"THAT SIN BY THE COMMANDMENT MIGHT
BECOME EXCEEDING SINFUL"
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BEFORE THAT MAN can be saved, he must recognize the awfulness of sin (and that he is lost). "God is love" (1 John 4:8,16), but aside from believing in the wrath of God this has limited Scriptural significance. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). The Great Commission reads, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16:15,16). Consequently Paul said that "we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man…" (Colossians 1:28). This warning is given in view of the awfulness of sin in the sight of an all-holy God (who is sinless perfection) and in view of the wrath that is to come because of this sin (Matthew 3:7; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; Romans 5:9). True Bible preaching will not sugarcoat the concept of sin. It seeks to bring about conviction and the need of a Savior. We are saved from the wrath of God through the love of God. The grace of God has no meaning unless there is the wrath of God from which we are saved. God wants man to be made aware of just how awful sin really is, with the enormity of guilt and uncleanness that comes with it. This is necessary before man will see the need of salvation and before true conversion can take place.
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 Many having only read the New Testament, and then reading the Old Testament, have felt bewildered. They are astonished at the harshness and violence. There is much killing. They see the judgment of God coming down with a heavy hand. The death penalty was executed for an extensive catalogue of wrong doings. Paul calls the Old Testament "the law of sin and death." The Law did not empower you to keep it, but it nevertheless condemned you if you didn’t keep it. And the enormity of sin was and is so great that to break one law is to be guilty of breaking all of the Law (James 2:10; Galatians 3:10). It seems the Law was calculated so as to highlight guilt and to emphasize a feeling of uncleanness. Paul deals with the struggle for righteousness by means of the Law in Romans chapter 7. One of the purposes of the law was to show the exceeding sinfulness of sin (Romans 7:13), and that all are under the sentence of sin and death (Galatians 3:22,23; Romans 3:9-23). Even ceremonial uncleanness in the Old Testament, which did not necessarily involve moral wrong doing, served the purpose of making man feel unclean. The word "unclean" is found 111 times in the book of Leviticus. People were made to feel dirty so that they would want to experience cleansing. Perhaps this was an anti-type, anticipating things to come, and thus typifying spiritual uncleanness. Everything about the Law was a "schoolmaster [tutor] to bring us to Christ" (Galatians 3:24). For about 1500 years man was under this schoolmaster. Everything was calculated to make man see his need of a Savior who alone could purge him from his sins (John 1:29; Acts 4:12; Hebrews 1:3; Revelation 1:5). God unquestionably got his point across. Now we can but humbly say that it is "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost [Spirit]" (Titus 3:5). By himself man could not be good enough, nor take away his own sins.
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 In view of all of this as we bring these thoughts to a conclusion, what do we have to say? How are we to look upon these things today? Sin is still just as awful. The enormity of sin is not diminished by love, but highlighted and made emphatic. Therefore, we need strong Bible preaching about right and wrong (in the context of love) to bring about conviction so that people will understand what grace is all about, so that they will indeed be converted, and so that they will really appreciate the love of God. And, having truly been converted, will exclaim, "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!" (2 Corinthians 9:15; John 3:16). This realization and appreciation will also make us "abhor that which is evil" and "cleave to that which is good" (Romans 12:9). We will seriously take heed to God’s Word when he says, "Be ye holy; for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:14-19). It will be our soul’s desire to "abstain from all appearance of evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Amen! 
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