Bible Devotion - 5/17/2021

May 17th, 2021

Living the Christian Life Day by Day (Vol 2)

Last week we saw that as Christians, we have daily duties and responsibilities. The Christian life is a daily proposition. We are looking at these daily duties as illustrated and implied in the reoccurring words of the Bible, "Day By Day."

In our first study we saw these words in Genesis 39:10 where we read, "And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her." From this scene in Joseph's life we reminded ourselves that we must learn how to overcome temptation "day by day."

This week we are going to look at the matter of Dealing With Daily Sin. In Exodus 29:38 we once again find the words "day by day" and are reminded that we must not only overcome temptation on a daily basis but we must also deal with sin on a daily basis.

The great evangelist, Billy Sunday, from the beginning of his ministry until his death in 1935 was relentless in his attacks on sin. He was fond of saying, "I'm against sin. I'll kick it as long as I've got a foot, and I'll fight it as long as I've got a fist. I'll butt it as long as I've got a head. I'll bite it as long as I've got a tooth. When I'm old and fistless and footless and toothless, I'll gum it till I go home to Glory and it goes home to perdition."

When it comes to sin in our life, it is something that we must deal with until we go home to glory. Sin must be dealt with day by day.

In verse 38 we see that one of the responsibilities of the priests were to offer daily sacrifices to the Lord. There was to a lamb offered in the morning and a lamb in the evening. These were known as the Tamid, the perpetual offerings. The purpose of these two lambs on a daily basis reminds us that sin must be dealt with DAY BY DAY.

So what can we learn from looking at this ancient commandment given by God to Moses for the children of Israel and apply it to our daily Christian lives now. Well first off all…

1. WE MUST BE WILLING DAILY TO CONFRONT OUR SIN.

The altar reminds us of the place we must come to each day. Aaron and his sons had a daily requirement. There was established a daily practice of coming to the altar. Each day we must do the same. There must be a time and place where we take the steps necessary to deal with the sin in our life. Job did this in Job. 1:5…

"And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually."

The altar in Job's life was a place where he dealt with sin. So why is this important to us? Well, because whether we realize it or not everyone of us have daily failures in life that break our fellowship with God.

I wish I could say that days go by without my failing God and being guilty of some sin in my life. But the truth is, I fail God everyday and have sins in my life that I must confront on a daily basis. There will come a day, as the songwriter said, I will rise to sin no more. But until then, sin is a daily problem and one that I must deal with on a daily basis.

There a several descriptions of sin in the Bible and these speak of the various ways that we sin and fail God. The word "iniquity" is a word that corresponds to our word "wrong" and speaks of a distortion. The ideal is of one going astray from the right path.

There is also the word "transgression." This word speaks of passing over the boundary of God's law. It is rendered "go beyond" and "go over" on occasions in the Bible.

There is the word "trespass." The word indicates faithlessness, treachery, and apostasy. It would describe unfaithfulness to God.

There are the words "rebellion" and "rebelled." These words speak of being defiant of God.

The primary word that describes sin is simply the word "sin" and speaks of missing the mark. There is not only the issue of doing what we know to be wrong, but also the issue of failing to do what we know to be right. It is coming short of the divine standard. It is a matter of failing to be what we should be.

All these words describe the various ways that we fail God and sin. We do things we should not do, act and react in ways we should not, say things we should no say, have feelings we should not have, and even think in ways we should not think. There are many ways in which we sin and fail God -- even on a daily basis and when this happens our fellowship with God is broken.

In Exodus 29:42 we read that God spoke of the place, "where I will meet you." As well, we read in verse 43, that God said, "And there I will meet with the children of Israel." The word "meet" speaks of an "appointment." They had a daily appointment to meet God and meet with God at the door of the Tabernacle.

The purpose of this meeting was that God would "speak there unto thee." The word, "speak" simply means to "commune." This was a time to meet with God and a time when God would speak to them and commune with them. This was a time of fellowship with God.

As believers we have a daily appointment to meet with God. This is a time and place where we meet to talk with God and for God to talk with us. This time of fellowship with God is so essential in our lives. This time of fellowship with God is the secret of spiritual strength, the source of spiritual strength, and the means of sustaining of spiritual strength. Fellowship with God is a necessity for us to live the Christian life and experience his favor, blessing, and presence.

Not only do we need to Confront our Sin but….

2. WE MUST BE WILLING DAILY TO CONFESS OUR SIN.

They were to come to the altar every day and "offer" upon the altar a lamb in the morning and evening. The act of offering the lambs describes not only the place we must come each day, but also the actions we are to take.

An action that was taken in the offering of the lambs is seen in the words, "shall put their hands upon the head" of the sacrifices. These instructions are found in verses 10, 15, and 19. The putting of the hands upon the sacrifice speaks of more than a lightly placing of the hands on the sacrifice.

The idea is of the hand being hard pressed upon the head. It would be descriptive of someone leaning upon the sacrifice, placing their full weight upon the sacrifice. This action was symbolic of placing the weight of our sins upon the sacrifice. It was an act whereby one was placing their sins upon another. It was an act whereby sin was acknowledged and confessed.

We deal with sin by confessing our sin. The Psalmist said in Psalm 32:5, "I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord ..."

We are familiar with 1 John 1:9 where we read, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

God demands the confession of sin. We read in Leviticus 5:5, "And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing:"

Day by day we must confront our sin and confess our sin.

Thirdly, upon the daily confronting and confessing of our sin…..

3. WE WILL EXPERIENCE THE DAILY CLEANSING OF OUR SIN.

Each day two lambs were offered. In these lambs we not just see the place we must come each day and the actions we must take each day, but also the forgiveness we must seek each day.

Isabella of Spain bragged that she had had only two baths in her life--one when she was born, and the other when she married Ferdinand. They gave her a third when she died.

Christians must have a spiritual bath every day! There must be a cleansing of sin in our life on a daily basis. And the basis of our cleansing from sin is the shedding of blood. I remind you that it is only by the blood of the Lord Jesus that we are cleansed from sin. There can be no forgiveness of sin and the cleansing from sin apart from the blood that Jesus shed.

I cannot tell you of the joy it is to not only be forgiven but to be cleansed. The blessing of our sin being cleansed is in knowing that we are in fellowship with God and everything is right between us and God!

A beloved hymn came to mind as I was wrapping this up. It was written by Charles Tindley in 1905 and is entitled “Nothing Between”.

Nothing between my soul and the Savior, Naught of this world’s delusive dream; I have renounced all sinful pleasure; Jesus is mine, there’s nothing between

Refrain:

Nothing between my soul and the Savior, So that His blessed face may be seen; Nothing preventing the least of His favor; Keep the way clear! Let nothing between.

2. Nothing between, like worldly pleasure; Habits of life, though harmless they seem, Must not my heart from Him ever sever; He is my all, there’s nothing between.

3. Nothing between, like pride or station; Self or friends shall not intervene; Though it may cost me much tribulation, I am resolved, there’s nothing between.

Dear brother or sister I pray that when you lay your head down on your pillow tonight you can say along with Charles Tindley….

There’s nothing between my soul and the Savior.

Bro. Jeff