Tag Archives: Sin

Praying the Gospel

09 Sunday Apr 2017

Posted by in Confession of Sin, On Prayer

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I once heard a message given by Jerry Bridges on the importance of preaching the gospel to one’s self. I had never really thought much about the idea before hearing his message. He talked about the importance of keeping in the front of our minds the truth that we are accepted by God solely on the basis of our union with the Lord Jesus Christ. He said that by preaching the gospel to ourselves on a regular basis we are safe-guarded from the folly of thinking that our standing with God is based on our own efforts, performance, or righteousness. His admonition has stuck with me. Preaching the gospel to myself has become the primary means of overcoming the soul-paralyzing influences of pride, false-guilt, self-condemnation, and disappointment in my walk with the Lord.

And, in no place is this more true in my life than in my place of prayer. Even as I begin my prayer time with confessing my sins to the Lord, I also begin my prayer time by preaching the gospel to myself. As I pray and seek God for forgiveness for my wrong doings, my wrong thinking, my ignorance, my frailty, my brokenness; I acknowledge my utter and desperate dependence upon Christ for receiving any mercy from God. As I make confession to God in this way, I remind myself that I am saved by grace alone, though faith alone, in Christ alone. When time permits, I do this with an ancient text that my husband introduced to me several years ago called “Anselm’s Tract for the Dying” (posted below). By beginning my prayer time by preaching the gospel to myself, I am reminded not only of the great chasm that would exist between me and God if it were not for the forgiveness and redemption that I have been given in Christ, but I am also reminded that my hope of being heard by God in prayer is based entirely on grace alone.

Meditating on the gospel puts me into the right frame of mind for prayer. Whether I use Anselm’s Tract for the Dying or not, I always try to start my prayer times with the recognition that the mercy and grace of God is not only the only hope that I have of being saved, but it is also the only hope that I have of being heard and answered by God when I pray. A humble mind and a contrite heart is the result of preaching the gospel to myself, and a humble mind and a contrite heart are essential to being heard by God. I thank God for the admonition of Jerry Bridges to preach the gospel to myself, and I also thank God for this ancient text that has helped me pray the gospel to myself.

Anselm’s Tract for the Dying

“Question. Dost thou believe that the Lord Jesus died for thee? Answer. I believe it.

Qu. Dost thou thank him for his passion and death?

Ans. I do thank him.

Qu. Dost thou believe that thou canst not be saved except by his death?

Ans. I believe it.

And then Anselm addresses the dying man: “Come then, while life remaineth in thee; in his death alone place thy whole trust; in naught else place any trust; to his death commit thyself wholly; with this alone cover thyself wholly; and if the Lord thy God will to judge thee, say, ‘Lord, between thy judgment and me I present the death of our Lord Jesus Christ; no otherwise can I contend with thee.’ And if he shall say that thou art a sinner, say thou: ‘Lord, I interpose the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between my sins and thee.’ If he say that thou hast deserved condemnation, say: ‘Lord, I set the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between my evil deserts and thee, and his merits I offer for those which I ought to have and have not.’ If he say that he is wroth with thee, say: ‘Lord, I oppose the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between thy wrath and me.’ And when thou hast completed this, say again: ‘Lord, I set the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between thee and me.’”

See Anselm, Opera (Migne), 1:686, 687.

 

Video

John Piper on the Ultimate Essence of Evil

15 Wednesday Mar 2017

Posted by in Biblical Parenting, Edification, The Believing 21st Centruy American Woman

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This is the sermon John Piper preached at Passion 2017. Sunday a friend told me to check it out. She said that her and her husband listened to it last week and that it left them dumbfounded – that it changed their whole perspective on sin and the essence of evil. So I heeded her sisterly admonishment to ‘check it out’ and started to listen to it while cooking dinner earlier tonight. After listening to the first twenty minutes of this message, I wanted my kids to hear it. So I hooked-up the movie projector and we listened to (watched) John Piper preach on the ultimate essence of evil.

The reason that I wanted my kids to hear this sermon is my desire that they understand that preferring anything else more than they prefer God is the ultimate essence of evil and the root of all sin. I wanted to remind them that the Christian life is not about a check-list of dos and don’ts, which is an easy thing to forget when raised in a Christian home. I wanted my kids to hear again that the Christian life is about seeing “…the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6), rejoicing over all that God is for us in Christ (Romans 5:11),  “…being transformed into the same image from one degree to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18), and that pleasing God in righteous living and obedience results from a faith-filled love for God (Hebrews 11:6). Or, to put it another way,  I wanted my kids to remember that loving God, wanting God, desiring God above all other things is at the heart of glorifying God, magnifying Christ, and serving Him in this world. I wanted them to lay-hold of the reality that Christ is everything, and that everything other than Christ is nothing without Him.

God has been very kind to give this generation preachers like John Piper. I am so glad that I took my friend’s advice and was able to share this sermon with my kids. It blessed us all. So if you have 45 minutes and you need to be reminded of some of these truths too – check it out.

Follow-up Post on ‘Can A Believer Not Be Grieved By Watching Sin?’ with Trip Lee

20 Wednesday May 2015

Posted by in Chastity, Confession of Sin, Encouragement, Exhortation, Holiness, Hypocricy, Repentance, Sin, The Believing 21st Centruy American Woman, The Christian Home

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I heard this on the Desiring God Pod-Cast. Episode 597 (May 15, 2015) was a question/answer session with Trip Lee, a Reformed Christian Rapper, addressing the issue of believers watching on-screen nudity. I have posted a link to it here, as a follow up to my previous post, “How Can A Believer Not Be Grieved By Watching Sin?”. 

Watching On-Screen Nudity Is Not Worth It with Trip Lee.

http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/watching-on-screen-nudity-is-not-worth-it

On God’s Kindness and Good Guilt

27 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by in Exhortation, Faith, Repentance, The Kindness of God

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 “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength…” (NIV)

As we experience more and more of the goodness of God in our relationship with Him, we are naturally led into deeper and deeper levels of holiness. For, the kindness that we experience in our relationship with God produces in His children a godly grief in our souls, which leads us to confess and repent of more and more of our sin. As we do this we become holier; thus we begin to live in the joyful freedom of walking in newness of life.

Another way to say the same thing is to say that the kindness of God causes us to feel a good-guilt over our wrongdoing. Good-guilt is rooted in an awareness of the goodness and love that God has shown to His children. Good-guilt is good because it makes us want to turn away from the things in our lives that displease God (i.e., our sin) and turn towards the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation that He died to give us. That is why the Scripture says, “Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?” (Romans 2:4, NLT).

When we say that we repent of our sin we mean that we have a change of mind about our sin; and for that reason, we turn away from our sin and towards God in the desire to live a God-glorifying life. In other words, to repent of sin is to turn around and go in the opposite direction when we realize that we are heading the wrong way on the path of life. Repentance is the authenticating mark of our profession of faith in Christ. It is the first outward proof that we possess true saving faith. If we agree with God that our sin is wrong, we will do everything that we can to turn away from it and turn towards the righteousness that is ours because of the cross-work of Jesus Christ. It is in this way that repentance leads to salvation. As Isaiah 30:15a says, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength…” (NIV).

Confessions of a MAN-PLEASER

18 Saturday Apr 2015

Posted by in Boasting in Weaknesses, Confession of Sin, Hypocricy, Repentance, Sanctification, The Believing 21st Centruy American Woman

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“The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.” Proverbs 29:25

Lord, please forgive me for allowing my fear of man to shape an ungodly view of church life in my soul.  I confess that all too often, I have left church on Sunday mornings upset that I wasn’t invited into the “Cool Kid’s Huddle” after service. I confess that instead of leaving church full of rejoicing that I have been accepted into Your family; I have left church sulking that I wasn’t accepted into the “in” crowd. It is so embarrassing that I do this. It is embarrassing that I have even gone to church one time thinking about me at all- let alone having done it countless times. Church is about worshipping You, and serving Your body; not about my pride or my fear of man. Lord please forgive me.

Lord, please forgive me for allowing my fear of man to shape my ungodly speech. I confess that I have often hopped on the “Complaining about Everything Ban-Wagon-”  just so that I could share in conversation with others who were complaining. I have done this even when in reality I didn’t feel upset about anything that You had providentially ordained into my life. I know that the Word says, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing…” (Phil 2: 14). I also know that my complaining and grumbling, has often been motivated by wanting to have something in common with other people, or because I didn’t want others to think that I was being overly pious. (Which is really lame, considering that Christians are supposed to be pious.) In truth Lord, I think that my obsession with people pleasing also accounts for most of the gossip that I have ever shared. It is like I just wanted to be the one with the juiciest morsel of the day- the person who is in ‘the know’ with what’s going on in the lives of others. – Lord, please forgive me- I know that Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

Lord, please forgive me for loving the praise of men more than loving the opportunities that You have given me to serve You. I have often allowed my fear of man to make me feel ashamed that You have manifested your grace in me in a different way than You have manifested your grace in the lives of my peers. It has been my fear of man and my pathetic desire to just “fit in” that has given me that uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach, when I have been called to serve you in a different way than my friends have been called to serve you. I have thought foolish things to myself, like: “What if so and so doesn’t approve?”, or  “What will ‘this one’ or ‘that one’ think of me when she hears about me doing thus and so?”.

Lord, I would have thought that the grace that you have shown me in giving me unique opportunities to serve You- would have caused the other type of pride to well up in side of me. You know the “I am so great, look at me” kind of pride. But, I am such a mess (outside of your grace) that that type of pride is quickly squelched by the reminder of my intrinsic uselessness, my lack of innate intelligence, and the horrifying reality of my sinfulness. Besides, like 1 Corinthians 4:7 says, “For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” Lord, please forgive me- I confess that my pathetic man-pleasing, people-pandering pride has made me so fearful of people that I have sometimes even wanted to forfeit the blessings of Christ and the graces of the Holy Spirit- so that I could just be like everybody else. I mean really, how sad is that? How wicked is that? How sad am I? How wicked am I? I don’t think that it gets more debased than to want to shirk the calling of God just so that I can “fit in” with the world around me.

Lord, please forgive me for my fear of man- it has been a systemic problem in my walk with You.  Even in this brief time of confession I can see how terrible of a snare this sin is to my soul. Please forgive me, please free me, please grant to me the faith that I need to trust in you, and to be kept safe. For Your Word warns me that “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.”

“Intense is the agony… ” Ravi Zacharias Sermon Jam on “SIN”

30 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by in Edification, Sermon Jam, Sin

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Convicting and true this 4 minute 59 second Ravi Zacharias Sermon Jam on “SIN” is a refreshing reality check. Its a good word.

“Intense is the agony… when the eye begins to see, when the ear begins to hear, when the pulse begins to pound, when the heart begins to throb, when the soul feels its flesh, and the flesh feels its chains.” Ravi Zacharias

 

“When Words Are Many, Transgression Is Not Lacking.”

10 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by in Confession of Sin, Marriage, On Love and Marriage, Repentance, Sin

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“When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.” Proverbs 10:19

No kidding, right? When I was first married this verse was my husband’s ‘trump-card’ when we were in an argument. I would be prattling on in self-defense, or with some string of irrelevant angry-accusations, and all of sudden- in a triumphantly low and calm voice- my husband would say, “When words are many, transgression is not lacking.” That statement would usually provide a momentary cease-fire in our fight, an opportunity to consider the questions ‘Is what I am saying right now pleasing to God?’ or ‘Have I said too much?’ At that point in the argument, I could do one of two things. I could gather my self-justifying thoughts, and “re-load” my semi-automatic mouth. Or, I could repent by momentarily putting my mouth on lock, and allow my wayward heart to be quieted by God’s grace (at least until I could speak the truth in love).

Embarrassingly, I usually chose the former (in the first year of marriage), but eventually I found that the truth of this Proverb is life-saving, soul redeeming, and grace-giving. I have found that the truth of the Proverb is life-saving because it often hinders me from entertaining my life-suffocating thoughts, from speaking life-destroying words, and from acting on the many life-corroding impulses of my flesh. I have also found that this Proverb is a soul-redeeming truth because it reminds me that it is out of the abundance of my evil heart that I often want to speak. This reminder can motivate me (if I yield to its wisdom) to acknowledge the self-centered desires that are motivating the words that I want to say, and an acknowledgment such as this, usually leads to confession and repentance. It is in this way, that the truth of this Proverb has become soul-redeeming for me, for confession and repentance are both fruits of the soul-redeeming, sanctifying grace work of God. And, finally, I have also found that this Proverb is grace-giving. I have found it to be grace-giving because when I do not relieve an emotional unrest in my soul and my desire for justification before others with my “American right to freedom of speech”- I am forced to prayer. Since prayer carries me to the throne of God’s all-sufficient grace, and sets me at rest in the mighty stronghold of God’s redeeming, grace- this Proverb has become for me a grace-giving truth, as well.

In short, this verse is a ‘check-point’ for my soul. Because now, eighteen years later, although I still have disagreements with my husband, this verse has become to me a door of hope (not a call for a ‘momentary cease fire’). For, when I feel myself heading towards the weapon’s armory of my fallen heart; about to go into ‘attack mode’ with my Best Beloved (or someone else), wisdom’s flare often lights-up the caverns of my momentarily-darkened soul, reminding me “When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.”

A Violent Assault Against the Majesty and Glory of God

01 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by in Edification, Repentance, The Believing 21st Centruy American Woman, The Glory of God, The Nature of God, The Wrath of God

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“The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies” Nahum 1:2

“God does not take kindly to people who ignore Him; actually, He hates them (Psalm 5:5; 11:5). Ignoring God is a violent assault against the majesty and glory of who God is. It is wrong to pretend that God does not exist (Romans 1:18-32). It is an affront to God to pay no heed to His glorious holiness. It is a hostile thing in the eyes of God that men prefer to drown in the sewage pipes of human sin; rather than swim in the clean, refreshing ocean of the glory of God. For, God is jealous for His people; God is jealous for His glory (Exodus 20:5; 34:14). Truly, God hates all sin, and God is wrathful towards all sinners. As Nahum 1:2 says, “The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies” (Nahum 1:2).”

Walking in Newness of Life: Experiencing the Power of God in Resurrection by Identifying with Christ in His Death and Burial p. 41

On Confession of Sin and Playing Games with God

29 Monday Sep 2014

Posted by in Confession of Sin, Edification, Exhortation, Repentance, Sin, The Believing 21st Centruy American Woman, Walking in Newness of Life

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“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” Revelation 3:19

“Confession is the authenticating mark of repentance, and likewise, repentance is the authenticating mark of our confession. They are like two sides of the same coin. If we truly agree with God about our sin, we will make every effort to stop sinning. We will do everything that we can do to turn away from our sin and turn towards God in the pursuit of holiness. Confession without turning away from sin is not real confession: it is lip-service that we are making to God. Giving lip-service to God reveals either deep stupidity (for who is stupid enough to play games with God?), or it reveals a genuine lack of understanding of who the God of the Bible is and how dangerous sin is. Jesus tells people who think that they are all set with half-hearted Christian living (things like insincere confession or lives that lack the fruits of repentance): “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent” (Revelation 3:19).”

Walking in Newness of Life: Experiencing the Power of God in Resurrection by Identifying with Christ in His Death and Burial pp. 51-52