### **Introduction – “AAAUGHH!”**
Video Ill.: Goulash — The Skit Guys
It has been a few weeks since we started our series The Gospel According to Peanuts, so let us take a moment to remind ourselves where we have been and why we are here.
This series is all about taking the timeless truths of the gospel and seeing them through the lens of Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic strips. Schulz had a unique gift of weaving big truths into small moments — and that is exactly what we are doing together. Each week we are looking at a core part of the gospel message and asking: How can we share this with the people around us in ways that are natural, personal, and true?
Back in the first message, we looked at The Whole Trouble. We learned that the trouble with us… is us. Sin is not just a bad habit here and there — it runs deep in our nature. We cannot fix it by ourselves. We cannot try harder to clean up. We need a rescue from above — and that rescue is found in Jesus Christ.
Today we are taking the next step. If sermon one diagnosed the problem, today is about what we do next — how we respond to sin. Sin always pays its wages — it leads to death, destruction, and despair — but God offers us a choice: keep running from Him or turn toward Him and find life.
And that is what we will see as we dive back into Peanuts together today.
And that brings us to today’s message: The Wages of Sin is ‘Aaaughh!’ If last time we identified the problem, today we are talking about the panic we feel living with that problem — and the desperate ways we try to fix it.
Charles Schulz illustrated it perfectly in a strip where Linus is absolutely beside himself because his blanket is in the wash.
**FRAME 1**
Linus: Oh, how I hate Mondays!
Lucy: Relax!
**FRAME 2**
Linus: How can I relax with my blanket in the wash? Why does she have to wash it anyway? It wasn’t very dirt!
**FRAME 3**
Linus (yelling): I GOTTA HAVE THAT BLANKET!
**FRAME 4**
Lucy is running off.
**FRAME 5**
Linus: I can’t breathe! The walls are closing in on me! I’m getting weak! Gasp-gasp-help me, somebody! Help me!!!
**FRAME 6**
Linus: AAAUGHH!
**FRAME 7**
Lucy (running back on scene, blanket in hand): HOLD ON! HERE IT COMES!
**FRAME 8**
Linus: SAVED!
Lucy: From the WASHER to the DRYER to YOU!
**FRAME 9**
Linus: SIGH!
Lucy: I guess he’ll be all right now.
**FRAME 10**
Lucy: In medical circles that is known as the application of a spiritual tourniquet!
Linus is gasping for air, in almost a full panic — until Lucy comes running back with his blanket and he sighs with relief. It is funny, but it also hits a little close to home. Like Linus, we grab hold of things to get us through — but those things are just tourniquets. They cannot actually heal us. And just like Linus, we need a rescuer.
This morning, we have a decision to make about the sin in our lives. The wages of sin always pay out — but we get to choose whether we stay in despair or accept the gift of life in Christ.
### **I. Sin Always Pays Its Wages**
We can be sure of one thing this morning: sin always pays its wages.
A Woman Walking Down A Residential Street, ...
By Dave McFadden
Copied from Sermon Central
Consider the story about a woman who was walking down a street in her neighborhood and noticed a little old man rocking in a chair on his porch. She called out to him as she passed. "Hello there! I couldn’t help but notice how happy you look. What’s your secret for a long happy life?"
The man said, "I smoke three packs of cigarettes a day. I also drink a case of whiskey a week, eat nothing but fast food, and never exercise."
"Wow!" The woman was amazed. "How old are you?" she asked.
"Twenty-six," he replied.
A Really Dumb Thief
By Dr. Larry Petton
Copied from Sermon Central
Then there was the story about a thief in Seattle, Washington. The young thief decided to siphon gas from Dennis Quigley’s motor home.
Any thief knows that the easiest way to steal gasoline from a car is to siphon it from the other guy’s tank into your own. Stick a rubber hose in his gas tank, suck on the other end of the rubber hose until you get a mouth full of the gas, then spit it out. From then on, the gasoline will flow into your tank.
Makes perfect sense, right?
Well, Dennis, who was inside his motor home, heard the noises outside. When he went outside to investigate the situation, he found the thief curled up on the ground vomiting violently. What in the world happened?
The thief made a serious mistake. Intending to suck up the gasoline from the gas tank, he somehow put his hose into the wrong hole on the RV.........and, unfortunately, sucked up the sewage tank instead!!!!
The dumb thief turned out to be a teenage boy, age 14. However, he was not prosecuted and no charges were pressed. Dennis and the police agree that the boy had suffered enough already!!!
This is what Paul is talking about in Romans 6:23:
23 … [T]he wages of sin is death…. (Romans 6, NLT)
Or as another translation says:
23 You get what is coming to you when you sin. It is death! (Romans 6, NLV)
Sin is not neutral. It always pays — and its currency is death. You cannot cheat it, outrun it, or outsmart it.
In one strip, Charles Schulz reminds us that we cannot outsmart or ignore sin.
The strip goes like this:
**FRAME 1**
Boy: (to Charlie Brown) I’ve got this whole Santa Claus bit licked, Charlie Brown!
**FRAME 2**
Boy: If there IS a Santa Claus, he’s going to be too nice not to bring me anything for Christmas no matter HOW I act…right? RIGHT!
**FRAME 3**
Boy: And if there ISN’T any Santa Claus, then I haven’t really lost anything! Right?
**FRAME 4**
Charlie Brown, to himself: WRONG! But I don’t know where!
**Key thought:** Hoping God will “just be nice” is not faith — it is gambling with our eternity. Sin always pays its wages, and unless something or someone merciful intervenes, it will pay us exactly what we deserve.
### **II. We All Run Somewhere**
Since sin always pays a wage, we must each decide where to run — because we all run somewhere.
There’s a strip that should make us stop and think.
**FRAME 1**
Charlie Brown and Linus are walking along. Charlie Brown says to Linus: What if everyone was like you?
**FRAME 2**
Charlie Brown: What if we all ran away from our problems? Huh? What then?
**FRAME 3**
Charlie Brown: What if everyone in the whole world suddenly decided to run away from his problems??
**FRAME 4**
Linus: Well, at least we’d all be running in the same direction!
It is funny — but also uncomfortably true. When we run from our problems, where are we actually going? If we are running in the same direction as the world, then we are running headlong toward destruction.
Scripture is very clear about this. Jesus said in Matthew 7:
13 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” (Matthew 7, NLT)
You see, when we run, we are always running in one of two directions. When we feel the guilt, pain, and weight of our sin, we will either:
Run away from God – numbing ourselves with the vices of this world, avoiding responsibility, or blaming others.
Run toward God – confessing, repenting, and finding forgiveness in Him.
The direction we choose makes all the difference.
**Key Thought:** The direction we run determines whether we find freedom or remain in spiritual slavery.
The truth is, we are all runners. The question is not if we run, but where we run. And running in the right direction still does not solve the whole problem.
Even if we run toward God, we soon discover that we do not have the strength to fix what is broken inside of us. We can run to Him, but we cannot change ourselves.
And that is why we need more than a new direction — we need a Rescuer.
### **III. Tourniquets Will Not Save Us**
Why? Because, third this morning, our spiritual tourniquets, our security blankets, will not save us.
Remember the opening comic strip with Linus and his blanket?
Linus is panicking because his beloved security blanket is in the wash. As the minutes drag on, his anxiety escalates—he can hardly breathe, feels the walls closing in, and finally cries out in desperation, “AAAUGHH!”
Lucy rushes in, fresh from the dryer, and hands him the blanket. Linus immediately calms down, sighing with relief as Lucy observes, “In medical circles that is known as the application of a spiritual tourniquet!”
It is funny — and so true. We all have our “spiritual tourniquets,” the things we cling to when we are hurting or scared: habits, entertainment, substances, relationships, busyness, or just burying ourselves in work. They may help us cope for a little while, but they do not solve the problem.
A tourniquet is designed to temporarily stop the bleeding, but it cannot permanently heal the wound.
Illustration: The Band-Aid vs. The Cure
Imagine someone with a deep, infected wound on their arm.
They know something is wrong — it hurts, it is swollen, it is bleeding — but instead of seeing a doctor, they just put a Band-Aid on it. For a while, the Band-Aid hides the problem. It even feels a little better to cover it up.
But the infection is still there. Underneath, it is getting worse.
Eventually, no amount of Band-Aids will stop the pain. What they really need is a doctor to clean out the wound, treat the infection, and bring true healing.
When it comes to sin, what we need is not just a little relief — a band-aid — excuses, distractions, and quick fixes. While those might make the moment feel better, the real problem is still there. We need the cure — Jesus.
That is why Paul’s cry in Romans 7 rings so true:
24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 7, NLT)
Our hope is not in covering up the wound, ignoring the pain, or numbing the symptoms. Our hope is in Jesus — the only One who can heal what is broken, cleanse what is stained, and set us free.
As Jesus said in John 15:5:
5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15, NLT)
Apart from Him, we can do nothing. But in Him, we have life, forgiveness, freedom — and the power to truly change.
**Key thought:** The cure for sin is not a tourniquet — it is a Savior.
If the cure for sin is not a tourniquet but a Savior, then the question becomes: What do we do with that cure?
It is one thing to know that Jesus is the answer. It is another thing to receive that answer personally, to choose His way instead of ours.
And that is where the choice comes in. Sin pays its wages. We all run somewhere. Our tourniquets cannot save us. So what now?
Paul says it plainly — the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).
Every one of us has to decide: will we keep running with the world, patching up our lives with tourniquets that will never heal us, or will we turn and run to the only One who can give us life?
### **IV. Choose Life**
Finally, this morning, I pray that we will choose life!
At the end of the day, the question is not whether sin is real — we know it is. The question is not whether we can fix ourselves — we have seen we cannot.
The question is: What will we do with what we know?
Paul puts the choice plainly in the rest of the verse we read earlier - Romans 6:23:
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6, NLT)
And long before Paul, God through Moses gave the Israelites the same choice. In Deuteronomy 30, we read:
19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!” (Deuteronomy 30, NLT)
Two options. Two outcomes. Two paths.
Charles Schulz once said that Peanuts was about “ordinary life” — and life is made up of ordinary choices. We choose what we will eat, where we will go, who we will trust. And the biggest choice of all is what we will do with Jesus.
Will we keep numbing ourselves with spiritual tourniquets, running with the crowd, hoping everything just works out?
Or will we take God at His word, trust Jesus, and receive the cure He offers?
Sin’s wages are guaranteed — but so is God’s gift. The only question is which one we will accept.
**Key thought:** The cure is offered. The choice is ours.
### **Conclusion**
This morning:
Linus’ panic reminds us how desperate we really are without hope.
Charlie Brown and Linus running make us ask which direction we are headed.
The Santa Claus logic warns us that we cannot gamble on “being good enough.”
In It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Linus makes this statement:
The Gospel According to Peanuts. Robert L. Short. Westminster John Knox Press. © 1965. p. 68.
“The way I see it, it doesn’t matter what you believe, just so you’re sincere.”
That is the way the world thinks today. It doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere in that belief. But, that is just not the right answer. We have seen before that Jesus is the only way, the only truth, and the only life. No one can come to the father except through him. There is no other name under heaven, scripture says, by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
And so, God has set before us life and death, blessing and curse (Deuteronomy 30:19). He is pleading with us: “Choose life!”
But our study is not just about our choice — it is also about helping others make theirs. The people in our lives are desperate too. They are running somewhere. They are trying to patch their pain with spiritual tourniquets. They are hoping “being good” is enough.
God has placed us in their lives to point them in the right direction.
And here is the good news: you do not have to do it my way, or like anyone else. God wired you with a unique way of sharing the hope of Jesus — through conversations, acts of service, creativity, hospitality, teaching, or just listening well.
So here is my challenge for us this week:
Choose life — and then find a way to help someone else choose life too, in a way that fits how God made you.
Because the gospel is too good of a thing with which to gamble, and way too good to keep to ourselves.
