God Is Greater Than Sin

You may read the title and say, “Well, duh I know that.” Well sometimes we don’t look at sin like we should. Sin is powerful. Every man has a problem with sin. Romans 3:23 says, “ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” It is human enemy number one. Nothing ever good comes from sin. At first look, sin is so enticing and so great, but then when you go down that sinful road you realize that it’s a dark path that is makes it difficult to leave.

Sin make us irrational. Sin puts us out of our mind. When I think about this point, I think about the prodigal son in Luke 15. In Luke 15 we encounter a young man that leaves his father’s house and goes to the far country and lives a life of sin. If we can trust his brother’s description in verse 30 then we get some insight into how he has lived. The older brother says to his father, “But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.”

(Your son, took your money, went out lived a life where he hired prostitutes and wasted everything.) Sin, doesn’t provide comfort. This young man was in a pig pen. Notice verse 14 and following, “But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.” Try to imagine the picture that the Lord is painting. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, well, paint this one. Paint a young Jewish man contemplating eating with the pigs. Think about all you know about the Jewish culture. Think about pigs in Jewish culture. And think about this young man, he’s not on the outside feeding them. He’s in with them! Can you imagine the smell? But don’t focus on his physical state. Consider his soul. The spiritual life is what’s being graphically depicted. In the pig pen this boy had to be miserable, because that’s what happens when sin dominates our lives. David may have said it best when contemplating his sin in Psalm 51. He says, “For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.” Sin hurts body, soul, and mind. It agitates, it irritates, and aggravates.

Sin makes us do things that we would have never previously done. It’s irrational, we become irrational. Things that would have never made sense to us before, when we are in sin they make good sense to us. Sanity gives way to insanity, wisdom gives way to foolishness, reason gives way to unreasonableness. This young man, the Bible says “when he came to himself.” Where was he before? If you’re not in yourself, it means you are out of your mind. And that’s what sin does. It takes us out of our right mind. All you have to do is read this text to believe it. There is a boy outside in a pig pen, contemplating eating. His father had loved him, housed him, taught him, blessed him and provided for him, and even gave him an inheritance when he was still alive. Having
received that treatment, it would have been reasonable to love and reciprocate that kind of care, but he didn’t. Instead he actually asked for his father’s goods and packed up his things. He wasn’t kicked out; he walked out of his father’s house to go live among strangers. He wasted what was graciously given to him. He left his family and joined
false friends who stayed for as long as he had money. To suggest that sin puts us out of our mind is an accurate depiction.

It might be the case that you’re asking the question: What can wash away my sin? The answer: Nothing but the blood of Jesus. The Bible says that there is hope. The Bible says that there’s a way out. The Bible says that you are not stuck. The Bible says that God has a way. With regards to that plan, Jesus Christ is the only answer. We really need to help people appreciate that God in His word and Christ on the cross is not wishful thinking. What I mean is that there is a reality that God did send Jesus and that the Bible is His word. Jesus of Nazareth did walk in Jerusalem and He did die and that’s the plan. And the plan provides a reality that you can learn it, live by it, and live differently.

Do you want to quit living in sin? How do you do that? Get up out of that pig pen and go home. Our Father will wrap His arms around us and forgive us of our sins. The going home is the hard part, but we know that He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. May God bless you this week and may you always remember that God is Greater!

Ben Stevenson