Serious as Sin
In Jesus’ fourth discourse in Matthew, found in chapter 18, He teaches on the Christian life. The disciples were growing uncomfortable with Peter’s position in the group; and with the growing belief in Jesus being Messiah, the disciples wanted positions to be doled out. Their inquiry to who would be greatest in the kingdom of heaven was met with a surprise response from Jesus. Humility would trump hubris in Jesus hierarchical structure (Mt 18:1–6). In addition, a severe warning was issued to anyone hindering the faith of God’s children. Judas Iscariot probably received some eye contact from Jesus when He uttered His warning about stumbling blocks (Mt 18:7–9).
“Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks!” is Jesus’ judgment against those hostile to the advance of His kingdom. Jesus Christ is not shedding tears or having His heart broken by the sins of people in the world, as some purport, today. Jesus’ attitude toward sinners is, “woe to you.” Why? God hates those who do iniquity (Ps 5:5; 11:5). This was true for the religious leaders of Israel, who clearly fit the description of those obstructing the faith of people in Israel. The scope of Jesus’ warning is even further afield, “woe to the world.”
The world is a system in which sin thrives as the currency. The apostle Paul called the world, “a course (Eph 2:2).” Christians formerly walked according to this course in the futility of their minds (Eph 4:17), but through repentance and faith have changed direction in their walk. Jesus refused to pray for the world system (Jn 17:9), which is hostile to Him because He exposes its evil deeds (Jn 7:7). The apostle John warns Christians not to love the world system, which burgeons with lust and pride. He implies the end sum futility of the world system in declaring its pending demise (1 Jn 2:15–17). The world is like a candy store for a diabetic. It is like a beer museum for an alcoholic. It is like pornographic web sites for sex addicts. It is like a crack house for drug addicts. The world system is a temptation playground. The media “educates” us to buy consumer products, which are clearly used by sensuous young women eager for you to be all you can be. “I’m lovin’ it” because I am told to.
Jesus is not antinomian toward sin. He is not an advocate of cheap grace. Licentiousness is not His attitude. Jesus is far more serious about sin than us. The Puritans viewed sin as worse than hell, for at least in hell there is no more sin. This also makes death better than sin. “Woe to us” for our wrong assessment of sin and our sins. This is why “whoa, whoa, whoa” sounds so much like “woe.” We must mortify sin in our mortal bodies.
Sin is lawlessness (1 Jn 3:4). It is not just an outward act of rebellion, it is the nature of the human heart (Eph 2:3). Sin is a mind-set, and it is an affection. People love sin (Jn 3:19). Transgressions against God’s Law bring a cheap thrill to sinners because they convince themselves they have performed their dirty deeds without God’s attention. Still worse, God is slow to wrath, and this spurs the sinner on to further hate and iniquity.
It was necessary in God’s predetermined plan for temptation and sin to be the course of this world (Mt 18:7b). Without sin, God our Savior would not be known or needed. Sinners protest God being the prime mover in the world of sin. If God has predestined sinful people in a sinful world, and predestined the coming of Jesus Christ, the only Savior of sinners, then a God ordained problem/solution combination simply reveals attributes of God. These bring Him glory.
We would never see nor understand these attributes without the creation of the problem. God created a problem so He could be the glorious singular solution. Sin and evil can never be attributed to God because God is holy. This revelation teaches us how God’s holiness and unchangeableness over-ride any possibility of God being responsible for evil.
Man is responsible for his situation and his behavior before a holy and righteous Judge. Sins will be paid for, if they have not been atoned for. Each person will be responsible to pay the penalty for her own sins. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23), and this is not just death of the body, but death of the soul in hell.
If God has predetermined all things, then how is man responsible for his sins? The doctrine of compatibilism teaches us coexistence in God’s decree of all things and the responsibility of all people. In God’s decree, He has made provision for man’s responsibility. God made man, and He made him to be a responsible free agent.
Could God have kept Adam from sin and the fall? Yes, but God’s free will determined the events of Eden, to unfold in such a way that redeemed people would recognize the value of God’s salvation (Phil 3:8).
Could God have saved the angels or Judas Iscariot for that matter? Yes, but God chose not to extend free grace to such reprobates. They were vessels of wrath prepared beforehand for destruction (Rom 9:22). God created hell to accommodate them for eternity (2 Pet 2:4).
Knowing the design of God’s predestination, including man’s responsibility, the saved child of God is broken in humility. She fears God and longs to keep His commandments. She overflows with thanksgiving for God’s salvation, which she knows is all of Him. She knows she never desired God, and would have never decided to follow Jesus. She has contributed nothing but sin to the story of God’s saving her. God has made her glad because He had mercy upon her, and was gracious to her, in love for her. It was necessary for her to sin, in order for God to be her Savior, which is how sin has indirectly brought glory to God.
Jesus’ attitude toward sin is not favorable, and He teaches personal accountability for each sinner. Without a Savior, all Jesus can say to the world is, “woe.” The warning continues in Mathew 18:8–9. With utmost hyperbole, which Origien missed when he severed his own reproductive member (a bit ironic for someone known for his allegorical interpretation of the Bible), Jesus warns his disciples about the seriousness of sin. Let’s consider the economy of “sin resolution” from Jesus’ warning.
Option one is “eternal fire” (18:8) or “fiery hell” (18:9). Sin leads to death of the body. It is appointed once for a man to die and then comes the judgment (Heb 9:27). Sinners are condemned already (Jn 3:18), therefore, it is just a matter of sentencing, for which there is punishment in a hell of fire, forever (Mt 25:46; Jude 7).
The doctrine of hell is never popular in any generation. People believe in hell for other people they do not like, but they never imagine “a good person like me” could ever warrant an eternity in outer darkness, where there is gnashing of teeth and the burning torment of unquenchable thirst (Mt 8:12; 13:42).
Option two is the severing of body parts, which are guilty of sin. Do you have lust in your eyes? Pluck them out. Do you have a theft problem? Cut off your hand. Do you curse and swear? Cut out your tongue. Jesus’ teaching would have shocked the ears of His hearers. The accounting of sins would suddenly appear on their minds. Most people would have to completely dismember their physical bodies if a literal interpretation was demanded. Fortunately, it is not.
We must remember Jesus is warning against sins that hinder the faith of His people. Faith is a gift of God to His children, and attempted theft of the faith of one of God’s children is serious to God the Father. Jesus simply says, “woe.” The better alternative to facing an angry Father of a crying child, who has been robbed of her treasured gift, is to have a millstone tied to one’s neck and be cast into the sea (18:6). Simply put, it would have been better not to have been born.
How should we live in light of these teachings of Jesus? First, we must have the same attitude toward sin as Jesus has in this passage. Our sins hurt people. Transgressions put up a wall of separation where love cannot thrive. We must hate our sins, which means, we must hate our sin nature and our behaviors.
Our sin nature is so close to “self” that one could say, “we must hate ourselves.” This is certainly true for unregenerate unbelievers. Self is simply inherent sin in thought, word, and deed. The first step in salvation for a sinner is to confess the truth about oneself, “I myself am a sinner.” Sin must be confessed, and self must repent of the evil course so popular in the world. God has ordained for this to happen when the Word of God is preached and the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin (Jn 16:8).
Second, one must acknowledge his primary identity as a lost sinner and accept accountability for it. The Bible tells people their status before God, and it is not favorable (Gen 6:5). The saved sinner readily admits that if she were to stand before the great white throne of God’s judgment, without a Savior, then she should be punished for eternity in hell for what she has thought, said, and done throughout her life.
Accountability is simply being true to oneself, and confessing the truth about oneself. God is true, and every man is a liar (Rom 3:4). We must first be true. Here is the truth: we are wretched, sinful, fallen creatures deserving the eternal lake of fire. The problem is that sin itself hinders a true confession. People follow the lead of their father, the devil, who was a liar from the beginning (Jn 8:44). He blinds them from the truth about themselves and about God and Christ (2 Cor 4:4). People are living a lie, and they love it. This is why they hate true Gospel preachers, even throwing the man of God out of their synagogues (Jn 16:2).
Third, Jesus taught His disciples, they must take action, and we are to take action, too. How can the sinful members of our sinful bodies be saved for being severed as the way of salvation from hell? The answer is that all of your sins must be forgiven. The Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost (Mt 18:11; Lk 19:10). Sin in our bodies was a lost cause, but this is the whole point of God’s redemption. The ruined clay has been salvaged by the Potter, in order to be re-made into the likeness of Christ’s perfection (Jer 18; Rom 9). Vessels of mercy have the cancer of sin expunged from their members. How is one to be presented holy and blameless before God?
Instead of cutting off one’s sinful body parts, she must receive full forgiveness of what has been done in the body. Christ can make you whole, but you must submit to Him and His saving work of redemption. You must receive His gracious payment for the penalty of your sins. You must apprehend His substitutionary sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary. You must appropriate His sprinkled blood shed for the forgiveness of all your sins. You cannot sever enough body parts to save you from your sins. There must be another way, and thanks be to God, there is another way. Jesus taught (my paraphrase), “I am your only way to right standing before God the Father (Jn 14:6), that is, the full forgiveness of all your sins (1 Jn 1:9), and be warned that no one comes to the Father except by Me (Jn 3:16).”
In summary, we have seen the sinner’s need for an attitude of humility. God’s Word of truth, taught to us by God’s Spirit of truth, exposes every man for being wicked in his natural state of rebellion against God. We have received the warning of Jesus against pride, which creates stumbling blocks for His people. The course of this world is one big stumbling block of temptation to sin, and there are many who follow this course to destruction. This is why the world will burn in judgment on the day of Christ’s return (Rev 19:11–21; 2 Pet 3:10–12). If sin must be completely removed from sinners to enjoy communion with God, then the world must have sin completely purged for God and man to dwell together in sinless harmony. Following the world’s fiery destruction, God will create a new heavens and a new earth (Rev 21–22).
If our sin is storing up wrath for God’s day of wrath to come, then every person should inquire about salvation (Mt 3:7; Lk 3:7; Acts 16:30–31; 1 Thess 1:10). Hell is waiting for unsaved sinners, and with the daily addition of more people entering their eternal hellish abode, the fires are stoked in anticipation of more residents to come. Before you accept the invitation of hell to come and dwell, consider the call of Jesus to come to Him (Mt 11:28).
God sent His Son to be the Savior of the world (1 Jn 4:14), to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21). He calls all men everywhere to repent of their sins (Acts 17:30), and to place their faith in Jesus Christ, for the salvation of their bodies and souls. Have you changed your mind about God’s true assessment of you? Have you believed our report of God’s one provision for repentant sinners? If yes, then rejoice in your salvation. If no, then why will you die? Jesus says, there is fiery eternal hell waiting for you (18:8–9). God executes a gracious salvation for His people, and His people hear His voice calling them to come to Him for salvation. Will you come?
David E. Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
January 15, 2021
