On This Day: Putting the Sin Problem on the Table

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,

“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
    who will prepare your way,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
    ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight,’”

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. (Mark 1:1-5)

 

   By the third chapter of the Bible (Genesis 3), sin had taken over the world. By the last chapter of the Bible, sin is gone forever and God’s people are experiencing eternal life in a new world. Jesus is how we get from one to the other.

   I often watch videos of people sharing the good news about Jesus with others. When I listen to the ad-nauseam repetition of left-brain trick questions, I keep hearing the universal problem, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (John 3:19).

   During the time of Jesus’ ministry, the poor in spirit kept coming into his kingdom. Prostitutes and tax-collectors were repeatedly mentioned because they were the most notorious of sinners to the religious elite. But Jesus made it clear that people like this (not every prostitute or tax-collector) were repenting of their sins and entering the life of his kingdom.

   On the other hand, Jesus told the religious hypocrites,

“Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. (Matthew 21:31-32).

   The sad thing is that we see the religious elite trying every kind of heartless trick question on Jesus (just as ad-nauseam as today) trying to cover up their sin because they need to appear good to get applause. And Jesus was not interested in the way they “draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13).

   If you need help putting your sin problem on the table with God, take to heart this promise of our Savior, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9). That is what was introduced to us in John the Baptist’s ministry. It is what Jesus provided for us through his death on the cross. And it is what God will do in the poor in spirit who will confess the sins on the table instead of scrambling to find some trump card to self-justify why they are entitled to their sin even in the sight of God (the Bible said people would do this).

   Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). If you are moving into this poverty of spirit, God is blessing you. If you are moving away from this, you will never be free of your sin, your guilt, shame and fear, or the coming day of God’s judgment against sinners.

 

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)