Godly Sinners

When people think of a "godly" person, it is natural to think of someone who is blameless and above reproach.  In our primary school days it would be the equivalent of a "goody two-shoes" or a "teacher's pet," a student so eager and intent to please the teacher it grated on other students.  It may be a surprise to people that a godly person is far from perfect but one who freely admits their faults and confesses their sins to God and man.  Godliness is righteous standing by virtue of God's grace by faith in Him, and in light of God's perfection His people notice our sins more than ever.

David wrote in Psalm 32:5-6, "I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah ⁶ For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely in a flood of great waters they shall not come near him."  David said everyone who is godly will pray to God and acknowledge their own sin before the LORD, those who recognise their need for forgiveness and restoration.  It is not good deeds that lift Christians above judgment that rushes like a flood to drown mankind in perdition, but humble contrition and repentance for sin before the God who hears, forgives and exalts the lowly.

In a sermon C.H. Spurgeon delivered concerning Romans 8:7 that says, "The carnal mind is enmity against God," he shed light on the enormity of man's sin and how the godly become acutely aware of it:

"The carnal mind," he says, "IS ENMITY against God."  He uses a noun, and not an adjective.  He does not say it is opposed to God merely, but it is positive enmity.  It is not black, but blackness; it is not at enmity, but enmity itself; it is not corrupt, but corruption; it is not rebellious, it is rebellion; it is not wicked, it is wickedness itself.  The heart, though it be deceitful, is positively deceit; it is evil in the concrete, sin in the essence; it is the distillation, the quintessence of all things that are vile; it is not envious against God, it is envy; it is not at enmity, it is actual enmity...

The holiest men, the most free from impurity, have always felt it most.  He whose garments are the whitest, will best perceive the spots upon them.  He whose crown shineth the brightest, will know when he hath lost a jewel  He who giveth the most light to the world, will always be able to discover his own darkness.  The angels of heaven veil their faces; and the angels of God on earth, his chosen people, must always veil their faces with humility, when they think of what they were.  Hear David:  he was none of those who boast of a holy nature and a pure disposition.  He says, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me."  Hear all those holy men who have written in the inspired volume, and ye shall find them all confessing that they were not clean, no, not one; yea, one of them exclaimed, "O wretched man that I am; who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Spurgeon, Charles Haddon. Spurgeon’s Sermons: V. 1-2. Baker Books, 2004. pages 232-233; 235)

The child of God can have confidence in forgiveness, cleansing and pardon of sin by faith in Jesus Christ when we ask as it says in 1 John 1:9-10:  "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just 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."  Those who refuse to admit their sin in pride--like the self-righteous Pharisees Jesus confronted--are marked by sin which remains.  The godly who walk in the light of God's word see how often they stumble; the indwelling Holy Spirit who illuminates our consciences convicts us of sin, righteousness and judgment.  The godly are not people without need to confess and repent of sin but those who frequently humble themselves before God to acknowledge their sin in light of God's holiness.  It is the ungodly who refuse to repent of sin, and without atonement for sin it will cling to them forever.