THE SUMMER OF SIN, PART 1
“WHAT IS SIN?”
Jer. 2:2-13
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: THE ANSWER IS SIMPLER THAN YOU THINK
1. An engineer, a psychologist, and a theologian were hunting in the wilds of Northern Canada. They came across a isolated cabin, and decided to check it out. Inside was normal except one oddity: a pot-bellied cast ironed stove, but it was suspended in mid-air by wires attached to the ceiling beams.
2. The psychologist said, "It’s obvious this lonely trapper, in isolation, elevated his stove so he can curl up under it and experience a return to the womb." "Nonsense!" Replied the engineer, "The man elevated his stove to distribute the heat more evenly throughout the cabin."
3. Theologian disagreed, "I think it has a religious meaning: Fire lifted up has been a religious symbol for centuries." As the 3 debated, the trapper returned, and they asked him.
4. "Because I had plenty of wire, but not much stove pipe."
[Tom Mullen, Laughing Out Loud and Other Religious Experiences]
B. TEXT & THESIS
1. Does sin still matter? A USA Today article asked, “Is Sin Dead?” The Pope said the world is losing the notion of sin. At the same time, 87% of people still believe there is sin. The Bible portrays it as fatal.
2. Jeremiah was one of the last prophets of the O.T. who kept telling Israel why things were falling apart, why their marriages and families were ending in failure.
3. TEXT 2 “This is what the Lord says: “‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me...5 This is what the Lord says: “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. 6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness...’ 8 The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’...The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols. 10...See if there has ever been anything like this: 11 Has a nation ever changed its gods?...But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols. 12 Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the Lord. 13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Jer. 2:2,5-6,8,10-13.
4. Today we’re beginning a new series, “The Summer of Sin” in which we look at the nature of sin, the problems it brings, and the only real solution to it.
5. SIN is not just violating the 10 Commandments, or a moral code. There are sins, and then there is SIN. Sin is a mental state, an attitude, a perception.
I. THE NATURE OF SIN
1. Why are things falling apart? Why are they a mess? The media keeps asking, “Why are people so angry? Why are they at each other all the time?” Jeremiah tells us why; ‘The problem isn’t God’s fault; it’s the consequences of us forsaking God and choosing sin. “Consider how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake God and have no awe of Me?”
2. We can’t shove God out of our schools, courts, and abandon morals – and expect people to act better. Faith and God are the underpinnings of civil behavior.
A. FIRST, SIN IS DENIAL
1. It’s not fatal to be a sinner; but it’s fatal to deny you’re a sinner. Same with alcohol. The first step of A.A. is to acknowledge, “I’m an alcoholic.” Our society wants to deny that human nature is essentially sinful and believe that it’s fundamentally good, and just needs a little tweaking.
2. If you could get into a time machine and travel back to the 19th Century, you’d find a great spirit of optimism. Society was getting more organized. Medical science was advancing. Everyone was being educated. The expectation was that ‘we’re going to forward into a utopian society.’ ‘We no longer need religion, now we have science to solve all our problems.’
3. But what happened with our ‘self-improvement?’ We reached the 20th century, and with it, WW1, then WW2, then the atom bomb, then terrorism. We had the bloodiest century of all human history! Why? Sin and denial.
4. There was a famous couple in British society, Sydney & Beatrice Webb*, who held this view of human “progress” (we’re good and just need enlightening). In 1890, Beatrice wrote in her diary, “I have staked everything on the essential goodness of human nature.” In 1935, she revisited that thought, but said, “I realize now how permanent are the evil impulses and instincts in us, that mere social machinery will never change.”
5. She discovered the unhappy truth that WE will never be able to fix the world’s problems, because we’re NOT essentially good; we have a sin-nature that produces many evil effects. That’s what the Bible’s been telling us all along, but we want to deny it. That denial is still going on. We aren’t learning from history that this doesn’t work.
B. ADMITTING THE PROBLEM IS SIN
1. Jer. 2:19, “Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
2. What’s wrong? It’s NOT ‘the economy, stupid!’ IT’S SIN! “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”
3. ILLUS.: CONSEQUENCES OF SIN. It's like the story of a man and his wife who decided to go to a drive-in movie. They thought the price was too high -- $10 per person -- so before they drove in, the husband climbed into the trunk of the car.
4. Once the wife had driven the car in, she discovered that the husband had locked himself in the trunk with the trunk key in his pocket. There was no way he was going to get out.
5. She called the manager, the police, and the rescue squad. Neither of them saw the movie and the trunk had to be cut open with the ‘jaws of life.’ Such is the path of sin. The ride is short and the price is high.
6. Are we unconsciously denying sin? “Maybe I need to get help for this area. No, that would be too embarrassing.” God says, “Consider how bad it is to deny...” How do you handle criticism? If someone points out a fault in you, do you automatically go into defense mode, or do you ask, “God, is there any truth in this?” We need to be open!
II. THE ROOT OF SIN
A. NOT ALL FEAR IS BAD
1. God here points out the root of sin; “You...have no awe of Me.” This is the heart of the problem. The reason we break the rules is because we have no awe of God. The NIV says “awe,” but most other translations say, “fear.” The real reason we sin is because we don’t fear God. Fear is usually seen as negative.
2. But there is a positive type of fear. The Bible says, “Blessed is the person who always fears the Lord,” Prov. 28:14. What? This fear is a blessing? Ps. 130:4 says, “But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.” What’s this fear? A fear of losing the benefits of God or of losing our relationship with God!
B. PERCEIVING THE MAGNITUDE OF GOD
1. Once you get to know God, He becomes the most important person in your life. He made the universe; He’s all-powerful; He’s everywhere at once; He wants to guide your life and bless you. Once you perceive the magnitude of who He is, you can’t ignore Him. He wants to be the center of our thoughts, motives, and lives – not because He has an ego problem, but because that’s what’s best FOR US!
2. If you sin, it’s because you are holding onto something else you think is more awesome, more captivating than God. Something else has taken His place; it could be “self” or another person. You can’t be a partial Christian; God must be the central figure and motive for all you do.
3. God is like the proverbial “elephant in the room” that people are trying not to notice. But unlike an elephant, God’s not a lumbering creature, but the most powerful and brilliant personality in the universe, and He deserves our full attention!
4. SO SIN (in general) IS A MENTAL STATE, AN ATTITUDE, A PERCEPTION – OF IGNORING GOD.
C. ILLUS.: “PASTOR, I’M PRETTY GOOD”
1. I’m reminded of a campaign to show policeman in a positive light. A “pretty good” grandma was pulled over. The policeman walked up to her car with a flower arrangement to honor her for her good driving.
2. A cameraman pulled up beside her car and took their picture. The news writeup said, “She looked quite nervous while accepting the flowers.”
3. With good reason! Her permit had expired and she was driving without a license! Point? We may look like we have it all together, but God sees what’s hidden in our hearts. He already knows, so why don’t you & I “come clean” with God? [7,700 ILLUS., Paul Tan, #2848]
D. SUBSTITUTES WON’T WORK
1. If you’re a little moral, it won’t work. God’s not like a vitamin supplement. You can’t give God 30 minutes in the morning and that’s it. Accepting God in your life is more like getting married; He a permanent, daily addition. He’s to be the most important person to you. All you do should be in conformity to his wishes and favor for you.
2. If there’s a God, and He created you, He must be at the center of your life. Everything you do is in reference to Him. If there’s no “awe” – concern of what God would think about this – then God’s not the center of our lives.
3. This is the answer to all your problems – even intellectual ones. In evolution, you’re just a lucky animal, your species of fish ancestors was able to grow legs! That leads to a senseless life. There’s a disconnect between what you feel and what you’re told is true. If there’s no God, then there’s no love! When you meet that special someone and the emotion of love sweeps over you and you kiss – you should say, there is no love, it’s just neurons firing off or endorphins doing their thing. But you and I know that love is very real. In fact, there’s nothing wonderful and awesome unless God is wonderful and awesome!
4. Prov. 9:10; “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” If there’s no awe of God, this results in us having no awe of ourselves. We’re fearfully and wonderfully made!
E. SIGNS THAT GOD ISN’T THE CENTER
1. Self-control problems are due to God not being central in our lives. Examples? When you WORRY, you’re more focused on your circumstances than you are God’s power to supply them. When you feel GUILTY, you’re more in awe of the power of your sin than you‘re in awe of God’s grace. If you’re focused on everything FAILING, you have more awe of your own wisdom than God’s wisdom.
2. If we keep our focus on Jesus, there’s nothing God can’t do. YOU can have access to the very presence of God. If we focus on God, all our anger will diminish, our guilt and our lack of peace will go! The answer is – more of the awe of God.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: WHO CAN FORGIVE SINS? *
1. Many years ago in a small hamlet in Britain called Oxfordshire, an old woman lay dying. She had been a devout Christian for 80 years.
2. A Catholic priest, who believed no one could get to heaven without the church’s help, heard about her dying and went to assist her. When he stood by her bed, he said, “I have come to grant you absolution.” She said, “What’s that?” He said, “To forgive you your sins.”
3. She looked at him a long moment and then said, “May I see your hands?” Gazing at them, she looked up and said, “Sir, you’re an imposter! The only man who can forgive my sins has nail scars in both of His hands!” [Walter Knight, 3,000 Illus., p. 218].
4. There is only one fountain of cleansing for sin; there’s only one way to get the stains of sin out of your soul – that’s by the Blood of Jesus, who died for you!
5. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” Acts 4:12. Jesus himself said, “if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins” John 8:24. Apostle John said, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness...
and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 Jn. 1:9,7)
B. THE CALL
1. How many of you realize, “I’m in denial; I have had something else in the center.” Do you feel unworthy? You need more awe of the grace of God.
2. It’s not enough to stop sinning, you need to put God at the center! God wants to restore and forgive you; that’s why Jesus came. This is the solution to ALL our society’s problems and its sin. Let’s pray for forgiveness through Jesus’ blood!
*Sydney & Beatrice Webb were both socialist economists who founded the London School of Economics and profoundly influenced society in Great Britain.
[This is a rewrite of Anthony Scoma’s message of the same title]
