The Delineation of Sins

The Delineation of Sins

Man has an inherent sinful nature. Sin is missing the mark - the ideal set by God for his creation. We all acknowledge this when we wish to be excused by others when we say, 'Nobody's perfect, thats why there are erasers on pencils.' Yet our imperfection is the most difficult thing to admit to ourselves. We like to think that we are okay, and that God will gloss over our imperfections. God did not initially create man with this defect, but it came about when God put to the test the first man and woman. It was a test case for fidelity, and they failed miserably. That is the chance one takes when he is willing to create individuals with free volition.

You would not enjoy being in the presence of a being very long, who was programmed to do and say everything you wished ad-nauseam! God does not want 'robots' programmed to do his will. He wants those who desire to have a relationship with him of their own free volition, who will seek to do his revealed will in appreciation for what he has done for them. The effects of the disobedience of the first people created are inherited, propagated in the progeny of all. We have a rebellious sinful nature. Does one have to teach a child how to be bad? Definitely not! A child misbehaves because it is within the parameters of his sinful human nature. God has made a provision for dealing with this inherent material defect. It is called spiritual catharsis and cauterization.

When one places his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, a spiritual operation is performed which has lasting results. We are cleansed from all of our past sins, and our inherent sinful nature is cauterized. The sinful nature of man is as a monarch on the throne of his heart, calling all the shots in his life. Now when the Holy Spirit of God comes in as a result of one's faith in Christ, this monarch is dethroned, is no longer in absolute control; the Holy Spirit has taken residence in the believer and now his life is under new management. Imagine the idea of the Living God taking residence in you by his Holy Spirit - awesome! Christ in you, the confident expectation of future glory ! Therefore we should strive to live like God is in us, because he is.

We would not want to misrepresent the power of God to the rest of the world, because we still have free volition to deal with. It now has become a matter of free volition. God is a gentleman. Though he is the ultimate determinate power with regard to the destiny of each individual, he will not force himself on anyone who choses not to do his will in this life; yet there are consequences to disobedience, which is maladjustment to his satisfied justice with regard to an individual's sin. We often hear of the wrath of God and in our minds picture a peeved diety in the heavens, waiting to pounce on our every infraction; but if that were the case, God would never stop being angered at all the sin in this world which occurs moment by moment. Sin has built in consequences, and when we experience its consequences, we are experiencing the wrath of God.

Even though a cauterization of the sinful nature of the believer has been performed, it has not been eliminated completely - it is still lurking around on the premises waiting for an opportunity to manifest itself with your permission. Now it is your volition which is the deciding factor which will allow or disallow the sinful nature to take over and ruin your life. You choose! Will you be controlled by the sinful nature, or by the Holy Spirit? It is a moment by moment decision, and a life-long struggle that will not end until your body is in the ground, and your soul is in heaven with God. That is why the apostle Paul said, "In my flesh dwells a no-good thing." This is the reason why so many Christians are a shame and reproach to the body of Christ, and such a poor testimony of the grace of God to the rest of the world. They have not learned how to deal with their sinful nature, and rely upon the power of God to overcome its solicitations, which are always constant.

The older you get, the stronger they become; yet by relying on the power of God's indwelling Holy Spirit, you can be victorious over it. Now there are three categories of sins, though they can be divided into two types: overt and covert sins. They are all manifestations of the old sin nature. Mental attitude sins are of the covert type; outright acts of sin and sins of the tounge are of the overt type. It really is a matter of the hidden vs. the obvious, but they are all sin. Category one, mental attitude sins - under cover, or covert sins - are the most insidious ones, for they cannot be seen until acted upon, and are rarely dealt with as a result. A mental attitude sin can barely be detected apart from the manifestation of overt acts of sin which come about as a result of such deliberate covert sinning. All sin has its beginning in the mind, and therefore the battle against sin is won or lost in the mind. Jesus taught that that which enters a man does not defile the man, but what defiles him comes out of the heart.

Therefore sin begins in the mind, fueled by the old sin nature which is an inherent part of our being. We are sinful by nature because we have a mole, an inside agent of Satan called the old sin nature residing within us. There are no exceptions. All are sinners in need of the grace and power of God. Some mental attitude sins which engender and foster overt acts of sin are: self righteousness, pride, arrogance, approbation lust, anger, hatred, bitterness, vindictiveness, malignity, revenge, resentment, self-pity, worry, fear, anxiety, hypocrisy, deceit, guile, greed, coveteousness, indifference, envy, jealousy, implacability, guilt reaction, vain glory, paranoia, evil suspicions, imputing bad motives to peoples actions, power lust, selfishness, debauchery, presumptuousness, faithlessness, lust, and evil deliberations. These are some of the many motivating factors which are the root from which spring overt acts of sin. It all begins in the mind.

The next category is overt acts of sin - those which are plain and evident to all who have the necessary discernment to identify them as such - that which is done with the body as an external manifestation of the inward deliberations of the mind. All sin has its beginning in the mind, therefore making it an imperative to control your thought life by drawing upon the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The scripture says, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee." Resident Bible teaching in your soul serves as an effective deterrent to sin in order that it might not ever get beyond the point of a thought. Again, the battle is won or lost in the mind; and thus it is an imperative that we guard our minds against the daily barrage of ungodly influences which enter through our eyes and ears - the most prominent entrances to our minds. A principle to remember is that the nature which you feed becomes the strongest and most dominant in your life. If you load up on a daily diet of smut, you'll end up acting and thinking like a lascivious reprobate.

Conversely, if you give diligence to a daily intake of the word of God, through Bible reading, and listening to bonafide preaching by sound men of God, you will be able to live a consecrated life which is pleasing to God. The scripture says, "as a man thinks in his heart, so he is." You are the personnification of your own thought life. You are as you think, and therefore as you think, so you will act. Some overt acts of sin are: adultery, lasciviousness, incest, uncleanness, fornication, drunkenness, homosexuality, bestiality, theft, murder, foolishness, partying, human motivated good, debauchery, idolatry, divisiveness, wickedness, lawlessness, disobedience, insolence, rioting, fighting, embezzlement, fraud, and manipulation. These are what many consider to be the sins of ill repute - the scarlet sins; but the mental attitude sins behind them are the real culprits. That is why Jesus said that the harlots and publicans who repent will get to heaven before the pharisees, who in their smug self-righteousness looked down on those others.

These may seem like unpardonable sins to you, but they are no worse than those covert sins which spring from the spawning ground of one's mind. All sin is equally bad in the eyes of God, and all are equally able to send the unregenerate to hell, and also the regenerate to the divine woodshed. Are you enduring undeserved suffering for future blessing, or suffering divine discipline as a child of God ? Better check up on your thought life. Suffering for blessing is bearable - for discipline its unbearable. While on the subject of overt acts of sin, some present day controversy needs to be touched on. With regard to capital punishment and war: "Thou shalt not kill" is a mistranslation of the original Hebrew text of the ten commandments. It should be translated: "thou shalt not murder." - (the taking of a human life with premeditated malice.) The misconception is that a loving God would never want such a thing as an execution, or a war.

Those who espouse such a philosophy do not know God or his word. What they are badly in need of is a paradigm shift. The love of God is a lovingcare which seeks the highest good of an object. It is subject love, directed towards an object, the qualities and characteristics of that object being of no consequence. The love of God is always directional. In war, killing the enemy is designed to seek the highest good of those who are being defended against an aggressor. The same principle holds in self defense. The taking of a life in the defense of yourself or a loved one is legitimate and bonafide, and well within the parameters of the principle of God's love. Carrying out justice by means of execution is also a bonafide practice, and unimpeded, serves as an effective deterrent against the predatory practices of criminals. Love is directional. Law provides for seeking the highest good of society by eradicating the scourge of the criminal element. Those who protest the execution criminals are acting in ignorance.

Another unconscionable act of murder - the taking of human life with premeditated malice - is the infanticide of the abortion industry; for life begins at conception. Abortion stops a beating heart. The same people who cry, "Save the whales!" also say, "Kill the babies." Why is one species to be chosen over another? Why can they be so moved with compassion towards the creatures of nature, and yet be so cold-hearted towards their own offspring. This is beyond me, and can only be explained in the context of the reprobate mind - a mind void of discernment - either deceived by the indoctrination of those who actively promote such hostility towards our own, or given over to its own depravity by God in the context of judicial blinding, which we will get into later in the section called "Volitional Immutability".

The judgement of God is evident, even in this, with the impending failure of the Medicare System, the Social Security System, failing gross national product, and the out of control, spiraling deficits incurred by our government; all because we have aborted our taxpayer base, our productivity base, those who might have found the cure for cancer, altzheimers, diabetes, invented new things for our use - thirty-three million human beings in America alone who could have been productive contributors to the well being of the whole world, wasted in a garbage can, torn apart in partial birth abortion in the third trimester - even to the final week of delivery. Don't they feel pain? Don't their hearts stop beating? Don't they bleed? If they had a chance to breathe they would cry.

They will be waiting for us in heaven as those saved because they had not reached the age of accountability, wanting to know why. Was it for money? Many would gladly pay to take the infant as their own. Was it for convenience? Since when does a parent's convenience outweigh a child's right to live? Was it because of fear? It is not an uncommon occurrence among women of all ages to give birth to a child. Family plan ing? Since when do we tell God when to bless us with a child? Choice? Choose to stay out of the sack if a pregnancy is not wanted! We are bound to be responsible for our actions! Homosexuality is not a bonafide alternative lifestyle to be espoused, practiced and taught in our society. Besides being patently condemned by God in his word, nature also teaches us that it is an unnatural practice.

It takes a man and a woman to make a baby - not a man and a man - not a woman and a woman. Sex between a man and a woman is normal, beautiful, and natural. Adultery is the violation of the institution of marriage, but it is merely the abuse of that which is legitimate, bonafide, and natural between a man and a woman. Fornication is sex outside of the institution of marriage, where neither party is married to another, but again, it is only the abuse of that which is bonafide and natural between a married man and woman. Homosexuality is a perversion of the legitimate and natural use of sex. Homosexual marriage is a mockery of the institution ordained by God for a man and a woman. But some may say, "I can't help it, I was born that way; its in my genes."

Well, I'm a murderer, a serial killer, a predatory rapist; I can't help it; I was born that way; Its in my genes! See how ridiculous that argument is? It is clearly a life choice of sin, and those who habitually practice these things will be condemned. God deals in absolutes, not relativism; right is right, even if nobody is doing it; wrong is wrong, even if everybody is doing it. Enough said about these things. Category three is sins of the tounge: gossipping, backbiting, maligning, criticizing, tale-bearing, censoriousness, slander, false accusation, lying, mockery, indictment, blasphemy, misleading, judging, debating, whispering, boasting, and cutting others down in order to build yourself up.

In the New Testament, the epistle of James the apostle deals with the effects of the tounge, likening it to a spark that ignites a forest fire. It is a small member of our body, but it sure can cause a lot of damage. All sins of the tounge are the result of mental attitude sins which occur first in the mind. Again, the battle against sin is won or lost in the mind. Bible teaching in your soul will help you think as God thinks, and then be able to resist the solicitations of the sinful nature which are always constant. You will then have what you need to live a life which is pleasing to God, (Why? Gratitude for all that he has done for you.) and be a suitable witness to the world around you by the life that you live. Herein lies the key to the elusive utopia men have been seeking for millenia.

If everybody could be saved, and master the monster within, this world would be so much a better place. Being controlled by the Holy Spirit - you will be surprised at what peace you will have - not having to look over your shoulder, cover your tracks, or remember what lies that you told in order to remain consistent. Be honest, up front, sincere, forthright, a person of integrity, desiring to please your Lord as your motivation, bear the fruit of the Spirit and you will have your rewards; you will be able to fulfill that scripture of the Bible which says, "Be holy, for I am holy." If anything, get the relationship between covert sinning and overt sinning: hatred begets murder; coveteousness begets theft, or even adultery; drunkenness begets lack of self control; pride begets boasting; arrogance begets unteachability; resentment begets character assassination; a party spirit begets illegitimate debate; on and on the list can go - I think now, you get the point. Now there is a fourth category of 'sins' which are not necessarily sin, but could possibly lead to sin if not handled with discretion.

These are called taboos, or more accurately, illegitimate prohibitions. Taboos are norms and standards inculcated in one's soul which are not necessarily sin, yet which have been cultivated as such by many evangelists, for creating guilt trips and illegitimate pressures of accountability, in order to bring about results which will promote them to their next speaking engagement. Taboos can be a 'point system' with God wherein many feel that God is impressed with them by what they do or do not do. It is a sign of christian immaturity because God is not impressed with what we do or do not do; God is only impressed with his son, and he wants us to be impressed with him also. Taboos are illegitimate prohibitions because they are not necessarily forbidden in the Bible, which is God's written revelation, and also our standard and guide for conduct. They are man-made prohibitions - much like the multitudinous prohibitions and precepts imposed by the pharisees upon the culture of their day - man-made embellishments on the word of God which have no validity or support; and Jesus rebuked them for this evil work in no uncertain terms.

Things like, "I don't smoke - I don't chew - and I don't go with the ones who do!" This is self-righteous legalism in the first degree! Tobacco use may be bad taste - poor judgement - but it is not sin because it does not violate the justice of God, and it is not directly prohibited in the scriptures. But one may say it is the destruction of the temple of the Holy Spirit; well, what about caffeine, or bleached flour, or artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives? Valium is the christians' 'alcohol'! What about that? You see, it is a matter of subjectivity, where we pick and choose in a point system created by man in order to supposedly impress God. But God is only impressed with his son, the visible manifestation of himself to the world; and that isn't narcissism - merely a statement of the facts. You see, in the christian life the truth always lies between two extremes - in this matter, total abstinence vs. overindulgence.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was known as the prince of preachers, yet he smoked cigars all of his life, and fought bouts of depression all of his days. G. Campbell Morgan wrote textbooks for seminaries, still in use today, yet he was refused the opportunity to speak at Moody because he smoked cigarettes; and on and on the list could go. Other illegitimate prohibitions include: no playing cards, no gambling, don't shoot pool, don't go to the movies, don't wear makeup, don't drink alcohol - yes, don't drink alcohol - as if we were more righteous than Jesus! At the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee Jesus turned the water into wine - the first of his many miracles. The master of ceremonies who tasted it sure knew what wine was. It sure wasn't grape-juice ! The apostle Paul told his understudy, Timothy, to take a little wine for his stomach's sake, and his oft infirmities. The Lord Jesus Christ used wine at the last supper.

Are we supposedly more righteous than him because we use grape-juice instead? Yet pastors all over America impose their personal prejudices and dogmatic prepossessions upon their flocks every time they take communion! It appears to be a 'hangover' from the days of prohibition; but people will find a way - and they did - considering all of the 'contraban' the authorities had to deal with in those days, when legislated righteousness was the order of the day. Turn to the Old Testament - Deuteronomy chapter fourteen, verse twenty-six, where it says that those who were too far from Jerusalem were to take their offering and turn it into money, "use it to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine, strong drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice." The Lord would never give a charge to do anything that would violate his justice so if this were sin they would not have been instructed to do so. So again, the truth lies between two extremes.

On the one hand, you have the self-righteous legalist imposing his illegitimate prohibitions upon his fellow man, and on the other, you have the man who is in a drunken stupor, endangering himself and others, not being controlled by the Spirit, but by the "spirits". Both are wrong. Table wine was a staple of the middle east because potable water was in short supply. The custom is still practiced today among European Christians and Jews. Teetotalism is strictly an American thing - a 'hangover' from the days of prohibition, but not an issue in the rest of christendom. Now I would be remiss if I were not to mention the rest of the admonitions of the Bible which warn of overindulgence, or crossing the boundaries of love towards one's fellow man. If you have a problem with alcohol, or gambling, or anything else, then by all means abstain from the practice. The aim of christianity on earth is to seek the highest good of others. If the practice of your legitimate liberty in Christ were to cause an immature believer to stumble into the sin of indiscretion, or overindulgence, then by all means refrain from exercising your right in his presence.

We as believers have three laws to consider: The law of liberty, where you are entitled to indulge in certain practices not directly prohibited in scripture; The law of love, where in all we do we are to consider the highest good of our brother or sister in Christ by not doing anything in their presence to make them stumble into sin; And the law of expediency, where we do not adversely influence or offend the lost by what we do in their presence by misrepresenting Jesus Christ. All things are lawful for the Spirit controlled believer, for what he does will be motivated by his love and appreciation for God, Yet all things are not necessarily expedient for the believer, for he must always consider the highest good of others. These principles, of course, are tempered by the knowledge that some people will be offended no matter what you do. Many are opposed to Christianity. That does not mean then that we are to refrain from practicing our faith in their presence just because they do not like it. Do not allow them to control you.

You have rights under God as well. As a matter of fact, civil disobedience is called for in situations where the dictates of government conflict with the laws of God; as it is written, "Let God be true, and every man a liar." When Antichrist comes, Christianity will be outlawed. Many will practice their faith despite the dictates of such a one. Of course in normal circumstances, though, christians obey every ordinance of government for the Lord's sake, Letting the chips fall where they may.

People who know how to lead, first learned how to follow. Good leaders are made - not born. Show me someone who has respect for legitimate, bonafide authority, and I'll show you one who is capable of being a good leader - because he has humility. It takes humility to be teachable. It takes humility to learn from those who know more than we do. It takes humility to be moldable by the One who made us. It takes humility to recognize our desperate need which only God can fulfill. Arrogance is the enemy of every person on this earth who is in need of God's unmerited favor. Arrogance will keep you from accepting God's provision for your salvation. Humility is not humiliation, but a true assessment of one's low estate before God.