5.16.25
Hey, Calvary Fremont –
Sin’s Sinfully Sinful Sinfulness…
Is sin just a mistake made by a sincerely motivated person, a misstep by someone who has inadvertently stumbled – or is sin like a toxic sludge sloshing around in the soul, polluting and defiling everything it encounters? Or put differently, is sin merely an outward fall or is it an inward fault? Do Christians make too much of sin? Many Christians are like Mencken’s description of a Puritan who has the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy?
Why does the Bible put sin in such a sinister light? If God is so big, why doesn’t He just overlook sin or just forgive everybody whether they repent or not? Surely a loving God wouldn’t allow a sincerely motivated person to go to an eternal hell for such a small mistake! What kind of God is that!? Certainly, the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. Or does it…?
Here is a husband who has never been intimate with anyone other than his wife. The Bible says, “Don’t commit adultery.” The man says to himself, “Check – I’ve got that one handled.” Yet this same man habitually looks at pornography – for years. With his body, he has never touched another woman. But his soul – his mind, his will, his emotions – has been unfaithful everyday. His thoughts and his desires are wrapped up, tangled up, caught up with women other than his wife. Many protest, “The virtual world is different than the actual world. Virtual fantasies are not the same as actual adultery.” Tell that to the wife whose husband is enflamed and aroused by other women. Tell that to the wife whose husband’s mind and desires are held captive by the virtual women who stimulate him to self-satisfaction – often to the detriment of his actual wife. (Is it any wonder that the pornographic epidemic is accompanied by an increasing number of men who experience ED?) The husband says to himself that his virtual fantasies are not to be equated with actual adultery as he frantically does all he can to hide his captivity to pornography from his wife. Yes, in one sense his body is pure – yet his soul has a toxic sludge sloshing around inside of him. His body has not touched another woman wherein his soul has touched them all.
God is like a jilted Husband. In the Old Testament, Ezekiel 16:25 depicts Israel as God’s wife who spreads her legs like a harlot to all who pass by. In the New Testament, the Church is the Bride of Christ who loves other things more than she loves Christ. And she turns from Christ to those other things. Christ, the Faithful Bridegroom, is married to those who are unfaithful to Him. Sin’s sinfully sinful sinfulness is not to be measured merely by what is done (murder, adultery, theft, bearing false witness, coveting, etc.), but by Who is being rejected and turned away from. Even as a wife grieves when her husband’s soul is given to other women – actual or virtual – so Christ, our Bridegroom, is grieved as our souls turn from Him to find its satisfaction in the toxic sludge of sin. God is not just Creator and Power and Authority and Sovereignty – He is Husband and Friend. When God is rejected, and other things are given greater priority, God is grieved and wounded. God is not only Power – He is a Person who can grieve and sorrow. He sees when our arms are raised to Him and we are singing songs of worship. He also sees when the arms of our soul stretch out to other things. Not only is He grieved when His people turn from Him, He is grieved when His proposal to enter into relationship with someone to cleanse and forgive them is rejected, too. That person prefers the passing pleasures of sin to a marriage proposal by God.
God grieves so much because He loves so much. Sin’s sinfully sinful sinfulness is only seen in the light of God’s matchless, majestic, magnificent love. God is not a disembodied philosophical principle; God is a Living Person with the heart of a Husband desiring a faithful spouse. May your heart find its joy and satisfaction in Him. May you no longer turn to the things of the world to quench the hunger and thirst of your soul. May Christ be all to you.
Be blessed and stay healthy and follow Jesus – Pastor Tim
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