Forgiven: Smiles of Grace Fall Bible Study

When Jesus in all His kindness called me to Himself, my heart was as pliable as fresh dough in the hand. I was soft to the Lord and open to His Gospel. This is always the Spirit’s work, breaking hearts of stone. I was so aware of my sin that I sobbed to the altar Sunday after Sunday. My spirit overwhelmed that the Lord would offer me His salvation. I lived to respond to His clear call to change and keep changing. I wish I could tell you that I have lived always with such a tenderness to God, that my heart brims always with this level of desire for Jesus and to be more like Him, but it does not. If you’re honest with yourself, your heart doesn’t either. I think this is one reason the Lord tucked away this beautiful verse in the book of Hebrews.

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God. But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. Hebrews 3:13

 

There is not a saint on earth to whom the lure of sin has no pull. We have not been made perfect yet.  In this culture, we struggle to even call sin what it is, much less talk about it except, maybe, in some cases, church on Sunday, but here’s the thing if our deep desire is to live as fully, as fruitful, as free, and as fun (yes fun) as we want to, we must deal with it, today. Let me ask you this, do you put your sin to death? Do you know how to? Do you put up with sin in your life and keep it as your close companion? Now, you don’t go around telling people this, of course, that would not be socially acceptable, even in the church. I liken it to the junk drawer at your house. The places where you stuff the things that you want to keep, but don’t really have a place in your home. Things we tuck away in those drawers or cabinets or closets are there, because we don’t want to get rid of them or refuse to take the time to. I cleaned out one such drawer in our home once and found it empty after I went through the contents. I had been housing trash. This is what we do spiritually too sometimes. We have sin in our lives, but instead of killing it we decide to shove it away. On Sundays we don’t see our sin junk so much, but just let Monday come, y’all, and all that hidden stuff is coming out. It’s the impatience we deal to our children, the nagging we push on our husbands, it’s the remaining insecurity about our looks that weighs us down like a ball and chain, the insidious thoughts that weave themselves into the fabric of our thinking and more.

So, here’s how I want us to let the Lord lead us. I want you over the course of this online study to allow the Lord to shine light of the Word on your sin, especially on known sin that just seems to linger. Sometimes we don’t repent, because we think the sin is bringing benefit to us. Ugly as it sounds. Here’s a little example. Why do we get angry and wrong our neighbor with it? Yes, we may be tired. True, we may be stressed, but if we continue in it day after day without real repentance why might it be? Think about it for a moment.  Could it be that we are lured into believing that we can get what we want by our disobedience? This is never true, especially for a believer, but sin is ever the deceiver. We fail to take the course of humility by submitting to God’s will by following God’s Word. So we, the free ones, live like we are still slaves to sin in whatever form it takes, because we are reticent and hesitant to name, confess, and turn away from it. Remember James? It is s our own evil desire that leads into the temptation. Temptation that results in sin and without repentance the sin will result in death.

 

But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death. James 1:14-15

But we do not have to live this way in any slight. While the sinner may be a slave to sin, the believer is not. Therefore, we can not sin to the glory of God.

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 For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:2

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Romans 8:12-17

We have the power in the Spirit of Jesus to not sin and that is a wonder, a miracle of great proportions, and I desire to study this wonder with you.

Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them. Pslam 111:2

This fall I offer you a series that, at its heart, is a call to repentance, at least that is where we will be begin. There is no other point from which we can begin our Christian lives, years that would be fruitful, months that would be purposeful, weeks that would accomplish Christ exalting goals, or days that would be lived to do God’s will. The submission required to turn away from sin is not done in the flesh; it can only be achieved by the Holy Spirit. We are not trying to make ourselves good, no. We are putting ourselves in the light of His Word, so that through the illuminating convicting power of the Spirit of Christ, God Himself might take us and create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us. Without deep genuine sorrow over our sin and the realization of its presence in our lives, there will be failure in carrying out the will of God. I’m sure I do not have to tell you that for a believer this thought should inspire our attention and the fear of the Lord.

This study is for women whose deep desire is to press into all that Christ Jesus is in the midst of their weakness. This is for all of us who purpose to go deeper in God’s Word more than any other book, because we believe that Scripture is fully sufficient for all the things of life. This is for any woman with a bowed heart ready to confess we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and, to our great sorrow, we still sin and fall short of the glory of God. B U T  we will, together, press on to know Him, Christ Jesus our Lord. This series is not birthed out of my strength, for I have precious little of that, but out of my weakness, and, I pray, brought to fruition by Christ’s power. This is the anthem of the believing woman, not that we have overcome anything, but that Christ Jesus is everything, and He has overcome us.

This week ask the Lord to humble your heart so that you might see and love truth.  I am asking you to allow the Lord to expose you and take out every single thing that fails Him. You are a new creation if you are in Christ Jesus, if you have believed in His death and miraculous resurrection, if you have called on the name of the Lord. Let us not cling to the sin that destroys us, but let us hold fast to the unswerving hope of faith in Christ Jesus. We must stop grieving the Savior whose kindness has saved us. He has come for us. Let us listen attentively with ears firmly pressed against His Word to all that He desires to speak with sweet power over our lives.

Join me again here, maybe? We have further still to go.

Note: Over the course of this study there we will a video component on Mondays and perhaps Wednesdays that corresponds to what we are doing here on the blog. You can follow me on Instagram (in the stories) to keep up with that if you like, Instagram name: smiles _of_grace. If you’re reading this right now, please know, I have prayed His rich mercies over you. Thank you for lending me the time to encourage you in the smallest of ways. I am deeply humbled by the grace.