Tag Archives: repentance

Sins Seldom Confessed

Posted on by
Reply

Two notes before I begin:

  1. My usual “MidWeek Message” (this blog post) was delayed yesterday due to a mid-April snow storm leaving 8 inches of snow that had to be removed before our youth programs met that evening.  Combined with a slew of unexpected calls and pressing demands, there was little time to actually sit and write.
  2. I have noticed that recently my blog posts have been highlights from what I have been reading.  I hope you are “okay” with that, because I’ve been doing a lot of reading, and rather than try to summarize, I thought it best to just share what I’ve come across.  Today’s article follows in that channel.

I’ve been reading Murray Brett’s Growing Up in Grace,* and was powerfully affected by the chapter entitled “A Catalogue of Sins Seldom Confessed or Repented Of.”  I have, over the past few months, felt the cutting touch of God’s Word (Hebrews 4:12), exposing my own sinfulness and teaching me to hate those sins that cling so closely to me, and flee to Christ for His cleansing grace.  This chapter was one of those tools, a scalpel, used in the hand our Great Physician, to cut away at my sin and to bring healing and righteousness.

I thought I would share with you here the introduction to the chapter, and a few (not all) of the sins mentioned.

In his book, Words to Winners of Souls, Horatius Bonar writes,

In the year 1651 the Church of Scotland, feeling in regard to her ministers “how deep their hand was in transgression, and that ministers had no small accession to the drawing on of the judgments that were upon the land,” drew up what they called a humble acknowledgment of the sins of the ministry.

I have drawn upon their work in cataloging various sins which we as Christians frequently commit, and I encourage you to add particular sins which you commit and of which you need to confess and repent.

  1. Sins related to know ordering my life according to the gospel
    • seeking a name for self rather than the honor of God.
    • great inconsistency in our walk with God.
    • neglect of acknowledging God in all our ways
    • trusting in natural abilities or past successes rather than depending upon the Spirit
    • fears of persecutions, hazard of loss, loss of esteem, and the fear of man
    • not preaching the gospel to myself daily nor taking delight in it for my own holiness
  2. Sins related to not feeding my soul devotionally
    • lack of nearness with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
    • studying more to learn the language of holiness than the exercise of holiness
    • not improving prayer and fellowship with God and not mourning over these neglects
    • seldom in secret prayer with God, except to fit ourselves for public performance
    • great neglect of reading Scriptures and other good Christian literature
    • using entertainment that hinders my communion with God
    • speaking of Christ more by hearsay than from personal knowledge and experience
  3. Sins related to not actively putting remaining sin to death
    • not watching over my heart nor the things my mind most often goes to when in neutral
    • seeking our own pleasure when the Lord calls for self-denial
    • abusing time in frequent recreation and pastimes and loving our pleasures more than God
    • hasty anger and passion in our own families or with others
    • being taken up for the most part with the things of the world
    • artificial confession of sin without repentance
    • more ready to search and censure faults in others than to see or deal with them in ourselves
  4. Sins related to the misuse of the Lord’s Day
    • neglecting the preparation of my heart and mind for the Lord’s Day
    • using the Lord’s Day for recreation and entertainment
    • not taking to heart sermons or thinking on them with due care
  5. Sins related to not caring for the souls of other believers
    • not taking measures to lead or order our family spiritually
    • negligent or inconsistent in daily family worship
    • being content with, if not rejoicing at, other’s faults
    • lightness and profanity in conversation unsuitable to a holy calling
    • not knowing how to speak a word in season to the weary
  6. Sins related to not participating in the progress of the Gospel
    • not being concerned that the kingdom of Jesus Christ is not thriving
    • not praying for the work of the revival of true religion
    • neglect of faithful prayer for the lost in my community and neighborhood
    • neglect in proclaiming the law and the Gospel to unbelievers and believers alike
    • neglect in praying for pastors and missionaries
*Excerpt from: Brett, Murray. Growing Up in Grace, The use of means for communion with God. (Reformation Heritage Books: Grand Rapids, MI. 2009) pages 113-119.

When Sinners Repent

Posted on by
Reply

“Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” (Luke 15:7)

We long for revival.  We proclaim the Gospel of Salvation into the four corners of the world.  We pray that the sinner, the one who does not know Christ nor delight in His righteousness, would repent and turn to Jesus.

But what is our reaction when this actually happens?

Today I was reading the story of King Ahab – whom the author of I Kings says, “He erected an altar for Baal… made an Asherah… did more to provide the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger, than all the kings of Israel” (1 Kings 16:30ff.).  Ahab was a horrid man.  And, at times, he acted like a spoiled two-year-old.

When rebuked by the prophet of the Lord for not killing the king of Syria, Ahab when to his house vexed and sullen.  Again, when Naboth refused to give him his vineyard, Ahab when to his bed “vexed and sullen,” refusing to eat, pouting because he didn’t get his way.  To cheer him up, Jezebel has Naboth falsely accused of cursing God and the King, and immediately stoned to death, just so that Ahab could have a new vegetable garden.

What a wretched man!

Fittingly, Elijah the prophet comes to condemn Ahab and Jezebel.  One of the most vivid prophetic curses comes against these wicked rulers: Ahab would be burned up and cut off, while the dogs would eat Jezebel’s body in the streets. Serve them right, right?

Just when you think that justice will be served, something unimaginable happens – Ahab repents.  He genuinely repents.  He tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted.  These were signs of penitence, of remorse for one’s sins.  And in mercy, God relented from bringing judgment upon the house of Ahab.  “Because he has humbled himself before me,” God said, “I will not bring this disaster in his days…” (1 Kings 21:29).

tenor

What!?!? Seriously!?!?

How could Ahab repent?  Why would God allow that to happen? If ever there was an argument for lightening striking a man down, wouldn’t Ahab be the #1 choice?

How would you have reacted had you been Elijah and you heard God’s decision to withhold punishment because of Ahab’s repentance?  What if you were Naboth’s family?   Here’s a little test, read through the story of Ahab, but instead of saying “Ahab’s” name, insert the another name: ISIS, the Taliban, Donald Trump, Arminianism…  Now how does that repentance sit with you?

Can you understand how Jonah felt when God sent him to proclaim judgment on Ninevah? He knew that if he pronounced judgment, there was a good chance that the people would repent, and that God would be merciful.  The Ninevites were merciless enemies of the people of God; why would Jonah preach to them and give them the opportunity to find grace?

Can you understand how the prodigal’s older brother felt?  He looks out and sees the kid who’s squandered his inheritance in wild and wanton living, only to come home and be received as one who’s come back to life.  And Father wants him to come to the banquet!?

When we pray for the salvation of sinners are we praying for those who have really done a bang-up job of it?  Are we praying for those who have fallen into serious sin, who’s wickedness has caused emotional, financial, and even physical harm to us or those we love?  Do we have our enemies in mind, or are we secretly wishing that God would pour out his wrath upon them?

The grace of God in Jesus Christ is freely offered, but it still has a cost.  It cost the life of the perfect Son of God, and it requires that we take up our cross and follow Him.  We must lay down our lives to live in His grace, letting go of our tight-fisted grip on the old life and the old way of thinking.  In His grace, we die to self-righteousness, so that we might live in the righteousness of Christ.  In that grace, we lay down our desire for vengeance, for retribution, for “just-deserts.”  We forgive, even as we have been forgiven, and we pray for the salvation of our enemies.

The grace we live in, the grace that saves us, is the same grace offered to all who will repent and turn to Christ for their salvation.  There is no difference in the fare.  “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:23-24).  When, by the grace of God, a sinner is brought to life by the Spirit and awakened to the reality of his depravity, receiving and resting in the saving work of Jesus Christ, there is rejoicing in heaven.  Why, then, would we not rejoice here?

SDG