SIN #1
ISA 59:2; EPH 2:1-3
ROM 1:18-32
INTRODUCTION:
1. Sin separates us from God because sin is rebellion against God. Adam and Eve are the first to give us an example of what sin is. They rebelled against God by disobeying His command. When we sin we are separated from God
a. ISA 59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
b. EPH 2:1-3. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2. in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
I. MEN SIN:
A. In thought.
1. ISA 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
2. MATT 5:28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
B. In word.
1. MATT 12:36-37. 36. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
2. JAS 3:10-12 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12. My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
C. In deed.
1. GAL 5:19-26. 19. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20. idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21. and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23. gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
II. SIN IS
A. Enticing.
1. JAS 1:12-16. 12. Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. 13. When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14. but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. 16. Don't be deceived, my dear brothers.
B. Deceptive.
1. HEB 3:13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
2. GEN 3:13. Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
3. ROM 7:11. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
4. 2COR 11:3. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
5. The deceiver and all his followers will end up in the lake burning with sulfur: REV 20:10. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
D. Sin is pleasant.
1. Speaking of Moses: HEB 11:25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.
III. THE EFFECT OF SIN
A. Sin estranges us from God.
1. ISA 59:1-2. 1. Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 2. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
2. 2CHR 12:2 Because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam.
3. 2CHR 24:20 Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, "This is what God says: `Why do you disobey the LORD'S commands? You will not prosper. Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has forsaken you.'"
IV. SIN SEPARATES IN:
A. Life.
1. PROV 15:29 The LORD is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
2. 1PET 3:10-12. 10. For, "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. 11. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. 12. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."
B. In death.
1. EZEK 18:20 The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.
2. REV 14:13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them."
C. In judgment.
1. PS 1:5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
2. REV 20:12-15. 12. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 14. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
V. SIN ENSLAVES
A. In thoughts.
1. ISA 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
2. ROM 1:21-24. 21. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23. and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
B. In passions.
1. ROM 1:24-27. 24. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen. 26. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
C. In will.
1. ROM 1:28-32. 28. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30. slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31. they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
VI. OTHER EFFECTS OF SIN
A. It weakens.
1. 1COR 3:1-8. 1. Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly-- mere infants in Christ. 2. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4. For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men? 5. What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.
B. Its wage is death.
1. ROM 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
C. It brings destruction which is everlasting.
1. 2THS 1:7-9. 7. and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power
VII. THE SURE CURE OF SIN
A. The blood of Christ.
1. REV 1:5-6. 5. and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6. and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father-- to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
2. 1JN 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
B. The Word of God.
1. JAS 1:21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
2. PS 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
C. The gospel.
1. ROM 1:16. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
2. 1COR 1:21. For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
D. Obedience.
1. ROM 1:5 Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.
2. Revelation 1:4-6 (NIV) 4 John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
3. Colossians 2:11-13 (NIV) 11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, (cf. Rom 6:3-6).
4. REV 22:14 "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.
CONCLUSION:
1. Men sin:
a. In thought.
b. In word.
c. In deed.
2. Sin is:
a. Enticing.
b. Deceptive.
c. Pleasant.
3. The effect of sin:
a. It estranges us from God.
4. Sin separates:
a. In life.
b. In death.
c. In judgment
5. Sin enslaves:
a. In thought.
b. In passions.
c. In will.
6. Other effects of sin:
a. It weakens.
b. Its wages is death.
c. It brings destruction which is everlasting.
7. The sure cure of sin:
a. The blood of Christ.
b. The word of God.
c. The gospel.
e. Obedience.
INVITATION TO ALL:
1. If you have never been washed with Christ's blood in baptism, you need to surrender to God's instructions for the removal of your sin.
a. ACTS 2:38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
b. Saul was told, ACTS 22:16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.'
2. The Roman Christians gladly obeyed and became willing servants.
a. ROM 6:17. But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
3. The result of our obedience is to receive God's free gift.
a. ROM 6:22. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.