There has been a resurgence like never before in my life to know Christ and to rest in His presence. While this has brought peace and rest, it has also brought struggle and pain. As Isaiah experienced God’s presence in Isaiah 6, his first thought was not, “Whoa!” but, “Woe.” C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, comments on this reality:
“The real test of being in the presence of God is, that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object.”
One of my favorite passages of scripture, and one that I read daily, is found in Proverbs 7. As a follower of Jesus, especially as a man, sin tempts me from every angle and from every corner. This Proverb helps remind me daily of eight characteristics of sin and the consequences sin brings. This will not be a chipper blog post, but what I do hope it brings is an acute awareness of sin, its tactics, and its destruction. I contemplated posting Proverbs 7 directly below, but for time’s sake, I refrained. It would be helpful to read the chapter before proceeding (and I would highly recommend it!), but I have, in the subsequent paragraphs, included each portion of Scripture analyzed.
1. Sin is mis-positioning yourself (verse 6-11)
“For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness. And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart. She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home.”
Take the disciple Thomas for instance. Thomas was constantly doubting Jesus, but probably his most famous doubt comes post-resurrection when he exclaims, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe” (John 20:25). Why did he doubt? John 20:24 says, “Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.” Likewise, David who commits adultery with Bathsheba is said to have remained in Jerusalem instead of fighting with his soldiers. A common theme develops here of men in the bible mis-positioning themselves and the result is sin.
2. Sin is everywhere (verse 12)
“Now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait.”
At every corner, at every turn, the devil is seeking to kill and destroy. Possibly the most dangerous place he lurks unaware is the church. Afterall, who expects an attack from the enemy while worshipping the Lord and fellowshipping with His bride? On the contrary, the church is filled with members that fight over theology, doxology, carpet-colorology while missing the mission and purpose for which we exist. Do not be fooled, our enemy is shrewd and cunning.
3. Sin is attractive (verses 13-17)
“She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him, “I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows; so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian line; I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.”
We live in a world that was created by God and deemed ‘very good.’ Through free will, it is our choice to bring about that which is evil. Evil is not a substance in and of itself, but a privation of something that is good. For example, rust exists only if a once good metal existed. Likewise, money, sex and fame (to name just a few) are all morally neutral things dependent on our choice as free moral agents to determine their goodness/wickedness. Therefore, when Satan tempts us, it is rarely with something that is purely evil, but with something that is created by God as good. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with wealth; but if wealth replaces God as man’s treasure, it ceases to be a good thing. Likewise, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with fame; but if fame becomes the pursuit of man’s life, fame becomes something wicked in the sight of God and detrimental to man’s life.
4. Sin is false promise (verse 18)
“Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love.”
The call to follow Christ is a call to experience life via death. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it” (Luke 9:23-24). Do you ever wonder why Satan shows his best (Genesis 3:4, Matthew 4:9) and hides his worst, while Jesus shows both his worst and his best simultaneously? Matthew Henry answers, “Satan shows the best, but hides the worst, because his best will not counterbalance his worst; but Christ’s will abundantly.”
In the end, the promises of Satan are death traps and can never bring the reward or fulfillment they promise.
5. Sin is secret (verse 19-20)
“For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.”
Sin’s nature is to hide, to cover up. Adam and Eve hid. David murdered to cover his tracks. Jonah fled to Tarshish. Sin and darkness are synonymous terms. That is why Christ is referred to the “Light that shines in the darkness” or, “the true Light that enlightens all men” (John 1:5, 9). A great self-probing question to ask yourself is this: if all my sins were displayed in front of the masses, would I leave feeling embarrassed? Better yet, do I have secrets, that, if discovered, would contradict the facade I am putting forward, and/or harm the relationships in my life? If the answer is yes, then you are probably struggling with sin.
Jesus’s message was just the opposite of this. He said instead of practicing righteousness outwardly, we should practice righteousness inwardly. “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:1-4). Instead of being a people who practice sin privately, let us be a people who practice righteousness privately and confess our sins to each other publicly (James 5:16). It is in this place that the grace and glory of God are displayed as supreme, not our own.
6. Sin is persuasive (verse 21)
“With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.”
I think the best example we have of this is found with our first parents, Adam and Eve. When Satan tempted them, he used his cunning persuasive abilities. “Did God really say?” he asked. This point, centered around the most contentious question in history, “What is truth?” (also famously asked by Pilate), is what every believer stands before when tempted by sin. We see this in every sin. Did God really say not to lust? Did God really say not to lie? And so on we could go. The trick in recognizing sin’s persuasive power is justification. From my experience, the Spirit gives us one of two answers. He either gives us peace, or no peace. What happens more often than not, however, is when we are faced with a lack of peace, we justify ourselves into believing that an 80%, 90%, or even a 99.9% peace is good enough to proceed. Reality is, unless there is total peace, there is no peace, and Satan will use the trick of the non-existent “partial peace” to justify our position and to persuade us away from the truth of God and the direction of the Spirit. Do we really believe what God said?
7. Sin is near-sighted (verses 22-23)
“All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.”
The nature of sin is that it cannot see past itself. Sin sees only today, never tomorrow. Sin sees only the reward, never the consequence. For Samson this was also the case. The fleeting pleasures of sin Delilah offered were his vision, and once he gave in, it is recorded that, “He did not know the Lord had left him” (Judges 16:20). May our eyes be fixed on the Author and Perfecter of our faith, and not sinful passions.
8. Sin is death (verse 24-27)
“And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.”
When sin entered into the creation story, death, both natural and spiritual did too. From that point in history, all of the creation-order was disrupted, resulting in broken relationships, both God-man, and man-man. Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” And the result of this sin? Death. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
Now I know what you are thinking: dang, Matt, you are sounding like a fundamentalist! Whether that is true, I don’t know. But what I do know is that sin carries with itself no reward and infinite consequence; and, that sin brings pain, brokenness, and separation—both in our relationship to God and with others.
May we not be a people that flirts with eternal death by indulging in temporal sin, but let us put on the righteousness of God by faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, and run the race set before us, exhorting and encouraging each other in Christ Jesus.
Do not just flee from, flee to.
“So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” -2 Timothy 2:22
But Seek First 