Sin. The disease that affects every single walking creature on the face of the earth. The disease that infects the very core of our being, and consumes the fibers that make up our physical body and our eternal soul. It isn't just a disease that makes us sick and weary – it is ingrained in our very nature and determines the outcome of our immortal souls.
Sin is unavoidable, incurable, and ultimately fatal.
As infants, we are born into this world of sin and misery. Our cries as babies are for our own selfish gain and comfort. As young children, we slowly come to grips with the fact that we sin, and we suffer the consequences. We lie. We cheat. We steal. We kill. And we hate the endless cycle of imperfection that we are stuck in. But every human being comes to the point where they realize that sin is impossible to avoid – so we give in. We embrace it. We enjoy it. We become it. We relish in it, and slowly but surely we find our identity in it.
We become so numb to sin that we don't even think of it as sin anymore. We don't realize the consequences. After all, it has become our identity, right? And besides...that eating disorder is just an issue, isn't it? So is my pride. And my selfishness. And my lust. And my discontentment. And my anger. All of these things are just issues. It is all “normal”.
We forget about the violent consequence of sin.
Romans 6:23 says, “...the wages of sin is death”. Okay, so we die. Big deal. That word DEATH means a whole lot more than just falling asleep in a grave and living immortally in a gray and hazy world where we see, hear, taste, and feel nothing. Death is a horrible, HORRIBLE thing.
“There will be weeping, and gnashing of teeth”. Luke 13:28. When was the last time you heard someone weep? True weeping shakes our soul, and grips our conscience like nothing else. It makes you want to protect and hold the wailing person, and keep them from experiencing whatever pain and suffering is affecting them.
Gnashing of teeth...what does that mean? It means pain. It means never ending darkness. It means spending eternity in unfathomable misery, without hope. The sinner in hell realizes that after spending centuries in that horrible darkness, he will not have one less second to spend there.
John Thomas writes, “No rest day and night. think of that. Thoughts of this happening to people we know, people like us, are too terrifying to entertain for long. The idea of allowing someone to endure such torture for eternity violates the sensibilities of even the most severe judge among us. We simply cannot bear it. But our thoughts of hell will never be as unmanageable as its reality. We must take this
doctrine of hell, therefore, and make sure we are practically affected by it.”
Hell is forever.
And hell is what you and I deserve.
For the Christian, a true understanding of hell and God's wrath should drive us to our knees. It should take away every sense of self worth and satisfaction we might possess. In 2nd Corinthians it says, “God made Him who knew no sin to BE sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
What in incredible, un-fair trade. Jesus goes to hell and sends ME to heaven in His place. What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul?
Understanding Christ's sacrifice and my unworthiness is life-changing. It is soul-saving. And my tiny human mind cannot comprehend the debt I owe. And because of my inadequacy, all I can do is be overcome by thankfulness.
As the great hymn says,
“And when from death I'm free, I'll sing and joyful be...And through eternity I will sing.”
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