Tag: sin

Casting the First Stone

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All of us have a common problem.  Our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked.  So much so, that it is not possible for us to know this fact apart from the grace of God.  But there are times during our lives when we clearly find out how sinful we actually are.  We do or say something that we never thought we would.

Some people are fairly open about their rebellion.  Others are hypocritical.  They are pretenders.  Everything looks and sounds right on the outside, but inside these people are very sinful.  Jesus was confronting religious pretenders in John 8.  They thought they were holy, righteous men and acted that part.  They memorized the Word of God.  They kept the Law of God.  They claimed to fear God.  They thought they were doing the will of God.  However, they were going to murder Jesus Christ.

These men didn’t love God or His Word …not really.  They didn’t fear God or honor Him with their lives.  They didn’t even have righteous indignation against the sin of adultery.  They were not living by the grace of God.  They were fueled by their mutual disgust and hatred for Jesus Christ.  So they set a trap for Savior.

Setting the Trap

“…The scribes and Pharisees brought to [Jesus] a woman caught in adultery” (8.3).  Adultery is a very terrible sin.  The most terrible part of adultery is that the person who commits this sin is unfaithful to the one person in all the world they promised faithfulness.  So this woman was a very wicked woman.  There was no doubt that she had not been caring, loving, or faithful when it came to her husband.  She was guilty and according to God’s Law, she should be stoned to death for her sin.

What could Jesus do in this situation?  If He condemned this woman, what of His message of grace, forgiveness, and compassion?  If He told them to let the woman go, what of the Law, justice, and righteousness of God?  The scribes and Pharisees thought they had Jesus trapped.  They were trying to make Him look bad.  How will Jesus respond?

First, Jesus did say anything.  He crouched down and began to write on the ground.  We don’t know what Jesus wrote or even why He was writing.  The Bible says that the religious leaders continued pressing Jesus for an answer.  They just kept on asking Him what should be done about the woman as He wrote on the ground.

Second, Jesus “raised Himself up and said to them, ‘He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first” (8.7).  Then, He stooped again and wrote on the ground.  This time the men “who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one” (8.9).  The people who witnessed this woman’s sin had to throw the first stones at her execution according to the Law.  So, Jesus asked the men to throw stones.  But only if they are without sin.  Jesus was not saying that people need to be perfect in order to carry out the written laws of man or even God.  However, that’s not the point.

Third, what Jesus was saying is that these religious leaders were pretenders …hypocrites.  They pretended to hate this woman’s sin while committing great and evil sin themselves.  Jesus stooped the second time to write only after He pointed out the hypocrisy of these men.  He wanted His Words to settle into their hearts …to convince them of their sin …to show them they were wrecked and ruined on the inside.

I believe these men were given a glimpse of how sinful they actually were.  In this moment of time God showed them that they themselves stood condemned.  The men were consumed with the fear of God’s judgment and the exposure of their own secret sin before all the world.  Perhaps they glimpsed their murderous hearts and so they withdrew from the situation horrified by what they saw on the inside of themselves.  “One by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last” (8.9) they went away.

It’s not that these men were themselves guilty of adultery.  That’s not the point of the passage.  They were guilty of murderous intent and religious hypocrisy.  They felt the shame of it.  They had their own burden of sin.  They couldn’t carry through with this woman’s deserved sentence because they deserved the same and in that moment they saw it.  These men fell into the pit that they had dug for the Lord Jesus.

Forgiving the Sinner

It’s interesting to think about what Jesus doesn’t say or do when these men all leave.  He doesn’t give any inclination of self-exultation.  He doesn’t focus on His victory over these supplanters.  Instead, He asks the women where they were now.  They all went away.  They all found the idea of accusing this woman untenable.  So, Jesus told the woman to go as well.

First, He asked the woman, “Has no one condemned you” (8.10)?  When she says that no one has, Jesus responds, “Neither do I condemn you; go…” (8.11).  Jesus said to Nicodemus that His Father “did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3.17).  He was telling the woman to go and use the rest of her life in the pursuit of righteousness in the presence of God.  The mercy shown her must be an opportunity for repentance and forgiveness.  Jesus came into the world to seek and save those who are lost.

But Jesus also commanded the woman, “Sin no more” (8.11).  Grace always teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lust.  No true believer takes sin lightly.  When God treats us with the grace and mercy that we don’t deserve, our gratitude drives our pursuit of holiness.  We become aware of our suicidal path toward self-destruction.  The hope of grace encourages the soul.  God alone keeps us from falling in order to one day present us faultless before the His presence in glory with exceeding joy.

Do not congratulate yourself.  Do not become satisfied with your own righteousness.  Do not applaud your morality.  Godly men and women abhor themselves.  They repent with godly sorrow.  They learn to loathe the self-righteousness within them.

But self-condemnation is brutal too.  Jesus Christ has forgiven sinners because of His great grace and marvelous mercy.  If He will not condemn you, why do you condemn yourself?  “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.  However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life” (1 Timothy 1.15-16).

If you have experienced grace and mercy, go and sin no more.  You have not done what God requires of you just because you no longer commit the heinous sins you used to commit.  Pride, self-righteousness, and complacency are evils as well.  Depend upon the grace of God to carry you further than you’ve ever been today!  May God take away our penchant for worldliness and transform our lives into the likeness of His holy Son.  When this happens, all glory belongs to Him!

Unsinning Sin

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Robert Browning wrote, “The proper process of unsinning sin is to begin well doing.”  Perhaps this is lyrically beautiful, but it is theologically rotten.  It is, however, the natural man’s response to guilt within.  We cannot handle guilt or internalize it very long.  Therefore we seek to erase the past by building over the decay of our sins without ever really doing anything about them.

Psalm 32 has been categorized as a penitential psalm of Israel’s King David.  It is penitential because of its content not format.  The telltale sign is found in a deep sense of guilt on the part of David.  So the enemy is not external but internal.  But the internal struggle finds evidence in outward results as well, namely sickness.  So as we relate with God through prayer and Bible intake, we must keep in mind that access to the throne of God hinges upon acknowledging our need to be forgiven.

Using the pauses built into the psalm by the word Selah, we see the testimony and progress of the power of forgiveness:

  1. “My [David’s] vitality was turned into the drought of summer” (4).
  2. “You forgave the iniquity of my sin” (5).
  3. “You shall surround me with songs of deliverance” (7).

Then finally, let all God’s people rejoice and shout for joy (11).

The Psalm divides neatly into two parts.  The first division is where we learn the process of forgiveness (verses 1-5).  Once we learn, we cannot contain ourselves.  We teach the process of forgiveness to others (verses 6-11).

The Process of Learning Forgiveness

It all begins with confession mentioned in verse 5:  “I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’ and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.”  Blessed is such a man.  His transgression is forgiven; his sin is covered (1).  The LORD does not impute iniquity upon this man.  He’s come clean as witnessed by the phrase, “In whose spirit there is no deceit” (2).  Our happiness rests in the fact that our sins are forgiven.  Only misery awaits those who cover or hide their sin.  We can speak in terms of salvation and the misery of Hell or in terms of sanctification and the misery of chastisement.

The Apostle Paul quotes these verses in Romans 4:  “But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.’” (Romans 4:5–8)

Thus combining these passages, you have the fact that God will not impute sin to our account and the fact that He will impute righteousness apart from works.  You might want to reread that sentence!  Imagine if you could have complete control over this world and all its resources.  That’s pretty attractive …until you die.  What good will temporal possessions and power do at that point?  A man’s life certainly does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses!  There is a great reversal once we die and come face to face with our Creator.  Many lacking health, wealth, and prosperity will be carried by the angels into the presence of God because they trusted in Christ.  Those who had much of what the world offers are driven to distraction right up to their death bed.  Some will awake in torment (cf. Luke 16).

God will impute His righteousness.  Can anything be more of a blessing than that?  To be forgiven is wonderful; I’m not going to be punished!  But to have the Lord’s righteousness credited to my account – that tells me that I will have a great reward waiting for me in eternity and for all eternity.

The word transgression means willful and deliberate sin.  It is crossing the boundary God set.  The word sin means missing the mark.  Finally, the word iniquity means distortion or crookedness of character.  All three words for sin are used in verses 1-2 in order to indicate that a thorough cleansing of all sin takes place.  Hence, this man is blessed or happy.  But if we won’t come clean, we won’t be forgiven.  Is there deceit in your spirit?  We must see the tendency in each of us to harden ourselves to sin.  Only then will we learn how to have peace even after committing the greatest of transgressions.

Perhaps we can see from verses 3-5 that our struggles come from remaining silent about our sin.  We keep attempting to cover it, when only God can do this.  If we attempt to bury sin, then God’s hand will be heavy upon us (4a).  The physical ramifications are found in bones growing old and vitality turning to drought (4b).  Not all physical illness results from personal sin, but such illness should get us thinking!

All of us must come to verse 5 before we are able to release inner guilt:  “I acknowledge my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden.  I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’ and You forgave the iniquity of my sin” (5).  This is the key.  God covers our sin, iniquity, and transgression or we attempt to cover it.  Proverbs 28.13 states, “He who covers his sin will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”  Once we personally learn this process, we are able to teach it to others.

The Process of Teaching Forgiveness

The operative words here are, “For this cause” in verse 6.  David is saying, “Look, I’ve gone down the road of trying to cover my sin.  Don’t go there.”  Instead, everyone who is godly prays to the LORD.  They too find the blessedness of forgiveness.  In a flood of great waters, there is only turbulence.  But God is our hiding place!  He keeps us from turbulent trouble and causes us to sing songs of deliverance (7).

The LORD teaches us to not be like a horse that needs a whip to move him or a mule that needs a bridle to pull him.  Both of these animals can be stubborn and have a need to be harnessed.  If you don’t harness them and make them go, they will not move (9).

The wicked are stubborn and hard-headed; the upright are teachable and tender.  Those who trust in the LORD are surrounded by His loyal, faithful love.  You can continue to resist the LORD or yield to Him.  Your life is shaped by whether or not you choose to cover your sin or fly to God so that He might cover it (10).  Once you make the right choice, gladness and rejoicing are yours (11)!

It is important to note that three elements work together in order to have a liberating sense of freedom from guilt:  1) acknowledgement of sin; 2) forsaking sin; and 3) choosing to obey the will of God.  This is important for individuals, families, and especially for our nation.  God cannot and will not bring healing without this taking place on all three levels.

Second, the confession stage has worked best for me verbally.  There is just something about putting a voice to guilt.  I usually try to make sure I’m in a very private place.  However, when I try to confess my sin with my inner voice, there is a sense in which I feel like I’m still hiding something.  Verbally expressing it to God helps me get the shock of it all out there.  Also, I think that accountability to a person that is close helps as well.  The sum is that when we confess our sins, “God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1.9).

Finally, allow me to offer a word of caution.  It is a mistake to associate all sickness with personal sin.  There are other causes when it comes to illness.  Also specific sin does not result in specific illness, and healing will not necessarily come once you identify sin in your life.

Psalm 32 is wonderful because it offers liberation from guilt and sin.  And since that is true we rejoice in the LORD always.  Borrowing Browning’s phraseology:  “The proper process of unsinning sin is to begin confessing.”

Cut to the Quick

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Millard Erickson speaks of “individual eschatology” in Christian Theology.  Better to study last things and how they relate to one’s own personal life.  Study concerning the end of your life is confrontational.  You are confronted with your choices – good and bad.  You consider the high price of sin, the clear causes of suffering, and whether or not it was worth living the life you lived.

The Wages of Sin

The people of God in Lamentations 4 faced a bleak and brutal end.  Their desperation drove them to the very brink.  Children were neglected and worse.  The people had once donned scarlet finery, and they now are found embracing ash heaps (4.1-5).  Since they were the people of God and therefore highly culpable for their sinful choices, their end was torturous and painful (4.6 cp. w/ Luke 12.47-48).  Even the upper strata of society is brought low.  Once brighter than snow and whiter than milk, they are now blacker than soot (4.7-11).

God allowed this tragic end.  He fulfilled His fury and poured out his fierce indignation.  Every word in these opening verses is filled with misery and devoid of mercy.  This is the high cost of sin:  a face-to-face confrontation with one’s own end.  It’s our pit where there is no human hope of rescue in sight.  Isolated and alone we wonder what has led to all the suffering we are experiencing.

Two Causes for Suffering

The answer is found in the fact that we are sheep without a shepherd.  The religious leadership in our country is bereft of the spiritual discernment needed to lead.  Most are still optimistic and generally very positive about the outlook for our country.  They preach peace while all the while remain a cause of suffering.  They fail to bring people face to face with their sin and rebellion.

The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem.  Because of the sins of the prophets and the iniquities of the priests, who shed in her midst the blood of the just.  – Lamentations 4.12-13

A second cause for the grief and pain that comes upon us is found in our inclination to trust in the creation rather than the Creator.  “Still our eyes failed us, watching vainly for our help; in our watching we watched for a nation that could not save us” (4.17).  “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord” (Jeremiah 17.5).

Unlikely Hope

Where’s the hope in that?  It’s found in the fact that in spite of gut-wrenching grief and pain, God will make it right.  Before the dawn of hope, one must identify the cost of sin and the causes of suffering.  You trace the rainbow through the rain.  As you consider your end as a child of God, consider also that guilt and culpability are gone.  Death has lost its sting!  Suffering is finished upon the cross of Christ!  God cuts to the quick so that we might become sensitive to the conclusion of our own story.