Mensa Otabil - God's Word Keeps Us From Sin
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Throughout this week, we’ve been discussing the value of God’s Word from Psalm 19, and I trust that it has been a blessing to you. Today, we look at verse 13, which says, «Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression.» Sin is not good, and it is one of the things that separates us from all that God has for us. When we sin, it means we are living our lives outside of God’s will. God wants us to go one way while we go the opposite way—that is sin. Some people see it as doing something very bad. Yes, that is sin, but often it’s simply doing the wrong thing, doing something contrary to the way God wants us to do it, and that is also sin.
Our passage for today shows us the progression of sin in our lives, which can be broken into three parts. The first one is in verse 12, which we did not read today, but if you care to read it, you will find it discusses secret sin. In our passage today, verse 13 mentions two more: presumptuous sin and great transgression. All of these can be avoided through the Word of God. Let me explain what these three are.
What is a secret sin? A secret sin is not merely a sin committed in secret; rather, it is a sin of which you are not aware. It is doing something wrong without knowing it is wrong. It is when you cannot discern that what you are doing is wrong, as it remains hidden from you. So, it’s a secret to you; you aren’t aware of it, but it is wrong regardless. It is against God’s will. That is the first step: when we are doing things against God, we may not even realize that this is a sin.
The second type is presumptuous sin. Presumptuous sin is when you sin with your eyes open, meaning you do it willfully, arrogantly, and proudly. I must say that many of the sins in our lives are presumptuous sins. We know they are wrong, yet we do them anyway. It is not hidden from us; we are fully aware of it, yet we still choose to do it.
The third type is a great transgression. A great transgression is what makes us depart completely from God and revolt or rebel against Him. However, you don’t begin with a great transgression; you start with a secret sin, which then leads to a presumptuous sin, and eventually to a great transgression. In other words, if you don’t deal with sin early on, it can lead you to total separation from God. I have seen people who began loving God, doing His will, and serving Him, progressively moving from secret sin to presumptuous sin, and eventually committing great transgression where they turned their backs completely on God.
The cure for all three—whether it is secret sin, presumptuous sin, or great transgression—is the Word of God. When we hide God’s Word in our hearts, we don’t sin against Him. Even when we are not aware of it, the Word will lead us along the paths of righteousness. When we walk in the path of righteousness, we will do what is right, even if we are not trying to avoid sin. When we receive God’s Word as a command, we will not sin presumptuously. When we know He says «Thou shalt not,» we shall not. If we do not sin presumptuously, we will not fall into great transgression.
So, I encourage you, if you want your life to please God, if you want to see God answering your prayers, if you want to see God’s glory manifest in your life, it does not come merely from wishing things will work out for you; you must live a life that pleases God. I pray that the Word of God will help each one of us to live that kind of life.
Let’s share a word of prayer together. Say with me: «Heavenly Father, let Your Word keep me from pride and sin; instruct me in the way of righteousness. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.» Well, I will be with you again tomorrow. I’m Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.