Sin is a heinous thing in the eyes of God. Our Creator is glorious, holy, and pure. It’s not that He simply sticks His nose up at sin as though He’s too good for it. That’s how we react out of pride when we think we are too good for something. But with God, His holiness is who He is. It is His nature. Sin cannot be in His presence because it is antithetical to His nature.
That leaves us in a tough situation, doesn’t it? We are sinners, every one of us. Listen to the way the inspired writers put it:
“as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;” (Romans 3:10 ESV).
“Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.” (Ecclesiastes 7:20 ESV).
“What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,” (Romans 3:9 ESV).
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23 ESV).
“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 ESV).
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:8-10 ESV).
If God is holy and can have no association with sin, then by extension, He can have no association with any of us. That is the great condemnation we are all under. That is the mystery even the angels didn’t understand. How could a great reconciliation happen when the damage was already done?
It would take God Himself to step in and undo this mess that man had created for himself. So, Jesus emptied Himself of His rightful glory as ruler and creator to take on the form of a man. He would suffer the indignity of being rejected, beaten, and killed to become the sacrifice needed to redeem sinful man to the Father.
His precious blood would be the agent that would cleanse sin and allow man to once again live in the presence of our holy God. It was nothing we could do. It is His blood, offered by His grace, that saves us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
Yet, in light of this amazing grace, we sometimes forget the holiness of God. This often causes us to treat sin as a light thing. We often forget how sin is a separator between man and God, and that sometimes causes us to think nothing of the sin in our lives.
So, we keep sinning, not giving it a second thought. After all, we have God’s grace, don’t we?
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1-2 ESV).
Paul makes it clear that we must have the proper view of what sin is and how much it is antithetical to who we are as followers of Jesus. Our old man of sin has died, and we have become a new creature in Jesus. This new creature pursues a walk with our Lord, not the sin that kept our old man in bondage.
But we live in a world that tries to get us to make compromises between it and our Lord. We see this every day, don’t we? Isaiah says it this way:
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20 ESV).
This is how we start to normalize sin. We blur the lines between good and evil. First, we may wag our heads when society starts to normalize sins, but soon, we find ourselves developing an understanding heart from their perspective. When we do that long enough, it will lead to us fully defending the sins that society celebrates.
This is one of the last steps before we do what was once unthinkable: we begin to partake in the sins that once dominated our old man. This normalization of sin causes us to recreate God in our own image. He becomes a god who also calls good evil and evil good. He becomes a god who accepts and celebrates the sins the old paths warn against.
He loses His holiness and becomes the same being He once had to send His son to save.
No, God doesn’t change. He is still holy, no matter how we try to paint Him in our minds. He still does not have anything to do with sin because it is still His nature to be holy. And we still need Savior to save us from our sins.
But we must see the need for a Savior. This is our only hope. We must see God as holy and us as filthy rags and polluted garments, even when we are at our best compared to Him. We must be able to see the need for His grace, or we will believe we can sin so His grace will abound.
We must not normalize sin when that is all our society does. We must not make excuses for sins when that is what people around us will encourage us to do. We must not call good evil and evil good, even when that is what our judges and leaders do.
If we worship a god who has lost his holiness, then we are worshipping a god who we have created in our minds. But He is not the God we will see on the Day of Judgment. That God will separate the good from the bad, and He will have no trouble defining what good is and what evil is. The god we created in our minds will be nowhere to be found when we see our Creator on that day.
We must submit to our Lord, accept His saving grace, and be transformed into a new creature who, by faith, will not sin that grace may abound but produce the fruits of our faith. We must never give in to the lie that we can normalize sin and live a life in union with a holy God.
No other prophet did what Jesus did.
“And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” (Matthew 9:2 ESV).
I can understand why some had this reaction:
“And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” (Matthew 9:3 ESV).
If anyone we know said what Jesus said, we all would have the same reaction, wouldn’t we? Only God can forgive sin. That’s why when a man, whether a priest, pastor, or even a family member, pronounces forgiveness, it treads on God’s domain.
Only God can forgive sin, and only God can condemn a soul to hell. Either proclamation from man is blasphemy that treads on God’s authority.
But Jesus forgave sins on earth, and He did it openly and with authority. He claimed the right that belonged to God alone. He didn’t speak on behalf of God but as God.
And when He did, Jesus backed up His authority to forgive sins. To show that the Son of Man had the power to forgive sins on earth, He performed miracles to show that the Father in Heaven approved His claim to have authority to forgive sins.
What does that mean for us? It means the Judge, Who the Father will allow to judge all men, will have the judgment to give grace and to condemn. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the light. He is the only way to the Father.
He forgave sins on earth, and He is our only hope to have our sins forgiven today. The Father seated Him at His right hand on a throne with all authority.
When we live without looking to Him for grace and forgiveness, we commit the same error as those who rejected His claim to forgive sins and called Him a blasphemer. We need Jesus. We need His grace and His forgiveness. I implore everyone who reads these words to turn to the One who has the power to forgive our sins.
In my daily Bible reading, Jesus strikes out at the Pharisees by saying this:
“You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”(Matthew 15:7-9 ESV).
What prompted Him to say this? It was very offensive to the ones He accused. Even the disciples tried to let Jesus know how sharp this rebuke was:
“Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” (Matthew 15:12 ESV).
The problem is that Jesus was getting disgusted with them. Chapter 15 starts with this specific accusation when the Pharisees ask why His disciples broke the tradition of the elders by not washing their hands.
And this is the crux of Jesus’ rebuke. The question incensed Him, not because they washed their hands, but because they made their own doctrines equal to God’s commands while being cavalier with God’s commandments.
They forced others to obey man’s doctrines while ignoring God’s doctrine. In fact, they had convinced themselves that their doctrines were, indeed, God’s doctrines.
“He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’
But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,”
he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.” (Matthew 15:3-6 ESV).
Everyone one of us needs to be careful about this. Every denomination and brotherhood has a history of oral tradition, interpretations, and settled doctrines on how we believe what we believe. I fear that people have the urge to go into their history to determine doctrine and authority, which is a dangerous frame of mind.
If we are not careful, we fall into the same condemnation that the Pharisees fall into. We take our interpretations and fellowship doctrines and elevate them to being equal to the Word of God. And worse, when we carry out man’s doctrines, they can often violate the precepts and teachings of Jesus.
This is what the Pharisees did, and when Jesus pointed it out to them, instead of correcting themselves, they became offended. The Word of God will either liberate us or offend us. It depends on where our heart is.
Is our heart set on defending our manmade commandments or God’s Word? Does our offense come when people challenge our longstanding brotherhood doctrines, or are we always examining whether the conclusions and interpretations of our family are in line with the Word of God?
Jesus was incensed with the Pharisees because they taught as doctrines the commandments of men. Men easily point the finger of accusation at others for doing this, but do we have a heart that will constantly examine our own beliefs to see if we, too, might have fallen into the same condemnation?
Every time I watch the news, this verse comes to mind:
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20 ESV).
This one comes in a close second:
“He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.” (Proverbs 17:15 ESV).
I need to quit watching the news and read my Bible more.
I am reading Matthew 24, where Jesus talks about His coming in judgment. God has come in judgment many times, and it all follows a similar pattern. He came in the Old Testament, He came to destroy the temple and the Jewish way, and King Jesus will come again to destroy the world and judge every man before His throne.
It all starts with a loving, pleading Father who warns against judgment. He comes to warn and plead for repentance. He comes in love and gentleness while withholding His wrath.
But rarely will men listen. We love sin. We love darkness. Jesus knows what awaits us, so he warns, begs, and pleads. Imagine, God lowers Himself to begging and pleading for us. Why? Because He truly loves us and desperately wants us to avoid the impending wrath we are facing.
Yet we ignore Him and continue to follow our own path. But judgment is coming. Jesus knows it, and He knows how bad it will be for those who refuse to heed His warning.
That’s why He spends so much time warning in Matthew 24. That’s why the inspired writers spend time talking about the judgment. We think, “I have time to do what I want now, and then I will repent.” This is one of the biggest lies that Satan whispers into our ears.
Jesus comes in peace, love, and gentleness. He comes bearing our burdens and lifting our loads. He comes pouring out grace and offering treasures beyond comprehension.
But He will also come in wrath and judgment when He will separate those to the right who heeded His warning and accepted His grace and those to the left who refuse His warning and reject His grace.
It is a supremely loving God who warns against judgment and pleads for us to make ourselves ready.
Jesus is coming in judgment as a thief in the night. We must be ready for His coming now. When we hear the trumpets sound and the shout of the archangel announcing His return, it will be too late.
Will we be let into His banquet at that time? Today is the time to make ourselves ready.
Judgment is coming.
We are often tempted to create God in our image. Rather than come to Him for who He is, sometimes, we take the things we like about God and forget the things we don’t like, and this becomes the god we serve.
Below are a series of things Jesus said. I am not going to comment on what He said, but I would encourage each of us to dig into the Word to try to figure out what He means.
We should treat none of these verses alone as proof texts, but we should read the Bible enough so we can understand their messages.
That said, ignoring His words doesn’t change the fact that He said them. How are we going to deal with them?
“It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.” (Luke 17:2 ESV).
“And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:23 ESV).
“Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” (Luke 12:51 ESV).
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26 ESV).
“Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27 ESV).
“But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” (Luke 12:5 ESV).
“And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:46 ESV).
“But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5:22 ESV).
“But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28 ESV).
“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.” (Matthew 5:29-30 ESV).
“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48 ESV).
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:1 ESV).
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 ESV).
How I wish I could be more like this child, the young mother of King Jesus, who said this even when she didn’t understand how the things of God would work in her life.
“And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.” (Luke 1:38 ESV).
Imagine you are a Jew on your way to a hillside to hear a new Jewish rabbi preach. Everyone has been talking about this man named Jesus.
What’s intriguing is that the leaders seem to look upon this upstart with disdain. He speaks as one who has authority, or so you hear.
You settle into a spot on the mountainside and hear this man teach some of the most wonderful things you have ever heard. Unlike the rabbis who stress adherence to their oral laws, this man only focuses on what God wants from us.
It’s almost as if He is teaching that God wants a relationship with us, and He wants us to have a relationship with each other too.
But as the sermon starts to wind down and the end draws near, He says something that sends a jolt through you. He says something that even the rabbis would never dare to say.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23 ESV).
As you leave, you find yourself thinking, “Who is this man who can tell people to depart from Him on that Day?”
Choosing to follow Jesus is not something we can do half-heartedly or part-time. Either this man is the One who will judge all men, or He is an imposter.
He leaves no other alternatives. So we must answer the question, “Who is this man?”
It’s the same question everyone has had to ask for 2000 years. It’s the same question you and I must answer today.
“And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,
for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” (Matthew 7:28-29 ESV).
I’m going to use some crazy big numbers.
Our sun is 93 million miles away.
Light travels 186,292 miles per second.
It takes the sun’s light 8 minutes to reach Earth. The same trip in a jet traveling 500 mph would take 21 years.
Light travels 6 trillion miles a year.
The closest star to us is over 4 light years away. That’s over 25 trillion miles.
The average distance between stars in our galaxy is 30 trillion miles, and there are over 100 billion stars in our galaxy.
On average, there are over 9.9 million light years between galaxies. That means nearly 100 average-sized galaxies like our Milky Way could fit in the space between the galaxies.
The latest estimate says that there are roughly 200 billion galaxies in the universe and that known number grows the more advanced our technology becomes in detecting them.
The distances that represent the universe are nothing we have the capacity to truly comprehend because they are so great.
“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;” (Psalm 103:11 ESV).
So is the depth of God’s love for us.