Sin And The Law
Part One of Two
( Part Two: Remission Of Sin Under Grace )
When God sent Moses to Egypt to bring His people out of slavery and bondage to a pagan Pharaoh, it was after hundreds of years during which time they lost their relationship with Him (Joshua 24:5-7, Micah 6:4). The knowledge of His existence remained but they did not follow Him or worship Him. Through overt oppression generations of God’s people were influenced by the pagan practices of Pharaoh, who thought himself a god (Exodus 5:2), disconnecting them from their spiritual heritage and identity as God’s people which caused them to serve Pharaoh and his kingdom which opposed God (You can read the story in Exodus Chapters 7-14). The One true God prevailed and through many spiritual demonstrations of His power, Pharaoh reluctantly let the people go.
Physically Free but not Spiritually Free
Naturally the Israelites were more than happy to be free but they would need to become reacquainted with their God so that they could choose whom they would follow. It was their forty year journey through the desert (Numbers 14:1-38) to get to the promised land of Canaan that would accomplish this. Although Canaan was filled with pagan people groups and cursed, it was the land promised to them since the time of Abraham (Genesis 28:4 and 50:24). They were to go and take possession of it so God could come and redeem it but they had to first be spiritually cleansed of all unrighteousness (Ezekiel 36:24-38 and Romans 6:13 and again in Numbers 14:1-38). God desired, and still does, a personal relationship with His people just like He had in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:8) but they were afraid (Exodus 20:18-22). This fear came as a result of their sinful ways just like Adam and Eve experienced when sin entered their life. While in the desert, the people forfeited a personal relationship with God and asked Moses to be the intermediary for them.
A Holy God
In an effort to help them become reacquainted with who He is and how His Kingdom operates, God provided a framework for how they were to live to keep the relationship viable. Today we know this framework as the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 8:1-2). From the Ten Commandments comes a hearty list of laws, outlined in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, that covered every circumstance that they may have found themselves in. Did this require a lot of work to execute? So much in fact that in Exodus 18:14-20, Moses’ Father-in-law, Jethro, spoke to him about some changes that he should make as it was impossible for him to be expected to be the source that everyone relied on in order to learn how God wanted them to live and to execute justice. This circumstance alludes to the need for man to have help managing his affairs, that personal responsibility for one’s relationship with God is what He wants, and that sinful man cannot successfully accomplish living according the statutes of a Holy God. Their mindset of relying on man instead of God kept them emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually slaves to all that they learned while in Egypt even though they weren’t in Egypt anymore. On one occasion while waiting for Moses to return from meeting with God on Mount Sinai, the people had a golden calf made from all of their jewelry so that they could worship it (Exodus 32:1-6). The worship of false gods in a pagan nation had become a part of who they became keeping them from a relationship with the One True God where their identity was found. This desire to want what they wanted despite having experienced the manifestation of the living God is called Sin (Exodus 32:34-35). Sin caused them to worship a symbol of a false god making them idolaters which broke the very first commandment (Exodus 20:23). This would cause the people to be under a curse because they not only did not want a personal relationship with Him, talking to Him face to face, but were spiritually far from Him due to sin (Exodus 33:1-17) keeping them separated from Him and unable to receive His blessings. Their heart and its desires prevailed despite all that He had done to rescue them from their enemy.
Man’s Struggle with Sin
Throughout history we will see the Israelites would constantly find themselves being given the opportunity to make a choice as to whom they will serve. The One True God who chose them to be the people that He would use to be a testimony of His goodness and mercy and righteousness to all nations or the god of this world, Satan, who continually desires to enslave them and keep them in unbelief and disobedience and away from the blessings of God. Their sin nature kept them from being able to completely fulfill all of the law that was given to them so that they could be in His presence and part of His Kingdom. The law was never intended to sustain (Galatians 3:18-24). We can clearly see that in our present society where laws abound. The law cannot prevent people from doing evil and living in opposition to a Holy God. The law was given to be a mirror. A way to provoke man’s conscience to confront his sin condition (Romans 7:7) and as Jethro alluded too, the need for man to have a Savior who can handle all of mankind’s issues. God’s desire is and always was to be in communion with His people but He cannot be near sin (Leviticus 19:2). He revealed Himself the way that He did so that people might see their sin and desire to be rescued from it. God needs us to want to have our relationship with Him restored because He gave us free will to choose (Deuteronomy 30:19-20). After forty years of revealing Himself and His Kingdom to the people He brought out of Egypt, He had to raise up a new generation of those whose desire was to follow Him because the hearts of those whom He rescued were just too corrupt. It was this generation that he was able to bring into the promised land. Egypt had to be out of the people so that they could go to Canaan and take possession from the pagan groups that inhabited the land. They were a holy people and Canaan was not in them so they could receive God’s promise of a homeland (Leviticus 20:24, Deuteronomy 26:9,15, Numbers 14:8 and Ezekiel 20:6).
History Repeats Itself
Many years later the Israelites would once again find themselves separated from their God because of their sin. This time it would be to another pagan empire and its ruler of the Babylonian Empire. Like the Egyptians and the Canaanites, the Babylonians worshiped false gods and participated in many horrible rituals in order to serve these gods. One such practice was the sacrifice of their children to a pagan god name Moloch (Leviticus 18:21, Deuteronomy 12:31, 2Kings 17:17-18). Evil was everywhere and again, they found themselves having to make a choice as to which god they would serve. Just like in the story of the people after the Exodus from Egypt there were some who remained faithful to their God and others who took on the practices of those around them. The faithful were always brought back to the promised land and walked in God’s blessings.
Nothing New Under the Sun (Eccl. 1:9)
Let’s look out of the window at the condition of our present world. Do you see a world full of peace, selflessness, truth, and people in a relationship with a Holy God who are living in the promises of God or do you see one with chaos, destruction, rebellion, and idolatry where everything is about the self? The Babylonian way of life is still very much in existence today. The struggles of mankind come from trying to navigate its deceptive paths. The pursuit of things of the flesh and focus on worldly accomplishments keeps people in bondage to sin and under the power of the god of this world and away from a right relationship with the One True God just like it did for the Israelites of the Bible. There is still time to choose which God you will follow. Like the Israelites, we have forgotten who we were created to be and our selfish mindsets have become our idol. We have become so proud that we have become a “stiff-necked people” and no longer feel conviction of sin and God is purposefully ignored, rejected, denied, and mocked, just like He was when He came to earth the first time, leaving us in a very spiritually deprived state at risk of eternal condemnation (Proverbs 28:18). The god of this world can be seen at work in every facet of life around the globe. All hope seems to be lost. Despite this God has been merciful to not give us what we deserve. He is still on the throne and the Final Judgment has not yet come but time is running out. God still desires to capture the hearts of man and to restore his lost relationship with them. It is His will that none are lost and He has a plan that we will see paves the way for all to continue to have an opportunity to “choose whom you will serve.” (Joshua 24:15) while there is still time so that we can cross the Jordan River into the promised land. We will talk about that in the next lesson.
Part Two: Remission of Sin Under Grace.