The soul that sins shall bear his iniquity. How does a man bear his iniquity? The answer is quite simple: by suffering the consequences of those sins.
Sin affects men in various ways, but it attacks them in every facet of life. It hinders their walk with God and hurts their ability to reach others for Christ.
There are two categories of sin: sins against God and sins against man. By default, every sin is against God. Yet, not all sin is against man.
Most people view sin as a private or earthy matter. Yet, every sin is against the Lord. In truth, men can sin against the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
A man who loses hope loses his primary motivation for doing right and living holy. The Bible reveals what men do when they have no hope: “let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die” (1 Corinthians 15:32). If there is no hope in a resurrection, man sees no reason to cease to go after his strange gods (Jeremiah 2:25) or follow “the imagination of his evil heart” (Jeremiah 18:12). If there is no judgment after death, or if the Lord is not soon returning, then the greatest impetus for living the Christian life is lost. Man needs a special motivation to help him to live a life of purity. He should live in purity because He loves the Lord. Yet, the answer lies in the fact that the Lord is coming soon, and man will stand before Him to give an account, and all those who have this particular hope will purify themselves, “even as he [Jesus] is pure.” Hope makes all the difference!
Every person has done sinful things for which he was ashamed even prior to salvation (Romans 6:21). Some of those things are so wicked that the apostle Paul would not even mention what they were (Ephesians 5:12). The life of a Christian was never intended by God to be that way. According to verse 5 above, the Christian life is to be a life void of shame. This type of fulfilled life is only possible when hope is present for “hope maketh not ashamed.” Yet, every Christian must come to understand that hope is the outcome of a sometimes lengthy spiritual process. Here is the biblical sequence. If one properly endures tribulation, he learns to have patience. Patience, in turn, brings experience, and experience brings hope. All these things work together in the life of the believer to keep him from living a life of shame. There is truly no shame in a life lived with hope!
The world contains far too many wicked people possessing no concern for God, the Bible, and eternity. Sometimes those who know the Lord as Saviour lose hope concerning others coming to a saving knowledge of Christ. Bible-believing Christians must always keep in mind that as long as a man remains breathing there is hope for his redemption. Isaiah told the Lord, “For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth” (Isaiah 38:18). Once death occurs, all hope ceases. The individual’s destination and/or his reward are settled. Yet, up until that point in time, there is hope for salvation, hope for growth, and hope for spiritual change.
Scriptural traditions are worthy of the believer’s allegiance and should move him to break fellowship with those who refuse to adhere to those biblical traditions. The apostle Paul spoke of traditions that the believers in Thessalonica had received from him. These traditions were good and were to be maintained by the believers (2 Thessalonians 2:15). In fact, these traditions were so important that the people of God were to “withdraw” themselves from those (including “every brother”) who walked disorderly (in disobedience to the traditions). No doubt, these traditions were the very ones which Paul made known in his epistles.
Tradition robs men of the blessings only derived from one’s obedience to the truth. The word spoil is a term used during wartime meaning that one side in a battle breaks forth into the territory of the other side and takes their valuable possessions. According to scripture, philosophies and deceit based upon the traditions of men rob the saint of God of the benefits offered by merely accepting the truths of the word of God. The price of spoiling is high. For the lost, they can be spoiled of their eternal life by accepting the traditions (false gospels) and philosophies (evolution) of men. For the saved, they can lose some eternal rewards by the acceptance of traditions contrary to the plain truths of scripture.
The previous generation has handed down to the present generation some wonderful traditions. Those most precious are directly found in scripture while others are closely associated with scriptural principles. Paul admonished believers at Thessalonica to “hold” these types of traditions. Likewise, believers today should diligently continue in godly traditions. Those that are directly taken from scripture are a given, but there are others that are also important. No Bible verse specifically states believers should attend a midweek worship service, but it is certainly a scriptural tradition (Hebrews 10:25). In like manner, no Bible verse indicates that the early church held Sunday School, yet it is a very scriptural tradition (2 Timothy 2:15).
