To experience Biblical mourning for sin, one must be born again; that is, he must know that there is a spiritual kingdom ruled by a righteous God who holds His creatures accountable for their infractions against His righteous standards; that there is a heaven and a hell; and that God, the judge, will determine who will enter into those realms.
Experiencing the new birth, causes one to hunger for God’s truth (4th beatitude); and abiding in God’s truth causes one to become familiar with his own failure to measure up to God’s requirement of perfection, see Matthew 5:48. Like Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress, who was distressed about having a huge burden of sin and no righteousness, (he got that understanding from reading the Bible), his poverty of spirit caused distress, and earnestness to seek knowledge about God and His righteousness, such that he began his spiritual journey–that is what the Bible indicates that seeking knowledge of God and His righteousness is, a journey or a pilgrimage: Psa 119:19 I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me. 1Pe 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.
Below, we will consider hindrances regarding three areas of the pilgrims walk: identifying sin; seeking mercy from God; and self-examination.
Hindrances that prohibit one from seeing his own sin and his great need for the mercy of God?
- Not being in the Word: The 10 commandments in Exodus 20 and the Matthew 5-7 are places where sin is defined; moreover, the epistles clarify sin and encourage godly living. If one does not read the Bible, then he likely believes what our society says about sin and is deceived. Many things that the Bible defines as sin are permitted by law in the western world. And the ideas that our society has about becoming right with God are totally unbiblical, totally erroneous. Furthermore, I recently heard about a church leader saying that the concept of sin is no longer valid. In other words, one need not concern himself with that pesky critter that use to cause the apostle Paul, the Puritans and such folk so much grief. If you want to be politically correct in your religion, then you could go with this 21st century pronouncement about sin, to your own peril!
- Ignoring the other means of grace: hearing of preaching; fellowship with believers about Christ; the Lord’s supper; and prayer. If one ignores these and Bible reading, then he is certainly in spiritual decline (if he is a Christian at all). In that state, one would be oblivious to his sin; he may believe himself to be a fine Christian, but the truth is, he is self-deceived, so says Christ in Matthew 7: don’t forget that it is Christ, and the scripture that define sin; not any man, the church, or any social norm; a read through the Bible, would make this fact apparent to most.
- If one partakes of the means of grace appointed by God, but does not examine himself, then he may be self-deceived. For example, in John MacArthur’s series on false prophets, Matthew 7:13-29, he makes clear the words of Jesus about doing the will of God as opposed to hearing it, professing it, knowing its doctrines…but not doing it; that is what distinguishes the two builders, the one building on rock is doing the will of God in addition to reading, understanding it, etc. One church I attended for a couple of years, handed out a list of points to consider that fostered self-examination during the week preceding taking the Lord’s Supper. They apparently took the following words of the apostle Paul seriously: 1Co 11:26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until He comes again. 1Co 11:27 So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 1Co 11:28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup.
- The above points cause an inability to acknowledge and mourn sin due to lack of knowledge.
Hindrances to self-examination; discovering whether one is in the true way
- Not knowing the Biblical definition of sin: (Albert N. Martin’s sermon series on psalm 51 on sermon audio clarifies sin, his 5th sermon in that series).
- Unwillingness to be honest about thoughts, feelings and behaviors; and evaluating them as sinful or acceptable to God. Consider Paul’s words about such self-evaluation and its source: Rom 2:15 They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right. [The first book I read by Dr. MacArthur, The Vanishing Conscience, emphasized that our conscience is informed or instructed by what we put in our minds; that is, if we read the Bible, then we are instructed in accordance with God’s standards; if we are always reading secular publications, watching secular media…then our conscience is being informed by secular, ungodly, sources. Moreover, we will receive our guidance from the source that has instructed our minds. To renew our minds, we must abide in scripture.]
- Unwillingness to admit sin when it is occurring: It is common to want to justify it (to pretend innocence and direct guilt toward another); rationalize it (make some excuse to delude oneself that God will permit him to sin in this instance); minimize it (make it much smaller than it actually is); deny it (refuse to acknowledge it); or to keep silent about it. Of course, if one begins self-examination, then he will be forced to deal with these defense mechanisms that are keeping him from owning his sin; that may also take much prayer and listening to feedback from others to be able to see such things. Consider these words from King David: Psa 32:3 When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Psa 32:4 Day and night Your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Interlude Psa 32:5 Finally, I confessed all my sins to You and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.” And You forgave me! All my guilt is gone. [Note: it is very common for a person to be oblivious to God’s chastening hand until it becomes very heavy upon him. The Bible notes several ways that God judges people and nations, one of those forms of judgment is to allow them to continue in their own ways until they ruin themselves. Reading through Romans with a study Bible will alert you to most of those types of judgment; also, see study recommendations, bottom of preceding post.]
- In light of the last point, it should be emphasized that it is impossible to repent of and turn from your sin if you will not identify it, own it, and acknowledge that it is yours. The Bible states that Satan attempts to blind people to their sins to keep them from being freed from them and saved from God’s wrath against sin! If you are unwilling to deal with your sin, then you are helping him and you will likely be very sorry at life’s end, as in: “Pro 5:12 You will say, “How I hated discipline! If only I had not ignored all the warnings!” I sat with at least two people near the end of their lives, and they were in no frame to get real with God then. Perhaps they thought they might be? They were wrong. I even asked one numerous questions about meeting God…to see if we could discuss the matter, to no avail.
- The above points cause inability to acknowledge and mourn sin due to personal unwillingness.
Other hindrances to seeking God’s mercy:
- Emotional pain may hinder one in his walk with God. The loss of one’s self-image, pride, self-righteousness, etc. resulting from owning up to sinfulness, causes emotional pain. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit will begin to crush one’s idols and props that have enabled self-sufficiency in the born again believer, this is also a painful process.
- The Way of self: independence, pride, self-righteousness, belief in personal goodness; selfishness regarding resources, time and money…must be repented of and forsaken. If one is not reading the Bible and praying, then identifying these things won’t be possible, much less forsaking them. I know with absolute certainty that I could never have seen my biggest idol without God’s Spirit illuminating His word, convicting me, moving me to pray about relationship problems…. I did have a basic understanding about numerous of my sins prior to being born again, but that was only the tip of the iceberg. And, the Bible states that the guilt of sin remains with one if it is not confessed to God and repented: Exo 34:6 The LORD passed in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh! The LORD! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. Exo 34:7 I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty…. [Those have guilt who have not confessed their sins to God and God Himself said in that scripture that if you do not confess your sin to Him, then it will NOT be forgiven–the way of life is again spoken of therein].
- You must be born again: many do not have a Biblical understanding of what it means to be born again. John 3: 1-8 indicates that the Holy Spirit gives spiritual birth when He determines to do so. Merely signing a card, walking an aisle, saying a prayer…does not make one born again, unless the Holy Spirit had previously regenerated his heart; and if that is the case, his subsequent behavior will reveal true faith. [Pastor Paul Washer, e.g., has seemingly dedicated his life to making it clear that many are deceived because preachers tell them they are born again via a choice…and not by partaking of God’s appointed means of grace, repenting and believing the gospel. In other words, if one claims to be born again and does not read his Bible, or go to church, then he is not putting himself under God’s appointed means of grace and is likely not born again, but is either self-deceived or trying to deceive another about his state.]
- Merely having outward morality does not indicate that one is born again or that he has entered the narrow gate or is walking in the narrow way. The Pharisees had great outward morality and Jesus said of them: Mat 5:20 “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven! An increased sensitivity to one’s own sinfulness and owning sin are good indicators that he is born again, as noted several times in other posts.
So then, what is the comfort that Jesus declared that one would experience if he mourned for his sins?
The comfort of forgiveness of sin; guidance from the Comforter Himself, the Holy Spirit. Dr. MacArthur says that this comfort also includes admonishment; consolation; sympathy; and restoration, as seen in Matthew 11: Mat 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
The people Jesus spoke to were struggling under the burden of keeping the Pharisees traditions to be right with God, and likely doing that in their own strength. Being forgiven for sin and relying on the Spirit to enable one to carry his burden is a blessing I want to experience much more of, I am guessing that you would also.
Psa 119:17 Gimel Be good to Your servant, that I may live and obey Your word.
Psa 119:18 Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in Your instructions.
Psa 119:19 I am only a foreigner in the land. Don’t hide Your commands from me!