Sin
Good morning everyone. Today I want to talk about sin . Oh I’m not talking about sin like murder , coveting thy neighbors wife or any of the obvious sins . The sins that we know about . I’m talking about the sins that are not as obvious .The sin that can keep you down and away from GOD . The sin that in tiny spoonfuls feels good but with a lot of it is to obvious it’s a sin.
I’m reminded of Matthew 5:22 Let’s turn there . Jesus says " But I tell you that anyone how is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment ". Now that’s a pretty powerful statement in 5:28 Jesus says "But I tell you anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery in his heart."
Let’s think about this for a minuet . If I see a pretty woman on TV or walking down the street and think a lustful thought then I have just committed a sin. If a co-worker has made me angry and I keep that anger in me and hold a grudge or just wish a hurtful thing might happen to them ,I have sinned.
These are just a couple of things . Jesus talked of much more . With that being said I want those who have committed a sin within the last 24 hours raise your right hand , those that have committed a sin within the last 48 hours raise you left hand , and those that have committed a sin within the last 72 hours (that 3 days ) raise both hands .
Now look around , ...as you can see we are ALL sinners . Now what do we do . If we call ourself Christians and yet live like sinners what is that saying . But wait these sins I’m talking about no one sees . They can’t call me a hypocrite for they can’t see my sin. True but GOD sees your sin . He sees the sin just like I asked you to raise you hands . It’s like a flag raised up and stay raised up until you ask for forgiveness . So you ask "Well what do I do to get rid of this sin ?" Matthew 7:7 -8 says how . " Ask and it will be given to you, Seek and you will find , Knock and the door will be opened to you . For everyone who asks receives :he who seeks finds :and to him who knocks , the door will be opened."
Now if you break that down to see what it is saying , Ask, Seek, and Knock what are the first letters saying . ASK.That’s all you have to do . You have to ASK for forgiveness . those sins will continue to separate you from GOD until you ask for forgiveness . So you might say " Well if all I have to do is ask for forgiveness when I do this sin I’m covered right?" No . You will be forgiven for a sin but if you continue that sin then you truly don’t want forgiveness. You just want a "get out of jail free " card .
Jesus is NOT a "Get out of Jail free " card .
" So what do I do ?" you may ask . Well with asking for forgiveness for those sins you must repent . Repent means to not only ask Jesus to forgive you but for you to stop doing the sin. We have to repent . Just asking forgiveness is not enough . Think about this , remember those sins earlier ,what if something happened to you today . You were to die and come before judgment of the LORD . What if that one sin Jesus thought of as more important than any other . What would you do . What if, that one sin would be enough to keep you out of God’s glory . What if, God has a limit of how many times he will forgive that sin and you passed it a LONG time ago. What would you do . Most of us would be in very deep trouble. Even though they are sins that no one sees they are still sins and these sins are what Satan uses . He wants those thoughts in your head because it makes it easer for you do the sin if you are continually thinking about it. Just as when a child is brought up in a house hold of sin and debauchery and is surrounded by outside forces that want to do harm to him, as he grows and sees the things going on around him he is likely to fall prey to them ,to do the things around him .
The child who is brought up in the same but has seen what the better life is ( Life in Heaven with our Father) and how easy it is to obtain is less likely to stray away when focused on God.
So when we do sin ,we ask for forgiveness ,and truly repent (that means staying away from the things that lead us to the temptation to sin) ,then we are forgiven .
Have you asked for forgiveness for the sins you have committed this past week ? Have you repented from the sins you have committed this past week . Lets’ pray.
Father , I have sinned , I sinned this morning . All of us have sinned Father . We come to you today in prayer to ask for your forgiveness. Father we know that we are not worthy but by your grace you have forgiven us threw the blood of your son , our Savior Jesus Christ . Father as we have asked for your forgiveness we also come to you to repent from our sins . That you will carry us in our times of temptation and that we will grow strong in you and your word . AMEN
