Sin is the thoughts, things or behaviors which are contrary to the glory or character of God or to commit an offense against God’s laws. Sin covers a broad spectrum from A to Z. It’s that thing that God hates. It separates us from Him, it will not tarry in His sight and it is the very thing that will not reserve us a spot in heaven. Sin has no conscience and it will be exposed by the Spirit of God. It is spontaneous and acts out on its own impulse or free will. Sin wants attention. Sin loves to sin. The world is full of sin. People love to do it in every fashion imaginable and in various forms. We were born in sin and shaped in iniquity. Sin is a troublemaker. It is crafty, deceptive, corrupt, deceitful, prideful, vain, destructive, evil, judgmental, arrogant, hateful and rude. Sin also manifests itself in idolatry, murder, stubbornness, wrath, anger, jealousy, hypocrisy and such like.
Sin is no good and will always be contrary to God. It wars against God and it hates God. The devil has all kinds of distractions to tempt us to turn our heads from God and to pursue the sideshow that he uses to get us to wander from God’s holy presence and goodness. If he can get our attention just a little he will offer all kinds of superficial goodies to try to lure us from the glorious place that God has so graciously given us so he may engage his mission to kill, steal and destroy us.
Don’t bite into the bait that looks appetizing, appealing and alluring. The charm of the enemy is to fascinate you into thinking that it’s all good, that it won’t hurt you if you try it, say it, do it, hit it, steal it or lie on it. He is very successful in getting us off the path of righteousness to do his little dastardly deeds. His ultimate goal is to kill us in our sins but he will settle for any amount of time we are willing to give away from our steadfastness to our Father God.
The Bible is full of examples demonstrating the devastation of sin. Starting with the very first sin committed in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were instructed concerning the fruit of the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil." God said, "ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." The serpent enticed Eve to eat the fruit and then she gave Adam some to eat also. This act of disobedience to God activated the first curses rendered unto man. First to the serpent, second to Eve and lastly to Adam. “And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Genesis 3: 14-19) Sin always has consequences. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned… For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous.” (Romans 5: 12 & 19)
The first family had to endure murder and a curse in the children of Adam and Eve when Cain killed his brother Abel because of jealousy and that God had respect unto Abel and his offering. “And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.” (Genesis 4: 11-13)
In the days of Noah when men began to multiply, God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was evil continually. “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” (Genesis 6: 11-13) But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord for he was a just man and walked with God. Because of the corruption, the sin of the earth, God destroyed man, fowl, cattle, beasts and every creeping thing as it rained 40 days and 40 nights. Noah, his family and everything on the ark built by Noah were the only ones saved.
But after repopulation, men of the earth continued to sin. The men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked” (2 Peter 2: 4-7)
Aaron the High Priest listened ill-advisedly to the people and made a molten calf of gold and caused them to sin as Moses was delayed coming down from the mountain as he was communing with God and bringing down the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone. “And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written. And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book.” (Exodus 32: 30-33) Unlike Aaron, Moses chose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. A charge that he took very seriously, even up to his death.
Miriam and Aaron came up against Moses and the anger of the Lord was against them therefore Miriam became leprous. “And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.” (Numbers 12: 11) Moses prayed for his sister but she still had to suffer for her sin.
As Joshua was leading the children of Israel up to the Jericho wall he gave them strict orders as to the city being a curse. “And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.” (Joshua 6: 17-18) But Achan took the accursed thing anyway and hid them in his tent and in a later battle instead of winning they were defeated. “Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.” (Joshua 7: 11-13)
Needless to say that Achan confessed his sin of taking the silver, the Babylonish garment and the wedge of gold. For his sin, everything that pertained to him was destroyed including his children. “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6: 12-14 & 22-23) Achan’s greed and disobedience cost the lives of his children. The consequences of our sin can and will be handed down to our family, the innocent ones, and likewise with the blessings.
It is not God’s will to chastise or punish us just for the sake of punishment. He rewards us for our deeds whether they are good or bad just as we would for our children. As children are taught to obey and to be good, likewise we as newly converted souls must learn the same principle: to obey God. Evil is always present when we purpose to do good. It wants us to sin so that we can miss out on the blessings of God.
Making vows to God should never be done unless you absolutely intend to keep it as long as you live. “When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee.” (Deuteronomy 23: 21) Something as simple as that is a sin before God if we do not keep the promise to Him. God is looking at our hearts and actions in obedience. He will remind us of that vow should we fail to keep it. “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for He hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.” (Ecclesiastes 5: 4-5)
Satan is behind every heinous crime where the sin of murder is committed against men, women and children. The sin of deep hatred is inexcusable and God will deal with it accordingly. Some people think, and they say, that God told them to kill but God will never contradict His own Word. Thou shalt not kill is one of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20: 3-17. “But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.” (1 Timothy 1: 8-10) “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.” (Titus 3: 3)
We should hate sin, fight against it, consider it our greatest plague, resent its presence and mourn when we fall under its influence. Sin is rebellion against God and produced by pride which seeks to dethrone God. We overcome it by tackling it in faith as we pray for forgiveness. “For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.” (Psalm 38: 18) “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.” (Psalm 32: 1,2 & 5)
The good news is that God is greater than sin and we are ever grateful for the power of His grace which obliterates sin and frees us from the death sentence it imposes upon us. “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” (Hebrews 8: 12)
Please join us next week, Lord willing, as we present the conclusion to SIN - PART II.
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