Perceptions of Sin

Recently, one of the ladies at Summersville stepped on my toes and made an excellent point concerning the existence of Satan. Essentially, she said that we (Christians) get so caught up in proving the existence and reality of both God and Heaven that we often forget to express the existence and reality of both Satan and Hell.  For me, this point struck home because even though I often make references to Satan, it is typically just in passing.  When was the last time you heard a sermon strictly on the existence of Satan and his active efforts to obtain your soul?

Are you scared of Satan?

In all honesty, we spend very little time examining how Satan is an active adversary and we more often than not treat him as though he were a fairy tale.  Satan is thrilled that many Christians take this perspective of him! If we convince ourselves that he either doesn’t exist or that he isn’t powerful, then we will not view him as a viable threat.  Wouldn’t that make us easy targets?

Modern Christians get so caught up in the rhetoric of political correctness and misguided compassion that we forget how truly vile sin is to appear to us.  While we are to be compassionate towards the person in sin, which is to be shown through our willingness to aid them in finding the truth, we are not to be compassionate towards the sin.  Our society has lead us to believe that sin isn’t really that bad or that it is a state of being rather than a choice.  Sadly, many Christians have fallen for this rhetoric and so we believe that alcoholism is a disease and homosexuality is something some people are born into.  In essence, we cannot differentiate between the sinner and the sin.

How did the inspired authors of the New Testament view sin? Peter, speaking of Christians who return to the world after having tasted salvation, does not paint a very pretty picture of sin.  He does not paint sin as something an individual “sacrifices” in order to become a Christian, but rather as something disgusting and revolting.  In fact, Peter likens a Christian returning to sin as a dog returning to eat its own vomit and a pig returning to wallow in its own excrement.  Does that glorify sin? How often do we refer to sin in such a manner? Unfortunately, we rarely refer to sin in this disgusting manner; we water down how bad sin truly is in efforts of not offending the person caught up in it.

Consider also how Jude depicts sin: “And on some have compassion, making a distinction [from the false prophets]; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh” (Jude 1:22-23).  Jude does an excellent job of differentiating between the sin and the sinner: “…pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.”  The terminology in this passage is active, not passive; Jude does not merely suggest that we subtly recommend that individuals cease sinning, but rather he says that we are to pull them from the fire.  If someone were literally on fire, would we subtly suggest that they need to be saved from it? Or would we pull them from it? If we are willing to pull someone physically from a fire without fear of being perceived as not being compassionate enough, then why are we not as willing to do so for their eternal soul?

From the inspired New Testament writers, we have learned that sin is vile and disgusting.  We have also learned that sinners need to be actively pursued and pulled from the fire; sinners need salvation, not “understanding” concerning the sin in which they reside!

In addition to how we view sin, we need to carefully consider our perception of Satan.  Is he passive or aggressive? Does he simply sit by and hope that we fall into sin, or does he seek us out? What do the Scriptures say on this issue?

In 1 Peter 5:8, we read that our “adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”  Peter does not seem to be under the misconception that Satan is passive, but rather aggressive to the extreme.  Perhaps our perception of reality has been skewed by the many movies depicting lions as cute, cuddly creatures and we don’t fully understand what Peter is saying.  Or do we simply overlook this danger? Was Satan passive in Genesis 3, or was he actively seeking to make mankind sin?

Are you scared of Satan?

We often depict how glorious Heaven will be for the saved (as we should), but do we depict Hell as the pit of despair that it truly is? Do we give people a reason to be frightened of Hell? God certainly provides us with enough evidence of not only the existence of Hell, but of why we do not want to end up there.  Do we pass that evidence on?

In Mark 9, Jesus establishes the principle that we are to do whatever it takes to avoid sin in our lives because of the horrors of Hell, which is summed up numerous times in the chapter by the repetition of the phrase, “Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.”  Consider also the depiction of Hades in Luke 16:19-31; the rich man was so tormented that he sought the relief of a single drop of water (16:24).  Does this seem like a place that we should passively hope to avoid?

Unfortunately, many Christians today are under the misconception that sin actually holds worth or value and that giving it up is the same as giving up freedom.  Does sin have value? Are we making a sacrifice to obtain salvation? In John 8:34, Jesus says that “whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” Does this depict freedom that Satan wants us to believe it is? If we do away with sin, then we are no longer slaves of sin (Romans 6:5-7).  We aren’t sacrificing sin, we are being freed from sin.

Additionally, we work so hard to keep people from feeling bad about the sin in their life that we forget that they are supposed to feel sorry.  Too many times, Christians seek to make a person feel good about where they are before they have the right to do so; in other words, we want to pass over godly sorrow and go right to the feeling we ought to get with salvation.  Paul discusses this concept in 2 Corinthians 7 where he expresses that he is saddened that making the Corinthian’s sorrowful for their sin was necessary, but that it was in fact necessary.  Individuals living in sin have to have godly sorrow, because godly sorrow leads to repentance…which leads to salvation! The purpose is not to create despair within a sinner where they are hopeless, but rather to create in them this godly sorrow and the realization that God can save them from this condition if they are obedient to Him. 

Our conclusion concerning not only sin, but this life as well, should be the same as Solomon’s and Paul’s conclusion.  Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 12:13 that man should “Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all” and Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  This is the manner by which we should live and the attitude we should express to those around us.