Reverence and Awe

» Today's reading at Blue Letter Bible
Sin! Sins of omission and commission; sin nature; self righteous sin! Paul writing to the Romans about the principles of Christian liberty says in Romans 14:23 "whatever is not from faith is sin". What a dilemma! We want intimate fellowship with our Lord and yet we sin and create a wall of separation through lack of faith and unbelief! In our flesh dwells no good thing for to will is ever present.

John writing in 1 John 1:6-10 says "if we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."

"Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death!" Jerry Bridges writing in Respectable Sins, Confronting the Sins we Tolerate puts it this way: "Your heart is a battleground between the flesh and the Spirit. In this guerrilla warfare, the flesh will sometimes get the upper hand. As you zero in on a particular sin to put to death, your situation may get worse before it gets better. Take heart. This is not unusual. The Holy Spirit will use these times of disobedience and defeat to help you see how deeply rooted your sins are and how totally dependent you are on His power to help you."

We are totally dependent on His power to help for no matter how hard we try, our best righteous act is like filthy rags! Where is the peace? George Whitefield in his "Method of Grace" sermon challenges us: "Before you can speak peace to your heart, you must not only be convinced of your actual and original sin, the sins of your own righteousness, the sin of unbelief, but you must be enabled to lay hold upon the perfect righteousness, the all-sufficient righteousness, of the Lord Jesus Christ; you must lay hold by faith on the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and then you shall have peace".

I am so thankful that John went on to say in 1 John 2: 1,2 "And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world." By faith I rest in His all sufficiency to deal with not only my sin but the sin of the whole world. Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus!!!