Drummoyne Baptist Blog

This week is my last article on the results of sin. To conclude the series, I want to look at how sin results in the curses that we experience in this life.

The Bible plainly tells us that because of sin painful curses fall upon man as he lives in the world: ‘However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him’ (Deuteronomy 28:15-20). And that is only part of the passage. The rest of the chapter outlines in greater detail what horrible things occur to man because of his sin, such as wasting diseases, natural disasters, wars and failed marriages. It would be a healthy exercise to read the rest of Deuteronomy 28 to remind you of all the terrible things that occur in this world as a direct result of sin.

Now I must be careful to emphasise that whenever you see someone suffering you cannot draw a direct line to a particular sin that they have committed. Jesus demonstrates this when he encounters a blind man: ‘As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus’ (John 9:1-3). However, we can say that this man would not have been born blind if there was no sin in the world. The Biblical principle is that we only experience pain and suffering here because there is sin here.

So what can we to do to avoid these curses? The sad fact is that while we live in this sinful world we will still continue to feel the effects of our sin and the sin of others. But the great hope for the Christian is that he can one day be completely cured of sin and placed in an environment where there is no sin and thus no curses. That place is heaven.

So although we cannot avoid the curses now, we can avoid them for eternity by repenting and believing in Jesus for our sins. Will you be cursed for eternity? Or have you repented and believed?

Joel Radford.

After a short break, we now return to our series on sin, particularly the results of sin. This week I want to look at how sin results in more sin.

When we sin, part of God’s punishment is to give us over to more and more sin. This is very clearly stated by Paul: ‘They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator–who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion’ (Romans 1:25-27). When you choose not to worship God, you are delivered into ever increasing amounts of sin.  In the context of this particular passage, we see that rejection of God leads to shameful lusts which includes the sin of homosexuality.

Yet we don’t need the Bible to tell us that once we begin sinning our sin abounds. As a child, the first time you tell a major lie to your parents there is an intense feeling of guilt. This guilty feeling may continue in subsequent lies, but over time the guilt subsides and it becomes easier and easier to lie. The same thing occurs with any sins that you may struggle with: swearing, lustful looks, drunkenness, gambling, shoplifting, showing up late to work, being lazy, getting angry with your spouse. The first few times it is unpleasant and maybe difficult to commit the sin. But before long you are sinning without even thinking about it.

So how do you break the vicious evil cycle? For if your sinning increases from a few small sins, imagine the sin that will come from sin compounded upon sin! Thankfully Jesus gives us the answer. He recognises that everyone who sins will sin again and again because they are enslaved to it: ‘I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin’ (John 8:34). However Jesus then tells us that he can break the cycle: ‘So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed’ (John 8:36). How does Jesus do it? He does it by his death on the cross – at the cross he was putting sin to death and if you trust his death and ask for his help he can help you put sin to death too.

Does your sin result in ever increasing sin? Or are you breaking the cycle because you are trusting in Christ?

Joel Radford

We have been looking at the results of sin and this week I want to look at how sin results in a guilty conscience.

Sinners feel the weight of their sin by their conscience. David gives us two examples. When he cuts off part of the robe of Saul (‘David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe’ 1 Samuel 24:4-5) and when he counts his soldiers (‘David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men’ 2 Samuel 24:10).

We also see that a guilty conscience is not a comfortable thing.  David immediately desires to have it removed: ‘David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men and he said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O LORD, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.”’ 2 Samuel 24:10.

But do all sins result in a guilty conscience? It is true that many people do not feel guilty for different sins that they have committed when they should. This is because part of the punishment for their sins is that their consciences have been damaged.  Paul describes this: ‘Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron’ (1 Timothy 4:2).

But usually we feel some guilt when we commit certain sins. Sometimes this feeling of guilt is overwhelming, like what David describes: ‘My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning. My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body. I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart’ (Psalm 38:4-8).

So what can remove our guilty consciences? Only the blood of Jesus: ‘How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!’ (Hebrews 9:14). By his death, Jesus paid for our sin so that God no longer considers us guilty. Those who trust in Jesus are not guilty.

Do you have a guilty conscience?  Repent and believe in Christ to gain a clear conscience from sin.

Joel Radford

We return this week to our series looking at the results of sin in man. Last time we saw that sin blinds the mind, this week I want to look at how sin results in a depraved mind.

When we sin, God gives us a depraved mind. Paul says: ‘Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done’ (Romans 1:28).

But what does it mean to have a depraved mind? The Greek word used in Romans 1:28 is the opposite of another Greek word that means to test something and find it passes. So the opposite of a passed test would mean a failed test. Thus a depraved mind is a failed mind. This is the sense in which the word is translated in 2 Corinthians 13:5. Another way of translating the word is by the word ‘unfit’, which is the sense in Titus 1:16 ‘They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.’

So if depraved means to be a failure and unfit, what does it mean to have a depraved mind? It means your mind doesn’t function the way it should. The mind is responsible for thinking and making decisions based on its reasoning through different outcomes. So if you have an unfit mind it means you cannot think clearly and cannot make right decisions.

Therefore it makes sense that a stupid mind would be the consequence of sin. Sin is a rejection of the knowledge of God as the one who is all-powerful and putting ourselves in charge instead. Such thinking is foolish. It demonstrates a clear inability to weigh up the consequences – if God is God, the last thing you want to do is cross him. So if you are going to make the dumbest decision in the world and reject God, your brain is obviously not working properly and you’re going to make more foolish decisions.

So how do we get a fit mind and start thinking clearly again? We need to accept the knowledge of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. He has revealed that if we accept him through repentance and faith we will begin thinking clearly and our minds will be renewed.

How is your mind? Is it depraved? A failure? Unfit? Or is it thinking clearly because it has accepted knowledge of God through Jesus Christ?

Joel Radford

As we continue to look at the results of sin, this week I want to look at the spiritual blindness that sin produces.

We all know that physical blindness means being in darkness and so not being able to see where you are going, but the Bible also speaks of a spiritual blindness. People who sin show that they are blind and walking around in darkness: ‘Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed’ (John 3:20). This blindness means that they do not understand Jesus and his teachings. The apostle Paul says: ‘The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God’ (2 Corinthians 4:4). It is as though sinful people have a physical barrier between them and Jesus. Therefore they cannot comprehend his warnings that the way they are going is straight to hell. So they blindly continue walking along the path that leads to their destruction.

How then does a sinful blind person begin to see clearly again? Well they need someone outside themselves to come and help them. Just as a physically blind person needs a doctor with vision to transplant functional eyes into their head, the spiritually blind need someone who has vision to come and give them sight. However that means no-one in the human race can help the spiritually blind, because everyone has sinned and is spiritually blind. No one can help themselves, let alone someone else.

But there was one person who never sinned and so was never blind – Jesus Christ. He is the eye doctor qualified to heal the blind and loves to do so: ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’ (John 8:12). If you come to Jesus and repent of your sins and ask him to cleanse you from your sins and blindness, he will.

Then those who follow Jesus can see and can actually be used by God to open other people’s eyes as well. Paul is told by Jesus that he is being sent to the Gentiles ‘to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light’ (Acts 26:18). Christians point people to the great eye doctor and so are helping heal the blind when people respond to Jesus.

Are you still blinded by sin? Or have you had your eyes opened and now are being used by God to open the eyes of others?

Joel Radford

For the last two weeks we have seen that sin results in rejection from God and makes people objects of God’s wrath. This week I want to look at how sin results in slavery to Satan.

But firstly, who is Satan? The Bible tells us that Satan is known by a number of names including Abaddon, Apollyon, Beelzebub, Belial, the accuser, the ancient serpent, the angel of the abyss, the devil, the enemy, the evil one, the father of lies, the prince of demons, the prince of this world, the ruler of the kingdom of the air and the tempter. He is the fallen angel who was present in the garden of Eden and is still living and active today in the world: ‘Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour’ (1 Peter 5:8). One of the most dangerous things that people can do is to disbelieve in Satan.

Yet the awful truth is that people who sin are slaves to this Satan. Sinful humans are spoken of in 2 Timothy 2:26 as being in ‘the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will’ (2 Timothy 2:26). The word ‘captive’ is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to refer to those people who are taken alive by soldiers. This is what has happened to those who fall into sin, they are taken alive by Satan and then subject to him. The problem is that Satan is not a righteous and holy angel who treats his slaves well. He is out for their destruction and wants to kill them. Jesus tells us this: ‘He was a murderer from the beginning’ (John 8:44).

So what hope is there for people to stay out of Satan’s control? One possibility would be not to sin. But the problem is that everyone has sinned which means that everyone has fallen into Satan’s trap and is his slave. Another possibility is that Satan would set us free himself, but Jesus says that is not logical and it would mean the end of Satan: ‘If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?’ (Matthew 12:26). The only possibility is that someone comes and sets us free from him. Thankfully Jesus is the one who tied up Satan and sets people free when they believe in him and repent of their sins. Paul tells us this when he instructs Timothy to gently instruct unbelievers ‘in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil’ (2 Timothy 2:25-26).

Are you still enslaved to Satan or have you been set free by Christ through repentance and faith in him?

Joel Radford

Last week we saw that our sin results in rejection by God.  Now I want to look at how our sin results in the wrath of God.

Firstly, it is necessary to affirm that God is indeed wrathful. Some people would rather not believe that God is a wrathful God. But God is repeatedly spoken of in the Bible as a wrathful God. For example, Psalm 7:11 says that God is regularly wrathful: ‘God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day.’

Secondly, we need to know what is wrath? It is a deliberate opposition to someone or something. This is not a friendly opposition, but an opposition that is associated with anger. We see this in God’s words in Ezekiel: ‘I will pour out my wrath upon you and breathe out my fiery anger against you’ (Ezekiel 21:31). But God’s wrath it is not an uncontrolled or irrational fury. God is a God of justice and so he does not flare up in unrighteous anger like humans do. When he opposes someone it is for good reason.

What, then, is the reason that God is wrathful with anyone? God is wrathful against those who show that they are against him by their sinful actions. As we have seen previously sin is a deliberate act of rebellion against God and so it is only natural that God would oppose such acts of rebellion. Thus sin makes people objects of God’s wrath. Paul affirms this: ‘All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath’ (Ephesians 2:3).

Therefore the wrath of God should be a very scary prospect to everyone as everyone is a sinner. It means the all powerful God has set his mind against you and is very angry. But thankfully God is willing to divert his wrath from sinners toward his Son, Jesus Christ. When Jesus hung on the cross he experienced the wrath of God. Jesus is therefore spoken of as the one ‘..who rescues us from the coming wrath’ (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

But did Jesus take the wrath of God for everyone? No. John tells us: ‘Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him’ (John 3:36). You need to accept Jesus as your saviour if you are to escape God’s wrath. Do you fear God’s wrath? Then accept Jesus as the sacrifice that absorbed the wrath of God for you. Do it now and flee the coming wrath of God against sinners.

Joel Radford

Now that we have examined what sin is and where it came from, I want to spend a few weeks looking at the results of sin. This week I want to examine the most obvious one, sin results in rejection by God.

Sinners have always been rejected by God. Sin is simply incompatible with the holiness of God and so sinful man cannot stand in his presence. As soon as Adam and Eve sinned they were forced to leave the Garden of Eden and God’s presence: ‘So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life’ (Genesis 3:23-24). The Israelites later recognise this rejection when they ask the question: ‘Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God?’ (1 Samuel 6:20).

Yet this rejection has not taken place completely. While we are sinners on earth we are not completely rejected by God. God continues to seek us and continues to give us blessings, such as sunshine and rain: ‘He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous’ (Matthew 5:45). But this won’t last forever. Eventually sinners will be completely rejected by God. This will take place on the coming day of judgement: ‘He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes…’ (2 Thessalonians 1:8-10).

But if everyone is a sinner and is completely sinful with nothing good in them, how will anyone be able to experience acceptance by God? Surely everyone will be rejected? This is true. Except that God in his mercy sent his Son into the world to be rejected by God the Father at the cross as a ‘rejection substitute’ for those who believe. This means that those who put their faith in Jesus will never be rejected because Jesus was rejected on their behalf. On judgement day instead of being eternally rejected, they will be eternally accepted into the presence of God: ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God’ (Revelation 21:3).

Are you a sinner rejected by God? Or are you a sinner who is accepted by God because of Christ?

Joel Radford

Most people recognise themselves as sinners.  They admit they do some things that are morally wrong and acknowledge it with the saying ‘nobody’s perfect’. But can sinners do anything that pleases God?

The Bible tells us that no person by their own strength can do anything that pleases God. Without Christ everyone sins all the time and when they are not committing great sin, all they are doing is committing splendid sins. The apostle Paul tells us plainly: ‘Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God’ (Romans 8:8). Meanwhile in the Old Testament Isaiah said, ‘all our righteous acts are like filthy rags’ (Isaiah 64:6).

But if you are a Christian, you are a sinner who can please God. Jesus says ‘If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing’ (John 15:5). Once you become a Christian and are with Christ, you are able to bear good and pleasing fruit despite being a sinner.

Now this may sound harsh. I have friends who are not Christians but appear to be lovely people. They have a genuine interest in others and try to help those who are suffering. Does that mean that they are always sinning and never pleasing God. The Bible says, ‘Yes’. How is a non-Christian sinning when they are being kind to the poor or helping the sick? It is their motive that is the problem. They are doing it not to serve the God who made them, but to serve another god. That god may be themselves or it may be a particular charity organisation for which they do volunteer work. Yes, they might be doing something that is declared by Scripture to be a righteous thing, but their motivation is wrong and a bad motivation makes a righteous act unrighteous. Everything we do should glorify God, not someone or something else.

So if someone genuinely wants to please God, they need to start with faith in him and that means faith in Christ. If they don’t start there they won’t get anywhere. Hebrews tells us this: ‘And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him’ (Hebrews 11:6). First, believe in God through Jesus Christ. Only then can you begin to please him by your actions.

Do you please God because you are in Christ, or do you displease God because you are outside of Christ?

Joel Radford

As we continue on in our series on sin, I want to look at whether parts of a person are sinful and other parts are pure. For instance are your emotions sinful but your mind is not?

The Bible tells us that all of every person is totally affected by sin – intellect, emotion, will, even our physical bodies. This is because sin has corrupted the human heart as told to us in that memory verse that most of us learnt as children: ‘The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure’ (Jeremiah 17:9). But what does it matter that the heart is corrupted by sin? How does it affect everything else? Well God teaches us that the heart is the centre of the soul: ‘Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life’ (Proverbs 4:23). So if the heart is corrupted everything else that is a part of you is also corrupted. Once the heart goes, everything else goes.

Jesus also confirms that the heart is ultimately responsible for the sin that man commits. One example is Luke 6:45: ‘The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks’. Another example is where Jesus lists actual sins as having their origin in the heart: ‘For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’’ (Matthew  15:19-20). This means you cannot blame your hand for hitting someone else or your mouth for gossiping. It is your heart and therefore every part of you that is responsible.

But if the heart is beyond cure (as Jeremiah 17:9 says) then what hope do we have for any part of us to be saved from sin and the punishment that we deserve? There is no hope. Unless we get a new heart that replaces our old sinful heart. Is it possible to get a new heart? Yes. God gives away sin-free hearts that then affect every part of you and you are actually able to do good rather than evil. God promises this in Ezekiel 36:26 ‘I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh’. How do you signup for a new heart with the divine heart surgeon? Well he uses the surgical tools of repentance and faith. He promises that anyone who truly repents of their sin and trusts in Jesus’ death for them instantly has a brand new heart. Have you had heart surgery?

Joel Radford