Adding Sin To Sin

Introduction

Good evening. It is certainly a joy to be able to come together once again this Lord’s Day. I think it is one of the greatest blessings that Christians have to be able to come and to worship our God and our Father in heaven multiple times in one day. It is certainly a blessing, and I think it is renewing of our spirit and our mind and focus so that we might be prepared for the things that we must deal with throughout the rest of the week. Invite you to open in your old testaments to the book of Isaiah, the 30th chapter. And as you are turning to Isaiah chapter 30, if you will just give me a moment to be able to express my sincere and deepest gratitude for the invitation to come and to be with you, to be able to meet you face to face.

That is why we work together, I believe, and especially grateful for the fellowship in which we enjoy together. In the book of Isaiah, the prophet, he presents the Lord in a very unique fashion. If you go through and you read the book in its entirety, you will be impressed with the way in which he describes the Lord as the Holy One of Israel throughout. That seems to be the title that Isaiah prefers to use of God. That he is describing him as the Holy One of Israel. And while God is greatly emphasized for his holiness and his righteousness, in stark contrast to that, you have Israel throughout the book of Isaiah that is pictured in the disgusting illustrations that are used of sin. Israel is presented as guilty of committing transgression and abomination before God.

They are convicted and condemned for the iniquities and wickedness that went along with the idolatry of the spirit of the age that they were living in. And the Lord had commanded Israel, he’ll remember in the book of Leviticus, to be holy, as I am holy. And so it seems that as you were going through the book of Isaiah, you cannot help but get the sense that Israel had fallen terribly short of the holiness of God. How they had gone so far from what God had required of them. And I believe what we see whenever we talk about holiness, it is something that I’m afraid many people don’t want to talk about today. Holiness seems to be something that is pictured as just this Christian that will cannot look at anything and they cannot do anything, and so they are just so constricted by their attitudes and what they live and how they live that they can never have any fun.

And so holiness seems to be a characteristic that is mocked today. But I would tell you that holiness is demanded in the life of the child of God. Holiness demands that sin be removed from our lives. Holiness demands purity of heart, of our mind, and of our soul. Holiness requires that sin be removed. And yet I think we see the dilemma that is oftentimes posed for us. Christians sin from time to time.

And why is that? I believe that is a great challenge to a person’s faith from time to time. Christians might sin and seek to excuse or ignore the sin. I believe that brings to mind a very important question. Why do people sin? If you’ve never taken the time to ponder such a question, I believe it is good to do so. Why do people sin? Why do Christians sin from time to time? I believe we find an answer that Isaiah presents in the case of Israel that he was presenting unto them and convicting them for in Isaiah chapter 1 and in verse 5, you have here, as Isaiah the prophet writes, he says, Why should ye be stricken anymore? Ye will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint.

From the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been clothed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire, your land strangers devour in your presence, and it is desolate as overthrown by strangers. Do you get the picture? There was no soundness at all. There was no help in Israel. Because not of some symptom that they were trying to treat. But as he goes on, and he deals exactly and precisely with the problem, as he said there in verse 5, that the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. It is a heart problem. Whenever it comes to sin, it is a matter of heart, mind, and soul.

That it is a choice that we have made. And those sins that may be committed from time to time, whether it be by ignorance or things that of weakness that we have, those things present some problems and some failures of the heart. Some things and elements and matters where we have fallen short. We have sinned. And I believe what is even more troubling for us is not just even the matter of sin, precisely. But whenever sin enters in among the Lord’s people.

The things that typically alarm me are the elements in which sin has affected the Lord’s people. Whenever sin begins to affect Christians, those are the times that I have to kind of raise my eyebrows and scratch my head. And just begin to wonder what exactly is the matter? And how do we get to such a place where hypocrisy is just abounding in the Lord’s church? And whenever there are those who would claim to be faithful members of the Lord’s body, and from all external appearances they are. However, their actions begin to prove otherwise. And I think what is interesting if we are honest with ourselves about the nature of sin is that we would recognize that sin just never usually stops on its own, does it?

Sin usually just compounds itself and builds upon itself. And in our text this evening, in Isaiah chapter 30, I believe that is exactly the problem that Isaiah is bringing to the attention of Israel is the fact that they are rebellious, and it is a matter of sin having just built upon itself steadily over a period of time. And there’s an interesting phrase there in Isaiah 30 and verse 1 when he says, Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel but not of me, and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin. How did Israel get to such a point? That they might add sin to sin, where they might just continually build upon itself and make this such a habit and make it part of their lifestyle that they welcome sin into their lives, where they were comforted, not by the Spirit of God, but by their own actions, by their own rebellion.

How does this nation that was brought up out of the land of Egypt, that the promises were made to their father Abraham, over this period of time, how do they go into such decline? How have they gotten to the point as God’s special nation, as God’s chosen people, to become this nation full of sin? It is an interesting and intriguing phrase that I believe Isaiah is presenting here. And as he is going forth and proclaiming and dealing with the issues of it, what we recognize that as sin just never stops on its own, it demands that the sinner change.

Persevere in righteousness. And I believe over time, the decisions that we might make, that whenever we begin to add sin upon sin, it begins with small compromises. If you will, smaller sins. Don’t we seem to kind of categorize sin as smaller or larger sins? And oh, I don’t believe that is true. All sin is sin in the sight of God. Believe that’s sometimes how we think. And we tend to justify those smaller sins because it doesn’t affect as many people. Or it might only affect me and my family. It doesn’t affect the whole congregation. It doesn’t affect the whole church. It doesn’t affect everyone else. That tends to be our reasoning in such cases. And so those smaller sins, whether it be lying or gambling, those things that we just don’t talk about or we just try to ignore, they are things that we hide.

We cover them up, and we try to justify those things, those actions.

Think about King David. I think we see perfectly this kind of attitude. Whenever King David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. It wasn’t just enough for the fornication or the adultery. What did he do? He had to then figure out a cover up plan, didn’t he? And so you see that he lied about it. It even led to murder. And so, how do those things come up? How does a person such as David, who was described as a man after God’s own heart, how does that kind of person get to such a point of degradation? How does sin really affect us? These are some serious matters. And some important matters. And in the book of Hebrews, the sixth chapter, if you can hold your place there in Isaiah, but turning to Hebrews chapter 6, I believe there we have a serious warning that is offered about those who might apostatize and lead the Lord’s church and forsake the Lord completely.

In Hebrews chapter 6 and in verse 1, it says, Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptism and laying on of hands and the resurrection of the dead and an eternal judgment. In verse 3, and this will we do if God permit, for it is impossible for those who are once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucified you themselves, the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame.

How does a person get to such a point? That is what is the first question that arises in my mind after reading such a passage. And the strong warning that is placed there that if they fall away, it seems that it’s impossible to renew them to the point of repentance with the heart and the condition that they have put themselves in unless there are some changes made. Then how does a person get to that point? Believe there are several things that happen. Four things that I believe Isaiah points out rather specifically, and those are the things that I want us to consider for the remainder time that we have together. What these things are, I believe they’re not any new revelation. They’re just things that people have continued to do.

Those who have continued to add sin in their lives and have not made the difficult decision to repent. I believe we learn repentance is very difficult from time to time.

1. Refuse to Hear the Message of Repentance

It’s going to be able to require being able to admit error. To be able to say that I have been wrong and that I need to change. That is what is involved in repentance. And so, how does a person get to the point that they are going into apostasy? Well, Isaiah pictures this and describes these matters, I believe. And the first thing that he deals with is the matter of those who might refuse to hear the message of repentance. In Isaiah 30, as we read there in verse 1, woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me, and that cover with the covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin. You see, this begins the there’s a process in which demands for them to get to this point.

And he goes on throughout Isaiah chapter 30, and if you’ll come to verse 22, he says, Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver and the ornament of thy molten images of gold. Thou shalt cast them away as a minstress cloth. Thou shalt say unto it, get thee hints. I just want you to begin to understand how God views sin. And it’s a very disgusting picture that Isaiah has presented here. That it is the idea of something that is disdainful. And based upon the language that is used there in Isaiah verses verse 22, there in chapter 30, you’ll recognize at the end of the book, whenever he says that all of our unrighteousness is as filthy rags, you begin to understand how God looks at sin, how he has looked at it, and how he how it is presented before him.

It is disgusting, it is disdainful. It is something that ought to scare us a little bit. That is sin in the sight of God. And that is why he has presented us with his word and his the message of repentance. In chapter 29, in verse 9, if you’ll begin reading with me there. In Isaiah chapter 29 and verse 9, he says, Stay yourselves and wonder, cry ye out and cry. They are drunken, but not with wine. They stagger, but not with strong drink. For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes. The prophets and your rulers, the seers have he covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee.

And he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed. And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee. And he saith, I am not learned. And so in verse 13, wherefore the Lord said, For as much as this people draw near me, with their mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men. He says in verse 14, Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder, for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. You see, the message of repentance is oftentimes rather plain and rather simple.

It is not a message that needs to have a lot of difficulty in understanding.

It begins to be something very hard to understand because they don’t want to understand it. And it is because of the matter of their heart. As he said there in verse 13, convicting them that they’re this people, that they draw near with their mouth and with their lips, they honor, but they have removed their hearts.

You see, we must have an understanding spirit, an understanding heart, a heart that is willing to heed the correction and the message that God has presented us. It is a message that is meant to be understood. However, those in sin, they are unwilling to hear the message. They are unable to understand the message so oftentimes because they are willfully blind to it. They don’t want to understand it so often. And some have become so hardened by their sins that they will refuse to accept the counsel and rebuke of those who love them so much. I think you begin to understand why the passage is quoted in the New Testament concerning the Jews and their disbelief in the Son of God. And how it led to them crucifying him.

But God has presented a wonderful message. In Isaiah chapter 1. You have in a few verses in Isaiah chapter 1 in verse 16. When Isaiah presents unto Israel and Judah and says, Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with a sword, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.

You see there rather simply. The plain message that Isaiah was presenting unto Israel. Judah, very specifically. That he was offering them a message that was of forgiveness. A message where your sins have stained you. You can be white as snow, you can be pure, you can be holy. But what is the condition? What must they do? Cease to do evil, verse 16. And learn to do well, verse 17. And he says in verse 19, if ye be willing and obedient. What does that mean? Call the mind. The person that is rebellious, they’re unwilling, aren’t they? They are disobedient. And so you see the very matter of the heart that Isaiah is dealing with. It is the same message that John the Baptist came proclaiming. A message of repentance.

2. Worship in Hypocrisy

Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It’s the same message that Christ began preaching. In Luke chapter 13 in verse 3, whenever he said, unless ye repent, ye shall likewise perish. You see, the message of the gospel is a message of repentance. We need to turn from sin. We need to cease to do sin. But those who want to continue in sin, they dismiss it. They refuse to heed the warning. They refuse the good message of forgiveness because it requires repentance. But then, secondly, believe what is so interesting about the people of Israel and Judah the day that Isaiah was prophesying was that they were obviously involved in worship unto God. They had not completely abandoned the concept of worship, had they. In Isaiah 29, as we read a few moments ago there in verse 13, where the people had forsaken the Lord essentially, that they had drawn near unto God with their mouth, but they had not come unto him with their heart.

Believe what we recognize is that there are people that worship God out of sincerity, not out of love, but in blatant hypocrisy. There are those that would continue to worship and just put their blinders on. Pretend that everything is okay.

You may have preachers and teachers in the Lord’s body. You may have elders or deacons. You may have all of those leaders that would continue to worship, but really play the part of the hypocrite. You have members of the Lord’s body that are not what they’re supposed to be. And what you see in those cases is that there may be good men and women that you think are preaching and teaching out of sincerity, out of love. And they are really teaching without any belief. They may worship in truth without conviction. And you may never know any better because they have just hidden themselves. They’ve played the hypocrite. And oftentimes, brethren who want to purposely hide their sins, guess what they do? They don’t just up and leave, do they?

They want to continue to fool people. They want to worship in hypocrisy. They don’t just up and leave like that, but they continue down a path that would lead to that. Oftentimes, brethren who want to just hide their sins, they will continue to behave as if there is no problem because they have completely tried to justify their problems and sin. And they may continue their preaching and teaching, laboring for the Lord, regularly attending worship. However, they do that without the element of faith. And they have removed their heart from God. And that is what Isaiah pictures in Isaiah 1 again. In Isaiah 1, this time, if you’ll read in verse 13, whenever he says, bring no more vain oblations, incense is an abomination unto me. The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with it.

It is iniquity. Even the solemn meeting, your new moons, and your appointed feasts. My soul hated. They are a trouble unto me. I am weary to bear them.

God recognizes that they are involved in the act of trying to worship and honor him. But what is the matter?

It is not met with faith.

And as worship may appear to be genuine, the Lord knows the condition of our heart. And whenever we allow faith to be removed and pride to enter in, then begins to give us such confidence. It’s a false confidence, but it begins to give people a confidence that they can get away with their sin. And so the apostle Paul would deal with such a matter, believe in Colossians chapter 2 in verse 20, whenever he said, Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why as though living in the world are ye subject to ordinances? And he goes on in verse 23, which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship and humility and neglecting of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.

There are folks that would just make a pretense out of worshiping God. It is not a matter of them coming in faith. But they do just enough to deceive.

3. Those Who Would Weary the Lord

In the good graciousness of people. And so oftentimes, whenever people are involved in sin and just allowing sin to enter their life and rule the decisions that are made, they continue to worship. But they do so in a spirit of hypocrisy. Thirdly, I believe eventually a much more serious matter begins to arise. Whenever there would be those who would weary the Lord. Turn in your Old Testament to Isaiah chapter 7. As Isaiah comes unto the king Ahaz and demands of Ahaz a sign from God. He says, He comes to Ahaz in Isaiah 7 in verse 10. Moreover, the Lord spoke again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the Lord, thy God, ask it either in the depth or in the height above. He says, ask God.

Ask God to show you something, to bring such confidence. How many of you would turn down such an opportunity? And if you have a prophet of God and saying, look, if you want to be assured that God is with you, and that God will bring you success, ask him of something. How many of you would turn that kind of opportunity down? But Ahaz, look at what he says in verse 12. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. This was just a blatant refusal to obey God’s command under the false pretense of humility. It was a blatant refusal to obey God. And as God was extending to Ahaz’s help, strength and might, I think it helps us to understand whenever we understand politically what’s going on here.

Ahaz was a king and he was a good politician. He had made an alliance with the enemies of God. He was trusting not upon God, but he was trusting in himself. He was trusting in the things that he had done.

And so Ahaz was acting on his own accord. He was neglecting God. And then you have here, continuing on in verse 13, and he said, Hear ye now, O house of David. Is it a small thing for you to weary men? But will ye weary my God also? Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. You see, there was going to be a sign. An ultimate sign of the redemption that God was offering. Ahaz was not going to have any part of it. And he says there in verse 13 that it’s a small thing for you to weary men, but it’s a big deal when it comes to rejecting God.

It is a serious matter and serious issue. Whenever one would refuse the goodness of God, the blessings that God has given unto us. Pride was what caused Ahaz to falter. He was refusing to accept God’s power, aid, and help. Ahaz just thought his way was better. It was more advantageous to him. It required humility to say, I need the power of God. This was an ultimate act of unbelief and rejection of the Lord’s power. And yet, when we rely upon sin and boast in our pride, we are effectively saying unto God that we don’t need his salvation, aren’t we? That we don’t need his grace. We don’t need the mercy that he has extended to us. We will say that we are content with our ways, that we are just satisfied with the direction our life is headed in.

And we don’t want to conform ourselves to God’s ways. Whenever we rely upon our own pride, we have essentially said that we are going to be escaping the judgment of God. That is what sin will allow us to believe. Whenever we become so deceived by it. And all of those things are wrong assumptions. They were wrong assumptions for Ahaz to think and act upon, and they will be wrong for us to make.

4. They Will Reject the Lord's Servant

I believe we see that what was the ultimate transgression. And those who add sin to sin in their lives, adding sin upon sin, they will reject the Lord’s servant. They will turn away from Christ. Isaiah chapter 53, a passage that I’m certain we are familiar with as Bible students. Whenever Isaiah is presenting the suffering servant, and he says in Isaiah 53 and verse 3, he is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.

The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. You see, the people of that day. They had a heart that was ultimately rejecting the goodness of God. And it was that of the children of Israel, whenever Jesus came and was teaching the Jews. And many of the passages that we have read and looked at, and others that we have not, they are applied to the same spirit of the Pharisees of the day that Jesus was dealing with, and how they were rejecting him, how they were refusing to accept him as their Messiah. And in order to continue down the path of sin, there is eventually going to come a time where someone must decide completely and totally to reject Christ.

That is such a sad day. That is such a sad occasion. Whenever we have despised and afflicted Christ, as Isaiah wrote, that we might strike him, afflict him. We have turned to our own ways.

We refuse it. We do not want to accept it. And those who are in their sins and want to continue in the pleasures of their sins eventually reject the Christ. That is the ultimate plunge into apostasy. As the Hebrew writer would say in Hebrews chapter 10, in verse 26, speaking of the idea of sinning willfully after those who have received the knowledge of truth. And he says that there is a certainty of fearful judgment and fiery indignation. He goes on in verse 29 of how much sore punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace.

You see, the person that he’s describing is not someone that is out in the world, that was sanctified, that knew the good blessings of being in a covenant relationship with God and had treated it with such disdain that they just trampled it underfoot. They despised it. They did not appreciate it.

And that is why eventually people will run from the church. That’s why in verse 25 he says, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, because that is the kind of spirit that they have. They eventually will prove their lack of faith and lack of conviction, running from the people of God, turning to denominationalism, turning to false religion. Anything to attempt some way to justify their sin. They will display their pride by turning to any religion that may offer them peace of mind and justify sinful behavior. And whenever this takes place, whenever someone has rejected the Lord’s servant, any sin becomes plausible, doesn’t it? Whenever someone has completely utterly rejected the servant of the Lord, what sin will not be in their life?

Lies, deceits, betrayals, social drinking, pornography, divorce, fornication, all of these things. They just are simply not a problem any longer. Because of the spirit that Isaiah was trying to combat. I believe what is so interesting. He’ll turn to one final passage in Isaiah chapter 32. In Isaiah chapter 32 and in verse 6. Isaiah says, For the vile person will speak villainy, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. Eventually, the hypocrite is going to be shown. Eventually the hypocrisy will become blatant. And sinners will be found out.

Conclusion

Should bring to us a sense of recognition of the holiness of God and exactly what it is that God would demand of us.

Cease to do evil.

As Jesus began to preach, as the apostles continued to preach the message of repentance. You come to Acts chapter 2 and verse 38. Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins. That is what was presented that day. That is the same message that is presented for us. That is the gospel. And the same promise that Isaiah was looking forward to. As he said in verse 18, come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. That is the great blessing of forgiveness, isn’t it? Whenever sin has entered into our life, it has stained us, it has brought us to ruin. We have there the promise of forgiveness.

That our sins might be removed from us. Whenever we are baptized into Christ, we have our sins washed away. We are clean. We are white. We are pure and holy. And so, how do you reason? How do you reason? How do you think? As Isaiah put it. Come now and let us reason together. Are you going to continue to reason and to justify sin in your life? Or are you going to accept the message of repentance and act upon it? Ceasing to do evil. Turning to follow the Lord. Tonight, if you are not a child of God, there’s no greater joy than if you would make that decision to come into Christ, turning away from your sins, and responding in obedience unto the gospel of God.

Maybe that you have done that, you have become his child, and yet you have allowed sin to enter into your life, and you have continued to make attempts to justify that sin. Will he not cease to do that this evening? If you are subject to imitation, we encourage you to come as we stand and as we sing.