Word of Encouragement (10/5/2020)
Let’s continue our survey through truths to remember in times of temptation and sin.
“14. Be careful not to measure your humiliation and sorrow for sin against that of another. In the wisdom of God, ‘not all are afflicted with the same violence, though all be sick of the same disease.’ Some lie under the fever and rage of despair, while others are sick to the stomach over the bitterness of their sins. Some lie on the bed of sorrow over sin, while others feel themselves to be on a rack of horror. Look more at the quality of your sorrow than at the quantity of it; test it by the touchstone of truth rather than weighing it on a balance of comparison. [We can see why we should pay attention to the quality of our sorrow rather than the quantity of it. Our sorrow for sin can stem from different things, not all from the right source. We can be sorrowful because we got caught and we despise the humiliation and punishment we must endure as a result. We can be sorrowful because we think our life is ruined and we have no future. Or, we can be sorrowful (before we get caught) because we have violated God’s law and betrayed His grace by our willful indulgence in sin. It is obvious that there is a world of difference between these reasons for our sorrow and we know which one is the proper source.]
“15. What, then, is true humiliation? What is the godly sorrow that leads to repentance (2 Cor. 7:10)? True sorrow for sin drives a sinner utterly out of himself. It stirs up a vehement thirst for Christ and a settled resolution to cleave wholly to Him as Lord, Savior, King, and Priest. Can you attest to such sorrow? Then believe it to be true and cleave to Christ. Do not compare yourself with another. [‘True sorrow for sin drives a sinner utterly out of himself.’ This doesn’t mean that a sinner at no time thinks about what he did and looks only to Christ. By definition, ‘godly sorrow’ involves a proper and deep knowledge of the wrong we have done. This knowledge includes not only the law of God and the grace of God, but also the heinousness of our sinful action and our sinful motives behind it. Godly sorrow is deeply personal. But it is not buried in ourselves. It knows something better than ourselves. Turned off by what we see in us, it turns to that which is better and nobler and more beautiful—to Christ.]
“16. Remember that the way God speaks peace to your heart and makes good His promises of forgiveness is by your repentance (Acts 2:38). Until your repentance is renewed, the comfort of His pardon is suspended (Matt. 3:7-10). [Here, we are not talking about the fact of God’s forgiveness; we are talking about our subjective experience of the comfort of His pardon. We don’t have to wait till we repent of our sins to be forgiven; the moment we believe, we are forgiven. And if we truly believe, it will lead to true repentance, for sure. But we cannot personally experience the comfort and joy of God’s forgiving grace if we continue to hold on to our sins, if we are not willing to part with them through repentance, which is not only to turn away from sin but also toward God in faith and love.]
“17. When you confess your sin to the Lord, remember His promise in Micah 7:19, for ‘things that are cast into the bottom of the sea never come to sight again, but are more surely buried than things that are hid in the grave and in the bowels of the earth, which may possibly be digged out again.’ Truly the Lord would have you know that your sins are forever forgiven and forgotten.” (As you know already, an omniscient God cannot forget anything; the moment He forgets anything, He is no longer omniscient and therefore no longer God. What this passage is saying is that God would never bring up any charge against us as if He had forgotten our sins. This divine promise is what true forgiveness is. He takes upon Himself the burden of promising never to bring up our sins against us again so that we might be free from the burden of sin. What a wonderful Savior we have!)
Have a blessed day as you reflect on these wonderful truths!