Tonight I started thinking about the consequences of sin in particular. I knew, from experience, sin causes anguish and unsettling of heart; it brings shame and sorrow; it brings judgement. But I wanted to find, and share, specific verses that speak of God's judgement on sin. I recalled several things being mentioned in the book of Psalm, so that's where I went. I turned to chapter 1 and went on from there.
Please, read through them all. I only went to chapter 51, so it's not the entire book of Psalm.
When I anticipated doing this mini-study, I expected verse after verse to jump out at me screaming what sin does to you. I expected death here, sorrow there, and heartache all around. But something interesting happened instead. There were two majors themes that I took note of. And the ratio of the two were 2:1 or 3:1, if not more. (I'm not a math scholar and I didn't actually count it all out.) Whenever God revealed in His word that there were consequences for sin, He usually surrounded and countered it with consequences for righteous living.
Numerous times David, through God's inspiration, wrote of the righteous being saved, or God being a refuge for the righteous, or God being a help, comfort, strength, defender, shield. He spoke of the righteous being blessed, happy, loved, favored, directed, established, given things.
And that's what's interesting. The end consequence of sin is death and destruction. There are a few "premature" judgements of temporal effects: heart pains, lack of strength, no joy, etc. Not too many varieties to "choose from." But they are severe none the less. (And the one judgement that stuck out to me the most was the one that stated God consumes all that is dear to us like a moth. )
But God is not a God of judgement. He judges, yes. He is the Judge, yes. But He doesn't seek to judge. He seeks to bless. He unrolls his tarp of optional rewards and consequences for His righteous children and smiles, wondering what blessing He should bestow next. Peace? Refuge? Power? Guidance?
But it anguishes Him to punish us. He is in every way tormented by sin as we are in our judgement. After all, it was for our sins that Christ bore every blow, every taunt, every ounce of hatred.
So, let's briefly reflect on the severity of sin. It has consequences; and it ranges in variety to a degree. But the most troubling and tragic consequence of sin is making God sad. God: the creator of the universe, the sustainer of earth and man, the one who controls the weather, the one who exists eternally, the one who can stop the mouths of lions, prevent the scorching powers of fire, and knows every single star of billions and trillions by name. That God. The God who is completely and utterly indescribable. That God. He takes our sin so seriously, so personally that His heart breaks. He stares in disbelief and anguish when His children love sin more than Him. He grieves at the quenching of the Spirit.
--Throw all other consequences in the garbage disposal and meditate on that. Forget everything you've ever heard about God and His response to sin. Let it wash over you with supreme newness. God--is--saddened--by--your--sin.
It's a sobering thought that I--a mere speck of dust, a mere single human in the line of billions of humans before me and after me--can make the God of the universe tear up because I sinned against Him.
Now. Take that thought and set it aflame and place it in the back of your mind so that it glows bright enough that you notice it at every moment, but not that it blinds you. Make sure it is not your focus.
Because here is the thing. Focusing on sin will not keep sin out of our lives. When we wake up in the morning and think to ourselves "I don't want to sin"; when we go through our days struggling with the decisions to sin or not; when we lay down at night thinking about the sins we've committed and resolve to live better the next day--when we do all that, we have put our focus on sin and earth and the flesh. But God tells us to set our minds on the things of heaven, to turn our eyes to Jesus, to not be carnally minded. We can't do that if we parrot to ourselves the phrase "be better; don't sin."
So, let's do just that. Let's look at Jesus. We know that he was "in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Heb. 4:15) We also know on three specific cases that we was tempted by Satan physically. He was tempted to fulfill the lusts of the flesh, the pride of life, and the lusts of the eyes. (Matt. 4:1-11; 1 John 2:16) We know that in all of that, He didn't sin.
But let's consider what brought him to that point where he did not sin. Was he going through that day praying He wouldn't sin, resolving not to sin, focusing on Satan and his tempting ways? No. Luke explains that "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness." (Luke 4:1) Both Matthew and Luke attest to the fact that Jesus was fasting. In the brevity of research conducted, fasting wasn't used in the Bible as a "preventative" to sin. It was done in repentance of sin, or protection of harm or the like. But often fasting was associated with prayer in order to deepen one's walk with God.
So, Jesus was led by the Spirit to go to the wilderness. While there, he fasted and evidently prayed. His focus was on God and being closer to His Father. Sure temptation came, but he wasn't setting out not to sit. He set out to be close to God.
That's the crux. We need to set out to follow God, to keep our eyes on Him, to walk in the Spirit. Everything else will fall into place. If you don't want to sin, if you want to love God more, if you want to be the Christian God wants you to be, then focus on being closer to God. Walk in the Spirit.
Denying ourselves sin will not bring us indefinitely to God. But bringing ourselves closer to God by abiding in Him (John 15) will lead us to deny ourselves sin because we want to remain close to Him. (Gal. 5:16). Oh taste and see that the Lord is good!
Now that you have the burning knowledge of God's grievance when we sin against Him, allow that to shine the light on Jesus' face so we can focus on Him and follow Him wherever He leads.
Don't be so caught up in focusing on sin that it becomes your god, your idol, your goal not to achieve. Focus on God, determining to walk in the Spirit.
Give up your sin pursuits. Give up your devotion to Not Sinning. Turn your eyes on Jesus and devote yourselves to Him and His holiness, resolving to walk in the Spirit.
Walk in the Spirit and you will not gratify the things of the flesh.
It's as simple as that.
Please, read through them all. I only went to chapter 51, so it's not the entire book of Psalm.
- Driven away by the wind. ( "The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away." Ps. 1:4) - Perishing. ("for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish." Ps. 1:6) - Loss of having God's delight. ("For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you." Ps. 5:4) - Destruction. ("You destroy those who speak lies;" Ps. 5:6)
- Will have God whet His sword, ready His bow[in judgement]. (If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow;" Ps. 7:12)
- Sin comes back around. ("His mischief returns upon his own head," Ps. 7:16)
- Violence descends on the sinner. (" and on his own skull his violence descends." Ps. 7:16)
- Judgement as severe as coals raining on the sinner; fire sulfur and a scorching wind. ("Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup." Ps. 11:6)
- Multiplied sorrows. ("The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;" Ps. 16:4)
- God seems tortuous. --Read the definitions!-- ("with the purified you show yourself pure;
and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous." Ps. 18:26) - God will tear down the workers of evil, and will build them up no more. ("Because they do not regard the works of the Lord or the work of his hands, he will tear them down and build them up no more." Ps. 28:5)
- Strength fails. ("my strength fails because of my iniquity," Ps. 31:10)
- Bones waste away. (" and my bones waste away." Ps. 31:10. "For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long." Ps. 32:3)
- God's hand heavy on sinner. ("For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;" Ps. 32:4)
- Strength dried up. ("my strength was dried up[b] as by the heat of summer. " Ps. 32:4)
- No soundness in flesh. ("There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation;" Ps. 38:3)
- No health in bones. ("there is no health in my bones because of my sin." Ps. 38:3.)
- Becomes too heavy. ("For my iniquities have gone over my head;
like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me." Ps. 38:4) - Wounds[of judgement] fester because of foolishness[presumably of not dealing with sin]. ("My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness," Ps. 38:5)
- Feeble, crushed, tumultuous heart. ("I am feeble and crushed;
I groan because of the tumult of my heart." Ps. 38:8) - Heart throbs. ("My heart throbs;" Ps. 38:10)
- Light of eyes gone. ("and the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me." Ps. 38:10)
- Friends stand aloof. ("My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague,
and my nearest kin stand far off." Ps. 38:11) - God consumes all that is dear. ("you consume like a moth what is dear to him;" Ps. 39:11)
- Heart fails. (my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me." Ps. 40:12)
- Loss of joy of salvation. ("Restore to me the joy of your salvation," Ps. 51:12)
When I anticipated doing this mini-study, I expected verse after verse to jump out at me screaming what sin does to you. I expected death here, sorrow there, and heartache all around. But something interesting happened instead. There were two majors themes that I took note of. And the ratio of the two were 2:1 or 3:1, if not more. (I'm not a math scholar and I didn't actually count it all out.) Whenever God revealed in His word that there were consequences for sin, He usually surrounded and countered it with consequences for righteous living.
Numerous times David, through God's inspiration, wrote of the righteous being saved, or God being a refuge for the righteous, or God being a help, comfort, strength, defender, shield. He spoke of the righteous being blessed, happy, loved, favored, directed, established, given things.
And that's what's interesting. The end consequence of sin is death and destruction. There are a few "premature" judgements of temporal effects: heart pains, lack of strength, no joy, etc. Not too many varieties to "choose from." But they are severe none the less. (And the one judgement that stuck out to me the most was the one that stated God consumes all that is dear to us like a moth. )
But God is not a God of judgement. He judges, yes. He is the Judge, yes. But He doesn't seek to judge. He seeks to bless. He unrolls his tarp of optional rewards and consequences for His righteous children and smiles, wondering what blessing He should bestow next. Peace? Refuge? Power? Guidance?
But it anguishes Him to punish us. He is in every way tormented by sin as we are in our judgement. After all, it was for our sins that Christ bore every blow, every taunt, every ounce of hatred.
So, let's briefly reflect on the severity of sin. It has consequences; and it ranges in variety to a degree. But the most troubling and tragic consequence of sin is making God sad. God: the creator of the universe, the sustainer of earth and man, the one who controls the weather, the one who exists eternally, the one who can stop the mouths of lions, prevent the scorching powers of fire, and knows every single star of billions and trillions by name. That God. The God who is completely and utterly indescribable. That God. He takes our sin so seriously, so personally that His heart breaks. He stares in disbelief and anguish when His children love sin more than Him. He grieves at the quenching of the Spirit.
--Throw all other consequences in the garbage disposal and meditate on that. Forget everything you've ever heard about God and His response to sin. Let it wash over you with supreme newness. God--is--saddened--by--your--sin.
It's a sobering thought that I--a mere speck of dust, a mere single human in the line of billions of humans before me and after me--can make the God of the universe tear up because I sinned against Him.
Now. Take that thought and set it aflame and place it in the back of your mind so that it glows bright enough that you notice it at every moment, but not that it blinds you. Make sure it is not your focus.
Because here is the thing. Focusing on sin will not keep sin out of our lives. When we wake up in the morning and think to ourselves "I don't want to sin"; when we go through our days struggling with the decisions to sin or not; when we lay down at night thinking about the sins we've committed and resolve to live better the next day--when we do all that, we have put our focus on sin and earth and the flesh. But God tells us to set our minds on the things of heaven, to turn our eyes to Jesus, to not be carnally minded. We can't do that if we parrot to ourselves the phrase "be better; don't sin."
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. --Galatians 5:16
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. --Colossians 3:2
Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. --Hebrews 12:2
So, let's do just that. Let's look at Jesus. We know that he was "in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Heb. 4:15) We also know on three specific cases that we was tempted by Satan physically. He was tempted to fulfill the lusts of the flesh, the pride of life, and the lusts of the eyes. (Matt. 4:1-11; 1 John 2:16) We know that in all of that, He didn't sin.
But let's consider what brought him to that point where he did not sin. Was he going through that day praying He wouldn't sin, resolving not to sin, focusing on Satan and his tempting ways? No. Luke explains that "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness." (Luke 4:1) Both Matthew and Luke attest to the fact that Jesus was fasting. In the brevity of research conducted, fasting wasn't used in the Bible as a "preventative" to sin. It was done in repentance of sin, or protection of harm or the like. But often fasting was associated with prayer in order to deepen one's walk with God.
So, Jesus was led by the Spirit to go to the wilderness. While there, he fasted and evidently prayed. His focus was on God and being closer to His Father. Sure temptation came, but he wasn't setting out not to sit. He set out to be close to God.
That's the crux. We need to set out to follow God, to keep our eyes on Him, to walk in the Spirit. Everything else will fall into place. If you don't want to sin, if you want to love God more, if you want to be the Christian God wants you to be, then focus on being closer to God. Walk in the Spirit.
Denying ourselves sin will not bring us indefinitely to God. But bringing ourselves closer to God by abiding in Him (John 15) will lead us to deny ourselves sin because we want to remain close to Him. (Gal. 5:16). Oh taste and see that the Lord is good!
Now that you have the burning knowledge of God's grievance when we sin against Him, allow that to shine the light on Jesus' face so we can focus on Him and follow Him wherever He leads.
Don't be so caught up in focusing on sin that it becomes your god, your idol, your goal not to achieve. Focus on God, determining to walk in the Spirit.
Give up your sin pursuits. Give up your devotion to Not Sinning. Turn your eyes on Jesus and devote yourselves to Him and His holiness, resolving to walk in the Spirit.
Walk in the Spirit and you will not gratify the things of the flesh.
It's as simple as that.
