Is God serious about sin is a question most people will never ask. If you are the one asking the question, you will get a multitude of answers. Many will answer that there is no God, so it doesn’t warrant an answer. Then, there are those who believe there is a God, but He is distant and not concerned about our lives. Another group that believes in God, and has made a profession of faith, believes that we have an Almighty, all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful God, but He loves us too much to be concerned with our sin. Some believe that once we have accepted Jesus as our personal Savior we are forgiven, and no matter what we do, we are still going to Heaven. Then, we have a group that uses scripture to answer the questions of life. Those who take scripture in context, and give answers based on what God says and how He has acted in the past. From this group you will get an unequivocal yes, God is very serious about sin.
Before we can answer this question a definition of sin is needed. Sin is missing the mark. In other words, God has a standard and anything that does not measure up is a sin. Anything less than complete obedience is a sin. When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God in the Garden of Eden, they sinned. Because they sinned all mankind inherited a sin nature, and we are all sinners. Because of our sin nature, we sin. God is a holy God and will not allow sin into Heaven. Isiah 64:6 teaches us that all our righteousness is as filthy rags to God. On our own, we can’t do anything to please Him apart from Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 64:6 “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
Now that we have established all mankind as sinners and no sin will enter Heaven, let’s see how serious God is about sin. We know that God loves us and desires for us to be with Him in Heaven. John 3:16 teaches us that He gave his only Son Jesus to die for our sins. This was to make a way possible for us to be forgiven and become at one with God. He became the atonement for our sins.
We know that God loves us, but love is not enough to save us from the penalty of sin. It was love that put Jesus on the cross, but it was God’s holiness that required it. If love were enough God could have just “loved” us into Heaven. However, His holiness governs His love. He cannot violate His nature of holiness. For this reason, sin must be punished, and Jesus was the only one that could be the sacrifice for our sins. He was God in the flesh, sent to earth, born of a virgin, and lived on this earth to experience the same temptations and struggles that we face, yet He never sinned. God is so serious about sin that he sacrificed His perfect Son to make a way possible to have a relationship with Him. Love on its own is not enough.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
God is serious about sin! In Genesis chapter 6 God saw that the whole world was living a wicked life without Him, except Noah and his family. Noah warned those who were without God for over 100 years! They had many opportunities to repent and turn to God and be saved from the destruction that was about to come. They chose, but they chose wrong.
Genesis 6:5-8 “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repented me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”
God was serious in Genesis 19. Lot, Abrahams nephew, lived in a city known for its wicked sin of sodomy. God gave ample opportunity for people to believe and leave the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah before its destruction came. Those living in these cities enjoyed their sin and saw no need for God or His commandments. Lot, his wife, and two of his daughters left. Lot and two of his daughters survived, but his wife disobeyed God, looked back, and was destroyed.
Genesis 19:24-26 “Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.”
God is serious about all sin. We classify sin as little and big, but it’s all serious to God. He makes that clear in Acts chapter 5 when Ananias and his wife Sapphira lied about selling a possession. They had said they would give a certain part to the Lord, but when it sold it was more than they had anticipated. They conspired to keep the price among themselves and pay only the portion they wanted to pay. They lied to Peter, but Peter says the real offense was they lied to the Holy Spirit. When Ananias came to the church and lied, he dropped dead. About three hours later, his wife came to the church, lied, and she fell dead also.
God’s view of sin was so serious that it required the death of His Son as a payment for our sins. So, the next time you do, say, or think something that would not be pleasing to God, remember what it cost Him. None of us can live in sinless perfection on this earth, but we need to seek to sin less. Our goal should be to please God in everything we do, all the time.
It is bad enough that our sin hurts others, but it is worse that our sin hurts the one who loves us more than anyone. Our sin is an attack on His love, holiness, His mercy, His grace, and the sacrifice of His Son.
Psalm 51:4 “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight”
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