Maybe you feel that God is far away. Maybe you feel like you can’t hear Him and He doesn’t hear you, but:
Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call. It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.
Isaiah 59:2 (NLT)
When you come to the place where you realize:
- Sin is deadly serious, and God is deadly serious about sin
- God loves you, and wants you to live, so He commands you to turn away and refuse it
- You’ve sinned, and the things you’ve done have earned you the death penalty
- You don’t have the strength to stop. When you sin you become a slave to it
Then it’s time to:
- Confess your sin to God – meaning agree with God that what you’ve done is wrong, and that you could’ve chosen to do right, but instead chose wrong
- Agree that His judgment is just and true – that your sin has brought the death penalty, and surrender to Him with no excuses – hands in the air, “guilty as charged”
- Ask Jesus to pay the penalty for your sin in your place and forgive you
- Ask Jesus to remove the sin and rebellion from your heart and to give you a new heart and a new spirit that wants to do what’s right
- Ask Jesus to give you His Holy Spirit and all the strength and ability to live a holy life (ask for this every day! The day we stop living by His strength and ability is the day we will start the journey back to a life of sin and rebellion)
- Each day, choose to put all your rebellion behind you, put to death your old self and it’s sinful desires
- Praise God for the new, pure, heart and life He has freely given you! and don’t go back to your old life
Oh, what joy for those
whose disobedience is forgiven,
whose sin is put out of sight!
Yes, what joy for those
whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt,
whose lives are lived in complete honesty!
When I refused to confess my sin,
my body wasted away,
and I groaned all day long.
Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me.
My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.Finally, I confessed all my sins to you
and stopped trying to hide my guilt.
I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.”
And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.Therefore, let all the godly pray to you while there is still time,
that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment.
For you are my hiding place;
you protect me from trouble.
You surround me with songs of victory.The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.
I will advise you and watch over you.
Do not be like a senseless horse or mule
that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.”Many sorrows come to the wicked,
Psalm 32 (New Living Translation)
but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord.
So rejoice in the Lord and be glad, all you who obey him!
Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!
What is sin?
I grew up with a lot of prior assumptions about things like sin. I’ve learned that it’s best to put aside my own ideas and let scripture teach me. So let’s do that.
You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;
Isaiah 14:13-14 ESV
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.
Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart,
Isaiah 47:8-11 ESV
“I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children”
Satan lived in heaven with God, but decided to make himself like God.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:1-5 ESV
He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
Matthew 13 ESV
The ‘field’ is you in Matthew 13:3-23, and the ‘field’ is the world in Matthew 13:24-43. Sin has taken root in the world, and sin has taken root in our own hearts. The seeds of sin and righteousness are growing up together in the world and in your life. The seeds of sin grow up to produce death and destruction. The seeds of righteousness grow up to produce life, peace, and joy. Which seeds will you water and grow? Once fully grown you can distinguish them easily.
The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
Matthew 13:39-43 ESV
[Then] Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified.
Isaiah 60:21 ESV
Here’s a summary: God made the world perfect, we listened to others instead of God and rebelled against Him. God has chosen to give everyone a chance to turn from sin and to be reunited with God our Father. There’s a day coming when the opportunity to accept God’s free gift of forgiveness will be past, and then the evil in this world will be removed from it, and the righteous will inherit the earth.
But how do we turn from sin and become righteous? You can’t. God can and will do it if you ask Him. You can work at it for a while, but in the end it’s an impossible task for us.
While the wages of sin is death, Jesus took our sin on himself, and died in our place. All that you have to do is ask Jesus to take your sins away, and believe that died for your sins and rose again as evidence of His authority to give you a new life – free from sin, with a heart that loves to do what is right!
We have to live this new life by the power of His Holy Spirit. Step-by-step, we have to allow Him to prune away everything corrupt in us, and renew us daily.
Let’s look closer at the things God calls sin. What are they? What effect do they have?
For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.
Mark 7:21-23
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
Matthew 5:21-22 ESV
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Matthew 5:27-30
“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Matthew 5:31-32
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
Matthew 5:38-42
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:43-48 NIV
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Galatians 5:19-26 NIV
Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NIV
What sorrow awaits you who lie awake at night, thinking up evil plans.
Micah 2:1-2, 2:8-9, 6:11-12, 7:2-6, Hosea 10:13, Jeremiah 5:26-28, 5:30-31 NLT
You rise at dawn and hurry to carry them out, simply because you have the power to do so.
When you want a piece of land, you find a way to seize it.
When you want someone’s house, you take it by fraud and violence.
You cheat a man of his property, stealing his family’s inheritance.
You steal the shirts right off the backs of those who trusted you, making them as ragged as men returning from battle.
You have evicted women from their pleasant homes and forever stripped their children of all that God would give them.
What shall I say about the homes of the wicked filled with treasures gained by cheating? What about the disgusting practice of measuring out grain with dishonest measures? How can I tolerate your merchants who use dishonest scales and weights?
The rich among you have become wealthy through extortion and violence.
Your citizens are so used to lying that their tongues can no longer tell the truth.
The godly people have all disappeared; not one honest person is left on the earth.
They are all murderers, setting traps even for their own brothers.
Both their hands are equally skilled at doing evil!
Officials and judges alike demand bribes.
The people with influence get what they want, and together they scheme to twist justice. Even the best of them is like a brier; the most honest is as dangerous as a hedge of thorns.
But your judgment day is coming swiftly now. Your time of punishment is here, a time of confusion.
Don’t trust anyone— not your best friend or even your wife!
For the son despises his father. The daughter defies her mother.
The daughter-in-law defies her mother-in-law.
Your enemies are right in your own household!
You have plowed wickedness, you have harvested injustice,
You have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your way,
They set a trap, they catch people.
Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and rich.
They are fat, they are sleek, they also excel in deeds of wickedness;
They do not plead the cause, the cause of the orphan, so that they may be successful;
And they do not defend the rights of the poor.
An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land:
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority;
And My people love it this way! [NASB]
Listen, O heavens! Pay attention, earth! This is what the Lord says:
“The children I raised and cared for have rebelled against me….
Wash yourselves and be clean!
Get your sins out of my sight.
Give up your evil ways.
Learn to do good.
Seek justice.
Help the oppressed.
Defend the cause of orphans.
Fight for the rights of widows.“Come now, let’s settle this,”
Isaiah 1:2 & 1:16-20 NLT
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
I will make them as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson,
I will make them as white as wool.
If you will only obey me,
you will have plenty to eat.
But if you turn away and refuse to listen,
you will be devoured by the sword of your enemies.
I, the Lord, have spoken!”
And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;
Isaiah 5:7-8 NIV
for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.
Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field
till no space is left and you live alone in the land.
When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.
Isaiah 8:19-22 NIV
Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call.
It’s your sins that have cut you off from God.
Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.Your hands are the hands of murderers, and your fingers are filthy with sin.
Your lips are full of lies, and your mouth spews corruption.No one cares about being fair and honest.
The people’s lawsuits are based on lies.
They conceive evil deeds and then give birth to sin.They hatch deadly snakes and weave spiders’ webs.
Whoever eats their eggs will die; whoever cracks them will hatch a viper.Their webs can’t be made into clothing, and nothing they do is productive.
All their activity is filled with sin, and violence is their trademark.Their feet run to do evil, and they rush to commit murder.
They think only about sinning.
Misery and destruction always follow them.They don’t know where to find peace or what it means to be just and good.
They have mapped out crooked roads, and no one who follows them knows a moment’s peace.So there is no justice among us, and we know nothing about right living.
We look for light but find only darkness. We look for bright skies but walk in gloom.We grope like the blind along a wall, feeling our way like people without eyes.
Even at brightest noontime, we stumble as though it were dark.
Among the living, we are like the dead.We growl like hungry bears; we moan like mournful doves.
We look for justice, but it never comes.We look for rescue, but it is far away from us.
For our sins are piled up before God and testify against us.Yes, we know what sinners we are.
We know we have rebelled and have denied the Lord.
We have turned our backs on our God.
We know how unfair and oppressive we have been, carefully planning our deceitful lies.Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found.
Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed.Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who renounces evil is attacked.
The Lord looked and was displeased to find there was no justice.
He was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed.
So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm, and his justice sustained him.He put on righteousness as his body armor and placed the helmet of salvation on his head.
He clothed himself with a robe of vengeance and wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion.He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds. His fury will fall on his foes.
He will pay them back even to the ends of the earth.In the west, people will respect the name of the Lord; in the east, they will glorify him.
For he will come like a raging flood tide driven by the breath of the Lord.“The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem
to buy back those in Israel
who have turned from their sins,”
says the Lord.“And this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children’s children forever. I, the Lord, have spoken!
Isaiah 59 NLT
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
Isaiah 9:2 ESV
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
It’s easy to look out into the world and see the problem of sin in others. But, do you agree with God that it’s the sin in me and you that He’s talking about? Are you willing to agree that you, and I, we freely chose to do wrong, when we could have done right?
So confess your sin to God, ask Jesus to forgive all your sins, to make you clean, and to give you a new heart that is happy to live His way instead of your own.
There’s more to sin. It’s not just my own choice to disregard God’s instructions to me, to choose a god of my own making, to seek fulfillment in anyone or anything else. It’s also a war.
Part of that war is going on inside myself. The seed of sin is at work in me to corrupt, destroy, and condemn to death. But the seed of life through the Holy Spirit – when I trust in the good news of what Jesus did for me on the cross – is at work to redeem, renew, restore, and remake me the way He originally intended.
Part of that war is going on in the world. The seed of the serpent is at war with the seed of God. God is working out His will to renew, redeem, restore, and remake this whole world. What we do reveals which side we’re on. Are we children of the works of Satan, or are we children of the works of God? We don’t get any credit for anything good we do, instead our actions are just evidence of the state of our heart. Do we trust our heavenly Father for what we need? Or do we fight and squabble to get it for ourselves and find our own way?
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now [when we repent and trust in Jesus], and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he [Jesus] appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
1 John 3 ESV
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.”
43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
John 8:31-59 ESV
The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
they shall lay their hands on their mouths;
their ears shall be deaf;
they shall lick the dust like a serpent,
like the crawling things of the earth;
they shall come trembling out of their strongholds;
they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,
and they shall be in fear of you.Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
Micah 7:16-19 ESV
and passing over transgression
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in steadfast love.
He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.
On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations;
he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.In that day they will say,
“Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.
He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low;
he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust.
Feet trample it down— the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor.The path of the righteous is level;
Isaiah 25-26
you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth.
Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws,
we wait for you;
your name and renown
are the desire of our hearts.
My soul yearns for you in the night;
in the morning my spirit longs for you.
When your judgments come upon the earth,
the people of the world learn righteousness.