Chapter 24: The First Commandment, Part 2

Continuing where we left off last time...Specific Sins forbidden by the First Commandment. Today we'll cover #6-#16.

​#6: Vain Credulity

Because of a failure to be firmly rooted and grounded in the Word of God, Christians are like “children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Eph. 4:14). Believing what someone teaches about the Bible because of attractive personality and appearance, or eloquent speech, without searching the Scriptures
to see if he is speaking in accord with them, is vain credulity.
1 John 4:1 exhorts us not to be gullible, but to be discerning. The apostle does four things in this verse. (1) He tells us... “do not believe every spirit.” (2) He tells us something we are to do: “test the spirits to see whether they are from God.” And (3) he gives us the reason for these two exhortations: “because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Then, in verses 2–3, John gives us (4) The content of the test that identifies false prophets. If we believe every spirit without testing them
by the Bible, we will be swept off our feet by the false prophets. (831)

Because of the many false prophets and false gospels, we must sharpen our ability to discern between them....If one is to be an expert in identifying counterfeit dollars, he will spend his time, not studying counterfeit bills, but studying genuine dollar bills. (834)

#7: Unbelief

Unbelief is an inexcusable and “evil” transgression of the first commandment. It can never be justified or rationalized. If any person has unbelief, it is against better knowledge, for all people live in an environment of divine revelation, are vehicles of revelation, have consciences with the work of God’s law on them, and have the Bible. (834)

This “evil heart of unbelief” is evil because it is unbelieving, and therefore it is a heart under the power of unbelief. Where such a heart is found, there the person is falling away from God; and to fall away from God is to fall into idolatry. (835)

#8: Heresy

Heresy has several closely related meanings in the New Testament. (1) It is a destructive opinion caused by false teaching that contradicts the gospel of Christ, the perversion of what God has revealed about Himself in the Bible (2 Pet. 2:1). (2) It also refers to the sect comprised of those who hold false doctrines (Acts 5:17; 15:5). (3) It refers to factions and schisms within the visible church, resulting from either false teaching or the lack of love and self-assertiveness (1 Cor. 11:19; Gal. 5:20). (836)

Heresy is such a dangerous thing in the church, because as false doctrine posing as true doctrine it leads those who teach and believe it away from Christ and the true truth of the gospel; and hence, away from God, who is the source of all truth. (837)

#9: Misbelief

What is the difference between unbelief and misbelief? Unbelief is the absence of true faith. Misbelief is erroneous faith; it is faith that believes the wrong things, or that believes the right things for the wrong reasons. (837)

It must not be supposed that an unbeliever is without faith. He is without saving faith in Christ, which is a gift of God; but he is not without faith. Not only does he take many things on blind faith, he believes most intensely in himself and his ability to determine good and evil for himself with no reference to God. (838)

#10: Distrust

...failure to trust Him is rooted in a failure to believe what He has promised, that He would be faithful to His covenant with His people in Christ. So, here again, we see the inseparable relationship between believing God’s Word and believing in God and relying upon Him for life and salvation. (839)

#11: Despair

Regardless of the situation, the Christian is never in a state of despair, i.e., hopelessness; for “[t]o be at the end of man’s resources is not to be at the end of God’s resources.” 177. Hughes, Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians, 138. (840)

So then, despair in the believer is an inexcusable thing. It is the refusal to believe what the Bible says about Jesus Christ and our union with Him. The believer has absolutely no reason ever to give up on hope and to be in despair. (841)

#12: Incorrigibleness 

Incorrigibility, or incorrigibleness, is “the quality of being bad, erroneous or depraved beyond correction; a degree of depravity beyond all means of amendment.” 180. Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language (San Francisco, CA: Foundation for American Christian Education, [1828] 1967). (841)

Because this incorrigibility is so heinous in God’s sight, and a blatant disregard of His kindness and a deliberate refusal of His offers of mercy, God’s most severe retribution will fall on their heads: “Therefore a lion from the forest will slay them, a wolf of the deserts will destroy them, a leopard is watching their cities. Everyone who goes out of them will be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are numerous” (Jer. 5:6). (843)

#13: Insensible Under Judgements

#14: Hardness of Heart

God will judge severely all those who “think lightly of” the riches of God’s abundant generosity, the magnitude of His promises of grace, the vast provisions of His providence, and the eternal benefits of salvation in Christ. If the goodness of God does not lead us to repentance, our gross and inexcusable ingratitude, stubborn refusal to appreciate God’s goodness and love Him for it, and hardness of heart will prevent our conversion and secure for us eternal punishment on the final Day of Judgment. (844)

#15: Pride

Pride was the first sin to enter God’s universe, through Satan, and it may well be the last sin to be conquered....As pride is rooted in self-love it defies the first principle of wisdom—the fear of the Lord, as well as the two great commandments to love God with all the heart and to love one’s neighbor as one’s self. (848)

Humility is the unique virtue of Christians, "the parent and nurse of other graces, that preserves in us the light of faith and the heat of love; that procures modesty in
prosperity and patience in adversity; that is the root of gratitude and obedience, and is so lovely in God’s eyes, that he “giveth grace to the humble.”…" 188. Plumer, Vital Godliness, 250 (849)

#16: Presumption

They are deliberate and self-conscious sins accompanied with proud contempt and obstinacy, with groundless, vain confidence of divine favor....When we profess to be Christians and we assure ourselves we are because of some ritual we have performed or decision we have made, but our lives have not been changed by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, we are guilty of presumption which is a deadly sin, for it is committed by one certain that, if he should die, he would go to heaven, when, in fact, he would go to hell; because all he has to recommend him to God is his empty presumption, for he has no saving faith, since he does not have that proof of faith, which is a changed life. (850)

More "Specific Sins" for us to ponder next time...

     Racheal