What Does God Think About Sin?

Are you likely taking sin too lightly?

If you are like most Christians, the answer is most likely “Yes”.  You understand Jesus’ death on the Cross of Calvary freed you from the punishment for sin.  You correctly rejoice in this and in the grace and mercy of God in your life.  These are indeed wonderful aspects of God’s character displayed through your Savior.

Yet, God’s nature is more complex than what is demonstrated in love, mercy, grace.  These are wonderful but they are not all who God is.  He is also perfectly holy.  He is a consuming fire according to Hebrews.  His purity is like a flame of white hot intensity.  He burns away anything that is not perfectly holy.  God says He despises things that are evil.  The entire story of the Bible concludes with righteous judgment of sin.   Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom says Proverbs for just this reason.

Isaiah was a prophet when saw God in Isaiah 6.  He was a man of God working in ministry.  This put Isaiah among the most holy of men on the entire earth.  Yet, when Isaiah saw God, this holiness relative to other men was nowhere to be found.  Only his own ugliness was apparent.  “I am undone.  I am a man of unclean lips…”  Isaiah sees the blinding white perfection of the Lord and his own sinfulness is obvious.  This is the same man who writes your good deeds are like filthy rags before the Holy One.  Isaiah is in awe and filled with reverence for the amazing holiness of God.  Isaiah’s own moral uprightness was nothing when contrasted with God.  He was undone, every pretension to goodness fell away and Isaiah was left standing before the Lord as a filthy sinner.

Not only is God holy, but you are told to be holy also…like God is holy.  You are to have the same heart towards evil as He does.  “Abhor evil and hold fast what is good.” says Paul.  Do you live out this immensely important calling on your life?

What helps is seeking to understand all of God’s nature.  He is patient, kind, loving and gentle.  He also hates sin and will judge those who reject His Son, Jesus.

Here are 33 Bible Verses on God’s Heart on Sin to emphasize this point.  God loved the world so much that He sent His Son to die for you.  He also despises sin.

 

1)            Romans 3:23

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

 

2)            Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

3)            Isaiah 1:18

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

 

4)            John 3:16

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

 

5)            Romans 5:8

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

You cannot examine God’s holiness with any hope without first looking at Jesus’ work on your behalf.  Jesus paid the price for your sin.  He took the punishment for your failures on the Cross.  He declares you forgiven.  Jesus doesn’t stop there though.  He also takes His own perfect righteousness as Lord and Savior and does an amazing thing.  He gives it to you freely.  Jesus makes you holy before God. 

This is pictured in Isaiah’s continued interaction with God in Isaiah 6.  Isaiah realizes he is a man of unclean lips and there is nothing he can do about it.  He is a sinner.  God handles this by taking a while hot coal of heaven and touching Isaiah’s lips with it.  God’s burning holiness contacts Isaiah’s unclean lips and Isaiah is cleansed by it. 

This is a picture of your interaction with the holiness of your Savior and Lord, Jesus.  His perfection makes you clean and gives you the ability to live a life of holiness.

 

6)            1 Peter 1:15-16

But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

 

7)            Romans 12:9

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

 

Abhor what is evil.  This does not mean you should abhor people who are doing evil.  They are the same folks Jesus died for.  It makes no sense for you to hate those Jesus wants to save.  It does mean you should hate, loath, despise, and detest anything God hates.  Seems simple, right?

But how many sins do you actually love in your life?

How many evils are you excusing or tolerating?

 

8)            Psalm 97:10

O you who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

 

9)            Titus 1:8

But hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.

 

I love cookies.  I could eat cookies all day long if they weren’t terrible for me.

I hate broccoli.  It literally makes me gag.  The smell alone makes me a little sick to my stomach.

Guess which of the two I long to eat? 

Which of the two do I rejoice over when I see them in the pantry? 

Do you think it is hard for me not to eat broccoli?

This is a picture of a life of real holiness.  If you hate what is evil and love what is good, following Jesus in holiness is easy.

If you struggle with a certain sin, the answer is usually not more willpower. 

It is asking Jesus to make your heart like His.

Hate what is evil.

Love what is good.

 

10)          Psalm 7:11

God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.

 

11)          Ephesians 5:5

For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

 

12)          John 3:36

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

 

A popular Christian themed movie depicted God as not understanding the concept of Wrath.  Yet, the Bible in the New Testament is very clear on the issue.  God is loving and kind.  He is forgiving and offers grace freely.  He is also a God of Wrath on those who reject the free gift of Jesus. 

 

13)          Psalm 5:4-5

For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.

 

14)          Proverbs 8:13

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

 

15)          Psalm 11:5

The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

 

16)          1 Corinthians 6:9-10

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

 

17)          Proverbs 6:16-19

There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

 

18)          Proverbs 13:5

The righteous hates falsehood, but the wicked brings shame and disgrace.

 

19)          1 John 3:4

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness

 

20)          Hosea 9:15

Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal; there I began to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels.

 

21)          1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 

Such great news.  A reminder is always needed as you look at God’s heart on holiness.  Yes, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an Holy God.  Yet, He is also forgiving.

 

22)          1 John 4:8

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

 

23)          1 John 1:6

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

 

24)          John 8:44

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

 

25)          Leviticus 20:23

And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them.

 

26)          Zechariah 8:17

Do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord.”

 

27)          Psalm 101:3

I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.

 

28)          Malachi 1:3

But Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.”

 

29)          1 John 1:8

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

 

30)          Colossians 3:5-6

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.

 

31)          James 4:4

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

 

32)          Proverbs 16:5

Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.

 

33)          Psalm 45:7

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;