Viva Las Vegas II -or- Viva Las Sin?

Last week we discussed Psalm 51:1-4 and how it related to my return from Las Vegas. I wrote ad nauseam about who our sin is directed at…a Holy God. I have had a decent grasp of this concept for years, but never so acutely as while I was passing out Gospel literature on Las Vegas Blvd. (The Strip). Every sin, big or little, is a direct slap at Jesus Christ, the one who died for us to take the punishment we deserved. We went through the Commandments from Exodus 20 and gave a quick break down of examples of how we all sin. Sunday, I did a cursory estimate of just how many times we sin in our lifetime. I figure we probably average one lie or theft per day. Not big ones mind you, just simple lying or stealing. How can this possibly be? Lying might include exaggeration, double-mindedness, asking for forgiveness lightly, or stretching the truth on taxes. Stealing might be being lazy at work, downloading music or clip art on the computer, or paying your bills late. There are hundreds of ways of sinning in each of these areas and God holds us accountable to the whole Law based on us breaking one of the Laws (James 2:10). Figuring just one sin in this category per day, in a decade we have sinned nearly four thousand times! Tack on a few per week on each of the other Commandments and a whole bunch on the adultery (7th Commandment) and murder (6th Commandment) side due to Jesus clarifying statements explaining lust as adultery and anger as murder, and I estimate your typical person sins tens of thousands of times, conservatively, over the term of their life. Multiply that times billions of people and thousands of years and join me in understanding that this “Love God” idol we have created in the last 75 years to worship because He is more comfortable to be with is actually not God at all. The real God of the Bible loves us but deeply hates sin. He hates it so much He died to defeat its power (in the form of Jesus Christ at Calvary)! The days of making Jesus Christ out to be our snuggle-buddy are over. We need desperately to get a handle on how sin angers God.
That brings me to the next two verses of Psalm 51. Verses five and six say “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.” King David, as you may recall, was just exposed by Nathan the prophet as the phony he was. He had stolen the wife of his best general, then had his general killed after he couldn’t cover up their affair and resulting pregnancy. In verse 5 David is acknowledging that his sin isn’t something new…it was from birth. Anyone reading this article (all three of you including Mom) must recognize that babies have a naughty streak. I’ve heard it said by the late Adrian Rogers (paraphrasing) that if you give a baby the strength of an adult, then take away its bottle, just see if you won’t get your arms ripped from their sockets to retrieve the bottle! Being totally honest, how long does it take a baby to figure out how to get into trouble or break the rules? Anyone who denies this obviously has never worked in the nursery at church! Thanks to the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we are saddled with this predisposition to sin and to the desperate need of a Savior to pay our sin debt (Romans 6:23). If you struggle with the question, when asked, “Would you consider yourself a good person?” you have a false understanding of what good is. You, and I, are not…from birth.
The second verse is a tough one…possibly one of the toughest in all of scripture relating to God’s standard. “Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.” Scratching through the thin veneer of self–righteousness to see the real Mark Applegate is as easy for God as it is hard for you. I am a pretty reclusive person in my private life. I lead a pretty moral life as do many Stocktonians. God sees through the surface to see every secret sin in all of us, and hates it. By man’s standard, I am a pretty good ole boy. By God’s, fortunately, He sees the righteousness of Christ covering the real me. Jesus Christ, once I made Him Savior and Lord of my life and repented of my many sins, credited my bankrupt account with the riches of His Grace. He took the penalty of my sins and in exchange gave me right standing with Him so that He (rightfully) gets the credit for being such an awesome God! What a trade…my garbage for His Grace! It is available to you as well. Take a look at your sins and think about Jesus dying on the cross for you. Clear out the deep sin that keeps you separate from God today. Email me if you have further questions or objections. Today is the day of salvation!

FYI section…Memory verse update… week 1 Romans 3:23, week 2 Romans 6:23 Week three Ephesians 2:8-9. Weight loss update… I lost 7 pounds this week for a total loss of 34.6 pounds. I have lost 10% of my beginning body weight and am only 100 lbs from my target weight! Still an Olson twin worth to lose, but moving along well! Thank you for your prayers! I deeply appreciate your support!