The Excuse of Our sin

“An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie; for an excuse is a lie guarded.” That is a quote from an 18^th century poet named Alexander Pope and it really nails home the reality of what we do when we make excuses.

Excuses have been the tool of mankind since the very beginning when Eve took the first bite of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. God was explicit in the command when he told Adam and Eve, they could eat of any tree in the garden but the one in the middle. And after they got caught by God, both made an excuse.

Adam’s excuse was that she gave it to him.

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate."

Eve’s response was also to blame someone else.

Genesis 3:13
Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

The simple truth is that both knew better. God had spoken directly to them. Thus, was born the excuse. And we haven’t let up since. We make excuses for everything these days. It is a culture of, “It’s not my fault.” We make up little reasons for why we do what we do and why we don’t do what we ought. We are lying about our own responsibility.

There are as many excuses as there are sins and we Christians are just as guilty as the non-believers. It’s crazy that we do this because it really isn’t necessary. When we sin against God, we have an advocate, Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Father. Jesus paid the price of our sins and the process of repentance and forgiveness is not based on our faithfulness, but on God’s.

1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But when we fail to fully confess our sins by excusing them? We are saying we really aren’t responsible. Read the follow up to 1 John 1:9;

1 John 1:10
If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

Sadly, the modern church seems reluctant to preach the message of sin these days. Instead, the messages are soft and under the excuse of not offending anyone, afraid they won’t come to receive the Gospel, they preach a one-sided message of love that is mostly void of the truth of God’s justice and His hatred of sin.

One of these excuse that I hear from brothers and sisters in Christ these days when the topic of personal sin comes up, is that sanctification is a process. Sure, we are called to become like Christ, but not today, they cry. It takes time.

Ok, I agree, it does. But that is not an excuse for your sin. It does not give us the freedom to keep living in the same sins. We cannot live out the Christian life and expect God’s blessings when we excuse our sin.

God hates our sin. He does. And, while His mercy and grace flow lavishly upon us through the substitutionary work of Christ on the cross, He still commands us to obey His commands. Samuel warned Saul of this very thing.

1 Samuel 15:22
Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.

His message gets even harder in the next verse.

1 Samuel 15:23
"For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king."

 

Purposely excusing our sin and as seen above, even trying to make up for it through sacrifice or giving and serving, is not what God wants from us. He wants obedience. He even sent His Holy Spirit to live in us and we have the power to obey. We have God’s power to overcome. We need to stop making excuses.

 

The Word of God has provided the instructions on how we are to live. The Sprit of God has provided the power. We are without excuse. It is time we preach the truth. It is time we encourage each other to walk in the Spirit. It is time we not be offended by talk of holiness and when confronted with the scriptures, it is time we listen to God.

 

I close with a very important warning that we must adhere to.

 

2 Timothy 4:1-5
I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:  preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.  But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

 

Do reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

 

Don’t tickle ears.

 

Preach the Word.