THREE TYPES OF SIN

"Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin [sinfulness] is ever before me." Psalm 32:1:2 and 51:2-3.

King David gives us a perfect example of what true confession looks life.  Repeatedly throughout the psalms he uses three different words to describe his shortcoming before a holy God.

1. SIN - this is where we miss the mark despite our best efforts to do the right thing.

2. INIQUITY - A gradual drift away from the things of God because we are selfish at the core and prone to wander away from our Good Shepherd.  In 2 Samuel Ch. 5, David starts to make decisions that go against God's instructions for kings in Deuteronomy Ch. 17. Here begins the gradual compromise of David's purity that ultimately lead to his affair with Bathsheba in 2 Samuel Ch. 11. 

3. TRANSGRESSION - The most serious of the three.  This is a willful, intentional, defiant act in opposition to what we know is right.  David's gradual drift brings him to a point where he no longer desires to pursue the things of God.  His heart has become hardened to God's promises and he chooses to do what is blatantly wrong despite being warned (2 Samuel 11:3).  He then follows this transgression with several more in attempt to cover up his error.

In confession we should be aware of all three levels of our disobedience and not only confess our shortcomings, but repent (turn from them) and pursue God's presence once again.