Lies Women Believe About Sin, Part 6

Series: Lies Women Believe About Sin

Leslie Basham: Do repetitive sins have you feeling lost in the dark? Then maybe it's time you stepped into the light.

It's Monday, May 6; and this is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss. If you wanted to see what was hidden in the darkness, you'd turn on the light. Well, in order for us to see our sin as God sees our sin, we have to be enlightened by the truth of God's Word. Here's Nancy helping us turn to the Bible and get honest about our sin.

Nancy DeMoss: I have a sunroom in my house that has great big tall windows. But I've noticed something, there is dust in my house. And there are streaks on those windows that I rarely see. But, you know, when I see them is when the sun streams in through those windows. Usually it's the late afternoon sun; and all of a sudden, the sun exposes and reveals what I could not see apart from the sun.

The sun exposes. The light exposes and reveals what the darkness without the light has concealed. How can we come to see our sins in our lives as God views them? We're in the middle of a series on lies that we believe about sin. As last week came to a close, we were looking at a particular lie and that is that--my sin isn't really that bad. We've seen that if we compare our lives with others, we look okay. We can always find some sinner whose sins look worse than our sins. But that's using the wrong measurement. If we want to see our lives as they truly are, we need to get into the light.

God has given us a light--to see our lives--in His Word. When I open this Book, it's a mirror that exposes. It shows me; it's a light. It's a searchlight, and it penetrates into the darkest corners of my heart and shows me things that I might not otherwise see. I want to take the next few moments and just look into the spotlight of God's Word. And I want to look at a passage in Isaiah. The 59th chapter of Isaiah that gives to us a vivid description of how God sees our sin.

Now as I read this passage, it will be something like that sunlight streaming into my sunroom windows showing things that I had no idea were there. This is one of the most detailed, graphic descriptions in all of God's Word about how God sees our sin.

And I am beginning in (Isaiah 59:2) where the prophet says: "Your iniquities have separated you from your God." Now as we read this passage, think about those little things, the little issues, the sins that we tend to trivialize or to call weaknesses.

Think about those issues in the light of this passage and how it describes our sin. It says: "Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear." He goes on to say in Verse 3: "For your hands are stained with blood, and your fingers with guilt; your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things. Verse 6: "Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood."

Now remember this is not just talking about someone else's sins. This is a passage that describes how God views my sin. Continuing in Verse 7: "Their thoughts are evil thoughts; ruin and destruction mark their ways. The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them will know peace. So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows. Like the blind," Verse 10, "we grope along the wall, feeling our way like men without eyes. At midday, we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead."

He's saying that sin keeps us from seeing the rest of life in its right perspective. We'll be in midday sun, but we cant' see things clearly. Verse 12: "For our offenses are many in your sight." In your sight, that's the key phrase there. Our offenses may not seem like many. But in God's sight, when it causes His light to stream in through the windows of our hearts, we see that our offenses are many and our sins testify against us.

"Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities." Aren't we so much quicker to acknowledge the iniquities of others, to see how they have sinned against us? And so your husband abandoned you or he's been involved in an immoral issue. And it's so easy to say, "He's the sinner; he's the one who's the offender. I'm the innocent party."

But when I look into the light of God's Word, I see that there are no innocent parties. Yes, we have been sinned against. And yes, we have been offended. But what God wants us to see is that we are also offenders--that the greatest issue in our lives is not how others have sinned against us. Rather, it is how we have sinned against a Holy God.

And so the prophet says that our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities. Verse 13: "Rebellion and treachery against the Lord, turning our backs on our God, fomenting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts have conceived."

I tell you, I want to read this passage and apply it to other peoples' lives. But then the Lord says, "This is the Light speaking. And I'm shining my light in your heart. And this is what I see. And when I begin to define and describe my sin, as God describes it: rebellion--I don't think of myself as a rebel--but God's Word says that when I sin I am a rebel; I am guilty of rebellion against the God of the Universe--rebellion, treachery against the Lord, turning my back on God, "fomenting oppression and revolt and uttering lies our hearts have conceived."

I think about those times when God exposes in me sins that I would not think are so serious if I didn't see them in light of God's holiness--times when I'm controlling in my manner, in my attitudes. I see some heads nodding here. Maybe I'm not the only one who has these sins--sins of self-centeredness. It has to be my way and everybody has to perform up to my standard and do it the way I want it done. And if they don't, they are going to feel it; exalting myself; having to have the last word in the argument; defending myself when I'm misunderstood or falsely accused--not only exalting my opinions but demeaning, putting down the opinions of others.

I think of times when God shows me with that light that I haven't loved or lifted up or prayed for spiritual leaders in my life and in the ministry where I serve. And I've not been a cheerleader but been a critic to God's men and the pulpit and the ministry that He's allowed me to be a part of.

You know, I was looking back this past weekend into some journal entries from a couple of years ago. And I came across one where God was dealing with my heart in some of these very specific issues that He had exposed. At the time, I was reading in Daniel 3.

Remember the story about how Nebuchadnezzar erected this ninety-foot tall image of himself? And when the three Hebrew young men refused to bow down to that image, the king was furious. He was enraged, and he threw those Hebrew young men into the fiery furnace.

And I remember thinking and writing at the time as God was surfacing some of this stuff, This junk--these attitudes are in my own heart. And I wrote in my journal, and it's actually in the margin of my Bible. I made this note. "Oh God, King Nebuchadnezzar lives in me. It's not just proud, arrogant King Nebuchadnezzar. That spirit of anti-Christ, that spirit of wanting to be God, it lives in me."

And in that light, I found myself crying out to God and saying, "Please have mercy on me." I found out that I was making a God of myself and expecting every one to fall down and worship that image. And when they didn't, I was enraged. "Oh God, King Nebuchadnezzar lives in me."

So, let me close this session by reading another passage from the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 53). And it shows us the cost; the consequence of our sin. "He" speaking of Jesus, "was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities." That phrase has gripped my heart within the last 24 hours as I thought about Christ being pierced on the cross for my transgressions.

"The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way. And the Lord has laid on Him, Christ Jesus, the iniquity of us all. He was cut off from the land of the living, for the transgression of my people He was stricken.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death. Though He had done no violence nor was any deceit found in His mouth. Yet it was the Lord's will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer. For He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors."

Leslie Basham: When we get into the Word, we'll begin to know God and ourselves in a way we never imagined. Nancy DeMoss will be right back to lead us in prayer.

You know Nancy is talking all this week about the lies women believe about sin. But sin isn't the only topic we believe lies about. Nancy identifies common areas of deception in her book. Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free. We have the paperback available for a suggested donation of $13. And to order a copy, you can visit our Web site ReviveOurHearts.com. Or call 1-800-569-5959.

Now if our current series has brought to light a particular sin you need to repent of, would you write and let us know about the freedom you're now experiencing. It encourages us to hear about the way this program is working in the lives of our listeners.  And would you consider what you could give to help this ministry continue in your area? We rely on the financial gifts of our listeners and appreciate any contribution you could make.

If we see our sin as it really is, how could we ever bear it? The good news is, we don't have to. Someone already has. We'll hear more about that tomorrow. Hope you'll join us then. Now here's Nancy to lead us in prayer.

Nancy DeMoss: Father, how I thank You for Calvary, for the wonder of Your redeeming love. But I also stand in awe at what my sin cost You and how seriously You take my sin--that it required the life of your Son. Thank You for being willing to pay that price. And forgive me for so often trampling the blood of Jesus and His cross, as being not worth nearly what they are, because of taking my own sin so lightly. Oh, God, give us a holy hatred of our sin. Help us to see it as you do--when in the light we come to you to find grace and mercy--to forgive us and cleanse us and make us new. For Christ's sake I pray it. Amen.  

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss is a ministry partnership of Life Action Ministries.

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