Sermon- What has become of sin?
- In studying Hosea we talked a little about the openness of sin before the fall of
northern Israel.
- The way sin works is, it comes in as a mere thought. Then comes the response to
the thought, & sin is produced. Then when sin is produced, then comes death.
- From James 1:15
- There is an interim between the sin & death.
Q- Do you know what that interim is?
- It’s a time of repentance.
- It’s the moment you regret what you’ve done, & you turn from it to our forgiving
God.
Q- Now, What’s happened to sin?
- Throughout History Sin has been a topic that we know what it is, but we don’t talk
about it.
- We know not to do it, or encourage others to do it.
- As we studied Hosea we’ve learned there was a complete rejection of moral
character, but what was most notable was that this falling away came because little
by little God was forgotten about.
- In each year the youth would look at what is clearly wrong, & say no that’s ok.
- When sin has conceived, then comes death.
Jude 17-19
17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
- Prayer
- The image Jude portrays to us is, they walk after their own lusts.
- The idea I get from this statement is, they’re saying we’re doing nothing wrong, so
leave us alone.
- The decline of man begins with us saying, I’ve done nothing wrong.
> Pa Won’t Like It (mr-funny.com)
A farm boy accidentally overturned his wagon load of corn.
The farmer who lived nearby heard the noise and yelled over to the boy,
“Hey Willis, forget your troubles. Come in and visit with us.
I’ll help you get the wagon up later.”
“That’s mighty nice of you,” Willis answered,
“but I don’t think Pa would like me to.”
“Aw come on boy,” the farmer insisted.
“Well okay,” the boy finally agreed, and added, “but Pa won’t like it.”
After a hearty dinner, Willis thanked his host.
“I feel a lot better now, but I know Pa is going to be real upset.”
“Don’t be foolish!” the neighbor said with a smile.
“By the way, where is he?”
“Under the wagon.” Says the boy innocently.
A. Now we would call that overlooking sin.
- We find any excuse we can to make the sin go away.
- So, When we choose to overlook our own sin, we excuse the sin of someone
else’s.
Q- What does that lead to?
B. We condone sin.
Q- Who am I to call something sin, or someone else a sinner?
- They’re no different from me, & I’m not bad.
- Here’s where it fits to our season of Halloween.
- There’s a name for what this way of thinking is called. Let me read it to you.
1 Timothy 4:1-2
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
- It’s called a doctrine of devils, or demons.
- If we’re all ok, & nobody is bad, then there is no need for a Savior.
- It’s a doctrine that we don’t even know we’re presenting, because we think we’re
just being polite.
- We think that I’m not perfect, but surely I’m not bad enough to be sentenced to an
eternity of torment.
- The same mode of thinking goes towards family, friends, acquaintances. We
say, surely the are not bad enough to be sentenced to eternity in Hell.
- Listen, There is a very real Hell, & a lot of people that believe they’re ok will go
there. (There’s no question to that!)
- Mankind was born into sin, & nothing will remove that stain of sin, except the
blood of Jesus.
- Back up in Jude to verse 4, Let’s read it carefully.
- The condoning of sin is revealed in this verse.
Jude 1:4
4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
- The Words, Before of old.
Q- Do you know what that means?
- That means years before, what this person did was called sin, but now it’s
overlooked, condoned, & now it’s accepted.
C. Sin is accepted.
- God is a God of Love.
- Reading the ideas of another religion, their view is there is no Hell because
scripture doesn’t support it & it’s contrary to God’s Love.
- Jesus says Hell 15 times in the Gospels, & you can find it mentioned 27 more
times throughout the New Testament.
- Yet That popular belief, there is no Hell, I’d widely believed by many people.
- It’s a doctrine of demons.
- It’s sin that has been overlooked, condoned, & accepted.
- If you have all three of these in a culture it’s obvious we’re in a decline, because we’re
going to be doing the next step.
D. Practicing sin
- If we had no laws, because we’re all adults & know better. no matter how heinous the
crime may be, somebody would still do the crime, because it’s legal to do it.
- We know we can’t steal from a retailer, or business, but if there’s no law saying
you can’t, People will!
- That’s Why we have a Righteous God, & a Righteous Judge.
- He knows everything I have done, & will ever do.
- He does for every single one of you too.
- With these things happening there’s only one thing left that finishes it off.
- In a culture that’s in decline, they’re overlooking, condoning, accepting, & practicing
sin.
Q- What comes next?
E. Hostility
Q- Can you imagine what would happen if any of us just walked up to someone & told
them you’re a nasty old sinner, & doomed for Hell?
- I don’t think we’d get too kindly of a response!
- Now, the statement does hold some truth, you know except for the nasty part,
but when the wrong has been accepted for so long to hear something right
goes against the grain.
- We don’t want to hear stuff like that.
- It’s kind of like the statement, hey, you’re going bald. Your response, gee
thanks, I hadn’t noticed.
- That’s What has happened to sin.
- Listen again,
Jude 18
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
- We, Who have been changed, made anew, are called to a higher plane than what the
doctrine of demons has to offer.
- Let me begin to close with this last scripture.
Psalm 97:10
10 Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.
- We look to God who is the author & finisher of our faith.
- He wrote it that you must be saved by the blood of Jesus.
- I didn’t write it, but He did, & if He said it, it must be true!
- With this I close.
> On December 24, 1968 Astronauts Bill Anders, Jim Lovell, & Frank Borman read from
Genesis 1:1-10, to what was the most watched television shows of the time, as they
orbited the moon.
Q- With that amazing feat, why do we think that’s amazing?
- It’s because we know that would be intolerable now, & immediately
condemned.
- What has happened to sin?
