SIN WILL BE DESTROYED

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

When the wicked thrive, so does sin, but the righteous will see their downfall.

Proverbs 29:16

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Every day, the news seems to bring more and more stories laced with evil doings. Just a look at my local paper today brought these stories:

“Man admits killing boyfriend of stepdaughter.”

“Man given 10 years for stabbing at Va. Beach restaurant.”

“Shore Drive Game Stop robbed.”

“Local lawyer admits stealing $2.3 million in client funds.”

“Easter decorations stolen from Chesapeake girl's grave.”

This is just a sample of what’s been happening in my locality. Expand this across the rest of my state and it would grow exponentially. And let’s not even think about how large the list of evil events would be if we expanded to our nation and then onto the world.

Each and every day, it seems more and more as if wickedness is thriving.

Why is it happening?

Perhaps our answer can be found in this fact:

Only 32% of our population is Christian.

It’s a sad point to consider, even more sobering if you consider that although the world’s population has grown steadily over the last 100 years, the number of Christians in the world has remained steady at one-third of the population. Simple math tells us that 68% of our population lives without Christ every day and we can’t discount that a segment of the Christian population allow themselves to become overcome with evil and commit atrocities. It happened in the scriptures and it’s still happening today.

Not exactly encouraging thoughts to consider, are they? In fact, they could be downright discouraging and despairing if we let them.

Looking at our proverb today, we’re seeing the words of the scriptures come to life. For when we see wickedness thrive in the world around us, it’s because sin is thriving. When people live outside righteousness as so many do, then they are living under the influence of sin and it’s only a matter of time before sin leads them to evil and its damaging outcomes which result in destruction to the perpetrator and often destruction to those they impact through their wicked acts.   

So what are we to do? How are we to live in hope in the midst of a world where sin and wickedness are thriving?

We simply need to remember that sin is going to be destroyed.

Look at the second part of today’s verse and you’ll find the bold assertion that the righteous - that is those who have placed their faith, hope, and trust in Christ Jesus - will see the downfall of sin and wickedness.

When will that happen?

When Jesus returns.

Just a little more than a week on the other side of Easter, we need to remember that Jesus bore the sins of mankind on the cross of Calvary and died there, signaling that sin would also have its death one day through Him. But sin’s death would be later as Jesus first had to come back to life and experience victory over the grave and sin Himself in order to make the way for those who placed their belief in Him to follow. This is how much God loved His people, that He would not wish for them to perish in the midst of sin and wickedness but rather have a chance to live with Him and His Son Jesus forever (John 3:16). Those who accept this invitation to salvation will become part of the righteous who will be present when Jesus destroys sin for good.

You see, when Christ returns, He will make all things new (Revelation 21), pushing the reset button on all creation. The old heaven and earth will pass away and so will the wicked and sin. The righteous, those who are dead and alive in Christ, will join Jesus in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17) and He will populate the new heaven and earth with them. God’s dwelling place will be the dwelling place of the righteous and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, only peace and light and love forever as the old order of things will have passed away.  

In sum, when Jesus returns, He is returning to have the final victory and sin will be destroyed once and for all. And thus, those who live in Him are living in victory even with sin and wickedness all around them. Brother and sister Christians, we need to remember these words from the Apostle Paul and live in this world like we have the bold assurance that everything is going to be alright because we have Jesus.

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:31-39

Friends, in a world filled with iniquity and evil, we will always be more than conquerors. For nothing and no one can separate us from the love of Jesus Christ, the One will one day come back to destroy sin, the One through which we always have hope, now and forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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