Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Psalm 19:13 NLT
This was a prayer of the “man after God’s own heart” (see 1 Samuel 13:14). The holy David needed to pray like this? How important, then, is such a prayer for us babes in grace! It is as if David said, “Hold me back, or I will rush headlong over the precipice of sin.” Our evil nature, like an ill-tempered horse, is likely to run away with us. May the grace of God put a bridle on it, holding us back so we don’t rush into mischief. What might even the best of us do were it not for the checks the Lord sets on us in His providence and grace? The psalmist’s prayer is directed against the worst form of sin—the sin done with willful deliberation. Even the holiest people need to be “kept” from the most wicked transgressions. It is a serious thing to find the apostle Paul warning saints against the most loathsome sins: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5 ESV). What? Do believers still need a warning against sins like these? Yes, they do. The whitest robes, unless their purity is preserved by divine grace, will be marred by the blackest spots. Experienced Christian, do not boast in your experience. You will trip and fall if you look away from “him who is able to keep you from stumbling” (Jude 24 ESV). Even if your love is fervent, your faith is constant, and your hopes are bright, do not say, “We will never sin.” Cry out instead, “Lead us not into temptation” (Matthew 6:13). In the heart of even the best person, there is enough tinder to light a fire that will burn to the lowest hell unless God quenches the sparks as they fall. Who would have dreamed that the righteous Lot could be found drunk and committing sexual sins (see Genesis 19)? Hazael asked, “But what is your servant—a dog, that he should do this gross thing?” (2 Kings 8:13 NKJV), and we are apt to use the same self-righteous question. May God’s infinite wisdom cure us of the madness of self-confidence. - C.H. Spurgeon Morning and Evening
We all are no different that what we see described in Deuteronomy of the people of Israel. Of the Lord's description of what these, for the moment obedient, people of Israel would be like.
It matters not, realistically, if you are a believer or not a believer, you willfully sin.
You willfully put other gods before God.
You willfully covet the things of others.
You willfully...go down the list in the 10 Commandments. For that fact go to that list of the characteristics of those who won't see Heaven. At some point the bulk of even Christians have thought in their hearts or actions have done those things.
We grow ever more numb to sin.
King David wrote what he did as a confession and a warning. He knew full well that he had done it and was knowing that it would happen again.
Look at your life. Does sin even bother you anymore? Is being accepted by those in your world more important than living in obedience to God? Is your status and position socially more important than your life in Christ? Is your family even more important than Christ to you? The degree you love the Lord Jesus, is it really disproportionate to how you 'love' others? Or other things?
People everywhere put their personal happiness as first on their list of priorities, at the expense of all else. They will have conversations with people until it no longer is either comfortable or suits them. People rarely think of others first. That's by the design of Satan's plans. As long as selfishness flourishes then he is getting people to willfully sin. People spend billions on personal happiness every year. People can't park their car in the garage because they spent so much on stuff it's now full of stuff that they can't live without. People spend money they don't have to impress people they really don't like in order to feel better about themselves. Selfishness. And in most cases it really is deliberately choosing to sin in attempting to feel better about themselves.
Deliberate sin. Intentionally doing what is wrong according to God's Word. Quit calling it other things. Quit justifying your actions to make yourself feel better about sinning. To take the worship due to God and give it to anyone or anything in this world is, by GOD'S definition, idolatry. We call it being a 'fan'. God says call it what He said it is.
Deliberate sin. Intentionally doing what is wrong according to God's Word. Sexual promiscuity. Sexual immorality. A life lived in sexual desire and defiance to how God said it was to be in order to satisfy personal pleasure. God said this is a deliberate sin. Satan twists the minds of people to make what God says is an abomination into what is acceptable to the world.
Deliberate sin is more than these two. But these two are among the biggest. So much so that these are among the most prominent in the 7 year Tribulation that is coming. The world will worship the Antichrist. It won't just be fandom. Won't be enough to wear a t-shirt with his likeness on it. If you are not a believer in Jesus Christ right now you WILL be pressured into WORSHIPPING the Antichrist or will be put to death. THAT is not just liking or being a supporter of. We are already seeing a taste of that today. All across the country we are seeing people being pressured into not just agreeing with a social stance but being made to publicly do things in support or face the consequences. So don't even think that worshipping the Antichrist is impossible. Thank God the real, professing Church, won't be here. Those who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for Salvation will not be here.
Deliberate sin is an activity in the lives of both believers and unbelievers. If believers continue in it, eventually, God WILL remove them from this world, to save His Name and put a stop to it. Unbelievers cannot help but to continue in deliberate sin because they do not have the power of God in the Holy Spirit to fight against it.
As believers we can choose to obey God or not. To not means to deliberately disobey. We rationalize or choices but in the end if it doesn't match up with the Truth of God's Word then it's sin.
Look at what you have done and are doing in your life. How much of what you don't think about doing is really deliberate sin?
You speak with swear words. That's a deliberate sin. You intentionally do things that really are selfish, that's deliberate sin.
You close your door and watch things you would never show to your closest friends and family. That's deliberate sin. You choose to steal thinking that nobody's going to notice. That's deliberate sin. You drive your car without regard to the safety of people around you. That's deliberate too.
Look at what you are doing! Are you deliberately living in sin?
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