"The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: His wrath towards you burns like fire; He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; He is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in His sight; you are ten thousand times so abominable in His eyes, as the most hateful and venomous serpent is in ours.

"You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince: and yet it is nothing but this hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment.

"'Tis ascribed to nothing else that you did not go to hell the last night; that you were suffered to awake again in this world after you closed your eyes to sleep;

"And there is no other reason to be given why you have not dropped into hell since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking His pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending His solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you don’t this very minute drop down into hell.

"O sinner! consider the fearful danger you are in. ‘Tis a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell.

"You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done; nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment."

–Jonathan Edwards, [Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, 1741, Enfield, Conn.]

What you have just heard is not my sermon. It is not a Seventh-day Adventist sermon. You may wonder if it is a Christian sermon. But it was really preached in a Christian church in the colony of Connecticut two hundred fifty-five years ago.

Our question today is, "What's Wrong with Sin?" To the author of the sermon we have just heard, the answer was clear: Sin is wrong because it makes God angry. And you don't want to get God angry, lest He torture you with fire and brimstone for eternity. And many religious people think of sin in the same terms today.

But to better understand the problem of sin, let's go back to the book of beginnings, Genesis chapter 2, verses 16 and 17. I warn you ahead of time that to illustrate a point, I will misquote the scripture. Please read along with me, and see where I make my mistake:

"And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, [for in the day that I catch you eating it, I will surely kill you.] for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."

What is the relationship between sin and death? Is death an arbitrary penalty which God imposes when He is angry with sin? Or is death the natural consequence of sin?

Can we agree that God is the only source of life? [John 1:4 In Him is life; 1 Timothy 5:15: God only has immortality.] God is the Creator, and his creatures live only because he created them.

If God is the only source of life, and if I choose to separate myself from God, what will be the natural result? Separated from my only source of life, the natural result is death.

Thus when God said that sin results in death, He was not making an arbitrary threat, He was merely warning of the natural consequence.

Let me read another text, Romans 6:23, and once again I will misquote scripture, so you be ready to correct me:

[For the wages of God is death, if He catches you sinning. No! What does it say?]

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." –Romans 6:23.

Sin is wrong not because it makes God angry; sin is wrong because it is destructive. Death comes because of sin, not because of God. God is the author of life, not death, but if I refuse life, I am left with death.

Death happens when in the words of Jesus, "you refuse to come to me, that you may have life." [John 5:40]

"Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!" [Ezekial 18:31, 32]

Let me tell you a story which you will immediately recognize as fiction. Let's listen as a physician speaks to his desperately ill patient:

"You remember that I warned you, for years, not to smoke. But you refused to quit. You have had a cough for the last year. But you refused even to get a chest x-ray. For the past three months you have been losing weight, while your cough got worse and it became harder to breathe. Finally this week we have done the chest x-ray, which led to bronchoscopy, a CT scan, and a bone scan. We have done a lot of blood tests. As you have already guessed, you have lung cancer; it is a big tumor, and it has spread to your liver, your spine, and to other parts of the body.

"You must admit that for years, you have deliberately disobeyed my instructions. Now therefore, justice demands that I kill you, slowly and painfully."

If this picture accurately represents your god, who is the better person, you or your God? And remember, the minute you realize that you are better than your god, you must become agnostic. The agnostic says, "I reject the god you have described to me; I can't believe such a god exists, for if he existed, he would not be a god, but a devil."

Doesn't the Bible speak frequently of God's wrath? Yes it does. But what is God's wrath? Is it anything like my anger?

If I exhibit wrath, people will say I have lost my patience, I have lost rational control. I have ceased to control my behavior, I am controlled by my emotions.

Does God sometimes lose control, and allow his emotions to control Him?

When I lash out in anger, I recognize it as a defect in my character.

Does God also have defects in His character?

Isaiah speaks of God's wrath as His "strange act." [Isaiah 18:21] If I should act out my feelings of anger, people may say I am really acting strange. At least I hope they would think it was strange.

When we speak of God's "strange act" do we mean there comes a time when God begins to really act strange?

And if God should someday give way to His emotions, lose control, and perform acts more cruel than any of us could do, or even imagine, could we say, "Oh, but if God does it, it's not cruelty, it's justice."

Have you ever burned yourself? Do you remember what it felt like? If you should accidentally burn someone else, how would you feel? Could you imagine yourself ever burning someone on purpose?

The Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar was willing to burn people. The story is in Daniel chapter 3. The king set up a golden statue, and commanded everyone to worship it. And any who refused to worship the image, were thrown into a fiery furnace.

"How cruel," you say. Yes it was a cruel penalty. But it was also a brief penalty. The story explains that those exposed to the flames died instantly from the heat.

But suppose Nebuchadnezzar knew a way to keep people alive in the fire, now that would really be cruelty! Fortunately the king was not God; he could not keep people alive in the fire.

And Nebuchadnezzar demanded only that his people obey him. He could not demand that they love him.

Suppose God should say, "You either love me, or I will torture you in the fire, for ever and ever. Now do you love me?"

No one can command love, not even God. That's not the way love happens. And the threat of pain does not produce love, it destroys love. "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear." [1 John 4:18]

And that's the reason why many thinking people find they cannot love God. The god about whom they have been taught is not worthy of their trust, let alone their love. They are tired of pretending a religion which makes no sense. They find it more honest to believe there is no god, than to believe in One who is unworthy of their worship.

Now let's return to our first question: What's wrong with sin? Sin is wrong because it separates us from God. Sin is wrong because it distorts our picture of God. Sin is wrong because it poisons our attitude toward God.

How does the Bible define sin?

"Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness." –1 John 3:4.

[Sin is anomia anomia, lawlessness, rebelliousness, an attitude problem.]

"Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins." –James 4:17.

[If I know what is good, but refuse to do it, that's an attitude problem."

"...and everything that does not come from faith is sin." –Romans 14:23.

[Sin destroys the trusting relationship we call faith. Sin is a broken relationship.]

What is the relationship between sin and death?

"Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." –James 1:15

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." –1 John 1:9.

"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." –2 Peter 3:9

Luke 15:11+ The Lost Son: When did the father forgive?

I believe that the father in the story forgave his son the very day the son left home. Forgiveness was not the problem. But neither son understood that. The younger son decided to ask for a job as a hired servant. The older son had always been a hired servant. The father didn't need any more hired servants. He was just delighted to welcome his son back home.

What would have happened if the son never came back?

The son was in a pig pen, sick and starving to death. I believe if he stayed there he would have died. He would have died forgiven, but he still would have died.

What will a doctor do if the patient persistently refuses the therapy? What can he do, but to give up, and allow the patient to experience the results of his choice?

What can God do with those who refuse His healing?

Give up, no remedy:

"The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy." –2 Chronicles 36:15,16.

If you wish to see understand more about God's wrath, read Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 1.

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities– his eternal power and divine nature– have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

"For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

"Therefore God gave them over.....

"Because of this, God gave them over....

"Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over...." –Romans 1:18-32.

Three times here Paul shows us that God's wrath is different from ours. God's wrath is not a defect in His character, God's wrath is not God losing control of His emotions. God's wrath is shown when He must turn away in loving disappointment, from those who don't want Him anyway, thus leaving them to the terrible yet natural consequences of their own rebellious choice.

And when God must finally let people go, to the destruction they have chosen, how do you suppose He feels?

Hosea 11 (Phillips)

When Israel was young I came to love him,

And I called him out of Egypt to be my son.

But the more I called them

The further they went from me.

They made sacrifices to the Baals

And burnt incense to idols.

Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,

Picking them up in my arms.

Yet they never knew that it was I who healed their bruises.

I led them with gentle encouragement,

Their harness was a harness of love.

I treated them like the man

Who eases the yoke to free the jaws–

Yes, I bent down to them and gave them food.

They must return to the land of Egypt

Or Assyria must be their king,

Because they refused to turn to me.

The sword shall whirl around in their cities,

Break the defence of their gates,

And destroy them within their fortresses.

My people are bent on turning away from me;

The yoke is all they are fit for–

I can love them no more.

How, oh how can I give you up, Ephraim!

How, oh how can I hand you over Israel!

Matthew 23:37 "Oh Jerusalem.."

Luke 13:34 "I longed.... you weren’t willing..."

Luke 19:41 "If only...."

Any example?

Romans 4:25

Romans 8:32 paradidomi Jesus was given up.

Matthew 27:46 forsaken not killing

But if God’s wrath is His sadly giving up, why all the references to fire? How could you describe the energy, the radiant glory of Him who is he source of energy for the entire universe, the One who spoke and it was done, who commanded and it stood fast? Whenever humans have seen a manifestation of God in his glory, they have described it as fire.

Isaiah 66:15,16.

Numbers 9:15,16.

Daniel 10:6

Daniel 7:9-10

Ezekial 1:26-28

Deuteronomy 4:24

Hebrews 12:29 consuming fire

Exodus 3:2,3 burning bush

Revelation 20:14,15. 2nd death = lake of fire.

Revelation 15:2

God has mercifully veiled his glory. For should He reveal His glory, all that is out of harmony with God would be consumed. But must God veil His glory forever?

No, there comes a time when each will have decided whether he wishes to be in harmony with God or not. Then God can reveal His glory. If each of us responds differently to this revelation it will be because we have changed, not that God has changed.

"The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: "Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?"

Answer:

"He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking upon evil,

"He will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him, his water will be sure.

"Your eyes will see the king in his beauty; they will behold a land that stretches afar." [Isaiah 33:14-16]

On that day some will say,

"Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb." [Revelation 6:16].

Others will behold the same glory, and to them it is not a consuming fire, but the energy of eternal life. And they can say,

Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation." [Isaiah 25:9]

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them;

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away."

And he who sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true." [Revelation 21:3-5].

What's wrong with sin is that it cuts us off from life. It so changes us that the glory of God becomes a consuming fire. What's wrong with sin is that it separates us from Jesus who loves us and gave Himself for us. What's wrong with sin is that it leads us to miss out on the eternal joy of fellowship with our loving Heavenly Father.

"Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing,

"To the only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and for ever. Amen." [Jude 24, 25.]

© 1996 R. Wresch, M.D.