Sin's Altars
Since Adam and Eve took a bite of the good and evil tree, humans have shown themselves adept at turning the things of God on their heads. We are proficient at making what God intends for our good into something promoting our demise.
In the prophet Hosea's time, things were no different than when humanity fell into sin, even as they are today. In his prophetic book of the Old Testament, Hosea writes, "Though Ephraim [the people of Israel] built many altars for sin offerings, these have become altars for sinning." (Hosea 8:11) Describing a classic good to bad swap, the prophet lamented how Israel had turned God's statutes of offering for atonement and the altars on which they were to be performed into places of sin.
God originally introduced the sin offering to Moses just after He delivered the Jewish people out of Egypt. The book of Leviticus describes the sin offering, its purpose, and how it was to be performed. There were several types of sin offerings depending on the person for whom the offering was being made. The primary purpose of this offering was to atone for sin. When someone within the Jewish community sinned, that individual would provide for this offering, which involved an animal being sacrificed. Once the offering was made, the sinner would be forgiven. The statute requiring a sacrificial offering for sin was established immediately after the fall of humankind. God made "garments of skin" to cover Adam and Eve. This action, necessitated because Adam and Eve no longer lived in innocence or unbroken communion with God, established the truth that sin leads to death.
But in Hosea's time, the Israelites chose sin over God's ordinance for forgiveness! How could this be? How could the altars on which man would receive atonement with God be used to sin against God? Who would do such a thing? Over-dramatization notwithstanding, Israel in Hosea's age is no different from the propensity of Christians today. We humans will never change!
Grace is a free gift from God. We are not to use it as a false permission to sin.
Of course, the Messiah has come and died and, in doing so, has provided a way of freedom from the curse of sin. Sin no longer leads to death for those who have placed their faith and trust in the Perfect One. He gave up His life so that we might have eternal life. But that does not prevent us from taking the grace we have received, the God-ordained statute intended for our ultimate good, and turning it into an excuse to sin. The church has preached grace and love to the point where one might wonder why we need them. Please excuse me if I am alone in this thought, but does it not seem that we have gone too far when our churches allow sin blatantly in the pulpit? I imagine this is not your church. But frankly, the world sees no difference.
How can this be? Might it be related to our position on grace?
God's grace, as demonstrated in Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, is our atonement once and for all. No higher sacrifice can ever be made. But should that understanding be used to dismiss or even condone sin? Never! God Himself will not dismiss sin. Sin is to be dealt with, and Jesus Christ did exactly that. So, it is not our position to forgive or to atone. It is Christ's alone. Our duty is to speak to sin, point out when sin has been committed, and bring that before the Lord, Who is solely qualified to atone for it.
Yet, we use grace to cover up sin, accept sin, and even excuse our own sin. God will forgive, after all. This is a more terrible error than what Hosea saw in his days. To take the holy sacrifice of Jesus Christ and make it a cover for the sin we see in our society, our church, and in ourselves, to use Jesus' grace as an excuse to not deal with the sin around us and within us, is the most dangerous action taken by any people in the history of the Christian faith.
Of course, grace, through faith, will remove the ultimate consequence of sin. But grace does not remove sin's ultimate consequence when sin is ultimately the consequence of grace! If you believe God’s grace can forgive your sins, you are right. If you believe you can sin because God is graceful, you are terribly mistaken. As Paul eloquently put it, "How much worse punishment… will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God… and has outraged the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10:28-30) It is time for Christians to focus on grace that leads to holiness. God has provided a way. In His own blood, He has paid the price for our iniquity and opened the door to righteousness in God. Let's not turn that door into a path toward separation from God, and let's not presume that the door opened allows us to carry our sins along.