UNCONFESSED SIN

 

Ps. 32:3-5  When I refused to confess my sin, I was weak and miserable, and I groaned all day long.  Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me.  My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.  Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them.  I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the LORD”.  And you forgave me!  All my guilt is gone.

     Have you ever refused to confess sin?  I know I have.  I have rationalized it away and denied that what was sin was actually sin.  It is so easy to do.  Instead of admitting sin, I tried to bury it and pretend that it wasn’t there.  But, the Lord would not put up with that nonsense.  He refused to let me get away with it and kept bringing it up until I finally came to my senses.

     It isn’t the most pleasant times of life.  Unconfessed sin comes between God and us and we can have no peace or joy in our life with Him as long as it is there.  It haunts us and makes life miserable for us because deep down we know we are guilty.  When we come to our senses and admit our sin and seek the Lord’s forgiveness, we find it.  He takes the heavy load off our souls and restores us to a healthy relationship with Him.

     If you are carrying around with you sin that you have refused to confess, don’t let it weigh you down any longer.  Let the Lord forgive you and give you peace of heart.  You will be glad you did.

REFUSING TO CONFESS

 

Ps. 32:3-4 When I refused to confess my sin, I was weak and miserable, and I groaned all day long.

     Carrying around sin in your soul is a miserable way to live. If you care at all about the condition of your soul and your relationship with God, you will be troubled by sin. You will not be at peace with God or yourself. You will have a sense of guilt over your sin. You will wonder if anyone else knows what you have done, said, or thought, and what they may think about it. You will be bothered by the repercussions of your sin. It will concern you the harm that has been done. You will be miserable and helpless to fix it on your own.

    Refusing to confess sin is rebellion against God. It is telling God that He no longer matters to you. It is denying the importance of the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross for our sins. It is in essence telling God you would rather live on your own. It is a refusal to live in the holiness of God.  It is in essence saying that you no longer need forgiveness or want it. 

    If you have any desire at all for God in your life, you will never have peace with Him when you harbor sin in your soul. We need to regularly come before our Father and deal with our sin. We need to be honest with ourselves, admit our sin, confess it, accept His forgiveness, thank the Lord for it, and then live in His forgiveness. We need to strive to always live in holiness of life. God will not let you get away with sin. He will not have fellowship with you when you live in or harbor sin in your soul. There can be no victory in Jesus when sin is not confessed and gotten rid of.

    Are you spiritually weak and miserable?  Have you agonized over the guilt and shame that comes with the sin you have done?  Does peace elude you?  It doesn't have to be this way.  Humble yourself before Jesus and confess your sin to Him and He will forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.  He will wash away your sin and they will forever be cast into the sea of His forgetfulness.  He will make your soul whiter than a fresh fallen snow.  Right now Jesus can set your soul free.  Won't you let Him?

OH, WHAT JOY!

 

Ps. 32:1-2  Oh, what joy for those whose rebellion is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight.   Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of sin, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!

     Feast on the riches of God's grace and rejoice!  God forgives those who rebel against Him when they turn from their rebellion and turn to Him.  He does not turn away anyone who is willing to quit resisting Him and start walking with Him.  He forgives us for our rebelliousness because He loves us and desires to have a relationship with us.

     God puts our sin out of His sight.  I don't know how He is able to do that.  We can put our sin behind us and live in His forgiveness, but we still remember what we have done.  Sometimes our past sins haunt us.  We struggle with letting them go and forgiving ourselves for them.  But it's not that way with God.  He washes our sins away with the shed blood of Jesus at Calvary, and they are no more.  God does not see our past; He sees the righteousness of Christ in us.  We have no history with God; it's always the present.  All that matters to Him is Christ in us.  As long as we stay in the shelter of His righteousness, we have no condemnation from God.  God clears the record of the redeemed.  He washes our souls and they become whiter than snow.

    There is joy in the soul of those who live in complete honesty.  What a blessing it is to be guided and influenced by the integrity of one's heart.  There is a desire within the redeemed to do what is right before God always.  The intent of the heart is to always be true to the revealed character of God within us.  The soul's delight is living to please God, to do what honors Him.  There is joy in those whose character matters to them, for Christ is actively at work in them to make them holy. 

GOD'S UNFAILING LOVE

 

Ps. 31:21a Praise the LORD, for he has shown me his unfailing love.

     Have you seen it?  Have you felt it?  Do you know God’s unfailing love in your life?  God’s love is always the same; it never fails.  God is incapable of doing anything but love, for He is love.  We may not always recognize it or believe it is so, but it is.  No matter what life may be like for us, we must know that it is true.  God loves us.  Period.  He does not promise to spare us from life’s difficulties, but He does promise to help us through them.  He doesn’t leave us alone.  He doesn’t let us wander around in darkness.  He doesn’t make us earn our way into heaven.  He doesn’t hold us accountable for sins forgiven.  He doesn’t even remember them.  He doesn’t leave us defenseless against Satan.  He doesn’t let that which He has created fall apart in disarray.  He doesn’t let us live without a sure hope.  He doesn’t keep the door to God’s throne shut to us.  He doesn’t do any of these things, because He loves us.

     Praise the Lord for His unfailing love!  The Lord will always treat us in a loving way.  Trust Him. He will never stop loving you.  He will never stop working in your life for your good and His glory.  God loves you!  Give Him praise today for His love for you never fails and will never fail you.  No matter how you may feel, God loves you!  He will always love you because He is love, perfect and holy love. 

SING TO THE LORD!

 

Ps. 30:4-5  Sing to the LORD, all you godly ones!  Praise his holy name.  His anger lasts for a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime!  Weeping may go on all night, but joy comes with the morning.

     Do you have a song in your heart that you find hard to contain?  As a pastor of over 40 years who has absolutely zero musical ability within me, I have found it difficult to be quiet when singing God's praises.  I try to be sensitive to those around me, but it's hard.  My wife, who has lots of music within her, has to now and then let me know when I get too loud.  One of the great things I look forward to in heaven is that there it won't matter.  There will be no restraints and I will be able to sing our Lord's praises to all of my heart's content.

     Dear child of God, praise the holy name of Jesus.  Praise Him for your salvation, for His faithfulness, goodness, kindness, love, grace and mercy.  Praise the Lord for your eternal life with Him.  Praise Him for the fellowship of believers.  Praise Him for His revelations to us through His Word and through His created world.  Praise Him for we shall be with Him forever and ever.  It will indeed be joy unspeakable and full of glory!

    Sing to the Lord, dear friend, for His anger lasts only for a moment.  Our God is a merciful and gracious loving Father.  Yes, He can and does get angry when we sin, but His anger does not last when He sees the righteousness of Christ in us.  Praise Him, for there is now no condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus.

     In this life we may go through seasons of weeping.  It may seem like the days of weeping will never end, but end they will.  No matter what your life may be like now, it shall pass and then comes our eternal day with the Lord where there will be no weeping or sorrow.  On that day there will be eternal joy and praise will be a continuous song ascending unto the throne of our God.

     Sing to the Lord all you who are godly!  Praise His holy name!  

GIVE HONOR TO THE LORD

 

Ps. 29:1,2  Give honor to the LORD, you angels, give honor to the LORD for his glory and strength.  Give honor to the LORD for the glory of his name.  Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

     What does it mean to give honor to the Lord?  I believe it means we show respect for Him by acknowledging Him for who He is.  It means that we give way to Him because of who He is.  It means we submit to His rightful place as Lord over all our lives. 

     It's interesting to note that the Psalmist is addressing the angels of heaven here.  We have limited knowledge about the angels, but one thing we do know is that they are kept very busy worshiping and serving the Lord.  They are constantly in the presence of God and they have no problem honoring God.

     We, on the other hand, struggle with honoring the Lord.  We tend to take God for granted.  We tend to be lax on how we worship Him.  We are lax on how we use His name.  We are lax on how we represent Him in the world.  We are lax on how we think about Him.

     The heavenly hosts are keenly aware of God's holiness.  I wonder how many of us are aware of God's holiness.  Does the fact that God is holy do anything at all for you?  Does it bother you to think about His intolerance towards sin?  Does it bother you that you struggle with sin as much as you do?  Do you even think about it?  Does the fact that God is holy affect the way you approach Him?  It should.  God declares that without holiness no one shall see Him.  He commands us to be holy, even as He is holy.

     We give honor most to those whom we know and respect the most.  And, you can't really know God without knowing Him in His holiness. 

THIS ONE THING I DO

 

Ps. 27:4  The one thing I ask of the LORD--the thing I seek most--is to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, delighting in the LORD's perfections and meditating in his Temple.  For he will conceal me there when troubles come; he will hide me in the sanctuary.  He will place me out of reach on a high rock.

     When was the last time you asked the Lord to keep you in His presence so that you wouldn't sin against Him?  It is good for us to long to linger in God's presence.

     Our heart passion ought to be to delight in the Lord's perfections.  Have you ever paused to appreciate our perfect God?  God is perfect in all that is good: perfect love, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and peace.  Because He is perfect, He is perfectly trustworthy and perfectly able to help us with whatever we lack in our life in Him.

     We ought to consider it pure joy to linger in the presence of God's holiness.  Instead of seeing holiness as a negative thing, we should see it as a positive thing.  When we delight in God's holiness we are able to resist the temptations of sin.  We will have the desire to not sin against God. 

     Our heart passion ought to be to meditate on God and His Word.  Whenever you draw near to God, you should be in no hurry to leave His presence.  We should think often on who God is.  We should meditate on the Word and let its truths sink deep into our souls.

     When we dwell in the presence of God, we are kept safe.  The Lord protects those who are in His presence.  We need to always keep the Lord before us.  We need to always stay close to the Lord, never moving out of the reach of His protection.  We need to always be mindful of God so that we will have the will to not sin against Him. 

     Keeping God on our minds doesn't just happen.  We must work hard at keeping our focus on Him.  Life is full of distractions.  The soul has a natural tendency to be distracted.  We must make our connection to God the priority of our lives.  We must take responsibility for our souls by doing the things we must do to keep our eyes fixed on Him.  We must never let our passion for God dim or grow cold.