Seriousness of Sin

They are godless men, who change the grace of God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ, our only Sovereign and Lord. (Jude 4)

When I’m reading the Bible it’s pretty easy to slip right past a verse like this – condemning an ancient heresy that is so obviously wrong we would never expect to find it in our churches. Jude condemns those who take the grace of God as license to sin, and thus deny the Lordship of Christ. Paul was accused of a similar heresy (Rom 3:7-8 and 6:1-2) when he preached about grace. I have read Romans and I understand that we obey God out of love and willing surrender even when we are no longer under condemnation. So...next verse please!

Not so fast. Am I ever guilty of treating my sin too lightly? Do I ever forget how repugnant it is to God and what it cost him to atone for it? Yes. In the Old Testament it sometimes seems like God was destroying sinners right and left. Why would he do that? He is showing us the seriousness of sin. Jude went on to make the same point in the next verse: “Though you already know this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.” (v5) Even for some seemingly minor infractions the law required a sacrifice to remind the people of the seriousness of sin.

Now I am not under the law but under grace. (Rom 6:14) I do not need to bring a sacrifice but I do need to remember the seriousness of my sin. When I sin, I must remember the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ paid an inestimably high price to buy my salvation. Lord, forgive me for the many times I take my sin lightly. I dismiss it with a quick, casual prayer of repentance, and then I do the same thing again a few hours later. I don’t ever want to take grace as a license to sin. Convict me, and remind me of the gravity of my sin. Remind me of the cross, where you bore my sin in agony and desolation. Remind me of the cross, where you purchased my freedom. Amen.

Loving Like Jesus

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (Jn 13:34)

Why did Jesus say this was a new command? Lev 19:18 says, “Love your neighbor as yourself” and Jesus even quoted that verse. What’s new here is the standard of love Jesus sets for us. It’s hard enough to love my neighbor as I love myself, but how much harder is it to love my neighbor as Christ loves me? Jesus spoke these words to his disciples as he gave them his final instructions on the night before his death. Pressing in on him was the magnitude of the ordeal he was about to endure. He knew full well what it would cost him and his heart was deeply troubled by it, but he pressed forward with a determination born of his incredible love for us. And in that hour he commanded us to love one another as he has loved us. What a tall order! That is a kind of love I do not possess in my own nature. It can only come from God. With the Spirit of God in my heart I can love like that, but it is still a hard choice, as it was for Jesus. Would I expend myself for my brothers in Christ? Would I give all that I have for them? Only by truly surrendering to the Father’s will, as Jesus did. Lord, give me a heart to love as you love.

The Measure of God's Wrath

I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues – last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. (Rev 15:1)

There is a measure to God’s wrath. It is not limitless or unending. As great and terrible as his wrath is shown to be in this book, there is a point at which it is completed. In fact, his wrath is proportional to our sin, and this graphically demonstrates how great our sin is. This helps me to understand how much Jesus had to suffer for my sins, and helps me realize how much he loves me. Lord, help me never to treat sin so lightly. Remind me, Lord Jesus, of the wrath that you endured for my sake.