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Colin Smith: toying with sin, falling into sin, asking Christ for forgiveness, experiencing his mercy, going back to toying with the same sin all over again. Now, how do you break that cycle? How do you get out of being a guy who has a faith and doesn't really change much?

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. And Colin, today we're going to be talking about a huge problem in our churches today. I think there are a lot of people who, if we ask for a show of hands, would identify with this pattern and say, yeah, that's a struggle for me.

Colin Smith: Yeah, and I think that that's one of the primary areas where we need to recover the biblical gospel because what's happened is we've lost very often what the Bible means by repentance and replaced it by simply saying sorry. And these are not the same things. So, I fall into some sin, I say to God that I'm sorry, and then I'm back in the same cycle again. And Jesus breaks into that in the Beatitudes where he says, blessed are those who mourn. And he's not talking here about grieving the loss of a loved one. He's talking about mourning over our sins, looking at something that I've done until I loathe it so that I am going to have a strong resistance towards going back and doing it again.

Now, that goes to the heart of biblical repentance. And I think grasping this and understanding how to mourn my sins, which we're going to look at today, is of huge importance for making progress in the Christian life.

Steve Hiller: If you can, I hope you'll open your Bible and join us in Matthew chapter 5 as we begin a message, cultivating godly sorrow. Here's Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. We've seen that there are three kinds of mourning. Natural mourning is grieving someone or something you have lost. Then we saw there's such a thing as sinful mourning, which is to grieve something that God never intended you to have. And then we saw that Jesus is referring here not to either of these two, but to a third, to spiritual mourning, which we defined as grieving over your sins against God. We saw last time something else that's very important, that this spiritual mourning that Jesus is teaching us here is actually a key to overcoming what we sometimes call habitual sin.

That is sins that we tend to go back to time and again. If you've read the book of Judges in the Old Testament, you'll know that there's a sort of cyclical pattern that runs right the way through the book of Judges. It covers many generations of the experience of God's people. And once you see the cycle, you'll see it recurs again and again throughout the book. It goes like this. God's people turn to idols, then God gives them over into the hands of their enemies, then they cry to God for mercy at the lowest point.

God raises up a deliverer and everything is made well again, and then God's people turn back to idols. And round the circle goes again and again and again. If I was to give a sort of a pop title for the book of Judges, I'd call it how not to live the Christian life. Going round and round in circles, you know what this looks like. Toying with sin, falling into sin, asking Christ for forgiveness, experiencing his mercy, going back to toying with the same sin all over again. Now, how do you break that cycle? How do you get out of being a guy who has a faith and doesn't really change much over 10, 20 or even 30 years?

This happens. We see it around us and we may see it very much in ourselves as well. And we're seeing that this uh spiritual mourning is a key to breaking the cycles of sin that so easily can gain a grip in a person's life. Now, that's where we were last week in our first part of this journey in the second Beatitude. Today we move on to the question, how? This is the really practical question, all of today's application. It's all application. It's all about the question, how can I practice this spiritual mourning that's going to be so blessed and lead me into so much joy?

How can I cultivate this godly sorrow that is going to be the means of bringing blessing into my life? How can I actually break the cycles of habitual sin and go after real growth in holiness of life? I have three very simple headings so this is easy to follow. It will be easy for you to take notes and you may want to do that today so that you can put into practice what Jesus is speaking about, the spiritual mourning that will lead you into a great and wonderful joy. The three headings are simply this, how to see, how to mourn and how to find comfort.

How to see, how to mourn and how to find comfort. So, straight away, let's get into it here, how to see. There's an old saying and many of you will know it well, what the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over. So, little Johnny is throwing a ball against the wall and manages to crack his mother's choice vase. And what does he do? He turns the crack towards the wall so that you won't see it. And he says to himself, well, now, what the eye doesn't see, the heart won't grieve over. Now, we're talking about spiritual mourning.

What the eye doesn't see, the heart will not grieve over. It follows therefore, does it not, that we only enter into spiritual mourning over sins that we have come to see. And here's the problem, folks, that by nature we don't see very well. Uh we tend to justify what we do. We tend to become so used to ourselves that we find it difficult to imagine ourselves being more holy than we actually are, which often is not very much. We don't see ourselves as others see us, let alone seeing ourselves as God sees us. So, how do you get spiritual sight?

And the answer to that is simply this, that reading the Bible is like putting on a a pair of spectacles for someone who is uh short-sighted. Through the Bible, you will begin to see what God sees. You will begin to understand what grieves him and what offends him. Reading the Bible will open your eyes to sins that you would not otherwise spot that may have been lurking in your life for a long time. Now, the Bible is full of this. I'm thinking for example of Psalm 19 and verse 8 which tells us this, that the commandments of the Lord are pure and they enlighten the eyes.

They help you to see. This is written all over the scripture. It is a wonderful wonderful gift of God. As you read the Bible, you are reading the words and the thoughts of God. And so you are able to enter in to what he sees and to grasp it for yourself. Now, when I was very young, and some of you will relate to this as well, as a small boy in a Sunday school class, I was taught to read the Bible using what in Britain was called the Scripture Union method. And that very simply was, whenever you read the Bible, ask five questions.

And this has been useful to me all my life to the present day. I've never outgrown it and it will be useful to you. What does this tell me about God? What does this tell me about myself? Is there a sin to avoid, a promise to believe, a command to obey? Very very simple. What does it tell me about God? What does it tell me about myself, this passage, these verses that I'm reading today? And is there a sin for me to avoid? Is there a promise for me to believe? Is there a command for me to obey?

These are the things to look for in the Bible. And particularly, you'll understand that today we're focused in on this question. As you read the Bible, always be asking, is there a sin here for me to avoid? So, let me just take for example three verses from the Bible that will be familiar to to you just so that you see what I mean and you can do this every day as you're reading the Bible and it will be the means by which God opens your eyes. First Corinthians chapter 13, uh you know these words from verse 4.

Love is patient, love is kind, love does not envy or boast, it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrong doing, but rejoices with the truth. So, I read that, but did you see that there are at least seven sins that are quite clearly identified right there? What are they? What are the things that grieve God? What are the things that are offensive to him? Number one, impatience. Because love is patient. Number two, envy. Love doesn't do that. And if love is occupying my heart, I won't be doing that either.

That's sinful. Number three, pride, because love is not arrogant. Number four, rudeness. Love is not rude. When I'm rude, that's sinful. Insisting on your own way. Love does not do that. It is not self-seeking. It is not overbearing. So, when I'm like that, I sin and I need to see it. Love is not irritable. It is not easily provoked. When I'm easily provoked, I sin. And love is not resentful. What does that mean? Hanging on to past hurts is offensive towards God who forgives. So, here I've just read a couple of very very familiar verses just to illustrate how to read the Bible and to ask the question as you're reading the Bible.

Now, what here is a sin that I should avoid? And there's three verses and there's seven straight away. You won't find it hard to do this. You will find whatever you're reading in the scripture that when you begin to read it with these lenses, you will find that the spirit of God uses the word of God to convince you of sin, to show you where it lies. God's word will open your your eyes towards sin quite candidly. Guys who rarely read the Bible don't have a Bible in their hands, don't read it much on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

Guys who don't read the Bible don't see very many sins in their own life. Their eyes are closed. Close the Bible and your eyes will be closed towards the sins that lurk in your own life. But open the Bible and start reading the Bible in this way and you will find that the Lord uses it so that you begin to see. And that's the first part of spiritual mourning, you see. You can't grieve over what you don't see. So, it has to begin here if you're going to enter into this joy and experience this change of life.

Steve Hiller: A powerful message today from Pastor Colin Smith. You're listening to Open the Bible and we're looking at cultivating godly sorrow. Today's message from Psalm 51 is part of a larger series called Momentum. It's all about how we make progress in the Christian life. If you ever miss a program in the series, you can come and listen online at openthebible.org. You can also listen through the Open the Bible app or get a copy of the entire series on CD. Ask about momentum when you call us at 1877 open 365. That's 1877 673 6365 or you'll find ordering information online at openthebible.org.

Let's get back to the message. Once again, here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Second way in which we see is through God's spirit. These are three wonderful gifts here, how to see through the gift of God's word and through the gift of God's spirit. Now, let me give to you a very simple picture. Imagine that you're walking through a dark basement. There are some hidden treasures in there and there are some unopened gifts. But there is also all kinds of junk and there are all kinds of all kinds of trash. There's a bad smell because some animals have got in through a broken window well and they've died there and they've been lying there for a very very long time.

And because there's still a break in the window well, there are some living ones that are lurking in the corners as well. Have you got this rather unpleasant picture? And here you are, you're beginning to go through this basement. And I'm telling you that that is a biblical picture of your soul. Now, think of this darkened basement with all this stuff that's there. God could show you all the junk that's in your soul in a moment by turning on a floodlight. But if he were to do that, you would be completely and utterly devastated. You'd never recover from it.

Not one of us here, including the one who speaks, could bear an instant sight of the full extent of our own sins if it was to be revealed to us on earth at one time. And so thank God who is gracious and kind that he does not show us our souls with a floodlight, but by his holy spirit he leads us through the murky basement with a flash light. And that by the way is why sanctification is a lifelong process. Because the holy spirit is always shining the flashlight into hidden corners of your soul where there lurk stuff that you were not aware of before.

Jesus said this about the holy spirit. When he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin. And thank God he does that with a flashlight and not with the floodlight. Because there is more sin in all of our lives than any of us are able to see at any moment on the Christian journey. Thank God he is so patient with us and that folks is why we must also be patient with one another. But but here's what you can do given the work of God's spirit. When the Bible identifies particular sins, we read just a list of them from a couple of verses a few moments ago.

What you can then do is you can ask the holy spirit to show you where these particular sins may actually be lurking in your life. In other words, you can ask him to use the flashlight. So, going back to First Corinthians 13, insist love does not insist on its own way. Oh Lord, show me. Help me to see if there is a place where I've been insisting on my own way. Love is not resentful. Holy spirit, show me. Is there a place where I'm holding on to a past hurt and resentment is being allowed to fester?

Love is patient. Oh holy spirit, show to me where is there impatience in my life so that the word identifies what the sins are and the spirit with the flashlight uh points to where they may hide. Use the prayer that's right at the end of Psalm 139. Use it regularly in your own life. You will find it very helpful as as I do. Search me, oh God, and know my heart. That's the prayer, you see. Holy spirit, shine the flashlight, not the floodlight, but the flashlight. I want to know where there's the stuff that needs to be brought into the open and dealt with even today.

So, how to see? Uh we want to get into the spiritual mourning that is going to lead us onto the path of joy, but the heart won't grieve over what the eye does not see. It has to begin here by identifying particular sins and seeing where they hide out in our lives. And you do that through three gifts. God's word was number one. God's spirit is number two. Here's number three. God's people, God's people. The Bible says to us, to believers, confess your sins one to another so that you may be healed. That's James chapter 5 and verse 16.

And this may be a a neglected opportunity as far as some of us are concerned, but other believers will be able to help you to see where you need to grow. That is why relationships within the body of Christ are such a special gift from God. So, we're talking about practice. Here is a challenge for all the men in the congregation who would regard themselves as happily married. I have something for you to do this week and here it is. Ask your wife, what is one sin that I should be fighting against more strongly? Because the person somewhat God has placed close to you will be a help to see what you may not be seeing.

Now, folks, it's very important as all of you know that a preacher practices what he preaches. So, I have already done this this week. Let me tell you what happened. Colin and I were taking a long drive to Iowa where we had an appointment to uh speak at a conference over there. And somewhere crossing over the Mississippi, I asked her uh this question. I said, I'm really thinking about this and I want you to tell me what is one sin that I should be fighting more strongly against? And she thought for a little bit and she said, can I give you two?

And she did. She identified with great insight two areas where I need to grow. What she said was insightful. It has continued to be helpful to me this week. Ladies, if your husband musters the courage to ask you this question, don't you bottle out with some kind of a statement about what a wonderful fellow he is, except that you wish he would fold his socks. That's not what we're after here, you know. What would help him grow as a Christian? Really? What would what hinders him from being more useful to God than he is? Because he wants to be more useful to God than he is.

And I'll tell you, these are not easy questions to answer. You need spiritual light to be helpful here. Now, if you are not married or if your marriage is not at a point where is the kind of trust to ask that kind of a question, then ask it of someone else who knows you well. But please find someone who can speak into your life honestly and then listen to what that person has to say. This is great stuff for honest conversation where relationships are beginning to go deeper in life groups this week. God did not call you to be a follower of Jesus Christ with the intent that you should be largely unchanged for 10, 20, 30 years in your quote Christian life.

So, let's help one another to be on the growing edge of what it really means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. And it begins what? With seeing. I can't address what I don't see. So, God has given me the help of his word. I need to open it. The help of his spirit. I need to call upon the holy spirit in prayer and the help of people who know me and who love me. And I need to have honest and open relationships on a continuing basis with those God has placed strategically in my life.

How to see.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called Cultivating Godly Sorrow. And today we've focused on how we can clearly see our sin. Next time we're going to see how we can mourn and how to find comfort. If you can't listen to the program on the radio, you can always come and listen online. Our website is openthebible.org. There you can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. Again, that's openthebible.org. Well, Open the Bible is listener supported. It is your generosity that allows us to bring you Pastor Colin's teaching, whether you listen on the radio, through the podcast or online.

So, thank you for supporting the ministry. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to say thank you by sending you a copy of the ESB Psalms Photography Edition. And Colin, what's one thing you'd like people to take away from this book?

Colin Smith: Well, I think the the Psalms are the prayer book of the Bible and we should use the Psalms in the way that they were intended to be used, to pray them and to shape our own prayers. You know, I think Christians often put uh emphasis on spontaneous prayer and that that's a great thing, but some folks find that really difficult. And if you find it difficult to know how to put words to your thoughts and to bring a prayer to God, there's no better way to learn to pray than to use the Psalms, the prayers that the holy spirit himself has given to us in scripture.

And of course, you can use any Bible for that. But this Photography Edition of the Psalms that we have this month is absolutely gorgeous. And if you're going to work your way through the book of Psalms and to turn these prayers that the holy spirit has given into your own prayers, I think you'll find this edition that has each Psalm on its own page accompanied by a beautiful image that just relates to what it is that God is seeing in that Psalm. You're going to find this really helpful, uplifting and inspiring. It's a gorgeous edition of the Psalms and I think it's going to be a help and a blessing to many.

Steve Hiller: Well, we want to send you a copy as our way of saying thank you for your financial support this month. You can give online at openthebible.org or when you call 1877 673 6365. That's 877 open 365 or again the website is openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time. This program is a listener supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: At Open the Bible, we're grateful for like-minded organizations committed to sharing the gospel around the world. And to that end, I'd like to commend the work of Global Fingerprints. You know, in the book of James, God calls us to help orphans in their distress. That's a clear command, but it's not always clear how we should obey it. And this is where Global Fingerprints comes in. Through Global Fingerprints, you can sponsor a vulnerable child to help meet their physical needs and ensure they hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to commend Global Fingerprints to you.

They're focused on equipping the local church to care for children. And where there is no church, they help to plant one. If you'd like to help a vulnerable child, you can find more information on Global Fingerprints at our website openthebible.org/gf. That's openthebible.org/gf.