Courtney Gilmore Sin seldom holds the same value after the fact as it does in the moment. It’s useless to go against God and it only causes us trouble in the end, yet we still fall to temptation sometimes. If we let ourselves linger too long or think about the forbidden too much, it begins to be all we can think about. It’s like all rationale goes out the window and our impulsive feelings just take over. All the sudden, we’ve acted on our sin without really thinking through the consequences or about the futility of what we are doing at all.
Each of us have our own temptations and weaknesses, but the fall happens to everyone in the same way.
Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown, brings forth death.
James 1:14-15
Then what happens next also follows a familiar pattern. Immediately, Satan shames us for the very thing he convinced us to do only moments before. It’s really incredible that we continue to fall for it!
First, he entices us and plants the desire in our mind. Next, he bombards us with all the excuses about why it’s okay, sometimes even convincing us it is right. Then, immediately he’s like, “Oh, no! What did you just do? You are going to be in so much trouble!” And just like that, on the turn of a dime, we are supposed to hide what he made us proud to do only moments before. Every time it’s the same play book. If only somewhere in the process we’d recognize what’s happening and stop ourselves before it goes any further!
Worthless Sin
This happened to an Israelite named Achan after their first battle for the Promised Land. He confessed that he had taken a beautiful robe that had come from Babylon, 80 oz of silver, and 20 oz of gold. Most likely this extravagant cloak belonged to the king of Jericho, and he just couldn’t pass it up. Ironically, none of these valuable things were of any use to him because he had to bury them so that no one would know what he had done.
You see the entire city of Jericho had been devoted to the Lord and the soldiers had been forbidden from taking anything from there. The gold, silver, bronze, and iron were given to God’s treasury and He commanded everything else to be destroyed. God said if anyone took anything devoted to destruction, they would make their own camp an object of destruction.
But Achan saw the items and their value, and he wanted them. So, he took them without stopping to think about the consequences or even the benefit they could be to him. Although once they were in his possession, they quickly had to be hidden. This subsequently made these extremely valuable items totally worthless to him. Not only that, but he also had to hide in fear of being discovered.
Hiding is Futile
No creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Hebrews 4:13
Satan entices and tempts until we give in. Then he shames us, tempting us into further sin by telling us to hide what we’ve done. But hiding is also futile because God knows our sin,
O Lord, You have searched and known me! You know when I sit down; when I rise up; You discern my thoughts from afar; You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways; Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there! Or, if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with You.
Psalm 139:1-12
Hiding the destructive thing doesn’t make it any less destructive when we’re still living with it. Like the Israelites, we can’t live with destructive things and hope to remain unaffected. When they make their home with us, then they become a part of us, and we too become an object of destruction.
Finding Freedom
Everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
John 3:20-21
The only way to be free from the trouble our sin causes and find reconciliation with the Lord, is to confess and repent of it. As long as it stays hidden in the dark, then it still holds us in that evil place. But when we bring it into the light, then it no longer has power over us.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But 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 we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
1 John 1:8-10
We do not expect our children to be perfect and God does not expect His children to be perfect either. As a matter of fact, He expects us NOT to be perfect. Our Father knows we will sin and He expects it. He does not want it, but He does expects it. So when we hide our sin from Him, we are doing nothing but hurting ourselves.
But by admitting to God that we have failed to live up to His standards, we are acknowledging that He sets the rules and deserves our obedience. Then by repenting (turning away from our sin) we get it out of our lives, and free ourselves from its ability to tempt or trouble us anymore.
Hide in Jesus
God knows our need to cover our sin. But instead of hiding it, we need to confess it to Him and let Jesus cover it with His blood.
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.
Psalm 32:1-5
When we cover our sins, they are always there just under the surface, just waiting to pop back up. But when Jesus covers our sins with His blood, not only does God not see them anymore, but He sees Jesus instead. Our sins are not covered with darkness. Instead, they are covered with His righteousness.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21
Jesus takes our sin, nails it to the cross, and dies for those offenses listed there. So, our sins die and are buried with Him. But unlike when Achan buried His sins, these are not hidden, they are dead. Then we rise with Him as a new creation, wiped clean of all our sins.
Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:4
Links
This is an excerpt from “Living with Destructive Things” as taught on YouTube and Podcast and “Sin Only Brings Destruction” as a written on Substack. Read the beginning of the lesson for free, or in its entirety, along with over 25 previous lessons, for $6/month or $60/year. Once subscribed, you’ll receive one lesson each week thereafter.
All Podcasts
