Sin, The Barrier To God’s Blessings
God loves you and created you in His own image for fellowship with Himself. He blessed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, providing all their needs. Only the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was forbidden (Genesis 2:16-17). Adam and Eve ate that forbidden fruit, resulting in separation from God. All of their descendants (except Jesus) have followed them in sin, and were also separated from God and His blessings.
By Noah’s day, the world had become extremely sinful. “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5 NKJV et. al.). Because it grieved Him, God judged the world with a flood, sparing only Noah, his family, and the animals in the ark (vss. 6-8 &18-22).
Later God demonstrated His love for all sinners in this world by sending His Son, Jesus Christ to save them. Jesus lived a perfect life, died on the cross for their sins and arose the third day. All who receive Him are saved and given abundant and eternal life. Jesus commands all Christians to take the good news of salvation to the whole world. Most people, then and now reject Jesus, preferring to hold on to their sins.
Mankind has made great advancements in knowledge but virtually no progress morally. It is difficult to watch any TV program today without immorality, profanity, and other sins. Even when you find a clean program, the previews aren’t. Half of today’s marriages in the United States end in divorce. Unmarried couples live together without shame. The Bible deals with these subjects but (unlike TV) calls them sin and shows their consequences.
There are approximately one and a half million abortions every year in the United States. Conservative estimates are 43 million abortions in America since the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision, January 22, 1973. This number far exceeds the deaths in the Nazi Holocaust (six million), the Stalin purges (nine million), and all the Wars in U.S. history. The Bible says God hates the shedding of “innocent Blood” (Proverbs 6:16-17).
In Abraham’s day, the city of Sodom became notorious for its practice of homosexuality. In fact, the primary Bible word for homosexuality is “sodomy.” When God was ready to judge Sodom he sent two angels, appearing as men, to tell Lot to leave Sodom before God destroyed it. The men of Sodom tried to rape these two angels, thinking they were men (Genesis 19:1-11). God totally destroyed Sodom with fire and brimstone, never to be rebuilt. Many years ago Bill Graham said, “If God doesn’t judge the immorality of America, He will need to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Here’s what the Bible says about homosexuality: “If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death;” (Leviticus 20:13). And in the New Testament it says, “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lust of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, (Romans 1:24), and “For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due” (Romans 1:26-27).
Many politicians, most of the media and state universities are calling homosexuality normal and demanding that we stop calling it sin. Christians can not do this and be faithful to God and His Word
But there is hope! God loves all sinners! He will save and change homosexuals if they repent and trust Jesus, just as he will save prostitutes, murderers, thieves, liars, drunkards, gluttons and gossips (or whatever your sin is). Salvation is given to those who repent of what God calls sin and receive His mercy through the cross of Jesus Christ. Amen.