Proverbs 14:9

Sin is not a joke. Only fools think so. Sin is the most horrific enemy in the universe. Yet the world laughs about it. Sin ruined Paradise, disrupts this life, takes you closer to death every day, and will soon sink you in the lake of fire for eternal torment (Rev 20:11-15).

Righteous men, who hate sin and avoid it with their wits and might, God blesses in this world and the next. Though they sin at times through human frailty, they quickly confess those sins and God forgives them. You must decide today what you truly think about sin.

A fool jests about sin, sneers at sin, excuses sin, and blames others for sin. He has no fear of God. Sin is not serious to him; he gives it no sober thought. But a righteous man trembles at sin, runs from it, and grieves about it. God will favor that man with blessings.

Dear reader, if you do not soberly consider this little commentary, thou also art a fool. The pitiful labor here is not worth much itself, but the warning it contains exceeds all the treasures of earth once you grasp the truth and value of the lesson. If you do not have the time for it today, there will be all of eternity to think about its frightful message.

But it will be too late, for the vehement fire of God’s wrath will consume the moisture of your soul until it implodes upon itself under horrible torment of His fearful judgment. Then day two of eternity will come with even more trouble for your spirit and body. Do you think the case is overstated? You understate the evil of sin – you are mocking sin now in your thoughts – thou art the fool of the proverb. Repent now of your foolishness!

Fools think they can do whatever they want. They may call it free will or the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It does not matter what they call it in their ignorant rebellion. God withholds wisdom and understanding from them, so they ignorantly think they are getting away with their sins (Ps 36:1-4; 50:21-22). Then God laughs at them!

God will favor the righteous, who have good understanding about the horror of sin, but the way of transgressors is hard (Pr 13:15). Lot chose prosperous Sodom, for he thought the holy life of Abraham too restrictive and narrow for his goals of pleasure and profit, but he was quickly destitute in a cave with two depraved daughters and a hopeless future.

Sin is horribly serious! How serious? If the Bible is true, God threw every sinning angel out of heaven and reserves them for eternal torture for siding with Satan. If the Bible is true, God damned your entire race to death and an eternity in hell for one sin of eating forbidden fruit. If the Bible is true, God drowned the entire earth, including all children and senior citizens, for sin. The Bible is true. God did do all these things because of sin.

If the Bible is true, God had Israel annihilate the seven nations of Canaan for their sexual sins without regard to age or sex and take possession of their cities, houses, and furniture. If the Bible is true, God sent the Roman legions under Titus in 70 A.D. to destroy the city, temple, and populace of Jerusalem with history’s greatest suffering for crucifying His Son Jesus Christ. The Bible is true. Sin is horribly serious. Is sin serious to you?

The Bible is true. Jesus Christ is coming soon to burn the earth up with unquenchable fire and send every sinner to eternal torture in the Lake of Fire with the devil and his angels. How can a man mock such a horrible thing? He is making fun of the Judge that will damn His soul to a hopeless, torment-filled eternity in the dark abyss and inferno of the dead.

Mock a judge on earth, and he may charge you with contempt and detain you. So what! You will get three meals a day, regular laundry service, and a bed. Mock the Judge of all creatures, and He will discover your deepest fears and exploit them to His own honor. He will chase you with the angel of the Lord and the king of terrors (Ps 35:5-6; Job 18:14).

How bad is sin? It causes death. Is not that enough? Death is horrible. It steals your life, breaks your relationships, ruins your plans, and destroys your dreams. Where did it come from? Man chose to mock God’s warning of death for sin in Eden. Should you mock that which causes every man the greatest fear? How insane to mock the cause of death!

But sin is also the reason for disease – for deformities – for destruction – for dysfunction – for disasters – for depravity – for derelicts. Sin is a profane evil contrary to God and heaven that consumes your life and your race every waking and sleeping second. It ruins peace, pleasure, and profit. How insane to mock the cause of these things!

How bad is sin? Visit Gethsemane and Calvary. There you can see the Son of God under such torment of soul that He sweat as it were great drops of blood (Lu 22:44). He begged His Father for an alternative to bearing the sins of the elect, for the guilt and shame of being made sin for them was nearly overwhelming (Lu 22:42). Fools make a mock at sin.

Hell is horrible. Hell is hot. You will not lower the tormenting fire; you will be unable to alleviate your pain (Mark 9:44,46,48). You will know God has rejected you forever and ever. You will know He hates you and has perfected your eternal torment. Hell is far beyond even your imagination of suffering. You have never, not in your deepest moments of grief, ever experienced anything even close to it. And you will mock sin?

Why is hell ignored today? Why is it avoided in preaching? Why is there no mention of it in the newspapers? Why are those who preach about it considered Neanderthals? This itself is mocking sin, for it is the effort to reject and ignore the stated punishment for sin.

Why did God create and prepare hell? Because of sin! Hell was created and prepared for the devil and his angels, because they sinned (Matt 25:41; II Pet 2:4). And all sinful men will join them there for an eternity of horrible suffering (Luke 16:19-31; Rev 20:11-15).

The fool says, “Sin is no big deal. What is it to you?” He complains like a spoiled child, “Why does everyone criticize me for one little mistake?” He excuses himself by saying, “This is just the way I am.” He blames others for not having compassion for his “slow learning and weaknesses.” He says, “I am sorry,” and then he does it all over again.

The adulteress commits her heinous sin of betrayal by giving away her body in a very intimate way, and she wipes her mouth and says, “I have done no wickedness” (Pr 30:20). When God wrote the laws, she could be discovered by a curse from the priest and a potion that rotted her genitals (Num 5:11-31). Or she could be stoned to death (Lev 20:10). Yet, Hollywood glamorizes the sin of adultery, and most call it entertainment.

To mock something is to ridicule, scorn, deride, jeer, or scoff at it. To mock sin is to make light of it and jest about it. To mock sin is to ridicule and scoff at its seriousness. To mock sin is to scorn and jeer those who teach and threaten against it. To mock sin is to think or say you can sin anyway and get away with it. To mock sin is to say that this commentary overstates the case and sin will not be punished as described here.

God declared the thought of foolishness to be sin, and He admits that good men consider the scorner, one who does not like to be corrected, to be an abomination (Pr 24:9). While some may think only overt acts of sin are wrong, Jesus taught otherwise (Matt 5:21-32). It is perverse and profane persons that choose folly and reject and resent correction.

How can anyone object to rebukes and punishments in this life to stop men from sinning? Keeping another back from sin is a great kindness (Jas 5:19-20). Why spank children? If it might save them from death and a life of hell, bring it on (Pr 23:13-14). Excommunicating church members? If it might save their spirit in the day of the Lord Jesus, do it (I Cor 5:3-5). What are these little acts compared to an eternal hell?

God judges men severely for “little” sins. He burned two of Israel’s original priests to death for modifying His worship (Lev 10:1-2). He kept faithful Moses from Canaan for smiting a rock he was supposed to speak to (Num 20:12). He killed Uzzah in David’s parade for steadying the Ark of the Covenant (II Sam 6:6-7). Only fools mock at sin.

America now mocks sin as a pastime. Television is committed to it. Fornication, profanity, disobedience to parents, sodomy, adultery, jesting, and many other sins are main ingredients of sitcoms, serials, and dramas. Programming today mocks sin much more than just a generation ago. This is the reason for God’s curse on men (Rom 1:32).

Fools make a mock at sin, but they will soon meet their Maker and Judge, Who shall extract everlasting praise for His holiness from their screams of helplessness and hopelessness. But the righteous will be in everlasting remembrance, and God will bless them here and in eternity with His personal and special favor for hating and avoiding sin.

Even ministers today make a mock of sin. Jokes are told in the pulpit. One church advertised, “If you come back, we promise not to throw the book at you.” What is this but mocking sin! If a person is sinning, they need to have the holy book of God thrown at them. John the Baptist would have thrown it at them, and so would have Jesus and Paul.

Worldly Christians mock sin today by their attitude. They say, “All that matters is that we love Jesus.” They say, “God hates sin, but loves the sinner.” Did Noah drop smiley faces with that message to those swallowing the water around the ark? No! This compromising attitude and actions of modern Christians was clearly prophesied by Paul (II Tim 3:1-5).

Reader, do you mock sin? Do you mock it by not paying attention during preaching of God’s holy word? By getting defensive when the pastor condemns one of your pet sins? By resenting those who rebuke you for sin? By wishing for a more entertaining pastor than one preaching sound doctrine? By resenting this hard commentary? Consider it well.

If the Bible is true, God ate Herod with worms for enjoying the praise of the people for his speech (Acts 12:21-23). He killed Bathsheba’s little baby for her love affair with David (II Sam 12:14). He killed the firstborn in every family in Egypt for Pharaoh not letting Israel worship where and when they chose (Ex 12:29-30). And He killed Ananias and Sapphira before the Jerusalem church for modifying their giving report (Acts 5:1-11).

The world says, “No fear.” The LORD God says, “Fear Him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him” (Luke 12:4-5). Let every fool fly to God’s glorious feet and beg for mercy with trembling repentance and fear. If this warning in love and truth does not move you, “Prepare to meet thy God,” (Amos 4:12).

There is plenty of hope for those who repent, for God sent His Son Jesus Christ to pay the full price for every sin of His elect (Rom 8:28-39; Eph 1:3-12). The gospel is good news for this very reason. How can you know you are one of God’s elect? Believe Him and His Son Jesus and add to that faith the proof that it is sincere (II Pet 1:5-11; I Thess 1:2-4).

The Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall soon judge all men in pure righteousness, described a wise man that dealt with sin properly. This man would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, and he smote his breast and said, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). Such men can go home and be at peace, for they show by evidence God has justified them.

Such a man will be blessed in this world (Ps 37:4; 84:11; Matt 6:33), and he shall obtain eternal life in the world to come (Matt 7:21; Rev 22:14). What should you do? “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (II Cor 7:1). Amen.