Matthew 5:27-29 "27 You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.…"
The point of this discussion is that adultery is not merely an act, it is the expression of a heart before the act occurs. Every sin we do was a thought before it became an act. Many people have sins that are not forgiven because they will not confess them as sins. They believe if no one sees them, they don't count. Every thought that is sin remains sin even if we never commit the act.
Many people lust after others when no one else knows about it. Some examples of lusting is the adulation over movie stars, ball players and work associates.
Even if someone does not commit the act of adultery, they can be guilty of it, just by thinking about it, the same as someone who carries it out .
Even a contemptuous attitude toward others that manifest itself in raging over a disagreement or mocking to demean, is contempt for the person at which it is directed. Contempt is hatred and hatred is spoken of by God as murder. To hate someone so much as to attempt to harm them or their reputation in some way is considered murder by God.
This is why self righteousness in the believer is hypocrisy. Everyone has had sinful thoughts or desires that they didn't tell anyone about. There are those who think just because no one knows about it or that they didn't do the sin in the flesh, then they count themselves as more righteous than others.
Sin is in the heart, even if it never fleshes out. No one can claim they have never had a lustful thought or a desire to hurt someone else.
Those who cannot confess their sinfulness cannot be born again. God only accepts those who admit they have no goodness in them and who want to be cleansed by Him.
If we confess our sins He will cleanse us from the sin we confess. We will not be cleansed if we refuse to admit we have sin.
Do you want to grow in holiness? The only way to do that is to confess the sins God reveals to you, every one every time. If we are confronted about sin by others, then we must listen, go to prayer and if it is true, confess to be cleansed.
1 John 1:5-10 "5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us."
Far too many people think God is obligated to cleanse us or absolve us of sin. They are stubborn and remain infants spiritually if they are born again at all.
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