The Seriousness of Sin

PART ONE

Habakkuk 1:13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he

Psalm 5:4 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.

Psalm 11:5-7 The Lord trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. [6] Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. [7] For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.

Psalm 34:15-16 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. [16] The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

These verses and many others remind us that God hates sin, I think we, as God’s people, need to be oftimes reminded about the seriousness of sin.

Man calls it an accident; God calls it an abomination.

Man calls it a blunder, God calls it blindness.

Man calls it a defect; God calls it a disease

Man calls it a chance, God calls it choice.

Man calls it an error; God calls it enmity.

Man calls it fascination, God calls it fatality.

Man calls it an infirmity; God calls it iniquity.

Man calls it a luxury, God calls it leprosy.

Man calls it liberty; God calls it lawlessness.

Man calls it a trifle, God calls it tragedy.

Man calls it a mistake, God calls it madness.

Man calls it weakness, God calls it wilfulness.

God hates sin, therefore we as God’s people, would do well to listen to Peter when he says:

1 Peter 1:15-16 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; [16] Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

Let us consider firstly:

1. THE PENALTY ANNOUNCED.

Genesis 3:14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

God cursed satan, for him there is no remedy, he is doomed, defeated and damned.

One day his sentence will be carried out in full.

Rev. 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

But then man was also cursed.

Genesis 3:16-17 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. [17] And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

All of nature was cursed, the very ground will bring forth thorns.

Genesis 3:18-19 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; [19] In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

The end of verse nineteen reveals the wages of sin, death.

God said:

Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Satan said:

Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

Who can we believe

Genesis 5:5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

Man began to die physically and immediately he died spiritually.

Death just simply means separation, when we die physically, our soul and bodies are separated.

To be dead spiritually means we are separated from God.

Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

If you die eternally, body and soul will be separated from God for all eternity in the lake of fire.

Consider Adam’s puny attempts to cover his sin.

Genesis 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

When Adam sinned he developed a conscience, he realised he had sinned, and he looked for a remedy in the fig leaves.

It is interesting that the Lord Jesus only ever cursed one thing.

Mark 11:20-21 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. [21] And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.

Surely this reminds us that any man made effort, any thing we dream up or attempt ourselves to sort the sin question out, is cursed by God and will wither away.

Man came under the curse, the condemnation of God because of sin.

Stan Colleymore, the bad boy of football, was fined heavily by his manager Martin O’Neil, he wanted to make an example of him, and they wanted to show that the club had no time for and disliked bad behaviour.

God has shown us how much he hates sin.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

James 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.