Lesson 9

From the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord Jess prescribed 8 aspects of the character of the sons of God.
These 8 aspects, as described in the Great Blessings (the Beatitudes) of Matthew 5:1-12, are as follow:

In order to live a life pleasing to God, we must grow into the character of the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord.
As sons of God, we must follow after the life of Jesus.
We must live as Jesus lives, and talk as Jesus talked.
Only in this way can we enter into the fullness of the riches of the kingdom of God.

The most important aspect of the character of a son of God is humility (Lessons 1-8). The second aspect, which grows from the first, is to be mournful over sin.
As our Lord has taught, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted" (Matthew 5:4).

Sin is lawlessness.
Sin breaks the heart of God our Father, brings shame to our Lord Jesus and grieves the Holy Spirit.
Sin separates us from the blessing of God.
Sin brings death, death even today and in the age to come.

As sons of God, we should always be sorrowful over sin, in our lives and in the lives of others.
We should always have a contrite heart, a heart that repents of sin as soon as God convicts us of the evil we have done.

Sin is lawlessness. Sin is breaking the laws of God.
Sin is rebellion against the rule of God.
Sin is living outside the will of God. To sin is to defy God.

Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
(1 John 3:4)

Our Creator God made man for fellowship.
Man was made the crown of His creation and given honor and glory (Psalm 8).
Yet man rebelled against God.

Man rejected God's will, and lived in his own way (Isaiah 53:6).
This grieves God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Genesis 6:5-6; Psalm 95:10; Mark 3:5; Ephesians 4:30).

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)

For forty years I was GRIEVED with that generation,
     And said, "It is a people who go astray in their hearts,
     And they do not known My ways."
So I swore in My wrath,
     "They shall not enter my rest."
(Psalm 95:10-11)

And when He had looked around at them with anger, being GRIEVED by the hardness of their hearts, He said to them, "Stretch out your hand."
(Mark 3:5)

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)

God hates sin, and He has commanded us to mourn over the sins of man.
God wants us to be sorrowful over evil in man.
We are not to take it lightly or to rejoice in evil.

God is grieved by sin: He hates wickedness.
As sons of God, we are to have the same attitude.
We are to mourn over sin - in our life in that of others.

Yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your SORROW led you to repentance. For you became SORROWFUL as God intended and so were not harmed in any way be us. GODLY SORROW brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly SORROW brings DEATH.
(2 Corinthians 7:8-10)

Blessed are those who mourn,
     for they will be comforted.
(Matthew 5:4)

Godly sorrow over our sins will lead us to repentance.
To repent is to turn away from sin and turn to God.
To repent is to turn from our own willful ways and to turn to God's ways.

Repentance, godly sorrow over our sins, always brings us into God's kingdom.
Repentance is the key to growing into the maturity of Jesus.
Repentance is the key to all the riches of God's kingdom.

Without repentance, we will never mature and please God.
We may be busy doing religious activities, but without repentance, all our service is like dirty offerings before God.
Without repentance, we will never partake of the blessings of the kingdom of God.

In fact, the first public message of John the Baptist, of our Lord Jesus, and of the first church was repentance.

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
(Matthew 3:1-2)

From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
(Matthew 4:17)

Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven."
(Acts 2:28)

As seem from the passage above, repentance brings us into the riches of the kingdom of God.
Only those who truly repent will enjoy God's kingdom riches: the forgiveness of sins, God's presence, peace, joy, righteousness, healing, deliverance, success, victory, the wisdom of God, etc.

Repentance starts with ourselves.
It is easy for us to search out the little faults of others, while we are seemingly blind to our own glaring, obvious sins.
Jesus demands that we repent of our own sins first because we point to the sins of others (Luke 6:41-42).

What are the steps of a life of personal repentance?
These steps are as follows:

Under the New Covenant, every believer in Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit helps us to live a victorious life, of power and love.
In this way, we bear witness to Jesus before the world (Acts 1:8).

One of the ways the Holy Spirit helps us is by convicting us of sin whenever we break God's law of love.
God's Spirit is always speaking to us and bearing witness to our spirit about sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8).

As soon as we sin, the Holy Spirit is grieved (Ephesians 4:30).
He will bear witness with our spirit that we have sinned against God.
The Holy Spirit will withdraw the peace of God from our heart.
God's word says that "There is no peace for the wicked" (Isaiah 48:22).

When He (the Holy Spirit) comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to SIN and righteousness and judgment.
(John 16:8)

The Spirit Himself BEARS WITNESS with our spirit that we are children of God.
(Romans 8:16)

"There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked."
(Isaiah 48:22)

We will thus feel guilty whenever we sin.
Our spirit will keep on reminding us of our sin.
This part of our spirit that acts as our judge is called our conscience.
Our conscience will keep on reminding us of the wrong we have done, until we repent.

Our conscience is like the pain system to our physical body.
Pain in our body warns us of muscle tears, broken bones, wounds, cuts and other physical damage to our bodies.
Pain in our body causes us to stop all other activities and deal with the damage at hand in order that the wounds and infections do not destroy the whole body.

Likewise, our guilty conscience reminds us of the danger of unconfessed sins in our lives.
Our sins open a door for the devil to enter into our lives to destroy us.
We ignore our conscience at great cost and danger to our soul.

God wants us to repent of our sins immediately.
In this way, our fellowship with God is restored and maintained.
We will continue to live under the blessings of God's kingdom.

However, many do not want to repent when convicted of sin.
This is dangerous because our sin separates us from the blessing of God (Isaiah 59:2).
Our sins open a door for the devil to kill, steal and destroy us (John 10:10).

Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save,
     nor His ear too dull to hear.
But your iniquities have SEPARATED you
     from your God;
your sins have hidden His face from you,
     so that He will not hear.
(Isaiah 59:1-2)

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come tat they may have life, and have it to the full.
(John 10:10)

When we do not repent of our sins, we are no longer under God's blessings.
We continue to grieve the Holy Spirit is us and bring shame and pain to God.
We are no longer good witnesses for our Lord Jesus but bring disgrace to His name.

God knows that as we continue to grow in holiness, we will also fall into temptation and sin against Him.
But He has made a provision for us: that if we confess our sins, He is just and righteous to forgive us our sins (1 John 1:8-9).
It is only when we sin against God and do not want to repent that causes the wrath of God to come down to us (Psalm 95:10-11).

E.g. Even though King David had committed adultery with Bathsheba, and murdered her husband Uriah, he repented of his sins immediately when he was confronted by the prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 11:1-12:14).
Even though he was a king, he did not hesitate to acknowledge his sins before God's servant Nathan.

Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. and if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.

Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in my eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittie to be your own.'"

Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD."
(2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13)

David repented immediately.
Even though he was king, he was not concerned about losing face before his own people, unlike some of us.
He was more concerned that he would lose the presence of God's Spirit.
He was a man who knew God, enjoy God, and did not want to lose the joy of God's salvation (Psalm 51:1-19).

Have mercy on me, O God,
      according to Your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
      blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
      and cleanse me from my sins.

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
      and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
      or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
      and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
(Psalm 51:1-2, 10-12)

That is why David was called a "man after God's heart" (Acts 13:22).
Although he sinned against God just like any others, nevertheless, he treasured the joy and presence of God more tan his pride and wickedness.
He feared God more than his love for his reputation and name.

Those who do not fear God or His judgment will find excuses for their sins.
Instead of immediate repentance in obedience to God, they have devised elaborate excuses to justify their sins.
In this way, they sear their conscience, they burn their sensitive spirit, and hardened their hearts to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

God warns us today not to harden our hearts (Psalm 95:7-11; Hebrews 3:7-11).
If we do, we will be no different from the Israelites who were set free from slavery in Egypt, but who never entered the Promised Land, because of their hardness of heart.
Our lack of repentance will cause us to forfeit and lose our inheritance in Christ.

"Today, if you hear His voice,
Do not HARDEN YOUR HEARTS
     as you did in the rebellion,
And as in the day of trial in the wilderness,
     when your fathers tested me;
They proved me, though they saw my work.

For forty years I was GRIEVED with that generation,
     and said, "It is a people who go astray in their hearts,
     and they do not known My ways."
So I swore in My wrath,
     "They shall not enter my rest."
(Psalm 95:10-11)

God was grieved by the hardness of the hearts of His people.
God will likewise be grieved and be angry when we become hardened in our conscience to the voice of the Spirit.
Those who continually justify their sins and keep on sinning will in the end be destroyed suddenly (Proverbs 29:1).

A man who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes
     will suddenly be destroyed - without remedy.
(Proverbs 29:1)

True repentance is turning away from our sins and turning to the ways of God.
Genuine sorrow over our sins will cause us to walk in obedience to God's word.
Godly sorrow over sins should always lead to a walk in God's righteousness, in every area of life.

In this way, we live a life pleasing to God.
In this way, we live continuously under God's open heaven.
In this way, the riches of God's kingdom will become ours on this earth.

Your thought

PRAYER

Allow the Holy Spirit to point out possible sins in these areas, and repent immediately:

Pride, Lack of repentance,
Lack of meekness, Lack of zeal for righteousness,
Lack of love and mercy, Lack of faith in God,
Lack of boldness to bear witness to Jesus; Lack of willingness to suffer for Jesus.