Don’t Entertain Your Sin
June 12, 2024
In my Bible plan this morning, I read Judges 21:25, “In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.”
“They did what was right in their own eyes” appears a couple of times in the book of Judges (17:6 and 21:25). In these verses, the phrase describes a season in Israel’s history when the people turned away from God and did what they wanted, rather than following God’s law. You can compare the phrase to today’s philosophy of ’if it feels right, then do it’ or ‘you be you.’
This is not an endorsement of well managed self-regulation. This is condemnation of rebellion against God.
Sin can be summarized as serving oneself instead of serving God. If God’s truth revealed in scripture guides you to change, and you reject that direction, that’s sin.
Like the Israelites in the book of Judges, even some Christians rebel against God in the name of their autonomy or independence. Reasoning like, ‘I don’t like the Bible verses rebuking greed, sexual immorality, or racism, so I’ll just read the other parts.’ ’I don’t like the church’s strategy for mission, so I’ll withhold God’s tithe.’ ‘I don’t like what this person said or did, so I’ll gossip about them, instead of talking to them, like Jesus commanded.’
Look at the direction the Israelites took in their rebellion against God in Judges 2:11-14.
“The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal. … This made the Lord burn with anger against Israel, so he handed them over to raiders who stole their possessions. He turned them over to their enemies all around, and they were no longer able to resist them.”
When Christians don’t love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. When we don’t love Jesus, because Jesus said if you love me, you’ll keep my commandments, we risk angering God, being handed over to raiders who steal possessions or turned over to enemies who they can no longer resist.
Okay, that may not be the exact scenario we’ll face if we rebel against God. But as a Pastor, when I observe the sin patterns of people, church members, or even church leaders across the country, it almost inevitably hurts them, the people they love, or the fruitfulness of their church.
So don’t do that. Don’t entertain your sin and rebellion against God. Admit it. Repent it. Make restitution to anyone affected.
The Good News, you ask? In the name of Jesus, you will be forgiven!
Is there more? Yes! Church history contains the stories of great revival beginning when the people of the church simply deal with their sin. In contrasting the prayer of the Pharisee and Tax Collector, Jesus said, “I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”