The Worst Employer

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; BUT the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Number One Employer In The World Is Satan,
And His Business “Sin”

I get most of my news off of the Internet, not the legacy media. The legacy media (NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, FOX) long ago stopped reporting just the news, and began reporting opinion and trying to push it off on the public as news. There is a reason for this, and it has nothing to do with flesh and blood. It has to do with Satan. As we’ve studied before, the Bible tells the children of God:

Ephesians 6:12 (KJV) we WRESTLE NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD, but against PRINCIPALITIES, against POWERS, against the RULERS OF THE DARKNESS of this world, against SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS in high places.

We are in the middle of an angelic conflict, and what is fantastic is that most people who profess to be Christian have no idea this is going on. I heard a comedian joking to an audience that “when I was a kid, they taught critical thinking”. Thankfully they don’t do that anymore.

And they don’t. The devil and the fallen angels of this world work with “philosophy and vain or empty deceit, following man made tradition and not Christ” (Colossians 2:8). Our enemy is NOT flesh and blood. When Lucifer led a rebellion of a third of the angels from Heaven against God (Revelation 12:4), and he was cast out of Heaven to this earth, he has made it his priority to do everything he can to destroy humanity. It was this same Lucifer who, as “that Old Serpent” appeared in the Garden of Eden to tempt Adam and Eve (Revelation 12:9). When the Messiah came into the world through a virgin and the Holy Spirit, it was Lucifer who led Herod to kill that Christ Child (Revelation 12:4, 6; Matthew 2:3, 14-16). When Herod could not find Jesus (for Joseph was led to carry his family to Egypt), he murdered all the children of Bethlehem 2 years old and younger – but it was Lucifer that led him to do this. When Jesus was betrayed in Gethsemane by the Apostle Judas Iscariot, the Bible says that “Satan entered into Judas” (Luke 22:3), leading him to betray the Lord of Glory. Jesus was crucified on the Cross at Calvary though Pilate could find no fault in Him, and declared Him an “innocent man” (Matthew 27:24). It was Lucifer who enticed the “princes of this world to crucify the Lord of Glory” (1 Corinthians 2:8).

Lucifer doesn’t work alone. He has a number of fallen angels that serve him. Lucifer is in the number one business in the word today. It’s not Amazon, Microsoft, or some Social Media platform. The number one employer in our world today is called “Sin”.

This business called “Sin” is everywhere you look. It’s on television. It’s in the abortion clinics, and in the hospitals.

Sin is in the workplace.
Sin is in the Church.
Sin is in the supermarkets.
Sin is in the schools.
Sin is “in”.

Sin confuses. I watched and listened as a young black woman – Joy Flynn, the Vice President of Pajaro Valley School Board (California) – became outraged because someone used to term “homeless”. She said “I have a lot to say and I will speak plainly. You may not like it. I am personally offended by what was presented, on so many different levels. One thing I would like to see updated is the word “homeless” to “unhoused”.

HOW DOES CHANGING THE TERMINOLOGY FIX ANYTHING? Having worked with the “homeless”, I have never had one single person upset by the word “homeless”. They are hungry, cold, and need compassion. They don’t need to be redefined or relabeled. They don’t care. When I feed and pray with these people, they are grateful, and share their burdens with me. This is what sin as an employer does. Sin renames and redirects, rather than corrects. Sin covers and hides. I’ve noticed that people are now using words like “unalived” instead of “killed”. The first word is not even in the dictionary. But if it happens to you, you really don’t care what the socially acceptable word is. The effects are the same. You are DEAD.

Sin has us hiding it linguistically. Have you ever noticed that people don’t “sin” anymore. We “have an accident” or “made a mistake” or “slipped up” – but we don’t “sin”. We change the word to make it seem innocuous.

You can call a rattlesnake a “worm” but it’s bite is just as deadly. I saw a woman who put on her social media that she wanted to bread a world’s record. It is her intention to do what should only be done in the midst of marriage with over a thousand men in twenty four hours. Just to see if she can do it. Beloved, that is sin. And what she is doing will bring death. It is certain, because the Bible – as well as human history – proves it.

Let’s First Define That Employer Called “Sin”

Let’s deal with the “elephant in the room” first. Why do I call “sin” an EMPLOYER? Because of our text:

Romans 6:23 For the WAGES {opsōnion} of sin is death

Word Study: A “wage” is paid by an EMPLOYER. The Greek opsōnion originally meant “a soldier’s pay or allowance given for performing his duty”. Soldiers in the ancient world were many times not paid money, but they were given grain, meats, fruit, salt and other rations. When John the Baptist was baptizing those who came to him in the Jordan, he told those who were coming “bring forth fruit worthy of REPENTANCE” (Luke 3:8). Salvation first requires repentance. When the soldiers asked John:

Luke 3:14 (KJV) … what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your WAGES {opsōnion}.

The WAGE was what gave life to a soldier. It was food and drink. It was his rations. The government that employed the soldier wanted that soldier to be healthy and happy, so Rome made sure that its soldiers were well fed, well housed, and well equipped. A broken army cannot defend the Empire.

Unless it’s the devil’s empire.

The word “wage” means rations, substance that feeds and leads to life. But the wages of sin is DEATH, not life.

The government of the soldier cares about the soldier. But the government of Satan cares nothing for its citizen soldiers. Sin always pays off in DEATH, not LIFE. The rations that sin gives is poisonous, destructive, evil.

Sin would have you believe that there are BIG SINS and little sins. But our text doesn’t tell us this. It says, “The WAGES of SIN is DEATH”. Every sin tends and lends toward death. Some of you are turned off by certain sins. You have a hatred for murder, child molestation, same sex sins, theft, but feel that there are other actions that are lesser and not necessarily sins. The Pharisees did this. They chastised Jesus, saying:

Matthew 15:2-6 (LSB) Why do Your disciples break the TRADITION OF THE ELDERS? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. 3 And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves TRANSGRESS THE COMMANDMENT OF GOD for the sake of your tradition? 4 “For God said, ‘HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,’ and, ‘HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.’ 5 “But you say, ‘Whoever says to [his] father or mother, “Whatever you might benefit from me is given [to God],” 6 he need not honor his father.’ And [by this] you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

What the Pharisees were doing was considering a violation of the “TRADITION OF THE ELDERS” to be sinful. But where the Bible said “HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER”, they refused to help out their needy parents, claiming to have given all their money to God. They made what was NOT SIN to BE SIN, and made what was SIN to be nothing. The Pharisees and other self righteous elements – many people among us today – brand things that are sinful because THEY don’t like them. But that which is actually sinful, well, they turn a blind eye to it. But Beloved, “The WAGES of SIN is DEATH”.

Sin is not what YOU think is sin. Sin, simply defined, is anything that God says don’t do it.

Sin is that which breaks God’s Law. We are told:

1 John 3:4 Everyone who SINS BREAKS THE LAW; in fact, SIN IS LAWLESSNESS.

God gave Adam one law in the Garden – “do not eat of the forbidden fruit”. Adam said to God, “I know what You said – but I could care less! I’m going to do it my way.” We are born into this world wanting to do it our way. The Bible says,

Romans 3:23 ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

People think “Well, what’s wrong with MY sin? I’m not hurting anyone else!” Yes, you are. Sin not only hurts you, but it hurts those who love you. Sin is destructive because it separates you and your family from the Source of Life, from God Himself. Sin is the action of a rebellious heart, a heart that refuses God His glory. The Bible says

“The HEART is DECEITFUL above all things, and DESPERATELY WICKED” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Sin is not just doing what God says NOT do, but sin is REFUSING TO DO THE GOOD that God says do.

“If anyone KNOWS THE GOOD THEY OUGHT TO DO AND DOESN’T DO IT, it IS SIN FOR THEM” (James 4:17).

It is God Who sets the standard – ALWAYS. It is God Who is the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14; 19:16). God determines what is right and what is not. When we sin, “our iniquities separate us from our God” (Isaiah 59:2).

God is not only the Creator, but the very Source of Life (Psalm 36:9; Job 33:4; Acts 17:25). When we disobey Him we separate ourselves from Life itself. THE WAGES OF SIN IS ALWAYS DEATH!

The nature of sin is seen in the Garden of Eden. God gave Adam a very clear path to follow. God is never mysterious, never skulking, never hard to understand. God made Adam and put him in the Garden, a perfect Paradise.

Genesis 2:15-17 (ESV) The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for IN THE DAY THAT YOU EAT OF IT YOU SHALL SURELY DIE.”

God did not say, “If you LIE, or STEAL, or KILL, or BURN DOWN THE GARDEN you’ll die”. God said “You can have ALL THE GARDEN, and any fruit in it BUT ONE. If you EAT of that tree of the KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL the very day you do it YOU SHALL DIE”. The sin was to sink his teeth in the wrong fruit. The sin was to disbelieve God. The sin was to set yourself above God, rather than obey God.

God DID NOT KILL ADAM. Sin killed Adam.
Adam killed Adam by his sin.

Now, HOW did Adam die? The Bible tells us that. When Adam ate that which God said not to eat:

Genesis 3:7 (ESV) the EYES of both were OPENED, and they knew that they were naked.

When Adam was walking with God, his state of undress did not matter. But once he disobeyed God, now suddenly his state of being was in question. “Hey, I’m naked!”. Was “naked’ sinful? No, because God doesn’t sponsor sin.

1. The sinner always REDEFINED SIN. The sinner will always redefine sin according to his desires. Adam decided that eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge was NOT NOT sinful. But once Adam sinned, he redefined sin, making being naked in the Garden as SINFUL!

2. The sinner always tries to fix the sin himself. And as nakedness was sinful (according to Adam), he needed to fix the problem (according to Adam). So “they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin cloths”.

3. The sinner always hides themselves from God. When God came into the Garden, Adam and Eve hide themselves from God, the One Person that could fix their sin. They used to walk with God in the cool of the day. Now they hide from God.

4. The sinner always blames everyone else – but not themselves. Though Adam and Eve are physically alive, they are spiritually dead, separated from God. Adam blamed his wife and even God Himself for what he did rather than repent. “The WOMAN that YOU gave me, SHE gave me the fruit and I ate it” (Genesis 3:12).

The Wages of Sin is DEATH. Adam killed us all by sin. Hear God’s Word:

Romans 5:12 (KJV) … BY ONE MAN SIN ENTERED into the world, and DEATH BY SIN; and so DEATH PASSED UPON ALL men, for that ALL HAVE SINNED …

The devil would have you to believe that there are big sins and little sins. He would have you believe that some sins bring little harm, but only the BIG sins bring great harm. That’s a lie. “The WAGES of SIN is DEATH”. Sin brings DEATH to you, to your loved ones, to your family and friends. Sin brings death into your community, your country, your world. Sin brings death into the schools. Sin brings death in some way, shape, or form to all whom it touches. Whether rich or poor, whether powerful and famous or powerless and unknown, sin pays equally.

That employer “Sin” always gives equal pay for equal work.
Everyone who sins gets the wage of DEATH.

And sin guarantees you will always be employed. Sin never “lays off” anyone. Jesus said:

John 8:34 (ESV) Truly, truly, I say to you, EVERYONE who PRACTICES SIN is a SLAVE TO SIN.

Sin is not only an Employer that pays, but sin is a Master of those who submit to it. Sin enslaves it’s people.

When Adam introduced sin into the world, it wasn’t long before it started killing others. Sin enslaved Cain, leading him to kill his brother Abel (Genesis 4:7). When Cain killed his brother, he thought he got away with it. No one gets away with sin. God told Cain,

Genesis 4:10 (ESV) What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.

When Cain sinned, he not only killed his brother, but he killed his relationship with his parents and with his God. But what happened with Abel was a foreshadowing of what God would later do with His Only Begotten Son on Calvary. Sin brings death to the sinner. The only way that sin can NOT bring death is, if Another take the penalty of sin on Himself.

Sin begins with our LUSTS. It entices us. The Scripture says:

James 1:14-15 (ESV) … each person is tempted when he is LURED and ENTICED BY HIS OWN DESIRE. 15 Then desire when it has conceived GIVES BIRTH TO SIN, and SIN WHEN IT IS FULLY GROWN BRINGS FORTH DEATH.

The devil tempts us, tells us why we ought to want this or that. He wiggles before our desire like a worm on a hook. Then when our desire is satisfied, DESIRE GIVES BIRTH TO SIN, and SIN GIVES BIRTH TO DEATH. I think of it like that Sigourney Weaver movie Alien. The Alien had a mouth that, when it opened it’s mouth, another terrible mouth extended outward from it to bite and kill you. Sin is like that Alien. You can’t make friends with it. Sin doesn’t want friends. It wants slaves. It wants bound employees headed toward damnation and death.

You Do Not Need To Be Employed By Sin.
There Is Another Option, One From God

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; BUT the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ OUR LORD.

Comedian George Carlin died of heart failure, just 71 years old. He loved to mock God. Carlin said, “Religion has convinced people that there’s an invisible Man living in the sky who watches everything you do… and He has a list of ten things He doesn’t want you to do”. Like most lost people, Carlin never understood that sin is not just ten things, nor did he understand that the reason God is against sin is because it brings death to us. The Bible says,

Romans 14:23 … whatever is NOT OF FAITH IS SIN

Anything you do apart from a personal relationship with God is sin. We are told in Proverbs 21:4, “a PROUD HEART and the PLOWING OF THE WICKED is sin”. Anything you do apart from God is sin – even plowing a field. “Without FAITH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD” (Hebrews 11:6). And again, “whatever YOU DO, DO ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD” (1 Corinthians 10:31). There is no such thing as neutral according to God. Jesus said,

Matthew 12:30 (ESV) Whoever is NOT WITH ME IS AGAINST ME, and whoever does NOT GATHER WITH ME SCATTERS.

You are going to serve a master. There is no neutral. The Apostle wrote, “Whoever you yield yourself to, this is your Master. You can yield to sin (which will kill you), or obey God and righteousness” (Romans 6:16, AP). When you served sin, you did not serve righteousness (Romans 6:20). Every life has a master:

You either serve Sin (and Death), Or you serve God and life.

the GIFT OF GOD is eternal life through
Jesus Christ OUR LORD

God offers a free gift to whosoever will. How do you receive that gift? You REPENT of following Satan, Sin and the world, and give your life unto Jesus. I want to be very blunt. You can NEVER be good enough or moral enough or righteous enough to be pleasing to God in your own power. You need the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to Me: you cannot get the Gift of God without submitting to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus told the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well:

John 4:10, 14 (ESV) If you knew THE GIFT OF GOD, and Who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have ASKED HIM, and HE WOULD HAVE GIVEN YOU LIVING WATER. … 14 whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The WATER THAT I WILL GIVE HIM will become in him a SPRING OF WATER WELLING UP TO ETERNAL LIFE.

The only way to get out of slavery to sin – which is death – is to come and give your life to Jesus Christ. He is OUR LORD. Sin always pays off in wages called DEATH. But salvation is a GIFT. It pays off in LIFE.

There are some who believe that “Now that I’ve given my life to Jesus, now that He’s saved me, I don’t have to obey God. I can go on living my life the same way I always did.” Friend, this is a lie from the pit of hell. Once you are saved by Grace, you are dead to sin.

Romans 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall WE, THAT ARE DEAD TO SIN, LIVE ANY LONGER THEREIN?

When you give your life to Jesus, when you receive the Gift of salvation by faith in Him, you DIE TO SIN. Sin is no longer your master, no longer your employer. God works a work in your life once you come to Jesus. God causes:

Your old self to die
A new life to be born again
And God Himself inhabits your life.

God does not walk in sin. God died for our sins. “our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth WE SHOULD NOT SERVE SIN” (Romans 6:6).

Christianity is not, properly understood, a license to sin. Jesus died for our sins. We do not revel in what Jesus bled and died over.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; BUT the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Christian comes from the left side of that BUT because he repents, and receives the free gift of salvation. Once saved, we AVOID sin. As the Apostle tells us:

Romans 6:17-18 (KJV) But God be thanked, that ye WERE THE SERVANTS OF SIN, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18 Being then MADE FREE FROM SIN, ye BECAME THE SERVANTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld – though not a Christian (he is culturally Jewish) – hit the nail on the head when he said, “We’re all basically trying to be good people … while doing whatever we want”. That’s what the unbeliever does. That’s what a lost person does. But that is not what a Christian does.

The Christian – born again of God’s Spirit – is not perfect. But the Christian loves the Lord, and strives to do the good that God has called us to do. The Christian may sin. But when we sin, we recognize it as such, repent, and run back into the arms of Jesus. One of my favorite texts explains it simply as this:

Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV) For BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED THROUGH FAITH. And this is not your own doing; it is THE GIFT OF GOD, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP, created in Christ Jesus FOR GOOD WORKS, which God prepared beforehand, that WE SHOULD WALK IN THEM.

The Christian does not walk in sin. Saved by Grace, we walk in good works. We live so as to please Him Who is our Savior and Lord. Praise His Holy Name!