“Behold the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2).
This passage shows that our sins cause us to be separated from God. While this is a terrible consequence of sin, there is another danger that is in addition to this separation. The Bible teaches that if we allow it, sin can control us. Paul warned the saints in Rome about this:
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:12-14).
If we allow sin to rule over us, we will find the members of our body being used to do evil.
This is the thought that is developed by Isaiah following the verses we noticed above about sin causing a separation between man and God.
“For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken falsehood, your tongue mutters wickedness. No one sues righteously and no one pleads honestly. They trust in confusion and speak lies; they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity. […] Their works are works of iniquity, and an act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity…” (Isaiah 59:3-7).
The members of their body became instruments of unrighteousness. Their hands were defiled by blood and iniquity and they performed acts of violence (Isaiah 59:3, 6). With their mouth they spoke lies, falsehoods, and wickedness (Isaiah 59:3-4). Their feet ran to evil and to shed innocent blood (Isaiah 59:7). Their thoughts were focused on iniquity (Isaiah 59:7). The body controlled by sin will practice sin, proclaim sin, pursue sin, and ponder sin.
Paul wrote that we need to be “crucified with [Christ], in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves of sin; for he who has died is freed from sin” (Romans 6:6-7). We must not allow ourselves to be controlled by sin. After being “baptized into Christ” (Romans 6:3), we become “freed from sin” and made “slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:18).
Once becoming “slave of righteousness,” we must “present [ourselves] to God as those alive from the dead, and [our] members as instruments of righteousness to God” (Romans 6:13). As we were controlled by sin before, we must now be controlled by God in righteousness. So we must practice righteousness, proclaim righteousness, pursue righteousness, and ponder righteousness. We must be slaves of righteousness in all that we say, think, and do.
Do not let your body be an instrument for unrighteousness. Instead, put away the body of sin. Become a slave of righteousness and in doing this, “Glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20).
