The Scandal.

I often hear, "How can someone be eternally damned because of one tiny sin? How can someone deserve ultimate punishment for something as little as "borrowing" a cookie from the cookie jar?" It seems to be a question that comes up often, and one which I have struggled with myself. How can a good God justifiably damn someone for eternity for even the smallest of sins?

I was listening to a sermon a couple weeks ago by David Platt. If you haven't read his book Radical, I highly recommend it. In this sermon, he was speaking on Isaiah 6 where Isaiah is brought before the throne of God. This passage describes the gloriousness of God, seated on the throne in all His majesty. It's an amazing picture of God's might. Platt describes this in such a way that one cannot help feeling the awe that this scene demands. He lays this foundation in order to share some truth about who God is and what our response to Him should be. One quote that struck me hard as I was listening was this:

"It is not about how small or large we would measure sin. What is significant is the greatness of the one who is sinned against. You sin against a rock; you are not very guilty. You sin against a man; you are guilty. You sin against an infinitely Holy God, and you are INFINITELY guilty and deserving of infinite destruction."

That is some hard stuff to swallow. We don't want to think that way. Whether you agree with this or not, I think he brings up a good point. When we measure the magnitude of our sin, we are in some ways justifying it. "Oh, but it's only a white lie." NO. It's not. When I think of the goodness, the righteousness of God which cannot be measured, cannot even be fathomed, any sin, no matter how small or how insignificant it may seem, is a defile thing to do before one who is so infinitely holy. He is so far the opposite of that "small" sin. Isaiah 55:9 ESV "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

This is why the cross and resurrection is so incredibly scandalous, so amazingly miraculous. It is absolutely mind-blowing that God would send His beloved Son to not just live in this broken place called Earth, but that He would die for these people who are so phenomenally guilty and profoundly sinful and take that punishment that we completely deserve upon Himself. Crazy. That's some crazy love right there.

As Platt says, "We have a scandalously merciful Savior."

And boy, what a scandal.

If you have time, please take a listen.




Redeemed and Unashamed,

Delissa