Time for a Check Up #8

Do you grieve over your sin?

Series in a Sentence: A biblical examination of your spiritual health

You Are not Your ____________________

Read Romans 6; How would you summarize this chapter? How do you daily realize that you are no longer your own?

Sorry is not ________________

Read 2 Corinthians 7:8-11; What is difference between godly grief and worldly grief? Give some examples of this in your life? How can you make sure you are living out godly grief?

Mediate on ________________ and mercy

Read Psalm 51; how would you summarize this psalm? How does David express his sin? How can you emulate this same response with your sin?

Respond –

Live out the 5-step response to sin

1. Understand the gospel

2. Pray to see your sins

3. Pray through psalm 51

4. Meditate on the work of Christ

5. Preach the gospel to yourself

I am convinced that the first step towards attaining a higher standard of holiness is to realize more fully the amazing sinfulness of sin. —J. C. RYLE

A.W. Pink explained, “It is not the absence of sin but the grieving over it which distinguishes the child of God from empty professors [of faith].”

“One great difference between saints and hypocrites is this, that the joy and comfort of the former is attended with godly sorrow and mourning for sin.” Edwards

“Godly sorrow that leads to repentance, therefore, is a sorrow that leads to a change of purpose, of intention, and of action. It is not the sorrow of idle tears; it is not crying by your bedside because once again you have failed; nor is it vain regret, wishing things had never happened, wishing you could live the moments again. No, it is not that. It is a change of purpose and intentions, a change of direction and action.” (Redpath)

To preach the gospel to yourself, then, means that you continually face up to your own sinfulness and then flee to Jesus through faith in His shed blood and righteous life. It means that you appropriate, again by faith, the fact that Jesus fully satisfied the law of God, that he is your propitiation, and that God’s holy wrath is no longer directed toward you. . . . You can be sure of one thing, though: When you set yourself to seriously pursue holiness, you will begin to realize what an awful sinner you are. And if you are not firmly rooted in the gospel and have not learned to preach it to yourself every day, you will soon become discouraged and will slack off in your pursuit of holiness. – Jerry Bridges