Three Great Things Man Must Be Careful About Erring In

James 1:16

Three Great Things Man Must Be Careful About Erring In

We need to be careful about ascribing either our sins or our temptations unto God. Man is very prone to err in his notions and apprehensions, as touching the authors of good and evil; too ready to conclude either God or Satan to be the author of the sin we commit, and ourselves the authors of the good we do. To this James states, “Do not err, my beloved brethren,” in this matter.

The word err means to go astray, fall into error, or be deceived . Making mistakes are part of our human nature. I once saw a sign once in a business that was referring to bad checks that read, “to err is human, but to forgive cost $25.00 .”

Now some of the mistakes we make are small, and others are great. This morning I want to speak about three notable areas in which man often errs.

I. We often err in our undervaluing of the GREATNESS of salvation (Hebrews 2:3)

“So great salvation.” When God looked on His creation as recorded in Gensis, He said, “It was good,” but when God refers to salavation, HE calls it GREAT.

A. Great because of whom is involved

The Trinity is involved in this so great salvation: God the Father designed the plan of salvation in eternity, God the Son discharged the plan salvation in the fullness of time, and God the Holy Spirit declares the plan of salvation daily.

When God created the worlds, He did it with His word, but God could not save sinners by His word alone. God had to come into the world Himself and take upon Himself a human body, live a perfect, sinless life, and die on the cross suffering everything we would have to suffer if we died without Him and went to Hell.

1. Jesus gave His BODY to bear our sins

I Peter 2:22-24 “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” He was treated as if he had been a sinner, in order that we might be treated as if we had not sinned; that is, as if we were righteous.

2. Jesus gave His to blot our sins

Ephesians 1:7 “In whom we have redemption through his , the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;”

Colossians 1:14 “In whom we have redemption through his , even the forgiveness of sins:”

3. Jesus gave His BEING to banish our sins

Galatians 1:4 “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:” He did not come to take upon himself unknown and unsurveyed woes. He did not go to work in the dark. He knew what was to be done. He knew just what sorrows were to be endured--how long, how keen, how awful. And yet, knowing this, he came resolved and prepared to endure all those woes, and to drink the bitter cup to the dregs. Jesus gave his life for our sins. He died in our stead. He gave his life up to toil, tears, privation, sorrow, and , that he might redeem us. The Lord Jesus became a vicarious offering, and died in the stead of sinners.

B. Great because of who is invited

John 3:16

Not one sinner has ever lived or will ever live whom Jesus did not die for. There is not a sinner who cannot be saved if he wills to come to Christ.

C. Great because of what is included

Most people, in thinking about salvation, think only of escaping hell. Salvation is not just about escaping hell. It is about sin. See Matthew 1:21. The great errand on which Jesus came was to make an atonement for and to deal with sin. He did not come to make allowances for sin but rather to make an atonement for sin . He did not come to save men IN their sins, but FROM their sins.

1. Deliver us from the penalty of sin

2. Deliver us from the power of sin

3. Deliver us from the presence of sin

I would love to think that if I had a business I would have some real convictions about two things. FIRST, about the worth of the goods I was trying to market, and SECONDLY, about the need for them. I would not want to sell things of nor real worth or goods for which there is no real demand. To be a good business man it is essential to have deep convictions of the worth of one’s goods or services, and the need for them.