Monday, March 15, 2010

Brutal Honesty

After a challenging sermon yesterday from my friend Anthony Zurlo, I was reminded of this quote from Jerry Bridges.

"The gospel, applied to our hearts every day, frees us to be brutally honest with ourselves and with God. The assurance of His total forgiveness of our sins through the blood of Christ means we don't have to play defensive games anymore. We don't have to rationalize and excuse our sins.

"We can say we told a lie instead of saying we exaggerated a bit. We can admit an unforgiving spirit instead of continuing to blame our parents for our emotional distress. We can call sin exactly what it is, regardless of how ugly and shameful it may be, because we know that Jesus bore that sin in His body on the cross. With the assurance of total forgiveness through Christ, we have no reason to hide from our sins anymore."

I would only add that the gospel enables us to be brutally honest not only with ourselves and with God, but with other people. We won't be freed to be open about our sin and God's grace with others without the security of knowing Christ's love revealed in the gospel. And so our fellowship with others will be terribly impaired if we are not resting in Christ's grace that has justified the ungodly.

5 comments:

  1. Funny thing about yesterday's message. I had a lot of "I know that already" moments. But in my sin, I failed to acknowledge "You are that man" in a David/Nathan-like interaction in my soul. Isn't the Christian so much about learning by reminder and continual repentance? As Anthony mentioned - we would still be repenting 20 years from now. But God's grace abounds all the more!

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  2. Larry and Matt,

    Amen! I'm thinking of Hebrews 4, which we are discussing in our life group right now:

    "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."

    I love that we not only receive mercy after we sin, but it's promised before we sin as well. Thank you God that I can come to Christ and say, "The temptation is too strong. I cannot help but sin, because I know how weak I am. However, you were without sin and offer that righteousness to me as well. Please give me the grace not to sin for your glory."

    If only we would remind one another of this again and again.

    Will

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  3. Will -- You're impressive, brother; how can you make a blog comment and be discussing Hebrews 4 at the very same time!?

    Also, just had a question looking for some clarification on this sentence: "Thank you God that I can come to Christ and say, 'The temptation is too strong. I cannot help but sin, because I know how weak I am.'"

    I certainly agree and take joy in the fact that Christ knows all of our sins, past, present and future and that He loves us even in spite of knowing that we will still stumble and dishonor Him.

    But at least the way you've worded this, I'm having a hard time squaring it with 1 Corinthians 10:13, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."

    What are your thoughts on this?

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  4. Thinking about it more: maybe this line is the key to helping me understand what you were saying: "Please give me the grace not to sin for your glory."

    Were you saying that I might FEEL like the temptation is too strong and that I cannot help but sin, but by when I call to mind the grace that Christ offers and the righteousness that He has provided, I am given the way out and empowered to endure and not give into the temptation?

    If that's what you meant then I totally do get what you're saying and certainly give you a hearty amen!

    Let me know if I'm tracking with you rightly.

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  5. Larry,

    "Were you saying that I might FEEL like the temptation is too strong and that I cannot help but sin, but by when I call to mind the grace that Christ offers and the righteousness that He has provided, I am given the way out and empowered to endure and not give into the temptation?

    If that's what you meant then I totally do get what you're saying and certainly give you a hearty amen!

    Let me know if I'm tracking with you rightly."

    That's exactly what I meant, which is why I added "Please give me the grace not to sin for your glory."
    It sure feels when I'm tempted that I can't help but sin. This drives me to Christ in desperation. Then, by his mercy, I don't.
    If left to myself, I sin. God gets all the glory when I don't.

    Will

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