“THE DANGEROUS PROGRESSION OF SIN”
As we continue our study of the
kings of the two kingdoms, we see that as the nation of Judah begins to be (for
the moment) on the right track in the early days of Asa, the Kingdom of Israel
continues to fall in rapid decline. With
each passing king they grow worse; from bad with Jeroboam, to really bad with
Baasha, to really really bad with Elah, to extremely bad with Zimri, to
horribly bad with Omri until we get to the really, really, extremely, horribly
wicked Ahab. It was said about Ahab that
he “…did
evil in the sight of the LORD more than anyone else before him” (I Kings
16.30). How did things get so
bad? It seems that each king attempted
to trump the wickedness of the one that was before him. As students of the Scriptures today, this
should be a warning to us of the progression of sin. James reminds us in his book of the
progression of sin from birth to death, “But each person is tempted when he is lured
and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to
sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my
beloved brothers.” (James 1:14-16). What James alludes to is that as our lust and
desires increase, so does the potential for sin. A good way to illustrate this is with
addiction. Let’s say a person is lured
away from his desire to fit in with the crowd and he gives in to the temptation
of smoking a cigarette. At first it
seems harmless, until pretty soon that cigarettes lead to them smoking a joint
of marijuana. It doesn’t take long for
this joint to become a gateway drug to something harder, like crack cocaine;
and just like that, someone who never would have dreamed that they would have
become an addict… is one. This isn’t
just the case with drugs; it is the case with all sin. The more we do it, the
more we want of it. Sin is a progression
that is difficult to stop; such was the case with these kings of Israel. It started out with some seemingly innocent
friendship and relationships with some good people that were just not followers
of Jehovah in the days of Joshua. Then
that progressed into them adopting some of their pagan practices. Then it doesn’t take long before you have
King Jeroboam building two golden calves for the people of Israel to worship,
along with Jehovah. Until now, you have
king after wicked king killing off all their competition to the throne, worshiping
idols, and adopting the unthinkable in human sacrifice. Just think…it always starts with just one
little innocent compromise of faith, and then leads to another, and another and
another. Church, we must be careful that
we don’t fall into the slippery trap of sin, but rather trust in the power of
the Word of God to keep us on the right path.
Prayer
Requests:_______________________________________________________________________
Comments
Post a Comment