Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me
‘Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.’ — Ver. 5.
IT AVID’S confession of guilt is not at an end. The sin against God into which he had fallen had shown him something new. At an earlier period he did not know it: now he felt and experienced it. It was this: that his whole nature was entirely and altogether impure from his very birth. The grace of God had from his youth marvelously preserved him from the stains of sin. His whole life had been devoted to the service of God. But, lo! here he at once becomes the prey of temptation, and he makes himself guilty of terrible sin against God. So far is it from being the case that his earlier holy life could comfort him, that this just constitutes the bitterness of his grief. His heart must indeed be terribly corrupted, the power of sin in him must be greater than he imagined, since after having received so much from God he could so sin. All at once there is discovered to him the root out of which this sin has come to the surface. For a long time the grace of God had preserved him, and he ran the risk of forgetting that he was just as corrupt as every one of his fellow-men. Now he has become known to himself, and lays himself down before God with the confession of this his inborn corruption. It is not this one sin that calls for punishment. ‘But, lo! my whole nature is impure: thus, then, since sin is never lacking, I am a sinner who has need of grace.” Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.’
The inborn corruption of our nature is thus an element of the true confession of sin. How perverted must be the ideas of those who appeal to that fact to excuse their sin. There are many who do this even when they confess their sin. They think that since they are sinful by nature the guilt of their sin is not so great. They cannot, indeed, be other than sinful. They were born so. They have their nature from God, and cannot help that it is so sinful as it is: a proof this that they as yet know nothing of the real abominableness of sin. Did they really know it, they would be so deeply ashamed of their sinful nature, and of the enmity toward God of which sin is the proof, that it would humble them still more deeply to remember that they are one with their progenitors in sin. In view of the unity of the whole human race they would see that God had put all of them to the test in Adam, and in this sense of shame they would be silent in the dust before God. The confession of this inborn corruption, then, and shame for it. is also an indispensable element of a true confession of sin.
HAVE MERCY UPOIT ME.
And thus alone does a man come to see nimself as God sees him. Man looks continually at what is before his eves, and when he continues protected against external sins, he does not think that his sinful nature is as much accursed as that of the open sinner. David ran the risk of being entangled in this error. When he had sinned, he learned to understand what he had been taught from his youth upward; and it will always be seen in the most eminent believers, that they feel very deeply that they have in the depths of their inner life the germs of all ungodliness, and that grace alone has preserved them from the development of these evil seeds. Oh if this were truly felt, how would those who have been preserved from the ways of the ungodly in consequence of a Christian upbringing, nevertheless know how to present themselves in all sincerity alongside the greatest sinners. How would all of them subscribe to the representations of sin in God’s word, and amidst much distinction in the outward manifestation of sin, feel that every one of them was on the same footing as sinners in God’s sight. For this reason also is the confession of natural corruption an indispensable element of the true confession of sin.
And thus alone is man truly prepared as a penitent to desire and to receive the work of grace. If they are but single sins that I have committed, I can endeavor to make compensation for them. If I am inwardly and wholly corrupt, then every such endeavor is idle and vain. Then every effort for good becomes
THE CO^FESSIOX.
stained with sin, and I have need of a free divine forgiveness. Then I feel that I have need, not only of forgiveness of sins, but also of renewal of the heart, as David united these two blessings in this Psalm so closely with one another. According as the confession of this inward and outward corruption becomes deeper, is the surrender to Jesus and His grace more complete and unreserved, and grace itself more abundantly glorified.
It is, nevertheless, not simply the longing and the reception of grace that depends in large measure upon this confession. There will also spring from it a clearer insight into the plan cf divine grace, and a cordial choice and enjoyment of it. When I see that my misery has its roots in my fellowship with the first Adam, then I see how my new union with the second Adam redeems me completely from it. When I apprehend to some extent how the fall of Adam destroyed me, because I am born of him and receive his life, I learn to understand how the obedience of the second Adam restores me5 because I become one with Him, am born of Him, and really obtain part in His life. The divine worth, the fitness, the all-sufficiency of the divine plan of redemption is made clear to me, and I know how to seek my salvation in daily fellowship with that love which flows from God. Thus from every point of view it is clear that the sincere penitent must especially make confession of the entire corruption of his nature from very birth.
Header, have you thus learned to know and acknowl-HAVE MEECY UP01S” ME.
edge this corruption of your nature? I do not ask if this is one of the points of doctrine which you have received from your youth. That will probably be the case. What I ask is: Have you indeed learned to abhor yourself as one that is entirely impure? Do you indeed regard yourself as loathsome in the eye of God, and inwardly so impure that you are good for nothing but to be cast out? Are you thus ashamed of your origin? Does it surprise you that God should still endure such an impure creature? Have you looked away from every endeavor to improve yourself or to make yourself acceptable to God? Is it indeed your deeply rooted conviction that there is no power but that of God which is able to renew you? You surely feel that there is still much lacking for such a thorough knowledge of your sin. Oh, ask God for it. He can give it to you by His Holy Spirit.