TWENTY REASONS NOT TO SIN Part 3
Coming Clean Part 4
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?”
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.
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.”
8. The wages of sin is death.
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 please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
9. God will punish sinners-in this world and the world to come.
10. Sin hurts the Lord.
11. Sin hurts the sinner
12. Sin hurts the sinner’s family and friend.
13. Sin brings reproach-to the sinner, to church, the name of the Lord.
Do you ever talk to yourself about life? Do you ever exhort yourself, rebuke yourself, encourage yourself, or give yourself a pep talk. When you’re exercising, do you urge yourself on?
You should do the same kind of thing when it comes to sin. Have a down-to-earth, no nonsense talk with your soul when the tempter comes knocking at your door. Tell yourself, “It’s not worth it!
Talking to yourself in this way is actually scriptural and it works. Quote the Word. Rebuke the enemy. Confess with your mouth who you really are through the Cross. The Holy Spirit lives in you! You’re not some flesh-driven slave, a captive to lust and uncleanness. You died to the ways of the world. Now you live for God. Give yourself a good reason not to sin.
You can also utilize some of the truths you have learned in the last two weeks. Refresh your mind with them.
And since we know we’re in a daily battle, let’s arm ourselves with all the ammunition we can to help us submit to Good and say no to the flesh, the devil, and the world. Here are a few more reasons not to sin.
14. SIN MAKES LIGHT OF THE BLOOD OF JESUS.
When you give in to sin, you willfully engage in the very thing that cost Jesus His life.
1Pet. 1:17-19 “Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
Do you feel the impact of Peter’s words?
Ill.
What if you were guilty of extortion and the judge handed down the sentence: Twenty years in prison or five years probation and a one-million-dollar payment to those from whom you extorted. You don’t have a penny to your name, having squandered all the money you stole through your schemes.
Yet your elderly parents, who have been carefully putting away money all their lives and who own a beautiful estate, sell their home and their property, cash in all their retirement funds, and pay the million-dollar fine, setting you free. That would be an incredible demonstration of love, and it would be the height of ingratitude-actually, it would be totally shocking-if be totally shocking-if you turned around and went back to your sinful ways, violating your parole and breaking the law again. What a betrayal of your parents!
But Peter tells us that silver and gold—really, all the money in the world—cannot possibly compare with one drop of the blood of Jesus. And that’s the price the Father paid for our souls. How can we betray that blood with our folly?
There was no sacrifice more precious in the sight of God, than the sacrifice of His Son Jesus on our behalf. While we were sinners, the Messiah died for us (Rom. 5:6-10)
While we were ungodly rebels, the spotless Savior spilled His lifeblood on our behalf. And He purchased us from the pit, cleansing us and washing us, making us His own, and bringing us into His Father’s family. Yes, the blood He shed was indescribably valuable. Nothing else could have taken away our sins or repaid our debt of guilt before God.
Just listen to the Word and give thanks!
Rom. 5:9 “Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him!”
Eph.1:7,8 “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.”
Eph. 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.”
How wonderful that blood is! Yet when we continue to sin, we spit on that very blood, despising it and degrading it. What a slap in God face. How ugly our sin becomes when we see it in this light.
Hebrews tells us that Jesus’ blood did what no other sacrificial blood could do. It brought us into a right relationship with God, cleansing our conscience once and for all.
Therefore Hebrews 10:28-29 also warns us strongly:
“Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of Grace”
Those are some harsh words, trampling the Son of God underfoot, treating the very blood that sanctified us as an unholy thing, insulting the Spirit of grace.
The next time sin comes knocking at your door, remember this word…
15. SIN PUT THE SINNER ON THE SIDE OF THE DEVIL, AND THE WORLD.
There is a war raging every single hour of every day. The forces of darkness assault all that is good in the universe, seeking to kill, and destroy. If the devil and his demons can cause n pain, they are glad. They delight in hearing the screams of a terrified child being abused and take pleasure in seeing the tears and broken hearts at the funeral of a young boy accidentally killed in a drive-shooting.
This world system is hostile to God yet when we sin, we side with the world.
We yield to the pull of that lustful image, we bow down to that idol of carnal success, we worship that god of entertainment, and at least for that period when we sin, we side with them.
Jam. 4:4 “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”
Friendship with the world is spiritual adultery.
16. SIN SETS THE SINNER AGAINST GOD, THE CHURCH, HOLINESS, BLESSING, AND VICTORY.
Matt.12:30 “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters”
Every time I disobey, I not only sin against God, but I actually set myself against Him. And when I set myself against Him, I set myself against everything He stands for—and that includes His people, and His principles (goodness, purity, blessing, life, peace, joy).
I am working against the Holy Spirit, opposing the ministering angels, making life harder for my fellow believers. Sin is an active, aggressive force.
The Word tells us that one man’s sin (Achan in Joshua 7 ) caused thirty-six Israelites to die, since his sin stopped the Lord from going out to battle with His people. There was an enemy in God’s camp. Yet he sinned secretly, and none of the leaders knew anything about it—meaning that our secret sins can have public consequences too.
The next time you are tempted to gossip, or lust, or criticize, or lie, or deny the Lord, consider that at that very moment, there may be someone praying for you, holding your name up before the thrown of God, asking your Father to bless you and strengthen you. Do you want to stand against that saint who intercedes for your soul and pit yourself against your Lord, who is read to bless and strengthen you?
17. SIN SAPS THE ANOINTING
The anointing of God is a precious gift. Through it, the sick are healed and captive are set free. Through it, we are empowered to action and service. Through it, God’s kingdom is advanced. Yet sin can render the anointing ineffective. It is literally poison to our whole spiritual system.
There are tragic stories, stories that we know too well, of men and women who were mightily used by God until sin drained them dry. There is no figure more tragic than Samson, once supernaturally empowered to lead Israel, but worn down by the persistent pleading of an unfaithful woman. With his hair cut off, not knowing that the Lord had left him (Jug.16:20) , he was taken captive by his enemies, powerless. No sinful pleasure, however special it may be, can possibly be worth losing the anointing.
What I believe to be one of the saddest verses in the Word of God, is when Samson did not know that the spirit of the Lord had left him.
18. SIN STEALS TIME
There are very few things that frustrate me more than wasted time. I can never get it back! Stolen good can be replaced with new ones. Broken relationships ca be restored, even after decades. But lost time can never be regained, even in eternity. That’s why the Word exhorts us to live wisely, “Making the most of every opportunity” Eph.5:16, or “redeem the time (NKJV), and that means staying away from sin.
It is one thing to give hours to the lost, to the sick, to those in need, to your spiritual and natural family, to your job. That time can be productive and well spent. But time spent sinning is time utterly wasted.
Any other use of our time would have been better! And sometimes the loss comes to a lot more that minutes or hours. Believers who have pursued wrong relationships—especially with the unsaved—have sometimes wasted months and even years.
There is the time you have to spend getting right with God, to make up lost ground.
Then there is the time lost battling that same sin in the future, since sin is highly addictive and dangerously habit-forming. Instead of walking through life victoriously, you’re now bogged down with temptations that you used to shake off. Now you’re buffeted and pulled, and instead of flying high you find yourself drained, almost running in slow motion.
19. SIN HAS ETERNAL CONSQUNCES
Paul tells us that we can destroy weaker saints by something as small as being insensitive to their consciences.
Rom. 14:15,20 “Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food”
Parents, remember the influence you have on the children the Lord has committed to you. If you set a lethargic, complacent example of Christianity in front of your kids, they might well follow in your foot steps
I once saw some pictures of babies and young children born to alcoholic mothers. The deformities and handicaps were almost indescribable. Yet the children were suffering because of the mother’s sin! That’s an earthly picture of what we give birth to in eternity when we disobey our Lord.
20. YOUR SIN WILL ALWAYS FIND YOU OUT.
This was Moses’ guarantee to some of the tribes of Israel with whom a special arrangement had been made. Keep your promises, men, and all will be well.
“But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the Lord; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.” Num 32:23
You see, in God’s universe, nobody really “gets way” with anything.
1Tim.5:24 “The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sin of others trail behind them”
Jesus taught in Luke 12:3, “What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the air in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs”
Eccles. 12:14 “ For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”
Of course, if you truly repent and turn from your sins, the Lord will wipe them away, sometimes even softening the blow of the negative consequences of those wrongful act.
