"SIN"
A quote I once heard Ravi Zaccharias say was, "Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”
King David’s sin took him farther from God’s face than he ever imagined. The greatest pain of his life came during his separation from God’s hand of blessing and favor. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing his relationship with the One he loved the most. We can see this in the prayer David prayed after he had fallen into sin.
David prayed, "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit." (Psalm 51:1-3, 9-12).
When David came to his senses he cried out to God for forgiveness and God graciously forgave him; however, that did not erase the consequences of his sins, for David paid dearly for those sins in his life and the lives of his family.
I'm sure if we knew the consequences of our sin before falling to temptation, how many of us would ever follow through with it? If only we could see beforehand the harm that our sins bring to ourselves and to others I'm sure we would not fall prey to them. Remember Peter's admonition in (1 Peter 5:8) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: The goal of our enemy is to destroy us and those we love by setting snares for us which will cause us to fall.
If we desire to live for God and in the blessings of God, He commands us to seek Him and His purposes and plans. We need to look down the road and calculate the cost of our decisions. We must keep our eyes firmly fixed on His path and stay true to Him and conscientiously stay focused.
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, (Hebrews 12:1)
Listen to a short testimony and song by the Cathedrals Quartet.
A quote I once heard Ravi Zaccharias say was, "Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”
King David’s sin took him farther from God’s face than he ever imagined. The greatest pain of his life came during his separation from God’s hand of blessing and favor. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing his relationship with the One he loved the most. We can see this in the prayer David prayed after he had fallen into sin.
David prayed, "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit." (Psalm 51:1-3, 9-12).
When David came to his senses he cried out to God for forgiveness and God graciously forgave him; however, that did not erase the consequences of his sins, for David paid dearly for those sins in his life and the lives of his family.
I'm sure if we knew the consequences of our sin before falling to temptation, how many of us would ever follow through with it? If only we could see beforehand the harm that our sins bring to ourselves and to others I'm sure we would not fall prey to them. Remember Peter's admonition in (1 Peter 5:8) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: The goal of our enemy is to destroy us and those we love by setting snares for us which will cause us to fall.
If we desire to live for God and in the blessings of God, He commands us to seek Him and His purposes and plans. We need to look down the road and calculate the cost of our decisions. We must keep our eyes firmly fixed on His path and stay true to Him and conscientiously stay focused.
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, (Hebrews 12:1)
Listen to a short testimony and song by the Cathedrals Quartet.
