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All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000. (see text) |
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Chapter Seventeen: |
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Until They Admit Their Guilt
The word of God clearly proclaims that all mankind is accountable and without excuse before the LORD. No one will be able to say "I didn't know", or "I didn't understand". Responsibility and personal accountability to God and His laws permeates the whole of Scripture.
For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. From man in the garden to man before the judgment seat of Christ, it is a concept undeniably present throughout all of God's word. To the Pharisees who denied Him, the Lord Jesus warned of an impending judgment where an account would be made for "every careless word spoken" (chiefly Matthew 12:36). The words of the LORD God, as given through the prophet Obadiah, declare: "For the day of the LORD upon all the nations is near; As you have done, it shall be done to you; Your reprisal shall return upon your own head." (Obadiah 15) Similarly, the Apostle Paul writes in Romans fourteen that we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: "As I live, says the LORD, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God." So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. (Romans 14:10-12) It is a message we do not like to hear -- particularly today in this age of license and irresponsibility. "We've the right to do this, the right to do that, and no one -- neither God nor man -- has the right to impose their way on anyone else (except for the politically correct, of course, who've the right and government support to impose their way on the entire populace). Any may choose to do as they please, entirely irrespective of any responsibility for that choice." We've come to bow the knee to the great liberal gods of License and Irresponsibility so often that many living today (particularly those born during or after the 1960's) have never known it any other way. Anyone daring to voice even the slightest disagreement with them is instantly labeled a crackpot, and summarily packed off for "sensitivity re-enlightenment" (i.e. politically correct indoctrination/liberal brainwashing). Our backwards, upside down society has decreed that no god shall "inconvenience" or infringe upon the rights of the people with a whole lot of dusty, anachronistic statutes and precepts, entirely incongruous to our progressive, enlightened age. We've evolved well beyond that sort of thing. Everything is relative to the dogma of the hour. "Sin", as a word, is swiftly approaching obsolescence. Everyone is to blame for our behavior but ourselves; "We are not responsible! We are not accountable!! Others made us do it! My people have been oppressed! My parents mistreated me! Society has neglected my needs! My husband was abusive!"
Fleeing from responsibility is nothing new. When confronted with his sin, Adam blamed the only two other persons whose existence he was aware of: God and his wife. "The woman whom You gave to be with me...." Adam's wife was to blame, but God had put her there in the first place, so it was God's fault Adam had sinned. Does this rationalization of sin sound familiar?
"It's God's fault!" Even the people who don't believe in God prefer laying the blame at His feet than shouldering it themselves.
Our second favorite choice for blame delegation is the powerful entity at the other end of the good and evil spectrum. "The serpent deceived me." "The devil made me do it." No matter how it's phrased, its meaning remains the same. And, lest anyone thinks God is fooled by any of this "everybody's at fault but me" attitude, this allocation of blame fared no better than the previous one. Both Adam and Eve (and for that matter the serpent, too) were punished for their sin (chiefly Genesis 3:16-19; and let the feminists take note that the man's punishment comprises three full verses, while the woman's only one). God's word is very clear about with whom accountability lies. Each person is responsible for their own actions. Blame is not to be delegated to another, but borne entirely by the guilty. Even those advised or swayed to do wrong by others are not exculpated of their guilt. The account of I Kings thirteen relates this most inescapably. Here, an unnamed man of God was sent by God to prophesy against Jeroboam at Bethel. Among the instructions the LORD had given him was that he must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way he came (chiefly I Kings 13:9). So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel. (I Kings 13:10)(NIV) Along the way, however, he was approached by a certain old prophet living in Bethel who invited him home to eat with him. When the man of God declined and informed the prophet that he could not because the LORD had forbidden him to do so, the old prophet lied to him, answering: "I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the LORD: 'Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.'" (I Kings 13:18)(NIV) Unwisely, the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house (chiefly I Kings 13:19), in direct violation of the word he had received from the LORD. Verses twenty through twenty-four recount what happened next, clearly illustrating that accountability lies with the offender -- even when encouraged to do wrong through lies -- (and even though the lies may be coming from one claiming to be from God). This is particularly frightening if one looks back through the ages at all those who've gone into eternity, and are, even now, going into eternity lost because those claiming to be from God have falsely misdirected them (see Galatians 1:6-9). It is yet another reason we must look into the word of God for ourselves, relying not on the words of any others -- whether family, friends, pastor, priest, rabbi, Christian assembly or Mother Church. The word of God alone is without error and fully trustworthy. (I refer readers to the statement of purpose, preceding the main text of this volume.) We are accountable for our sin even when we are misdirected by those who falsely believe that what they proclaim is true. Likewise, we are accountable for our actions even when we are commanded to do wrong by those in authority over us (chiefly Acts 4:18-20, 5:28-29). As the third chapter of Daniel similarly relates in the account of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, our responsibility is to obey God in all matters, even when in direct violation of the laws of man. The word of God also allows no excuse for the guilty who claim they were only following the crowd. "I only did what everybody else was doing!"
The LORD also holds persons accountable for complicity to sin, as appreciably illustrated by the account of Naboth's vineyard from the twenty-first chapter of I Kings. Here, judgment is pronounced against Ahab, king of Israel, even though he had nothing to do with the actual plotting and execution of Naboth's murder. Although the entire project was, from beginning to end, the surreptitious handiwork of his nefarious, scheming wife, Jezebel, and Ahab didn't even learn of it until after it had been carried out (chiefly I Kings 21:15-16) -- although Jezebel did tell Ahab she'd get the vineyard for him (chiefly I Kings 21:7) -- God held Ahab accountable for murder, and declared judgment against him.
Another common excuse people use to avoid responsibility for their sin is a claim of ignorance. "I wasn't aware I was sinning." "I didn't know that was sinful." How about sin committed in ignorance? What does God's word say about the one who sins unknowingly?
"Though he does not know it, yet he is guilty and shall bear his iniquity." So much for ignorance of the law. This, along with passages like Leviticus 4:13,22,27, Numbers 15:29 and Romans 1:18-20 should also silence those who claim certain people will be held unaccountable as they either "never knew the truth", or were "incapable of discerning the truth, even had they known it". And, as to the argument that children are not, in any way, responsible or accountable for their actions, I refer again to the second chapter of II Kings, verses twenty-three and twenty-four. This passage clearly demonstrates the accountability of children for their actions. The age of the children referred to in this account cannot be readily ascertained, as the Hebrew words used here (qatan, na'ar and yeled) can be indicative of ages anywhere from infancy to adolescence. One thing is certain, however: The youths of II Kings 2:23-24 were not "young adults" as some imply, but children held accountable before the LORD. Yet another sobering observation about accountability and responsibility before the LORD can be taken from the account of Achen's sin in Joshua seven. Here, the entire nation of Israel is held accountable for the sin of one man, Achen, who had taken items from the siege of Jericho which were dedicated to the LORD. Even though apparently no one but Achen knew of his sin, all Israel was held accountable for his disobedience, and the LORD allowed them to be defeated in battle by the men of Ai because of this (chiefly Joshua 7:3-5).
Note the LORD God said, "Israel has sinned", not "Achen has sinned" (note God accused Israel six times in the passage above). Because the sin had gone unpunished, the whole community was held to blame and suffered accordingly (see also Joshua 22:20). However, when Achen was found out and punished -- So the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger.(Joshua 7:26) It is also interesting to note that even though Achen alone had stolen the items dedicated to the LORD, he, with all his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had were destroyed. The people were stoned -- Achen first, then the rest -- and everything burned (chiefly Joshua 7:24-25). II Samuel, chapter twenty-one relates how all Israel suffered three years of famine or the sin of Saul, who in his zeal tried to annihilate the Gibeonites -- whom Israel had sworn to spare (chiefly Joshua 9:15).
To make amends, seven of Saul's descendants (all but Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan -- because of the oath before the LORD between David and Jonathan) were handed over to the Gibeonites who killed and exposed them on a hill before the LORD. (II Samuel 21:9) (NIV) The word of God then records that after that, God answered prayer in behalf of the land. (II Samuel 21:14)(NIV) A third, perhaps most notable illustration of collective guilt and accountability before the LORD God is found in the parallel accounts from II Samuel twenty-four and I Chronicles twenty-one. Here, because David had done evil in counting the fighting men of Israel, the LORD punished Israel.
Most remarkable from this account, however, is not the collective guilt Israel bore for the sin of its king, but David's response to this judgment from the LORD, his God.
How many of our leaders would react in a similar fashion to the judgment of God on this nation today? Accepting responsibility for wrongdoing is an unfamiliar concept in this age of delegating blame to others. We'd all much rather accuse another for our sins than bear them ourselves. Caught red-handed, we even deny that we have sinned, arrogantly maintaining our innocence before the LORD.
Only when we admit our guilt, instead of running away from it, will we find true peace and contentment in the grace and mercy of the LORD. For it is through repentance and confession of sin that we must approach the mercy seat of our Lord. Then the only One to whom our guilt can truly be delegated will bear it for us, and cleanse us of all our iniquity. |
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