Habitual Offender

This post is the first of a 4 part series.

Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

In modern society we can recognize the depravity of one who breaks the law continually. We therefore take precautions to appropriately punish the offender so as to protect society and serve as a warning to others who are considering the same path. Despite this when people sin against God people assume that He looks on only with love and compassion not realizing that He also looks on at sin with eyes that are holy, just and righteous.

Just as man is accountable to the human authorities, he is also accountable to God. We fail to realize that we too are habitual offenders against God and require the same heavy handedness. Though only few crimes require the death penalty by man’s standard, God requires it for each and every one of his laws. All of God’s laws require a death sentence when broken. Not just some, not most but all. All of them. We know that if we offend in one point it’s as if we have broken the whole law. That is something we should consider when we think we just slipped or missed the mark.

When Adam ate of the fruit the result was sin and death came through him. If eating fruit that had a figuratively speaking “Do not touch” sign resulted in death then we need to consider how great is the judgment for us to come if we break what we consider other unimportant or insignificant laws.

Laws that we may consider miniscule and unimportant are not treated as such by God. Some of the sins we consider minor are listed along with some of the most heinous sins we can imagine. Let’s look at an example here in Romans 1:28-32:

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Covetousness, envy, gossip and disobedience to parents are mentioned along with murder, God haters and inventors of evil. Do we look at these sins in the same light as God does or do we try to downplay the severity of the sin? There is more to this list though.

When we look at Romans 1 we see a decline in man, a descent into depravity. We may be tempted to think that this descent was gradual up until a certain point when we as a race hit rock bottom but this is not so. When we look at Adam’s first son Cain we get a horrifying picture. Humanity delved into complete depravity in its first generation. Let’s look at Cain’s account in Genesis 4:1-16:

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

How does this account of Cain compare with our account in Romans 1? It’s amazing to see that most if not all sins listed there Cain exhibited in one way or another in this brief picture into his life in Genesis 4. Humanity’s descent was steep and it was immediate.

From then until now man has had the same wicked heart. We are totally depraved, sin has affected our entire condition and our whole being is inclined to evil just as our ancestor Cain. We all share the same nature as those whom we consider especially wicked; we all are habitual offenders against God.

The Bible paints a dark picture of man, one that he isn’t willing to take. We all think that we are essentially good people who slip up, miss the mark. Yet as we can see this isn’t the case and God won’t treat sin as lightly as we would hope. We are all totally depraved and the end of sin is death. We reap what we sow and we have sown death in hell for eternity. This is the end for all the depraved.

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

– Romans 5:8

But. One of the greatest words of hope in the English language. In this dark tunnel of depravity and despair as we look into humanity’s condition we can see a ray of light, a ray of hope and we’ll look into that Hope in next week’s post.

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