 Cor. 2:14)
live lives pleasing to God (Rom. 14:23; Heb. 11:6)
receive eternal or spiritual life (Eph. 2:1�3)
Because of God's common grace (that is, his kindly providence whereby sin's energies within us are partly restrained), total depravity does not mean that every person apart from Christ is as bad as possible. It does mean, however, that none by nature can fulfill man's primary purpose of glorifying God in relationship with him.
