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by Bill Perkins
“He has also set eternity in their heart,” Eccl. 3:11b
It sure seems like we’re seeing a lot of downright godless behavior lately. Every day, if not every hour, more and more men in deplorable and degrading sin are being revealed in the national media.
Why is God suddenly allowing us to see the depths of our political corruption and
the astonishing sinfulness of powerful men? What is causing this and what is the best response by Believers?
The answer is embedded in the Bible for all to see. But most people aren’t willing to look for eternal answers and instead only wish to deal with the here and now, to their own peril.
Where To Start
For Believers, we look at problems and solutions from a Biblical perspective—temporal vs. eternal. God’s way vs. man’s way.
“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” Col. 3:2
Sin today is exacerbated with the explosion of pornography. An unbelievable number of men, both Christian and non-Christian, have fallen to Satan’s “lust of the eyes” lures, damaging—or breaking completely—their 
marriages. (3)
God warns us to be careful about what we allow our eyes to view.
“The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness.” Luke 11:34
It’s probable that most, if not all, of the national leaders who are being busted for sex innuendos or actions outside of marriage have had, or are having, problems with pornography.
The Roots Of Sin
When Adam was created, he was designed perfectly, with a place for God to live in his heart, to have perfect union with the Creator of the universe. He walked and conversed with God, having a personal and direct relationship.
But when Adam sinned, God, being perfect and having no alternative, had to withdraw from that relationship. Sin had caused Adam to lose what was originally designed for him— having God’s Spirit living in his heart. Adam was left with what Blaise Pascal called “A heart-shaped vacuum.”
That godless, sinful condition that Adam now embodied, with a heart-shaped vacuum that only God can fill, was passed along to every living human being on the earth through the male.
In fact, if a female could have a baby without a human male being involved, she could have a sinless offspring—which is how Jesus was born sinless, not having a human father.
Everyone since Adam has been born with this vacuum, a hole in their heart. They have a place designed for God, but because of sin, God cannot live there. So man, realizing he is missing something, spends his life trying to fill his heart-hole with temporal things.
The Problem With A Hole In Our Heart
The sin nature and the drive to fill that empty heart is difficult for humans to control. No matter what humans tried to fill their empty heart with, it is only temporarily satisfying. More and more earthly “things” had to be continually inserted.
Jesus even commented that rich people are the hardest to reach because they have the money for an endless supply of temporal items. If they got tired of filling their heart-hole with one thing, they had the money to switch to another. And then another.
So it didn’t take long for Satan to lead the earth in open rebellion. It got so bad God had to basically start over by wiping out the earth with a global Flood. Thankfully God saved Noah, the only one righteous man left on earth, and his family.
Post Flood, God restrained many of the worst of Satan’s angels and allowed the earth to repopulate. But humans still have the same problem. They are designed with a place for God in their hearts, but God, being absolutely perfect, could not indwell His human creation because mankind was sinful.
Thankfully God loved us so much that He came from heaven in order to provide a way out of this sinful condition in which man was seemingly forever trapped. God became a human in order to redeem mankind from our sinful condition.
“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us,” John 1:14
God lived a sinless life on earth, allowed His blood to be shed while dying as a sacrifice for a full and complete atonement for our sin, thus defeating death. This atonement broke down the barrier between God and man. God could again commune with His human creation.
God’s Rules Rule (4)
But receiving the atonement from God to escape the hot, dark and forever fires of hell has a condition attached. You must personally believe the Gospel news, trusting that God’s death on the Cross and His subsequent resurrection did in fact pay for your personal sins—past, present and future.
“...if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;” Rom 10:9
For those of us who do confess to being a sinner in need of a Savior, and believe that God paid for our sins, the Lord comes into our hearts to live permanently and forever refilling our heart-shaped vacuum, completely satisfying our heart-hole.
Unfortunately, in this life, we still live with our sin nature on this earth.
“If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8
Thankfully, a born-again relationship gives us access to power over our still-existing sin nature. And ultimately, we receive a new, sinless body for eternity in heaven.
So Believers use this new Godly access to armor up against being duped into sinning on this earth. And even though we fail in this life, the more Scriptural armor we employ, the more we mature and are less likely to fall for sin’s continual lures.
“But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” Heb. 5:14
The World Without God
Therefore, it is a Biblical fact that the only way on this earth to effectively deal with sin is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. So when we’re watching headlines about the sinfulness of prominent men, keep in mind that they’re duped, operating in a fallen world, and not seeking the only true answer—Jesus Christ.
“No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” 2 Cor. 11:14
When non-believers are caught with their hands in the cookie jar, they naturally try all imaginable ways to deal with their sin nature other than turning to Jesus. They will apologize, explain or complain that they forgot the rules. Or they gravitate to the latest “get out of jail free” card offered by Satan: “getting counsel.”
Don’t be fooled. Secular counseling, without using Biblical principles, is from the pit of hell.(1) And most “Christian counselors” incorporate some secular thinking when they offer solutions.(2) True counselors point to God’s inerrant Word to show where out-of-bounds lines are clearly marked. One session should be enough.
Desiring “Self” To Be God Is Not New
In Genesis 3:1-7, Satan tempted Adam with “You can be your own God.” Satan is still using that same line 6000 years later. He wants people to think only of themselves, today. He wants us to think we should be focused on ourselves in this life, not on God and eternity.
When you look at the Isaiah 14 passages regarding Satan‘s fall, the main characteristic of his sin was “self.” Six times Satan says, or implies, “I”... Satan didn’t want to worship God, he wanted to BE God.
“But you [Satan] said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
[I will sit] In the recesses of the north.
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’” Is. 14:14
So the answer to dealing with sin is not to rely on our human abilities and personally seek ways to climb out of our miry mess. Rather, we’re to look to God. True and lasting answers are found only in His Word.
We can’t, but God can. God is the only thing that will come into our lives and permanently satisfy the desires in our life and truly fill the hole in our heart.
“I Can’t Get No Satisfaction”
So today in the news we’re seeing what happens when you refuse God’s will as the purpose for your life.
Harvey Weinstein was exposed trying to put temporal sinful sex in his empty heart-hole. He can go to all the counselors he can find, but he will still have his sin nature after all of those counseling sessions. He’s fighting a losing battle and nothing will change permanently, unless he turns to the Bible as his counselor.
Matt Lauer also put self first, via sinful sex, into his empty heart-hole. He can apologize and promise to be better, but he’s fighting a losing battle unless he turns to Jesus for true satisfaction.
Charlie Rose can question the accuracy of all the accusations against him while promising to change, but he can’t change unless he allows into his life the only thing that can really change him, Jesus Christ living in his empty heart- hole!
Former comedian and now Minnesota Senator Al Franken can back-pedal all he wants, but nothing will actually change until he looks to Jesus to fill the hole in his heart.
John Conyers, Anthony Weiner, John Edwards, Tiger Woods... the list is seemingly endless. God seems to be telling us we need to get our eyes back on the things that matter.
And matter they do. The entire non-believing world is only a nano-second from the worst imaginable horror coming on this earth for seven full years. We have to be bold in these last days, proclaiming and defending what we know to be true.
“...always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;” 1 Pet 3:15
Is God allowing one last opportunity to proclaim truth to people before the final curtain closes? Maybe. So over the upcoming holidays when you inevitably discuss these things with family and friends this Christmas season, ask the Lord to give you the opportunity to plant eternal seeds.
“...praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned;” Col. 4:3
Because “just like” in the days of Noah, the time of God’s patience won’t last forever. (5)
“...when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.” 1 Pet. 3:20
Use us, Lord!
References:
(1) https://compass.org/product/why-christians-cant-trust-psychology-gino-geraci/
(2) https://compass.org/product/is-christian-psychology-biblical-t-a-mcmahon/
(3) https://compass.org/article-what-pornography-does-to-your-brain/
(5) https://compass.org/article-gods-patience-in-the-last-days/
The above two charts are from a previous Compass eNews article: "God's Patience in the Last Days"
© 2017 Compass Int’l, Inc.
Bill and Susie Perkins founded Compass International, Inc. in 1993 as a non-profit, non- denominational ministry. For information on Compass’ Steeling the Mind Bible Conferences, Good Morning Lord! Bible studies, books, DVDs and Biblelands Trips and Cruises, go to compass.org
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