Eve’s single sin against God led immediately to a second sin when Adam sided with her against God. Which led to the third recorded sin when Cain murdered Abel. Leading Cain to commit the fourth recorded sin—building a city in direct violation of God’s sentence against him Genesis 4:12. Lamech then sinned when:
And on and on sin grew, in the Gentile world embracing homosexuality and all the other sins recorded in Romans 1:18-31. And in the Hebrew world, summarized in Exodus 20 and enumerated in Exodus 21-22, etc. All of which Paul brought God’s sentence of doom on all humanity Romans 1-3. The point is, a righteous may not be repeated, leading to consecutive holiness. But sin, once begun, and however small or apparently insignificant, rapidly expands in the DNA of all mortals everywhere. Leading Paul to declare we have a sin-nature Ephesians 2:1-3. Innocent at birth, and by the age of accountability choosing self-will over God’s word, NO ONE of accountable age is considered righteous. God’s gift to Adam and Eve in Seth began a restoration to God which only Jesus perfected in his life. Therefore, as Eve’s sin declared war on God, unleashing spiritual violence in humanity, Jesus re-established a pacific, perfected peace with God. Paul put it more brilliantly in I Corinthians 15:21-23.
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Cowpox, an infectious disease of cows gave immunity to smallpox. That inspired Edward Jenner to develop a vaccine using the milder cowpox virus as protection against the violent smallpox. His discovery remains the modern basis of protection. Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition, p. 673. Jonas Salk found a vaccine for polio by injecting a weakened version of it, beginning with himself, his wife and three sons. It built immunity to the more malevolent form of the disease. Our Century, 1950-1960, p. 61.
Question: does that medical procedure offer a spiritual cure for sin: teach people to sin in little ways as a cure for BIG ones? After all, many people think so, hope so and plan to plead their small sins to God as the means of being allowed into Heaven: “I’m not as bad as so-and-so.” The Corinthians had that bad habit II Corinthians 10:12. But NO. At the beginning of history, God teaching the First Couple to obey ONE law, saw them instead break it. Their sin—disobeying God’s word—could never be reduced by injecting morality into the human genome. God instead provided the removal/forgiveness of sin. First provisionally by sacrificing an animal, Genesis 3:21—the basis of the entire sacrificial system under Moses—and finally in the SINGLE sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary Hebrews 7:27-28, 8:7-13. Having introduced sacrifice as the sole means of forgiving and removing sin from humanity, no way exists for humanity to ever find peace with God, and entrance into heaven, without FORGIVENESS of sin. Let that warning drive us to our knees in repentance and, on our knees, knee our way to Jesus for his gracious forgiveness AMEN! hen men in Shinar arrogantly proposed to build a city with a PROUD TOWER crowned with a summit-temple that would keep them together, God “came down” to see. While Sodom and Gomorrah had for long years practiced sexual perversion and social injustice, Ezekiel 16:49-50, Genesis 18:20-33—assuring themselves that homosexuality and allied sins of promiscuous sex had become the “new normal” in sexual relationships, Genesis 19:4-5, Judges 19:22, God said, “I will go down and see”.
In both cases, “came down” and “go down” meant that God’s response depended on his will, not the opinion of people. On how the behavior offended his righteousness, not merely someone’s sense of morality. God determines the beliefs and behaviors he accepts. He honors both that build life and behavior on his word. He condemns any that deviate from his word. And calls any deviation a SIN that brings punishment. The men scattered where they wanted instead to congregate; Sodom and Gomorrah and their surrounding towns, Jude 7, buried under fire and brimstone where they wanted to be the acceptable alternative in sexuality. The protest could have come from the very soil being polluted by Abel’s innocent blood Genesis 4:10. (The next time we wonder why tornadoes twist their deadly swirl or hurricane blow their furious winds or earthquakes heave their behemoth fractures in the earth’s crust, consider that creation is taking its revenge on our sins for condemning it to frustration Romans 8:20-21.) Since scripture doesn’t identify the source of the protest against the cities on the Plain, we won’t. However, the point of the blog is relevant. That protests had been made means that judgments had been rendered against the sins. That judgment had been rendered means that God has at least a creation sensitive to him, his purpose and his nature, Luke 19:39-40, that will protest abuse by sinners. And God likely had even then unnamed people, I Kings 19:18, who knew his standards of belief and behavior and judged when they had been offended. And who knew that the deviation from God’s word was called sin or wickedness, not sickness. Christians, of all people, educated in God’s word, are expected to know the behavior God accepts; and expected to defend his demands and criticize any departure from them. If we refuse, no one else will. Then, the very stones of earth will cry out against our failure and in honor of the Creator it loves and obeys. Therefore, Christians, remember that having enough active, vocal witnesses in a city, a state, a nation brings a “herd immunity” against wickedness that protects all from its baleful presence. When not enough Christians verbally protest the wrongs that wrong has committed, everybody, even Christians, lose the protection of “herd immunity”. That is the present condition of America. So what should Christians do? Become a vocal advocate of Biblical values and behaviors. Express a lifestyle of obedience that surfaces questions why and gives an opportunity for a witness. Be bold enough to declare as a SIN the behavior that others call simply “alternative thinking”. King Josiah, learning that God’s punishment on Judah couldn’t be rescinded, began a personal commitment that led to a national reformation. He did all he could, despite the punishment coming II Kings 22-23. Let us be as committed to Christ; though punishment comes on America. Amen. A story in Woman’s World, August 8, 2000, featured a woman who had inherited thick, heavy thighs from her mother, who had inherited it from hers, and so on. Since exercise and diet wouldn’t eliminate the problem she decided to forego wearing pantsuits. She also hated wearing shapeless dresses.
Editors of the Woman’s World offered to help. They suggested a “modern” pantsuit in a “monochromatic” color. This writer didn’t know pantsuits could be modern or out-of-date. He did know that monochromatic is one color. He clearly saw the spiritual point. We can hide a bad complexion under make-up, big legs in pants and heavy hips in stylish clothes. And only those who know us more personally will KNOW. And they won’t care one way or the other. Governments keep secrets. Corporations keep secrets. Persons keep secrets. But a day comes when all secrets are revealed. Let us be very sure that God’s Day of Judgment won’t reveal any sin we successfully hid from ourselves, strangers or friends. Forever unforgiven sin is revealed on that Day. Denying we have big bottoms or short legs isn’t a sin, but denying that we’re sinners only increases its destructive impact on our lives. It never removes or reduces the presence and guilt sin invariably brings. Hiding and denying our sin; excusing or justifying our sin; refusing to admit our guilt as sinners; hoping to balance our guilt with enough good deeds to win God’s favor—or any other way we use to avoid admitting, I’m a sinner,” only exacerbates our condition. God wants to free us from the power of sin by releasing us through forgiveness from the presence of sin. How thankful we can be that “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8. Thanks be to God for this amazing gift. In his infinite wisdom God disregarded the lawyer’s desire to a make prosperous living, thus extending litigation ad infinitum, ad nauseum. On at least four occasions in Deuteronomy God instructed Israel to quickly and carefully identify evil among them, then administer appropriate punishment: 13:11, 17:13, 19:20, 21:21.
Aided by hordes of lawyers needing employment and wanting luxury, America sinks into endless litigation. One capital punishment case took 13 years before the criminal paid its price. One Australian man lived 70 years, 303 days on death row before he died at 92 of old age. What if, like mythical Pinocchio’s nose, every sinner’s would grow an inch for each lie? What if an arm or leg grew shorter each time we sinned? Or, if, like bank robbers, every sin included a dye pack which explodes minutes after the theft, or killing or fraud, bathing the sinners’ legs in red? No? Probably not. Nevertheless, the litigious nature of our society, fueled by the American Bar Association, needlessly lengthens the time between arrest for a crime and the trial to convict and its punishment. God has nothing to do with our delays, though he seems reluctant to judge. He won’t be mocked. Judgment delayed isn’t judgment denied; it’s merely judgment intensified! America remains in the bulls-eye of God’s wrath for rejecting his Son. It isn’t IF, but WHEN, that wrath falls. Delaying it means: his patience is giving us the chance to repent. It also means, when it comes, his wheel of justice will grind slowly and exceedingly fine. The penalty of David’s sin had two parts. First, the child conceived in adultery would die. Second, long-term violence would erupt in David’s family. In fact, he lost three of his favorite sons by the sword as a direct result of sin against his constituted authority: Amnon by violating Tamar; Absalom by insurrection against his father; Adonijah for pre-empting God’s choice of Solomon.
The question may be: how can forgiven sin be penalized? It’s the difference between suffering and dying. All people suffer in some way when sinning, though they may not realize it at the time. Any wrongdoing is against God’s righteousness and no one commits it without being penalized by God’s righteousness. It may be only a guilty conscience; it may, as in David’s sin, have long-lasting effects on self and loved ones. However, suffering because of sin isn’t the same as dying in sin. Jesus warned the Jews, John 8:24, that unbelief in him left them dying in, not merely suffering from, sin. In many ways Christians can testify that God forgives. And they rejoice in it. They also carry with them, throughout life the consequences, as Paul did his thorn, (perhaps from his rendezvous with Jesus on the Damascus Road; perhaps through an unrecorded event). The glory of forgiveness, then, is that all believers can rejoice in any penalty accrued from forgiven sin because it binds us closer to God in grace, as Paul discovered in II Corinthians 12:7-10. Fini When prophet Nathan described an unprincipled rich man, David wanted the man’s speck punished. He had no idea that Nathan would blast the plank from his own eye.
And when Nathan stuffed the most comprehensive wickedness into a few words, designed to arouse David’s strongest compassion, and strongest sense of justice, the king never expected to be crucified by his own behavior as the charcoal-hearted villain! However, instantly repentant, David admitted Nathan’s description: the king a sinner without excuse, without defense, without justification. David said, “I have sinned against the Lord” II Samuel 12:13. Let us learn to repeat his words when we sin. Without qualifying our repentance or justifying our sin or minimizing our guilt. Solomon’s birth would be God’s response to David’s repentance. In God’s wisdom, the mysterious forces of genetics and divine intervention combined to create in Solomon the wisest ruler ever to live. The capture of Rabbah of the Ammonites would also be God’s gift. Life goes on, despite its tragedies. And when Joab captured the city’s citadel—its most secure part; and its water supply—its most important resource, Joab called the king to be its titular conqueror. End Part II But ahh...warning...that left in place sin’s penalty. Back to blogging after TOO LONG an absence. In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare had Benedick say, “...happy are they that hear their detractions, and can put them to mending.” Yes, happy, but realistically, not generally the “putting them to mending.” Even the mild-mannered bristle when hearing their faults corrected.
That’s why King David, the most powerful ruler of his age, proved the exception when prophet Nathan raked withering broadsides of wrath on his sins with Bathsheba. David became docile, not rebellious; penitent, not defensive II Samuel 12. His reaction in three contexts proved him a forgiven sinner, not a condemned impenitent. First, he responded with anger at the abusive rich man. Second, he responded with godly sorrow when denounced as that rich man. Third, he remained a Man of Faith when his child died as a result of his sins. We may say he shouldn’t have blamed God, since his own sins caused the child’s death. But Solomon later said, “A man’s folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the LORD” Proverbs 19:3. How many people have lost faith in God when he didn’t answer their prayers, or a loved one died; or a career failed due to economic setbacks—or any of a thousand ways we can be disappointed with life but take our frustrations out on God? End Part I A Highway Through Hell episode had a 70 ton machine mired in a muddy water hole. Al’s three rescue bulldozers had to get close enough to pull the disabled vehicle up, away and from the bog without getting so close to the edge they fell in. They had to maintain their anchor to be rescuer. 4/21/19
Helping sinners escape sin means we get close enough to pull them out without getting so near they pull us in. Jesus modeled what we must emulate. He remained anchored in God throughout his life. As a result he became one of us helping, healing, educating, forgiving—removing the vast catalogue of satanic presence in humanity. The Master’s life devastates the view that “only if we experience sin can we identify with people sinning.” By anchoring himself in God’s Presence and Love, Jesus remained on holy ground as he reached to snatch sinners from sin’s miry bog. The fast-moving Lilac fire of 2017 had its origin at 11:15 A.M. a mile south of Route 76 and just west of Old Highway 395. It spread west, blown by winds that roared through the valley westward, burning discriminately, hopscotching its way back and forth across the highway, destroying mobile homes, and threatening a shopping center and houses.
Interestingly, investigators found where the fire started. To this time, July, 2018, they haven’t discovered why it started. They likely never will. San Diego U-T, 12/1/17 Unlike many fires, the source of sin isn’t cloaked in mystery. It occurs when a person is tempted to break God’s rule, law, word or expectation. The person then, “by his own evil desire...is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” James 1:14-15. We may not know exactly where our sin begins, though we too can often detect its origin. We know exactly where to put an end to sin: Christ’s gracious forgiveness that he perfected in his sacrifice on Calvary. Whenever we fall into sin, or step into sin, or walk up and embrace sin, Jesus can eliminate it. We have no excuse for our sin, but Jesus has Grace greater than any sin we commit. |
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