June 23 / Every Day God: Twelve Sins

Twelve Sins:
1. Religious Formalism

Isaiah 1:10-17

Amplified Bible (AMP)

10 Hear [O Jerusalem] the word of the Lord, you rulers or judges of [another] Sodom! Give ear to the law and the teaching of our God, you people of [another] Gomorrah!

11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me [unless they are the offering of the heart]? says the Lord. I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts [without obedience]; and I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of he-goats [without righteousness].

12 When you come to appear before Me, who requires of you that your [unholy feet] trample My courts?

13 Bring no more offerings of vanity (emptiness, falsity, vainglory, and futility); [your hollow offering of] incense is an abomination to Me; the New Moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure—[it is] iniquity and profanation, even the solemn meeting.

14 Your New Moon festivals and your [hypocritical] appointed feasts My soul hates. They are an oppressive burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.

15 And when you spread forth your hands [in prayer, imploring help], I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood!

16 Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes! Cease to do evil,

17 Learn to do right! Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.

I hate to say it, but this was me. I was lost sitting right in church.  2 Timothy 3:5 describes the former me perfectly. 

2 Timothy 3:5

Amplified Bible (AMP)

5 For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them].

But now I'm found, Praise God!!!

2. Sin of Injustice

Isaiah 1:21-26

Amplified Bible (AMP)

21 How the faithful city has become an [idolatrous] harlot, she who was full of justice! Uprightness and right standing with God [once] lodged in her—but now murderers.

22 Your silver has become dross, your wine is mixed with water.

23 Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves; everyone loves bribes and runs after compensation and rewards. They judge not for the fatherless nor defend them, neither does the cause of the widow come to them [for they delay or turn a deaf ear].

24 Therefore says the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will appease Myself on My adversaries and avenge Myself on My enemies.

25 And I will bring My hand again upon you and thoroughly purge away your dross [as with lye] and take away all your tin or alloy.

26 And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning; afterward you shall be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.

3. Sin of Idolatry

Isaiah 2:6-9

Amplified Bible (AMP)

6 Surely [Lord] You have rejected and forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled [with customs] from the east and with soothsayers [who foretell] like the Philistines; also they strike hands and make pledges and agreements with the children of aliens.

7 Their land also is full of silver and gold; neither is there any end to their treasures. Their land is also full of horses; neither is there any end to their chariots.

8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, what their own fingers have made.

9 And the common man is bowed down [before idols], also the great man is brought lowand humbles himself—therefore forgive them not [O Lord].

4. Sin of Pride

Isaiah 2:10-18

Amplified Bible (AMP)

10 Enter into the rock and hide yourself in the dust from before the terror of the Lord and from the glory of His majesty.

11 The proud looks of man shall be brought low, and the haughtiness of men shall be humbled; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

12 For there shall be a day of the Lord of hosts against all who are proud and haughty and against all who are lifted up—and they shall be brought low—

13 [The wrath of God will begin by coming down] against all the cedars of Lebanon [west of the Jordan] that are high and lifted up, and against all the oaks of Bashan [east of the Jordan],

14 And [after that] against all the high mountains and all the hills that are lifted up,

15 And against every high tower and every fenced wall,

16 And against all the ships of Tarshish and all the picturesque and desirable imagery [designed for mere ornament and luxury].

17 Then the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

18 And the idols shall utterly pass away (be abolished).

5. Sin of the Leaders

Isaiah 3:8-15

Amplified Bible (AMP)

8 For Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of His glory and defy His glorious presence.

9 Their respecting of persons and showing of partiality witnesses against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil [as a reward upon themselves].

10 Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

11 Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with them, for what their hands have done shall be done to them.

12 As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O My people, your leaders cause you to err, and they confuse (destroy and swallow up) the course of your paths.

13 The Lord stands up to contend, and stands to judge the peoples and His people.

14 The Lord enters into judgment with the elders of His people and their princes: For [by your exactions and oppressions you have robbed the people and ruined the country] you have devoured the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

15 What do you mean by crushing My people and grinding the faces of the poor? says the Lord God of hosts.

6. Sin of the Women

Isaiah 3:16-4:1

Amplified Bible (AMP)

16 Moreover, the Lord said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks and with undisciplined (flirtatious and alluring) eyes, tripping along with mincing and affected gait, and making a tinkling noise with [the anklets on] their feet,

17 Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the heads of the daughters of Zion [making them bald], and the Lord will cause them to be [taken as captives and to suffer the indignity of being] stripped naked.

18 In that day the Lord will take away the finery of their tinkling anklets, the caps of network, the crescent head ornaments,

19 The pendants, the bracelets or chains, and the spangled face veils and scarfs,

20 The headbands, the short ankle chains [attached from one foot to the other to insure a measured gait], the sashes, the perfume boxes, the amulets or charms [suspended from the ears or neck],

21 The signet rings and nose rings,

22 The festal robes, the cloaks, the stoles and shawls, and the handbags,

23 The hand mirrors, the fine linen [undergarments], the turbans, and the [whole body-enveloping] veils.

24 And it shall come to pass that instead of the sweet odor of spices there shall be the stench of rottenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and searing [of captives by the scorching heat] instead of beauty.

25 Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty men in battle.

26 And [Jerusalem’s] gates shall lament and mourn [as those who wail for the dead]; and she, being ruined and desolate, shall sit upon the ground.

4 And in that day [a]seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread and provide our own apparel; only let us be called by your name to take away our reproach [of being unmarried].

7. Sin of Greed

Isaiah 5:8-10

Amplified Bible (AMP)

8 Woe to those who join house to house [and by violently expelling the poorer occupants enclose large acreage] and join field to field until there is no place for others and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!

9 In my [Isaiah’s] ears the Lord of hosts said, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and beautiful ones shall be without inhabitant.

10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield only about eight gallons, and ten bushels of seed will produce but one bushel.

8. Sin of Revelry

Isaiah 5:11-14

Amplified Bible (AMP)

11 Woe unto those who rise early in the morning, that they may pursue strong drink, who tarry late into the night till wine inflames them!

12 They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord, neither do they consider the operation of His hands [in mercy and in judgment].

13 Therefore My people go into captivity [to their enemies] without knowing it andbecause they have no knowledge [of God]. And their honorable men [their glory] are famished, and their common people are parched with thirst.

14 Therefore Sheol (the unseen state, the realm of the dead) has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth without measure; and [Jerusalem’s] nobility and her multitude and her pomp and tumult and [the drunken reveler] who exults in her descend into it.

9. Sin of Arrogance

Isaiah 5:15-17

Amplified Bible (AMP)

15 And the common man is bowed down, and the great man is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.

16 But the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice, and God, the Holy One, shows Himself holy in righteousness and through righteous judgments.

17 Then shall the lambs feed [among the ruins] as in their own pasture, and [among] the desolate places of the [exiled] rich shall sojourners and aliens eat.

10. Sin of Rationalization 

Isaiah 5:18-21

Amplified Bible (AMP)

18 Woe to those who draw [calamity] with cords of iniquity and falsehood, who bring punishment to themselves with a cart rope of wickedness,

19 Who say, Let [the Holy One] make haste and speed His [prophesied] vengeance, that we may see it; and let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it!

20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

The following scripture has described me many times... Although it PAINS me to admit it.

21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent and shrewd in their own sight!

11. Sin of Drunkeness

Isaiah 5:22

Amplified Bible (AMP)

22 Woe to those who are mighty heroes at drinking wine and men of strength in mixing alcoholic drinks!—

12. Sin of Injustice

Isaiah 5:23

Amplified Bible (AMP)

23 Who justify and acquit the guilty for a bribe, but take away the rights of the innocent and righteous from them!

These sins describe America to a T. But as I'm reading the scriptures, I realize I, too, have been guilty of many of these at one time or another in my life!

"Dear God, I feel like I must find a place, fall on my face, go through each one of these sins, and repent. Whenever I think there's no sin in my heart is when I need to repent the most! Forgive me for being self righteous! Forgive me for displaying false humility! Cleanse my Heart, O God! Purge me and I will be whiter than snow. This long list of twelve sins seems like a daunting task. But You can do anything! So I give this old sinful heart to You. You alone can cleanse and deliver. You can make me brand new. Praise Your Holy name!!! The name of Jesus. AMEN!"