Whatever Happened to Sin?
1 JOHN 3:1-4
Introduction: President Calvin Coolidge was well-known for being a man of few words, reticent, and straight to the point. There’s a story that after attending church one day, someone apparently asked him what the preacher had preached about. “Sin,” Mr. Coolidge replied. “And what did he have to say about it?” the questioner persisted. After pausing for a moment’s thought, Coolidge replied, “He was against it.”
There was a time when preachers preached against sin and God’s people felt the weight of guilt and shame for their sin. In our world today we have a hard time finding someone willing to admit to sinning. The question must be asked “Whatever has happened to sin?”
I. What has happened to Sin?
A. Sin has been Redefined
1. We live in a day of political correctness. Today it is politically incorrect to call a person "ignorant". Instead he is merely, "factually unencumbered." A person should not be called a "loser"; in its place say he is a "uniquely fortuned individual on an alternative career path." People are not "obnoxious", they are "charismatically impeded."
2. We change sin’s definition from being offense against God to the imperfections. We talk about mistakes or failures.
3. Let me give you a few examples of how we have redefined sin.
• Fornication has become “casual sex”
• Drunkenness has become “chemical dependency”
• Sodomy has become an “alternative lifestyle”
• Pride has become a “superiority complex” or “inflated ego”
• Gossip has been termed “sharing”
4. Some would divide sin into two categories. Some may call it Mortal and Venal, or Big sins and Little sins (you know “whoppers” and “little white lies”).
5. Man may call it “error”; God calls it sin. Man calls it “sickness”; God calls it sin. We live in a day in which man minimizes the seriousness of sin.
B. Sin has been Trivialized
1. We have gotten to the place where we have said sin is no big deal.
2. Proverbs 14:9 “Fools mock at sin…”
3. Sin is trivialized when we make it an exclusively personal matter
• Sins are seen as offenses we commit against ourselves that keep us from realizing our own individual expectations and potentials.
• There is no horizontal scope to our sin believing it hurts no one but me. - Romans 14:7 “For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself.”
• There is no vertical plain to our sin with a belief that they are not offensive to God but keep us from realizing all the fullness a loving God wants for us. - Psalms 51:4 “Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight - that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge.”
C. Sin has been Dismissed
1. Today, the whole idea of sin has been dismissed. As such there is no accountability for one’s actions.
2. Romans 3:23 “All have sinned”
3. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death…”
4. Too many people negate the assumption that we are all sinners deserving of such punishment. They believe that God is too loving and kind to punish sin.
5. The false claim of freedom is seen in the twisting of the words of Paul.
• 1 Corinthians 10:23 “All things are lawful for me…”
• Romans 6:14 “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
Note Verse 15 “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!”
II. What is Sin?
A. Sin is the transgression of the law
1. 1 John 3:4 "Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law"
2. The law is still a valid statement of God’s Holy Character and will.
3. Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”
4. Matthew 5:18 “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.”
5. God’s standard has never changed.
B. Sin is unrighteousness
1. 1 John 5:17 “All unrighteousness is sin…”
2. Adikia – injustice, wrong doing, wrong action, iniquity
3. In Greek mythology, Adikia (Ἀäéêßá) was the goddess and personification of injustice. She was depicted as an ugly person.
4. Leprosy is used as a type or picture of sin and what it does to us spiritually. Leprosy eats away and destroys and disfigures the body a little at a time. Sin eats away and destroys and disfigures us. Sin is ugly and loathsome.
C. Sin is the violation of the conscience
1. Romans 2:11-16 “…there is no partiality with God. For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.”
2. Romans 14:23 “…whatever is not from faith is sin."
3. When you know in your heart something is wrong and you violate your conscience that God has placed in your heart it is sin.
4. A little boy was seen one day lounging around a circus tent. If there is anything in the world tempting to a boy, it is a circus, and knowing this a gentleman said: "Come, Johnny, let us go into time circus." "No," said the boy, "father would not like it." "But your father need not know it," said the man. "But I will know it," said the boy, "and when father comes home tonight I could not look up into his face." Ah, how important! Able to look into our Father’s face. He has been very good to us. No good thing has He withheld from us, and yet so many times we find our selves unable to look into His face. God help us to live so close to Himself, so pure and so holy, that all the time we can be able to look into His face. - L G Broughton
D. Sin is the failure to do what is right.
1. James 4:17 “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
2. Some think like the little girl in a Sunday School Class. A minister was teaching the class about the doctrine of sin. "Now tell me," he said, "what are the sins of OMISSION?" "I think," said one of the girls, "they are the sins we SHOULD have committed, but DIDN’T!" – copied
3. Matthew 23:23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier [matters] of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”
E. One good definition of the word sin is “missing the mark”. Sin is anything that is contrary to the will of God or doesn’t express the holy character of God.
III. How should we do with Sin?
A. Recognize it repugnant to God.
• Proverbs 6:16-19 “These six [things] the LORD hates, Yes, seven [are] an abomination to Him: A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness [who] speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren. “
B. Identify our sin
• Proverbs 28:13 “He that covers his sins shall not prosper but whoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.”
C. Confess our sin
• 1 John 1:8-10 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
D. Forsake our sin
• Isaiah 55:7 “Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.”
