When We Sin So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, If you continue in My word, then

Transcription

1 When We Sin Recently I was listening to a lecture on theology in which the person giving the lecture suggested that there are defining moments in God s relationship with us. In this lecture, the idea that the concept of God is totally different than any other god or gods. Prior to the revelation of God in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), all gods were recipients of the labors of the people. If we fail to do what is expected or demanded, then we will suffer some calamity. The God revealed in the Bible reverses that role and basically provided everything that we need and the only repayment is to faithfully honor and glorify Him. Well, what happens when we fail to do our part? What happens when we sin? Are we like the village that is trying to satisfy the angry gods by sacrificing children or in some way trying to swing the balance back in our favor? We need to understand that God does not want us to be separated from Him or ensnared in sin. Yet God has so ordered the universe that justice must be satisfied. For so many, the idea of sin is a weighted scale. Some sins are more grievous than others. However, sin is sin. Sin is a denial of God and His desires for us. Sin is open rebellion against God! Even those little white lies that we tell to spare people s feelings are a rebellion against God. Sin places us into a slave-master relationship with the devil. In John 8:31-36, Jesus clearly describes this. Some of the religious leaders of that day challenged Jesus and bristled at the idea of slavery. So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. They answered Him, We are Abraham s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, You will become free? Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does 1

2 remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:31-36 We need to further understand that the devil wants us to be trapped in his web of deceit. As we read in 1 Peter 5:8: Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8 Paul tells us that after putting the old self to death and rising with Jesus through baptism, we should guard against falling back into the slave relationship of sin. In Romans the 6 th chapter beginning in verse 12 we read: Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. (Romans 6:12-19 God does not want us to be in slavery to the devil. God does not want us to atone for our evil deeds. God loves us and has provided a means to be reconciled to Him. 2

3 Isaiah speaks of the fact that God is not like any other. Let s read in Isaiah 64 beginning in the first verse. Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, That the mountains might quake at Your presence As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence! When You did awesome things which we did not expect, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence. For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him. (Isaiah 64:1-4 Notice that last phrase. We do not have to go through strange or punishing rituals to conjure up God. We need only wait for Him. He acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him. We will consider one prime example of God acting on behalf of His people. We are aware of the situation for the children of Israel when Moses was called by God. As a result of Joseph being sold into slavery, the family migrated into Egypt. First they were welcomed guest. As the book of Exodus opens, we see the children of Israel were no longer held in high esteem. From the first chapter, we read the change in their status. Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land. (Exodus 1:8-10 They had gone from honored guest to slave labor. God saw their situation and began to open up the means for them to be freed from their slavery. After a series of plagues, the ultimate plague was to be sent on Egypt. The death of the first born. This would touch everyone and every family. Moses give specific instructions to the families of the children of Israel. Let s open our Bibles to the 12 th chapter of the book of Exodus and read the first 7 verses. 3

4 Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb (or young lamb or kid) for themselves, according to their fathers households, a lamb for each household. Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. (Exodus 12:1-7 Through this sacrifice of the Passover lamb, the children of Israel were liberated from slavery. This was according to the plan and instructions of God. God acting for those who waited for Him to rescue them from their slavery. During the first part of today s lesson, we have looked at the fact that sin traps us in slavery. Too often we fail to understand that we are slaves to sin and because of sin. We fail to make the connection with the liberation that God provides for us through Jesus. We will read just three more scriptures to help us see that God has provided our Passover Lamb. The first is when John the Baptist sees Jesus approaching, the gospel of John records in the first chapter and verse 29 the following: The next day he (John the Baptist) saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29 The second is found in 1Corinthians the 5 th chapter where Paul is addressing a sinful situation in the church and reminding them that Jesus is our Passover Lamb (or sacrifice). 4

5 For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:7-8 The third is found in 1 Peter the first chapter. Here Peter uses the same description of the sacrificial lamb that we found in Exodus. knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. (1 Peter 1:18-19 Our God is not like the other gods. He does not expect us to try and tip the scales back in our favor by extraordinary feats. He has seen our situation and has provided for our freedom from the slavery of sin. When we sin, God has provided an escape from the slavery of sin. Are we ready to be free from sin and accept His free gift of salvation? 5