Proper Attitude Toward Sin

• Paris Ragan
• Christian Living
• 0 comments
• January 12, 2018

Psalm 106:28-31— “They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them. Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed. And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore.”

One of my favorite characters in the Bible has always been this great figure, Phinehas. Phinehas was the grandson of the revered high priest, Aaron. What a lineage to hail from, to be the grandson of the man who stood side-by-side with Moses as he addressed Pharaoh regarding the deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. I imagine Phinehas sitting at the feet of his grandfather and asking him to tell the story again and again. Phinehas, who was designated to become the great high priest of Israel—the man responsible for mediating between God and man by offering up sacrifices for their sins—would have understood the great need for atonement.

However, I do not believe that Phinehas had a proper appreciation for the devastation of sin until this particular day for the children of Israel. They had been tricked by the prophet Balaam, who had instructed Balak as to how to defeat them. The children of Israel fell for the deception and began marrying themselves to Moabite women, eating sacrifices offered to their gods, and joined themselves to Baal-peor. All of this was sin in the eyes of God, and for such sin, God sent judgment to the children of Israel and 24,000 of them were slain. This is the devastating effect that sin can have on the people of God, because the wages of sin is death.

Despite such a climactic event, as Moses, Phinehas, and the leaders of the children of Israel stood at the door of the tabernacle weeping for the souls lost that day, another Israelite walked into the camp with a Moabite woman. Phinehas takes no time and rises with a javelin killing both of them. In Numbers, Chapter 25, several things are said about this act by Phinehas: It turned away God’s wrath, he was zealous for God, he was given a covenant of peace, he made atonement for Israel, and he was given an eternal covenant. In the above passage from Psalm 106, it says it was accounted to him for righteousness.

This should be the approach toward sin for the child of God. Sin, if left unattended, will devastate the heart and soul of man and corrupt and destroy our faith. When met with sin in our hearts, we must have the resolve of Phinehas to rise immediately and deal with that sin. The javelin that has destroyed the power of sin is the message of Jesus Christ had Him crucified. Despite the heartache that you may be feeling and loss that you have taken, rise up with the Message of the Cross fresh in your heart and thrust it through the sin that is causing you so much trouble. Victory is imminent!

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