As Christians, we died to sin.  Romans 6:1-4 “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Since we were baptized into death we should not continue to walk in sin but walk in newness of life.  And yet, we can still sin. Sin can be doing things God doesn’t want us to do, or it can be pride in our hearts, or it can be neglecting to do the good we know to do (James 4:17). None of us is perfect before God. 1 John 1:8 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7:15 “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.” The apostle Paul wanted to do the right thing but found that he didn’t always do it; the sinful thing he hated, he found that he sometimes did it.  He didn’t want to sin, but he did.

So the question is not if we sin, but how do we deal with sin when we discover it in our lives?  There are wrong ways to deal with sin and there is a right way to deal with sin.  First, we can deny that we have sin.  We can pretend that it isn’t there. An example of this is found in Acts chapter 5. Acts 5:1-5 “But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.’ Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things.” Ananias and Sapphira denied that they lied about the proceeds of the sale of their property. But God knows everything that we think and do. We cannot hide our sin from God.

We can ignore our sin.  We know that our actions aren’t quite right, but we excuse ourselves.  Maybe we think there is a good reason for what we do.  Maybe we compare ourselves to others and think that we are not as bad as they are.  But God sets the standard and we must answer to Him.  Romans 14:12 “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.”

We can love our sin so much that we would rather have our sin than please God. Hebrews 3:12-13 “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Sin can deceive us that it is what we really want.  But if we don’t properly deal with sin, it will bring forth death.  James 1:15 “Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”

The proper way to deal with sin is to humbly confess our sin.  1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” As Christians, if we confess our sins, He will forgive us our sins.  God doesn’t want us to attempt to hide our sin or ignore it or explain it away or even delude ourselves that we have not sinned. James 4:6 “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:  ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’” If we are too proud to confess our sins, He will not forgive us or give us His grace.

Jesus told us a parable about two men who prayed to God.  Luke 18:10-14 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men — extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’  And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”  The tax collector laid his heart open before God, confessed his sin, and was justified.  God already knows everything about us.  But it takes a humble heart that admits that it is guilty and freely lays itself openly before God.  “I am guilty!”  To me, there is an implied repentance here.  When I confess my sins to God, I’m admitting my guilt and my desire to change and do differently. 

God wants us to confess from our hearts.  He wants us to have genuine humility in confessing our sins to Him and then forsake our sin.  Proverbs 28:13 “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”  King David sinned when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and later when he caused her husband, Uriah, to be killed in battle.  But David was humble enough to confess his sin. He wrote in Psalms 32:1-5 “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

I encourage you to confess your sin to God so that He will forgive you in His mercy.