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Jeremiah 17:7-10 – The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?
The human heart is in a desperate and helpless condition. This heart hides from itself. It’s owner sometimes doesn’t even know his own heart, and can believe that he is doing better than he really is.
The Lord sees the hearts of man and is a discerning God. He sees all that is there. As Christians we struggle agains the problem of our heart. Sometimes we are victorious, other times we are defeated and need to confess and be forgiven of our sin.
Jesus talked about the mercy of God, but Jesus said that there is a sin that is unforgivable. In Matthew 12:32 Jesus says, all manner of sin will be forgiven, but blasphemy agains the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven.
Many of the leaders believed Jesus, but because of the pressure put on them by those around them they didn’t act on their belief.
Numbers 15:30 – The soul that sins with an uplifted fist towards God, in direct defiance to God. This person is in danger of committing this unpardonable sin…
What is sin? “Any thought, word, omission, desire, or action that is contrary to the holy law of God.”
Romans 14:23 – Going against our conscience, our inner sense of what is right and what is wrong is a dangerous place to go.
James talks about the danger of knowing what thing he should do and not doing it, this is a sin of omission.
We often come short in ways that we aren’t even aware of yet. We confess specific sins to God. We confess our sinfulness to God.
1 John 5:17 – Whether we recognize it or not we fall short of God’s standard of holiness.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19, Revelation 21:8 – there are many sinful acts covered here, but clearly behind these actions is a heart issue.
Mark 7:21-23 – all sin, every evil action/word/thought begins in the heart, it is an outward working of an inner problem. The fallen heart produces fallen fruit.
Romans 5:12 – We are all stained. We are all affected and infected by the fall. We are all born with this.
Jesus tells us that he greatest command is to love the Lord God with all our soul, heart and mind. We are also to love our neighbors as ourselves. Any failure to love God or man imperfectly leads towards sin.
Sin separates man from God here on earth and forever unless something is done about it.
We Can be Redeemed
All sinners are impure and defiled, but God calls us to holiness. Lest we loose hope, let us remember that God’s sins can be forgiven!
Hebrews 8:12 – We can be washed, we can be sanctified, we can be forgiven and cleansed through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ!
It is only through the blood of Christ that we can be free from guilt, we can remember our sins and our sinfulness… not to be guilt stricken but to confirm our change and to be ever thankful to our redeemer.
Jesus also delivers us from the power of sin. We can be free from the grips of the law of sin that often tangle us and hold us.