Desire Spiritual Growth » Sin

Suppression Isn’t Transformation: Where Can We Find Real Change?

Daniel C. Wilson — Fri, 28 May 2010 17:11:45 +0000

“Suppression is not the same thing as transformation, and it is always the latter that the Spirit seeks to effect (2 Cor 3:18).”

- Sinclair B. Ferguson, In Christ Alone

We spend a lot of time and effort trying to force ourselves to be people that we, at the core, are not. But solid Christian character is not a simple act of will or resolution. It is not, for example, forcing ourselves to suppress pride for a moment or doing an act of love It is to have a God-wrought transformation so that we are humble and loving.

Connection to Secret Sin

I see a connection here between secret sin and suppression. If we feel like we are hiding secret sin – that we put on the outward show of a hypocrite – it is because we are trying to suppress our sin before men instead of seeking inward transformation before God.

Source of Real Change

We find real change when we confess that we can’t effect it in ourselves and instead turn to Christ.

That is part of the message of the Gospel: In Christ, by the Spirit, transformation is promised.

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Despite Taming Much of the World, We Still Can’t Tame Ourselves

Daniel C. Wilson — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:00:51 +0000

The overarching problem with science, economics, and any other discipline set on taming the world is not that we cannot make progress in subduing the natural world. It is that we are unable to tame our own hearts.

Apart from Christ

Apart from Christ, we are left with a futile undertaking. We self-destructively become our own hinderance to ruling the earth. As long as man is a slave to sin at the very core of his being, his every attempt to bring order to the world is ultimately twisted by greed, a loveless heart, and a lack of self-control to serve his own chaotic purposes.

Cunning Offense, No Defense

A prime example: We can come up with elaborate economic theories and a complex banking system complete with regulatory oversight, but we cannot rid ourselves of the greed in the hearts of men that strewed the economic landscape with the wreckage of failed corporations. In the aftermath, we find ourselves asking if we have control at all. And if we do have control, what do we have control of? Certainly not our hearts. Despite our cunning offenses, we have no defense against the treachery of our own hearts apart from salvation in Jesus Christ.

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A Prayer-Producing, Sin-Slaughtering Love for God

Daniel C. Wilson — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:57:11 +0000

Do you have the wherewithal to repel the muscular attacks of the devil or the discipline to flee temptation like a bolt of greased lightening?

There’s a diagnostic test to see if that kind of power has been granted to you: Take a look at your prayer life.

“Now what is the cause of most backslidings? I believe, as a general rule, one of the chief causes is neglect of private prayer. You may be very sure men fall in private long before they fall in public. They are backsliders on their knees long before they backslide openly in the eyes of the world.” – J.C. Ryle

Prayer Does Not Keep Us From Sin

Prayer has no special power to keep us from sin. But both prayerlessness and sinfulness have the same cause: a lack of love for God. Thus our prayer reveals our heart, and the condition of our heart determines our ability to fight sin.

“Besides, this mind (speaking of the pious mind) restrains itself from sinning, not out of dread of punishment alone; but, because it loves and reveres God as Father, it worships and adores him as Lord. Even if there were no hell, it would still shudder at offending him alone.” – John Calvin

Prayer is a Barometer of the Heart

Prayer is a barometer of the heart. If our heart is filled with a robust love for God, our life will be filled with focused prayer and victory over sin. If our heart is not filled with love for God, it should not surprise us if we are both prayerless and addicted to sin. We must cling with hope to the message of the gospel, because it is God who grants to us a heart increasingly filled with prayer-producing, sin-slaughtering love for God.

After doing a guest post over at Fallen and Flawed on secret sin, I couldn’t help but see its connection to prayer.

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Decietfullness of Sin

Daniel C. Wilson — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:34:00 +0000

This is one of my all time favorite sermons, by Charles Spurgeon:
Deceitfulness of Sin – www.spurgeongems.org/vols34-36/chs2130.pdf

We must grasp that sin is a lie trying to keep us from the best there is, God Himself.

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Taste and see

Daniel C. Wilson — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:54:00 +0000

Ps 34:8-10
“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,
for those who fear him have no lack!
The young lions suffer want and hunger;
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.”

Jer 2:19
“Your evil will chastise you,
and your apostasy will reprove you.
Know and see that it is evil and bitter
for you to forsake the Lord your God;
the fear of me is not in you,
declares the Lord God of hosts.”

Heb 3:13
“But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

Sin is a lie. With its beckoning appearance of sweet satisfaction, we are lured into the fantasy of a satisfied soul apart from our Maker. Our hearts recoil at the bitter taste left in our mouth as the lie is unveiled and the delusion is shattered by awakening reality. Sin wasn’t what we thought it was.

But oh! taste and see that the Lord is good! Take refuge in Him, fear Him, for those who fear Him have no lack. Seek Him. Our Lord never promises sweet only to deliver bitterness.

Evaluated experiences alight our vision with the fire of understanding. When you compare your experiences with sin and those experiences with God, we shamefully find sin decidedly lacking, and we can then see life with an understanding that sin will not satisfy what our heat longs for. Seek Him.

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Hating every false way

Daniel C. Wilson — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:52:00 +0000

Ps 119:102-104
I do not turn aside from your rules,
for you have taught me.
How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Through your precepts I get understanding;
therefore I hate every false way.

Am I just trying not to sin because I don’t want to look like a sinner, or am I avoiding sin because I hate it as God hates it? Those are two different motivations for living holy. The first is a motivation to look good before men. This motivation is also ultmately ends in failure because as long as people aren’t look at us, the sin is suddenly ok.
The second motivation drives us to hate sin always because we see it as God sees it. We see sin as a lie.
How do I tell which motivation is pushing me in my spriitual walk? If I find myself weaker to sin’s temptation when I am not being watched, then there’s a good chance I am likely trying to live holy only for the public show.
If we have God’s hatred for sin, then sin loses that appeal.
How do we learn to hate sin? And yes, we must learn it because our flesh is prone to sin. We learn from His Word as He teaches us through the Holy Spirit. I think this goes directly along with, “I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.” We recognize a sin in our life, we declare war on it by memorizing and studying revelevant passages in the Bible, and as we see sin as God does, we hate it.

God please don’t let me simply try to sin because I don’t want to look like a sinner. Please teach me to hate sin so that it is as repulsive to me as it is to You.

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