Dreadful Disaster of Sin

Introduction

It is a blessing to be with you, to worship the Lord with you, and to hope that we grow in our appreciation of Him in our time together. It is so easy for me to view the things that I’ve done wrong, and for you to view the things that you’ve done wrong as small and insignificant. I know I tend to do that in myself. And even though I criticize this in society as a whole, I find when speaking of myself, I am often very hesitant to use the word sin. Mistake, poor judgment, but sometimes very hesitant to use that term sin because that sounds so bad, doesn’t it? Yet, our sin is worse than we can imagine. And tonight, I want us to begin by looking at a few illustrations of that from the pages of Scripture.

1. Behind the Smallest of Sins Are Big Spiritual Problems

The first sin is recorded in Genesis chapter 3. But to give you the background of this, in Genesis chapter 2, after God had created Adam and Eve, as God created Adam and Eve, he gave them a commandment that they were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Don’t eat from it, he stated. He said, in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die. Well, the text goes on to say that as Eve, one day the serpent was who was more crafty than any of the beasts of the field, said to Eve in Genesis 3 1, indeed has God said, You shall not eat from any tree of the garden. The woman said to the serpent, from the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat.

But from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat it, eat from it, or touch it, or you will die. The serpent said, You will not surely die. But God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you’ll be like God, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw the tree was good for food, that it was a delight to the eyes, the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and she ate, and she gave to her husband with her, and he ate, and the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sowed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

What’s the big deal about this? God has said, You should not eat from the fruit of this tree. Why is it that important to listen to obey God? It may seem like that was a small matter, but it was a very important matter. It was very significant. And behind man’s sins, there are all kinds of spiritual problems. First of all, man is ungrateful for all that God has done for him. God has blessed him with this beautiful home in the Garden of Eden. God has blessed him with all kinds of things. God has given him other trees, which are described in Genesis 2 and verse 9 as being good for food and pleasing to the sight. Do you notice that language? The language of Genesis 2 verse 9, which was said of all the trees of the garden, is what the woman notices about the forbidden fruit in Genesis 3 and verse 6.

She saw the tree was good for food and a delight to the eyes. Well, she could have looked all around at the other trees of the garden and found that same thing at the heart of their sin was in gratitude to God for all that God had done for them. At the heart of their sin was a lack of trust in God’s word. The devil tries to get us to question God’s word. Has God said this when she quotes what God says or paraphrases what God says, the serpent contested. You will surely not die. She doubted God’s word. She doubted God’s word. She doubt, she lacked gratitude to God. She was motivated by pride. If you eat this tree, you’ll be like God, knowing good and evil.

Do you see that behind the smallest of sins, and I’m using that in quotations, our language, not God’s. But behind the smallest of sins are often big spiritual problems. Sin is truly a disaster. And who is to say, when we do something that’s sinful, how many wrong turns did we make that led us to that particular point? This sin results in man being driven from the Garden of Eden. And the influence of sin is let loose in the world. Think of what Adam and Eve must have thought as they looked at the dead body of their son Abel in Genesis chapter four. Cain kills Abel. And they looked upon the dead body of their son, knowing that they had introduced sin into the world, that they had introduced this wickedness.

2. Achan Brought Disaster Upon All Israel

Our sin. Our sin is worse than we can believe. A second illustration of this is in Joshua chapter 7 with the story of Achan.

In Joshua chapter 6, God gave instruction for taking the city of Jericho. In Joshua 6 in verse 17, the city shall be under the band, and all that is in it belongs to the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the band, so you do not covet them and take some of the things under the band and make the house, the camp of Israel a cursed, and bring trouble on it. But all the silver and the gold and the articles of bronze and iron are holy to the Lord. They shall go into the treasury of the Lord. Now that was God’s instruction for taking the city of Jericho.

The city is to be totally destroyed. What few things were not destroyed were to be devoted to the Lord, is verse 19 says, but most of the city that is devoted to the Lord by being destroyed. They will not use it for personal, for personal use. God said that, and Achan didn’t listen to that. Joshua chapter 7 relates the fact that Joshua recognizes because they have been defeated at I, he recognizes that there is a problem. He pours out his grief to God. His grief to God, his complaint to God sounds very similar to some of the things that Israel said in the wilderness. And God tells Joshua, Joshua, I will not be with you anymore until you deal with this sin that exists among you.

And so they call all the people together. And finally they narrow it down to the tribe of Judah. And finally they narrow it down to Achan as the person who has sinned against God. And Joshua says in verse 19, give glory to God and confess what you have done. In verse 21, Achan acknowledges, I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar, 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold, 50 shekels in weight. Then I coveted them and took them, and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it. Achan sinned against God. God said, You are not to take anything for personal use, but he takes a beautiful mantle from Shinar, 200 shekels of silver, a bar of gold of 50 shekels.

He coveted all these things and took him, took them. And oh, the disaster that this brought on Achan’s house because of Achan’s sin. The text tells us that they brought Achan, they brought his family, they brought his livestock, and the text tells us that they stoned them and then burned them with fire. It seems to me, and you can look at the text and decide for yourself. It seems like to me they were killed by stoning, and the burning was done after their death to repudiate this sin. But Achan brought this disaster upon his family by his failure to listen to God. And he not only brought disaster upon his own family, but he brought disaster upon all Israel. The only battle that Israel loses in the book of Joshua is here in Joshua 7.

3. The Sins of Jeroboam Led to Utter Disaster

And it’s because the Lord’s anger had burned against them, and they went out against the men of I and fought them. And thirty-six men fell slain, according to Joshua 7 in verse 5. Thirty-six men were killed, thirty-six households without a husband, without a father, because of what Achan did. Yes. Our sin is worse than we want to believe. And you also see this in cases where the departure might seem more religious in nature. In 1 Kings chapter 12, we read about Jeroboam as the first king of Israel. Saul, David, and Solomon were kings over the united kingdom from about 1050 to 930 BC, and the kingdom divided. And Jeroboam was the king in the north, and Rehobam was the king in the south. The divided kingdom, period.

But Jeroboam is the first king in the northern kingdom. God had promised him in 1 Kings chapter 11 and verse 38. God had promised him that if you’re faithful and you do what is right, I will build for you an enduring house as I built for David. Just like David has an enduring dynasty in the land of Judah, you will have an enduring dynasty in the land of Israel if you do what’s right and you do what’s faithful to me. However, Jeroboam doesn’t trust God. You notice in 1 Kings 12, verse 26, he said in his heart, now the kingdom will return to the house of David. He’s afraid he’s going to lose all these people if they go to Jerusalem and celebrate the feast there.

And so he devises another feast in the depths of his own heart. First of all, he placed two golden calves.

And said, These are your gods, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. Now, as you read the Old Testament, those words probably sound familiar to you, don’t they? Those are similar to the words Aaron uttered in Exodus 32. These are your gods, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. That was one of the saddest events in Israel’s history. And Jeroboam is going to repeat it. He sets up golden calves to worship. God has stated that the priests are to come from the tribe of Levi. A matter of fact, there was some dispute about that. In Numbers chapter 16 and 17, and some disagreeing about that. And the Lord tells Moses and Aaron that you gather a rod from each of these tribes, and I’m going to demonstrate who I have chosen to draw near to me.

And Aaron’s rod budded, while none of the other rods budded. And God was showing, I have chosen the Levites and Aaron’s family to draw near to me and to serve as priest. That was God’s plan. That was God’s design. But what is the statement that Jeroboam makes? The text tells us in verse 31 that he made houses on the high places and made priests from among all the people who were not sons of Levi. God has stated the priest are to come from that tribe. Jeroboam doesn’t listen to God. In the chapter right before this, in 1 Kings 11, it is stated three times that Jerusalem is the city that God has chosen. This is the city that God has chosen to establish his name. This is a place that would be therefore talked about in Deuteronomy, where the people are to go and to celebrate the feast.

But Jeroboam says, it’s too far for you to go to Jerusalem. I’m going to set up these calves in Dan. I’m going to set up these calves in Bethel. And you go to these places and you worship there.

God stated in Leviticus 23, verses 33 through 44, that the feast of tabernacles was to be observed on the 15th day, beginning the 15th day of the seventh month. Look at what Jeroboam does in verse 32. Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the 15th day of the month. Just a month off. It sounds like what God planned, but it wasn’t what God planned. As verse 33 tells us, this was even the thing he devised in his own heart. All the things that God said to do, Jeroboam disregards.

It tells us that he became like the house of Jeroboam. What I’m trying to establish, and I could give you a lot more passages if you want to ask about this afterwards. But over and over again, as the Bible is summarizing these kings of Israel, it will tell us that they followed in the sins of Jeroboam. And then finally, when the nation falls to the Assyrians in 722 BC, in 2 Kings 17, verses 21 through 23, when the nation fell to Assyria, one of the reasons that is given is because of the sins of Jeroboam. When he had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the Lord and made them commit a great sin.

The sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam, which he did. They did not depart from them until the Lord removed Israel from his sight as he spoke through all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away into exile from their own land to the land of Assyria. In all of these passages, we see that Jeroboam’s sin led to utter disaster.

4. Truly, Sin Has Horrible Consequences

When we choose to disobey God in our families, in the local congregations we’re a part of, when we choose to disobey God, we do not know where that may lead our children, where that may lead those that we worship with. We do not know the disaster that may ensue. Think about the story of David. David was a man after God’s own heart. But one night he looked on his roof at a beautiful woman, Bathsheba. He sent and inquired about her. He finds out she’s one of the wives of one of his most faithful soldiers. But he still sins for her and takes her. He commits adultery with her. She sends back word shortly thereafter and says, I’m pregnant. David panics and tries to do everything to get Uriah to think the child is his own.

After this man after God’s own heart cannot deceive Uriah into thinking the child was his own, he then has Uriah killed in 2 Samuel chapter 11. He takes Bathsheba as his wife. But look at the disaster that ensued in his family. The prophet Nathan said, the child that is born to Bathsheba will surely die. He said, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. You have done this thing secretly, but I’m going to do this thing in the sight of all Israel. You have taken this person’s wife secretly, but one will sleep with your wives in the sight of all Israel. David was to experience one of his sons raping one of his daughters. Another son kills that son to avenge that act.

That son will ultimately try to take his father’s throne, lead a civil war against his own father. Truly, sin has horrible, horrible consequences.

But we have come to know people over the years who will their whole life live with the effects of what someone has done to them. Several years ago, a girl that we came to know who was very smart, cute girl, sweet girl because of a couple of selfish acts of someone near to her, she will never be the same. And her relationship with every person who tries to do her a kind deed is going to be suspect now because of how someone tried to take advantage of her.

And I’m saying we, I’m not just saying you.

5. His Grace Is Greater Than You Can Conceive

Your sins and my sins are worse than we ever want to believe. And I want to drive that point home hard. Because as I stated, it is a point that we have trouble grasping, and it’s certainly a problem that the world has understanding. But I also want to say this. As preachers and teachers, we don’t convict people of their sin to leave them there. I want you to understand that while your sin is worse than you imagine, his grace is greater than you can conceive. If you are convicted of your sins, if you understand your guilt, I want you to understand the abundance of God’s mercies. One of the most powerful statements in Scripture about God is in Exodus 34, verses 6 and 7. It’s one of the most important statements about God in all of Scripture.

And I know that from how often it is repeated. In Exodus 34 in verses 6 and 7, the Bible says the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness and truth, who keeps loving kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity and transgression and sin. The rest of the verse goes on to emphasize his wrath against sin. He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations. Yes, God’s wrath is real, but God’s mercy is beyond our ability to conceive. Let me show you something that’s obvious in the text, but I acknowledge that I missed this for a long time.

In verse 7, as the text emphasizes that God will punish sin, it says that God will visit the iniquity of the fathers or the children and the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations. That doesn’t mean we inherit the guilt of sin. We may inherit the consequences, however, of sin. But I want you to notice the contrast. While God visits the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the grandchildren to the third and fourth generation, God is said at the beginning of verse 7 to keep loving kindness for thousands. And I think the idea is for thousands of generations. Think with me just a moment.

And the Exodus around 1445 BC or so.

How many generations are there between us and Moses? If Moses lived about a thousand five hundred BC, and about four generations per century every 25 years, there are around 150 generations between our time and Moses’ time. Is that shorter than you were expecting? That’s shorter than I was expecting when I thought about it.

For thousands of generations. God is so merciful. God is so gracious that he’s even sometimes criticized by his own people for it. In Jonah 4 2, Jonah is criticizing God and taking the words of Exodus 34, 6 and 7, and saying, God, this is the work, this is what I knew. I knew if I came down here and preached to the people of Nineveh, I knew they were going to repent, and I knew you were merciful, I knew you were gracious, I knew you were compassionate, I knew you would spare them. Of course, Jonah should have thought about how God had been pretty merciful to him, too, hadn’t he? But God is so merciful and gracious, he’s sometimes criticized for this from his own people. And some of the Bible’s statements about forgiveness are so beautiful.

And they’re made so many more times beautiful by the fact that they’re true. Isaiah 118, come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. In Psalm 103 in verse 12, the Bible says, as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. And the Bible states in Micah 7, in Micah 7, beginning with verse 18, the question is asked, who is like, who is a God like you? The name Micah means who is like the Lord. And he says, who is a God like you? Who pardons iniquity? Who passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of his possessions?

He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread all our iniquities underfoot. Yes, he will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. One writer stated that God cast our sins into the depths of the sea and puts up a sign that says, No fishing allowed. God’s forgiveness is beyond our ability to imagine. Jesus, too, was criticized because he was a friend of tax collectors and sinners. This man receives sinners and eats with them. Oh, no one was more holy than Jesus. But there was none who was more compassionate toward repentant sinners than Jesus. Peter in Acts 2 preached to that audience that you, this Jesus that you crucified, God is made Lord in Christ.

Term Christ is a Greek term, means anointed one. There’s a Hebrew term Messiah that has the same meaning, anointed one. Follow with me just a moment. In the Old Testament, kings were anointed. Kings were anointed. You remember how David has two opportunities to kill Saul in 1 Samuel 24, in 1 Samuel 26, and he refuses to do so because he refuses to stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed. In 2 Samuel chapter 1, an Amalekite comes into David’s camp and he states, I have killed Saul. He says, Why is it that you were not afraid to stretch out your hand against the Lord’s anointed? Your blood will be upon your own head. And what was the penalty that man received? He was executed for his crime.

When Peter preaches to that crowd and says, You have crucified the Messiah, the Christ, what penalty did they deserve for that? The penalty they deserved for that was death, just like the Amalekite in 2 Samuel 1. But the amazing thing about God’s grace is through that death, a door was opened up for forgiveness. The sin that should have resulted in death results in life for those that heed this message and repent and turn to him. This Jesus, you crucified, God is made both Lord and Christ. They cry out, men and brethren, what should we do? He says, repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And the promise is to you and to your children and all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call.

Conclusion

Yes, his mercy is greater than we can ever imagine. Are you burdened by a guilt of sin? To people who were burdened with the guilt of sin, Jesus says, Come unto me, all you who are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. Our sins are disastrous. And only Jesus can provide forgiveness. If the lesson tonight has left you asking, what should we do? We give the same answer Peter gave. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. If we can help you with that, or if you would like to talk further about that later, please, you’re not going to bother us by doing that.

Feel free to ask about it. But if you know what you need to do, and we can help you now, we invite you to come while we stand and sing.