Key Truths

It has been a while since I have blogged about some of the key spiritual truths that have shaped my life over the past several years. I think I am on number 15...



Key Truth #15: Because sin is deceptive by nature, we must pray for God to reveal our indwelling sins to us. Over the past few months, while reading Respectable Sins: confronting the sins we tolerate by Jerry Bridges, God has taught me that sin, by nature, is deceptive. Looking back over the sins that I have been enslaved to in my lifetime, I can see that at the time of my involvement in a particular sin, I was unable to see my sin for what it really was. It was not until after God revealed my sin to me through scripture did I realize the sin that was present in my life. This realization has caused me to recognize several things:

• I should be praying for God to reveal the sins in my life that I cannot see.


• We are so deceived by the enticement of sin that we can somehow rationalize away our thoughts, words, and actions.


• At times, we NEED other believers who love us to graciously help us expose our sin.


• "Our sin is an assault on the majesty and sovereign rule of God."


• "Every sin that we commit, even the subtle sin that we don't even think about, was laid upon Christ as He bore the curse of God in our place."


• "Stepping forward to accept my place as a sinner in need of the gospel each day drives a dagger into my self-righteous heart and prepares me to face up to and accept the reality of the sin that still dwells within me."


• "We can deal with the activity of our subtle sins only as the circumstances we encounter expose them."


• "[Sin] will cause you to live in complete denial of a particular sin or mitigate the seriousness of it. Only the Holy Spirit can successfully expose a sin for what it is."


• "The Holy Spirit will use...times of disobedience and defeat to help you see how deeply rooted your subtle sins are and how totally dependent you are on His power to help you."


• My "heart is a battleground between the flesh and the Spirit." Jerry Bridges provides a summary of what a Christian should do in relationship to dealing with indwelling sin:

1. Apply the gospel.


2. Depend on the Holy Spirit.


3. Recognize your responsibility.


4. Identify specific "respectable" sins.


5. Memorize and apply appropriate Scriptures.


6. Cultivate the practice of prayer.


7. Involve one or a few other believers with you.

In summary, God has been heightening my awareness to the subtle sins I commit and is causing me to see the deceitfulness of sin and the power it can have over me apart from the intervention of the Holy Spirit.

(All quotes were taken from Jerry Bridges' book entitled Respectable Sins.)