I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. (Hos 5:15)
If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 Jn 1:9-10)
Sometime in the 1980’s the late Leonard Ravenhill quoted a Christian professor who predicted that by the year 2000, “Christianity will be a conscious minority surrounded by an arrogant militant paganism.” If we were surrounded in 2000, in 2016 they launched a full-scale attack! Every moral standard is under attack. I’m reminded of the language of the prophet Daniel, “He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time.” (Daniel 7:25 NKJV) One may change right and wrong around so that good is evil and evil is good, but this does not alter God’s attitude towards sin. I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence (…). When God departs there is nothing left to do but entertain the people.
I have chosen two passages from both the Old and New Testament to capture the essence of our times. We live in a nation of people who refuse to acknowledge sin as SIN. In the last 24 months we have seen an acceleration of “normalizing” behaviors that God’s word ranks as damnable sin. That is to say, sins that unless repented of will deprive the practitioner of entering heaven. Paul put it more directly:
Normalizing Damnable Sins
The worlds strategy is to wait out the opposition (people who stand for truth) until they get tired of resisting and then slowly insert the compromise as if it were normal. Politicians know that as time passes resistance to immorality cools. They know they have stacked the school system with educators influenced by devils, with only a hand-full of faithful believers sprinkled in the mix. The largest generation in history is growing up with a Godless and immoral secular education and few of them are attending Sunday schools — learning God’s word. Beloved, we are on the road to Sodom and Gomorrah.
The first step to getting right with God is to agree with God. No people who excuse their sin can find redemption or forgiveness. 1 John tells us that “If we say we have not sinned we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” We must acknowledge our sins.
When a person marginalizes and condones sin, their is no hope for them. Why? It is the oldest attitude in the book. God spoke to Israel thousands of years ago through the prophet with these responding words, “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense…” God and man can’t even talk about a way forward until man acknowledges his offenses. It is the first step. Can two walk together who are not in agreement.
In this crisis hour we have to be willing to let God be true and every man a liar — no matter who it is. We have to say the same thing that God says about sin. It is the key to forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 tells us, If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The key word in this verse is “if”. It is conditional. Our Greek word for acknowledge (confess in the KJV) is homologeo. This is two words: homo and logos and means literally “same word.” We have to say the same thing about sin that God says about sin. Until we do, God will “return to His place.”
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