The Trouble With Me Part 1

In Lord's Day 1 

• I learned that in order to live and die in the joy of my only comfort, 
• I must come to know about my sin and misery.  

Now before I can learn the source of this knowledge, I need to first understand what is meant by the term: sin and misery.

• Sin - those acts that I commit in rebellion against God
• Misery - the punishment which God inflicts upon my rebellion.

Spiritual misery

• My heart becomes hard, with the result that I hate God.
• My mind becomes darkened, with the result that I become foolish in my thinking, no longer knowing God.
• My will becomes enslaved to evil, with the result that I am inclined only and always to evil. 

Physical misery

• My body is subject to sickness, pain, and ultimately to death.
• The realm of nature is also cursed, resulting in natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, droughts, and the like.
• The animal kingdom is also cursed, with the result that animals have turned in hostility against man and against each other.

I might be inclined to think that knowledge of my sin would come from my own conscience.   

• After all, even as a sinner, I do retain some ideas about God, and natural things, 
• and about the difference between what is honorable and shameful. 

Furthermore, there are many things in this world that should tell me about my misery.  

• All the sicknesses and death in the world, 
• all the violence and crimes, 
• all the hatred and war, 
• should make my misery evident to me.  
• I would think that the news media would be quite sufficient to make me know my misery.

However, 

• my conscience is not enough to give me knowledge of my sins,
• neither is the experience of misery enough to give me knowledge of my misery.

There are a number of reasons for this.  In the first place, 

• the word "know" means more than just know about sin.  
• It carries with it the idea of acknowledging sin before God.  
• This is something that as a natural human I refuse.  
• Even though my conscience may accuse me of doing wrong, I suppresses this knowledge (Romans 1:18).  
• Though I may know about my sin, I may refuse to acknowledge it in humble repentance.

To Be Continued...

Adapted Excerpt from Only By True Faith by Van Delden

Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 2