Sin, The Great Thief (12/13/10)

Shalom,

 

    Please begin by reading Rom 7:7-12.

 

    The Law was given to mankind by Yahweh to show us what sin is.  It reveals the wickedness of our hearts, and as the words you just read point out, "I would not have known what sin was except through the law."  Sin is something we must all deal with.  Sin is something that confronts us as soon as we realize that there is truth and a Creator God.  Sin, like the proverbial Pied Piper, leads all of us into believing that we can keep the Law by our own strength.  Because of our sin nature, we actually believe we don't need our heavenly Father's help to overcome its consequences.

    The major problem we face is that Yahweh does want us to deal very directly and completely with our sin.  Yahweh's desire is to bless us.  He wants us to be successful and effective men and women of destiny in his Kingdom.  He has an inheritance for us on this earth, just as he did for Adam.  But we, like Adam, will find sin to be the factor that causes us to lose the blessings of our heavenly Father.  Sin steals what is good and replaces it with emptiness and despair.  It's a great thief because it always sucks the life out of what is good, leaving us with nothing but want and need.  As scrripture says, sin is pleasurable for a season.  It may seem like we're gaining something at first, but that's the deception of sin.  Our ongoing sin can never keep us satisfied, only a relationship with our Creator can bring us ultimate satisfaction.

 

    Sin has a profound effect on our being as a whole.  Sin leads to death, both physical and spiritual death.  The Law was given to show us this inherent weakness and inability to reach our loving Father on our own.  The Law proves to us we need a Savior who can wipe away the stain of our sin and actually fill us with righteousness.  Sin does many things to us.  We'll look at a couple of its evil influences on our lives.

    Sin scatters.  When we sin, pieces of the person Yahweh intends for us to be are left behind.  We trade something our loving Father intended for us (a blessing, peace of mind, self-respect, intimacy with Yahweh and those we love, and many other things) for a sin we have committed.  Parts of the blessed, whole, successful person our Lord meant for us to be are left scattered along the paths of our lives.  And they remain there until we repent and enter into a right relationship with our Creator, and those we've sinned against.

    Scattering has devastating effects.  Our relationships, both with Yahweh and others, may be more difficult, or we may have experienced totally broken relationships due to our sin.  Our paths may become unclear, and we seem to flounder around looking for something good, hoping for some helpful advice or direction.  Because of scattering we're not firmly rooted in who we are in Christ which causes us to be easily tossed around by new doctrines, or simply unable to stand for what we know is right.  We may move around quite a bit looking for the perfect job, perfect spouse, or perfect place to live hoping those things will bring us happiness.  But as long as we don't hold on to our heavenly inheritance through obedient living in accordance with our Father's will, instability will rule instead of peace and hope.

    Scattering produces an unsettling, dissatisfied feeling within us.  We know there must be more to life, but true success always seems just out of our reach.  Scattering is a wasting of the good seed Yahweh provides for all his children, and it makes it very difficult for us to reap any good fruit.  Yahweh can bring our seed back in for proper use if and when we seek his forgiveness.  He can bring the pieces of our lives back together, making us whole and healthy followers of our Lord Jesus.

 

    Sin steals our freedom.  When I know that I'm obeying Yahweh, I walk in freedom.  When I know that I am in sin, I am actually in bondage.  It's that simple.  Even though our human tendency is to think freedom comes without rules, the only true freedom we have is found in walking within the boundaries and limitations set forth by our loving heavenly Father.

    For instance, if I've filed an honest tax return, I don't have to think about it much past the final filing date, April 15th.  However, if I know I've cheated, I must wait to see if I'll get caught, sometimes years.  I have to wonder if the IRS will audit me and find other problems resulting in more taxes, penalties, and interest payments.  My cheating has put me in bondage, first to my own thoughts of getting caught, and then to the IRS for a lot more cash than I would have owed if I'd been honest in the forst place.

    With Yahweh and the spiritual realm, we don't have to wonder if we'll get caught.  We already are.  We can't walk in the same freedom in our relationship with Jesus because there's something blocking full intimacy.  Any sin we commit is first and foremost an offense against our Lord, and until it's made right we can't expect to have an intimate relationship with him.  If we've sinned and stepped outside our Lord's protective limits, we're vulnerable to further attack and injury until we seek forgiveness and return to the safety of his boundaries.

 

    Sin moves us out from under our covenant protection.  Another bondage that sin produces is an open door or legal right for Satan to steal what Yahweh has for us.  When we choose to sin, we trade our spiritual protection over that portion of our lives for the sin.  This is an aspect of the law of sowing and reaping, and it works in all areas of our lives.  If we obediently walk with our Lord, keeping his commands, we receive his protection and we can't be eternally harmed.  Our souls are completely safe in his care.  When we disobey, we lose his covering, and Satan has permission to "steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10) whatever we've removed from Yahweh's protection.

    For instance, tithing is the biblical command and principle to guide our giving.  The first 10% of all our increase belongs to Yahweh whether we give it to him or not.  To choose not to tithe can open us up to a spirit of poverty that can keep us from having enough or causing us to fear we won't have enough.  The promise of Yahweh is that if we tithe he "will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit" (Mal 3:11).  With this protection it's likely that the 90% we keep out of obedience to our Father's Word will take better care of us than the 100% we disobediently hoard from him.

    The spirit of poverty will cause us to rationalize that there's not enough or may not be enough for a full tenth of our income to be given away, much less anything over and above that.  As the cycle continues, the spirit of poverty gains more and more control over how we handle our finances in general.  Fear of poverty may not only keep us from tithing, but may even result in other forms of sin such as stealing, cheating, or compulsive gambling to "take care of our needs."  We must align ourselves with Yahweh and be keepers of his covenant to overcome our tendency to wander away from his protection.

 

    Sin builds a new belief system within us.  When we sin, we begin to move away from the heart of Yahweh and from the principles he gave us for right and blessed living.  As we move farther away, Satan has opportunities to affect our belief system so that those things which were once black and white to us become various shades of gray.  We may come to believe that those little white lies aren't so bad, or some other "little" indulgence is also harmless.  Our minds and our judgment become affected so that we rationalize our behavior rather than confessing it as sin before our Creator.

    When we wander into this trap we begin to sort out the scriptures according to our personal preferences.  We pick and choose what does or doesn't apply to us.  We begin to form our own theology and doctrine, and the spirit we're listening definitely isn't Holy.  Fellowship with the saints becomes less desired and self-righteousness becomes prominent.  If you can't sit in agreement with other believers, you are placing yourself outside the protection our Lord freely offers and you may have to stand on your own before both the devil and Almighty God.

 

    But there is hope for us.  Titus 3:3 says, "At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures."  Notice it says "at one time."  Christians used to have a lot more trouble with sin than they do now.  We all have to face up to our sin and repent.  And even after we become Christians we need to continue to live a life of repentance.

    1 John 1:8 says, "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."  We must admit to our sin and sinfulness.  This isn't meant to condemn, but to set us free.  When we know where our help comes from, we hopefully will be more ready to avail ourselves of it because of our knowledge.  Our heavenly Father loves us and wants us to be cleansed fom our sin, not wallow in guilt.

    1 John 1:9 continues, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."  The promise of our Savior Jesus is that he'll cleanse us and make us righteous.  The inheritance he's provided for us is wonderful and filled with blessings.  But we must overcome sin to receive his riches.  1 John is written to Christians.  These two verses inform us that we must continue to seek forgiveness and cleansing.  Yahweh didn't say these things to make us feel bad, but to help us feel good because we've availed ourselves of his remedy for our sin.

    Yahweh speaks these things to help us, not to tear us down.  Let's pursue his riches by always seeking his forgiveness and cleansing.

 

    Blessings & Peace,    Mike