Pastor Joseph Chambers / Paw Creek Ministies

There is no truth in the Holy Bible more breathtaking than God‘s hatred for sin yet His matchless love for the sinner.

The church world that has stopped all preaching against sin is a shame and disgrace to the Father Himself. Satan’s effort from his first action to the present has always been to deny sin. Satan loves sin at the same level that our God hate sin. Every sorrow and pain, every blight and gloom, every broken heart and damned soul is the product of sin. There would not be a cloud in the sky or a mentally destroyed mind were it not for sin. Sin is the exact opposite of purity, beauty, and happiness.

The Holy Ghost said it well when He inspired Apostle Paul to pen these words, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) My dad committed suicide with a Bible under his head with these very words highlighted and then stained it with his blood. No one can number the tears that have flowed from human eyes because of sin. It would be impossible to pick up all the broken lives where sin has been allowed to be king.

The Creator of this beautiful universe has had to watch the dark event of sin turn many a garden into a desert. Right now the religion of the devil, called Islam, is wrecking havoc in many quarters of nations. Millions of Bible believing Christians are suffering and dying because of the reign of sin and its slaughter. The money wasted in sin and the cost of repairing lives destroyed by sin would feed every hungry child in our world and have much to spare.

The Bible speaks of a multitude of sin-sick souls that God finally gave up on and allowed them to move beyond repentance. Understanding the price that God’s Son paid to redeem every living soul, can you imagine the sadness every time the Father says to the Holy Ghost, “Leave him alone—he is married to his sins”? Neither the Son nor the Spirit can make that decision. I believe it is the Father alone that reserves that right to Himself

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Listen to the Holy Ghost tell us how this may happen to the multitudes rejecting His call this very hour. “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” (II Thessalonians 2:11)Many modern compromisers are preaching that no one can blaspheme the Holy Ghost in our hour of the End Times. They are even falsely preaching that anyone taking the Mark of the Beast can still repent and be forgiven. They believe our God of Holiness, unimpeachable Holiness, is really only a God of love. What kind of love would coddle adultery, fornication, sodomy, and every vile act of flesh and not become as vile as these sins?

Our Great God hates every act of sin and will never allow His grace to cover such conduct. He is many times bigger and wiser than to offer grace as a pretty wrapping for filthy living. A great prophet of our First Testament made a Divine statement concerning His Holiness, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?” (Habakkuk 1:13) Our God is the essence of Holiness. He will never smile at sin.

But the rest of this great article is where the purity of God paints its grandest picture. God hates sin with a perfect hatred and loves the sinner with absolute sovereignty and mercy. No soul, regardless of how debased and wicked can turn toward the saving merits of Jesus Christ and not be enabled to believe. Jesus Christ is more than a means of forgiveness. He is an enabler to help that person believe. All any person needs to do to be saved is to turn to Him with their whole heart: The Grace of God will do the rest.

The text for this sermon is the beautiful words of St. John in his first epistle. You need to read this entire text (I John 1:5-2:6). “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. f we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.” (I John 1:5-2:6)

Over and over the Holy Ghost points out our sinful nature and our tendency to live in sin. Yet over and over He shows us that to live in sin is absolutely contrary to His provisions. He does clearly warn us that a believer can fall into an act of sin but allows no excuse for continuing in that state. He says it clearly, “If any man sin…” Then we have an answer. We have a mercy seat and He calls it the place of retreat. We cannot continue in our failure but we have a place for forgiveness.

Probably the strongest word is our Christian living is used in this text. That word is “propitiation.”

Jesus was a vicarious sacrifice, because He died in your place and carried your sin into the judgment arena. He became sin for you and was declared guilty by His Father. “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.” (Isaiah 53: 10-11) Your sins were so grievous that only a Divine person of the Godhead could possible take your place and earn your forgiveness.

But even more profound, if that is possible, He also takes His righteousness and writes it on your very person and soul. He imputes His righteousness to you so that a “Born Again” person is holy just like He is holy. One marvelous difference is “His Holiness” is inherent and issues from Himself, while our holiness is transferred by grace to us. And again we are so frail that there must be a constant flow from Him or we lapse back to the old pathway. Remember, “The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17b)

I must warn you not to ever use the term “I’m a saved sinner.” If you are “Born Again” and say you are a “saved sinner” you are impugning His grace of propitiation. You are now His own son or daughter and He has imputed and as you grow in grace, imparted His Holiness to you. You cannot have His imputed and imparted holiness and be a saved sinner at the same time.

Our God hates sin and that will never change. He also loves the sinner and if you reject Him at the moment of your made up mind, He will with great sorrow tell His Spirit of grace to leave you alone.

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