Friday, December 19, 2008
How long should you wait to confess Sin?

As soon as I sin I get disciplined, chastised by God. When God disciplines me, He takes away my joy. Why does He do that? He does so, to bring my disobedience to my attention so I will repent and confess. Let’s suppose God did not discipline me. Every time I sinned I would have more joy in the Lord.

It is true that

…where sin increased grace increased all the more (Romans 5:20).

That did not mean

…shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? (Romans 6:1)

NO!

God takes away my joy so I will admit my sin in repentance, be forgiven and have restored joy. This descent continued for three years. Yes, I confessed some sins during those years, but my state was gradually down hill.

This is really a 6-step event. The first thing I do is sin, disobey. The second thing is I get disciplined. The third thing is I lose my joy. Now God takes away my joy by discipline when I sin, in order to get my attention so I will confess and repent, be forgiven and have joy again.

Well, my joy started down, not quite that steep. It probably went down gradually and then came up a little bit, then down some more. In other words, over the next three years my joy gradually went down. In the meantime, God was using me in different ways, but the joy was less.

It was in the Sea of Japan, in my stateroom on the USS Brinkley Bass (DD887) in March of 1951 that I realized what the problem was. It was 3 years of accumulated, un-confessed sin. I began to confess sin, and as I did, my joy came back up. It was great. It was just like a new birth, except this was not a new birth. When I was born again, I did not confess all of my sins. I couldn’t have possibly. I confessed Jesus Christ as Lord. When I confessed Him as Lord, my sins were forgiven. That was the new birth. After my restoration in March of 1951, I would again disobey, lose my joy and get disciplined. This time, instead of not confessing, I’d confess after I’d waited awhile…a week, 2 weeks, ten hours.

I did that for about four years—up to 1955. I realized that if Jesus Christ could forgive 20 years at one instant, as He did when I received Christ, and if He could forgive the 3 years of accumulated sin in a few hours, and if He could forgive 10 hours’ worth or two weeks’ worth, He could forgive me in one instant. I could sin, lose my joy, confess it, and be back in the joy of the Lord in a very short interval of time.


(An excerpt from How to Maintain Joy in your Life, p.6&7)

Jim Wilson's Blog http://rootsbytheriver.blogspot.com/

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Alan Taylor

Psalm 32:1 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. 3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord"-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah 6 Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.
7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. 9 Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. 10 Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him. 11 Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart

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Alan Taylor

Here is something I read a long time ago by Watchman Nee, from "Not I But Christ".


Sinning after Being Saved

One who has been saved and who afterward sinned again may be greatly distressed by it. Since I started to serve God’s people in 1921, I have been asked by many about this problem of sinning after being saved. They say: I know the Lord has forgiven all my sins, that I am already saved and totally forgiven. But since I have been saved, I have again committed many sins. I am deeply troubled by these sins. What can I do about them?

1. WHAT THE LORD BORE ON THE CROSS

I hope you have understood that all the sins which you may commit after you are saved are included in the redemption of the Lord Jesus—even though you do not feel forgiven.
Suppose a young brother is saved at the age of sixteen and also suppose that up to that sixteenth year, he has committed a thousand sins. Proportionally, by the time he is thirty-two, he will have doubled his sins—that is, he will have committed two thousand. But when he trusted in the Lord at the age of sixteen, he undoubtedly prayed, “Lord, I thank You, for You have forgiven all my sins. You have borne them all on the cross.” Doesn’t this mean that every one of his one thousand sins is forgiven? Now suppose that instead of being saved at sixteen, he is saved at thirty-two. What would he say to the Lord at that time? Would it not be the same prayer, “Lord, You have borne all my sins away”? We may further speculate that if he is saved at sixty-four, he will still pray the same way, “Lord, You have borne all my sins.” It is therefore evident that at whatever age one is saved, he is assured that the Lord bears all his sins.

2. DIFFERENCES IN EXPERIENCE

If you are saved at sixteen, the Lord certainly has borne all your sins from your birth to sixteen years of age. But know also that He has borne all your sins from sixteen till sixty-four as well. Whether you are saved earlier or later has no relation to the Lord’s bearing away your sins. For this reason, do not be so foolish as to question what the Lord can do about your sins after salvation. Were you to be saved a few years later, would it be possible that He would not bear your sins? No, the Lord has borne all your sins on the cross. The robber on the cross believed on the Lord with his last breath, but he had all his sins borne by the Lord. In other words, the Lord has actually borne the sins of our whole life, even though at the time of
salvation we only experience the forgiveness of those sins which we have committed in the past.
How to Return to God after Sinning
We have no intention to encourage young brothers and sisters to live a loose life. In another lesson we will point out to them the way of victory (Lesson 26, “Deliverance”). Our purpose for this lesson is to show how one who has sinned can be restored to God.

1. OLD TESTAMENT TYPE
We will now look at an Old Testament type that illustrates restoration to God after one has sinned.

THE UNIQUE OFFERING OF THE RED HEIFER
Numbers 19 is a most unusual chapter in the Old Testament. All the offerings in the Bible are bullocks and rams, but here there is an exception—a heifer, a female cow. All the offerings in the Old Testament are slaughtered and offered to God, but this offering of the red heifer, though killed and burned, is very different from the rest. While all others are offered to God to meet current claims—that is, the sin-offering, the burnt-offering, or the peace-offering according to the need of the day—the red heifer alone was not for the present need. It was offered to meet future needs. This is something for young brethren to remember.
Through Moses and Aaron the Lord commanded the people to bring a red heifer to Him. Notice that it was not a bullock but a heifer. Sex has its significance in the Bible. All that pertains to truth and testimony is represented by the male sex, while all that speaks of experience and life is symbolized by the female sex. This is a principle in the study of the Bible. Abraham represents justification by faith, and Sarah stands for obedience. Faith is objective, truthful, a testimony; obedience is subjective and experiential. The church as seen in the Bible is always referred to by the feminine pronoun because she represents the subjective work of the Lord upon men. The work of the red heifer is therefore subjective, not objective, in nature.

THE BLOOD OF THE RED HEIFER
What had to be done to the red heifer? After it was slain, its blood was to be sprinkled toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. This was to indicate that the blood was offered to God. The blood always works Godward. If it is not for God, it is useless. Today we are redeemed because God has remitted our sins. To sprinkle the blood of the red heifer toward the tent of meeting seven times was to offer it to God. In this respect, this offering is joined to the other offerings. As the other offerings are to atone for sins before God, so this offering is for the atonement of sins.

THE BURNING OF THE RED HEIFER
Here we find the special feature of the red heifer. “And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn” (v. 5). The whole heifer was to be burned; not a single bit remained unconsumed. “And the priest shall take cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer” (v. 6). The cedar and hyssop represent the world, the entire universe. In describing the wisdom of Solomon, it is said that, “he spake of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall” (1 Kings 4:33a). So, figuratively, the whole world was burned with the red heifer. The scarlet, I think, represents our sins, as we find in Isaiah, “though your sins be as scarlet” (1:18). In other words, the sins of the whole world were consumed with this heifer which was offered to God.


In this type we find the cross portrayed. When the Lord Jesus offered Himself to God, He took with Him to the cross all our sins, the sins of the whole world. Great sins and small sins, sins of yesterday, sins of today, and sins of tomorrow are all included. Even sins which humanly may be reckoned as unforgivable are a part of the offering. All sins were heaped on the red heifer and were consumed with it.

THE ASHES OF THE RED HEIFER
After the burning, then what? “And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place; and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water for impurity: it is a sin-offering” (v. 9). What is meant by “for a water for impurity”? Here lies the uniqueness of the red heifer. Unlike other offerings, which had only their blood sprinkled before God, the ashes of the red heifer were kept for future use. Its efficacy was in the blood. The ashes which were collected from the burning of the red heifer together with the cedar and hyssop and scarlet were stored in a clean place. What was the purpose? It was that one day when an Israelite sinned by touching something unclean, he might then go to the priest who would mix the ashes with running water and sprinkle them upon the unclean person to make him clean. In other words, the ashes were used to take away defilement and sin.
According to the Old Testament, an offering was required for every sin. But here it is different. Here is a man who has already presented his offering and then later on has touched something unclean. Because he has been defiled, he cannot have fellowship with God. What should he do? He should go to the priest for the water for impurity that his defilement may be cleansed and his sin forgiven. This is quite a different type from the other offerings. The ashes of the burned heifer were kept for the cleansing of the many defilements of future days.

Bullocks were offered by people who were conscious of their sins. If I were an Israelite, I could bring a bullock or a sheep to God and offer it as a sin-offering because I was aware of my many sins. But the offering of the red heifer was different. It was burned not for the sake of my past known sins but rather to prepare for future cleansings. In this we see another aspect of the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus, quite different from that of which the bullocks and sheep in the Old Testament speak.
New believers ought to know this aspect of the Lord’s work, the aspect typified by the ashes of the red heifer. All the efficacy of redemption is embodied in the ashes, all the sins of the world are included. The blood was in these ashes. At any time thereafter, whenever one was defiled through touching an unclean thing, he had no need to slay another red heifer; he only needed to be sprinkled with the water for impurity containing the ashes of a red heifer. In other words, a believer today does not need the Lord to work for him a second time, since there is already provision for the cleansing of all his future defilements in our Lord’s work of redemption. The Lord has already made full provision.

THE SCRIPTURAL MEANING OF THE ASHES
Perhaps some will ask what the ashes signify. Why must the red heifer be burned to ashes? Why should these ashes be collected?
The answer is that in the Bible ashes are used as a basic unit of matter. Ashes in the Bible are the last form of all things. Whether it be a cow or a horse or whatever it may be, it becomes ash when it is reduced to its final form. Ashes, therefore, are the final, irreducible unit. They are not only unchangeable but also incorruptible. They are not subject to rust or decay. They are most enduring. They are ultimate.

The redemptive work of the Lord as typified by the burning of the red heifer to ashes reveals a condition which is permanent and unchanged. What the Lord has done for us in His work of redemption can never be changed. It is most constant. Do not think the rocks on the mountain are enduring, for these can still be burned to ashes. Ashes, being the final form of all matter, are more constant than rocks. Likewise, the redemption which the Lord has provided for us is unchangeable, undefileable, and incorruptible. It is available to us at all times. The flesh, the skin, and the blood of the heifer are subject to corruption, but when they become ashes, they are beyond corruption. Our redemption is, therefore, eternally efficacious. Whenever we touch an unclean thing and are defiled, we need not ask the Lord to die once more for us. We have the incorruptible ashes and we have the living water of life. We know the ashes are ever effectual in cleansing us.
To put it another way: the ashes of the red heifer represent the finished work of the cross for today’s use as well as for future need. We declare that the red heifer, once burned to ashes, is sufficient for all the needs of our lifetime. We thank God for the all-sufficiency of the redemption of the Lord Jesus. We come to see more and more that His death does indeed atone for all our sins.

2. WALK IN THE LIGHT
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). What does the “light” here refer to? It has two possible meanings: one possibility is the light of holiness; the other possibility is the light of the gospel, that is, God revealed and manifested in the gospel.
Many would like the “light” here to refer to the light of holiness. Thus the first section of this verse might be paraphrased thus: “if we walk in holiness as God is in holiness.” Such a rendering, however,would make what follows meaningless. It is quite evident that we have no need of the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, to cleanse us from our sins if we are holy.
God has distinctly declared that He comes to save us and give us grace. If we are in this light as God is in the light of grace, the light of the gospel, then we can have fellowship one with another. By grace we come to God as He also comes to us in grace. Thus we have fellowship with God, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all our sins. This truly is grace....

http://www3.telus.net/trbrooks/NotIButChrist.pdf