Everyone Who Sins Series

INTRO.- Everyone who sins. Some people don’t think they do.

ILL.- A preacher named Eddie Martin tells this story: I have met a few people who have tried to convince me that they were not bad sinners. I met such a lady in Bluefield, West Virginia. This well-dressed woman came forward at the invitation time. I took her hand and prepared to give her a prayer to repeat after me. The prayer I usually give is, “Dear Lord, I know that I am a no-good sinner. I know I can’t save myself. I do need forgiveness for my awful sins. I can’t do without you, Jesus. Please forgive me for my many sins. I pray my prayer in Jesus’ Name. Amen!”

I took this woman’s hand and began to give her the prayer to repeat after me. “Dear Lord, I know I’m a no-good sinner.” She never said a word. I looked at her and said, “Don’t you want to be saved?”

She said, “Yes, Eddie, I do want to be saved, but I’m not a sinner.” “Then you can’t be saved,” I said, “Jesus only died for sinners.”

“But, Mr. Martin,” she replied, “I’m a good sinner.” “A good sinner! Lady, there are no good sinners. You will have to take your seat. God can’t save you until you become conscious that you are a no-good sinner and need His forgiveness.” “But, Mr. Martin, you don’t understand. I’m really not a bad sinner.”

I told her to go back and sit down. She held on to my hand with a vise-like grip. Finally she looked me in the eyes and said, “Oh, please forgive me. I know I am a no-good hell-deserving sinner. I am a proud, no-good sinner. I do need Christ to forgive me of my sins.”

“Wonderful! Now, lady, you are ready to do business with God.”

Brothers and sisters, as that preacher said: NO ONE CAN DO BUSINESS WITH GOD UNTIL THEY ARE WILLING TO CONFESS THEIR SINFULNESS TO HIM!

Luke 18:13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'”

I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

ILL.- Daniel Webster, the famous American politician and orator, once spent a summer in New Hampshire, and every Lord’s Day went to a little country church morning and evening. His niece asked him why he went there, when he paid little attention to far abler sermons in Washington.

He replied: “In Washington they preach to Daniel Webster, the statesman, but this man has been telling Daniel Webster, the sinner, of Jesus of Nazareth.”

That’s the right attitude to have. It’s called humility. And God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. (I Pet. 5:5)

Sin: most either love it or leave it. God calls us to leave it behind with His help.

PROP.- What happens when a person sins? That is, what happens from God’s perspective, since He is the one who counts most of all. Our text gives us God’s mind on the subject of sin.

1- Everyone who sins breaks the law

2- Everyone who sins needs a sinless savior

3- Everyone who sins and keeps on sinning knows not

I. EVERYONE WHO SINS BREAKS THE LAW

4Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.

ILL.- A poll of 5,000 students concluded that 46 percent of them would cheat on an important test. Thirty-six percent said they would cover for a friend who vandalized school property, while only 24 percent would tell the truth. Five percent said they would steal money from their parents if given the opportunity.

Truth be told, I bet it’s worse today because this was an old poll taken nearly 20 years ago. Wow!

People break the law in many different ways. In fact, there are hundreds of ways to break the law and people do it. Sin also a matter of breaking the law. When we sin, however, we may not always break the law of the land but we will most certainly break God’s law.

Again, this is why God gave man His law...so he would know that he had sinned against God. All sin is against the law of God.

The two great commandments that Jesus gave are what?

Matthew 22:36-40 36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."