This IS Sin

“Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38

I met a senior man on a street corner one day who confessed he needed money to get home because he had run out of money coming to New York City to meet a woman. Apparently this was not the first time nor did he seem to plan for it to be the last. He had a habit of coming into the city to meet women. Though he also confessed he already had a woman. But then she was just a “common law” wife, he said, meaning he wasn’t committing adultery against her I suppose by being with the other women. Nor cheating on her apparently. In his eyes. And in the world’s eyes, he seemed to assume. Apparently.

I can’t recall all the details nor the justification, but that’s just the point. When I told him he was sinning against God, he looked through the world’s eyes, and judged by the world’s standards, and used the world’s terminology, and decided he was perfectly okay. What did God’s eyes matter anyway? What did what God thought of him matter? This wasn’t about God, was it? He was just doing what he wanted to do. Doing what he figured in the world’s eyes was perfectly alright.

The Lord gave me courage and boldness to tell him he needed to repent of a lifestyle of sin and believe in Christ as Lord who died on the cross for his sins and was raised from the dead and truly commit his life to God and his ways. The man didn’t seem particularly interested. He seemed perfectly content continuing on in his lifestyle of sin and using the world’s standards to justify his sin. Never mind he was headed straight for eternity in hell and the lake of fire forever apart from God. Never mind he would miss out on being forgiven by God and being given everlasting life if he turned to Christ and lived for Him henceforth.

Friend, justifying our sins because the world approves of what we’re doing, because the world doesn’t call it sin, because the world is okay with it, because the world is doing the same thing, because the world calls it fine and right, because of the world’s vocabulary and standards and expectations and ways, because it feels good and looks good and is tasty and delicious and temporarily satisfying to the flesh won’t just leave us on a street corner one day without enough money to get home for the night. It will help assure us of an eternity in the lake of fire. And we won’t be standing on a street corner in the lake of fire begging for money to catch a ride home for the night before we go out the next day chasing after worldly pleasures and tantalizing pleasures. We’ll be in torment forevermore.

Doesn’t matter if the world doesn’t call what we’re doing sin against God. If it’s sin against God, if it’s sin in HIS eyes, if it’s sin according to HIS WORD, if we’re convicted by HIS SPIRIT it’s sin against God, then it’s sin against God. And we need to turn away from it and turn to the Lord.

Not just turn away from that particular sin. We need to turn away from living a lifestyle of sin and receive Christ as Lord whereby we learn day by day to live a lifestyle of loving and honoring and worshiping and obeying and serving and enjoying God almighty in Christ forevermore!