Twenty Reasons Not To Sin Part 2 Series

TWENTY REASONS NOT TO SIN Part 2

Coming Clean Part 3

Pastor Jeff Seaman

Prov. 6:20-23 “My son, keep your father’s commands and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. Bind them upon your heart forever; fasten them around your neck. When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you, when you awake, they will speak to you. For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the correction of discipline are the way of life.”

Prov. 6:27-28 “Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?”

Last week we started on twenty reasons not to sin, and we got to number six.

1. Sin does not satisfy.

Heb.11:25 “He chose to be mistreated alone with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.”

2. Sin leads to more sin.

Prov. 5:22 “The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast.”

Eccles. 5:10 “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.”

3. Sin leads to worse sin.

Prov. 16:2 “All a man’s way seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord.”

4. Sin enslaves.

2 Peter 2:19 “For a man is a slave to whatever has controls him.”

5. Sin Degrades and humiliates.

Satan loves to degrade us, but Jesus loves to

Ps. 103:2-3 “Praise the Lord, o my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.”

6. Sin steals joy.

Prov. 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”

Prov. 18:14 “A man’s spirit sustains him in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?”

# 7. SIN STEALS OUR CONFIDENCE BEFORE GOD.

When I was younger I had two tickets that had not been taken care of. I remember driving around and always looking in my wear view mirror, to see if any cop’s were around. When I saw a cop I would go down another road, my heart would pounding.

After I took care of the tickets, I would travel around town and see the police go by, I noticed my heart wasn’t pounding anymore. I could drive my car without fear, I had confidence before God and man. My conscience was clean.

But sin steals all purity and innocence, making us uneasy with people and uncomfortable with God. Think of the man who just betrayed his best friend for the sake of a big business deal. He can no longer look him in the eye. Or consider that new believer who got falling-down drunk last night. His head is down and his shoulders are sagging.

The good news is that we can live in such a way that makes us confident before the Lord:

1Jn. 2:28 “And now, dear children, continue in Him, so that when He appears we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming.”

1Jn. 3:21-22 “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from Him anything we ask, because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him.”

1Jn. 4:17 “In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him.”

Jesus is the key to our confidence, having already made a way for us, and being determined to keep that way wide open:

Heb. 10:19-22 “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be confident than cowering, pressing forward than shrinking back, living clean than standing condemned. Don’t let sin steal your confidence.

# 8. THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH.

There is only one way sin is faithful: Its reward is always death. Unfortunately, sin never shares this secret with you, instead it promises you riches, fame, pleasures, fulfillment, and power. And while you may experience some of these along the way, they are only short-lived, lasting at best a few short decades.

It is true that sin brings death right from the start, always killing something in us when we sin. It assaults our sensitivity, trashes our conscience, run over our willpower, and defiles our soul.