WE MUST STRIVE IN OUR
MORTIFICATION OF SIN
Psalm 51:7-12
7 Purge me with
hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall
be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and
gladness;
let the bones that
you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from
my sins,
and blot out all my
iniquities.
10 Create in me
a clean heart, O God,
and renew a
right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away
from your presence,
and take not your
Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the
joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a
willing spirit.
Guilt is the weighty
result of our sin. In our own strength, we may try to atone for sins through
rituals and penance, but will never find relief. The only freedom from guilt
and sin is found in confession to God and full trust in His forgiveness.
Even though man might try
to suppress the guilt through distraction and more sin, only God can restore
joy.
God finds much pleasure in forgiving the repentant sinner. When God purifies us,
there is no more need for anything else. God’s work is complete. He forgives freely,
with no strings attached.
As David asks for
forgiveness, he knows that when God washes him, he will be pure. What a
wonderful assurance we have, in knowing that we are made pure again. As we
recognize that we have offended God and go to Him for forgiveness, the weight
is gone. David knows so well the weight of unconfessed sin. His bones were
crushed by the weight of God’s hand.
If you are a believer, God
will not allow sin to remain in your life, without putting all the pressure He
needs to bring you back to Him. If you are holding on to some sin, this psalm
is here to remind you that there is refreshing relief in returning to God.
There is no sin that God will not forgive, there is no trespass that Christ did
not die for to provide full forgiveness.
There are consequences to
sin, there are scars, but there is the joy of knowing that one is right with
God. God desires to create in us a clean heart, so that our walk with Him will
continue unhindered!
Dear friends, our walk with God begins by grace and
continues by grace alone. I
marvel, at times, when I stop and realize that when God the Father, sent His
only-begotten, precious Son to die for us, He knew exactly every sin that we
would ever commit. Every sin offended His holiness and exposed our rebellious
and ungrateful hearts. Yet in spite of the cost, Christ died so you and I could
have full forgiveness and peace with God.
Certainly, if we took more
time to reflect on these amazing truths, our love for Christ would increase,
our gratitude would be evident and our lives would be different. We must stop
and meditate on the grace of God.
No one who knows these
things can take his sin lightly. We must make no provision for sin. We must
mortify our sin. We must ask God to give us a desire for purity and we must
strive for it.
Sin will quickly tear away our joy in the Lord. Our desire for the Word and for fellowship with
other believers will fade. If you are going through a season of apathy, you
must check your life. Have you allowed sin to blur your love for God? Have you
allowed you heart to wander away toward a wrong direction?
Our request should be for God
to work on our will and our desires. We can be easily attracted by sin. The
world is always enticing us with its flashing lights. Our fleshly desires are
ready to drive us to sin as soon as we let our guard down. We know which sins
entice us more easily, so we must fight them, and we must close any pathways to
them.
Dear friends, I am sure
you know both the joy of fellowship with God and the darkness and weight of
sin. May the words of this psalm be both a deterrent and a pathway to a joyful
walk with your Savior.
If you have never
experienced the joy of forgiveness, ask God to lead you to Him through His Word.
Those who know the richness of God’s grace and forgiveness are never the same
again.
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