Psalms 36:1-4 ESV
“Transgression speaks to the wicked
deep in his heart;
there is no fear of God
before his eyes.
For he flatters himself in his own eyes
that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit;
he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
He plots trouble while on his bed;
he sets himself in a way that is not good;
he does not reject evil.”
This is a very sad reality, even sadder because this
describes many people who profess Jesus Christ as Lord and as Savior of their
lives. And this includes pastors and elders of some church congregations, too.
For not everyone who confesses Jesus as Lord is a true child of God and a
follower of Jesus Christ. Especially since the gospel message that is mostly
what is being taught across America is a cheapened and altered and diluted
gospel message, many professers of faith in Jesus Christ are convinced that
they can continue on in deliberate sin and still have heaven as their home.
But those who are still living in sin, who never truly died
with Christ to sin, and thus they were not raised with Christ to walk in
newness of life in him, they have no fear of God before their eyes. They do not
take God and his word seriously and to heart. For they refuse to believe the
Scriptures which teach that if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness
and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, that we don’t know God, and
he doesn’t know us, and we are not saved from our sins, and heaven is not our
eternal destiny, and we will not inherit eternal life with God.
But in their arrogance they do flatter themselves that they
aren’t really so bad, and their sin is not any worse than anyone else’s sin,
and that everyone sins, so what’s the big deal? They minimize the seriousness
of their sinful lifestyles, and they justify and rationalize their sins to
alleviate any guilt they might otherwise feel. And they blame their spouses or
others for their sinful practices and they do not take personal responsibility
for their sin. And if anyone tries to talk with them about their sin and what
the Scriptures teach, they are likely to get angry and to lash out at him or
her to shut him/her up.
They have a whole litany of excuses and justifications and
rationalizations and lies that they tell themselves and others in order to
avoid having to face up to the reality of their addiction to sin. And they do
this cyclically. And those who know them well probably can recite from memory
their habitual dialogues they use in order to justify or deny their sins and/or
in order to pass the blame on to someone else so that they don’t have to take
responsibility for their own sinful behaviors. And they know just what to say
to hurt anyone who might try to help them out of their addiction, too.
They also have this false sense of security that they will
never be found out, that no one will ever know or discover what they are doing
behind closed doors when no one but God (or those in control of the internet,
possibly) can see what they are doing in secret. And so many people go on like
this indefinitely, and the longer they are able to pull it off without getting
caught and without anyone knowing, the more arrogant they become, and the more
overconfident they become that what they are doing will never be known by
anyone else but them, but that is a false sense of security.
Those who are living in addiction (slavery, bondage) to sin,
in order to keep the sham going, they become habitual liars. Lying is what they
do in practice. It is second nature to them to the point to where they can lie
without conscience, and they can sin without conscience, too, and they can hurt
others willfully and deliberately without conscience, as well. For it is all
about them and their lustful desires being fulfilled and no one else really
matters unless they are people they can use for their own advantage, and then
they may fake love and affection in order to get what they want.
Those who are addicted to sin, or to very specific sins,
such as sexual immorality and its various means of expression, lust after those
sins. And so it is not accidental when they sin, although they may claim it was
a back door of some kind that jumped out and grabbed a hold of them. But they
know what they are doing, and many of them (if not all) plot out their sins in
advance, for that is the best way they can be assured of not getting caught in
the act. So they sin premeditatedly as well as deliberately and habitually
because their sin is what they crave, and it is what they long for.
But now Jesus Christ took our sins upon himself on that
cross, and when he died he put our sins to death with him so that we might be
freed from our addiction (slavery, bondage) to sin and so that we might now
walk righteously and in holiness and in obedience to our Lord Jesus in the
power of God. We just have to humble ourselves and let go of our lives of
living in sin. And we must surrender our lives to Christ to now walk in his
ways and in his truth. We must be crucified with Christ in death to sin and be
raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, in his power and
strength.
And then, in the power of God, as we cooperate with his work
of grace in our lives, we daily die with Christ to sin and to self and we walk
in obedience to his commands. We make it our practice now to say “No!” to
ungodliness and fleshly lusts, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly
lives while we wait for our Lord’s return, in the power of God’s Spirit living
within us, by God’s grace. And now sin is no longer our master. It is not our
practice. Righteousness and holiness and obedience to our Lord are what we
practice, in the strength of the Lord. And now heaven is our eternal destiny.
On Bended Knee
By Robert C Guidry
On bended knee, I come
With a humble heart, I come
Bowing down before Your holy throne
Lifting holy hands to You
As I pledge my love anew
I worship You in spirit
I worship You in truth
Make my life a holy praise unto You
Yes, Lord
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