Sins

Sins are thoughts, speech, and actions we do in opposition to God—disobedience to the Word of God. Sin is inherent in the world; specifically, pride and lust: "all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world" (1 John 2:16). Sin is like cancer: "Cancer is a group of diseases characterized by uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells. If the spread is not controlled, it can result in death."²⁶⁶ Thus, as cancer eats away at the body, so too does sin eat away at the soul: sin is characterized by uncontrolled growth and spread of more sin that builds strong holds and brings evil and unclean spirits. Sins also open us up to sickness and disease as well as to curses. "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (James 1:15). If the spread is not stopped, it will result in death: "For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).

Sins, which are the antithesis of the Word of God (John 10:7), are the "door" to the kingdom of darkness where Satan and his host of devils dwell. "The entrance of thy words giveth light" (Psalm 119:130); "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved" (John 3:19-20). Thus, for every sin—disobedience of the Word of God—there is at least one devil (evil spirit) that is admitted: "An evil man seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him" (Proverbs 17:11). For instance, if you sin by judging someone, not only do you have the sin of judgment but you also have spirits of judgment to combat. In addition, sins can combine to create compound sins: "for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased" (Jeremiah 30:15). For instance, the iniquity of anger combines the sins of unbelief, pride, lust, judgment, rebellion, and vengeance. Thus you have seven sins and at least six devils to combat. "Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin" (John 8:34). Here are some thoughts from John and Paula Sandford about sin:

Every structure in our old nature is marked by unrest. Whatever in us which has been built by God is at rest, even as He rested (Hebrews 4:10). Whatever we built in us has no rest; it must be constantly examined, reworked, defended, appreciated, and approved of. Thus each practice demands energy to sustain itself ... Our inner struggles rob the surface mind of its ability to concentrate by draining off its energy for more demanding inner battles.²⁶⁷

Sin disables our ability to enter into God's rest. "Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear" (Isaiah 59:1-2). Moreover, when we sin, even as born again believers, we come under the curse of the law: "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4). Moreover, "whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10). Finally, "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them" (Galatians 3:10). We have to continually strive to not "err in [our] heart[s]" (Hebrews 3:10) "lest any of [us] be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin" (Hebrews 3:13). Satan himself in the Garden of Eden demonstrates the deceit inherent in sin; compare the two sets of scriptures below:

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17)

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:4-5)

Sin deceives the sinner that there is no consequence for sin—"Ye shall not surely die." If there is no consequence, a heart that has not been purified will be emboldened to do evil. "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil" (Ecclesiastes 8:11). This is easily seen in children who go unpunished for some action, they will continue to do it until punishment is meted out that "encourages" them not to perform the action again. "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him" (Proverbs 22:15). Moreover, if we believe we have "free" will—our actions carry no consequence—we, through pride, will consider ourselves as gods indeed: "ye shall be as gods." Note that Adam already knew the difference between good and evil: God's Word is good and disobedience to God's Word is evil.

See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. (Deuteronomy 30:15-20)

As Christians, we know that God in his love for us gave us choice: the choice between good and evil—between life and death. Therefore, choose life.

Sin's Growth and Spread

As previously stated, sin is characterized by uncontrolled growth and spread of more sin that builds strong holds and brings evil and unclean spirits. Sins also open us up to sickness and disease as well as to curses. Let us examine some key sins, "gatekeepers," and their burgeoning effect. We will use the events depicted in Genesis 3 and Esther 3 to examine these sins.

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. (Genesis 3:1-3)

In the hopes of plundering the enemy position and possibly even delivering an early checkmate, Satan, as a master Chess player, decides to go after the poorly guarded "queen," Eve. He focuses his game strategy on "capturing" her. As we look into his starting moves we can observe that he detects a weakness in Eve's defense: Eve is not pleased with God's command. Notice, she added "neither shall ye touch it" to God's command; clear evidence that Eve is discontented. Her discontent opens her up for Satan's next masterful move: "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die" (Genesis 3:4). Satan recognizing her discontent gives her an out: he removes the consequence of disobeying God—"Ye shall not surely die." Already discontented, Eve foolishly agrees with Satan (Matthew 18:19; Isaiah 28:15) and embraces unbelief. It should be noted here that Satan uses this ploy continually to bolster people's acceptance of sin. Unbelief, however, is not enough for Satan; he has to turn Eve against God, thus he makes his next move: "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). Again, Eve agrees with Satan, and allows judgment of God to enter her heart—she judges God as being unfair—as holding back something good from her (see "The Principality of Rejection"). The trap is now laid, the queen is captured; Satan exuberantly declares to himself, "Check!"—capture of the "king," Adam, is eminent. "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat" (Genesis 3:6). It almost seemed that Satan's derisive internal cry could be heard throughout the Garden as he exclaimed, "Checkmate!" Not only was Eve deceived into falling into pride, lust and outright rebellion, but she pulled her husband down with her.

Now, having stepped out of God's glory, their eyes are "opened"—they no longer were "blinded" by God's glory (light), all they saw was their depravity (darkness). "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden" (Genesis 3:7-8). "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing" (Proverbs 25:2): "they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed" (Genesis 2:25). "For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed" (Romans 10:11). My people, however, "have changed their glory for that which doth not profit" (Jeremiah 2:11): "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

Adam and Eve, no longer walking by faith—"For we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7)—feel the sting of sin's shame. "When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom" (Proverbs 11:2). Moreover, their rebellion brought fear—"ye shall flee when none pursueth you" (Leviticus 26:17)—into their hearts for the first time. "And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself" (Genesis 3:9-10). Notice the uncertainty, the doubt and the confusion. The words of James, the brother of Jesus, come to mind, "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways" (James 1:8). How much further will they fall? Until the cycle of sin repeats itself. Judgment reenters the scene but this time it is both God and Eve that are being accused—judgment has been multiplied. "And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat" (Genesis 3:11-12). Instead of giving glory back to God by confessing his sins (Joshua 7:19), Adam, in pride, has set himself apart and compounds his sins with more sins.

The result of all these sins is spiritual death—separation from God (Genesis 2:16-17), a curse (Genesis 3:13-19), and eventually, physical death. "And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life" (Genesis 3:22-24). Let us summarize the sins we have encountered thus far and also identify the evil spirits that get "automatically" admitted by these sins (Proverbs 17:11).

It should be noted that while discontent is a sin for anyone reading this, it was not yet a sin for Eve: "sin is not imputed when there is no law" (Romans 5:13). Notwithstanding, discontent (murmuring, dissatisfaction, despondency, discouragement, despair) is an evil seed which when sown brings forth unbelief, judgment, rebellion and eventually covetousness (see "The Principality of Covetousness"). "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5).

Eve's first sin was actually unbelief, caused by her discontent, followed by judgment of God. "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God" (Hebrews 3:12). At all times she could have asked for wisdom from the Lord, without having to eat of the forbidden tree. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" (James 1:5). If we examine scriptures further, we see that unrest—lack of peace—is a direct consequence of unrighteousness: "And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief" (Hebrews 3:18-19).

Now with God effectively forgotten, pride and lust can flourish. We know that love is to God as pride is to Satan: "Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness" (Ezekiel 28:17). Pride demands satisfaction of self (lusts) whereas the love of God demands denial of self. Once pride and lust are mixed in with unbelief and judgment, rebellion is easily the next step. "Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High: Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help" (Psalm 107:10-12). Once we step out of God's Word, the opportunity for offence abounds: "These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended" (John 16:1). The born again believer must strive "That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ" (Philippians 1:10). Offence results in anger (dislike, irritation, vexation, resentment), in shame (discomfort, guilt, condemnation, dishonor), in "woundedness" (sorrow, grief, insecurity, hurt, disappointment, depression, loneliness, rejection), or in fear. Being offended opens us up to doubt—double-mindedness (confusion)—we are now confused about who to trust. "They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols" (Isaiah 45:16). Forgetting that we left God: "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints" (1 Corinthians 14:33). "Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD" (Jeremiah 17:5). Now, let us examine in Esther 3 another set of scriptures that highlight the growth of sins to a higher order. What started as pride now escalates to haughtiness and brings the downward spiral to wickedness.

After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him. And all the king's servants, that were in the king's gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman: for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence. (Esther 3:1-2)

Mordecai understood as did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3 that reverence was to be reserved for God and not for man: "And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" (Luke 4:8). Haman, however, served himself and expected to be reverenced by all those "beneath" him: his haughtiness led to wrath. "And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath" (Esther 3:5). As Haman's fierce wrath waxed hot, his contentiousness grew and grew until his cruel imaginations escalated from killing Mordecai to full-scale genocide—the destruction of all the Jews in Persia. "And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had shewed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai" (Esther 3:6). "For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke" (Isaiah 9:18). Haman, now fully bent on wickedness, convinces the king to approve of his insidious plan:

And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king's laws: therefore it is not for the king's profit to suffer them. If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring it into the king's treasuries. And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it unto Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy. And the king said unto Haman, The silver is given to thee, the people also, to do with them as it seemeth good to thee. (Esther 3:8-11)

God, however, "Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm" (Psalm 105:15), turned Haman's plan against him and Haman reaped the wrath of the king Ahasuerus (Job 4:8), which resulted in Haman's death.

And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king, Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who spoken good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him thereon. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified. (Esther 7:9-10)

Let us summarize the sins highlighted above and again reveal the evil spirits that get admitted.

As our trust and idolatry of ourselves grow, our pride elevates to arrogance, stubbornness or haughtiness. "And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible" (Isaiah 13:11). Our hardness of heart is a launching pad for wrath: "thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God" (Romans 2:5). Wrath in its various forms (indignation, contempt, animosity, enmity, grudge) is fertile ground for envy (malice and bitterness), strife, and contentiousness. "Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins" (Proverbs 10:12). Finally, the sowing of all of these sins tears a person away from God and their "tree of knowledge of good and evil" blossoms into wickedness.

Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded. Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of their's: neither shall there be wailing for them. The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. (Ezekiel 7:10-12)

We will visit these key sins again in the "Be Fruitful" section as we explore God's process for withering our "tree of knowledge of good and evil" and growing our "tree of life" through his righteousness (Proverbs 11:30).

Unforgivable Sin

There is a sin which repentance will not cleanse, which the Lord will not pardon. "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it" (1 John 5:16). In the Old Testament it was the shedding of innocent blood or the cursing of God. "And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the LORD would not pardon" (2 Kings 24:4; see also Genesis 9:5-6; Deuteronomy 19:10; Proverbs 28:17)). "And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin" (Leviticus 24:15). In the New Testament it is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost—speaking evil against the Holy Ghost (the blood) will not be pardoned. "Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come" (Matthew 12:31-32). Think of it this way, if you speak evil against Jesus you still have an intercessor in the Holy Ghost. "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered" (Romans 8:26). Speaking evil, however, against the Holy Ghost leaves you with no intercessor for the Holy Ghost testifies of Jesus and Jesus is the way to the father—speaking evil against the Holy Ghost is equivalent to cursing God.

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