Lesson 11

No believer is perfect.
On this earth, every believer will continue to fall into sin.
However, it is not sin that disqualifies a believer from serving God and from God's blessings; it is lack of repentance, prompt, daily repentance.

Lack of repentance is seen in a believer when he persists in sinning the same sin over and over again without a genuine desire to turn to the ways of God.
Such a believer only has remorse and sadness because others have come to know of his wrongdoing.
However, there is no true godly sorrow over his sins (2 Corinthians 7:10).

However, God desires that we repent quickly.
God desires that we maintain a close fellowship with Him through daily, moment-by-moment repentance over our sins.

The Holy Spirit has been given by God to convict us of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8).
As soon as we sin, the Holy Spirit is grieved (Ephesians 4:30), and the peace of God flees from our heart and soul.
In this way, the Holy Spirit checks us and helps us to keep sin away from our lives.

There are many reasons why many believers find it hard to repent.
If they repent, it is only because they have already come under God's judgment.
However, this should not be so.

God does not enjoy his children come under His judgment.
Instead, it is God's will for us to have a spirit that is sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and to repent the moment we are convicted by the Spirit of sin in our life.
It is God's will for us to walk under His continuous blessings.

Some of the reasons for lack of repentance among believers are as follows:

God is not only a God of love, but He is also a holy God.
Because God is holy, He cannot tolerate sin (Habakkuk 1:13; Psalm 5:4-6).
Those who sin will be judged and be destroyed by His presence (Numbers 16:1-50).

Many believers have a wrong concept of our Father God.
They seem to think that God will tolerate all forms of evil in their lives, and that God will continue to bless them in spite of their evil ways.
They think that God is a Santa Claus who only brings presents for little children and winks His eyes when His children are naughty.

Also, they think that since God is love (1 John 54:8,16), He will never punish us, even if we sin and hold on to our sin.
Otherwise, we will say that He is not a God of love.
Because of such deceptive, wishful thinking, many do not fear God.
Thus they live in sin continuously, and do not repent.

However, our Father God will judge all sin that is unrepented of (Luke 13:3,5).
Our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29).
Our Lord Jesus said this of the Father:

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell."
(Matthew 10:28)

Every believer must live in fear of the Lord, of His great wrath and anger upon all who sin and do not repent (Exodus 34:6-7).
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).
The fear of the Lord will kept us from sinning or from holding on to sin.
In showing Moses His glory, God declared:

"The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished; He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and forth generation."
(Exodus 34:6-7)

We are guilty as long as we sin and do not want to repent.
For such an attitude, the judgment of God is imminent.

Many believers are not conscious of the Holy Spirit living in them.
They do not realize that their body is a temple of the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 6:19).
They do not realize that our sins grieve God (Ephesians 4:30; Genesis 6:6).

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
(1 Corinthians 6:19)

And do not GRIEVE the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
(Ephesians 4:30-31)

The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was GRIEVED that He had made man on the earth, and His heart was FILLED WITH PAIN.
(Genesis 6:5-6)

Although initially the Holy Spirit will convict such believers repeatedly of their sins, they have ignored these promptings and hardened their conscience.
In this way, they become insensitive to further conviction by the Holy Spirit.

Many believers would rather sin with their mouth (cursing, grumbling, mocking, criticizing, condemning, nagging, lying, etc), or with their body (smoking, drug-taking, robbing, committing sexual immorality, etc), or with their thoughts (impure thoughts, evil thoughts, etc), than please the spirit of God that is living in them.
They enjoy their sins more than they desire to please the Spirit of God.

This is a dangerous position to put ourselves in.
If we ignore the conviction and witness of the Spirit in our spirit concerning sin, the Holy Spirit will no longer speak to us to lead us.
The Holy Spirit will no longer warn us concerning dangers in the days to come.
Without the Spirit's guidance, we will fall into tragedy and calamity easily.

Many believers live only for themselves.
They turn to God only for what they can get from God's promises: forgiveness of sins, eternal life, health, healing, prosperity, protection, etc.
They live only to enjoy the gifts and not the Giver.

They do not care to thank the Giver.
They do not understand the depth of God's love for them.
They do not understand the price that God paid to saved them from their sins.
As such, they do not love God or love God only a little in return (Luke 7:44-47).
As a consequence, they have no great desire to please God.

They find it hard to obey God's commands and direction for their life, even though God wants the very best for us.
They think that God is always a "kill-joy," who is only interested in taking away the "fun and pleasure" out of life.

As long as others do not see any obvious sins in their life, they are happy to keep on doing what please themselves, and not God.
Yet at the same time, such believers will by faith "claim" all the blessings of God for themselves and their family.
They will go to church and perform the minimum religious duties, just to be seen to be proper believers.
But their heart has no love for God. Neither do they live for God.

In other words, such believers are worldly.
They live only according to the ways of their flesh and of the world.
They do not care for the things of the kingdom of God, which is "righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17).

E.g. Like the Christians at the church in Corinth, they care only for their spiritual gifts, their various gangs in the church, and their own food during the Lord's Supper.
They do not care for one another or for the things of God (1 Corinthians 3:1-4; 6:1-8; 11:17-22). For this, Paul rebuked them for their worldliness which had resulted in continuous disagreement and division in the church:

"You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?"
(1 Corinthians 3:3)

Such believers must meditate on the cross of Christ, and allow the revelation of God's love for him to flood his souls and spirit.
It is only in this way that we will love God in return will all our heart (1 John 4:19).
It is only in this way that we will want to keep away from sin and please God.

Such believers must die to the flesh (the old, sinful nature), and live after the Spirit.
It is time to grow up into the maturity of Christ and no longer live for the world.

Many believers do not repent immediately because they want to save face.
They are afraid that others might think lowly of them if they repent and admit their faults, especially their public sins, e.g. habits of criticizing, grumbling, getting angry, yelling at their spouse or children or others, lying, etc.

Trying to save our reputation before man is a stupid exercise.
Instead, we should worry only about our reputation before God.
He sees everything, and He is our final judge, not man.
We are to fear God rather than what others think of us.
Having a "proper reputation" before men will not save us if we have sin before God.
In fact, God will oppose us if we are proud and are not willing to admit our faults.

"God opposes the proud
     but give grace to the humble."
(1 Peter 5:5)

Because of their desire to save their pride, such believers will go to great lengths to excuse themselves when others point out their sins.
They try to cover over their sins in many wonderful, clever and ingenious ways.
However, remember that excuses can never justify or cover our sins.
A sin is a sin, and God is waiting patiently for us to repent before judgment comes.

When their sins are pointed out by others, such believers become defensive.
Instead of admitting quickly to their sins, and seeking forgiveness and reconciliation, they counterattack.
They become angry with their parents, spouse, or children, or other believers.

Such an attitude will harden our heart and make us insensitive to the Spirit.
We will sear our conscience, justify our sins, and cause continuous hardship and torture for our loved ones in the family and in the church.

(a) Excuse #1: Some will counterattack and say to those who point out their sins: "You all also sin, so why are you pointing only at my sins?"
This is a wrong attitude for us to take.
Even if other also sin, it is between them and God, and does not justify our sins.
It others point out our sins, our only godly response is to repent at once.
Two sins do not make anyone right before God.

(b) Excuse #2: Yet other will counterattack their loved ones by digging up sins of the past that God has already forgiven.
E.g. Some will say to their husbands: "Why can't I just yell a bit at the children? You think you are holy, holy? Before we got married, you were a drunkard and a womanizer. So don't point a finger at me now!!!"

If we take such a wrong attitude, we will never grow spiritually.
Such words seek to excuse our own sins by digging up past sins of others that God has forgiven  forgotten (Hebrews 8:12; 10:17).
Your husband or wife or another brother in the Lord has every right to point out your sins (Matthew 18:15-17).
In this way, we keep the body of Christ free from all blemish, spots, and stain.

(c) Excuse #3: "It is only a small sin, so why are you so worked up? It is not a big sin like murder or rape, so please get off my back."
In the eyes of God, there are no small sins or big sins.
The wages of any sin, big or small, is death (Romans 6:23).
The Holy Spirit is grieved by our sins, whether big or small.

It is not only the open physical sins in our life that grieves the Holy Spirit.
In fact, most of us do not murder, rob, or worship golden cows in our homes.

No, it is the hidden, non-physical sins that creep into our lives that will defile us, defile others, and grieve the heart of God.
These are mostly sins of the tongue and of our attitude.
In fact, these sins are even more destructive than outright murder or robbery.

Murder and robbery only destroy the body.
Sins of attitude and of the tongue pierce the soul and spirit of those who are wounded by our evil attitude and wickedness.

Many believers lead a double life: they are two different persons at home and in church gathering with others.
Many feel that they can behave differently at home from how they behave in a church assembly.
They have become experts in acting and are able to put up a "spiritual front" before other believers.
However,  with their own family member, they become torturers and persecutors.

f we cannot love our parents, wife or husband or children or others in household, we are only deceiving ourselves by putting on a "spiritual front" before others in church gatherings.
If we cannot obey God in our family relationship, we are not qualified to serve God in the church (1 Timothy 3:5).

God sees our heart; He is never deceived.
Because many have been able to do this for years and have got away with it, such a behavior pattern has become and ingrained habit.
However, to the non-believers at home or at work, they have become a bad testimony.
Even where the family members are believers, they hurt their children and spouses with their sinful behavior.

Before God, we have become hypocrites if we act and speak one way in the church to others and behave differently in the family towards our loved ones.
This grieves God and hurt our loved ones, those who love us the most.
We must never take our loved ones for granted, and simply let go at them, cursing, shouting, yelling, getting angry, put on a long face, just because they are your family members and have no other place to go.

Many say: "I have a right to shout and yell at my children and curse them, because this is not the church. I can do what I want in my house."
This is wrong.
A sin is a sin, whether it is committed in a church gathering or at home, whether it is towards other believers or towards members in your own family.

Let us bring heaven to earth in our family by our prayer, by our speech, by our conduct at home (Matthew 6:10).

We have only one earthly life to live and only one spouse and one physical family each; therefore let us live to bless others, especially those in our family, who are physically closet to us.

Many believers come to the point were they feel that God will overlook their sins because God is using them in the church.
After all, God has been giving them dreams, visions, word of prophecy, healing ministry, deliverance anointing, etc.
Also, has God not been using them in praying, interceding, giving tithes and offerings, fasting, serving as a back-up singer, or doing some other "spiritual ministry"?

In fact, it seems that while they were living in sin, God was still using their ministry to bless others.
In other words, they begin to believe that God does not disapprove of their sins.

Such believers, however, need to know that God give His gifts to us to bless others.
They are not a reward for our goodness.
Also, God does not withdraw His gifts once they are given.
For the word of God does say:

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
(Romans 11:29)

However, sooner or later, our secrets sins will be exposed and our ministry will fall.
God says that you can "be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23).
God does not have a lower standard for those serving actively or mightily in the church of God.
These is no special concession for those who sin, even when they serve God actively.

E.g. In the late 1980's, many tele-evangelists with mega-ministries were cast down and sent to prison, because of sexual immorality and financial breach of trust.
They had thought that because of their mega-ministries, they could sin and get away with it. However, their sins eventually caught up with them.

Your thought

1. Be honest and ask yourself these question?

   1. Do I readily and quickly repent when others or the Holy Spirit point out my sins?

   2. If I do not, why is it so?

   3. what are my most common, persistent sins?

   4. What are the sins that I commit that others in the church do not see, but which I commit in the home and so hurt my loved ones?

   5. How can I be a blessing to the loved ones in my family, so that I can bring heaven into my family life? (List out the steps you would take).