Sin

Sins

Are you a sinner? I can say with certainty yes you are a sinner.

Why? Because no one is without sin.

How do I know this? Well the bible tells me in many places like Romans Chapter 3 verse 23.

“For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.”

All have sinned. It tells you right there. Lets say I told everyone to run a race from the east coast to the west coast. No one is up to the standard to do it. Some may make it far some may not even make it out of the starting town. God has set a standard to. And none of us live up to that standard. The standard he has set is godliness. Sorry to bear the bad news to you. And it only gets worse before it gets better.

In Romans chapter 6 verse 23 you get worse news.

“For the wages of sin is death”

What a grim outlook there. We all can look forward to death. You mow a lawn and earn $5 that’s your wages for the work you did. Your wages for sin is death. That’s pretty straight forward. Now I can hear grumbling and groaning. Do not give up just yet. Remember I said it gets worse before it gets better. If you give me a few minutes of your time I will get to the “gets better”. I would just like to tell a short story from the bible first. This story is in John chapter 8 verses 2-11.

“And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”

Interesting story. It shows more bad. It shows no man is without sin. But it also gets to that good I spoke of earlier. That good is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the forgiveness for our sins. He came down here to wipe the slate clean and make our sins go away. Because of Jesus we can repent from our sins, and they are forgotten.

There is the word there Repent. it’s a powerful thing. Yes it makes your sins go away. But how many people use it the right way. Jesus told the woman “go, and sin no more.” He doesn’t want us to sin, but he knows we are not perfect so we will sin. We will repent. The misuse of repentance is what I am working towards. The people who go to a church service on Sundays to repent so that they can go out all week and commit the same sins over again. I am sure that may have touched a nerve with some, But Jesus does not want us to sin he wants us to strive for that perfection like his father has. Godliness is what we should all strive for. I have a verse that is a strong one but goes right along with this sermon oh so well its in Proverbs chapter 11 verses 8 and 9.

“The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead. An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.”

Is it worth renting if you are just going to repeat the same sins 6 days a week. The definition of hypocrite is a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess.

And the definition of repent is to feel sorry, self-reproachful, or contrite for past conduct; regret or be conscience-stricken about a past action, attitude, etc. So how can you truly repent if you keep doing the same things over and over again. How can you be conscience stricken and repeat the same sins 6 other days a week. Can you punch someone then feel sorry for doing it and still punch him again? Can you slander a neighbor then do it again if you really feel sorry about it. I don’t see how you can. To truly repent is to feel in your heart that you have done wrong. To make a mistake and feel you have made it, and to try not to do it again. When Jesus told the adulteress to sin no more he didn’t tell her to sin no more until a weekday. He didn’t say don’t sin today. He said no more.