The Holiness Dilemma

This week something dawned on me as to why people don’t respond to the Gospel. They don’t see the seriousness of sin. Even this week I’ve had people say things like “yes, I’ve lied, but only little white lies, nothing serious.” One man that I was witnessing too when I asked him how many lies he had told in his entire life said, “less than ten”. Wow! I was amazed. For comparison, I asked a Christian teenager the same question and his response was, “I have no idea.” Then I asked a Christian adult and her answer was the same, “WOW! I don’t know.”

When man minimizes sin, then he has minimized his need for a savior!

Why is it such a big deal. Well, God has many attributes. Many people like to look at God as loving, forgiving and merciful. Indeed, He is all of these things. However, many people over look the other attributes of God. Think of it this way. If you told me your house is made of brick, I could get the picture that everything is brick. The outside walls are brick, the door is brick, the floors inside are brick, the windows are brick! But, that is not really what you mean. You mean that one characteristic of the house is that it is brick. It has other characteristics like the floors are carpet, the windows are glass, etc. In the same way, God has other characteristics. To not recognize that is a violation of the second commandment to make an idol to suit yourself.

So what is the Holiness Dilemma. First, we need to look at some of God’s other attributes.

God is Holy

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” – Isaiah 6:3 (ESV)

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!” – Revelation 4:8 (ESV)

One of the definitions of Holy from www.dictionary.com is “having a spiritually pure quality”. This is the quality of God that we need to look at. You see, in addition to many other attributes, God is Holy.

Now let’s see the condition of man.

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. – Genesis 6:5 (ESV)

there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
“Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.” – Romans 3:11-13 (NIV)

Want to see if someone is good? Run them through the Good Test to see if they have kept the Ten Commandments. Ever told a lie, stolen, looked with lust? If you need some training in this area, please see the information on our seminar.

The Holiness Dilemma
The www.dictionary.com entry for dilemma includes the following definition “any difficult or perplexing situation or problem.”

Heaven is living in the presence of God forever! How wonderful that will be. No more sickness or sorrow. No more pain. Only time to enjoy being with God forever. The way it was intended to be in the Garden of Eden before sin entered the world. That will be great. Except…

For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
You destroy those who speak lies;
the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. – Psalm 5:4-6 (ESV)

And herein lies the Dilemma. As much as every person wants to go to heaven and have all the rewards that come with it, no man is able to. There is a “great and perplexing problem.” Man wants to be with God. God says it is impossible. Why? Because man is evil and God is Holy.

Man’s solution
Men recognize this problem. They make up their own solutions to it. Some religions teach that if you do enough good then you can overcome the bad that you have done. In a sense they are saying that their own good works can actually please God. This, according to the Bible, is ridiculous:

We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. – Isaiah 64:6

Or, they downplay the seriousness of sin. Saying things like “it is only a white lie.” Again we have to look to see what God says about this:

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. – James 2:10 (ESV)

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. – Revelation 21:8 (NIV)

Man wants to downplay the seriousness of sin. Make it like it is not so bad. And therefore God should not be so strict to punish sin. Men want to say that their god will simply look the other way and have mercy upon them and let them into heaven anyway.

God’s solution
Yet, this is the dilemma. In addition to the qualities of God we have discussed so far, God is also just. Because he is perfect and just he must punish each and every sin. If He does not punish each and every sin then He would not be perfect. If even one sin went unpunished, then He would not be perfect. God could punish each man for each and every sin. The wages of sin is death. (Romans 3:23). But God choose another way:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. – John 3:16-19 (ESV)

God had a dilemma. He must punish sin. He choose to pour His wrath out on Jesus on the cross instead of on you and I. Man must understand the seriousness of sin so that the Gospel can save him (Romans 1:16).

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. – John 3:36 (ESV)

A two part video that explains this is also online. Part one is the reading of Romans 5. Part 2 explains the Gospel.

If you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, I invite you to read the full Gospel presentation on our web site.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, I hope and pray that this information will be helpful to you as you witness to others about the seriousness of sin and the need for repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. if you would like additional training on sharing your faith effectively and Biblically then please see the information about the Basic Evangelism Training Seminar.