THE SCENARIO:
Diaphanous, a sinner, is a believer in Jesus Christ. The beautiful
thing about Diaphanous is that they are so transparent before God; they
ever talk to Him about their sins, hiding nothing before Him. Diaphanous
knows that as a believer they have been forgiven of their sins by the
grace and mercy of God. Even so, they continue to struggle with certain
sins on a regular basis. Diaphanous seems to be caught up in a cycle of
recurrent sin, confession before God, more recurrent sin, more
confession before God, and so on. Diaphanous’ heart is sure heavy within
them over this, for they love their God, and hate grieving Him like
that. And O how they miss His most intimate fellowship with them when
they slip outside His will.
In the outworking of this scenario please consider the following:
1.
Diaphanous’ recurrent sin, be it as it may, is it forgiven too, seeing
they are a believer, or are there certain instances where it is not
(that is, does the forgiveness found at the foot of the Cross look
forward like that no matter what)? Is there a limit as far as God is
concerned both as to the degree and frequency of recurrent sin insofar
as forgiveness goes for a believer? Please discuss both questions with
respect to 1Jo 1:9 and 1Jo 2:1,
then bring your own verses to bear too please. Our goal is to make
God’s stance relative to recurrent sin (its frequency, its depth, its
forgiveness) as Scripturally clear as possible with this point, bearing
in mind that we are interested in His stance with respect to a believer
in this regard. May also the outworking of this point be an
encouragement to you Christian friend to persist in your open walk with
our God.
2
As said in the scenario setup, Diaphanous confesses their sin; is that
all there is to the repentance process? What exactly does it mean to
repent of one’s sin from the perspective of Scripture? Please cite three
examples where either an Old Testament or a New Testament saint
repented of their sin—how was their repentance borne out?
3.
We suppose that God convicts us of our sin through our conscience. It
is a means by which He relates to us His judgments regarding our state
of submission to His will—a guilty conscience is an indictment By God of
transgression against Him, as is a clear conscience His declaration of
innocence before Him; one may be guilty before Him, but forgiven, and
thus innocent in that sense too with an attendant clear conscience.
Careful attention to one’s conscience—His voice—is necessary in order to
become sensitive to God’s assessment of our walk before Him. Do you see
it like that too? How do you understand the Christian concept of
“conscience;” how would you define it? Please discuss the role of
conscience in any three of the following verses: ( 2Sa 24:10, Psa 38:3-4, Mat 26:75, 2Cr 1:12, Tts 1:15, 1Jo 3:21).
4. Please discuss recurrent sin over against Pro 16:6 and Rom 7:15-20. Pro 16:6
is particularly noteworthy here—how do lovingkindness and truth atone
for iniquity—are these coming from God’s side or ours? Both? How about
the fear of the LORD—Scripture seems to be saying that the fear of the
LORD is our answer to the recurrent sin problem we have been discussing.
What is the fear of the LORD in your opinion; what does Scripture mean
by that, and how could it be the answer to this problem? It is not
really possible to be sinless is it? Won’t recurrent sin always to some
degree visit a believer, as has been the case with Diaphanous? If you
agree one cannot really be sinless, what then is Pro 16:6 trying to say to us (other versions
may be useful in the overall discussion of this verse)? On the other
hand, if you think one can indeed be sinless, please explain.
5.
We love Diaphanous’ transparency before God. In the privacy of your
heart, would you say that you have an entirely open walk with our God
when it comes to talking to Him about your recurrent sin? Again, in the
privacy of your heart, how does God respond to your transparency before
Him (affirmation of your filial relationship to Him, refreshing,
renewing, etc.)? Can you identify with David in the latter question: Psa 32:3-5?
6. The antithesis of this discussion concerning openness before God shows up in Pro 30:20.
Please take a moment and consider hidden sin. Since our conversations
with God are usually very private—no one being privy to them but Him—why
would someone want to hide their sin before God, what are the
motivations here (we are interested particularly in a Christian, but
contrast the unbeliever); what do folk think they are keeping from Him?
What are some of the “clever” ways by which folk think they are hiding
their sin from God?
7.
Dear Christian friend, is it not a comfort to know that God so
completely loves us that He treats us like His children? What child does
not stumble along the way, and usually more often than not, like
Diaphanous? And what loving parent would not guide by discipline such a
child to protect them; to help them not to stumble so that the child can
grow and be well? When you and I stumble in our walk before God, indeed
again and again maybe, He will discipline us—there is always a price to
be paid—but He always continues to love us,
looking ahead to our protection and to our ultimate growth and well
being in and through Him. His discipline is an unmistakable expression of
His love for us, and it signalizes His concerned involvement in our
affairs. On our part, a deliberate open walk with God, by its very
nature, stems from a contrite heart that is willing to suffer discipline by His loving hand so
that intimate fellowship with Him is not disturbed; it stems from a
heart that places great value on His fellowship, and therefore by
default on Him. It is true that this discipline may come to us without
our openness anyway, but how much better if it comes in concert with
deliberate transparency. Transparency before God is motivated by a
contrite heart that truly loves God. Yes we are Christians, but we are
as yet imperfect in our mortality, and thus prone to stumble, maybe like
Diaphanous. It is always good to say, in harmony with the Prodigal, ‘I
will arise and go to my Father’…and talk to Him about this with a
contrite heart (Luk 15:20-24). God shall grant you victory in spite of your struggles Diaphanous.