God's Use of Sin
Geralyn Mcgill
Job 13:26
Today I’d like to talk about sin, God’s use of sin actually. Now, sin is not a good thing, but God allows even sin to bring people to a better place, to show us the results of not following Him, to cause us to regret sin and to fear to sin for the consequences, to chasten us to cleanse us. All things, God causes to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:28).
“For You write bitter things against me, And make me inherit the iniquities of my youth,” says Job (13:26), agonizing before God. We have heard the story of Job, a humble servant of The Lord, how he had been a prosperous man, and upright in serving God, and how calamity befell him. Our introduction to Job in the very first verse says he was perfect and upright, that he feared God and eschewed, or shunned evil. Why then, were these evil punishments heaped upon this perfect man? Even Job dared to question God’s providence.
Job remembered sins he had done in his lifetime, committed in his youth before he had come to a more full knowledge of and love for God (13:26). Somehow, he probably thought or at least hoped, all had been forgiven. God is sovereign. We want Him to remember all our goodness, all the money we gave, all the good deeds we have done, all the people we have helped, all the sermons we preached, all the little tidbits we contributed. But the sins, we want Him to forget. This is only human. Does He bring all our sins to our account? The sins we committed in our ignorance; do we get what we deserve? Or does He forget? How would we behave if we knew all would be forgiven without so much as a single consequence? At any rate, we have all sinned, and even though we expect forgiveness because He promises to forgive us if we repent and confess (1 John 1:9), we still have sinned and could be justly punished if God so chose. Ignorance is not bliss (Hosea 4:6). We could rightfull ...
Geralyn Mcgill
Job 13:26
Today I’d like to talk about sin, God’s use of sin actually. Now, sin is not a good thing, but God allows even sin to bring people to a better place, to show us the results of not following Him, to cause us to regret sin and to fear to sin for the consequences, to chasten us to cleanse us. All things, God causes to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:28).
“For You write bitter things against me, And make me inherit the iniquities of my youth,” says Job (13:26), agonizing before God. We have heard the story of Job, a humble servant of The Lord, how he had been a prosperous man, and upright in serving God, and how calamity befell him. Our introduction to Job in the very first verse says he was perfect and upright, that he feared God and eschewed, or shunned evil. Why then, were these evil punishments heaped upon this perfect man? Even Job dared to question God’s providence.
Job remembered sins he had done in his lifetime, committed in his youth before he had come to a more full knowledge of and love for God (13:26). Somehow, he probably thought or at least hoped, all had been forgiven. God is sovereign. We want Him to remember all our goodness, all the money we gave, all the good deeds we have done, all the people we have helped, all the sermons we preached, all the little tidbits we contributed. But the sins, we want Him to forget. This is only human. Does He bring all our sins to our account? The sins we committed in our ignorance; do we get what we deserve? Or does He forget? How would we behave if we knew all would be forgiven without so much as a single consequence? At any rate, we have all sinned, and even though we expect forgiveness because He promises to forgive us if we repent and confess (1 John 1:9), we still have sinned and could be justly punished if God so chose. Ignorance is not bliss (Hosea 4:6). We could rightfull ...
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