The Sin Before You May Lead To Immediate Death: Do Not Commit It!: Practical Helps in Sanctification, #5

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SINNING UNINTENTIONALLY AND SINNING INTENTIONALLY

It is a frightful thing for anyone to know that a certain act is sinful and deliberately commit it. Generally speaking, forgiveness was offered in the Old Testament on the grounds that sin was committed unintentionally. The Bible says:

Now if you unintentionally fail to keep any of these commands the Lord gave Moses – any of the Lord’s commands to you through him, from the day the Lord gave them and continuing through the generations to come – and if this is done unintentionally without the community being aware of it, then the whole community is to offer a young bull for a burnt offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord, along with its prescribed grain offering and drink offering, and a male goat for a sin offering. The priest is to make atonement for the whole Israelite community, and they will be forgiven, for it was not intentional and they have brought to the Lord for their wrong an offering made by fire and a sin offering. The whole Israelite community and the aliens living among them will be forgiven, because all the people were involved in the unintentional wrong. But if just one person sins unintentionally, he must bring a year–old female goat for a sin offering. The priest is to make atonement before the Lord for the one who erred by sinning unintentionally, and when atonement has been made for him, he will be forgiven. One and the same law applies to everyone who sins unintentionally, whether he is a native-born Israelite or an alien. But anyone who sins defiantly, whether a native-born or alien, blasphemes the Lord, and that person must be cut off from his people. Because he has despised the Lord’s word and broken his commands, that person must surely be cut off; his guilt remains on him.’ While the Israelites were in the desert, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. Then the Lord said to Moses, The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp. So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses" (Numbers15:22-36).

The Old Testament provided that a burnt offering be made to the Lord as a sin offering for unintentional sin. The Bible is clear on this. In the above passage we find the following:

If you unintentionally fail to keep these commands

If this is done unintentionally

For it was done unintentionally...

The unintentional wrong

If just one person sins unintentionally

By sinning unintentionally

Who sins unintentionally

It is thus clear what was to be done by the one who sinned unintentionally!

The Old Testament provided no hope for the one who sinned intentionally. The passage above said that the person who sinned defiantly, the person who knew what God’s law said, the person who knew that God’s Word said that some act should not be carried out, but who, knowingly, deliberately decided to carry out what the Word of God forbade, blasphemed the Lord and had to be cut off from his people, because he had despised the Lord’s Word and broken His command. It said that such a person who despised the Lord’s Word and broke the Lord’s command would have his guilt remain on him.

To clearly substantiate what was being taught, the Old Testament presented the case of the Israelite who was found gathering wood on the Sabbath. This man knew what God’s Word said on the matter of the Sabbath. He knew that it said,

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (Exodus 20:8-11).

This man knew that God forbade work on the Sabbath. He decided to intentionally gather wood on the Sabbath. He was saying to himself, God’s law says that there should be no gathering of wood on the Sabbath. I know that. I have established my own law. My own law says that wood should be gathered on the Sabbath. There is the law of God that says that no wood should be gathered on the Sabbath and there is the law of the god (me), which says that wood can be gathered on the Sabbath. Faced with two laws – the law of God and the law of the god (me), I make my choice. I defy the Lord God and disobey His law. I submit to the god (me) and I obey his law. I will gather wood on the Sabbath. I gather wood on the Sabbath.

This man was an idolater. He worshipped the god (me) in place of the Eternal God. For being an idolater, he was stoned to death.

EVERY INTENTIONAL SIN IS A FORM OF IDOLATRY

The man who was found gathering wood on the Sabbath, established his own law above the law of the Lord, and obeyed his own law instead of the Lord’s. He worshipped himself instead of worshipping the Lord. For that reason he was eliminated.

When anyone knows what the Lord demands and does not do what the Lord demands, but instead decides to do what his own heart has established or desires, he has put himself above the Lord and has made himself the object of worship. He has become his own god. He has overthrown the Lord God and established himself in place of the Lord. He is an idolater and qualifies to be treated as an idol-worshipper!

Each one who knows what God wants but refuses to do it is an idolater! God’s judgment will come upon each idolater sooner or later!

If you are planning to sin with the hope that after you have committed the act of sin you will ask God for forgiveness, I plead with you not to dare. There are two main reasons why you should not do it. The first reason is that there is no guarantee that you will be able to repent after you have sinned deliberately. Repentance is a gift of God. The Holy Spirit has to bring someone to repentance. It should not be taken for granted that He will always do it. Even if anyone were to take for granted that the Holy Spirit would always be willing to work to bring him to repentance, he cannot be sure that his own heart will always be willing to co-operate with the Holy Spirit! The Bible says,

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace (Hebrews 6:4–6).

To sin intentionally is to crucify the Son of God all over again! Can you take that responsibility? It might be impossible for you to be brought back to repentance. Think about it carefully and weigh the consequences before you do yourself eternal harm by committing the sin that you are contemplating to commit!

The Bible has this to say,

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no-one will see the Lord. See to it that no-one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterwards, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears (Hebrews 12:14–17).

Esau sinned deliberately. The Bible says, He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears. Yes, he wept, but he could bring about no change of mind. He wept but he could not repent. It was too late. The birthright that he had sold remained sold. He lost it permanently. It could be that when he was selling his birthright he thought that he could sell it and then have it back at will. He discovered that things were different and that what he had sold had been sold permanently. You may never be able to repent. You should be wise and turn away completely from the sin before you. If you commit it, it might well be the end.

The second reason why you ought to abandon the plans to commit the sin that you intend to commit and intend to ask for forgiveness after it has been committed, is that it may be a sin unto death! The rest of this book is about sin that leads to death.

Read on and be instructed!

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WHICH SIN WILL LEAD TO DEATH ?

Someone may ask, How can I know the sin that will be a sin unto death for me? The answer is that no-one can know before the sin is committed that that sin will be a sin unto death for him! It is only after the sin has been committed that it is manifested as having been a sin unto death!

Take the sin of sexual immorality, for example. King David committed this sin and for him it was not a sin that led to death. He repented and was restored. On the other hand, his first son Amnon committed the sin of sexual immorality with his sister Tamar, and for him it was a sin unto death!

Take the sin of lying, for example. Many believers have lied and not died immediately for it because, for them, it was not a sin that led to death. However, for Ananias and for his wife Sapphira, when they each lied, they sinned unto death, for both died within minutes of having proclaimed the lie that was in their hearts!

For the same individual a sin may be committed the first, second, third, fourth and fifth time; in fact, it could be committed ten times and not be a sin that leads to death any of those times. However, the eleventh time of committing the sin, it could become a sin that leads to death, and death immediately follows that eleventh time when the sin is committed. A good example of this is found in the Israelites as they went from Egypt to the Promised Land. They murmured and grumbled against Moses and Aaron very often without major consequences. For example:

They grumbled at the Red Sea before the Lord split it open (Exodus 14:10-12).

They grumbled at Marah (Exodus 15:22-24).

They grumbled at Elim (Exodus 16:1-3).

They quarrelled with Moses in the Desert of Sin (Exodus 17:1-2).

They grumbled after the ten spies gave an evil report of the land (Numbers 14:1-4).

The sixth grumbling was disastrous. The Bible says,

The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. ‘You have killed the Lord’s people,’ they said. But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned towards the Tent of Meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared. Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and the Lord said to Moses, ‘Get away from this assembly so that I can put an end to them at once.’ And they fell face down. Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘Take your censer and put incense in it, along with fire from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the Lord; the plague has started.’ So Aaron did as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped. But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah (Numbers 16:41-49).

So, there were many previous incidents in which the people murmured and grumbled and none of them died for it. The sin of murmuring was not a sin that led to death in those circumstances. They might even have thought that it was all right to murmur and to grumble. Then that fatal day came suddenly without warning and without announcement and, like before, they murmured and they grumbled. The Lord’s wrath came immediately upon them and, before it could be stopped, 14,700 of them had, in murmuring and in grumbling, committed the sin that led to death! They died.

As we have seen, some sins that appear in the eyes of man as small,