Sin At the Center

(Proverbs 5:22 KJV)  His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.

How many subjects have you heard someone talk about with, “There are only two kinds of people, __________ and _________?”  You can fill in the blanks.  Some are profound, some are hyperbole, some are just illustrations.  Let me make a contribution to this genre of literature.

There are two types of people, those who believe that man is sinful and those that believe man is good.  This is a basic watershed belief.  It can be theological or philosophical but it is ultimately very practical.  Is the problem we are dealing with man or society? 

Here we see one example of the Bible assuming man is sinful.  The problem is our “iniquities” (5771).  This is just one place where a consistent theme is found from the Garden of Eden to the churches of Revelation.  Notice it is “his” iniquity, not the failure of society or lack of opportunity.  Those who are “wicked” (7563) are caught in their own web.  The glory of the gospel message is that Jesus, the Cross, the Blood, grace, and the Holy Spirit offer escape from this hopelessness.

On the other side we have our neo-pagan, post-modern society weighing in on the other side of the issue.  I see children daily who are already locked into self centered, egotistical prisons.  Some are very pleasant some are little barbarians (with apologies to the barbarians).  What they have in common is the iniquity that they are caught up in.  The parents have them in therapy, being tested for ADHD, on medication and in free fall.  The school philosophy goes right along because that is the core value of today’s culture. 

So?  Examine your own thinking.  Have you bought in to the idea that if we can just have another government program or if people just had better education, all would be well in the world?  Read your Bible again.  The problem is sin.  The problem is hearts in rebellion to the Holy God.  Start to change your thinking, not because I say so, but because the Bible says so.