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Matt. 5:23-26; 1 John 1:9; Prov. 28:13; Luke 19:8; Lev. 5:14-16
I. The scriptural basis
II. The object of our dealing with sins
III. The basis of dealing with sins
IV. The limit of our dealing with sins
V. The practice of dealing with sins
VI. Dealing with sins and life
[“Dealing’’ implies that we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit to purge away all the difficulties which hinder the growth of life. The more we are being dealt with, the more God’s life grows in us. The more God’s life grows in us, the more we are being dealt with. These two cannot be separated; they are two aspects of the same matter. Therefore, the dealings constitute an extremely important position in our experience of life. We can say that this is a major portion of experience in life.]
[Among all the difficulties which need to be dealt with, sins are the crudest, the most defiling, and the most evident. After having consecrated ourselves, the first thing we need to deal with is sins. Dealing with sins is the first lesson in our experience of dealings.]
[The following references give the scriptural basis for dealing with sins:
Matthew 5:23-26: “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go away; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Be well disposed quickly with your opponent, while you are with him in the way, lest the opponent deliver you to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you shall by no means come out from there until you have paid the last quadrans.’’ Here, “reconciled’’ and “be well disposed quickly with’’ refer to dealings concerning our relationships with others.
First John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous that He may forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’’ Here “confess’’ is again a kind of dealing.
Proverbs 28:13: “He that covers his transgressions shall not prosper; but whoso confesses and forsakes them shall obtain mercy.’’ Here “confesses’’ and “forsakes’’ speak also of a dealing.
We see from the above scriptures how we are to deal with sins: towards men, we must be reconciled with them and agree with them; towards God, we must confess our sins; and concerning sin, we must forsake it. These kinds of settlement of sin are what we mean by dealing with sins.]
[The object of our dealing with sins is the sins themselves. There are two aspects with regard to sin: the nature of sin within and the action of sin without. The nature of sin within us is in the singular form; the action of sin without is in the plural form. The singular form of sin is the life of Satan within us, with which we have no way of dealing — the more we deal with it, the more alive it becomes. The dealing with sins of which we are speaking is our dealing with the sins which we commit outwardly, the sins in our actions.]
[Our object in dealing with sins includes all the sins we have committed. In carrying it out, however, God does not require us to deal with all the sins at once, but to deal with all those that we are conscious of while in fellowship with Him. We do not mean to say that we must deal with all the sins that we have actually committed, but only with those we are conscious of while in fellowship with God. The basis, therefore, of dealing with our sins is the consciousness we have while in fellowship with God.
We can leave undealt with for the time being the sins of which we are not aware, until such time as we do become aware of them in fellowship with God. Practically speaking, dealing with sins is not an ordinance of the law, but a requirement of fellowship.] Once our fellowship with God is hindered due to unconfessed sins, then our experience and growth of life become abnormal. Therefore, we must confess our sins as soon as the Lord exposes them in our fellowship with Him. Then we will have life and peace all the time.
[The limit of our dealing with sins is similar to that of our clearance of the past. It is life and peace. When we deal with sins, we should do it until we have life and peace within. If we follow our consciousness in dealing with sins, we will feel inwardly satisfied, strengthened, refreshed, and quickened; we will also feel joyful, restful, comfortable, and secure. Our spirit will be strong and living, and our fellowship with the Lord will be free and without hindrance. Our prayers will be releasing and with authority, and our utterance will be bold and powerful. All these senses and experiences are the conditions of life and peace. This is the limit of our dealing with sins, and this also is the result of our dealing with sins. What we have said before about dealing with sins thoroughly implies that we deal with sins to such a state of life and peace.]
[How should we deal with the actual committing of sin? If we have offended God, we must deal with it before God and ask His forgiveness. If we have sinned against man, we should deal with it before man by asking man’s forgiveness. If our act of sinning against man involves only a moral matter, we have only to confess this and apologize before man. If it also involves a loss of money and profits, then we should pay accordingly the amount we owe. This act of apologizing and reimbursing applies not only to sins committed after we are saved; we must also deal with all those sins committed before we were saved; we must deal with them one by one before man according to the inner consciousness. This dealing with sins before man is the major part of this matter of dealing with sins, and we should take heed to practice it.
Every sinful act of ours, when become known to others, whether it causes damage to them or not, results in a discordant condition between us. For instance: if we abuse or curse another person, we have on one hand a record of sin before God, and we have made on the other hand a bad impression upon the one we have cursed and also upon any others who were present. Thus, it is difficult for us all to live together in harmony as before. Therefore, if, after being enlightened, we become conscious of this, we have on the one hand to confess it to God and ask His forgiveness, and on the other hand to go to the persons concerned — the one who was cursed and any others who were present — to apologize and also to deal with what we have said. By doing this, the bad impression we have given them will be eradicated, and we can live together as formerly. The dispelling of a discordant situation is in relation to man, but the possession of a clean conscience, void of offense, is in relation to ourselves.
If the sin we have committed involves material things or the gain of others, we should make restitution. When we restore what we have taken, we should pay according to the original value and add a little more to compensate for the loss. In the Old Testament, in Leviticus 5, it is stated that one fifth should be added. In the New Testament we have the example of Zacchaeus (Luke 19) restoring fourfold to those whom he had cheated. These are not laws or regulations, but principles and examples to show us that whenever we make restitution, we should add something to the original value.]
[Since dealing with sins has such a close relationship with our spiritual life, we should endeavor to experience this lesson continuously. Although this experience is not a deep one, yet no one can be so spiritual as to say that they have no need to deal with sins. It is difficult to graduate from this lesson. We should not only ask ourselves, therefore, if we have ever had these experiences, but we should also ask ourselves if we are now living in such an experience. We not only have to wash our face, but we need to wash it every day. If we washed our face three years ago and have not washed it since, it must be a dreadful looking face! In the same manner, unless we are free from committing sins every day, we need to deal with sins daily.]
We should keep a short account with the Lord concerning sins. When He exposes, we confess (agree), He forgives and cleanses, fellowship is restored, we receive life, we get filled with the Spirit, then we grow in life. It is so wonderful. Why argue with Him? In this way we get all that God is. His element will increase in us and our human element will decrease. What a way to grow in life! What a full salvation! Praise the Lord!
