As humans, we tend to take the truth of God and wrap it around what we are comfortable with, thereby ending up with a comfortable untruth. There was a little boy explaining things to his younger sister.
He said, “Jesus’ job was to die for us because we sin. Our job is to sin to make His death all worthwhile.”
Now, we see the stupidity of such a statement, but we miss the stupidity in other statements, such as the virgin birth is only a symbol – that it never really happened. We miss the fact that there really is a hell of such fearful proportions that we cannot begin to understand it. There are many so-called Christians out there today who teach that there is no hell, that it, too, is a symbol.
Today, I want to talk to you about something that many American churches today like to avoid. I want to talk to you about the truth of your sin and the consequences of that sin.
How would it make you feel if I said that you were a sinner? As your friend, I would hope that doesn’t upset you, but as your pastor, I hope it does. Let me explain.
There is an old saying that says, “Friends don’t let friends go to hell.” That is a true statement. There is another saying: “A loving God wouldn’t send anyone to hell.” That is also a true statement. But what we always seem to forget is that God doesn’t send anyone to hell; we send ourselves!
But for us to acknowledge that, we would have to acknowledge that we are the ones who are doing something wrong - that we are the ones who are sinning, and humans don’t like to look at ourselves and see bad things, do we?
PSALM 5:4-5
‘You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with You the wicked cannot dwell. The arrogant cannot stand in Your presence; You hate all who do wrong.’
PSALM 34:15-16
‘The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their cry; the face of the Lord is against those who do evil – to cut off the memory of them from the earth.’
These verses and many others remind us that God passionately loves those who love Him, but no matter how much He loves His creation, He still hates sin. I think we, as God’s people, need to be reminded often about something most churches don’t want to talk about today. That is the seriousness of sin.
· Man calls sin an accident; God calls it an abomination.
· Man calls sin a defect; God calls it a disease
· Man calls sin a chance; God calls it choice.
· Man calls sin fascination; God calls it fatality.
· Man calls sin a luxury; God calls it leprosy.
· Man calls sin no big deal; God calls it the biggest of deals.
Let us consider …
1. THE PENALTY FOR SIN
GENESIS 3:14
‘So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock and the wild animals. You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.’
God cursed Satan, and for him there is no remedy; he is doomed, defeated and damned. His eternal fate is sealed because of the hatred he has for the Most High God. And there will be a day when that sentence will be carried out in full.
Have you noticed how today’s churches have softened hell down to where it is almost a good place to go? That is because we have softened God’s word down to where it is almost meaningless to us. In reality, there is an end time for each of us, and there is a hell that those who do not follow Jesus Christ will go to.
REVELATION 20:10
‘And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of burning sulpher, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.’
But the devil was not the only one full of evil that day in the Garden. Man’s heart was also full of evil. And because of that, God also cursed man for his sin.
GENESIS 3:16-17
‘To the woman, God said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you.” To Adam, He said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you not to eat, Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.’
That was a pretty harsh punishment, wasn’t it? But there is something else mankind likes to forget. Punishment is only given when something wrong has been done! Adam and Eve broke the trust that God had in them because they focused only on what they wanted, not on what they needed. They did the same as we do today.
Let me zero in on something else while we are in this verse. In the last sentence of verse 16, God tells the woman she will have a desire for her husband. Men like to think that God meant the woman will fall I love with him and want him in her life. This is a wrong teaching.
By having a desire for her husband, God was saying that she will have a desire to rule over him, but God said he would rule over her. How many TV programs show the wife in charge, and the husband being portrayed as a bumbling fool? How many wives actually argue about everything with their husbands rather than showing the respect that God commanded them to have?
EPHESIANS 5:22
‘Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church.’
EPHESIANS 5:33 b
‘ … and the wife must respect her husband.’
So, we see where, by God’s design, the woman should not be like Eve and try to dominate her husband, or dispute every single thing he says, but she should be as God intended her to be; loving and respectful. And as for the ‘obey’ part of His instruction, you must remember that as we obey Christ through the church, she needs to obey Christ through her husband.
But God didn’t just leave it at that. He put the weight of where the household goes on the husband’s shoulders.
EPHESIANS 5:25
‘Husbands, love your wives just s Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her …’
Ladies, did you know that your husband is willing to give up his very life just to keep you safe? He is willing to die for you. The next time you squabble at him, remember that. And husbands, if your wife is going to work at being respectful to you, don’t you think the least you can do is be civil and loving in your actions and words to her?
I have long said that the husband is unable to properly carry all the responsibility by himself, and that is why he needs the wife. God knew this, and that is why He created the wife to be the helpmate. That is a funny word we don’t talk a lot about, isn’t it? It has two parts; help and mate. The first part, “help” is pretty self-explanatory, but we forget what the second part means. “Mate” is an equal, a half of the whole.
That is why, during marriage ceremonies, I always include how God did not take a bone from Adam’s head so he could be her boss, and God never took a bone from Adam’s foot so Adam could walk all over Eve. God took a rib from Adam, so the two could then walk side by side into their life as partners in all things.
Now, let’s get back to the Garden of Eden before I upset everybody this morning!
The Garden of Eden was perfection in every sense of the word. God made it specifically as a gift for His creation; mankind. Adam was the caretaker of the garden, but I suspect it wasn’t that much of a job. For the most part, I would think Adam’s day was spent looking forward to walking and talking with God in the coolness of the evening shade. But, because the creation that God loved so much turned their backs on Him, God cursed all of nature.
GENESIS 3:18-19
‘It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food until you return to the ground since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.’
After that, man died spiritually instantly, and he began to die physically a little at the time. What does death mean? It means separation. Upon a sinner’s death, the body and spirit are separated. The body will decompose into dust and the spirit will enter into eternity apart from God, never again having the chance to be reconciled through His grace.
That is the penalty of sin; dust and separation.
Now, let us …
2. APPLY GOD’S RULES PERSONALLY
Even though the Supreme Court of these United States seems to be unaware of it, the Ten Commandments were written for everyone to see. God did not want His rules hidden from anybody’s view.
Many of our laws are written in legalese, where only attorneys can understand them. And because of this type of wording, things called loopholes were created which lets some people get away with doing wrong.
But God wrote His rules so clearly that anyone of any age can fully understand them. And because they are so clear, there are no loopholes found in them. In other words, we will be held strictly accountable to them, and nobody will be able to slide by on technicalities.
How many of you remember seeing the Far Side cartoons in the paper? They had a knack for making us see the obvious.
In one cartoon, there were a group of scientists standing in the middle of a room, with one scientist in the middle. the one in the middle was normal looking, but the others looked like hideous monsters. They were trying to get the normal looking guy to take a drink out of a steaming jar. The caption read: "Scientific peer pressure."
If people could just see how hideous sin is, and how much it distorts them, they would stay away from it.
Several years ago, a company produced a new soap. They needed a slogan that would stick in people’s minds. One of the developers offered this slogan:
‘The alkaline elements and vegetable fats in this soap are blended in such a way as to secure the high quality of saporificaton, along with a specific gravity that keeps in on top of the water – so the bather doesn’t have to search for it while bathing.’
Talk about a mouthful saying nothing! An advertising executive looked at the soap and came up with this slogan; ‘It floats!’
God speaks to us in that kind of language; direct, to the point, and simple enough for anyone to understand.
In the Old Testament, God gave laws for everyone to obey. There were ten simple laws of instruction. They were very clear and they were not complicated.
The religious leaders of the day poured their earthly minds to these ten laws and turned them in to over 600 laws that people were expected to keep. It was impossible. Let me give you an example.
They said a man could do nothing on the Sabbath, that he must stay very close to his home. Of course that was ridiculous, so man also came up with a way to circumvent that law. They said that were a man’s mat was, that was his home. So they would pick up their mats and go this short distance and lay the mat down. They were following the law, right?
Then, since that was home now, they could go another few feet and lay the mat down again. This was their new home. They would keep repeating this over and over until they got to where they were going, all the while keeping the man-made laws.
We do the same today. Rather than just look at the Ten Commandments, and realize that all are fulfilled through Christ, we come up with our different rules that must be followed. Here is an example.
One church I attended said the Table of Communion had to be in the front of the sanctuary, as “any other place detracts from the faith in Jesus.” I personally believe that it doesn’t matter at all where you put the emblems of Communion, as the only thing that matters is the heart that you receive them in. See, it is nothing about man and his laws, but all about God and His laws.
But we take the things of God and distort them and change them to where we are comfortable with them. It seems that our agenda is not so much to satisfy God but to satisfy ourselves.
A small boy and his mother went into a small store. While they were in there, the owner held out a jar with lollipops in it and told the boy he could take a few if he wanted to. The boy held back, however, so the owner of the shop reached in, grabbed a handful and gave them to the boy.
Later, the mother asked the boy why he hesitated. The boy said because the shop owner had a much larger hand than he did and could grab more suckers. This boy had a secret agenda, didn’t he? It was a selfish agenda. And mankind tends to live his life with secret and selfish agendas, too.
Why are we here? If you ask a group of people on the street that question, the majority of the answers will be, ‘To be happy and enjoy life.’ How very sad. There is no place in the Bible where it says we are to be happy and enjoy our lives.
We were created for one purpose, and that was to have a close personal fellowship with our Creator, the Most High God. But since our sinful hearts turned away from him, mankind has been condemned to spiritual death ever since.
Now, our job is two-fold: To receive our Savior, Jesus Christ, and to help others do the same. That’s it, folks. Now that will not make you happy. It will, however, give you joy. What’s the difference? Happiness is a moment-to-moment feeling whereas joy is a continual emotion that cannot be damaged by the things of this world.
1 PETER 4:17
‘For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God – and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?’
If we are to enter heaven, we must apply God’s rules personally, and that includes having a very real and very personal relationship with Jesus as Christ.
And that brings me to the best news of all …
3. A PARDON IS AVAILABLE TO ALL
You are here this morning, not to just come to church, but to realize the absolute truth of God. Jesus Christ is not “just” the figurehead of a religion, but He is salvation itself, He is the Gospel of God.
We need salvation through Jesus, because there is no salvation by only following rules.
GALATIANS 3:11
‘Clearly, no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith, and the law is not based on faith…’
EPHESIANS 2:8 tells us that we have been saved (given a pardon for our sins) through God’s grace – through faith (our faith in Jesus as our Christ.)
In GALATIANS 3:13, we are told that we are redeemed through Christ alone.
JOHN 8:36 tells us that if Christ has set us free, we are free indeed!
We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God, but we all have a full pardon available to us if we will only receive it. That pardon is by having faith in Jesus as our Savior. Scripture tells us that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And we can only come to the father through Him.
In 1 JOHN 2:22-23 clearly state:
‘Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist – he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father, but whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.’
What Jesus suffered on that cross will never be fully understood by men, but we do know one thing for sure; and that is He did it for us. We were guilty of sin, and the wages of that sin is death.
Christ, however, took the guilty verdict upon Himself. He also took the punishment upon Himself. He sacrificed His life because He loves us. Are we now willing to sacrifice earthly pleasures for Him? Do we love Him that much – or not?
Paul talks about receiving the prize at the end of the race. Exactly what is that prize?
Let me read to you a very special passage.
REVELATION 22:1-3a
‘Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal – flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And there shall be no more curse’
What a glorious scene of heaven! What a wonderful prize for those who receive Jesus as their Christ.
In REVELATION 21:4, we read where God will wipe every tear from our eyes, that there will be no more death or suffering. That is what awaits the true believer; the ones who have knelt down to the Lord with humble heart.
But, there is another eternity, too. That is the eternity for those who have been stiff-necked and prideful. Oh, they are not all bad people. Most of them are very good people, and many go to church.
REVELATION 20:14-15
‘ … the lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown also into the lake of fire.’
We have been talking about sin and the consequences of sin this morning. Please understand that hell is a very real place, and it is your choice whether or not you go there.
You might be sitting here thinking that you are a good person and do not understand how you could be sinning. Let me give you a few examples of how many church folks sin.
They worship the idea of going to church, doing things in the church, and even being in charge of some things in the church. But they do not go to church primarily to worship Jesus and fall at His feet in humble love. They are focused on themselves instead of Jesus, and that is the sin.
Some people do not tolerate different opinions from others, and are quick to show that intolerance. If Jesus was about loving our neighbors, how can we say we are of Jesus if we do not likewise love our neighbors? God calls this judgmental, and He considers that a sin.
There are a few things about sin you must know. Satan will wrap it in the prettiest of papers and he will tie it with the most beautiful of bows. But when you unwrap it, it is still hideous and unGodly sin. It will take you where you never thought about going, it will keep you there much longer than you ever planned on staying, and it will cost you much more than you were ever willing to pay.
Satan says it is okay; God says you will die. Who are you listening to? Sin doesn’t have to be something major or what we would consider shameful. Sin is often nothing more than focusing on yourself instead of Jesus. And we all do that to some degree.
Today might be your day to come forward as a public statement that you are refocusing on our Lord Jesus.
INVITATION
