The world, even the world of religion, doesn’t like the talk about sin, meditate on sin, or be accused of sinning. It is sad to see so many ‘churches’ even celebrating sin and instead of condemning sin, actually have made it into a virtue.
Loving your ‘brother’ does not include allowing him to die in his sins. Let us continue by studying what Jehovah says about sin.
First, we are all sinners and we continue to sin, even after surrendering to Jesus as our only High Priest, King, and Redeemer. As the whole world is constantly sinning, what separates us from them?
1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
The world, including all the false religions and false ‘churches’ are blurring the lines of what is sin. Redefining sin in our own terms does not rid us of sin, it only deadens us to our sin.
1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
This is one of the dividing points between true believers and the world of unbelievers. We must confess our sins, not just at the time of salvation, but continually as we still sin. We sin, not because we deny the problem, but because we still struggle with the flesh.
1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
Satan is a liar from the beginning. His slaves practice lying all the time. The whole world is full of lies at every level. The present lies as truth and most of the world just accepts it. If the word of Jehovah is not in us, what is in us? What terms doe Jehovah use for sin? Detestable is one of the more common terms He uses.
Deuteronomy 20:17 "But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the LORD your God has commanded you,20:18 so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the LORD your God.
Jehovah not only uses this very graphic term for the sin of the ungodly nations, He instructed and commanded them to destroy these people groups. Their sin left alone would only serve to tempt the Israelites to do the same. Jeremiah was alone to bring Jehovah’s condemnation of Judah before they were carried away to captivity in Babylon.
Jeremiah 32:31 "Indeed this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My wrath from the day that they built it, even to this day, so that it should be removed from before My face, 32:32 because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah which they have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their kings, their leaders, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
What were they thinking? Provoking Jehovah to anger and wrath is the extreme act of foolishness. How could the nation of Judah, after watching Jehovah condemn the 10 northern tribes and letting Assyria carry them off never to return, do the exact same thing?
32:33 "They have turned their back to Me and not their face; though I taught them, teaching again and again, they would not listen and receive instruction. Jehovah’s patience is remarkable, we would not have been as patient.
What happens to anyone who refuses to listen to, learn from, or receive instruction? They flounder and fail. They become in a godly sense worthless. They can only continue in their self-afflicted ignorance and sin.
32:34 "But they put their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it.
What!!! They brought these detestable idols and rituals into Jehovah’s Temple, in Jerusalem! How did they get this far from Jehovah? Where were the priests who were supposed to instruct them in the Law?
32:35 "They built the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. This is the sad conclusion of letting sin into our lives.
What sin satisfied us yesterday, will not satisfy us tomorrow. Sin like cancer only grows stronger until it has overtaken us and kill us. Unfortunately, sin and cancer often go undetected in their earlier stages. Such is the sad situation in the U.S. and the world today.
Have you confessed your sins today?
What have you been practicing?
Continued next Saturday.