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Pastor's Blog March 5, 2020

• "Degrees of Sin?"

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Have you ever realized that degrees of sin mirror the ways in which people try to avoid coming to Jesus?  Ellen makes a bold statement in "Steps to Christ": "God does not regard all sins as of equal magnitude; there are degrees of guilt in His estimation...but however trifling this or that wrong act may seem in the eyes of men, no sin is small in the sight of God" (17; 1977 edition). 

Adventists have a very intimate relationship with sin; historically, we have made wide-reaching catalogs of sins, pronounced harsh denunciations of sinfulness, and have esteemed the sinner who "clings" to his or her cherished sins as not thoroughly converted.  And yet, Ellen warns us that it is possible to cherish the most insidious kinds of sin while railing against "the grosser sins" - in that, "the drunkard is despised and is told that his sin will exclude him from heaven; while pride, selfishness, and covetousness too often go unrebuked.  But these are sins that are especially offensive to God; for they are contrary to the benevolence of His character, to that unselfish love which is the very atmosphere of the unfallen universe" (17-18). 

Ellen is right to point out that God considers all sin to be sin, but that some sins more easily lead us to reject the Holy Spirit, despise his voice speaking to us, and respond with coldness to the love of God revealed in Jesus (18-19).  Those who think they must clean up their lives before they can come to Jesus are "rejectors" of his saving grace just as much as are those who believe God will save them in their sins or, even worse, as those who believe they have no sin but still cherish pride, greed, and corruption in their hearts (18).  "The love and suffering and death of the Son of God all testify to the terrible enormity of sin and declare that there is no escape from its power, no hope of the higher life, but through the submission of the soul to Christ" (19). 

We cannot make ourselves clean or break the power of sin over our hearts; only Jesus can do that - and we must come to him as we are instead of as we'd like to be or imagine ourselves to be (18).  The longer we procrastinate and put off coming to Jesus, the greater the likelihood that our sins will destroy us by keeping us from Jesus forever (19). 

Friends, let us come to Jesus always and admit our sin so he can make us holy. 

(*) Steps to Christ 1977 edition; Chapter 2, “The Sinner’s Need of Christ”