Nature of Sin

It has been a while since I have wrote a blog post... over 3 Years!!! I have seen the Lord in many ways and I would like to share what the Lord has been teaching me in his word. I have been reading through Hebrews for my daily study and I cannot get out of the first few chapters! It's too good! Today's exhortation from the word to my soul was:

"Take care, brothers (and sisters), lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from ethe living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." 

Hebrews 3:12-13

There are so many directions that this text can take a person. This morning the Lord spoke to me about the deceitfulness of sin. Sin is such a tricky thing. It promises you the world in an instant but we can never cash in on those promises. The empty promises of sin calls us and diverts our attention from what and who is truly satisfying. 

Sin, like our culture, says, "you need satisfaction right now!" And the more attention and pardon we give our sinful desires, the more we lose sight of the source of all satisfaction- the risen Christ. The urgency that sin lures us in with is the exact opposite of what hope calls us to do. Hope in Christ calls us to patiently and actively wait on him because we will be satisfied for all of eternity when he defeats evil for good. I am not saying that we are not to be happy now, but this place is temporary and transient. Our future hope affects the present (1 John 3:2). Our hearts can (presently) leap with joy knowing where we will be and what we'll experience in the future.

If we buy-in to sins lies, then, according to the verse 13, the result is that our hearts are hardened. Our hearts are hardened to what? His voice (v.15). Verse 15 quotes Psalm 95:7-8 which is about the Israelites in the wilderness. The Israelites in the wilderness disregarded the voice of the Lord because their hearts were hard towards Him. They did did not see the goodness in the Exodus because their hearts were hard. They did not see the goodness of the Lord because they were to busy complaining and not trusting the Lord, which is the definition of sin.

There is so much more to say about sin leading to hard-heartedness but the more important question to answer at this point is 'What if our heart is already hard?' or 'How do we soften our heart?' This is where the glorious gospel exercises its dominance over sin! The gospel is that Jesus exchanged our heart of stone for a heart of flesh. 1 John 1:9 says, "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The cleansing work of Jesus is synonymous with softening our heart. Only Jesus can soften your heart by cleansing you and peeling off the hard and crusty build-up that has been accumulated by the sin. Run your hard heart under the faucet of grace that flows with the unlimited precious blood of Jesus for those who trust in him. Remember Jesus said to Peter, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me" (John 13:8). Trust in Christ and find satisfaction in Him because, with his promises, unlike sin's, you can take it to the bank!