WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A CHRISTIAN SINS?
PSALM 51
Scripture makes it abundantly clear that if we believe in Jesus and have put our trust in Him, then we are His, and nothing or no-one can change that. How wonderful it is to know that we are secure in the Lord Jesus Christ!
WELL THEN, SINCE THE CHRISTIAN IS SECURE IN CHRIST, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A CHRISTIAN DELIBERATELY SINS?
Now before we go any further I should explain why I have chosen to use that antiquated word, ‘sin’.
Firstly, I use it because the Bible uses it. In the NIV translation, the word sin, (not to mention words like sinner, sinning, sinned, sinful etc), the word sin alone is used 346 times in the OT & 127 times in the NT. And I checked ½ a dozen other translations out & came up with similar results. I think the biblical writers, under the guidance of God the Holy Spirit, saw the concept of sin as fairly important.
Secondly, I use it because it conveys more meaning than any other word in regard to wrong doing. It carries with it the following concepts:-
Rebellion & Lawlessness
Perversion & immorality
Evil
Breaking God’s laws
Falling short in our very character
Being unfair
Being unkind
Being selfish
Living in ways contrary to the will & nature of God
Not worshipping God as we should
Not loving our Lord with all our heart, mind, soul & strength
Not loving our neighbour as ourselves
Missing the mark – at times not even understanding what God wants
Doing the things we shouldn’t & not doing the things we should
Thirdly, I use it because it is a word we can’t escape, we can’t shift the blame. If we were to use words like my weakness, my inadequacy, my mistakes, my problem we can comfortably lessen the impact. After all doesn’t everyone make mistakes, doesn’t everyone have some weakness etc.
WELL THEN, WHAT DOES HAPPEN WHEN A CHRISTIAN DELIBERATELY SINS?
When a Christian sins relationship is NOT altered, position is NOT altered, BUT fellowship is broken.
I suppose we could compare this to the relationship between a child and his or her parents:-
For eg. if I hurt or angered my parents by doing something bad - my position remains the same - I am still their son, BUT I might not feel worthy of fellowship with them, or they may not feel confident to share with me, until I have shown remorse for what I have done. My relationship as son remains the same, but my fellowship has been disturbed.
SO HOW DOES THIS DISTURBED FELLOWSHIP EFFECT ME?
In 2 Samuel 11, we have the account of king David’s fall. Elsewhere in Scripture we are told that David was a ‘man after God’s own heart’. He was one of the giants of the faith - yet he fell into terrible sin with his tragic involvement with Bathsheba.
David provides us with an example of gross, extreme sin, sin which led him to the depths of deceit, adultery, murder & misuse of privilege and power. His sin was a ‘bobby-dazzler’ & probably most of us, even if we have dreamt of committing sin like his, are not in a position to be able to carry it out! You need a lot of authority to be able to do what he did.
Let’s turn to 2 Samuel 11 and briefly look at David’s sin - I have just picked out several verses rather than reading through the entire chapter ( I am reading from the NIV ) -
Verses 2–5, "2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,
3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"
4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home.
5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, "I am pregnant.""
And now down to verse 14 through to 15.
"14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab (the Commander of David’s army) and sent it with Uriah (remember Uriah is Bathsheba’s husband).
15 In it he wrote, "Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.""
And finally verses 26 & 27.
"26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.
27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD."
We’re not going to spend time this morning thinking about the nature of David’s sin - I simply read that passage in order to give a background to what we will be looking at this morning.
Because of his sin, even though David remained a child of God, his fellowship was broken. It is important to understand that SIN is doing anything contrary to the nature and will of God - it doesn’t need to be as extreme as David’s sin.
In Psalm 51, we have an insight into what this broken fellowship meant to David and what it will mean for us if there is unconfessed known sin in our lives.
Psalm 51 is David’s prayer of confession and repentance.
LET’S TURN TOGETHER TO THAT PSALM.
There are 8 ways in which sin can affect the Christian listed here in Psalm 51:-
1. FIRSTLY - SIN CAN MAKES US FEEL UNCLEAN
We discover this in verses 2, 7 & 10:-
Verse 2 says "2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin."
Verse 7 says "7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow."
Verse 10 says "10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, …"
David, who refused for a long time to acknowledge or confess his sinfulness, now cries out to be cleansed - he feels filthy.
Sin pollutes – it makes us feel unclean!
2. SECONDLY - SIN CAN FILL OUR MIND
Look at verse 3 - "3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me."
David could not escape his sin, it was always prominent in his thoughts. - Sin fills the mind!
3. THIRDLY - SIN CAN STING OUR CONSCIENCE
In verses 4 & 9, we notice that David saw his own guilt and could make no righteous appeal against it.
Can you feel his conscience stinging as he cries out? -
"4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, …"
“9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.”
Sin stings the conscience!
4. FOURTHLY - SIN CAN MAKE US DEPRESSED
Let’s look at the opening words of verse 8 - "8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice."
Because of his sin, David had lost his joy - the mind of this same David who wrote countless psalms and songs of praise, was now filled with sorrow.
Sin depresses the heart!
5. FIFTHLY - SIN CAN MAKE US SICK
Look at the second half of verse 8 - "8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice."
David is writing poetically, but he is saying, let the anguish inside my own body be healed. When we are out of fellowship with God, we are out of harmony with ourselves. Furthermore, sin can literally make us physically sick. I am not suggesting that if you are sick, it is because you have sinned, but it is obvious that some sins carry a high health risk.
Sin affects the body!
6. SIXTHLY - SIN CAN SOUR OUR SPIRIT
Let’s read verse 10 - "10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."
This verse makes it clear that David was conscious of the fact that his spirit was all wrong - his spirit was no longer stable or steadfast and he saw the need for a new heart. We could read Jeremiah 17 and verse 9 as a picture of David’s heart - "9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"
Sin sours the spirit!
7. SEVENTHLY - SIN CAN DESTROY THE ASSURANCE OF GOD’S PRESENCE
Look at verse 11 - "11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me."
Although God had not changed in His love for David, David’s assurance of this was shaken - he now felt removed from God.
Sin destroys the assurance of God’s presence!
8. EIGHTHLY - SIN CAN SEAL OUR LIPS
Focus your attention on verses 14 & 15 - "14 Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise."
Because of his sin, David had no testimony to give to others and no praise to offer to the Lord.
Sin seals the lips!
WHAT A SORRY STATE TO BE IN.
Have you ever been in that position? Are we perhaps in that terrible position now?
Psalm 51 prompts us to ask questions like these of ourselves:-
· When was the last time we shared with someone what God is doing in our lives?
· Do we have anything to share, in this regard?
· Are we full of praise and joy, or have we lost our song – has the dance gone from our step?
· Is our heart clean, or is it dirty and polluted?
· Is our conscience free from guilt?
· Do we have assurance of God’s presence and empowering in our lives?
If we are convicted that we are, in actual fact, in the same state that David was in – WHAT CAN WE DO?
FIRSTLY - WE MUST REMEMBER GOD’S GREAT MERCY
Look at verse 1 - "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions."
David appealed to the GRACE, LOVING-KINDNESS & COMPASSION of God. God hates our sin with perfect hatred, BUT he loves the sinner with everlasting love. He wants to forgive us when we return to Him in true repentance.
There have been many times when I have felt as though I cannot return to God because I am too sinful. - Yet listen to how ready God is to forgive us when we come to Him in confession.
Turn with me to 2 Samuel 12: 1-7 and verse 13.
“12:1 The LORD sent Nathan (who was a prophet) to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.
2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle,
3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 "Now a traveller came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveller who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him."
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!
6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity."
7 Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! …”
Let’s look at David’s response in verse 13.
“13 Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.”
Isn’t that an incredible passage - David had committed unbelievable sin and yet the moment he confessed "I have sinned against the Lord", Nathan, inspired by the Spirit of God, was able to proclaim the Lord’s forgiveness "The Lord has taken away your sin; you shall not die."
We must remind ourselves of God’s mercy and grace!
SECONDLY – WE MUST CONFESS OUR SIN FULLY AND FRANKLY TO THE LORD
This is exactly what David did. He didn’t make excuses for what he had done and he didn’t even try to make Bathsheba share the guilt or the blame. He continually uses the personal pronoun "my". Look at verse 1 "…my transgressions", verse 2 "my iniquity", "my sin", and so on.
Furthermore, David employs every Old Testament word for sin:-
"Transgressions" - meaning rebellion and lawlessness.
"Iniquity" - meaning perversity.
"Sin" - which carries with it the meaning of missing the mark.
In effect, David is saying - I have been lawless and perverse and I have missed the mark, not reached God’s standard - and he goes on to say that he has done evil and is guilty of shedding blood. He acknowledged his sin and confessed it fully and frankly to the Lord.
We must remind ourselves of God’s mercy and grace BUT we must follow David’s example in confession. In the words of 1 John 1:9 - "9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
We must confess our sin fully & frankly to the Lord
THIRDLY - WE MUST SEEK TO SURRENDER COMPLETELY TO THE HOLY SPIRIT
It is important to be clear that when we sin, the Holy Spirit does NOT leave us - for in Ephesians 4:30, we are told that we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption and John 14:16 tells us that the Spirit will be with us forever. We do not need to pray today therefore the prayer that David prayed in verse 11.
However, only as the Holy Spirit fills and empowers us shall we be kept from falling into sin again. We must seek to give ourselves over completely to the Spirit’s control.
We must seek afresh the infilling & empowering of the Holy Spirit
FINALLY - WE MUST REJOICE IN THE BLESSING OF A RENEWED AND FRUITFUL LIFE
We cannot experience a full life while harbouring known sin . But when we acknowledge our sin, confess it to the Lord, turn from it, and receive God’s forgiveness and cleansing and seek to come under the control of the Holy Spirit once again, then we are ready to experience the wonder, joy & fulfilment of living life as God intended it to be. We will rejoice in satisfying service for Him.
The joyful service of bringing people to God - verse 13 -
"13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you."
The uplifting service of praise - verse 15 -
"15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise."
The fulfilling service of prayer - verse 18 -
“18 In your good pleasure make Zion prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem.”
CONCLUSION
If today you are a Christian who feels like David did - a Christian with no praise, no joy, no assurance, no testimony, filled with guilt and uncleanliness
OR
if you have never put your trust in Jesus and you do not know what it is to have a pure, clean conscience, a mind free from guilt, a heart that sings for joy, a spirit in tune with God & in harmony with yourself, an assurance of God’s presence with you.
Then do not despair, but rather -
Think of God’s loving kindness and tender mercy, think of His readiness to accept you if only you will turn to Him. Acknowledge your sinfulness to the Lord, ask Him to take control of your life and seal it with His Holy Spirit, or, give yourself over afresh to the Holy Spirit and enter into and rejoice in fruitful & full life.
Then no matter where your life’s journey leads, or what hardships you may face, you will be able, deep in your heart to ‘rejoice in the Lord always’.
