God’s holiness vs. sin’s vileness

 

When God gave His law to His people, the violation of each required restitution, a blood sacrifice, and often the death of the perpetrator. As I read it, the multitude of them as well as the detailed descriptions give me a deeper sense of the sacrifice Jesus made for all sin for all time. Mind-numbing.

Equally mind-numbing is sin itself. Charnock’s book of the attributes of God have a long section on His holiness, and also gives me a deeper understanding why Jesus had to die. The blood of bulls and goats and lambs appeased the wrath of God against sin for a time, but the death of a sinless man must happen for that sin to be fully covered and for sinners to be set free from its power.

Sin is defined as going our own way, ignoring or abandoning God’s way. We all fall short. Some “Christian” groups say some sins deserve eternal death, but some sins are lighter and should only receive temporal punishment. This is contrary to Scripture. The Word of God says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) and also “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” (Galatians 3:10) 

There is no such thing as big sins and little sins in the mind of God. Sin is sin and violates the holiness of God. Charnock says, “To charge the law with rigidness, either in language or practice, is the highest contempt of God’s holiness; for it is an implicit wish, that God were as defiled, polluted, disorderly, as our corrupted selves.”

The Bible is clear that all sins are transgressions of His eternal law, and in every one His infinite holiness is slighted and ignored. As the psalmist says, “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.” (Psalm 5:4) For that reason, everyone is called to lament our fall into our sinful state and our distance from God.

While Christians have heard the call of God and delight in His redemption, it seems always a good idea to think often of who we were and what God has done. I need to always remember how much the holiness of God loathes sin, not only because it is against Him but because of what it does to us, and even more, what it did to our dear Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Some say there are many ways to God. If that were the case, why then did God send His only Son, beloved and sinless, to die a horrid death? If God could have hated sin without punishing it, his Son might never experienced death on the cross. the fullness of his wrath. But could love for His Son make Him inflict a punishment according to its seriousness in our eyes rather than according to His hatred of sin and His holiness?

Sin, in every part of it, is an opposition to the holiness of God. It denies His nature and His glory, and consequently His power to punish sin. No wonder He says:

The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face. (Psalm 11:5–7)

But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. (Joshua 24:19)

However, grace and mercy are also true of this holy God. He sent Jesus to cover our sin, and give to all who believe a new life in Him that we might be His holy people. He invites all to:
Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. (James 1:21)

PRAY: I review the gospel good news as I also lament the sad truth that without Jesus, sin puts me in the guilty seat. Without You Jesus, I have no hope, but because of Your mercy, my eternal home is secure. I am horrified by the bloodshed, yet but because of Your grace, can rejoice in all that You have done to set me free from the power of sin and the wrath of my Holy God.

Eternal means eternal, forever, always…

When my husband became a Christian, a godly man explained to him how he would now live as a believer. He put a cup on the table right side up and said that God wants us to be filled with His Spirit so He fills us. However, if we sin, we tip over and like this full cup, we are not able to hold that fullness of the Spirit. How true. The Holy Spirit does not cause, initiate or tolerate sin.

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1:13–15)

Then this man explained that the way to become upright again is to confess our sin and ask God to fill us. He tipped the cup back up, then added, “You will go through life like this” and tipped it, stood it upright, tipped it, and kept repeating those actions. He said, “As you mature and become more like Jesus, you will learn to quickly be aware of sin and quickly confess it, and stay upright longer.” In other words, eternal life has its ups and downs, but it is still eternal, forever, life always with Jesus.

This illustration has changed lives. It is true to Scripture and to experience. It is impossible to avoid temptation; everyone experiences it. Learning to recognize it and say no to it is vital. Yet it is also important to learn how to get back in our spiritual groove. Otherwise growth is hindered, even stops. God is faithful to convict and teach His children.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13)

Like a hand in a glove, the mind of Christ works in my heart to want His will and function accordingly. He saved me from sin’s penalty and enables me to learn the way to be saved from sin’s power.

I once attended a church where a man said he no longer sinned. He claimed that to sin was a disgrace to God’s saving power. But the Bible says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8) Another person in that congregation told me that she believed in Jesus, but if she decided she didn’t want eternal life with Him, she could back out of being saved. Even as a new Christian, I wondered how eternal life could be lost if it was eternal.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24)

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:40)

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:28)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

That life is in Christ who promised to never leave us. How can we lose it if we did nothing to gain it? Those who presume they are saved because they did the ‘right’ thing also presume they can lose it if they do the wrong things. So sad. The loss when we sin is fellowship and the ability to walk in the Spirit, but that is restored as soon as sin is confessed and turned away from.

PRAY: Jesus, I’m so joyful that You are my Savior. Yes, You want obedience, but not that it saves or keeps me, but because Your will is good for me. It also glorifies You when this limp and useless glove allows Your hand to move it. If I’m trying to do anything without You, that work is totally useless. I might boast of my goodness or in the temporary results, but none of what I do when tipped over is good for me in the long run, and brings no glory to You. Besides all that, You keep Your promises and know how to work in me to desire Your will and do what You ask. I’m so glad that You saved me, are saving me, and eternal life lasts for eternity!

What is sin?

 

Someone once said that the person who controls the definitions then controls the argument. This may not work in every conflict but it certainly applies to the human need for salvation from sin. It is not the salvation part that needs clarity, but the definition of sin. The OT says this about it:

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. (Isaiah 64:6)

This flies in the face of those who consider sin as murder, robbery, and other externals seen in human behavior, and who consider those who do not do those things as ‘good’ people. However, those two verses alone define sin as doing our own thing rather than following the leading of God in faith. Furthermore, our so-called ‘good’ deeds done apart from faith in the Lord are unclean in the sight of God. That explains why the NT says things like:

As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10–12)

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23)

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— (Romans 5:12)

Sin defined makes the gospel a non-argument. That is, no one can rightly say, “I don’t need that.” However, anyone that is convinced of their own goodness must answer to the Word of God because it says that will not save us. Imagine trying to swim from the west coast of California to Hawaii. Some would get farther than others, but no one would make it. We all fall short of God’s standard of righteousness.

The Bible is clear also that “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

The Bible makes it perfectly clear that “the wages of sin is death” but also that there is a lifeboat, a way out of the death that sin incurs. Jesus Christ went to the cross, died the death we deserved, and consequently frees us from the penalty of sin when we put our faith in Him.

The NT says: “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” (Hebrews 1:3)

Hebrews goes on to say that Jesus did not need to offer daily sacrifices like the OT high priests who offered up sacrifices first for their own sins, then for the sins of the people. Jesus made only one — as both the High Priest and as the sacrifice.

He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. (Hebrews 7:27)

Then, when the sacrifice was complete, He declared, “It is finished” and died, only to rise from the dead and “sit down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” doing what the OT sacrifices could not do — covering all sin for all time. God exalted Him to His right hand where He continues to care for His own:

Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (Romans 8:34)

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 John 2:1)

PRAY: Jesus, at dinner last night with two of Your children, one of them was firm in saying that we may not always figure out the will of God but one thing is certain: our eternal life is secure and certain. How could we ever think that we could accomplish such a thing by our own efforts? You made the sacrifice for my sin and opened my access to God. In You, I have life forever more, made secure by Your great grace and power. Thank You.

PONDER Hebrews 9:1–10:18 to be reminded again of what Jesus did for me and for all who fall short.

 

 

Faith wipes out two kinds of death

Growing older means thinking more about the end of life. For Christians, it also means thinking of dying well. Our friend Duncan did that. He knew his illness was terminal, but he did not fear death. Instead, he greatly anticipated being with Jesus.

Not every person dies as Duncan did, excited to go into God’s presence. Some fear it. some fight it. Many prayer requests are for healing, particularly that older people stay well. Yet how will God take us home?

My husband often reminds people that we are all terminal. Some do not want to hear that, yet we must agree that life has an ending point. For those who know Jesus, it should bring the warm excitement of finally seeing His face, of being with those who have faith and are already there. Too many of us fear death, even though this fear is what Jesus came to destroy. He died, yet He rose from the dead to conquer both death and the fear of it.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1 Corinthians 15:26)

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. (Hebrews 2:14–15)

This victory is grounded in the wonder of Jesus Christ and His resurrection, yet that fear of death was also erased in OT saints.

By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones. (Hebrews 11:20–22)

One clue to this lack of fear is knowing that the Bible has two ways of speaking about death. The one that most of us understand is death of our bodies and our lives here. The other is spiritual death — being separated from God because of sin. The NT speaks of this death often, yet it seems that many people are more worried about physical death than having their sin putting a wall between them and the One who defeated death. God wants us to die well, but also to live well in the knowledge that we know Him and walk with Him. Eternal life does not begin when these bodies die — it begins when Jesus comes into our lives.

Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” (John 8:51)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

MacArthur speaks of dying well in the sense of finishing our lives by honoring the Lord, and in hope and joy leaving a witness to the truth of His Word and His excellent ways. However, living that way is also putting an end to death — that other kind of death, that separation from God. the Lord is honored when we die victoriously, but He is also honored when we die to self and sin and live victoriously. He may mean both kinds of dying when He says: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” (Psalm 116:15)

Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph are examples of facing death with great faith and confidence. Each “died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13) They were not perfect nor was their faith yet each ended his life triumphantly.

PRAY: Those who didn’t see all Your promises fulfilled could still die well. With You in my life, death to sin and self is a reality. This assures me that I can face physical death with the same attitude — wanting it to happen rather than clinging to that which is fading away. I’m so thankful for Your marvelous grace, which triumphs over sin and death and assures me of eternal life, here and forever with You.

PONDER: Note the clear-headed and gracious thoughts for family in the final words of Jacob and Joseph in Genesis 48:1–49:33 and 50:22–26.