Christian Message Boards: Sin in the believer

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Posted by Bloodbought (Member # 4365) on :

All of us are sinners. There is not one that ever walked this earth, apart from Jesus Christ who could claim to have no sin. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, no exceptions. All of us sin daily in thought and word and deed. When we as believers sin, it does not affect our standing as being justified before God, because that has been taken care of at the cross when we repent of our sin and trust Christ for salvation. Rather, sin affects our fellowship with the Lord. If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear me, Psalm 66:18. If we have un-confessed sin, we can pray all we like, but we will receive no reply. We need to be transparent and leave our sin open and confessed before the Lord.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Proverbs 28:13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

Psalm 32:1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Posted by Jerry Shugart (Member # 9584) on :

Hi Bloodbought,

That was a fine post and I would like to add words written by Sir Robert Anderson on the same subject:

"For the believer who sins against God to dismiss the matter by 'the blood cleanseth,' is the levity and daring of antinomianism. For such the word is, ‘If we confess our sins': no flippant acknowledgment with the lip, but a solemn and real dealing with God; and thus he obtains again and again a renewal of the benefits of the death of Christ. 'He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness' " (Anderson, The Gospel and Its Ministry [Grand Rapids: Kregel Publication, 1978], 177).

He also writes this at another place:

"If we yield to sin and have recourse to evil practices, we need not look to Him for ‘sympathy,’ though a penitent confession will bring pardon full and free through His atoning work. But an incitement or tendency to evil if resisted and kept down is reckoned an 'infirmity,' and we can look with confidence to One who can be 'touched with the feeling of our infirmities' - to One who in doing the will of God has suffered as we have never suffered, as we, with our fallen nature, are incapable of suffering" (Anderson, Types in Hebrews [Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1978], 67-68).