BP 141
A brief post today for those who are weighed down by the condemnation and shame that accompanies sin . . .
When you sin, would you rather stand before your own self or before the holy God whose anger burns against sin?
I think many of us would say we prefer to stand before our internal judge than the holy, wrathful Father who hates sin. We believe that the perfect God will smolder with anger toward us and turn His back on His oft-sinning people who can never seem to stop straying.
And we would be absolutely wrong.
Often, when we sin, we struggle to forgive ourselves. Maybe we have fallen into a familiar sin yet again and we are impatient with ourselves—maybe even angry and unforgiving. We might hate ourselves and even question if we are believers.
Hear this: God hates our sin, but He doesn’t hate us the way we can hate ourselves and shame ourselves and even condemn ourselves when we sin.
Could it be a wiser and better choice to approach the high and holy God who inhabits eternity when we sin than to approach ourselves?
The answer is yes.
If you have read the book, Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund, you may remember that in one chapter he discusses the Old Testament book of Jeremiah. He notes that in the first 29 chapters of this book, the holy God details His righteous judgment against the nations including His chosen people for their evil behaviors, whoredom, wicked thoughts, and their rebellious and stubborn hearts.
But that is not the end of the matter.
In chapters 30-33, God comforts His hard-hearted people with what has been referred to as “the Book of Consolation.” Specifically, in 31:3 God shocks His rebellious people with the words, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” Later in the chapter, He utters the amazing words, “Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore, my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, declares the Lord” (v. 20).
“As often as I speak against him” because of his rebelliousness and sin, God says that His heart’s deep affections are still focused on His darling child—on us, His chosen people saved by immeasurable grace and rich mercy.
Ortlund quotes Thomas Goodwin as saying, “The greater the misery is [in God’s people], the more is the pity when the party is beloved. Now of all miseries, sin is the greatest” and “Christ will look upon it as such.” Goodwin goes on to say, “. . . His hatred shall all fall, and that only upon the sin, to free you of it by its ruin and destruction, but His affections shall be the more drawn out to you; and this as much when you lie under sin as under any other affliction. Therefore fear not.”
In other words, Jesus takes notice of your sin and reacts not with disgust and by turning His back on you. No, He responds with pity, grace, and heart yearning. He tells you to come to Him with your burdens. He commands you to approach His presence when you are weak and have sinned because His heart does not hold condemnation for His sons and daughters. Rather, His heart overflows with a desire to have mercy on you.
Next time you fall into sin, do not hide. Do not self-flagellate. Do not punish yourself with shame or self-condemnation. Don’t listen to your own heart or to the lies of the prosecuting attorney who wants to separate you from God’s love and sentence you to death.
Listen instead to your Beautiful Defense Attorney who has never lost a case in the court of heaven yet. And He never will.
Christ has already paid for your sins. You are now His child. You are adopted. You are family. So run to your loving Daddy and to His Son who always intercedes for you before the Father and minute by minute desires to rescue you from the gravity pull of sin. He personally knows the power of sin’s tractor beam.
His arms are open wide and His heart yearns for you. Especially approach Him when you sin so that you might experience and worship Him for His unconditional love and limitless forgiveness.
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need ~ Hebrews 4:14-16
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! ~ Romans 7:21ff
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved ~ Ephesians 2:4ff
Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them ~ Hebrews 7:25
