In order to effectively deal with an enemy, it is of utmost importance to be thoroughly and accurately briefed on the qualities and characteristics of the foe. That sin is the deadliest of all foes need hardly be debated. With the defeat and elimination of sin, the cessation of war, crime and cruelty would necessarily follow.
Christianity now has to preach the diagnosis, in itself very bad news, before it can win a hearing for the cure, ...a recovery of the old sense of sin is essential. [14]
As long as sin remains an elusive, undefined phantom it is no surprise that its victories over humanity continue to escalate.
Sin is a transgression of God's moral law, the intent to live supremely for oneself at whatever the cost. It is a premeditated, calculated choice to live in a manner contrary to your original design. There is absolutely no ignorance involved in sin.
Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. —John 9:41
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. —James 4:1 7
If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin; but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. —John 15:22,24
It is most enlightening to look at the various scripture words used to describe sin. When the root words are analyzed in the original biblical languages (Greek-N.T. Hebrew-O.T.), the overwhelming evidence is that man is a rebel choosing to violate known requisites. Here is a. sampling:
Does the Word of God describe sin as a weakness or as rebellion? There are many Christians who derive a certain amount of satisfaction from their sin. Their conscience, of course, refuses to grant peace when they are living in this abnormal condition. The solution to this situation has been a gross rationalization of their conduct and adherence to the soothing concept that they are unable to obey God! This is but a calculated act of treachery and deceit in the continuing insurrection against God's standard and authority.
The ruthless, defiant, aggressive characteristics of sin that are the headlines of our race will undoubtedly become our epitaph unless the world we live in can be revived. To the ears of the celestial Listener, earth cries... and before the eyes of her Maker... earth bleeds.
The cruel nature of sin is nowhere depicted more graphically than in the treacherous dealings of King David toward Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba. It wasn't enough for the king to have taken Uriah's wife to satisfy his lust. David, caught in his own web as a result of Bathsheba's pregnancy, sent for Uriah, who had been away fighting for Israel. The Idea was to use Uriah's expression of love for his wife to cover up the king's sin. Uriah's integrity, however, was not a factor that David had reckoned with. The loyal soldier slept with the servants at the door of the palace rather than enjoy what his comrades on the battlefront could not.
When David's desperate attempts to urge Uriah to move home with his wife failed (in spite of David's success in making him drunk), the king, driven to cover his sin, finally settled on a surefire plan. The following morning DavId sent Uriah off carrying his own death warrant. The king's instructions were immediately understood by his military captain, Joab, and the cruel scheme unfolded. Uriah was placed on the front lines of the battle.
The loyal Uriah probably never noticed his own army quietly retreating behind him as he fought with renewed vitality and determination ,after his privileged audience with the king. Left exposed and alone, Uriah became the target of the enemy. The king, receiving the news of Uriah's death and heaving a sigh of relief, "graciously" allowed Bathsheba time to mourn her dead husband before making her his own property.
After hearing a story like this one, it doesn't require much effort to become incensed and indignant over man's inhumanity to man. If Uriah had deserved such treatment the Bible account would not have stirred such pathos. We tend to see sin as a cruel and reprehensible phenomenon in proportion to the goodness and innocence of the victim. In light of this, don't you find it mystifying that people, at least Christian people, are not revolted over what sin has done to God?
He came unto His own and His own received Him not. —John 1:11
...They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters... —Jeremiah 2:13
I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded. —Proverbs 1:24
O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. —Micah 6:3
And when he was come near, he beheld the city and wept over it. —Luke 19:41
Often I have pictured God, the Mighty Ruler of the universe, sitting on His throne with His face buried in His hands, weeping. Sitting On that, throne is all the incomprehensible power of the universe under absolute control. Yet the adulterous behavior of His beloved touches the heart and feelings of this mighty yet gentle Being and the response causes the hosts of heaven to marvel.
Where is there a more poignant sound than that of Jehovah sobbing? Who will stand by God in His hour of grief?
Unfortunately the parade. of depravity continues to march down the corridors of human history without fatigue. It is but a brief respite when God leaves His weeping over Adam's race to rejoice over an obedient saint. He made them right but they've all gone wrong. The planet is in the hands of a race of rebels who have defiantly snatched their lives away from God. They demand liberation from God's "celestial colonialism."
In the case of the individual who has chosen to live a life of selfishness, no decision or activity subordinate to this wrong motive of heart may be considered other than "filthy rags." No matter how "good" our deeds may seem on a human level, as long as our supreme purpose in life remains unchanged "all our righteousness are as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6).
Sin is a choice to seek and maintain our happiness supremely in an unintelligent supposition that this is of paramount importance. This state of sin and rebellion persists until exposed in an encounter with the cross of Jesus Christ.
Sin is a moral cancer and it tends to spread once it starts. It must be recognized as an extremely dangerous, highly active corrosive that eats away at the human personality. The longer sin continues, the less actual control we have over our lives.
The year 1973 was an especially exciting one for me, as I spent the early months with Youth With A Mission in Switzerland. I have fond memories of the impromptu sledding "expeditions" after evening lectures. After bundling up, several fellows would trudge about half a mile to a local slope pulling their sleds behind them. Even though the slope provided an adequate angle for the average sledder to get a full quota of excitement, the winter sky continually covered the hills with extra coats of snow. As a result, the first few trips down the slope were somewhat less than exhilarating. Each successive run, however, compressed the newly fallen snow eventually carving out a "slide" that gradually gained our respect. In time, the slope became so slick and treacherous that nobody could manage to remain connected to his sled. It was then that our tired but happy group knew it was time to turn in. This is precisely the manner in which sin, persisted in, manifests itself. In the end it becomes extremely difficult to slow down the train of accumulated indulgences.
As sin carves its moral slide, each time down becomes easier and easier. We find ourselves inundated by habits.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. —Ephesians 2:1-3 (NASB)
Thayer's Greek Lexicon tells us that "nature" in verse 3 is the result of habit. God has admonished us to allow our minds to dwell upon only that which is wholesome (Philippians 4:8), because as a man "thinketh... so is he" (Proverbs 23:7). In other words:
The great danger of sin is that we become slaves to appetites and desires without even noticing what is happening.
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? —Romans 6:16
A sinful nature develops in our lives through habitual self-indulgence and subsequently affects everything we do. Paul mentions this situation and the impossibility of fighting it in our own strength in the seventh chapter of Romans. Thus we concur that though a sinful nature is present, it originates by choice. For example, the junkie bound by heroine addiction cannot help but crave drugs now, but the origin of the addiction began with his choices.
We have discovered that there are certain emotional gratifications in life that are pleasurable. However, since emotions cannot be experienced directly but rather respond to what the mind thinks upon, the mind therefore is harnessed to produce thoughts that will result in emotional gratification.
Emotions can be a hard taskmaster, resulting in an abnormal imbalance, and a chaos of personality. This is slavery. This is captivity. The freedom that the world proclaims only leads to bondage. There is no reason to secretly envy the men and women of the world.
But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. —Isaiah 57:20-21
...the way of transgressors is hard. —Proverbs 13:15