I'm Guilty

I’m Guilty!

When you were a child, your parents or a teacher may have told you the fable of the King who wanted to wear the finest of clothing. And he was willing to pay an enormous amount of money for them.

2 scoundrels came up with a plan. They passed themselves off as the worlds greatest tailors & came to t/King, who hired them on t/spot.

In elaborate detail, they began describing the wonderfully rich articles of clothing that he was trying on, while in fact there was no clothing at all. They began to convince t/King of t/grandeur of t/clothes in such a fine manner & with such flattery that he began to believe he was wearing t/finest clothes, when in actuality he wasn’t wearing anything but underwear.

So convinced was the King, that all his subjects in the castle went along with his imaginary clothing. Then the King planned a parade, so that he might display his new outfit to all his loyal subjects.

They were told that while they might not see anything, indeed he was wearing the finest clothing that money could buy. So they too, as the King passed, standing in only his underwear, remarked what grand clothing the King wore and how handsome he looked.

T/only glitch was a little boy, who was naive & honest. So he shouted at t/king, “Hey why aren’t you wearing any clothes?”

At that moment, all t/pretense, all t/fabrications, all t/make-believe was gone & what remained was an embarrassed King with no clothes.

T/world we live in today is so much like the King wearing no clothes.

It is going about everyday life, pretending that everything is fine, when in fact t/vast majority of t/world population is on a fast-pace to hell

Why don’t they notice that they aren’t wearing spiritual clothes?

We talked about one reason 2 weeks ago.

T/fact that t/church isn’t doing our best to be like the little boy and say, “Hey, you have no spiritual covering, what are you thinking? You can’t possible think that you are prepared to meet Jesus like that?”

We must be active in perusing those we come in contact with, sharing the gospel of Jesus, so that they will be ready for His return.

But the other reason so many aren’t prepared to face Jesus at judgment, is self-delusion. Whether consciously or not, they are avoiding the truth. The truth that they are spiritually bankrupt.

The Church again, possesses the insight, that must be presented so that they will not continue to avoid reality.

To use a TV show phrase, “The Truth Is Out There”. And t/truth is this:

Sin is real. We all have sinned. The consequence of sin is eternal death.

But just as there is a problem, there is also a solution, which we have to share. An antidote for the world plague called sin; & that’s Jesus!

Study with me the subject of sin.

A. What Is Sin?

The Bible says, sin is disobedience, breaking t/rules, missing the mark.

Dr. Benjamin Spock and other contemporary psychologists preached a philosophy during the 50’s through 70’s that changed society.

They claimed that discipline, especially corporal wasn’t in t/best interest of the child. They encouraged parents to be very permissive when they were disobedient or when they misbehaved, because they were merely doing what their environment had taught them to do.

This philosophy changed not only how parents raised their children, it also crept into our school system & eventually our judicial system.

No longer were people held accountable for their actions, they were now poor creatures, who were to be pitied, because they had become only what their environment had made them.

Instead of discipline, they needed hugs, encouragement & understanding

These philosophers have not only taken away the consequences of doing wrong, they have taken away the concept of wrong itself.

But this is what the Bible says this about doing wrong:

I John 3:4, Everyone who sins breaks t/law; in fact, sin is lawlessness

Most of us would say that we are respectable, law-abiding citizens.

In other words, we are saying, “for t/most part I obey t/law & even when I break a law, it’s not a really bad one, like murder or stealing.

Yet this verse says that when we sin, whatever it is, we are law-breakers.

So anytime we deliberately sin, whether it’s the rules of our house, family, state, country or our God, we break the law!

Teenagers, if your parents say, be home by 11:30 & you come home at 11:45 you haven’t stretched t/rules, you’ve violated them & sinned

If your boss expects you to work 40 hr., but you cheat t/timeclock, you aren’t getting what you deserve, you’ve violated t/law & sinned.

When you’re to pay $1,000 in taxes, but lie on your tax form & only pay $500 you haven’t found a loophole, you’ve violated t/law & sinned