we are all vulnerable to sin: we need to see the consequences to sin and repent and confess our sins

David received the highest revelation in the Old Testament in 2 Sam. 7, where God told him that He will build David a house and He will build Himself into David’s lineage… it is almost unbelievable that a person who has received such a high revelation and has achieved such high experiences can still fall in sin.

But David, just a few chapters later, committed one of the ugliest and most terrible sins recorded in the Bible: he committed both adultery and murder, to get Bath-Sheba, the wife of Uriah (one of his mighty men).

It is not pleasant to talk about this or to try to get some good things to learn from this, but I was really touched in message 9 in the recent Crystallization Study of the Psalms (1), entitled, Repentance and Confession with God’s Forgiveness for His building, with the matter of SIN – as revealed in Psa. 51, Psa. 32 and Psa. 38.

Sin is not a small thing in God’s eyes – it is a very serious thing to sin. There are consequences to sin, there’s our reaction to our sinning(we want to hide), and there’s a way for us to repent and confess before the Lord concerning our sin. First of all, we don’t want to sin and we don’t will to sin, but it can happen – and when it happens, we need to know that IT IS SERIOUS TO SIN!

The consequences of sin are: the charge of sin(the verdict of sin before God), the guilt of sin (in our conscience), and the condemnation of sin (from the enemy). When we sin, we firstly sin against God – in the heavenly law court there’s a verdict from God!

Also, there’s the guilt of sin in our conscience – there’s something that remains and stains our conscience, the guilt of sin. Here we need to see that there’s a difference between GUILT and SHAME. When our conscience functions normally, we have a sense of shame in many things, situations, with people, etc – and this sense of shame preserves us and keeps us from sinning many times.

When we sin, we have a sense of guilt. If we maintain a proper sense of shame, you will not have a sense of guilt. But if we give up our sense of shame, the sense of guilt will never go away!

God put the conscience in us, and the conscience will nag us in the way of guilt – but it is much better for us to cultivate a proper sense of shame that will preserve us and prevent us from sinning and from having the sense of guilt. ALSO, besides the charge of sin and the guilt of sin, one other consequence is the condemnation from the enemy.

What is even WORSE is that our whole being is being disrupted and affected by our sin – to SIN is not a small thing. In Psalm. 32 and Psalm 38 we see many practical and actual consequences of sin. The more we hide the sin, the more the sin eats us up (it has a debilitating effect, you loose the will power, you feel drained, you want to give up).

Psa. 32:3 a sustained effect of depression, despair, that can happen to a person who remains in sin. v. 4 – a draining effect, an exhausting effect(it is exhausting when a person sins).

Psa. 38:3 – when sin comes to a person, it disintegrates his whole personality. V4. the oppressive effect of the sin upon a person – too heavy, suffocating! V.5 – there is a toxic and corroding effect(sin doesn’t remain in itself as a single act, rather, it festers). V. 6, the humiliating effect. V. 7, the tormenting effect; v. 7, the numbing effect of sin, making you insensitive.

V. 10, the weakening effect(making one weak even physically). V. 10 – sin blinds you and puts you in darkness(it takes you to a dark place). V. 13, sin makes you an isolated person(sinning makes man a very lonely man). V. 16, sin magnifies itself – there’s a magnifying effect. All these effects of sin upon man contribute to destroying man, debilitating the person, and making one really bad!

When man sins, just like in the garden of Eden, he doesn’t like to come into the light; rather, man hides himself from his sin and the consequence of sin. Man has even developed mechanisms of self-defense and self-protection against sin!

There’s the self-justification(you sin and then you rationalize it, blaming it on others); there’s the self-condemnation (you are condemned to the point that you lose any self esteem, you feel rejected, terrible; many people think that by condemning themselves they can get rid of sin); there’s the self-isolation (a trick to alienate yourself); the self-punishment (you punish yourself by doing something bad to yourself to inflict pain to yourself), or self-rebellion (you react to your sin in rebellion).

Sinning man, as he grows in the human life, develops such techniques of covering up for sin and reacting to sin – trying to hide himself from his sin… BUT there is only ONE way to deal with sin – we need to FACE OUR SIN – BY REPENTANCE AND CONFESSION!

We need to repent – we need to TURN! When we turn, we see ourselves (Psa. 51:3), and we come to terms with it: we no longer hide it away, but we see sin as sin. When we turn, we see sin even as God sees it – God hates sin, and in His light we see sin as it really is.

When we see sin as God sees it, we have a true repentance – we turn to God and repent! We simply tell the Lord, Lord, forgive me – I am really really sorry! God desires that we turn to Him and return to Him – He calls out throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament that we would turn to Him again!

When we open up to Him and speak – we confess our sins (Rom. 10:10), we receive salvation! Confession brings in salvation. Don’t hide your sin, don’t justify your sin – rather, confess your sin and come into the light, asking for the Lord’s forgiveness!

When you confess your sins, you will receive the water of life! This is why we need to confess our sins daily, to daily have a “washing” before the Lord! When we confess our sins, our fellowship with the Lord is restored and we love Him more! He forgives us – we just love Him!

We are sinners, but we love Him because He forgives us! We need to see sin as it really is, we need to see our vulnerability to sin, and we need to see the consequences of sin. Then, we shouldn’t hide – but rather come to the Lord to repent and confess our sin… [sharing inspired from message 9 of the recent summer training on the Crystallization Study of Psalms (1)]