“The Power of Sin”
Introduction:
Does anyone struggle to live the Christian life? Do you ever look at the Scriptures and see that your life just doesn’t match? Do you ever wonder if the Christian life really can work? Do ever feel like you do things that you really do not want to do? Do you have any habits and sins that you have tried earnestly over and over again to overcome and you just felt that you cannot do it? Little Johnny’s father caught him in telling a lie. Dad said, “Don’t you know
the difference between right & wrong?” Johnny told him that he did. His
dad said, “But you always choose the wrong!” Johnny said, “I know, dad.
And here you thought it was all guesswork.”...
I will have to tell you that I feel some of those things sometimes, and I would imagine that you can understand where I am coming from.
Last time I preached we began talking about sin, and we talked about how we as the church should respond to a brother or sister caught in sin. This week I want to talk about the power of sin. Sometimes I feel that in our society and even within the church we shy away from talking about sin. We, however, need to understand that before we can understand very much about God, before we can understand anything about Jesus or the Bible, we have to understand some things about sin. We have to understand that before we can ever come to Christ we have to realize that we need him and that we are sinners. We have to understand the consequences of our sin, which is eternal death.
I hope that you will realize that sin is a big deal in the mind of God and it should be a big deal to us as well. I hope that you will learn there is some power in sin that we have to confront and deal with. That power of sin is what causes the Christian life to be a difficult life to live at times. There is a certain power that sin has to control our lives and to dominate our minds. Do you ever wonder what makes people do the things that they do? I wonder that quite a bit. What makes a mother decide to kill her children, either born or unborn? What makes a tyrannical political leader decide to mass execute a whole race of people? What makes people say and do the things that the do?
Clever drug traffickers used a propane tanker truck entering El Paso from Mexico. They rigged it so propane gas would be released from all of its valves while the truck concealed 6,240 pounds drugs. They were clever, but not bright. They misspelled the name of the gas company on the side of the truck. Why in the world would someone do that? One lady was arrested in Lake City, Florida for robbery of a Howard Johnson’s motel. She was armed with only an electric chain saw, which was not plugged in. Why in the world would someone do that? As I read first accounts in the Bible and read of Adam and Eve in the Garden, and when I get to the part of Eve eating the forbidden fruit and sharing it with Adam, I just want to shout, “Why is the world would you do that?” As I read of God’s faithfulness in leading Israel out of slavery in Egypt, of how he provided a way for them by parting the Red Sea I amazed. Then I read of Moses up on Mount Sinai receiving the law as the Israelites began to worship a Golden Calf and called it the God that lead them out of Egypt. When Moses questions Aaron on it, he said that the calf just popped out of the fire. When I hear of that I wonder, “Why in the world would they do that?” When I read in the gospels of Judas betraying Jesus for thirty pieces of silver I wonder, “what in the world was he thinking?” When I read of Ananias and Sapphira lying to the Apostle Peter about the money they received from selling their home, I wonder, “Why in the world would they do that?” When I hear of people in the church today who do not live totally for Jesus Christ, but rather live with one foot in the world and one foot in the church, I wonder, “Why in the world would they do that?”
There are many people that teach that we as human beings are born in sin because of the sin of Adam and Eve. They say we inherit that sin, and that is why we struggle with sin. I do not believe that is totally true. I believe that we all by our own free will choose to sin and violate the law of God. I believe that the Bible teaches that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Sin is powerful and we are tempted to sin because sin is a part of the world and there is a Devil whose primary goal is to get us to live a lifestyle of sin.
While I believe that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. While I believe that the Word of God is living and active and more powerful than any man. While I believe God can take a person and transform them into someone they could never be on their own, it must be admitted that sin has a power that we are attracted to for some reason. I do not believe I fully understand in myself how one part of me can desire more than anything to please God and yet another part of me can be so set on doing what is wrong.
Text: Romans 7:14-25
I. Sin is Tempting
We can talk all day long about how we can withstand temptations. We can talk about how it is helpful to read the Word of God, to pray, and to be in the fellowship of godly people, those things are vitally important to us as Christians, but that does not answer the question that I need to know the answer to... Why is sin so appealing to me? Does my sin that I struggle with mean that I really do not love God? Does it mean I am an evil person? Does it mean Jesus is not Lord of my life or that the Holy Spirit is not in control of my life? I do not necessarily believe so. I guess before I get started I need to make one thing clear. Sin is always wrong, there are no ifs, ands or buts about it. Sin is a violation of what God commands us to do – it is never okay, there is never a good reason for you to commit any sin and there is no such thing as a little sin. I will add that God wants us to be people of character and integrity and being that type of person may be inconvenient and it may mean sacrificing some things. It may be beneficial for someone to lie on their taxes in order to get a greater return, but that is dishonest, it is sin, and it is not worth any amount of material gain. Jesus said, “What good is it a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul.” It may be beneficial to steal cable television, to lie a little for your own personal gain, but sometimes we have to have integrity and realize that God blesses those who seek first the kingdom and His righteousness. There is not a sin that is worth the consequences that come as a result of it. Those little things are still called sin, and they still separate us from God. Your conscience may not even be bothered by little things like that, but it is still sin because God sets our standards and we do not. With that in mind – why is it so appealing to sin, even knowing what God says and even knowing the consequences of our sins?
A. Sin is Tempting Because of Pride
I believe most sin is the result of pride. When we choose to sin we are saying that we know better what is best for us than God does. Sin is us choosing what we want over what is right to do. In the story of Genesis we read a slow progression of sin coming into the world.
Genesis 4:3-7
Why would Cain react like this towards his own brother? I believe it is because of pride, because of Cain being jealous that God did not look on his offering with favor and did towards Abel’s. God confronted Cain before he ever responded to his anger. God told him that sin desires to have him, but he must master it. He had a choice at that particular time between doing what was right and doing what was wrong. I believe his pride was so great that he chose to do what was wrong. It wasn’t because he was totally bent on evil, but his pride came in the way. One of the first things that we as humans need to learn is what our place in the world is. We are not the creator, but rather the created. We are not in control, but rather are subject to God. I believe sin is tempting to us at times because sometimes we feel that we are owed something. Many times sin is simple a choice between right and wrong, between doing what God wants and doing what we want. If you are a Christian today, you have submitted yourself to Christ and to the life that God calls us to, that means that we cannot always do what we want when we want it, but must obey God.
B. Sin is Tempting Because of Laws
Have you ever been told you couldn’t do something? It is kind of like the little red button that has a sign that says, “Do not touch”, that is awful because it is a temptation. I really believe a lot of people do the things they do just because they are tempted to do what they are told they cannot do. For example, it is proven that children who are sheltered totally from their parents and told that they cannot do this or they cannot do that, will eventually do those things because of curiosity. When God created Adam and Eve, they lived in an environment where there was no sin; in fact they had direct access to God. God gave them one rule, only one law that they had to obey. He told them they were free to eat of any tree, just not the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Then why in the world did Eve have to do it? I would be willing to bet that the one tree she was told not to eat from looked like the most appealing tree in the garden to her. Perhaps, it is somewhat like a bumper sticker I read that said, “Rules are made for breaking.” One reason that we sin is because of rules, commandments, and laws that are in place.
Romans 7:7-13
The Old Testament is full of rules and regulations that God’s people were expected to follow. One of the purposes we learn in all those, “thou shalt nots” is not to make people miss out on something, but rather to show people what sin is. Sometimes we are tempted to sin because there is a part of our nature that is rebellious and just wants to do what we are told we cannot do.
C. Sin is Tempting Because of Freedom
Freedom can make sin difficult to withstand. Sometimes a parent will give a child some freedom to do certain things and the child will take advantage of that trust. Sometimes we do that as well. While we are not under the Law, we are told that we have freedom in Christ.
Galatians 5:1
That freedom however, can be dangerous to us. We often think that freedom means that we can do whatever we want, whenever we want. The problem is that sin creates for us an illusion of freedom and in the end we begin to seek freedom from God rather than freedom in God. Freedom in Christ does not mean that we have a license to sin or do whatever we want. Freedom comes not by having more things, or by being allowed to do more things, or by having a better longer life, but real freedom comes from the confidence that not even death can rob us of life. I want it to be clear that God is not a warden he is a deliverer, he is not sitting up in the throne room of Heaven thinking of things he can forbid us to do to make our lives miserable, he wants us to live good lives. His laws and his commandments are in place to protect others and us. We though often spend more time dwelling on what God forbids rather than on the many things that He allows. We prefer to think of what he tells us we cannot do rather than thinking about how good He has been to us. I think that becomes a great temptation for us the more we think about it. For many people the freedom that we have in Christ serves as a temptation to live in sin. Paul encountered this same problem with the Romans. He taught them that one of the greatest things about Christ was that where our sin increases grace increases to cover that sin. He then asked the question, should we go on sinning so that grace may increase? His answer was a definite “no”, because we have died to sin and how can we live in it any longer.
D. Sin is Tempting Because of the Flesh
Sometimes when we are faced with temptation we can be blinded to what is right by our desire to please and gratify our flesh right now. If I were to tell you that all sin feels awful, then I would not be telling the truth. There is an extent to where sin is pleasing to the flesh and that is what draws us to it.
I John 2:15-17
We like instant gratification. We want to be pleased right away. We like our food and our service quick and excellent, and if not that we do not consider it adequate. We do not like to wait for anything. Sometimes however the rewards of delaying gratification far outweigh the pleasure of pleasing the flesh. Sin is tempting to us at times because sometimes our minds are set on getting what we want, we are selfish people sometimes.
II. Sin is Controlling
Paul makes it clear and maybe we can all identify with him with the fact that sin is controlling of our lives at times.
A certain man wanted to sell his house and another man wanted to buy it, but because he was poor, he couldn’t afford the full asking price. After much bargaining, the owner agreed to sell the house for half the original price with just one stipulation: he would retain ownership of one small nail protruding from just over the door.
After several years, the original owner wanted the house back, but the new owner was unwilling to sell. So the first owner went out, found the carcass of a dead dog, and hung it from the single nail he still owned. After time passed by and the smell got worse soon the house became unlivable, and the family was forced to sell the house to the owner of the nail.
There are certain dangers when we give the Devil a foothold. Once we allow a little bit of sin into our lives, we open the door for our lives to be controlled by sin.
Romans 8:8
Maybe you have heard the old adage, “sow a thought reap an action, sow an action reap a habit, sow a habit reap a character, sow a character reap a destiny.” There is a lot of truth to that saying. Sin has a way of progressing in our lives. It is not common for someone to wake up one day and decide to be a murderer all of the sudden, usually that action is preceded by many warning signs and thoughts before it. Usually a person does not wake up after living as a faithful Christian and decide to never come to church any more; usually it is a progression of sin that leads to that.
James 1:13-15
Perhaps there are things going on in your life that are not right. Perhaps there are some immoral behaviors, some habits you are ashamed of or some sinful actions that are taking place in your life, and if that is the case today I call you to lay it aside. Perhaps today you may have some things going on in your life that you o not see as that big of a deal: A little lie every now and then, a few movies which are not God honoring, some language which is not proper. If that is the case this morning I want to give you a warning, that sin progresses when we give the Devil a foothold.
At a U.S. arsenal a few years ago, a large cannon lay, marked "Condemned." The attendant pointed out some indentations about the size of a pinhead, which dotted the barrel in a dozen places. They did not appear to go deeper than a 32nd of an inch; and yet the weapon was condemned. There might be a weakness extending through the entire gun, so that in war the mighty engine capable of hurling half a ton of metal, a dozen miles and hitting a target with fine accuracy, might under the heat of battle and the strain of powder, burst into a thousand fragments. Some basic flaw may destroy our characters and ruin others,
We should be people of integrity, character and principle who strive always to do what is right in the eyes of God. So often people want to know what they can get away with, and they want to know where the line is between right and wrong, even if there were always clear lines we should strive to be as far away from that line as possible because we do not want those questionable things or those things that we may consider gray areas to progress to a lifestyle of sin. I have learned that there is always a next step to our sin, and we have a way of justifying what is wrong. If a person is stealing cable television, what is going to stop them from cheating on their taxes, if they do that what is going to stop them from stealing something from a store? Where does the cycle stop? If we justify small sins we may easily find a way to justify other sins? And why is it that we like to justify sin? We try any and every way to make others, ourselves, and God understand why our sin is really okay. We need to stop justifying sin and call it for what it is. I don’t know of any case where a lie is okay, I do not know of any case where lusting is okay. We cannot justify our sin.
Steve Farrar said, “Sin takes you farther than you want to go, keeps you longer than you want to stay, and costs you more than you want to pay.”
The deeper and deeper we get involved with sin, the more controlling it is on our lives.
III. Sin Leads to Death
Scientists studied a native tribe in South America whose people have been dying prematurely for generations. After thorough investigation, the cause of premature death was determined. The disease was transmitted by an insect that lived in the walls of their adobe homes. This new information presented several options. They could move to another area where such insects don’t exist, tear down their homes and rebuild them, use insecticide to rid their homes of the bugs, or, continue as they have and die early. Surprisingly, these people have opted to remain as they are and do nothing about their problem. Many people behave similarly. To save them, they know what they must do; instead, they opt to remain unchanged
Don’t they see that they should have moved in order to save their lives? Why would people be willing to die for something like just wanting to stay in their homes?
National Geographic reported that a 13-foot Burmese python swallowed a 6-foot alligator in Florida. The consequences were lethal, as the gator split the snake open from the inside out, literally. That’s like what sin does to us. We think we have something great, until it destroys us from the inside out
Why would a snake eat something that is deadly? Could the snake not understand that the alligator was a deadly meal? Was it really worth it? I never have understood why people would do things that they know would kill them? Is some habit really worth holding onto and at the same time giving up your life? Sin is like that. Sometimes we like sins so much that we are willing to take the consequences of that sin in order to enjoy the pleasures of that action now.
I believe before anyone can come to Christ they have to first have to realize that they are sinners, and second have to realize the consequences of their sins. There are consequences of sin both in this life and eternally. Before a person can be saved they first have to realize that they are lost.
Romans 6:23
***There is as way out from our sin, but not without the shedding of blood, we must each deal with the wrath of God. We can either do it at death before the judgment seat of Christ, or we can experience the wrath of God through Jesus on the cross of Calvary. He removed sins once for all.
