What is Sin, Pt. 2

If you have a question in your mind whether or not something is a sin, you must ask yourself whether or not we are misusing God’s creation to give glory to someone else, ourselves, or the devil. Let’s take Galatians 5:19-21 for example. It says, “19Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Let’s group these sins into some categories that define what sin really is.
First, again, sin is going against the original purpose of the creation of God. God told Adam and Eve in the Garden, saying, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” Therefore, if it causes one to not be fruitful, multiply, bring healing and walk in authority, then it is a sin! If it causes someone to bring about division, stunt growth, or allows someone to be controlled, both spiritually and physically, it is a sin. Adam and Eve were to be fruitful. Jesus said, “Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:4-6). In this statement by Jesus Christ, He exposed the sins of adultery, fornication (which consists of sex before marriage or with other partners whom you are not married to), cohabitation, homosexuality, and polygamy. I do not want to get on a rabbit trail, but marriage is a covenant before God between one man and one woman. Anything outside of that is sin!
 
Some may argue that a law in the Old Testament was never enforced, but the adulterous act of polygamy always brought a curse and destruction, just as anything else that is outside of the original purpose of God’s creation. In Genesis 16:1-4, Abraham’s wife, Sara, despised Hagar for allowing, even supporting, Abraham to have sex with her and giving birth to Ishmael. Later, in Genesis 21:1-16, Sarah in her old age gave birth to Isaac, who Ishmael would began to mock. Sara was provoked to anger and urged Abraham to cast out the bondwoman, who, of course, would be Hagar and Ishmael. This problem should have never happened, and the seed of Ishmael and the seed of Isaac, which are the Muslims and Jews, still go to war to this very day. In 1 Samuel 1, a man named Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Hannah was barren while Peninnah had sons and daughters. Elkanah had given portions to his sons and daughters, but he had given a a worthy portion to Hannah because of his love for her. Penninah here is considered her adversary because she provoked her to anger and grief because the LORD had shut up Hannah’s womb, but the very God that had it closed could also open it! She would pour out her soul and call upon the LORD, making a vow to Him that if He gave her a child, she would give him back to Him. Sometimes God is just waiting for us to call upon Him to move in the situation. So, God gave her Samuel, who would become a Nazarite and anointed priest before God. Because of her faithfulness, God would also give her three more sons and 2 daughters. But turmoil was in the home because Elkanah had two wives.
 
David had several concubines and wives, but his sin with Bathseba resulted in the death of her husband, Uriah the Hittite, as David set it up in 2 Samuel 11. He would later write Psalm 51 because of it, saying things like, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit” (vv. 10-12). But this all derived from polygamy. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines, but according to 1 Kings 11:1-11, he began to chase after the gods of these women, turning his back on Jehovah, even after God warned him a couple of times. It is the reason why Deuteronomy 17:17 says, “Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.” It was still a sin, and because of it, the kingdom would be rent from his son’s hands and given over to his servant. None of these things should have happened, but polygamy opened the door for them.
 
Sin is also a work that glorifies someone or something else besides God, which consists of such sins as witchcraft, idolatry, etc. Self-centeredness is a work that glorifies self and puts self above others. Oswald Chambers said that sin is “my claim to my right to myself.” Therefore, sin is selfishness. Christianity is not about self-centeredness but rather self-denial. Jesus said, “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mark 8:34). Selfishness includes such works as hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, and revellings. All of these works points towards trying to cause division, which is carnal wisdom, instead of being fruitful and multiplying in the kingdom of God. Take drunkenness for example. Some people argue that drinking is not a sin when the fact of the matter is that “wine is a mocker, and strong drink is raging” (Proverbs 20:1). When nothing good comes out of something, the best thing you can do is stay away from it! The truth is most people who have a drunk lifestyle more than likely have a deeper issue than meets the eye. Alcoholism is only covering the real hurt and pain, and, therefore, in order to cure the drunkenness, someone has to allow the LORD to heal the pain that is on the inside. Consuming alcohol and driving behind the wheel can lead to that innocent couple dying in a car accident and them being buried in a graveyard way before it was their time. This was not God’s will, and His will surely does not happen all the time. If it did, man would have never sinned. If it did, then no one would die lost and go to hell, for 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Nonetheless, people still do. It leads to hangovers, vomiting, and major headaches. Drunkenness causes your thinking to be impaired. Anything that causes your thinking to be impaired and you to be outside of your character and who you really are is a sin. This is misusing God’s creation. It is not God’s will for some young man to die from an overdose when he was called to change nations through the preaching and evangelizing of the gospel. Tell someone who is parents of that young man it is alright to drink, and they will beg to tell you different!
 
Any time someone in scripture drank sin resulted. Noah’s drunkenness led to Ham’s homosexual act. Lot’s drunkenness led to the first act of incest recorded in scripture, and his descendants through his daughters formed the Moabites and Ammonites, people who served as enemies of Israel. Nothing good comes out of it. Some can twist the scriptures, such as Jesus turning water into wine when it takes 30 days for wine to be fermented so that one can potentially be intoxicated, but a perversion or twisting of the gospel to fit one’s lifestyle is a sin. We must not change the meaning of scripture to fit our lifestyle, but we must change our lifestyle to fit His! Ephesians 5:18 in the Geneva Bible says, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess: but be fulfilled with the Spirit.” “Excess” is not speaking of “having too much”, but rather of riotous behavior because that is where it will lead you to: rebellion and perversion. Solomon warned that when someone is intoxicated that their eyes “shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things” (Proverbs 23:33). It leads to a great deal of sin. Why open the door to sin? Just say “no” to sin and “yes” to God, and allow His Spirit to guide your life. Then, you can walk in the authority that God has designed you to function in and make a difference in many lives for His glory!