Supreme Folly

Sunday morning we wrestled with the third to last phrase of the Apostles’ Creed—the forgiveness of sins. I trust today you have a deeper appreciation for the forgiveness of your sins. I know after reading R.C. Sproul’s book entitled The Holiness of God, I have a deeper understanding regarding the forgiveness of my sins. Provided below is a copy of Sproul’s poignant remarks:

Hans Küng, the controversial Roman Catholic theologian, writing about seemingly harsh judgments of sin God makes in the Old Testament, says that the most mysterious aspect of the mystery of sin is not that the sinner deserves to die, but rather that the sinner in the average situation continues to exist.

Küng asks the right question. The issue is not why does God punish sin but why does He permit the ongoing human rebellion? What prince, what king, what ruler would display so much patience with a continually rebellious populace?

The key to Küng’s observation is that he speaks of sinner’s continuing to live in the average situation. That is, it is customary or usual for God to be forbearing. He is indeed long-suffering, patient and slow to anger. In fact He is so slow to anger that when His anger does erupt, we are shocked and offended by it. We forget rather quickly that God’s patience is designed to lead us to repentance, to give us time to be redeemed. Instead of taking advantage of this patience by coming humbly to Him for forgiveness, we use this grace as an opportunity to become more bold in our sin. We delude ourselves into thinking that either God doesn’t care about it, or that He is powerless to punish us. The supreme folly is that we think we will get away with out revolt[1].

[1] R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1985), p. 117.