The soul which rises from out of sin to a devout life has been compared to the dawn, which does not banish darkness suddenly, but by degrees. The slow cure is always the surest, and spiritual maladies, like those of the body, while they are apt to come on horseback and express, tend to depart slowly on foot.
So we must be brave and patient, my daughter, in this undertaking. It is sad to see souls beginning to grow disheartened because they find themselves still subject to imperfection after having made some attempt at leading a devout life…to give up in despair and fall back; but, on the other hand, those souls are in worse danger who, through the opposite temptation, imagine themselves purified from all imperfection at the very outset, and who count themselves as full-grown almost before they are born. Be sure, daughter, that these are in great danger of a relapse through having left their physician too soon.
– FRANCIS DE SALES (1567-1622) Saint, bishop of Geneva
To have a new relationship with God and Jesus, is to have a new relationship with sin. We saw this last week in verses 5-10 we learned about the nature of God, God is light and in him there is no, no darkness at all. If a man or woman would have a relationship with God she must put off sin. All sin. Not some but all sin as the Holy Spirit reveals our sin to us through shining God’s light into our dark hearts.
If we would have fellowship with God, we must first come to the light, the light of the knowledge of God’s perfect holiness and our utter wretchedness. We must first have our eyes opened and see that we have sinned and despite our best efforts, we cannot stop sinning. It is our nature to sin and apart from Christ we can do nothing else but sin and perpetuate sin.
1 John 1:5-10 is all about our being sinners and our confessing that we are sinners so that we can become clean by the blood of Jesus and enjoy fellowship not only with God but with other Christians. It is our sins and sinful nature that separates us not only from God but from other people and other Christians.
The Gospel by its very nature draws us into community. We all share the same head, Christ. The closer we come to God, the closer we come to one another.
If we would have fellowship with God and others we must walk in the light and avoid sin. Sin breaks fellowship with God.
“God’s hand is not short that he cannot save, neither is his ear heavy that he cannot hear. But your sins have separated you from God. – Isa. 59:1-2
This means walking in the light of his word, confessing our sins. Living transparently and learning not to hide behind darkness which is our fleshly tendency. Sin grows in the dark, like mold. It cannot stand the exposure to the light. It’s not the environment it grows in. It prefers to remain hidden. Because of our love for sin, we hide it in our hearts. Anytime we desire to hide something, we must quickly examine our hearts for the presence of sin and confess it before God. 1 Cor. 11:31says “if we would judge ourselves we should not be judged’ and this is what confession is, as we judge ourselves guilty, worthy of God’s wrath and God as righteous. This takes the wind out of our accuser’s sails. Satan has nothing to accuse us of when we have already been on knees speaking with Christ of our sins.
- My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the world.
My little children…
The Greek word for children used here is “Teknion” . It means, “Little Child”. In the New Testament it is a term used as a metaphor by teachers to kindly address their disciples. It comes from the Greek word “offspring.” The name stood for that intimate and reciprocal relationship formed between men by the bonds of love, friendship, trust, just as between parents and children. The Greek word, “Teknion” that is used here is only used 9x in the New Testament. The first time it is used is by Jesus himself in John 13:33:
“Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go , ye cannot come ; so now I say to you.”
The second time it is used by Paul in Galatians 4:19 when he writes:
My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,”
The remaining 7x the Greek word “Teknion” is used is right here in the book of 1 John. The more common and traditional Greek word, “Paidion”, meaning small child, little boy or little girl is used 51x. Including 2x here in the book of 1 John in 1 John 2:12 & 2:18,
By this loving reference, we can sense John’s love and the fondness and parental affection from his tone. Much of this is probably due to his age. John is the last living disciple and I am sure that he looks fondly upon those he is writing as his children. He feels a responsibility to protect them, to teach them and provide them with the truth.
John is writing about a very difficult subject, a subject that many preachers today will not even touch, sin. He is writing about this subject with so much love and compassion as a loving father would. There is no condemnation in his tone. Only an earnestness that his hearers, his little children, would heed his voice and avoid sin and if they do sin, be comforted in knowing they have an advocate.
We can learn a lot just by the way John speaks about sin so gently yet at the same time he spares no words. He calls sin what is, sin. He is blunt and forceful and tells us that those who say they have fellowship with God while they walk in darkness lie. He does not sugarcoat the truth as we are often tempted to because sin is dangerous. He is a man who handles the word of God, the sword of God correctly and slices to the heart of a matter. He stabs the lies immediately. He seeks to save the man. There have been many people in the Christian church who have been injured by well-intentioned pastors, leaders or members when it comes to the topic of sin. I’ve seen many people stabbed by the word of God instead of freed by the word of God and protected by it because it has been mishandled by immature Christians, mislead Christians or loveless Christians. I confess I have done so myself in the past and I have been injured in the past and I know how painful it is, even when I have been mature enough to know that the person before me is simply acting immaturely with good intentions. I try to focus on that but there is still some pain to deal with from it. It hurts. As Christians, we should always seek to divide the word of God accurately.
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Tim. 2:15)
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Heb. 4:12)
We can do this through continually being in God’s word, seeking maturity, guidance and counsel with others and empathy. Knowing that we ourselves are sinners correcting sinners. Their sin may not be our sin but we have sin and will have sin exposed and we should deal with others as we would have others deal with us. In love. John is a prime example of this. This letter dealing with the topic of sin, is drenched with the tone of love yet it maintains its sharp edge that is able to pierce and divide as needed. You cannot remove sin with a dull sword.
No one like to talk about sin. It drives people away and yet no so with the Gospel. Talking about sin drives those who live for the world away, as light drives darkness away. They will hear none of it. You want to clear a room or down size a church preach or teach on sin. Teaching about sin turns many away from Jesus, yet at the same time, through the power of the gospel which is foolishness with men but unto us who are being saved it is the power of God, (1 Cor. 1:18) talking about sin actually draws people to Jesus. It draws those who have the Spirit of Truth in their hearts closer to Jesus, closer to the light, to expose their sins, to examine themselves for sins instead of driving them away. This should be our response as Christians as we use God’s word and the preachers sermons every Sunday and our bible study lessons every Tuesday as giant search lights to search our life for hidden sin and to expose it and to rid ourselves of it.
Sin is a difficult subject even for Christians. Although initially we may draw back from the exposure of our sins, in the end, after we take time to think about it, a day, a week, a month or a few years, we will come to acknowledge its truth and confess it as sin and rid ourselves of it. As Christians we know, we must know, that we must always be on guard against sin. Always.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. (ESV)
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. (KJV)
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. (NIV)
John states another purpose for writing this letter. He is writing so that we do not sin. John is battling the same problem inside the church that we battle inside the church, those who would turn the grace of God into lasciviousness by making light of sin promoting cheap grace.
The opening of chapter two serves as a counter balance in case some may give up and give into sin believing since we are sinners there is little else we can do but sin. John doesn’t want us to excuse ourselves for sinning as if we can hardly help it. This is the attitude that many today and we see a rising casualness about sin. Many know and admit their behavior is sinful, however, it raises no alarm, no concern in them because everyone sins. It is to be expected. It is only the big sins that cause alarm, not the small ones, which are seen as harmless and inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. To fight against these small sins is simply to be legalistic.
We must remind ourselves of the danger and severity of even the smallest of sins. We must remind ourselves it takes only a little bit of leaven for a loaf of bread. We know this but we often don’t believe this.
I am reminded of a quote in Screwtape by C.S. Lewis:
You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one-the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”
As Christians we must take sin seriously by making it our aim not to sin, not to practice sin. John is not teaching sinless perfection. 1 John 1:5-10 strips that away from us. If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves….If we say we have not sinned , we make him a liar… Everyone does and has sinned but that is not a license for us to follow the crowd, to do as the world does. This is exactly what Christ calls us to reject. Let the entire world sin but I will not forsake my Savior’s commands even if I must walk alone. This should be our hearts cry to go in the opposite direction of the world to follow Christ.
We all struggle with sin. This normal. Once we become Christians a war breaks out in our hearts for our hearts between our flesh and our Spirit. There was no war before. We simply followed our heart. But now we follow Christ even if the whole world goes the other direction. We are engaged in a life long battle. A war against sin and our old self. There can be no peace, no negotiation, no compromise while our flesh still lives.
John knows Christians struggle with sin. That’s the key. Christians struggle. They are continually fighting to put it off instead of living in it, indulging freely in it without second though as before. Christians cannot live in sin as they once did. It no longer appeals to us but produces a godly sorrow with us that leads to confession and repentance. Christians become “pricked in their heart.” (Acts 2:37) False repentance is often over being caught, dealing with the pain and the punishment as consequences of being caught. It is short lived. Once the pain is gone. The repentance is gone and the old behavior returns. Much like Pharaoh’s repentance with the plagues. True repentance is a mourning over the offense to God Himself. It is a deep pricking of the heart and shame over sins that no one else has seen or known but you. It’s not an external shame but an internal one between you before God alone. True repentance has little to do with the fear of punishment but becomes broken hearted over displeasing God and making light of God’s grace through Christ..
The point that John is trying to make here is that as Christians, we do not have to sin. We have a freed will. We have a free choice. The problem is we love sin, and we often choose to follow it instead of God. We are 100% responsible for that. And this is what we struggle with as Christians.
We should be continually turning towards prayer when we are tempted to sin and grow in humility.
“Hold up my going in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. Psa. 17:5
“Cleanse Thou me from secret faults. – Psa. 19:12
“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
We are to sin not. Allowing ourselves to yield to no temptation. Zero Tolerance. That is our aim.
Jerry Bridges in his lecture on the Pursuit of Holiness from the Navigators Discipleship Library website states:
A missionary came and taught on this passage that 1John was written to help us not to sin. And I felt that is a good thought. So I progressed in my understanding of that passage. Then my understanding became something like this,
“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin very much.” I felt that was a pretty admirable aim, not to sin very much.
But then it was 2-3 years ago when I was personally looking at this passage, I saw that the words very much were not there. It was just a great big dot. A period. “My little children, I write these things to you so that you will not sin.” Period.
God spoke to my heart that day and God said Jerry, are you willing to make it your aim not to sin?
Now, I’m not talking about sinless perfection. I’m not suggesting that you and I can have an experience instantaneously or over a period of time when we will reach a plateau of when we will no longer sin. I’m not suggesting that at all. I’m talking about our aim in life. Our objective.
We can illustrate it like this. We go to a soldier who is about to go out to combat. I mean really out where the bullets are flying. And you say to him, “Soldier, what is your aim?” And he says to you, “Oh my aim is not to get hit very much.”
It’s ridiculous isn’t it? Now he may get hit, but his aim is not to get hit at all. That is what I am talking about. I am not talking about sinless perfection. I am talking about our aim in life.
To use another illustration. The tailback on the football team. As the quarterback passes the ball to him, what is his aim? His aim is not to get tackled. His aim is to make it to the goal line. Now, chances are he will get tackled. If he didn’t it would be a horrible ball game. It would be a track race. But his aim is not to get tackled. That is what I am talking about. Because you see, most of us has had as our aim, not to sin very much.
Now, that was a difficult thing for me. You know why? I was not arguing with God wither that aim was attainable. That was not the issue. But that day as God nailed me on that, Jerry are you willing to make it your aim not to sin. There were several little things that came to my mind. And I thought boy, if I say yes to God, then I have to face those things head on and deal with them. And I wasn’t sure I was willing to.”
Jerry goes on to say that he is a sinner. He is a Christian, but he sins. Let’s face it, sin is fun. We wouldn’t indulge in it if it were not. We may hate ourselves afterwards, but we love our sin. It brings us pleasure that is its draw upon our hearts. We must learn to take all sin seriously and to train ourselves to hate it.
“It will kiss the soul, and pretend fair to the soul, and yet betray the soul forever. It will with a Delilah smile upon us, that it may betray us into the hands of the devil, as she did Samson into the hands of the Philistines…..Sin so bewitches the soul, that it makes the soul call evil good, and good evil; bitter sweet and sweet bitter, light darkness and darkness light; (Isa. 5:20) and a soul thus bewitched with sin will stand it out to the death, at the sword’s point with God; let God strike and wound, and cut to the very bone, yet the bewitched soul cares not, fears not, but will stand hold on in a course of wickedness, as you may see in Pharaoh, Balaam, and Judas……..When the physicians told Theotimus that except he did abstain from drunkenness and uncleanness he would lose his eyes, his heart was so bewitched to his sins, that he answered, ‘Then farewell, sweet light’: he had rather lose his eyes than leave his sin, So a man bewitched with sin had rather lose God, Christ, heaven, and his own soul than part with his sin. Oh, therefore, for ever take heed of playing or nibbling at Satan’s golden baits. – Thomas Brooks Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices.
| John Owen’s Seven considerations for mortification: |
1. Consider the dangerous symptoms of lust;
2. Get a clear sense of :
a. the guilt of the sin,
b. its manifold danger,
c. the evil of it;
3. Load your conscience with the guilt of the perplexing sin;
4. Have a vehement desire for deliverance;
5. Employ ways of dealing with sins deeply rooted in men’s temperaments ;
6. Prevent the occasions and advantages of sin;
7. Vigorously oppose the first actings of sin.
But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Are you feeling overwhelmed? John would not have us be crushed. Although we are sinners and our aim our fight is against sinning, John wants to remind us that “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
But if anyone does sin,
John does not say when we sin, but if. “If” is conditional. It suggests the possibility of one not sinning. We do not have to sin. We have a freed will because of Christ because of this there is no excuse for us when we do sin. We have the power of the Holy Spirit fully available to us. We have God’s light before us showing our way and revealing sin as sin to us so that we might avoid it, pass by it, turn from it and pass away. We have Jesus interceding for us in our temptations and God promises that the temptations we face are common to every man and he promises us that He always provides us with a way out of temptation.
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. – 1 Cor. 10:13
We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
But of anyone does sin, do not lose hope for we yet have an advocate. Despite all of God’s grace, strengthening us, guiding us, warning us so that we do not fall into sin, God still provides a remedy for when we sin. We have an advocate and where is our Advocate? He is with the Father. He is sitting at his right hand and he lives to make intercession for us.
Therefore, He is able to save to the uttermost all who will come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” – Heb. 7:25
Who is our advocate? Jesus Christ the righteous. There is none more righteous then he. A great emphasis is put not on his kindness and mercy but on his righteousness. This is what he is known for. Jesus Christ the righteous. There is none more qualified to plead your case before God than Jesus. He has passed the heavenly bar exam.
The Greek word for advocate here is “parakletos” par-ak-lay-tos. It means summoned, called to one’s side, especially called to one’s aid. It is one who pleads another’s cause before a judge, a pleader, counsel for defense, a legal assistant. It is what we would call today a lawyer. There are many jokes about their not being any lawyers in heaven, but there is one lawyer in heaven that we can be sure of. A righteous lawyer who comforts us. This greek word “parakletos” is also translated as “comforter”.
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever. – John:14:16
“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you. John 14:26
When we are brought face to face with our sins, knowledgeable of our guilt and without defense for our actions. when we brought to stand before God the righteous judge, when we hear the voice of the accuser accusing us night and day, how comforting to know that we have someone on our side, an advocate who stands for us and we don’t have to say a word. We acknowledge our guilt and we look to Jesus for help and Jesus silences our accuser and gives us right standing before God.
It is as if we stand as the accused in the heavenly court, before our righteous Judge, God the Father. Our Advocate stands up to answer the charges: “He is completely guilty your honor. In fact, he has even done worse than what he is accused of, and now makes full and complete confession before You.” The gavel slams, and the Judge asks, “what should his sentence be?” Our Advocate answers, “His sentence shall be death; he deserves the full wrath of this righteous court.” All along, our accuser Satan, is having great fun at all this. We are guilty! We admit our guilt! We see our punishment! But then, our Advocate asks to approach the bench. As he draws close to the Judge, he simply says: “Dad, this one belongs to Me. I paid his price. I took the wrath and punishment from this court that he deserves.” The gavel sounds again, and the Judge cries out, “Guilty as charged! Penalty satisfied!” Our accuser starts going crazy. “Aren’t you even going to put him on probation?” “No!” the Judge shouts. “The penalty has been completely paid by My Son. There is nothing to put him on probation for.” Then the Judge turns to our Advocate, and says, “Son, you said this one belongs to You. I release him into Your care. Case closed!” – David Guzik
If we have an advocate, an accuser, it reminds us that there is also a judge. He is just as righteous as our advocate. God is going to judge all people. In this case, both will be judged by God, both will come up dirty, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” No one stands righteous before God, no not even one person. We like to measure the righteousness of ourselves by the sins of others. The problem is we can always find someone whom we arrogantly and pridefully think we are performing better than, smarter than, more loving than, more honest than. It makes us falsely feel good in one area of our lives when our hearts know we are not good. Homosexuality may not be our thing, maybe it’s adultery, fornication, anger, laziness, slander, drunkenness, insubordination, fear, anxiety, selfishness, hatred, disbelief, the laundry list is endless and I guarantee somewhere on the list you are going to come up dirty if you examine your heart according to truth. We are all sinners, but that does not make sinning ok. God alone judges sin and determines what is and is not sinful actions and attitudes, not us. If we do not believe homosexuality is sinful, then we should take it up with God, for He is the one who has said that it is against His will, just as the rest of the laundry list is against his will. We should not take it up with other people, judging them as unloving and judgmental because they believe God’s will is good and his judgments perfect. Their problem is not with God fearing, religious people, but with God and his will and authority over their life. They would call God’s judgments unrighteous and their own as more righteous and good. I wouldn’t want to stand before God in that attitude, but I have.
When I faced God’s judgment throne in this life, He kindly showed me why my judgments were all wrong and his were truly right. I kneeled before him and gave him my life, committing not to trust in my own judgments again because I am often misled by them. Instead I am led by his and I trust his judgments because I know he is good and doesn’t want anyone to perish from his wrath to come when he will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal live; but for those who are self-serving and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.
Now is the time to come before God’s judgment throne, before you die, not afterwards. Now is the opportunity to plead guilty and find mercy, forgiveness, grace and pardon for your rebellion against God’s laws and judgments through Jesus Christ, God’s own son who came to take your place, so you would not have to face the wrath of God on your plea of guilty, but will receive God’s love and even sonship instead. None of us deserve God’s love and pardon. It is not our own righteousness that saves us, but our acknowledgement of our own guilt before God instead. He is our measuring rod, not other people. He will not be comparing us to other people when we die, but will be comparing us to himself, his own righteousness and who can stand before perfection?
We are all sinners and would all find ourselves burning in his unending wrath except for the intercession of Jesus. He takes the place of those who plead guilty now and faces God’s wrath for us. We will not have this opportunity once we die, but will face God’s wrath ourselves, alone in an eternal life of hell instead of with Jesus in a temporary one.
Are you personally hiding behind Jesus for protection against God’s wrath. What are you hiding behind? A personal belief? Denial? A False Hope? An experience? Disbelief? Your own righteousness? Your own reasoning? Will it be able to stand up on that day against God himself? Examine your defense now before Judgment Day. The only person I know to be fireproof is Jesus, for he has already faced the wrath of God and been resurrected when he went to the cross, died and rose again after three days. He is my sole defense and I hang my entire life, my hope on him even as he hung on a tree for me. My life is nailed to his. Mock me if you will, call me a religious fanatic, but I know my Redeemer yet lives even as I die daily, seeking not my own life, my own way, my own pleasure, my own will but his even when it doesn’t make sense to me and I don’t personally understand or like it, yet will I still trust him. This temporary life is yours, to live it however you want, but it’s not too late to exchange it for an eternal one that has already faced Judgment Day and lived. All you have to do is plead guilty before God’s throne, trust in Jesus and hide behind him while the wrath of God passes us by and devours everything everyone who sets themselves up against God as his enemy. The offer to accept this plea bargain is limited as such offers are. Your time is limited by him who already holds your life in his hands and determines the number of your days. Plead guilty instead of righteous before God and take Christ as your advocate.
- He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the world.
How is Jesus the righteous able to defend us when we have plead guilty? How is God’s righteousness upheld? Have you ever watched a courtroom and saw a guilty man defended? Anger rises up within us at Justice being thwarted. Yet here we stand completely guilty. We have entered our plea of guilty to the most righteous Judge and we are given forgiveness. How? How is God’s righteousness upheld and magnified in this courtroom with so many guilty people being forgiven?
Some would say that it is simply out of God’s great love that he forgives sinners and does not punish sinners. This view is popular who see God as all loving but refuse to take into consideration his Justice. God is loving but he is also perfectly just and because he is perfectly just and holy and loving, sin requires punishment. The wages of sin is death. To view this way is to neglect the work of Christ and his suffering for our sins. If God simply forgives sins because he is all loving then Christ suffered in vain. Christ suffered the guilt of our sins. The wrath of God, the penalty for our sins that we were to receive in that court room was poured out on our Advocate instead of us. Jesus took our place. This is the meaning of the word propitiation. It is the meeting of the divine claim of guilt against sin.
He is the propitiation
The Greek word for propitiation is “hilasmos” hil-as-mos. Meaning appeasing. It has the idea of bringing a gift to the gods in order to appease their displeasure. The Greeks would practice this with their false gods I in order to attempt to bribe their gods into doing them favors. The Christian idea of propitiation is a little different. It is God Himself giving Himself in Jesus that appeases and turns away His righteous wrath against sin. This word propitiation is only used twice in the New Testament, here in 1 John 2:2 and in 1 John 4:10.
“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. – 1 John 4:10
The word “propitiation” means precisely the same thing as the Old Testament term, “atonement”as a penal and sacrificial satisfaction unto Divine holiness and justice for the expiation of sin and the averting of vengeance. That is what atonement is – “at-one-ment” or reconciliation is what is effected. – A.W. Pink
Our sins have been paid for by the suffering of Christ. Christ has reconciled us to the father through being our propitiation.
But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— Colossians 1:22
For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Romans 5:10
For our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the world.
This does not mean for the sins of all mankind. Christ is not only the propitiation for the Jewish people, but also for the sins of the whole world, including the Gentiles. John is pointing out that this propitiation is not limited to a nation or a tongue, it is not limited simply to Israel but to all nations and to every tongue. This was the great mystery of the gospel, salvation was not limited to just the Jews. It excites Paul and shows the abundance of God’s mercy and grace in reaching out to every tribe and nation with the gospel.
Yet I Sin
ETERNAL FATHER,
Thou art good beyond all thought,
But I am vile, wretched, miserable, blind;
My lips are ready to confess, but my heart is slow to feel,
and my ways reluctant to amend.
I bring my soul to thee;
break it, wound it, bend it, mould it,
Unmask to me sin’s deformity,
that I may hate it, abhor it, flee from it.
My faculties have been a weapon of revolt against thee;
as a rebel I have misused my strength
and served the foul adversary of thy kingdom.
Give me grace to bewail my insensate folly,
Grant me to know that the way of transgressors is hard,
that evil paths are wretched paths,
that to depart from thee is to lose all good.
I have seen the purity and beauty of thy perfect law,
the happiness of those in whose heart it reigns,
the calm dignity of the walk to which it calls,
yet I daily violate and condemn its precepts.
Thy loving Spirit strives within me;
brings me Scripture warnings,
speaks in startling providence,
allures by secret whispers,
yet I choose devices and desires to my own hurt;
impiously resent, grieve,
And provoke him to abandon me.
All these sins I mourn, lament, and for them cry pardon.
Work in me more profound and abiding repentance;
Give me the fullness of a godly grief that trembles and fears,
yet ever trusts and loves,
Which is ever powerful, and ever confident;
Grant that through the tears of repentance I may see more clearly
The brightness and glories of the saving cross.
