Truths About Sin

Michael Kalman, a dermatologist issues a word of warning to those in our country who constantly strive for that golden brown suntan, "Today’s deeply tanned beauties are tomorrow’s wrinkled prunes."

In thinking about sin, sin is kind of like getting a suntan. It may look great today, it may be fun or exciting today, but tomorrow’s a different story.

Often we hear people, especially younger people say something like this: "It seems like everything that is fun is sin." And sometimes, sad to say, we convey that. If we have learned anything from the recent John Piper video’s it is that we have set our sights to low in terms of fun and pleasure. We have accepted a much cheaper imitation of fun. Ps 16:11 declares, “In Thy presence is fullness of joy; In Thy right hand there are pleasures forever.” I don’t about you, but “fullness of joy” sounds pretty good to me. So it is a lie from Satan to believe sin is fun and godliness is boring. The truth about sin as it is revealed in the Bible and in human experience is far different from the bill of goods Satan tries to sells us. The devil is a liar. The truth about sin is that it is deceptive, destructive, and deadly.

A father took his young son swimming. When they jumped into the pool, the little boy began to shiver with cold and cried, "Ohh, daddy, ohh!" His father led him out of the pool, rubbed him down with a towel and dressed him. "Ahh, daddy, ahh!" the little guy cooed as he warmed up. Suddenly a thought occurred to the father.

"Ryan, do you know the difference between taking a cold swim like today & sin? When you 1st jump into the cold water you yell, "Ohh!" and then you say "Ahh!" as you get use to the water and begin to relax and play. But when you sin, you 1st say "Ahh, this is fun!" but you will end up saying, "Ohh!" because sin always brings bad results.

In light of that, let us remind ourselves of these 3 truths about sin:

I. SIN WILL TAKE YOU FURTHER THAN YOU WANT TO GO!

We could use numerous examples from Scripture to illustrate this point:

A. Let’s consider David. David was truly one of the great men of all time. In fact, God declared him so. He was a great man, wise man, a strong man, a godly man and for the most part a pure man. But sin deceived David and it was also destructive and deadly. You remember the sad story of David and Bathsheba.

On one occasion, when David’s army was out fighting battles for him and the country, David, the king was loafing at home. We’re told that he arose from his bed and walked around the roof of the King’s house. As he looked around he saw Bathsheba, who was bathing. The Bible tells us that David sent for Bathsheba. He was told that she was married to one of David’s soldiers, Uriah, but despite that, David sent for her and committed adultery with her.

I am reasonable sure that when David first looked from his roof top and saw Bathsheba that evening, he never planned to commit adultery with her, but he didn’t stop to realize that sin will take you further than you want to go. And instead of immediately turning away, he kept looking and before that night was over, this godly man and king would sin in a way he never thought he would.

It is always true -- sin will take you further than you want to go. This tragic truth is illustrated in many other individuals in the Bible.

B. Jacob - I’m sure Jacob never envisioned the lengths and literally distance sin would take him when he first started harboring wrong feelings toward his brother and trying to get the best of him. I mean, after all, all it was was a little sibling rivalry and a little competition between brothers. But you never escape the truth that sin will take you further than you want to go even when that sin is simply a wrong attitude toward someone.

C. Another example that comes to mind is the children of Israel after they left Egypt as they come to Kadesh in preparation of entering the Promised Land. I’m sure they never realize that their sin of unbelief would end up costing them their lives and that none of them would enter the Promised Land. They didn’t realize that sin always takes you further than you want to go.

Number 13:28ff - Notice the progression of their unbelief. It caused them to focus on the wrong thing - giants vs God. It was contagious - it spread from the 10 spies to the whole camp. It caused them to say some very foolish things - 14:2. It caused them to slam the character of God - 14:3. 14:4 - they wanted to go back to Egypt. 14:5-10 - it caused them to reject all spiritual counsel. God then pronounced His judgment on them and they would die in the wilderness. God was ready to give them the Promised Land, but because of their sin they went in circles in the desert for 40 years until they all died.