Category Archives: Sin

Signs of the Times

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I saw something advertised on TV the other day that shocked me profoundly! I suppose it shows that I am disconnected from the times.

There was a commercial, the subject matter of the commercial was to be sure to get your annual STD checkup.

Annual STD checkup! The thought that a commercial could be targeting a set of people needing to be checked annually for STDs is quite amazing to me, and is indicative of where society has come. As we remove God more and more from our society, His guidelines for living are dismissed more and more as old fashioned, and outdated.

God calls sex outside of marriage sin. God’s plan for us sexually is for one man to marry one woman, and for that marriage to be honored until death. In fact the bible teaches that to have sexual relations makes the couple one flesh. Through sex a couple is bonded. God regards sex outside of these parameters as sin.

Sin has consequences! Eternal consequences and consequences that are evident in our daily lives. The consequences that come from sexual sin, show up in the form of STDs. The eternal consequences are much more severe! To be on the wrong side of God when He judges will lead to eternal separation from Him. He will send all people who have not followed His way to the place we call hell.

There are many who have lived a life of great sexual sin. Having had many sexual partners. Some of you have contracted some STD, or multiple STDs. You now also stand on the wrong side of God, as a sinner, an enemy even. An Enemy that He will judge guilty.

Hope

There is always hope. Jesus Christ, God’s own son died a terrible death. He was sacrificed for all of us. He was sacrificed for all our sins. We have to accept that Jesus died in our place, taking all the sin we have committed against God, and paying for that sin for us, in our place. Believe that that sacrifice is sufficient, that Jesus’ death is sufficient to erase that sin. God will accept the death of Jesus as sufficient payment for the sins we have done. Then after that forgiveness of the great debt of sin, God will accept us as His own children. That is called Grace!

After accepting Jesus’ payment of our debts, abstain from sexual immorality. Thank God everyday for His great grace toward us.

There’s Good and Evil, So What?

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What difference does it make to me if there is good and evil?

Well, we all stand on one side or the other. There are some who have earned the reputation of being evil, Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson… Society as a general rule regard these men as evil, because of what they have done. (their works)

Humanism has made the argument that “all people are basically good.” This argument has prevailed for the most part and is accepted as true. But is it true?

Jesus and the Law

A question was put to Jesus one day. “What is the greatest, or more important law?” It’s funny, this is the question that we all want answered. What is the least that I need to do to be considered good before God?

Jesus’ answer as usual was not as easy as we would like, in fact His answer was quite impossible because it encompassed the entirety of the law. The greatest law he said is to love the Lord your God with all your heart mind and soul, and the second is just like it, equal to it, to love your neighbor as yourself.

Well that put the kibosh on being good easy!

The first part of His answer is impossible. We can’t love God with all our hearts minds and souls because that is the way we love ourselves. We take the position of love and adoration in our own minds, the position of love and adoration that God wants, that He deserves. We are our own number one, and God wants to be, needs to be, our number one.

The second part of His answer, simply makes evident our position on the first part of the answer. It is impossible to love God with your everything if you don’t love all that He created as well. We can’t love God and hate our cousin Joe because he is an idiot. That would be a contradiction, a violation of the Law according to the teachings of Jesus. We can’t love God and ignore the suffering of children in need of food and clothing. We can’t love God and ignore the murder of babies. We can’t love God and ignore injustice in whatever form it takes.

The Human Evil

Despite the teachings of humanism, we as people are by default evil. We are born sinners, evil, and we look for excuses, and ways to dismiss what we know, that we are bad, rotten to the core. Late at night when all is quiet we know deep inside our failures, our wrongs, our evil actions. You need no convincing of that. The next morning, though we build a facade of righteousness, of all is well. We convince ourselves that we are good, and we go about our lives, putting on the lies.

All the noise and distractions of our modern society aid us in forgetting that we are inside, evil, bad, lost. So at times when we are forced to slow down all these realities can be harsh, we can be laid bare to ourselves, and we don’t like what we see. That is why there is so much despair in these days, we have been made to be more still than we are used to. We have been made to slow down. We have time to think.

There is hope! But hope is not in ourselves, it is in God. Seek Him. We are not whole without Him. We are in fact evil without Him. We all know this to be true!

Character of God, Did God Create Sin

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There was a concept brought up to me just a couple of weeks ago. A concept that I had not heard before, and the thought of which had never entered my mind. It turns out that his concept is a concept held by some of the “great” theologians who’s teachings we follow with fervour. This is the reason that God has told us very strongly to scrutinise the teachings of our teachers against the word of God. If they are wrong we must confront them as they will do damage to the body of Christ.

The concept is that God created sin. The basis for the argument that God created sin is that He is Sovereign over all things. That God created all things that exists, therefore He has to have created sin.

It is interesting that one attribute of God can be taken to such an extreme by our foolish minds that we make God what He is not. There is no scripture that they can point to that declares that God is the Author of Sin, but they have taken scripture that speaks to the Sovereignty of God and applied their own extra Scriptural understanding to it.

In fact there are a few things that the bible teaches very clearly that God can’t do. Yes even though He is sovereign, He has limitations.

  1. God cannot lie. Tit 1:2 Heb 6:18
  2. God cannot tempt with evil. James. In fact He can only do good. It is not within His ability to do evil, or cause anyone else to do evil.

Another interesting thing about our Sovereign God is His ability to forget. Yes, Forget. Heb 8:12 Isa 43:25

So we see that His limitations are toward sin. The only thing that the Sovereign God can’t do is anything involving sin. He can’t cause a person to sin, He can’t make sin, and He can’t do sin. His memory toward sin can also be wiped out. Scripture says He will not remember sin of the redeemed.

James 1 is the most direct scripture written to this subject. It tells me that this argument has been going on since the beginning of the church. Fallen man is always in danger of misunderstanding God when he thinks too highly of himself.

James 1:13 is pretty clear that no one can blame God when he sins. Because it say God can’t be tempted with evil and neither does God tempt anyone. So if God in fact did create evil then this passage would be a direct contradiction.

The passage then goes on to describe from God’s perspective how a man is tempted with evil. Vs. 14 states that a man is tempted when his own lust (NIV uses the words strong desire) draws him away and entices him. That means that the evil, or sin, starts from man’s own person. There is no need for outside influence. There are many people out there who claim things like “the devil made me do it.” Well to say that you’d have to throw the book of James  out of the scriptures.

Vs. 16 goes on to say that everything good comes from God. That is all God is capable of doing, good! God is not in the business of causing, making sin. Sin is a consequence of peoples own lust. This verse also makes a statement that there is no “variableness” in Him. That is to say that He is always the same, since He is always good, there is no potential for sin, or no potential for Him to tempt anyone to sin.

Sodom and Gomorrah

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Well here is a subject that I did not intend to take up at this point. I am disturbed at the goings on in the church that calls itself Christian. I am also disturbed to hear people who should know better making statements that are completely contrary to the word of God, as if dismissing the teachings of the Bible would benefit them or anyone who hears.

Why is it that God wiped Sodom and Gomorrah off the face of the earth? In fact the scriptures tell us that God destroyed not only these two cities, but everything that was living in the valley where they were built, down to every blade of grass. What is it that the inhabitants of this valley had done to so infuriate God?

In Chapter 18 of Genesis we find Abram pleading with God to not destroy the cities of the Valley. Abram’s concern was that God would destroy the entire place even with those who were righteous before God. I imagine that Abram was concerned for Lot, his nephew, and Lot’s family. God’s response was interesting, He would spare the city for the sake of even 10 people who were not wicked like the others. The grace of God is indeed incredible! It gives one to wonder if that is why the earth continues in the wickedness of today, because of those who do believe God and walk with Him. What happens as the numbers of those trusting God decline?

Chapter 19 opens with two angels entering the city of Sodom in the evening. Lot saw them and knowing the wickedness of Sodom he with great effort convinced them to stay in his house for the night, and he said to them that they should leave as soon as it is light the next day.

They settled down for the night with Lot making a great feast, I imagine to be sure they had no reason to leave his house. Lot had the hope that they would be able to leave safely the next day, for he knew the wickedness of his fellow citizens.

Before they went to sleep that night Vs. 4 tells us that the men of Sodom, all of them, young and old, surrounded Lot’s house. They demanded of Lot to bring the men who were in his house out so that they could have sex with them(know them). This was indeed the wickedness that caused God to set out to destroy this people. Lot’s response is equally startling, he offered to the mob his two virgin daughters instead of the men. The men outside wanted nothing to do with the women, they were set on Sodomizing the men staying with Lot. Yes this is where we get our legal term from for the act of homosexual intercourse (Sodomy). It is the sin of homosexuality that was bringing the wrath of God on all living things in this valley. This lifestyle is not acceptable by God, and it should not be accepted as an acceptable lifestyle in the Christian Church.

There are those who say, “That’s the old testament, the new testament doesn’t teach that.” Turn to Romans Chapter 1:18 God’s wrath, but for what, those holding the truth of God in unrighteousness. The following verses go on the tell us that if a person thinks he is wise and decide to not glorify God there foolish hearts are darkened. Vs. 26 cuts to the chase. The result of intentionally disregarding God end in the base of base sin, homosexuality! Therefore the act of men or women having sex with others of their own sex is according to this passage the furthest that a person can get from living a righteous life.  It’s interesting that this act is then a result of sin, it is in itself a punishment. God is still God, and he will eventually destroy all the wicked.

God is a God of grace who will remember these sins no more if we accept the death of Christ as God’s payment(punishment) for our sins, and live by faith in God Rom5:1. He will guide us to a life of fulfillment, grace, fullness, and joy. He alone can transform sinners to righteous.

Noah After the Flood

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The whole earth was wiped clean by the flood. There was no more evil, no more violent acts. The earth was green and awaiting the passengers of the Ark to repopulate it. The waters of the flood were on the earth for ten and a half months before the earth was dry enough for Noah and his family to begin life again on it. According to the text it had rained for one hundred and fifty days with out a stop or break, then it took slightly more time again for the waters to clear and dry from the earth.

There is no more mention of Angels marrying and having children with the women of earth. It seems that there were at least two limitations that God put on the earth and mankind at this time, one was to shorten man’s lifespan, and the other, not spoken of was to put an end to angels and humans mixing. We also see in the ninth chapter that God requires the life of a person who commits murder. So capital punishment is in fact set in place by God Himself. God sees human beings as precious, and a person who would destroy another human intentionally should according to God be killed. To not do so results in more deaths by the hands of people who have no value for life. We also note that at this time animals will have a fear of man that did not exist up to the new beginning. Animals were also added to man’s diet. Just the opposite to the idea that we came from cave man who was a hunter and gatherer, then learned to farm.

With all these new limitations God now made a covenant to not destroy the earth in this way again. This covenant is between God and the inhabitants of earth, all living things. He would not destroy every living thing again with water. The token for this one sided deal, contract is the rainbow. It will be seen to remind us of two things. One God did destroy every living thing save one family by a great flood, and two He will not do so again.

God is a god of grace, He saved Noah and his family along with every species of animal of earth instead of destroying the whole thing by the flood waters. God is all powerful and the earth is under His power to do with as He wishes. God is a judge who judges with integrity and surety, His judgements can’t be overturned or changed, there are no appeals. His requirement of us is that we do not decide to turn away from Him. To turn away from Him, to deny His existence, is an intentional act that will bring His judgement to bear. He desires of us to trust Him, to acknowledge Him. He has the grace to overlook and forgive our shortcomings.

Noah

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By the time of Noah life on God’s creation had gotten really bad! So bad in fact that the scriptures declare that God was sorry for creating the earth and all in it.

It would seem that the entire population had decided to forget God, to go their own way, to not know God. They had decided to follow the way of Cain. The choice to walk away from God is a conscious one. The way of earth had become so violent and sinful that God decided to destroy the whole thing. He would with a flood of water drown the whole earth and everything living in it.

A few verses of the 6th chapter of Genesis make some strange statements. They talk about giants and it would seem Angels marrying human women and having children with them that vs. 4 calls the men of renown, maybe (Hercules) and the like. It is always said that legend always contains a little truth. These passages also state that God put a limit on the life span of men to 120 years. Lots of interesting events that are really unknown but alluded to.

There was one man who found grace with God. One man who acknowledged God as God. Noah! All the rest of the race of mankind were so evil that God says that “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart were evil, always.”

God revealed His plan to Noah. He would destroy all living things on the earth because of their evil. This is God’s right, He made everything, He alone can destroy everything. Noah, He would save, but Noah would have to build the vessel that would save him. The dimensions of the ark and the specified materials were explained to Noah. This Ark would save Noah, his family, and a pair of every animal alive, male and female.

A couple of observations. Noah’s age is reviled in the text as 600 years when the flood began. He was then the oldest man alive by 480 years since God had limited the lifespan of man to 120 years. Another thing is that Noah’s family were not mentioned as righteous before God. Could it be that God saved them even though they were not walking with Him for Noah’s sake? I’m sure Noah’s age stood out to all those around him, I’m also sure that drew attention to him and what he was doing. He was building a ship bigger than a football field and over three stories high. all these things I’m sure drew attention to what Noah did. No one else joined him. I think that was the purpose, God wanted Noah to be a spectacle so others would turn to Him, but none did. He is a Gracious God. He is also a faithful judge. So judgement would befall a world full of people and animals.

Progression To Sin

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There is definatly a progression to sin. If fact God laid it all out to Cain in Genisis 4:7.

This progression is again laid out very clearly in the first chapter of Romans with even more detail. It is because the progression to sin has been so clearly described to us in scripture that it is a key point for us to pay special attention to. There are many trying to make excuses for sin as God calls it, but beware, what God calls sin is sin, what God calls evil is evil. Sin is not an illness.

In this instance both Cain and Abel had made an offering to God. Both from their trades. One was accepted as good by God and the other was rejected. Just after this event God spoke with Cain in an attempt to teach him.

Genesis 4:7 If thou doest well,  shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Quite simple really. To do well will is to be accepted by God. To not do well leads to a sequence of events. It’s kind of interesting, it looks like a logical argument in a program.

If you don’t do well sin lies at the door. Sin is close at hand, God giving us a picture of a kind of ambush being set up by sin. It’s the age old battle between good and evil. Some tend to think that this battle is for heaven and earth, but not so, the battle is for individual souls. Those who follow after God, will be victorious, those who fall to the ambush of sin will not be victorious. The interesting part is that God places the decision with each individual person. Do you believe God and do good, or do you not do good and fall for sin that awaits you.

The decision then is taken and the battle ensues. To not do good sin moves into the position of taking us. Is that the end then, once and done? No way. God is great, good, and full of grace. This  decision doesn’t have to be a once and done decision. We sometimes tend to think that the decision to turn from God is final. The verse goes on to say that sin desires to rule us but thou shalt rule over him. We have the ability to rule sin, to move away from sin and back to God. He is always there to accept us. To redeem us.

Cain on the other hand seems to have taken the whole conversation to mean that He was out of grace with God. He allowed sin to take him in ambush, and the results of his actions was the murder of his brother. Sin always leads to destruction and hurt. To follow God leads to fulfilment and joy. We have to make a decision numerous times per day between accepting God’s way and doing good, or to not do good. It is a choice each time, and we must choose with care.

According to the first chapter of Romans, the more we choose to ignore God, to intentionally forget Him, the further into hurt and disaster we go. The more we deny His existence the more deprived we become, the more hurtful and destructive we become. Just take a look around at the world we now live in. The evidence is everywhere. It’s undeniable!

Jealousy Rage and Murder

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It didn’t take very long for things in the new earth to hit rock bottom. Strife surfaced pretty quickly between Adam and Eve’s first children.

We see the two making an offering to God. It is a voluntary offering just as we do in our church services today. The problem arose with God’s acceptance of one and not the other. The first impression I get is that God was very personal with these boys. He was speaking with them one on one. God was please with the offering brought by Abel, but not the offering brought by Cain. He must have expressed as much to the two boys. This lead to Cain feeling rejected, although that was not the case. God did not reject Cain. God was speaking very closely with the boy, but none the less he felt very put out.

What was the difference in the two offerings? Why did God receive one and not the other? The text is short but pretty telling of the two gifts. The giving of gifts is a touchy point with most of us. It is also a touchy point with God. The importance of God in our lives is very easily seen by the way we give gifts to Him. Our giving to God reviels our true thoughts about Him, His worth to us. So what was the difference in the two offerings? We are told in the passage that Cain brought an offering of the fruits of the ground. It just happened to be some of what Cain had on hand, nothing special really. Abel on the other hand brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. Abel had brought to God the first and best of what he had. He did not bring to God some of the left over of his belongings. This shows God what we think of Him. Do we fear Him? Do we love Him? Do we trust Him to provide for us? God expects our best, not the left overs. Cain had already consumed the best of the first fruits and so God was not pleased with the offering that Cain brought. Many times in my own life I have done exactly as Cain did. I looked at my bills, the things that I may have liked to have, covered those things, then given to God if there was anything left. This does not show any reverence for God. Then I complain when nothing seems to go right, I feel rejected just as Cain did. God expects us to trust Him with all of our life, yes even with the material possessions.

Cain became jealous of Abel to the point where he called Abel out into a lonely field and Killed him. We have a tendency to blame shift. We like to find a reason for why things are not the way we want them. Cain had decided that Abel was the reason that God had rejected his offering, and the only way to fix it was to murder him.

I find it very interesting that God approached Cain in the same way He had approached Adam and Eve when they had disobeyed Him in the Garden of Eden by eating the forbidden fruit. God asked Cain “where is your brother Abel?” God knew full well where he was, but He put the question to Cain. This has not changed in how God deals with us. He want’s us to confess our failures to Him, to ask His forgiveness. We too have not changed, we try to deflect God, to deceive Him. God knows everything, He can not be deceived. The result of our pushing God away is always more pain, more suffering. If we do not do right sin waits at the door, sin will take us.

God want’s us to trust Him.

God knows everything, there is nothing that can be kept from Him. He is the judge of the world, He made it all and He has the right to judge it.

Results of Sin

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Sin: the opposite of God’s desires. We look for many technical definitions of sin, usually to see if there is any way to justify our actions or thoughts. The true and simple definition of sin is anything that is different to God’s desires. God created all that we see and don’t see. He has the right to define how those things He created behave. He has the right to set limits.

God’s limits are not difficult to understand. Adam and Eve were asked to not eat of one fruit. They had all the rest of the fruit to eat from, to enjoy. How hard is it to obey God in this simple request? God even took the time to explain what would happen if the fruit was eaten, but that explanation was not enough. Things have not changed with mankind or with God. His desires for us are still very simple, but we embellish them, then we ignore His desires for our own desires.

To sin, to do the opposite of God’s desires always leads to the same result. Hurt, pain, trouble, heartache, DEATH! I’d like to mention that God at this point put no further rules on the new couple. No law, no guide lines. I wonder why. Could it be that they now knew the difference between good and evil. Now there was evil, and they could tell which was which, evil is evil (to do the opposite of God’s desires), and good is good (to do God’s desires). We still carry this knowledge within us. It is inherent, we call it a conscience.

The immediate results that Adam and Eve experienced when they disobeyed God were quite striking. Shame of their bodies. The very first thing they did is try to cover their bodies. Mankind has struggled with sexuality ever since. The next thing they experienced was a fear of God. Until now they had conversed with God as if He were no different from them. They now hid from Him, which by the way is not possible. They now experienced confrontation for the first time from God as He questioned what they were  doing and why. They experienced panic as they scrambled to hide both themselves and what they had done. They now felt the need to justify themselves by shifting blame to someone else. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. Things have not changed at all! This is a full description of how we perceive God. We feel that we can hide the things we know to be wrong from Him and if we feel He knows, we blame someone else for those problems. God always knows!

The earth too was affected by this disobedience to God. We see God telling Adam that now he will have to work really hard to grow things, weeds and other problem will present challenges to Adam as he struggles to grow food. We also see God expelling Adam and Eve from the perfect garden that He had put them in. We see death for the first time as God killed animals and clothed Adam and Eve with their skins. We see that Adam and Eve’s lives would end, they would die and return to dust. None of these things were what God wanted. He wanted them to live forever in a perfect place under perfect circumstances. Disobedience of God will always lead to these problems. All of mankind is now stuck in this world of death, and struggles. This is still not what God wants for us. That is why He puts a limit on this life. Sin has a limit.

God has the right to put limits on everything. He made it all.

God has the right to tell us how to live our lives. He made us all.

God has set a limit on sin. He will not allow it to go on forever. That is not His plan.

God is the judge of all things. Death is the result of disobeying Him.