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When Little Annoyances Turn Into Great Transgressions

Dear Friend,

Keep your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then will I be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.
(Psalm 19:13)

This is wonderful. If I am kept from willful presumptuous sins, if they do not get control over me, I will not be guilty of great transgression.

From what you have told me, you have been guilty of great transgression. This did not happen all of a sudden. The enemy had been feeding you with little annoyances for many years. Some of them you confessed, and some of them you did not confess. These temptations occurred in your home, at work, in school, with your family, and in church. God, in His goodness, kept using you for His glory even when you had lost the joy of your salvation. After a while, the Enemy set you up with a big temptation.

You may have kept your integrity in many ways. The Enemy knew that temptations in those areas would not have worked. The devil is not omniscient, but he got to know you. His object is to destroy the effectiveness for God in the home, in the church, and in the world.

After the person has fallen and apparently destroyed his witness, the Enemy tells him that since he has destroyed his witness anyway, he might as well keep it destroyed. That is another lie. “Where sin abounds, Grace does much more abound” (Rom. 5:20).

David committed great sins. However, he had a great view of God, a great view of his own sin, and a great view of God’s salvation. I am quite aware that what I teach today may be things you already know. However, I trust that this teaching will get beyond your knowledge and into your heart. "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-­edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart" (Heb. 4:12).

Here are a few Scriptures to remind you of your life in Christ.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Cor. 13:4-7)

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (1 John 4:7-12)

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. (1 John 4:19-21)

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body. (Eph. 5:25-29)

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. (Gal. 5:19-24)
It has been a long time since you have had the fruit of the Spirit. It has been a long time since you have loved your wife. You will likely admit both of those statements as facts, but not in repentance. Loving her is not optional. How are you supposed to love her when you do not have the love for her? Fake it? No! In your present state you cannot love her as Christ loved the church. You must first get forgiven for your unlove and all of the sins of your actions and your mouth. All of these sins are against God only. Confess them to Him only. When you are restored, confess to her that you have confessed them to God.

You have five commands to love.

1. Love God. Matthew 22:37
2. Love your neighbor. Matthew 22:39
3. Love your wife. Ephesians 5:25-27
4. Love the brothers. John 13:34-35
5. Love your enemy. Luke 6:27-36

Your wife is not God.
She is your neighbor.
She is your wife.
She is your “brother.”
She is your enemy.

You must confess as gross sin, to God, not loving God, your neighbor, your "brother," your wife, and your enemy. Having been forgiven, choose to obey God and love her.

You need to confess, without being introspective, every sin that God brings to your attention that you have not confessed since you were born again. Your sins will be forgiven. There may be consequences, but God will give grace for those.

With love in the Lord Jesus,

Jim

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