Introduction
According to Merriam Webster, sin is an offense against religious or moral law. We should reflect on this and ask ourselves if we personally define sin this way? Or we define it whether or not if we have hurt other people? The discussion of sin is becoming more vague in our generation. On this week’s insight, we will be reviewing what sin looks like according to the scriptures.
Scripture
2 Kings 21 & Hebrews 3
Overview
2 Kings 21 – This chapters talks about 2 kings who reigned over Judah. These two kings consciously and deliberately disobeyed God’s law and statutes. The first king was Manasseh. He build altars for pagan worship in God’s Temple. Later on his life he had an encounter with God, he then repented and started restoring the Temple. However, Manasseh’s son, Amon, continued the evil practices in his reign2.
Hebrews 3 – The first few chapters of Hebrews, Christ is being compared to angels, to Moses and to high priests. Chapter 3 specifically elaborates the comparison of Christ to Moses. The chapter explains how Christ is superior to Moses and how the New Covenant is higher than the Old Covenant2.
Observation
2 Kings 21:2 "And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord…"
Hebrews 3:12 "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God."
Application
There was a point of human history that people did not suffer, there was no illness, no death and people had a close relationship with God. This events were all documented in Genesis 1:28 – 2:24. But everything had changed when Adam and Eve disobeyed the only commandment of God to them in Eden (Genesis 3). Death reigned and judgement to condemnation fell to all (Romans 5:17-18) as a result of this act of disobedience by our ancestor. In order to know that we are sinning, we should be able to define sin in the light of biblical scriptures.
Pastor Leiter, in his book Justification and Regeneration, highlighted sin’s true nature according to the Bible. He characterized that sin is universal, all-pervasive, irrational, deceitful, hardening, enslaving, debasing, and defiling1. Yet, why do we keep sinning? And why we cannot determine whether our thoughts, actions and words are sin. Let’s dive into the answer.
Why we cannot tell what is sin?
Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God“3. This means, everyone (all) do sin, no exemption. But how can we know we are sinning? That is through our conscience. Conscience literal meaning is “with knowledge“. Pastor MacArthur on his comments for Romans 2:15 describes conscience as an “instinctive sense of right and wrong that produces guilt when violated“4. Our conscience can be good (according to God’s word) or evil (contrary to God’s words). In Romans 2, Paul urges the people of Rome not to violate their conscience for when done repeatedly it will be desensitize and hardened (v15). In Titus it is said, “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.” (1:15)3.
Therefore, feed your conscience with God’s word for it will surely guide you to avoid sin.
Why do we keep sinning?
Aside from our conscience being numb, the temporary pleasure brought about by sin causes us to be enslaved by it. And once enslaved you cannot escape it by yourself. Because more often than not we tend to rationalize our sins even though that it is obviously irrational. As sinners, we also think that we can escape a sin by not thinking about it or avoid it as much as we can. Yet, the enemy of God deceives, manipulates and tempts us to fall into other sins.
When we realize that we are still sinning we can get discouraged, depressed and feel unworthy, especially when we rely too much on ourselves to escape sin.
But because God is all good and loving, He provided the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He gave us His only begotten Son (John 3:16)3 to die on the cross for our sins. Instead of us having the death penalty because of our offenses, Jesus took our sentence from us out of God’s love. That does not mean we continue with our lives as we want it to be. We should first confess our sins (1 John 1:9)3, repent and convert form our evil ways (Acts 3:19)3 and believe that God raised Jesus Christ (our Lord) from the dead (Romans 10:9)3. Hence, the Holy Spirit will be with us to defend and strengthen us to avoid offending God (Acts 2:38).
Prayer
Almighty Father, we thank You for sending Jesus to save us from our sins. We acknowledge, that we are sinners and have offended you. That we are not good people, but hypocrites when we avoid owning our sins. Therefore, we confess our sins (mention your sins) to you and as for Your forgiveness. We thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us every day. We ask that Your Holy Spirit guide us and strengthen our faith in Christ that we may avoid temptations and sin.
All these we ask through Jesus Christ’s mighty name. Amen.
Reference
12009. Justification and Regeneration: Second Edition. Charles Leiter. Granted Ministries Press.
22012. Chronological Life Application Study Bible: New Living Translation. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
31989. King James Bible. Thomas Nelson, Inc.
42010. The MacArthur Study Bible: English Standard Version. Crossway Publishing.
