Tonight started the main conference, Families Shaped by Grace, where we heard Dave Harvey author of When Sinners say I do.
In the first plenary session Harvey discussed the topic of sin in marriage. He covered 1 Timothy 1:12–17 where Paul discusses his sin, and how the gospel applies to life. To start out with Harvey quoted Thomas Watson “Till sin be bitter Christ will not be sweet.” This set the tone for the rest of the session.
Harvey discussed four links between Paul’s story and ours.
When we see our sin for how bad it is, it will warm our hearts to others and will break down the pride that so easily creeps in and destroys our relationships. But if we are confident in our morality we will “replace God as judge with ourselves”. To this Harvey quoted Jerry Bridges, “Human morality, not flagrant sin, is the greatest obstacle to the gospel today.” If we think we are good enough and that our sin is not really all that bad we will not see how much we have been forgiven, we will never recognize Christ’s work for what it truly is.
Harvey then tied it beautifully to worship. He modified the quote from Watson to say, “When sin becomes bitter Christ becomes sweet and worship becomes real”. A heart that understands forgiveness will desire to worship the God that saved it. This is the point of 1 Timothy 1:17, as Harvey pointed out vv. 15–16 are the lead in to v 17, “the reminder of who we were and still are draws us to worship”.
In the first plenary session Harvey discussed the topic of sin in marriage. He covered 1 Timothy 1:12–17 where Paul discusses his sin, and how the gospel applies to life. To start out with Harvey quoted Thomas Watson “Till sin be bitter Christ will not be sweet.” This set the tone for the rest of the session.
Harvey discussed four links between Paul’s story and ours.
- Our biggest problem is ourselves
- Our highest status comes from God and not others
- Our greatest hinderance is our confident morality
- Our loudest praise targets God’s astounding grace
When we see our sin for how bad it is, it will warm our hearts to others and will break down the pride that so easily creeps in and destroys our relationships. But if we are confident in our morality we will “replace God as judge with ourselves”. To this Harvey quoted Jerry Bridges, “Human morality, not flagrant sin, is the greatest obstacle to the gospel today.” If we think we are good enough and that our sin is not really all that bad we will not see how much we have been forgiven, we will never recognize Christ’s work for what it truly is.
Harvey then tied it beautifully to worship. He modified the quote from Watson to say, “When sin becomes bitter Christ becomes sweet and worship becomes real”. A heart that understands forgiveness will desire to worship the God that saved it. This is the point of 1 Timothy 1:17, as Harvey pointed out vv. 15–16 are the lead in to v 17, “the reminder of who we were and still are draws us to worship”.
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