Faithlessness
Sinful, corrupt man is void of any true or saving faith. They have faith but it is directed toward manmade and devilish doctrines and teachings. They substitute falsehoods for God’s truth. Anything and everything is believed instead of the word of God. However, this faith is futile and worthless. Faith is only as good as the object it is placed in. This dead faith is not supernatural, life-giving trust in the holy God. It is trusting in the crumbling religion of demons and hell-bound rebels.
Satan, that great counterfeiter, has deluded and persuaded many men to follow and subscribe to his brand. This faith is neither genuine or authentic. It is manufactured by man and for man and influenced by demonic powers. These parade around as if all is well, all the while they are dangling over the pit of hell by a slender thread. Welcome to the masquerade. Unless God intervenes and works effectually on these deceived and faithless perversions, the thread will give way and eternity will awaken the children of wrath; they will gain a new perspective of their false faith. The truth will be made known, only it is too late-everlasting torment will now be the one thing that is faithful. Faithful to the- not the end because there will be none. (Romans 14:23, 9:30-32, Hebrews 11:6, 2 Thessalonians 1:8, 3:2)
Enmity
There is an enmity that exists between God and man. We are enemies; there is hostility. All is not well. God’s soul hates the wicked and feels indignation every day (Ps. 11:5; 7:11). There is a war going on, this is not peace time. But, foolish man lives obliviously thinking that God is on their side and that they are serving him. These sinners, schizophrenic in nature, have grand delusions that they are on the winning army. The reality is that they are fighting a losing battle. They are fighting against God; the all-powerful, all-mighty, all-knowing, all-seeing “man of war” (Ex. 15:3). He cannot be out-maneuvered or out-flanked. Victory will not be theirs.
Joseph Bellamy wrote, “the clearer apprehension a sinner has of God, the more his enmity will exert itself, because a sinful nature and a holy nature are diametrically opposite to each other... But yet they whose nature it is to hate him for being what he is, will hate him still, yea, hate him more than ever....”[1] That is what enmity does, it causes hatred to grow and flourish. Nothing but the grace of God can extinguish the burning hatred that exists between man and God. Unless God moves and converts, this malevolence will grow, and continue to grow for all time. Hell will not change man’s malignant attitude toward a holy God as he is pouring out his wrath upon their heads. They will hate him more and more; each passing moment of agony will only add to the existing hostility. (Jm. 4:4, Eph. 2:14-16, Col. 1:21-22, Rom. 5:10, 8:7-8)
Blindness
Sin blinds the minds, eyes, and hearts of men. We are in the dark until the Lord shines a light into our hearts and causes us to see the glory of the face of Christ. Spiritually blind people do not see the glory of God, his work, grace, or mercy. They definitely do not see any worth or amiableness in Christ or his atoning death.
Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (4:17-18). The unregenerate are lost and wandering in darkness; they are without light. They cannot see their lost condition or God’s redemption. Neither do they see Calvary or the empty tomb. A hardness and a veil lay over the minds of the perishing (2 Cor. 3:14-4:6).
Spiritual deadness
Every person that has ever been born (except the Lord Jesus Christ) is spiritually dead. Dead to God and lifeless. This does not mean that mankind is not religious. Man has religion, it is not proper or accepted by God. Being dead spiritually, man does not seek the true God of the Bible, nor can he. He is also blind and an enemy of this God. We are dead but still live; we really are the walking dead.
The dead are opposed to life in Christ. The dead are not created new so they do not hunger and thirst after the Blessed Savior. The dead do not feel joy in him, are not comforted by him, follow him, learn from him, adore him, or worship him. They are dead. Just as dead people do nothing, spiritually dead people do even less. (Eph. 1:1,5; Rom. 5:12; Col. 2:13)
Idolatry
Considering sin and its many attributes is humbling and not much fun. But, it is a necessity when examining ourselves. One of the most prevalent sins is idolatry. We have to beware because anything can become an idol. Idolatry is rampant in the world today. It matters little that we are “sophisticated”. All that means is that we have sophisticated gods.
Idolatry was confronted in both testaments (Jer. 2:11-13; Ex. 32-34; Is. 40, 44:6-20; 1 Jn. 5:21; Rom. 1:18ff; Col. 3:5; Eph. 5:5). It is not just confined to the Old Testament with all of the paganism and idol worship. Idolatry is everywhere because it is formed in depraved and graceless hearts. Calvin wrote, “man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols... Man’s mind, full as it is of pride and boldness, dares to imagine a god according to its own capacity; as it sluggishly plods, indeed is overwhelmed with the crassest ignorance, it conceives an unreality and an empty appearance as God.”[2]
Idolatry can be complicated. Stone and metal statues have been replaced (except for of course, homes, cars, boats, money, etc.). In their place are erected other man-made creations. A common idol is a god fashioned in the image of man (Rom. 1:23). Horton writes, “Religion is one of the chief ways we cover up our shame without actually dealing with the guilt that gives rise to it. And we project a god who will satisfy our suppression of the truth about ourselves.”[3] When man is done, God becomes nothing more than a deity that resembles man and exists not for his own glory, but for man’s. He lives to serve us and do our bidding.
Another monstrosity is the elevation of one of God’s attributes above the others. This is done when people focus only on the characteristics which they find appealing. Obviously, the love and mercy of God are elevated beyond biblical bounds. God is indeed loving and merciful, but not at the expense of his holiness and justice. God must not be divided; he is to be worshiped as he reveals himself. “Scripture”, wrote Berkhof, “does not exalt one attribute of God at the expense of the others, but represents them as existing in perfect harmony in the Divine Being.”[4]
Furthermore, attributes may be dismissed in order to create a more appropriate god. As above, some attributes are the focus, here certain ones are denied altogether. Some of God’s attributes just don’t appeal to sinful man. These are done away with and the result is a user- friendly god. The first property of God to go is his wrath. This is followed by his justice, holiness, jealousy, sovereignty, otherness, immutability, and transcendence. What is left is not God; this god is weak, compromised, easily manipulated, and at the mercy of man.
Another form of idolatry is false worship. Some may worship the true God in the wrong manner. Nowhere in Scripture are we commanded to be creative or innovative in our worship. We must not worship God on our terms. He dictates how he is to be approached and revered. Remember Cain, he sacrificed and made an offering to the true God. Something went wrong. He did not offer up blood but produce from the ground. God did not accept Cain’s sacrifice.
Sin is evil. Thank God for his mercy and grace in Christ. As horrible as sin is, grace is all the more beautiful. Praise God!
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