The Outrageousness of Sin
Proverbs 14:34
We live in a day of tolerance. Bill Muehlenberg in his blog, CultureWatch, says, “Tolerance is all the rage today, and perhaps no other value is so trumpeted in modern Western culture than this one. It is the ultimate test of whether one is politically correct or not. But the modern notion of tolerance is devastatingly false. Unlike the original understanding of the term, in which we were expected to put up with those that we strongly disagreed with, now the word has come to mean something altogether different. Today it means to accept, embrace, endorse and coddle the ideas, beliefs, worldviews, ideologies, practices, behaviors and actions of others, no matter how much they may be repulsive to us.” Someone else has said, “The kind of behavior that once brought disgrace now brings book, movie, and television contracts." As a society, we have lost the ability to blush or to view our actions as sinful. Sadly many professed Christians have embraced this idea of tolerance and as a result have lost sight of the outrageousness of sin. Many professing Christians and church members have never truly come to grips with sin, what sin is or how God looks at it. To a degree in all our churches there are a number of people who profess to know Christ as their Lord and Savior who are clearly not faithful to Him. Their lives pretty much have remained the same after their profession of faith; with the exception that now they are identified as Christians because they are members of a church.(copied) We need to understand that sin is offensive the dedicated believer, is an insult to the Savior, and invites the wrath of God.
I. Sin offends the dedicated believer.
A. Outrage = appall, disgust, revolt, nauseate
B. Proverbs 14:34 “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”
C. Proverbs 29:27 “An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous,”
D. Revelation 2:2 “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil.” AMP – “you cannot tolerate evil”
E. There’s an old story about a man who tried to save the city of Sodom from destruction by warning the citizens. But the people ignored him. One day someone asked, “Why bother everyone? You can’t change them.” “Maybe I can’t,” the man replied, “but I still shout and scream to prevent them from changing me!”
Lot was a righteous man (2 Peter 2:7) who should have done some screaming. The record of his life reminds us of how our sense of moral indignation can be dulled by the world. Lot chose to dwell in cities where there was great wickedness (Gen. 13:12,13). When Sodom was invaded by hostile kings, he was captured. Even after Abraham rescued Lot, he was still drawn back to that wicked city (Gen. 19:1). And the last chapter of his story is an account of heartache and shame (Gen. 19). What a contrast—this nephew and his uncle! Abraham trusted God, prayed for the righteous, and lived a moral life. But Lot was “oppressed with the filthy conduct of the wicked” (2 Peter 2:7). Although the sin of his day bothered him, he apparently said little about it. - Our Daily Bread
F. Living in the presence of sin causes us to become desensitized to it.
A fertilized field smells awful to a person from the city, but the farmer hardly notices the odor.
G. Romans 12:9 “Abhor what is evil.”
H. The story is told of a man who sold his house for an incredible bargain with just one stipulation: he would retain ownership of one small nail protruding over the door. After several years, he wanted the house back, but the new owner was unwilling to sell it. So the first owner went out, found the carcass of a dead dog, and hung it from the single nail he still owned. Soon the house became unlivable and the family was forced to sell the house to the owner of the nail. If we leave even one small sin in our life Satan will hang his rotting garbage on it.
I. Sin: Will take you further than you want to go, Keep you longer then you want to stay, and, Cost you more than you want to pay. – unknown
J. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 “Abstain from all appearance of evil”
K. Ill. – Brownies with a mystery ingredient
L. Psalms 101:3 “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.”
II. Sin insults the Savior
A. Outrage = deliberate disrespect, affront, profane
B. 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
C. 1 Peter 2:24 (ESV) “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.”
D. When a believer sins He takes lightly with a careless disregard what Jesus Christ did for them on the cross in bearing the punishment for their sin.
E. When we sin continually with a careless disregard or indifference for living a holy separated life we say to Christ that we really don’t love Him more than our sin.
F. “A proper love for God necessarily involves a hatred for sin that leads to repentance. That should be obvious. Who wouldn't understand that? If we truly love someone we seek their best interests. Their well being is our greatest concern. If a man says to his wife, "I love you but I could care less what happens to you," we would rightly question his love for her. True love seeks the highest good of its object.” – copied
G. John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
H. John 14:23 “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
I. Thomas Watson (1620-1686) said, “Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.”
J. The sins of the godly are worse than others, because they bring a greater reproach upon religion. For the wicked to sin, there is no other expected from them; swine will wallow in the mire; but when sheep do so, when the godly sin, that redounds to the dishonour of the Gospel: "By this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme." - Thomas Watson
III. Sin provokes the wrath of the Father
A. 1 John 1:5-6, “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth
B. Outrage = indignation, incense, displease
C. Psalm 5:4-6 “For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak lies: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. “
D. Psalms 7:11 “God judges the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.”
E. Isaiah 13:11” And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.”
F. Ill - The 18th century was a remarkable time of divine awakenings. Throughout New England the Spirit of God invaded one community after another, bringing the spiritually dead to life, and transforming the worship of churches. During this era awakening appeared to follow the strong doctrinal preaching of the evangelical pastors, often setting forth the righteousness and severity of God in justice before broaching the subject of the gospel of grace. It was not that there were no professing Christians in these villages. Each little community had a village church with many of the townspeople having been baptized into membership. But there was little spiritual reality until the Spirit of God blew in gale force upon the dry, dusty corpses of church members. Like Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones, upon the preaching of the Word, the Spirit of God breathed life. One such village was the town of Enfield, Connecticut. Though neighboring villages had tasted of the goodness of God in spiritual awakening, they had not. They remained stubborn and defiant, self-satisfied with an outward form of religion; playing Christian we might say, without knowing the peril before them. On July 8, 1741, Jonathan Edwards arose as a substitute preacher to declare before them the word of the Lord, accompanied by his friend and co-laborer, Eleazer Wheelock who was later founder of Dartmouth College. The sermon was not new to Edwards since he had preached it previously in his own church of Northampton, MA. Without any pulpit antics, Edwards carefully followed his manuscript, delivering a picture of divine judgment upon sinful men, particularly upon those who were the baptized members of the Enfield church and yet gave no evidence of regenerate life. It was based upon a text from Deuteronomy 32:35, "Their foot shall slide in due time." Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God was no delicate, entertaining sermon, but a striking exaltation of God in his righteousness and exposing of man in his sinfulness. The effect of the sermon was immediate. Wheelock reported to a friend that these "thoughtless and vain" people were changed before the sermon ended so that they were "bowed down with an awful conviction of their sin and danger." _ Copied
G. We need to recapture in our hearts and minds that God abhors our sin.
Conclusion: Sin invites God’s anger and insults our Savior therefore:
• As believers we ought to be convicted and offended by sin.
• We need to realize our sins are an affront to our Savior.
• We should be fully aware that God doesn’t treat any sin lightly.
• Hebrews 10:31 “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
• I remember listening to Dr. Adrian Rogers proclaiming from behind the pulpit, “Your sin will either be pardoned in Christ or it will be punished in hell.”
• Proverbs 28:13, “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”
• 1John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
