Open: Our sermon series over the next few weeks is called “Christianeze” – Christian words that the world around us may not understand. And today’s sermon is on Biblical word: “INIQUITY”.
As I was preparing this sermon, one of the questions that came to mind was – how has this word been used in society? And suddenly I remembered the well-known phrase “The Den Of Iniquity”
That phrase (in turn) reminded me of this song from the 1960s.
I’m going to recite the three verses of that song and then I want to see if you can remember the title:
“Want some whiskey in your water? Sugar in your tea?
What's all these crazy questions they're askin' me?
This is the craziest party that could ever be
Don't turn on the lights 'cause I don't wanna see
Open up the window, let some air into this room
I think I'm almost chokin' from the smell of stale perfume
And that cigarette you're smokin' 'bout scare me half to death
Open up the window, let me catch my breath
The radio is blastin', someone's knockin' at the door
I'm lookin' at my girlfriend - she's passed out on the floor
I seen so many things I ain't never seen before
Don't know what it is but I don't wanna see no more.”
Name that tune: (once they guessed it, I sang the chorus)
“Mama told me not to come; Mama told me not to come
She said: ‘That ain't the way to have fun, son
‘that ain’t the way to have fun.’”
How many of you remember that song?
When I was growing up, that song told me what I already knew:
There’s certain parties you ought not go to.
Certain places… and activities your mama wouldn’t approve of.
But people went anyway.
High schoolers and college students and adults would go places no decent person should ever consider going. Places Mama wouldn’t want them to be at.
These were DENS of iniquity.
Now the word “iniquity” has gone out of favor in our culture so I had to do a little research on its meaning, and I found several sources that said things a lot like this description:
“The Hebrew word used most often for “iniquity” means “guilt worthy of punishment.”
Iniquity is sin at its worst. Iniquity is premeditated, continuing, and escalating.
When we give ourselves over to a sinful lifestyle, we are committing iniquity.”
(http://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-iniquity.html)
As I read descriptions like that it occurred to me - that once a person reached a state of iniquity, they would have reached a place in their lives where…
• Evil IS normal.
• Where cursing/drugs/sex/ bitterness are just a way of life.
• In essence they’d reached a place where immoral things just "happen".
Romans 1:28-32 talks about that:
“…since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.
They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.
They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful;
they invent ways of doing evil;
they disobey their parents;
they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”
Now, it used to be that iniquity was something people chose simply because they were godless. They were committed to depravity because it was what they wanted to do - and they didn’t care what anybody thought.
But over the past few decades iniquity has gained respectability.
This video shows a talk conducted by a Christian apologist (Frank Turek) at national college.
What I want you to notice is how the student asks his questions and the reasoning he uses:
(Go from 0:07 thru 4:36)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWbxtJcnkI&list=PLYTFhHuEPWHuIQ3aeQ4-7xM3_W06awtKJ&index=30
Now, notice the rationale of that student.
He believed in a morality that left God out…
You remember what it said in Romans 1:28?
“…since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
Now how does a person’s mind become “depraved?”
It becomes depraved because all morality (for them) becomes based on OPINION.
Once you leave God out of the picture, any OBJECTIVE morality is impossible.
Why?
Because there is no HIGHER form of morality you can point to.
Morality simply becomes whatever YOU THINK is right.
If you think rape or murder is OK… then it is OK for you.
ILLUS: Years ago John Leo, a reporter for US News and World Report, quoted a professor from Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y named Robert Simon.
This professor was frustrated that "10 to 20% of his students... acknowledge the Holocaust but can't bring themselves to say that killing millions of people is wrong.... 'Of course I dislike the Nazis,' one student said, 'but who is to say they are morally wrong?'"
(John Leo in US News and World Report, 7/21/97).
You see, modern philosophy on college campuses has laid the groundwork for a moral confusion. The intellectuals in our nation have talked themselves into redefining morality to the point where they can’t call something morally wrong.
Their thinking has become depraved and THUS they've become prone to embrace iniquity.
And that’s exactly what Romans 1:28 said:
“…since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.”
You see, once people get to the point where they leave God out, God says:
“Fine – you don’t want me… do what you want to do”
But there will be consequences.
Over the centuries, cultures have struggled with the basic sins.
Things like drunkenness, living together and adultery.
But in our nation this decision to reject God’s morality has so permeated our culture, and especially our college campuses, that we now have an entire culture that can’t tell good from evil. We’ve gotten to the point where…
• Not only is there wholesale abortion of children, but not they sell the body parts of those dead children… and this evil is defended at the highest levels of government.
• Not only has homosexuality begun to be accepted, but homosexual marriage is encouraged and anyone who opposes it is a bigot who faces lawsuits and financial ruin for their audacity in standing against it.
• And our government has gotten to the point where men who “say” they identify as a woman, can go into women’s bathrooms and showers.
It’s madness… but it is a madness based on depravity and iniquity.
This iniquity now exists because we have rulers who have rejected God’s standards in favor of a moral standard that boils down to nothing more than: “whatever you want to do” is ok with me.
Now people have actually used that kind of reasoning for centuries.
They haven't needed philosophers and intellectuals to help them twist their morality.
When faced with something they want badly enough - lots of folks have made up their own morality.
And their rationale usually goes something like this:
• The woman was caught in adultery and said “I couldn’t help myself.
We just fell in love. We were destined to be together.”
• The man with child pornography on his computer would say
“I couldn’t help myself. That’s just the way I’m wired.”
• And the homosexual says “I can’t help myself, I was just born that way.”
It’s the same terminology and the same logic.
This kind of immorality is based on who “I” am and what “I” have judged to be moral.
It doesn’t matter if God says it’s wrong.
“I” have decided that it is right for ME.
As I was working on the sermon I was reminded of the title of a song from the 70s. It was so popular that it was sung by numerous artists including Rod Stewart, LeAnn Rimes and Barbara Mandrell. Raise your hand if you recall this song:
“If Loving You Is Wrong I Don’t Want To Be Right”
Have you ever heard a more banal and trivial piece of trash in your entire life?
It’s wrong to love you but I don’t want to be right?
Talk about depravity and iniquity… this song pretty much sums it up.
But that was the kind of thinking that got King David into trouble.
David KNEW Bathsheba was a married woman.
He KNEW she was married to one of his best friends.
But he’d seen her bathing on the roof top in the past… and he liked what he saw.
So the Bible says…
“It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David SENT Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.” 2 Samuel 11:1
IF it was the time of the year when kings went to war… what was David doing at home?
He was at home because he was watching ShowTime.
And “SHOW TIME” had a program on rooftop next door.
Bathsheba’s husband is out of town on business – so no one would know.
It was wrong – and he KNEW it was wrong… but that doesn’t matter.
He just couldn’t… help… himself.
But there were consequences… Bathsheba got pregnant.
In our day they’d have just aborted the child to avoid the embarrassment, but that kind of evil wasn’t available back then… so David called his best friend (Uriah) back from the front hoping that Uriah would sleep with his wife and believe the child HIS.
But Uriah is a good man.
His companions on the battle front can’t sleep with their wives and he doesn’t think it would be right for him to do so either… so he just camps out on the front steps of his home.
He’s an honorable man.
But NOW David has a problem.
He can’t get rid of the kid.
And He can’t get rid of the problem.
So he decides… to get rid of Uriah.
The Bible tells us:
“In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
And he wrote in the letter, saying, ‘Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.’” II Samuel 11:14-15
And that’s exactly what happened.
Uriah was dead now and there was nothing to stop David from taking the grieving widow to be his wife.
If loving her was wrong… David didn’t want to be right.
It didn’t matter what God had said.
It didn’t matter who got hurt.
As long as David got what he wanted
After all, they were in love.
And that can’t be wrong… can it?
If there is no absolute right and wrong, how can we say he was wrong?
How can we stand in judgment?
After all, if Uriah had been the kind of husband he should have been, Bathsheba wouldn’t have started looking around.
And if Uriah had just gone in and slept with his wife like a normal man, David wouldn’t have had to resort to these extreme measures.
It was all Uriah’s fault!!!
You see, if you want to justify yourself you can find all kinds of excuses to cover iniquity.
ILLUS: I just read the story of the ex-Stanford swimmer who sexually assaulted an unconscious woman he found down by the pool. One paper noted that in the letter he sent to the judge,
the young man “refused to even acknowledge that he assaulted the woman (he didn’t deny it, he just refused to acknowledge he did it)… and has instead continued to place blame on a “party culture” of “drinking”.
(http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/07/brock-turner-statement-stanford-rape-case-campus-culture)
This student RAPED a woman!
And yet he not only refused to acknowledge that he did it…he BLAMED the party culture and the drinking that had taken place for creating the atmosphere where he just couldn’t help himself.
He had an excuse.
IT WASN’T HIS FAULT!!!
You see, if you want to justify yourself you can find all kinds of excuses to cover iniquity.
Once you remove God from the equation, YOU become final judge of what is right and what is wrong.
Well, at least you can think that.
That’s what David thought.
In fact, David thought he’d gotten away with it
David thought no one knew…
But somebody did.
Who knew?
God did… and God was furious.
As Galatians 6:7 tells us “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”
Or as God told the rebellious nation of Judah in Hosea 8:7
“they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind…”
Let me tell you something, you can ignore God if you want to.
You can try to ignore God’s morality in your life and do whatever you want to do.
You can leave Him out of the picture all day long (That’s your choice)
But if you do, the day will come when God comes knocking on your door.
He’ll stand before you as your judge… and that’s not a good thing!
David sought to hide his sin… he paid dearly.
It nearly destroyed his family.
It nearly destroyed his kingdom.
And it nearly destroyed him.
David had sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind.
(LONG PAUSE)
So…
What’s all this about “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.” Psalm 51:1-3
David committed adultery and had his best friend killed on the battle field.
He doesn’t deserve mercy … does he????
How could God possibly have compassion on him?
How could God cleanse him of his sins?
How could God wash away all his iniquity?
THIS MAN DESERVED TO GO TO HELL!!!
(pause) But then… so do I.
(pause) And so do you.
Now, granted some people are better at sinning than others, but “the wages of sin (ANY SIN) is death”. And we’ve all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Not one of us in this building DESERVES to go to heaven.
You know, the Bible is filled with people who did bad things and made bad decisions.
Jacob lied and cheated his brother.
Judah spent time with a woman he thought was a prostitute
Moses killed an Egyptian task master.
Peter denied Christ.
Paul persecuted the church and was responsible for the deaths of many Christians.
And of course – David committed adultery and murder by proxy.
As Paul noted about himself… “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners — of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.” I Timothy 1:15-16
Paul was saying that God showed HIM mercy … to prove it could be done.
Until you understand that you are not worthy of forgiveness, but that you have been given mercy and grace, you’re not going to fully understand what you have in Jesus.
ILLUS: I read about a time when Napoleon passed sentence on one of his soldiers and the sentence was death. The young man’s mother came to Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. The emperor replied that justice demanded death.
"But I don't ask for justice," the mother explained. "I plead for mercy."
"But your son does not deserve mercy," Napoleon replied.
"Sir, it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for."
God gives His mercy to those who seek Him on His terms.
He gives it those who believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
He gives it those who are willing to recognize that they have sinned and are willing to repent of that sin.
He gives it those who are willing to make Jesus the Lord and Master of their lives.
He gives it those who are willing to allow themselves to be buried the waters of baptism and rise up to newness of life.
And he gives it those who are then willing to live the rest of their lives for Him.
One of my favorite passages of Scripture is in Psalm 103… where we’re told
“The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a FATHER shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.” Psalm 103:8-14
Granted, there may still be earthly consequences for certain sins… but when we come to Him on His terms, God will bring healing to your soul and hope for your future.
INVITATION
