Sin's Seriousness and Solution
Sin is serious. I could write a book on the subject. Today, I want to briefly outline the seriousness of sin and God's solution, because we have read the story of Achan and the defeat of Israel at Ai. What should have been an easy victory turned out to be the death of 36 innocent men, and it was all because of Achan's sin.(Joshua 7:13) If you say, "That is not fair," you do not understand how seriously God takes sin.
Sin causes destruction and death. Sin never produces good results. It always hurts us, and usually, it hurts innocent people around us. God can't give us victory over our enemies when we sin, either. All of this is not because God is angry with us when we sin, and He is mean. It is just the opposite. God loves us. If He continued to bless us while we sinned, He would be encouraging us to sin. His punishment is a deterrent to sin, so that we will stop hurting ourselves. Sometimes, we see His punishment in the wrong way, because we are selfish, and we want our own way. If He gave us our way, He would not be a Loving Heavenly Father. He would be leading us to destruction and death.
The solution is to sanctify ourselves. This word means to separate ourselves from sin and to give ourselves to Him to do the right thing, instead. First, we repent of our sins, because we realize the wages of sin is death.(Romans 3:23) Then, we run to Jesus in faith and put our trust in Him as the Lord who died for our sins and rose again to win the victory over Satan and death.(I Peter 3:18; Ephesians 2:8,9) Once we know Him as Lord, we quickly confess any sins we commit, so He can remove them from between us and Him, and we can walk with Him in purity, hearing His voice and enjoying His blessings.(I John 1:9) The road to real life is to live set apart for Him, sanctified. That is what the word "saint" means, and all believers are saints.
Therefore, take sin seriously. Don't ignore it. Don't ignore the Holy Spirit when He convicts you of sin. He will point out your sin to you if you will listen. He is not going to punish you for sins He does not point out, because that would not lead us in the right direction. Confess the sins He shows you, and decide to live for Him, asking the Spirit to lead you, instead of going your own way. Then, you will be able to live in victory.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Joshua 11-14.
Sin causes destruction and death. Sin never produces good results. It always hurts us, and usually, it hurts innocent people around us. God can't give us victory over our enemies when we sin, either. All of this is not because God is angry with us when we sin, and He is mean. It is just the opposite. God loves us. If He continued to bless us while we sinned, He would be encouraging us to sin. His punishment is a deterrent to sin, so that we will stop hurting ourselves. Sometimes, we see His punishment in the wrong way, because we are selfish, and we want our own way. If He gave us our way, He would not be a Loving Heavenly Father. He would be leading us to destruction and death.
The solution is to sanctify ourselves. This word means to separate ourselves from sin and to give ourselves to Him to do the right thing, instead. First, we repent of our sins, because we realize the wages of sin is death.(Romans 3:23) Then, we run to Jesus in faith and put our trust in Him as the Lord who died for our sins and rose again to win the victory over Satan and death.(I Peter 3:18; Ephesians 2:8,9) Once we know Him as Lord, we quickly confess any sins we commit, so He can remove them from between us and Him, and we can walk with Him in purity, hearing His voice and enjoying His blessings.(I John 1:9) The road to real life is to live set apart for Him, sanctified. That is what the word "saint" means, and all believers are saints.
Therefore, take sin seriously. Don't ignore it. Don't ignore the Holy Spirit when He convicts you of sin. He will point out your sin to you if you will listen. He is not going to punish you for sins He does not point out, because that would not lead us in the right direction. Confess the sins He shows you, and decide to live for Him, asking the Spirit to lead you, instead of going your own way. Then, you will be able to live in victory.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Joshua 11-14.