The 4 Points: #2: I Have Sinned (I’ve Got It Wrong): Story: Peter Denies Jesus (Luke Chapter 22 Verses 54-62). - Sermon By Gordon Curley Series

SERMON OUTLINE:

English Word #1: ‘debt’:

English Word #2: ‘trespass’:

English Word #3: ‘sin’:

(1). Peter’s love!

(2). Peter’s failure!

(3). Peter’s hope.

SERMON BODY:

Ill:

• The most famous prayer on the planet,

• Also contains the most well-known verses of the Bible.

• It is a Christian prayer that Jesus taught to his disciples.

• And it appears in two forms in the New Testament:

• The shorter version in the Gospel According to Luke (chapter 11: verses 2–4)

• And the longer and best-known version, part of the Sermon on the Mount,

• In the Gospel According to Matthew (chapter 6 verses 9–13).

• Hundreds of millions of Christians pray it regularly,

• As do tens of millions of non-Christians who pray fit for comfort or maybe good luck.

• In our sort of Churches we don’t often say, set or written out prayers.

• We tend to pray more spontaneous unstructured prayers.

But twice a month on a Tuesday and Wednesday I pray the Lord’s prayer!

• Question: Why twice a month on a Tuesday and Wednesday I hear you say?

• The answer being,

• I say it when I take a service at Hawthorn Court Nursing Home for dementias patients.

• Also, when I take an assembly at Sarisbury Green Junior School.

• At Hawthorn Court Nursing Home we say the traditional version.

• At Sarisbury Green Junior School we say a modern version.

When it comes to prayers or songs, children can be easily mishearing the words,

• And sometimes you get some funny responses and insights.

• For example.

• e.g. Original Line: “Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.”

• One time came out as, “Our Father which art in Heaven, HAROLD be thy name.”

• e.g. Original Line: “Deliver us from evil.”

• One time came out as, “Deliver us some E-MAIL”.

• TRANSITION: Now there is one word of the Lord’s prayer,

• That can change whenever it is recited.

• Not because it was misheard,

• But because there are various alternate ways to say the prayer.

• At least three variations to one line of the prayer.

• We can say either “…forgive us our sins, our debts or our trespasses.”

Question: Why? Which is correct?

Answer:

• All three are correct,

• Unless you want to be pedantic & nitpicking!

• The terms debts, trespasses, and sins all basically mean the same thing,

• With just a slight difference.

English Word #1: ‘debt’:

• e.g. The word "debts" we get from the very first English translation of the Bible,

• By John Wycliffe in 1395 (translated the New Testament from Latin into English)

• (Wycliffe used the word, “debt” spelling "dettis" in his translation).

Ill:

• In Jewish rabbinic teachings and also some of the parables of Jesus,

• (see Matthew chapter 18 verses 21-35 the parable of the debtor).

• A person's sin before God,

• Was often symbolized by debt owed to a king, landowner, or other person.

English Word #2: ‘trespass’:

• e.g. We get this term, ‘trespasses’ from William Tyndale in 1526.

• (He was first to translate the New Testament from Greek into English)

• (“and forgeve us oure treaspases, even as we forgeve them which treaspas us”).

• The word ‘trespasses’ has the idea of breaking a rule that has been established.

• That is, you have crossed a line, trespassed, gone where you should not have gone!

• e.g. No entry sign and we ignore it! Likewise, we ignore or break God’s laws.

English Word #3: ‘sin’:

• The biblical term for sin, whether in Hebrew or Greek, signifies “missing the mark.”

• e.g. Imagine an archer aiming at a target.

• If the arrow veers off course and fails to hit the bullseye, it misses the mark,

• That’s sin.

This definition highlights two crucial aspects:

• Target: There exists a standard or goal set by God,

• We find that standard in his word, his commands, and his desires.

• Intention:

• Sin involves a conscious choice to either hit or miss that target,

• We make those choices day by day.

• Therefore, sin is the failure to be what we might have been and could have been.

Question: Why does sin matter?

Answer: three reasons why it matters

• (a). Sin Separates.

• i.e. Like a cloud separates us from seeing the sun in the sky.

• Isaiah chapter 59 verse 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). Sin Spreads.

• i.e. Like weeds in a garden.

• John chapter 8 verse 34.

“Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”