The Holy Spirit Makes My Sin Apparent to Me

Has it been a year already? Today we’re back with writer, speaker, entrepreneur and marketing consultant Bill Hood, who writes at Brothers of the Book. This one is fairly representative of Bill’s devotionals, but in preparing this, I looked at five different ones and they were all great!

Clicking the header below takes you to read this where it first appeared a few weeks ago.

Acknowledge You Have A Problem

Psalms 32, 51, 86, 122

The first step in recovery either as an alcoholic or a sinner, is to acknowledge that you have a problem. Have you admitted you have a problem?

They say that the first step an alcoholic must take toward sobriety is acknowledging that he has a problem. Can a drunk be cured of his addiction if he doesn’t believe he has an addiction? A drunk won’t make a commitment to the radical life style change needed to become, and stay, sober if he doesn’t think he has a problem. A drunk must come to the end of himself, he must be broken, he must hit bottom, before he can begin his climb up out of the pit.

David was known as a “man after God’s own heart”. We have seen in our time reading about him that he was typically in right relationship with God. Yesterday we read of David’s sin with Bathsheba. David didn’t seem to be too concerned about his sin until Nathan came and made clear that he had a problem. Before I go on about this, let me share my astonishment. David had a right relationship with God. He knew what was right and wrong. He knew how much God had blessed him, and yet he, seemingly out of know where, sinned in spectacular fashion. How could he do such a thing?

I submitted my life to Christ. I have sinned after that life changing moment. How can that be? I’m supposed to be a new person; the old is gone. I have the Holy Spirit residing within me, so how is it possible for me to sin once more? You know a recovering alcoholic never says he is cured. He is forever a recovering alcoholic. He knows that he is always just one thought, just one sip, away from relapse. If he truly accepted that he had a problem, and that he wanted to get better, then he accepted the fact that he would forever more need to be on his guard.

This was true for David, it is true for me, and it is true for you. I love God, and His will is what I desire most in my life. The old dead self, every once in a while, rears its ugly head, and I must be ever vigilant to keep from slipping over the precipice back into the hole. If, like David, I fail in that task, I will suffer the consequences of my relapse. What about the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is my Nathan. The Holy Spirit makes my sin apparent to me and causes my heart to break for my faithlessness. It is the Holy Spirit that helps me to acknowledge my sin, to seek forgiveness, and to get back on the straight and narrow wagon again.

Once Nathan helped David to see his sin and his need for forgiveness, David started on the path to recovery. He would still need to suffer consequences for his sin, but God’s forgiveness would mean that he wouldn’t suffer the ultimate penalty for sin – death. Psalm 51, written by David, shows us how he approached God following his interview with Nathan.

Psalm 51:3-6 ESV
“For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
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.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.”

David acknowledged his sin to God and himself. Coming face to face with his wretchedness before a Holy God brought him to a place of brokenness. It was in this state that he could find forgiveness and be brought back into right relationship with God.

Psalm 51:16-17 ESV
“For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

Brothers, every day we should become more like Christ as we discover the new creature we became the day we submitted to His authority. As we mature in Christ we should have fewer stumbles along the way and every stumble will hurt like the dickens. At the moment of every stumble, let us get on our knees, acknowledge that we have a problem, confess our sin to God with a truly broken and contrite heart, and then let us get up, go, and sin no more.

Vivere Victorem! (Live Victorious!)

Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!