TWENTY REASONS NOT TO SIN Part1
Coming Clean Part 2
Pastor Jeff Seaman
Why is it that we fall into the same traps over and over again? Why is it that we believe the same lies long after they have been exposed? Why is it that we make a habit of doing wrong even when we desire what is right.
Could it be that we never step back and look at the lasting consequences of sin? Could it be that sin tastes so good—even if it is only for a moment—that we forget how rotten it makes us feel when we digest it? Could it be that Satan has done such a good job of packaging the poison that we drink it because of its shiny label?
Listen to the warning of Proverbs:
Prov. 5:1-5 “My son, attend to wisdom, bend your ear to knowledge, that caution may be your safeguard, and prudence may take care of you; keep hold of caution and sound sense, that they may save you from the loose woman: here lips drop honied words, her talk is smother than oil itself, but the end with her is bitter as poison, sharp as a sword with double edge; her feet go down to Death, her steps lead straight to the grave
Prov. 23:29-32 “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over win,, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.
What a picture Solomon paints! How it enhances the night! How it charms the whole party. But Solomon says look again. Grown men are lying in their own vomit. Dignified women have slept with crude strangers. Carpets are stained with blood from a fistfight over nothing. The sparkling wine has fangs!
And that is just the snapshot of the moment. Look at the scene again, six months later, five year later, when intoxicating drink has become a close companion: Jobs have been lost, marriages torn apart, children beaten by fathers in a drunken rage.
Ask the parents of the kids who were crushed to death by the car of a drunken driver.
There is nothing more hateful than sin and its fruit! That’s why the Word never stops giving us warnings, showing us how to avoid the tentacles of temptation.
Prov. 6:20-23 “My son, keep your father’s commands and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. Bind them upon your heart forever; fasten them around your neck. When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you, when you awake, they will speak to you. For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the correction of discipline are the way of life,.
Yes, “the correction of discipline are the way of life,” and disobedience brings death always. Keeping this before us at all times—binding it in our hearts forever and fastening it around our necks—will help us to resist the seduction of sin, no matter how lovely the temptation appears.
Prov. 6:25,26 “Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes, for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon your very life”.
This is hardly fun and games.
So the word asked:
Prov. 6:27,28 “Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?”
Absolutely not! If you play with fire, you will be burned. If you play with sin, you will be destroyed. It is never worth it in the end.
The Word of God has given us the antidote. The Scriptures have provided the cure. There are principles that can snatch souls from hell’s grasp. But these truths must be applied. You can drown with a life preserver within your reach. You can burn to death with a fire escape right out side your window.
The solution must be put to use. The way of escape must be pursued. The helping hand must be grasped. These truths can save your life.
I will give you twenty reasons not to sin, any one of which is enough to keep you holy.
#1. SIN DOES NOT SATISFY
Sometimes as believers we forget that sin can bring real pleasure. It often feels great to sin. That’s why sin is so powerful and addictive. It can be exciting, thrilling, stimulating, and lots of fun. There are drugs that can make your feel like a king, like you own the world.
Yes, in the words of Hebrews 11:25, there are pleasures of sin that can be enjoyed for a short time. But there is no lasting satisfaction in sin!
After the drugs wear off, after the high fades, after the sexual act is reached, we are left with an empty feeling, a feeling of being unclean, ungratified, discontent. It’s hollow!
That’s why so many stars reach the top only to find that they are totally alone when they get there. It’s not what it’s cracked up to be!
That’s why when sinners really meet Jesus, they gladly abandon their sinful habits in a moment. When they encounter the Bread of life, they no longer hunger and thirst for anyone or anything else.
Expose the fantasy now! Say it out loud until it sinks in: sin will never satisfy! In the end, the happiness become sadness, the thrill becomes a nightmare, the pleasure becomes an addiction. Sin never keeps its promise.
# 2. SIN LEADS TO MORE SIN
According to Prov. 5:22,
“The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast.”
When you sin, you tie yourself up, and instead of the sinner being free to “do his own thing” while the believer is bound by a set of dead rules and regulations, it’s really the reverse. The sinner is a slave to sin, while the believer is free to do the will of God.
Oswald Chambers said it this way:
Worldly people imagine that the saint must find it difficult to live with so many restriction, but the bondage is with the world, not with the saint. There is no such thing as freedom in the world, and the higher we go in the social life the more bondage there is.
Eccles. 5:10 “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.”
You always want more! Greed cannot be satisfied with possessions; drug addiction cannot be satisfied with a greater high; lust cannot be satisfied with a one-night stand; pride cannot be satisfied with promotion and fame.
Prov. Tells us that the eyes of a man are never satisfied (27:20)
That’s the way sin operates—in the little things as well as the large, in lying as well as lusting, whether stealing a candy bar or from work.
At first, the temptation may come once a month, but when you give in, it’s like feeding a fire. Soon it needs to be fed again. The next time, the temptation may return after two weeks. If you sin again, it will return after a week, then after a day, and then—you are bound!
If you submit to God and resist the Devil (Jas.4:7), the power of temptation and sin is broken. If you give in to it, it wraps another cord around you, making it tougher for you to fight back the next time. And every time you sin, it becomes harder for you to resist and easier to yield. You weaken, and you lose your will to fight.
That’s why the time to say “No!” is now—before the ropes hold you fast. Otherwise, if you invite one sin to come and visit you for the night, soon enough you’ll be shocked to find hundreds of other sins coming to live with you on a permanent basis.
# 3. SIN LEADS TO WORSE SINS
This principle is absolutely terrifying. It’s bad enough that sin leads to more sin, that one drink leads to another, that one immoral act leads to another. Bit it’s even more sobering to realize that Sin always drags the human character—and the human will—down. Sin never lifts us up.
The child abuser was not born that way! The serial killer started somewhere perhaps with fits of disobedience when he was a child, perhaps by being cruel to his pets, before becoming a monster capable of taking innocent human lives. Sin will drag you into the mud!
In fact, sexual immorality provides one of the most vivid illustrations of the slippery slope of sin.
Dr. Dobson did an interview with one of the most wicked men known to sexual sins the world has ever seen. In an interview with Ted Bundy he tells Dr. Dobson that he opened the door when he began taking an interest in the J.C. Penney catalog. As he got older, that didn’t satisfy, so he began to search for racier and more lewd pictures. Soon this led to outright pornography and sexual fantasy. The downward descent is guaranteed.
Soon his conscience was seared, and all kinds of unspeakable perversions have become a necessary ingredient in his life.
Of course, some of you might be saying, What has this got to do with me? In no way am I even nearly that bad!
Are you sure? Satan is a lot more wily than you realize. He already has some of you I his grasp. In fact, you have already deceived yourself. You have abandoned God’s standards and set up your own in their place.
Did you ever notice Prov. 14:12 “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death”. The same verse is repeated in 16:25. the Lord is trying to make a point!
Just because we justify ourselves doesn’t mean that He justifies us. Just because you are “not that bad” in your own eyes—or in the eyes of society at large—doesn’t mean that in God’s eyes you aren’t a hardened sinner.
You see, everyone has a stopping point beyond which they will not go, even if it gets adjusted from time to time. There are terrorists who will murder soldiers but not civilians. There are thieves who will steal from their own mothers but not from their grandmothers. And there are people who will watch PG-13 movies but never R. or will watch R-rated movies but not X, or X-rated movies but not XXX.
Prov. 16:2 “All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord”.
But there’s something else to this “I’m-really OK” mentality that’s frightening. Consider the things you say are “not that bad.” There was a time in your life when you thought that those things were very bad. You once judged them to be unclean and degrading. Now you’re making yourself out to be a pretty good person because that’s all you do!
This is the cycle: Sin doesn’t satisfy, leading to more sin, which then opens the door to worse sin. And all the while the heart grows harder.
In Eph. 4:17-19 the Lord tells us that we must no long live as the ungodly because:
“They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.”
I tell you once more: Sin leads to worse sins—uglier, harder, more destructive, more disgusting, more deadly. Make an about-face right now and slam the door shut in sin’s face. Turn toward holiness and away from hardness.
# 4. SIN ENSLAVES
No one wants to be a slave. Slaves have no freedom, no rights. Slaves live to do the will of another. They have no future, no ability to determine their lot in life, no hope—unless someone can liberate them. Slavery is misery, especially when the master is harsh, selfish, insensitive, cruel, and powerful.
This is one of the greatest reasons not to play games with sin. Sin shackles! And when you touch it, it holds fast like glue and swallows like quicksand. It’s easy to set into but hard to get out.
(DO OVERVEIW OF SERMON FROM LAST WEEK)
# 5. SIN DEGRADES AND HUMILIATES
Think about any public figure—the president, a sports star, a pastor, a Nobel prize winner—who has worked for years to gain the respect of the people and establish a solid reputation.
And then look at what happens to that reputation when that person commits gross sin and his sin finds him out. Everything changes! A reputation is killed, and you now look at that person differently.
How do you view that great, football player when you learn that he’s an avid, practicing homosexual? Or that gifted author when you find out he’s a wife beater? And what do you think of that outstanding Teacher of the Year after you discover that’s she had five abortions? And how “Anointed” does that powerful preacher now seem when you hear that he’s addicited to pornography?
How degrading such people become in our eyes. There whole lives become tainted, their greatest achievements marred. The shameful reproach is never worth the sinful release.
Satan loves to mock the human race. He loves to see men and women, the prize of God’s creation, tossing and turning in their guilt, wallowing in their shame, drowning in their embarrassment. The Devil loves to humiliate us.
Think again of Samson—the mighty deliverer, one of the most supernatural anointed men in the world—chained in bronze shackled with his eyes gouged out, grinding at the prison mill, a laughing stock to the enemies of God—enemies whom he was called to defeat, enemies who once ran from him in terror.
The Devil loves to mock us.
But Jesus loves to shower us with glory and honor. He not only redeems our lives from the pit, but He crowns us with love and compassion. He washes us with His blood, free us from our sins, and makes us a kingdom of priests to serve His God and Father forever.
He takes us into His family, and He is not ashamed to call us brother and sisters
Ps. 103:2-3 “Praise the Lord, o my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.”
That’s what our Savior does! So, the next time you’re tempted to sin, think of the Lord instead. As you resist the enemy of your soul, your Friend (Jesus) will be there to fortify you and help you stand.
# 6. SIN STEALS JOY
Don’t underestimate the importance of joy! The Bible tells us the joy of the Lord is our strength (See Neh. 8:10) and that in His presence is fullness of joy (Ps. 16:11)
Prov. 17:22 “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”
Prov. 18:14 “A man’s spirit sustains him in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?”
We can endure almost anything when our spirits are up. But when we are wounded, crushed, and down, even a bright, sunny day looks bleak.
Sin steals joy, and breaks communion with the Source of all true happiness. Tell me, what fleshly pleasures is worth such loss?
