Frequently we try to justify sin in our lives by our situation or the circumstances we’re in. While fornication is sin for everyone else it is okay for me because “we love each other”, or “it was just momentary weakness” or whatever. Yes, lying is wrong, but it was okay for me because “I didn’t want to hurt their feelings” or “it really wasn’t my fault” or “it wasn’t really a big deal”. Can such reasoning turn sin in our lives into something less than sin, or is it still sin?
Gen. 19 records the departure of Lot and his two daughters from Sodom, then from the small city of Zoar, to live in a cave. Lot’s two daughters decided that they would preserve their Father’s seed by each sleeping with him, thus committing fornication as well as incest. What terrible sins, but they had several reasons why they had to do this: 1) “Our father is old”—he can’t have a son from any other source; 2) “There is no man on the earth to come in to us”—there is no one else for us to have sexual relations with; and 3) “that we may preserve the seed of our father”—it’s not really about us, it’s about preserving our father’s seed. They proceed to get Lot drunk two consecutive nights and take turns sleeping with him. Their plan is successful and they both give birth to a son.
Lot’s daughters justify their actions in their own minds, but God did not justify them. It was not an accident that God chose Israel as His chosen people, not Moab or Ammon. When a course of action begins with sin it usually winds up there also—both Moab and Ammon were idolaters by the time Israel reached the Promised Land. Yet they know they are wrong—why else did they have to get their father drunk before putting their plan into action?
Did these women’s supposed necessity justify their sin? Not at all! Brethren, it is no different today with you and me. Sin is always sin, no matter what the circumstances or situation. The Scriptures acknowledge that some sin is understandable—stealing out of necessity (Prov. 6:30-31), but it is still sin and the consequences of sin do not change because of circumstances. If God says something is sin, it is sinful in every circumstance. No matter how hard we try to justify it, or how eloquently we argue, or how loudly we may yell, sin remains sin and the wages of sin are death.
Let us never try to justify our sins—only God can do that and He will not be deceived by our reasoning or supposed sincerity.
Tol
Gen. 19 records the departure of Lot and his two daughters from Sodom, then from the small city of Zoar, to live in a cave. Lot’s two daughters decided that they would preserve their Father’s seed by each sleeping with him, thus committing fornication as well as incest. What terrible sins, but they had several reasons why they had to do this: 1) “Our father is old”—he can’t have a son from any other source; 2) “There is no man on the earth to come in to us”—there is no one else for us to have sexual relations with; and 3) “that we may preserve the seed of our father”—it’s not really about us, it’s about preserving our father’s seed. They proceed to get Lot drunk two consecutive nights and take turns sleeping with him. Their plan is successful and they both give birth to a son.
Lot’s daughters justify their actions in their own minds, but God did not justify them. It was not an accident that God chose Israel as His chosen people, not Moab or Ammon. When a course of action begins with sin it usually winds up there also—both Moab and Ammon were idolaters by the time Israel reached the Promised Land. Yet they know they are wrong—why else did they have to get their father drunk before putting their plan into action?
Did these women’s supposed necessity justify their sin? Not at all! Brethren, it is no different today with you and me. Sin is always sin, no matter what the circumstances or situation. The Scriptures acknowledge that some sin is understandable—stealing out of necessity (Prov. 6:30-31), but it is still sin and the consequences of sin do not change because of circumstances. If God says something is sin, it is sinful in every circumstance. No matter how hard we try to justify it, or how eloquently we argue, or how loudly we may yell, sin remains sin and the wages of sin are death.
Let us never try to justify our sins—only God can do that and He will not be deceived by our reasoning or supposed sincerity.
Tol
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