Oops, I Did it Again (sin that is)

(Be patient, this is a long one but I feel it's worth your time)

I love my drums. No really, they stay in my bedroom, they each have their own padded case, I tune them often and cringe when someone else plays them. But you know what? Whenever I go into Guitar Center and see that big old Drum Workshop kit sitting there, man, I can just picture myself in the driver's seat!

You know what else? I just sinned. Not a minor one either. I broke one of the 10 COMMANDMENTS. It's way down the list, actually right at the bottom but there it is, #10, Thou shalt not covet. Most people think this is meaning coveting your neighbors wife but let's put the full text up on the screen. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbors."(Not that many of you have neighbors with donkeys, but you get the point!

Well that stinks, I can't complain that my neighbors grass is greener than mine without sinning again! And the 10 are just the beginning! The "Pentateuch" or the first 5 books of the Old Testament - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are filled with all kinds of things spoken to us from God that will cut
us off from Him in the afterlife. We really can't escape!

The Israelites spent their entire history - From Moses to the Birth of Jesus - constantly breaking the "Law". They'd be good for a while but were always being led astray. Either it was their own fallen nature or a neighboring country but they couldn't live sin free. They'd create idols to worship, borrow some of their neighbors if they were lazy, marry their women, fraternize with prostitutes in the pagan temples. They were a wild bunch.

You might say, "Why create all of these laws that you know your people will never be able to follow?" The ironic thing is, I believe that was the whole idea. WHAT? Do you mean that he made all of this rules that we couldn't follow and turned us all into a bunch of sinners just to turn His back on us?

First -

The Law didn't create the sin. The Law revealed the sin in us all. If nobody tells us what we are doing wrong, then we would continue believing how perfect we are. If we didn't instruct our children, they would grow up completely out of control, not even realizing that anything they were doing was bad. The Law was set up so we would realize we could never live up to God's perfection.

If we didn't know we were sinning we wouldn't have the chance to repent of our sins and reconcile ourselves with our Father.

Second-

The Law disciplined. In Exodus, Moses led his people to the land promised him by God and he sent out scouts to check the land and the inhabitants. Upon returning they reported that was indeed the land of milk and honey but the residents were of great size and much stronger then they were. After hearing this the people rose against Moses asking why they were led out of the land where they "had it so good". You know, Egypt and the whole slavery thing. They had it great alright. Caleb and Joshua were only scouts with faith in their God to deliver his promise. When God heard this he basically blew up like a dad who's child broke the last straw. All the people 20 years old and above would never see the inheritance. They would die in the desert. Their sins against the Father led them to their death.

If we aren't disciplined for sinning we wouldn't feel the need to repent of our sins and reoncile ourselves with our Father.

We are constantly being disciplined. Not by God but by the results of our sinning. We're punished with debt, disease, divorce, job loss, humiliation, depression and the list goes on. Yes it also leads to death! Maybe not right away, some sins will catch up with you sooner than others, like drug and alcohol addictions or obesity but none-the-less if you are an unrepentant sinner, which is unfortunately our nature as humans, you will die for your sins.

How could God let us go through so much suffering? Look at it this way. I've heard numerous times about parents sick and tired of their miscreant children. Eventually they will stop bailing them out of trouble and let them see the consequences of their actions. How much more ticked off do you think God feels when we continue embracing our sins after He gave His Sons life for us? It's no wonder He would turn from us like He turned from the Israelites and let them get taken into captivity.

Third -

The law shows us how undeserving we are of His love but that love will always be waiting for us that come to him in repentance and pray for our forgiveness. God took the Israelites back, Hosea took Gomer back and the dad took the prodigal son back. The Israelites not only had the Law to tell them what was right in His eyes, but also in the Law was a means of atonement. There was a huge formula equating the sin to what type and how many animals should be sacrificed. The Israelites atonement was in the blood sacrifice.

But hey, we have our own blood sacrifice. God so loved us that He gave His Son, Jesus Christ, to die upon the cross for our sins. He was the perfect sacrifice. The Lamb of God. So the rules don't apply anymore, right? WRONG. Jesus said He didn't come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. He even made them more strict. Of course murder is a sin but Jesus said just being angry with your brother was on the same level. Adultery is with out a doubt sinful, but again He added an addendum. He said just thinking lustfully about someone was committing adultery. Being a Christ follower is no free ride! Plus, once you have given your life to Him, Satan really goes on the defensive. You have officially renounced this world and became his enemy! The darts of sin and temptation are really going to start flying.

Why did God make us this way; imperfect, sinning, proud, boastful? He didn't want perfect automatons. He gave us free will, the freedom to make our own way, right or wrong. He wants authentic a relationship with us, the kind that can only be had between a Father and son. He wants to correct us, praise us, discipline us and above all love us. That would be hard to do with a perfect robot-like person. He wants us to come to Him on our own accord, realizing this world has nothing for us and without Him we are lost.

It's not all bad. God gives us wonderful blessings when we bow to him. Rays of sunshine in the darkness. C.S. Lewis had a great quote that I am about to butcher but it went something like this....On our journey God has nice little bed and breakfast's along the way to give us a retreat and some relaxation but there will be hard times along the way lest we mistake this world for our home. I know that is nothing like the original quote but you get the drift.

If things were perfect we wouldn't look forward to our eternal life with Him.