Introduction
A. A huge thanks to my Sunday School class for the lively discussion last week which made the preparation of this sermon extremely easy and hopefully timely.
B. Dr. Chris Thurman, in his book The Lies We Believe, tells the story of Jill.
1. Jill had been a Christian for a long time, was married, and was the mother of three beautiful children.
2. She and her husband had dated for several years before marrying.
3. During the first several months they were dating, Jill became pregnant with his child.
4. As a Christian, she was torn about what to do. Her Christian values told her to marry Dan and keep the baby.
5. At Dan’s urging, however, and since neither of them wanted to get married at the time, Jill chose to abort the baby.
6. Jill became very depressed because this so stringently violated her Christian values.
7. She remained depressed for years.
8. Jill and Dan finally married and began having children, but Jill came to hate herself for what she had done.
9. She was convinced God could never forgive or love her again.
10. She said, “Not only does God hate my sin, but he hates me when I sin. Furthermore, I should hate myself.”
11. Even with sound Christian counseling, Jill continued to hate herself as the only proper way she knew to show remorse for her sin.
C. Consider the woman brought to Jesus.
1. The religious police caught her in the act of adultery—a crime punishable by death.
2. Interestingly, the man wasn’t produced. According to God’s law, he should have been executed as well.
3. Their intentions were not honorable, and their motive was to trap Jesus—not enforce God’s law.
4. Jesus saw through their motives and proposed a question that indicted each one of them, causing them to leave one by one.
5. Only Jesus and the woman remained, and Jesus chose not to condemn her either.
6. Even after being forgiven by Jesus, however, the woman could have fallen into the same trap as Jill and lived a defeated spiritual life.
I. Sin Is Not Acceptable to God
A. In the late 1970’s, we increased our efforts to be politically correct.
1. By being politically correct—whether it applies to race, politics, or religion, an attempt is made not to offend anyone by the terms we use.
2. Being offensive is viewed as being judgmental or perhaps hypocritical.
3. We invent alternative terms so people won’t be offended.
4. Examples: instead of black we used African American, instead of Indian, we used Native American, rather than businessman we used businessperson, instead of plumber we might say serviceperson, instead of short we use vertically challenged, instead of retarded we use mentally challenged, instead of blind we use visually impaired.
B. The effort to be politically correct and non offensive transferred over into the spiritual realm.
1. Telling people they are sinners because of actions or lifestyles they choose became offensive, so we attempted to maneuver around that by calling sin something else.
2. For example: instead of calling homosexuality a sin we simply label it an alternative lifestyle.
3. Or I can give you my blessing regardless of what you do. “If that’s what you want to do, it’s okay. I’ll do my thing and you do yours.”
C. God doesn’t give us the liberty to choose what actions and attitudes we call sin.
1. Regardless of whether or not we offend, we must call sin what God calls it.
2. Others may charge us with being insensitive, offensive, judgmental, or harsh, but sin is sin.
3. Note that Jesus didn’t say to the woman: “Well, it’s okay. The religious leaders call this adultery, but we’ll just call it an alternative lifestyle. You are simply choosing to cheat on your spouse, but that’s your choice. Who am I to interfere?”
D. What is sin?
1. Sin is any action or attitude that breaks God’s laws.
2. It can be demonstrated by appealing to a couple of word pictures.
3. Missing the target. I shoot arrows, but no matter how many times I shoot, I miss the target.
4. Veering from the line. Like an intoxicated person, I can’t walk a straight line or stay on the straight line the policeperson instructs me to walk.
E. Refusing to call sin what God calls it and share with people its consequences allows them to continue on a path they deem acceptable but that has eternal consequences.
F. Sin has never been acceptable to God, and it isn’t now.
G. We must view sin as God does.
II. Sin Must Be Confronted
A. What are the two responses in the story? Jesus’ and the people’s who brought the adulterous woman.
1. Their response to sin was probably a mixture of sincerity and hypocrisy.
2. They were aware of what God’s law said, but they were also attempting to trap Jesus.
3. They brought the woman but let the man off scot free.
4. What about Jesus’ response? Sometime we quit reading at the “Neither do I condemn you” part. But there’s more. “Go and sin no more.” A confrontation—albeit in a loving manner.
5. Jesus didn’t condemn her as a person, but neither did he put his stamp of approval on her sinful actions.
6. Did she receive forgiveness? Forgiveness was there for the asking. We aren’t told whether she asked for it or not.
7. He didn’t condemn, but he didn’t condone. He offered forgiveness.
B. How should we confront sin?
1. In the most loving and compassionate way we can, but confront it we must.
2. Failing to confront sin actually shows our lack of love for others. If we don’t care that people ruin their lives and eternity with sin, how can we say we love them.
3. We are bound by God to lovingly attempt to move people from the wide path they are traveling to the narrow path Jesus says we must walk to find forgiveness.
4. We don’t have to be judgmental, condemnatory, or harsh. We can love people to God and forgiveness.
III. No Sin Is Beyond God’s Forgiveness
A. Is there an unpardonable sin?
1. Jesus once faced accusers who attributed his divine powers to Satan. He said this was unpardonable.
2. Can this sin be repeated today? Dr. Charles Stanley thinks not because Jesus isn’t personally here. I concur with his conclusion.
3. Jill thought abortion was the unpardonable sin. Many others have assumed it was suicide.
B. I propose that the only unpardonable sin is persistent unbelief until the end of one’s life. God can’t forgive unbelief. There are no second chances after death. All other sins are forgivable.
C. The only sin that will send a person to hell is failing to believe in Jesus Christ.
IV. False Guilt Is Paralyzing
A. There are two types of guilt.
1. True Guilt- the guilt we experience when we have broken God’s commands. It is spawned by the presence and convicting power of the Holy Spirit.
2. False Guilt- guilt heaped on us by Satan because he wants us to feel like we’ve been too bad for God to forgive or that a particular sin is too enormous for God to forgive. If he can laden us with false guilt, it will destroy our relationships and our usefulness to God.
3. Jill had false guilt. God had forgiven her for the abortion, but she couldn’t forgive herself or believe God had forgiven her. As a result, she was plagued by depression, and this affected her relationship with her husband and children.
4. The adulterous woman could have succumbed to the same had she believed her sin was too great for Jesus to forgive or that she was unusable to him because of her lifestyle.
B. False guilt will paralyze and divide our minds.
1. God will forgive the sin regardless of what it is.
2. We can then live in the freedom of knowing that all our sins are forgiven in Christ. He paid for them. He was the perfect sacrifice.
3. It is imperative that we believe God takes care of all our sins at salvation—not just the ones we’ve committed up until that point. This doesn’t give us cause to recklessly continue in sin, but it does soothe our minds and keeps false guilt at bay.
4. Dying with unconfessed sin is assured for almost—if not, everyone. Knowing God has forgiven all our sins in Christ gives peace of mind and prevents false guilt, worry, and anxiety.
Conclusion:
A. We can’t overlook or diminish the reality of sin and its consequences.
B. We can rest in God’s forgiveness of all our sins.
