The Fear of Sin

7 The Fear of Sin

It is safe to say that most people today do not connect the spiritual dots between sin and fear, even in the church. In most people’s minds, these are two unrelated subjects. But the Bible clearly teaches that there is a direct link between our reverential fear of God and our existential fear of sin. That’s why the Bible summarizes man’s rebellious condition this way:

There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes (Romans 3:10–18).

The relationship Paul draws here between the root and fruit of fear is inescapable. The root problem in humanity is that there is “no fear of God before their eyes.” The fruit of the problem is a lack of righteousness, no one seeking God, no goodness, dishonest and perverse communication, bitterness, violence, misery, and a general lack of peace. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

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Therefore, it is all because we have lost our fear of God in America—and in much of the church—that we have also lost our fear of sinning. That’s why the carnal Corinthian church is the norm for much of American Christianity with all of her immaturity and immorality. Because of this general loss of a true heartfelt reverential fear of God, people increasingly sin with reckless abandon, even Christians and pastors. As a result, both individually and collectively we are having to “pay the piper” in every area of life for this flippant and flagrant attitude toward sin: martially, socially, economically, culturally, and politically.

Obviously, God has had no change of heart when it comes to the gravity of sin. God still hates sin with a holy hatred, but He also still passionately loves the sinner!

You see, God hates sin first of all because of His nature of holy love, which never changes. But He also hates sin because of what it does to relationships. That’s because God is a relational God who created us for a living relationship with Himself and with others. But sin always breaks relationships. Divorce seeks to break the bond of the oneness that God said is indivisible. From His perspective, marriage is an eternal union that is inseparable. But when we neither fear God nor fear sin, we do not fear divorce. So in both the church and courtroom, we continue to violate the words of Jesus when He underscored the oneness and union of marriage by saying, “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Mark 10:9). It is only when we truly fear God and fear sin that we can begin to build holy, healthy, and happy relationships with God and others, starting with marriage.

So first of all, we must remind ourselves why God hates

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sin. He hates it in any and every form because of what it does to relationships, friendships, partnerships, and fellowship— with Himself and with others. Sin is a killer when it comes to relationships!

Second, it is important to understand that just as all fears are not equal, all sins are not equal. The Bible teaches that there are degrees of sin. And again, the worse sins are the ones that deface and destroy relationships.

But while there is a clear distinction in the Bible between the degrees of sin, all sin is still sin! But in our fallenness and moral rebellion against God, we tend to minimize sin to the degree that little sins are overlooked, trivialized, and rationalized. As a result, a little white lie is not considered a lie at all. It’s just not telling the whole truth. An adulterous affair is called an indiscretion, not a sexual sin. Homosexuality or bisexuality is renamed an alternative lifestyle instead of sexual perversion. Alcoholism or drug addiction is referred to as a sickness instead of sin. We could go on and on with examples of how we rationalize and justify sins in ourselves that we condemn in others.

It is clear, then, that because we have compromised the nature of God, we have correspondingly compromised the nature of sin. Having largely rejected the high moral standards of the Bible, we have reduced the absolutes of the Ten Commandments to ten suggestions that are personally determined by moral relativism. As a result, situational ethics, which is no ethics at all, has become the norm in every level of society from the courtroom to the locker room to the bedroom. Everyone is free to determine his or her ethical behavior on the basis of their own internal moral code. Prac-

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tically, that means that what is right for me is not necessarily right for everyone else. Therefore, having lowered the bar of God’s moral code to the lowest common denominator, we are each free to do what is right in our own eyes, just like God’s ancient people in Israel. In their rebellion against Him and His authority, “everyone did as they saw fit” (Judges 17:6).

The Bible, however, teaches a very different perspective of sin. It reminds us that all sin is serious and offensive to the holy heart of God! And while we constantly lower our standard of sin, God never does. That’s because His holy character never changes. In unambiguous terms God said, “I the Lord do not change” (Malachi 3:6; see also Numbers 23:19; Hebrews 7:21; James 1:17). He is eternally consistent in His judgment of sin. In other words: God is deathly serious about sin. The cross proves it.

By contrast, in America today we do not take any degree of sin seriously. As a result, our nation is rapidly losing any concept of the sinfulness of sin because we have lost a reverential fear of God and His Word. Our moral compass has no fixed point of reference.

But because the Bible is God’s revelation rather than a human moral code, it takes sin very seriously. And it also distinguishes and delineates between various kinds of sin. Here are some of the major types of sin that the Bible warns us about:

• Sins of ignorance (Acts 17:30; Romans 2:12–15; 1 Peter 1:14) • Sins of omission or neglectful sins (Romans 14:23;

James 4:17)

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• Sins of transgression (1 John 3:4) • Sins of iniquity and wickedness (Isaiah 59:2–8) • Sin unto death (1 John 5:16–17) • Sin of blasphemy against the Spirit (Matthew 12:31–32)

When it comes to this last sin, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, there is great fear and confusion among many Christians. Untold numbers of Christians live with the secret, haunting fear that they have committed the unpardonable sin. Suffice it to say at this point, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not an act but rather an attitude. It is not some particular sin of the moment, but a lifelong hardening-of-theheart attitude that has solidified into cold indifference to the Spirit of God.

When one loses their sensitivity to the convicting Spirit of God, then repentance and conversion are no longer possible. It is not so much a sin that God will not forgive, but rather a sin that God cannot forgive because the person has passed the point of no return. As Paul says, their “consciences have been seared as with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:2). As a result, they are totally deadened to the convicting Spirit of God. If conviction cannot be felt, then repentance cannot be made and forgiveness cannot be received. The greatest assurance that you have not committed the sin of blasphemy is the very fear that you might have done so! The very presence of that spiritual fear in your heart proves that you are still spiritually sensitive to the Spirit of God, and therefore could not possibly have blasphemed His Spirit.

The Bible, then, gives a constant clarion call against any and every form of sin. And in the process, it clearly calls all

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sin S-I-N. But it also clearly distinguishes between types or degrees of sin. However, that is often a distinction that only God clearly perceives because He alone fully understands the human heart with all of its motives.

But it is because there are degrees of sin that there will also be corresponding degrees of punishment in hell (Luke 12:47–48; see also Deuteronomy 25:2). Another sobering matter we have to leave in the hands of a perfectly loving, but righteous and just, God.

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