The Madness of Sin

It’s unimaginable. To have been with God from the beginning. To have known His perfect love, perfect wisdom, perfect justice…His omniscience, His omnipotence…over the span of eternity. And then to defy God in the unbelievably arrogant belief that you can somehow overthrow and replace Him. It’s absolutely insane…

But all sin is madness. Sin (singular) as opposed to sins (plural). One is a fundamental framework for how we view all that is. The other consists of individual acts based on that premise. The root of sin from which all sins spring is the assumption that “this is my life and I will live it as I see fit.” As if we created ourselves. As if we make our heart beat and our lungs breathe and our mind think through an act of will. As if we generate the force that holds the molecular structure of our bodies together by our own strength. As if we provide the air and the gravity and the right heat of the sun in which we exist everyday. Sheer madness…

And when we commit acts of sin, it’s never anything original or accidental. It’s not like we trip over the coffee table and accidentally commit some new sin that’s never been done before. Sure, it’s possible to commit an act of sin which we personally have never done before, but the vast majority of our acts of sin are ones we repeat over and over. And whether or not we’ve ever actually committed the act, we know in our hearts that it’s wrong before we do it because that’s how God created us.

the work of the Law [is] written in their hearts, their conscience testifying and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them - Romans 2:15

Whether you’re a Christian or an atheist or anything in between, you know when you do something wrong. There’s a twinge in your conscience. You may choose to ignore it but it’s there. It may be drowned out by the temporary pleasure derived from the act, but it’s there and usually comes back to haunt us once the pleasure’s gone. Then comes the rationalizations and defiance in our inner dialogue where we try to convince ourselves that it wasn’t wrong. That we were justified and we console ourselves that the rest of the world would certainly agree with us. But part of us still knows the truth. At least for a while…

Ignore the conviction of the Holy Spirit long enough in any one area, and after a while, you won’t hear it anymore.

When He [the Holy Spirit] comes, [He] will convict the world regarding sin, and righteousness, and judgment - John 16:8

For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools - Romans 1:21,22

seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron - 1 Timothy 4:2b

It can happen to Christians as well as non-Christians. You become numb. It’s not like you lose all moral or ethical sympathies, but you develop a blind spot in your conscience. You’ve rationalized away the shame and the guilt concerning a sinful behavior so many times that it’s become a reflex. That’s how so many pastors who are godly men and who have done so much for the kingdom of God have justified their own sexual immoralities or financial mismanagement until they’re exposed. It’s how the church in Germany condoned their support of Hitler. And it’s how you and I excuse doing what we know to be wrong over and over again.

Is it rational to do things which you know are wrong? By wrong, the secular world would say that it means it hurts someone or hurts yourself. Christians would add that it also hurts God. Doing what your conscience says is wrong wounds us every time. It’s self-destructive (to some degree) every time. So why would we do that?

Because we’re mad. We ARE self-destructive. We prefer the darkness to the light. Oh sure, as long as things are going our way and there’s enough comfort and money and pleasant diversions to keep us occupied, we can fool ourselves into thinking otherwise. But take those away and we show our true colors quickly enough.

And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil. - John 3:19

As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one” - Romans 3:10

“Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.” - Matthew 19:17

We are created in the image of God so we know right from wrong. But we inherited a nature of sin. A nature that says, “I know better than God. This is my life and I will live it as I see fit.” Left to our own devices, we’ll choose good when it pleases us to do so but there’s always a constant gravitational pull towards what we know is wrong. Towards the dark. Towards destruction and self-destruction. We may aspire to godliness but the reality is that we’re spiritually stillborn.

But the intercession of God through Jesus made it possible for us to have a new nature. What we could not do for ourselves, He did for us. He defeated sin and its consequences even though we’ve yet to witness that final victory. Through faith in Him, the nature of sin can be overcome by a new nature of the Spirit of God giving us the ability to choose sanity instead of madness. When we live in harmony with the will of God who created us, who causes our hearts to beat, who causes our lungs to breathe, who gives us the ability to think, who holds the very atoms of our body together…we are finally being reasonable and rational.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. - Romans 12:1

We no longer need be slaves of that selfish nature that can only defy God. But as long as we’re in this world, the old nature of sin (the flesh) will battle with the new nature of God (the Spirit) within us.

knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin - Romans 6:6

For the desire of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, in order to keep you from doing whatever you want. - Galatians 5:17

But there will come a day when there will be a final victory over sin. Satan, the father of sin, will be bound and cast into the lake of fire for all eternity (Rev. 20:10). There will be a new heaven and earth wherein righteousness dwells (2 Pet. 3:13). And we will receive our full inheritance as the children of God (Rom. 8:23).

Knowing who God is, knowing that all that we have and are comes from Him including our very existence, living a life of sin (i.e., “this is my life and I’ll live it as I see fit”) is clearly madness. So it should be no surprise when we see the world around us descending into madness. The only rational response is to live in harmony with God’s will for our lives and, when temptation rears its ugly head, choose sanity.

walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh - Galatians 5:16