Following Judah's Lion: The Real Truth About Sin

Following Judah's Lion: The Real Truth About Sin

Monday, August 27, 2012

The Real Truth About Sin

THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT SIN

Jude: 23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

In this verse we have a vivid picture of sin and its consequences. First of all sin demands judgment from the Creator. And this judgment is so immeasurable, so bottomless, and so eternally violent that it is to be feared at all costs. You do not desire such a portrait of God? You desire a more tepid and palatable deity where everyone’s sin gets a wink?

Acts 17: 29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

God has been merciful to mankind in not destroying us already. Luke uses the word “winked” but it denotes a patient overlooking. It means that God knew that Calvary was coming and He was long suffering with man’s sin, including man making God into material things like gold and silver or anything that man makes and enjoys. But now. after Jesus has suffered for the sins of the world, God is calling men to repent. We may see prophetic signs hinted at in the Scriptures, but the sign that God deems significant is that Jesus has died and resurrected. We may misread some prophetic events, but whosoever ignores or misreads the gospel is doomed.

And now all who stand outside the Ark of God’s redemption are standing in the middle of God’s judgment, all because of sin. It is very difficult for us to really get a complete understanding of just what sin is and what it has done. We say sin is disobedience to God and His truth, and that is somewhat accurate. However it goes much, much deeper than that. Sin is a manifested birth delivered from a heart teeming with unrighteousness. Sin begins in the heart and grows until it cannot be contained. Sin tempts us and calls out to a kindred spirit within our hearts. And when sin has made a connection, and if it is welcomed and entertained within us, it must come out as a living deed, and when it does it brings with it its brothers and sisters. But only one of these siblings can eventually kill its parent.

Sin is diabolic and crafty. It seems to have a recycling energy that grows in power and scope when it is allowed to flourish. It masquerades as many things including suggesting it serves God. It parades as works or righteousness. It comes disguised as a spokesman for God. In fact, it speaks and falsely identifies itself as the voice of God. It accuses others while excusing itself. Sin treats people as marionettes, although we all are willing participants. Through Adam sin entered into the world, but do not rise up and blame him since we have energetically followed in Adam’s footsteps and day by day added to the portfolio of sin we were born with. In the words of Jacob Marley, Adam gave us a chain to be sure, but we have diligently added to it link by link and now it is a ponderous chain indeed.

Sin is not a benign act of disobedience. It is not an innocuous act of rebellion that can be easily reversed. Sin is a direct and open act of treason toward God that calls into question His authority. Sins are arrows of warfare against the Creator and they leave a trail of death and destruction in each and every sinner. They attack the very character of the Creator God and in essence make man his own god. And most of all sin is death, eternal death. It is no trifle, and one seemingly insignificant bite of one piece of Eden’s fruit plunged the entire world into spiritual death. Sin kills and destroys, and because of sin every person born lives with the sentence of death over his life.

But since it is most unpleasant to think on such things, the human race has invented all sorts of religious cures which cannot save at all. In fact, the church has taken the Christian faith and defanged its message and made much room for sin. Even today you have millions of people who sit under preaching that never deals with sin and never deals with redemption. And thousands upon thousands of preachers are careful never to arouse fear in their hearers. They are false prophets who speak great and flowery messages that one day will be revealed as vacuous sand castles of religion which tickled the ears of sinners but never revealed the gospel at all. But many people have come to faith in Christ because they felt afraid for their souls.

Look again at the phrase “hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” in the latter part of verse 23. This is a metaphor not often comprehended by the occidental mind. It pictures a healed leper who discards his garments that are contaminated by that disease. Put simply it implies that after a person is saved he should discard the life that has contaminated his entire being. Theologians call that sanctification, and it means that after we are born again we enter a process where the Spirit begins to clean up our lives from the inside. Now no one ever becomes perfect before he dies, but all believers should be in that process.

Before we were saved we sinned with impunity. We embraced and enjoyed our sin. We excused ourselves by comparing ourselves to others and through a complete ignorance before God. Without the Spirit no one can really understand the seriousness of sin. As unbelievers we only desired to sin and not get caught, but as believers we desire to please God. Yes it is a struggle and none of us can claim we live every single second with a thorough passion to be like Jesus. But one of the reason we know we are saved is because we can no longer sin without feeling a conviction within us. Yes, there are believers who enter into sin, but if they belong to God they will endure chastening and sometimes even physical death. That is all in God’s hands.

Fools make a mock of sin. There are many fools within and without of the church. Sin is no trifle. It destroys the life and damns the soul. We live in a culture which loves and practices sin and teaches our children to do likewise. In fact, sin is so rampant and so accepted that anyone who really teaches their children Biblical principles is considered a Neanderthal. Just sit in a park or a mall and watch people walk to and fro oblivious to what will befall them because of sin. And if you really desire to see an open display of sin and hedonism, watch people during the Christmas season. It has absolutely nothing to do with Christ at all. (I will post on that later in the fall.)

So the real truth about sin is this. Sin brings eternal death. But the good news is that Christ can bring eternal life. The whole world lies in the wicked one and stands condemned before God. But that is not our mission or our message. We are not called to delineate the sins of the lost. We are to rebuke sin within the church, but we are to preach the gospel to the lost. The Holy Spirit convicts the sinner of his need of Christ while that same Spirit guides the believer into all truth.

The culture is awash in sin, and the Scriptures make it clear that sin will increase in the end days. In fact sin has been welcomed in the compromised western church. And now believers practice all sorts of things that only several decades ago would have been considered off limits. When I was first saved some of the church was even legalistic about being separate from the world. It was clone-like and we became followers of the law and not the Spirit. However today it seems like most of the evangelical community has become disinterested in any kind of sanctification, and when prosperity came to the culture at large the church by and large became partners in sin with the kingdom of darkness.

We now call the lost the “unchurched”. We never refer to the kingdom of darkness anymore, and satan finds more revelation in Dante than in the church. Hell is an unpleasant taboo while heaven can be assured by mumbling a few sentences. Yes, sin has taken its toll on the church and continues to push boundaries uncharted before now. Sex is now treated by the church as does the world with techniques and intervals and encouragements of all kinds. Preachers even appear in the marriage bed and preach. It is quite the spectacle and it is all a result of sin in the church.

We as individual believers must strive to walk in sanctification and holiness. We will never be without sin in this life and anyone who suggests they are is deceived. But we can press toward the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus. The visible western church has veered so far off course it now practices sin and asks God to bless it. We can no longer depend upon the local a church to guide us and exhort us, and in fact we can no longer trust it to teach us the Word of God. I am sorry, but that’s the way it is today.

Awake to righteousness and sin not. Sin is more devious and more destructive than we could ever imagine. A determination to consume His Word and spend much time in prayer allows us to walk in His power and have victory over sin.