The story of David's sin with Bathsheba provides a clear picture. When you read through 2 Samuel 11-12, you are struck by David's heinous sin against both Uriah and Bathsheba. Plainly put, David forced Bathsheba into sin, stole her away from her husband Uriah and had his loyal soldier murdered in an attempt to hide his own sin. Yet when God used the Prophet Nathan to bring David to repentance and David wrote about the experience in Psalm 51, he perfectly understood that ultimately his sin was against God. "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment." (Psalm 51:4) This is precisely what DeMoss points out in Chapter 3, "The Enemy of Holiness." All sin is ultimately against a holy God. The more clearly we see that, the better we understand the true nature of sin and the more we will abhor it.
J.C. Ryle wrote, "A holy man will follow after purity of heart. He will dread all filthiness and uncleanness of spirit, and seek to avoid all things that might draw him into it. He knows his own heart is like tinder, and will diligently keep clear of the sparks of temptation. Who shall dare to talk of strength when David can fall? Few Christians are ever too watchful and too particular about this point." What a clear word picture... our hearts are like "tinder", susceptible to the "sparks of temptation." We need to remember our vulnerability. The Apostle Paul warned, "Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall." (1Cor.10:12)
The Bible is very clear - not only is sin to be put off/mortified, but righteousness is to take its place. The balanced Christian life has one eye on removing and avoiding sin and the other eye on pursuing righteousness. The two work hand-in-hand. Jesus said those blessed by God "hunger and thirst after righteousness." (Mt.5:6) DeMoss introduces Chapter 4 with a quote from H.A. Ironside, "Be killing sin or it will be killing you." I've heard believers express shock, amazement, even discouragement that the struggle against sin requires such effort. There is often the idea that the Christian life should be easier, that as we progress in our spiritual walk we should struggle less. Nothing could be further from the truth! You need only observe Scripture. "Put on the entire armor of God..." so you may do daily battle with sin! (Eph.6:11-13) "In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood ... strive/pursue/make every effort...to be holy." (Heb.12:4, 14)
The battle against the flesh, the indwelling sin nature, will last until we're home with the Lord. Christ's substitutionary death and resurrection removed us from bondage to our sin nature (Rom.6:6), but in this life we will struggle against it (Rom.7:18-25) and through Christ have been given the ability to choose righteousness. The believer has spiritual resources to fight against "the flesh", but it requires putting on ALL of God's armor and engaging in battle daily. Particular sins might be dealt with, but God will continue to shine His light onto our hearts and progressively reveal other areas that need addressing. This process of sanctification, making us in experience what we are in position, continues until we're in glory. Rather than becoming discouraged about fighting sin, we need to build up one another in God's truth, helping each other suit up for the battle.
That's one of the reasons God places each of us in a local body of believers to grow among. We complement one another in spiritual gifts and are given opportunities to encourage one another in righteousness, so that together we may do the work of the ministry (Eph.4:11-14). Take advantage of sitting under the biblical teaching in your local church - attend Sunday services, morning & night, go to Bible studies, take Bible Institute classes whenever they are offered. Band together with like-minded believers to serve in ministry together. And spend consistent, daily time in prayer. Find prayer partners and participate in corporate prayer. [Did you know that Spurgeon had a group of women praying in the basement of the church during every one of his sermons? No wonder his messages were so powerful!]
Expose yourself daily to the truth of God's Word (in context!!). Purposefully look for ways to apply it in your life with the empowering help of the indwelling HS. There's a reason the Apostle Paul compares the Christian life to a race and a battle. Those metaphors imply effort, striving, patience, obedience, endurance and perseverance. As Paul wrote to the believers at Philippi, "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain." (Phil.2:12-16)
[Based upon the book Holiness: The Heart God Purifies, Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Week #1 (Chapters 1-2) here; Week #3 (Chapters 5-6) here]
8 comments:
Two comments really stood out to me, the first where she says that "Unholy people cannot fellowship with a Holy God. I cannot cling to my impatience, gluttony, slothfulness, and moodiness, and have have fellowship with God at the same time." Then she says something along the lines of no spiritual "experience" will get us closer to God if we are ignoring or cherishing sin in our hearts. How often do I find myself at church, "worshiping" while thinking sinful thoughts, or comparing myself with others, in a bad mood because of some mundane thing i have to take care of that i don't want to...this was a good reminder of how we need to take the time to prepare our hearts for true worship, worthy of our holy God.
the second comment really helps put parenting into perspective (at least for me). She says "Your lives can create hunger and thirst for God in others' lives and can be a powerful instrument in the hand of the Holy Spirit to draw their hearts to Christ." What a responsibility I have as a mother...whose children are watching my every move, and hearing my every word. They know when I am speaking in anger, or frustration, or acting selfishly because I don't feel like cleaning up another mess they shouldn't have made. I need to, every day, make sure my life is in line with Scripture and I am pursuing biblical Godly holiness, not just trying to be as good as I can be. Do I love my sin more than my children? Am i willing to do whatever it takes to remove sin from my life so that i am not affecting others? Does my life cause my children to want to know the God I serve?
oops, sorry this was supposed to be on last week... for chapter 2...i'm a little behind the times.
I'm afraid your comment would have been buried if you had written it under last week's post. I, for one, am thankful you made your comment here! Good observations, Rachel.
Rachel, I really need to mull over what you’ve said about making sure that your life is in line with Scripture and that you are pursing biblical godly holiness, not just trying to be as good as you can be. Isn’t it true that the world’s point of view can subtly creep into our thinking if we’re not careful? The world wants to do the “horizontal” comparison Debi was talking about and not the vertical. I’ve heard too many times how some sports figure who has just died was a “good” person even though he committed crimes, or that he should be remembered for the great athlete he was and to just gloss over his “shortcomings”. This is NOT God’s way! I loved that Nancy reminds us that there will be NO sin in heaven. None. This is why God must judge sin. If we are not willing to agree with God as to what sin is, what our sin is, then He has to judge us accordingly. As much as I want to see some of my unsaved loved ones in heaven, I know that if they are not saved that they cannot enter heaven as they would burn up in the brightness and spendor of God’s holiness.
The other thing that Nancy really has me considering more deeply is that “there is no such thing as a small sin. Every unconfessed sin is a seed that will produce a multiplied harvest.” So, what I really take from that is that if sin is confessed, it must lose its power. So there’s something I need to work on, because I am seriously lacking in the virtue of recognizing and confessing my sin regularly.
-SPB
I often abandon personal holiness as impossible/unattainable for daily life. In all my busyness, I get into survival mode, instead of pursuing holiness and sanctification. DeMoss's book causes you to put personal holiness in the right perspective, though. God's holiness, and His mercy, ought to motivate us to pursue holiness, and find joy in Christ as we do. As a teenager, I used to put my perfectionism into my faith, with all the wrong motives. God wants us to enjoy pursuing Him- yet not do it for our own personal "perfection". I loved the jigsaw puzzle illustration. How often I feel like that, being so busy all the time! But if God can make a beautiful, sanctified, final picture out of such sinful pieces, I can certainly focus on each little "puzzle piece of my day," and look to be holy as He is holy.
Oops, that was me above(Joselyn). I was lazy and didn't look up my google account password.
I like that DeMoss got the direction of holiness correct... from the inside out. Joselyn, I'm sure you're not alone in having focused on behavior, rather than on your heart attitudes! When we recognize sin in our actions, we need to evaluate the heart problem, the "root" problem, behind it and focus on change at that level. For example, I remember having irritation and anger problems when the kids were little. I kept trying, unsuccessfully, to control it. Then I realized it was rooted in my wrong expectations... that my life would be organized, my children always obedient, that I could get more done in a day then was humanly possible even if everything went without a hitch. But life just isn't like that! There's always at LEAST a hitch or two! Change in my selfish heart expectations resulted in my behavior changing. And the more I looked upon Christ in God's Word, in prayer & by listening to solid preaching, I realized it was slowly affecting the expectations of my heart. [Slowly mind you...it never stops!]
I think one of my biggest struggles is that I want to work on my to-do-list of the day, and accomplish the tasks that are set before me, rather than being focused on what GOD wants to do with my day, and what He wants to teach me in my minor daily trials. Debi, I appreciated your description of having wrong expectations. That's definitely the me of this moment.
-SPB
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