Wrong And Right

"If you 'like' sin, then you are wrong."

WE HAVE glorified rebellion. I have a right to do as I choose to do. You may say to go north, but I have the right to go south if I want. And knowing you disagree and have said not to, I will now defend my right to do it. These states rebelled, choosing their independence from England, and God supported it. He needed an ally for Israel. (“God Writes History” https://sdwauthor.blogspot.com/2021/10/god-writes-history.html).

Sin is not rebellion. It is doing wrong. This is not the same thing. We did no wrong in God’s eyes to become a nation. Though we rebelled against man, we walked after God. But Satan (Lucifer) chose wrong, he sinned and fell like lightning from God’s kingdom (Luke 10:18).

Sin is wrong. Wrong and Right are only defined in God’s eyes. He is righteous, a word meaning holiness and the actions of holiness. Holiness is purity of thought, word, and behavior. It is following God’s ways. To choose not to be holy is to be in sin. It is not rebellion of choice because you “like” something else. If you “like” sin, then you are wrong, and your choice to sin, to do what God has said is sinful, has results. Satan was a beautiful angelic being, full of God’s nature and operating in His wisdom. After he fell, we see him in the garden inhabiting a snake. Because there was nothing left of him but a lot of talk. He is now destroyed by Jesus. The word there in Hebrews 2:14, which tells us this, means “rendered useless.” He went from a ministering spirit full of Light (Hebrews 1:14) to being nothing at all.

Men have the choice to create another god, small g, and to worship it. But this is sin against God. That’s what all sin is – AGAINST GOD. It is in opposition to God, hostile to God. Rebellion against God is sin. Rebellion against man often is not. Here is a line in the sand which only knowing God will show it clearly. Satan said he would exalt his throne (he did not have a throne) above God’s throne (Isaiah 14:12-14). That was sin. The colonists said God gave them the right to self-govern. That was rebellion against man but not against God.

Men have tried to blur the two. This is only possible in our own vision and is extremely dangerous. We may see things from the vantage point of sin and say a behavior is okay nowadays, but how does God see it? And are you now blind to the Truth? Here are the words of Romans 1:32. Speaking of men or of devils, we read, “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them (Remedy).” Have we justified what God hates?

“These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.” (Proverbs 6:16-19)

The rules of Old Covenant Law were to prevent Israel from sinning. They had spent 400 years in Egypt watching the Egyptians worship false gods and had left there with it engrained in their thinking. Throughout the Old Testament, we see the nation worshiping at high places, so God made them worship Him inside a tent. They offered their children as sacrifices to Molech and other small-g gods, so God said it must be a spotless animal of a specific type that was offered to Him. There would be no human sacrifices, only the animals that are clean and of the greatest value, and only in a way that required the one who brought it to offer it so that nothing of themselves was involved, no pride or arrogance or public worship, just great humility. He designed the temple, the altar, the methods of sacrifice, the type of worship, and gave it all specific names to keep Israel’s eyes on Jehovah and to cause them to let go of what is sin. [Good Reading: Hebrews 9.]

They said, “Just let us worship as we please and we’ll take the consequences.” God said, “No, I will love you and pour out mercy for my name’s sake.” (Ezekial 20:32)

“Do this, because God has given us his Spirit. And his Spirit does not cause us to be afraid of things. Instead, he causes us to be powerful. He causes us to love God and other people. And he causes us to rule ourselves properly.” (2 Timothy 1:7, EasyEnglish)

“God has saved us and he has chosen us to be his people. So, he wants us to be completely good and clean. He did not save us because of anything good that we have done. He did it because it was his own purpose. He did it because he is so very kind. He decided to be kind to us before time began. He decided to be kind by what Christ Jesus would do for us.” (2 Timothy 1:9, EasyEnglish)

We cannot rewrite God’s Word. We either have revelation of it and KNOW GOD intimately, or we walk in ignorance and misunderstanding. There is no human way to delete sin. All men must accept the work of Jesus’ death and Resurrection in order to have their sins erased and to not be sinful. God’s love did that. He went to the greatest extreme, suffering horrible pain and humiliation, at His own expense, not because anyone else required it. But because He knew man’s thinking. Everyone wants a conquering hero, and we have one in Jesus Christ. He is God who became man. He is now King. But He conquered death by proving it has no hold on God’s things. He knew that it would take submission to death and God’s life returning (only God has life) for the fullness of His love and power to be known. Even greater, our knowing we have sinned comes from Him. Knowing it isn’t God stamping out our individuality, as some have thought, but that our individuality is not dependent on what He says is sin.

God made apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11), nursery workers, moms and dads, husband and wife, artists of amazing workmanship, singers of all genres, cultures, and styles. Think of creation’s variety and know that He loves it. It all came from Him, how it functions, how it works together in environments and dependance. Making clones is not like Him at all. He loves you as you. But He hates sin and wants us to be His children, who imitate their Father in everything, including obedience, of which Jesus is our example. Even when it required a painful death, He submitted to it, the joy of our salvation and His Father’s happiness, being what was in His view.

“Everyone knows the kinds of bad things that people can do by their own human power. They have sex with people who are not their own wife or husband. They think and they do dirty things. They do things that people ought to be very ashamed to do. They worship false gods. They ask bad spirits to help them. They become enemies and they fight. They hate other people because they themselves want to be like those people. They become very angry without any good reason. They want to be more important than other people. They refuse to agree, and so they belong to separate groups. They want things that are other people’s. They are drunks. They have parties where they do all kinds of bad things. I have told you before how dangerous it is to do these things. And now I am telling you again. People who do things like this will not be God’s people. They will not belong to God’s people that he rules over. Nor will they receive the things that God has prepared for his people.” (Galatians 5:19-21 EasyEnglish)

“The Spirit, on the other hand, brings a harvest of love, joy, peace; patience towards others, kindness, benevolence; good faith, meekness, self-restraint.” (Galatians 5:22 WMTH)

Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com