Sin
John 8:34
Sin is more than wrong doing; it is wrong being,
Sin is nothing to play with. It has the strength to defeat you if you get too close to it with excessive confidence in your own strength.
A well-to-do man advertised for a chauffeur. Three applicants came. His first question was, "How close to the edge of a cliff can you drive without going over?" One man said, "A yard." Another said, "A foot." The third said, "I always try to keep as far away as possible." The third man got the job. He who underestimates the strength of an enemy is in danger of defeat.
John 8:34 KJV
34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Heb 12:1 KJV
12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Sin is a riddle, a mystery, a reality that eludes total & complete definition and comprehension.
Perhaps we most often think of sin
1. As wrongdoing or transgression of God¡¦s law.
2. Sin includes a failure to do what is right.
3. But sin also offends people; it is violence and lovelessness toward other people
4. Sin ultimately is a rebellion against God.
5. Further, the Bible teaches that sin involves a condition in which the heart is corrupted and inclined toward evil.
Sin has four characteristics:
1. self-sufficiency instead of faith;
2. self-will instead of submission;
3. self-seeking instead of benevolence;
4. self-righteousness instead of humility.
The essence of sin is our claim to be ourselves.
Sin is sin no matter what people call it.
Abraham Lincoln once asked a deputation, "How many legs would a sheep have if it called his tail a leg?" The deputation promptly answered, "five." "No," said Lincoln, "it would not. It would have only four. Calling a tail a leg doesn¡¦t make it one."
Mans and God¡¦s difference over sin
Man calls sin an accident; God calls it an abomination.
Man calls sin a blunder; God calls it blindness.
Man calls sin a chance; God call it a choice.
Man calls sin a defect; God calls it a disease.
Man calls sin an error; God calls it enmity.
Man calls sin fascination; God calls it fatality.
Man calls sin infirmity; God calls it fatality.
Man calls sin infirmity; God calls it iniquity.
Man calls sin luxury; God calls it lawlessness.
Man calls sin a trifle; God calls it tragedy.
Man calls sin a mistake; God calls it madness.
Man calls sin a weakness; God calls it willfulness.
Nip sin in the bud! Otherwise, it will grow! "Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of Me; and that cover with a covering, but not of My Spirit that they may add sin to sin" (Is. 30:1).
Sin is deceitful (Heb. 3:13). Sin¡¦s progression is one of its characteristics it seeks to conceal.
The "blessed man" of Psalm 1
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
(1) walketh not, (2) standeth not, and (3) sitteth not. Observe the progression.
That Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom, and did not immediately move there, is illustrative of the progressiveness of sin.
Eve (1) heard the devil¡¦s lie, (2) believed the lie, and (3) obeyed it. Sin is progressive.
The prodigal son gradually went to the far country, which illustrates sin¡¦s progression.
Peter (1) first deserted the Lord, (2) later fraternized with the enemy, (3) then, denied the Lord, (4) afterwards committed perjury, and (5) finally, he cursed and blasphemed. Sin was progressive in his case.
Be not deceived, for sin is still progressive.
Social drinking can easily lead to alcoholism.
Dancing has been the first step in many cases leading to an ultimate destruction of one¡¦s virtue.
Missing the mid-week service can lead to missing the Sunday night service, then Sunday morning Bible school, then the Sunday morning worship service--yea, to complete apostasy.
Envy can grow into hatred, and hatred can grow into murder. Be not deceived. Sin is deceptive. It grows. It is progressive.
Therefore, resist every temptation, choosing the way of escape always provided (1 Cor. 10:13). Give none occasion to sin. Abstain from every appearance of evil (1 Thess. 5:22).
SIN is the wrong we do to others
The sinfulness of sin lies in the fact that it is against God, even when the wrong we do is to others or ourselves (Gen 39:9; Ps 51:4).
Sin is egotism and selfishness
"God is love." The sum of all the commandments likewise is love; sin in its nature is egotism and selfishness. Self is put in the place of God (Rom 15:3; 1 Cor 13:5; 2 Tim 3:2,4; 2 Thess 2:3-4). Selfishness (not pure self-love, or the exaggeration of it, but in opposition to it) is at the bottom of all disobedience, and it becomes hostility to God when it collides with His law.
Sin is rebellion against God¡¦s law-the standard of righteousness (Ps 119:160).
Sin is more than unwise, inexpedient, calamitous behavior that produces sorrow and distress.
SIN involves the denial of God from whom human beings draw their life and existence (Acts 17:28); the consequence of this revolt is death and the torment of hell. Death is the ultimate penalty imposed by God for sin (Rom 6:23).
SIN Affects the Inner Life: Hence, we find throughout the Scriptures a growing emphasis on the idea of the sinful act as not only a fact in itself, but also as a revelation of an evil disposition on the part of him who commits the act (Gen 6:5).
SIN signifies the rupture of a personal relationship with God, a betrayal of the trust he places in us.
1. Sin is essentially rebellion against the rule of God.
2. Sin is defiance to the authority of God.
SIN is a distrust of God and a willingness to deceive him, and to act treacherously towards him To entertain a suspicion of God¡¦s goodness is to distrust him; and when once that suspicion has been planted in the heart, alienation begins, and deceit is sure to follow.
SIN is perversion or distortion; it is a wrong, a wrench, a twist to our nature , destroying the balance of our faculties, and making us prone to evil. Man is thrown out of his center and cannot recover himself, the consequence of which is that there is a jarring of the elements of his nature.
Some fraternity members put Limburger cheese very gently on a brother¡¦s moustache while he slept. He woke up about an hour later and said, "This room stinks!" He walked into the hall and said, "This hall stinks!" He walked into the living room and said, "This living room stinks!" Then, greatly perplexed as to where the smell was coming from, he walked outside and exclaimed, "This whole world stinks!" And the real problem was right under his own nose - just like the sin in our lives.
SIN is unrest, a perpetual tossing like the waves of the sea; a constant disturbance, the flesh against the spirit, the reason against the inclination, one desire against another, the wishes of one person against the wishes of another; a love of change and excitement and stir; and withal no satisfaction.
Man was never intended to find rest except in God; and practically when God is not his center he is like a wandering star, uncertain and erratic, like a cloud without water, and like seething foam.
SIN is toil, Wickedness is wearisome work; it is, labor without profit; it is painful, sorrowful travail; it is grief and trouble.
And after all the labor expended on sin, nothing comes of it. The works of darkness are unfruitful; sin is vanity, hollowness, nothingness; the ungodly are like the chaff which the wind scatters away; they can show no results from all their toil.
SIN is ruin, or a breaking in pieces. Adversity, calamity, distress, misery, trouble, are represented by the same words as wickedness, mischief, harm, evil, and ill doing.
Gathering together the foregoing observations, they bring us to this result, that sin is wilful disobedience of God¡¦s commands, proceeding from distrust, and leading to confusion and trouble. Sin lies not so much in the act as in the nature of the agent whose heart and life have been perverted. We are taught by the Scriptures that man was led into sin originally by the Evil One, who insinuated suspicions of God¡¦s goodness; and was thus misled, deceived, ruined, and dominated over by Satan.
Sin is Sin ( It will catch up with you)
In one of our large industrial towns a plant was erected for the manufacture of artificial flowers. The work was enjoyable, and the wages paid to the employees were far better than they had been able to earn elsewhere. The establishment was looked upon as a godsend, and the proprietor as a benefactor to the community.
Very soon, however, the health of one of the brightest and most capable girls began to fail. She went listless and weary to her work, and when it was done was barely able to drag herself home. One day she was not able to leave her bed, and a week later the undertaker¡¦s hearse stood at the door. She had been the support of a feeble mother and several small children. Suddenly other employees went home from the factory white and fainting, to go to work no more. Finally an investigation was made, and it was found that the workers had been all the while inhaling the most deadly chemicals, which were used in the coloring of the flowers. While they had been generously paid in money, a part of the real wages was--death.
Does this not make plain the words of Paul, "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23)? Sin may pay you liberally in mirth or money, but that is not all. There is a part of the pay that can be deferred for a time, but it is sure to come. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die!" (Ezek. 18:20).
The worst sin!
What is the worst sin? Is it destroying the life and body by drinking? Is it prostitution? Is it adultery? Is it homosexuality? Could it be murder? Could it be drug abuse? God can forgive all these sins.
However, there is one sin, the worst of all sins: rejecting God¡¦s love. Some may not be guilty of the sins listed above, but they are guilty of rejecting God¡¦s love.
Move beyond me-ism --Oswald Chambers
We are designed with a great capacity for God; and sin and our individuality are the things that keep us from getting at God.
God delivers us from sin: we have to deliver ourselves from individuality; i.e., to present our natural life to God and sacrifice it until it is transformed into a spiritual life by obedience.
Only Christ Blood can remove sin
There is only one remedy for sin--the precious blood of Christ, which was shed for the remission of sins on Calvary’s Cross.
We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. I have heard others, and I have heard myself, recounting cruelties and falsehoods committed in boyhood as if they were no concern of the present speaker’s, and even with laughter. But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of a sin. The guilt is washed out not by time but by repentance and the blood of Christ.
