The Sin Of Omission

Remember the parable of the talents, where a king went away, or a landowner went away or a businessman, whatever he was, and he gave to his servants various talents. And, some of the servants invested talent and received revenue for their master, but one took his talent and buried it in the ground. When his master returned, he called him a wicked and a slothful servant. Had he wasted the money? Had he squandered the money? Had he stolen the money? No. He simply did nothing with it. And, for that reason, his Lord condemned him. It was the sin of omission. Jesus gave a parable about the Good Samaritan. Do you remember the story of the man who was going from Jerusalem down to Jericho and he fell among thieves. And, Jesus told the story of how a priest and Levite passed him by. Now, did the priest and Levite rob that man? No. Did they beat that man? No. They just simply passed him by. All of these things illustrate what I’m trying to say to you. It is the sin of omission which is such a deceiving sin.

Most people have an idea that if they don’t do certain things, then they’re good Christians. If that’s true, the dog I used to have is probably the best Christian I ever knew. He didn’t steal, didn’t drink liquor, and didn’t do all of those other things. No, my friend, listen, listen, “To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” My prayer before God, quite frankly, is that God will kick some of the self-righteousness out of some of us today. Some of us today who think that we’re doing “quite well, thank you,” because there are certain things we don’t do. But to Jesus, to James, and the rest of the Bible, we must give records “To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

I’ll tell you something else about it. Not only is it a deceiving sin, but it’s such a respectable sin. You don’t know that God may have told me to pray for someone today, or that God may have told me to witness to someone today, or God may have told me to give something, or God may have told me to make restitution. You don’t know that, see. But, you see, the sin of omission is such a respectable sin. Isn’t it? Because we don’t know how God is dealing with other people’s hearts. “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

Now, I want to say, not only it is a deceitful sin, but it is a destructive sin, a destructive sin. Look in verses 15 and 16: “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.” Why? Why is it so evil? What is wrong with this sin? Well, let’s just think for a moment. Why are men and women, boys and girls lost and going to hell? Because of the sin of omission or the sin of commission? Well, let’s get technical. Men, women, boys, and girls go to hell because of what they have done, the sin of commission. But, they fail to go to Heaven because of what they have not done. Men go to hell because of what they’ve done; their sin condemns them to hell. But, they miss Heaven because of what they’ve not done.