How to work up grief over your sin?

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Why don’t we do these things all the time? SIN

Is God grieved at sin? ()

Does God the Holy Spirit grieve at sin? ()

Should we?

Does it burden your heart that you’re not more devoted to God?

Does it burden your heart that God is seen like a geny? Just make a wish!!

So looking away from activities such as prayer, meditation on the scriptures, worship, and the quiet time, moving away from those activities to an attitude of life: obedience to the will of God.

What is your attitude of life towards obeying God? (who wants to answer openly?)

Obedience is the ultimate test of our fear of God and it’s the only true response of His love for us!

God specifically states that we fear Him by keeping all His decrees and commands (), and

tells us that “To fear the Lord is to hate evil.”

I can know if I truly fear God by determining if I have a genuine hatred of evil and an earnest desire to obey His commands.

The measure of our obedience is an exact measure of our reverence for Him.

Let’s look at .

Our awareness of God’s love for us must also be constantly growing.

As we mature in our Christian lives we are increasingly aware of God’s holiness and our own sinfulness.

In Paul’s first letter to Timothy he reflects upon God’s mercy in appointing him to the gospel ministry.

He recalls that he once was a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man.

This description no longer applies to Paul; it is all past tense.

But as he continues to reflect upon the grace of God, he slips, almost unconsciously it seems, into the present tense of his experience. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst” (1:15).

He is no longer thinking about his past as a persecutor of Christ.

Now he is thinking about his present daily experience as a believer who falls short of the will of God for him.

He doesn’t think about other Christians, whom we know were way behind Paul in their devotion to God and their attainment of godly character.

Paul never wastes time trying to feel good about himself by comparing himself favorably with less mature Christians.

He compares himself with God’s standard, and he consequently sees himself as the worst of sinners.

Through this present sense of his sinfulness Paul sees God’s love for him.

The more he grows in his knowledge of God’s perfect will, the more he sees his own sinfulness, and the more he comprehends God’s love in sending Christ to die for him.

And the more he sees God’s love, the more his heart reaches out in adoring devotion to the One who loved him so.

If God’s love for us is to be a solid foundation stone of devotion, we must realize that His love is entirely of grace,

that it rests completely upon the work of Jesus Christ and flows to us through our union with Him.

Because of this basis His love can never change, regardless of what we do. In our daily experience, we have all sorts of spiritual ups and downs—

sin, failure, discouragement, all of which tend to make us question God’s love.

That is because we keep thinking that God’s love is somehow conditional. We are afraid to believe His love is based entirely upon the finished work of Christ for us.

Deep down in our souls we must get hold of the wonderful truth that our spiritual failures do not affect God’s love for us one iota—

that His love for us does not fluctuate according to our experience.

We must be gripped by the truth that we are accepted by God and loved by God for the sole reason that we are united to His beloved Son.

But in v15 Paul alludes here to the deepening consciousness of unworthiness and sinfulness which accompanies all progress towards the knowledge and love of God.

The Practice of Godliness Gripped by God’s Love

Does this apprehension of God’s personal, unconditional love for us in Christ lead to careless living? Not at all. Rather, such an awareness of His love stimulates in us an increased devotion to Him. And this devotion is active; it is not just a warm, affectionate feeling toward God.

Paul testified that Christ’s love for us compelled him to live not for himself, but for Him who died for us and rose again (2 Corinthians 5:14–15). The word for “compel” which Paul used is a very strong verb. It means to press in on all sides and to impel or force one to a certain course of action. Probably not many Christians can identify with Paul in this depth of his motivation, but this surely should be our goal. This is the constraining force God’s love is intended to have upon us.

Does this apprehension of God’s personal, unconditional love for us in Christ lead to careless living?

Not at all. Rather, such an awareness of His love stimulates in us an increased devotion to Him.

And this devotion is active; it is not just a warm, affectionate feeling toward God.

Paul testified that Christ’s love for us compelled him to live not for himself, but for Him who died for us and rose again ().

The word for “compel” which Paul used is a very strong verb.

It means to press in on all sides and to impel or force one to a certain course of action.

Probably not many Christians can identify with Paul in this depth of his motivation, but this surely should be our goal.

This is the constraining force God’s love is intended to have upon us.

Bridges, J. (1983). The practice of godliness (pp. 25–27). Colorado Springs, CO: Navpress.