Is sin contempt before God?

-
English: Saint paul arrested
English: Saint paul arrested (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In this section (Numbers 25:1-8) we see some lessons about sin, and helps us to understand why sin is aptly labeled "cosmic treason." First of all because sin is contempt toward God. That's pictured in the fact that this occurs right as the people are assembled before God, and this man acts this way right in the sight of everyone. It's contempt. Now most people don't believe that sin is contempt toward God. We have more polite terms like "It was a mistake," "I messed up." At the heart of it is contempt; a contemptuous attitude toward the person and the work of God, toward His holiness and righteousness in particular.

So next time you're talking with that friend and that family member and you're discussing sin and they start to use language like "I messed up," just say to them, "No, I think you have contempt toward God." And do you know what they will say? They'll say something like, "No I don't. When that happened I wasn't even thinking about God!" And you just say "Exactly...exactly."

That's the nature of the contempt. It's not retaining the knowledge of God in our life and in our actions, in our heart, in our affections. It's the suppressing of that knowledge of God as Paul describes it in Romans 1. That's what the contempt is. We are to be consumed with love for God and worship of God, and because we're sinners and misshapen in our sin, the contempt manifests itself in the least as not thinking about God, but delighting in the sin. That's why sin is treasonous.

In Genesis 3:15, the Lord promised to put enmity, promised to put hostility between the seed of the woman, namely Christ and her descendants, and the serpent himself. We read quite plainly and quite accurately and helpfully in Romans 8 that the carnal mind, the mind set on the flesh, is hostile to God. Somehow the hostility has entered into us so that we are now contemptuous of God, we are alienated from Him, and we are estranged from Him, and we are at enmity not with the serpent, but with God. Treasonous.

James 4 tells us, "Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God" (James 4:4).

Related articles

Enhanced by Zemanta

Popular posts from this blog

Speaking in tongues for today - Charles Stanley

-
Image
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. … But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. … And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. … Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way - 1 Corinthians 12:4, 7, 28, 30—31 The Lord Jesus Christ had come and gone. The church—newly birthed—was in a transition time. The new covenant was seen as a threat to the Jewish leaders; therefore, there was persecution for those who had chosen to follow Christ. The new religion, in its infant stages, had no Bible, few leaders, and absolutely no support from the government. Astounding that it survived, isn’t it?  How in the world did it survive with so little going for it? Power. Not just a force, but mighty, visible power. This new church
Read more

What is the glory (kabod) of God?

-
Image
2 CORINTHIANS 4:17 "This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." Scripture places a high value on God 's glory, and it is not hard to figure out why. Since the inherent glory of the Lord is something that He will not share with others (Isa. 42:8), we know that His glory is something that He prizes highly; indeed, He prizes it more highly than anything else. We should, therefore, set the glory of God as the goal and overarching emphasis of our lives. Whatever we lose for the sake of making the Lord's glory known will be worth it when we see the dazzling light and beauty of; the divine glory (28:5; Rev. 21:23). Glory has to do with light and beauty, but those aspects do not sum up what the Bible means when it speaks of the glory of God. Interestingly, the Hebrew word kabod , which is translated into English as "glory," has the root meaning of "weight" or "heaviness."
Read more

The Holy Spirit causes us to cry out: Abba, Father

-
Image
Pentecostés. Óleo sobre lienzo, 275 × 127 cm. Madrid, Museo del Prado. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) To bring out the same truth in another way, Paul says God sent Jesus (as a Man) to live under the Law in order “to redeem those under law, that we [Jews and Gentiles ] might receive the full rights [adoption] of sons” ( Galatians 4:5).  By “full rights” or “adoption” he means entering into the privileges and responsibilities of sonship. He uses it also of the sonship of Israel (Romans 9:4). Galatians 4:1, 2 indicate that the son and heir of a wealthy family in Paul’s day would be treated as a slave until he became of age.  Then he would receive the adoption, that is, all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities that belonged to an adult member of that family. Adoption was also used in the modern sense, so that Gentiles who were not sons of Abraham became true heirs, true sons of God , by faith.  Jesus died, not just to save us from the fires of hell, but to make it p
Read more