TWENTY REASONS NOT TO SIN Part 2
Coming Clean Part 3
Pastor Jeff Seaman
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.”
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?”
Last week we started on twenty reasons not to sin, and we got to number six.
1. Sin does not satisfy.
Heb.11:25 “He chose to be mistreated alone with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.”
2. Sin leads to more sin.
Prov. 5:22 “The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast.”
Eccles. 5:10 “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.”
3. Sin leads to worse sin.
Prov. 16:2 “All a man’s way seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord.”
4. Sin enslaves.
2 Peter 2:19 “For a man is a slave to whatever has controls him.”
5. Sin Degrades and humiliates.
Satan loves to degrade us, but Jesus loves to
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.”
6. Sin steals joy.
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?”
# 7. SIN STEALS OUR CONFIDENCE BEFORE GOD.
When I was younger I had two tickets that had not been taken care of. I remember driving around and always looking in my wear view mirror, to see if any cop’s were around. When I saw a cop I would go down another road, my heart would pounding.
After I took care of the tickets, I would travel around town and see the police go by, I noticed my heart wasn’t pounding anymore. I could drive my car without fear, I had confidence before God and man. My conscience was clean.
But sin steals all purity and innocence, making us uneasy with people and uncomfortable with God. Think of the man who just betrayed his best friend for the sake of a big business deal. He can no longer look him in the eye. Or consider that new believer who got falling-down drunk last night. His head is down and his shoulders are sagging.
The good news is that we can live in such a way that makes us confident before the Lord:
1Jn. 2:28 “And now, dear children, continue in Him, so that when He appears we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming.”
1Jn. 3:21-22 “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from Him anything we ask, because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him.”
1Jn. 4:17 “In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him.”
Jesus is the key to our confidence, having already made a way for us, and being determined to keep that way wide open:
Heb. 10:19-22 “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be confident than cowering, pressing forward than shrinking back, living clean than standing condemned. Don’t let sin steal your confidence.
# 8. THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH.
There is only one way sin is faithful: Its reward is always death. Unfortunately, sin never shares this secret with you, instead it promises you riches, fame, pleasures, fulfillment, and power. And while you may experience some of these along the way, they are only short-lived, lasting at best a few short decades.
It is true that sin brings death right from the start, always killing something in us when we sin. It assaults our sensitivity, trashes our conscience, run over our willpower, and defiles our soul.
For this reason Paul strongly warned the Galations,
Gal. 6:7,8 “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to pleases the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life”
It may seem for a while that sin is bring happiness, gratification, and promotion, and that God’s very honor is be mocked. After all, if sin is so bad and if God is so strongly against it, why do there seem to be no consequence to show for it? Why does it seem that people are getting away with such shameful sin. DON’T WORRY GOD CANNOT BE MOCKED, A MAN REAPS WHAT HE SOWS.
# 9. GOD WILL PUNISH SINNERS—IN THIS WORLD AND THE WORLD TO COME.
Its is enough that God has established undeniable laws of sowing and reaping, so that everything we do has consequence for better or for worse. Cigarette smoking leads to lung cancer. Alcoholism leads to cirrhosis of the liver.
God Himself actively judges sinners. Just look at some of His promises.
First, consider God’s warning to Israel.
Lev.26:14 “If you will not listen to Me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject My decrees and abhor My laws and fail to carry out all My commands and so violate My covenant, then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life.”
Now, consider Jesus’ warning to the church:
Rev.2:5,16,21-23; 3:3,15,16
“If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp-stand from its place.
Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.
I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am He who searches hearts and minds, and I repay each of you according to your deeds.”
I never want to hear such words spoken to me! I never want to be the object of God’s wrath.
I want to live in harmony with God, walking in obedience, and not provoking Him to wrath by my irreverent, casual, or even flagrant sins.
There are lots of consequences to our misdeeds, like prison sentences, broken homes, and sick bodies. But all those are small in comparison with God’s holy judgment.
Ps. 90:11,12 “Who knows the power of Your anger? For Your wrath is as great as the fear that is you. [So] teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
# 10. SIN HURTS THE LORD
Maybe the image of an angry, vengeful God doesn’t mean much to you. After all, you’re saved! That’s your Father I’m speaking of, the one you call Abba Father. You fear Him. He’s your best friend, your hope, your joy, your life. Hell’s flames do not threaten you.
God’s judgment doesn’t scare you, because you are a committed believer, and you certainly hate the thought of sin. Still, sometimes you struggle.
Then maybe this will help. When you sin, you wound your Savior and spit in Him face, making a mockery of His love and denying your very words of devotion and praise.
When you have some time for quiet time, read through all of Ezekiel 16, where the Lord finds baby Israel abandoned in the desert, kicking in her blood, and he takes her in, cares for her until she is a beautiful woman ready for marriage.
Shockingly, she turns away from her Husband and prostitutes herself to other lovers, to people who never did any thing for her at all. Look at how personally God takes this:
Ezek. 16:9-14 Tells us how God took them in.
Ezek. 16:15-23 How they turn away.
Ezek. 16:32 “You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband!”
Look also at the graphic, intimate language used in Ezek. 23 “Let’s not commit adultery against our heavenly Groom!”
Remember Peters betrayal;
“The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: Before the rooster crows today, you will disown Me three times. And he went outside and wept bitterly.” Luke 22:61-62
Could it be that when we sin, rather than turning His gaze away from us, Jesus turns and looks straight at us?
# 11. SIN HURTS THE SINNER
The fact that sin hurts the Lord might help you to resist temptation when you’re feeling spiritual.
What about when you’re feeling natural? What about when you hardly feel like overcoming or being a soldier in the army of the Lord? That’s when you need to remember something simple and sure: Sin hurts you too!
It messes everything up. It messes up your day, messes up your family, messes up your health, messes up your finances, messes up your job, messes up your mind…it makes a mess of everything. Why let sin mess with you?
ILL.
Here’s a example you can probably relate to: You’re cleaning the bathroom sink and you have a wad of paper towels in your hand, but you’re too busy (or lazy) to walk to the other room and get of them properly, so you try to flush them down the toilet. The next thing you know, the toilet has overflowed. But you didn’t catch it in time, so the bedroom carpet got stained, and you slipped on the wet bathroom floor when you came racing back, tearing your new shirt and re-injuring your fractured thumb…and on top of all this, by the time you’ve finished cleaning up the mess, two hours have gone by. And it all happened because you were too busy (or lazy) to spend thirty seconds throwing something out in the proper place. That’s the way sin is. It messes everything up.
# 12. SIN HURTS THE SINNER’S FAMILY AND FRIENDS
Of course, sin never stops with the sinner along. There are always wider consequences.
I have watched sin hurt my first pastor I worked for family and friends. I watched with sadness as he refused to truly repent and submit to biblical restoration. I watched his wife and his children suffer. How tragic it is that whole families and entire congregations are deeply injured by one man’s sin.
Look at the sin of Adam and Eve.
This is something I often hold before my eyes. If I sin freely, I will hurt my precious wife-perhaps wounding her in ways that will scar her for life—and I will injure my priceless kids. What a sobering thought.
Will I ultimately be remembered for those I helped or those I hurt.
# 13. SIN BRINGS REPROACH—TO THE SINNER, TO THE CHURCH, TO THE NAME OF THE LORD.
It’s obvious that sin bring reproach on our lives. But the reproach goes beyond the sinner himself.
Prov. 144:3 “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people”
Just think of what it must have been like to have lived in Germany after a World War II and to have the last name Hitler. Even innocent, distant relatives must have been tainted by Adolph Hitler sins. It’s the same in the with the Church of Jesus. Paul said it this way:
1Cor. 12:26-27 “ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
How many people were turned off to the Gospel because of the Jimmy Swagert and the Jim Bakers sins, it brought a reproach on the name of God.
Our foolishness, our compromise, our worldliness, and our sin makes the church look bad. Worse yet, you’ll drive people away from Jesus Himself. Our sins make Him look bad.
This is what happened when God scattered the Israelites because of there sin. Him name was blasphemed and mocked.
Ezek. 36:20 “And wherever they went among the nations they profaned My holy name, for it was said of them, ‘These are the Lord’s people, and yet they had to leave His land”
Jesus shed His blood for this world, but we can make it more difficult for sinners to come to Him by discrediting His holy name.
So put the sin down, and lift up Jesus instead.
Sin has many consequences, and we may find at times we are guilty of allowing sin to take hold of us. But the greatest love story of all times is that God loves us even while were sinners, and fallen into sin, he still loves us.
Ps. 32:5 “ Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”
Heb. 4:16 “Let us then approach the thrown of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
