SinPart 1 of 2

WHAT IS IT?

1. Sin is breaking God’s rules. It is disregarding what God has said to do or not to do (I Jn 3:4).
   1. Cain sinned when he broke God’s rules for sacrifices and then killed Abel (Gen 4:7).
   2. Joseph boldly rejected Potiphar’s wife’s advances on the basis of sin (Genesis 39:7-9).
2. We find sin by learning God’s law – it is exceeding broad (Ro 3:20; 7:7,13; 5:20; Ps 119:96).
3. Sin is any activity done without faith in God, which is a presumptuous sin of pride (He 11:6).
   1. Plowing, a good work, is sin, when a man does it without faith in God (Proverbs 21:4).
   2. Living and action without faith is sin. Godly action demands faith (Romans 14:23).
4. Omission is as much sin as commission. If you know to do good, not doing it is sin (Jas 4:17).
5. Thinking about foolishness – mental imagination, thoughts, or fantasy – is sin (Proverbs 24:9).
   1. Desiring or fantasizing about an ineligible woman for you is sin (Matt 5:28; Job 31:1).
   2. Fantasizing evil against your brother in your heart is sin (Prov 26:24-26; Zech 7:10).
   3. Imagining you can get away with folly is a great sin (Deut 29:19-20; Psalm 14:1).

WHERE DID IT COME FROM?

1. God is the First Cause of all things, but He is not the direct and immediate cause of all things.
   1. If I hold a book in the air, I am the direct and immediate cause of it not falling.
   2. But if I let go of the book, I am not the direct and immediate cause of it falling.
   3. He was the direct and immediate cause of light but only the indirect cause of sin.
2. God has created and planned all things large and small by eternal counsel for His own glory.
   1. He created man with the ability to choose to keep His rules or to break His rules.
   2. He placed man in a perfect world with one commandment, but He also created Satan.
   3. He could easily have fenced the tree, restrained Adam, or kept Satan out of the garden.
   4. He purposed sin in the world to manifest His infinite glory in salvation and damnation.
3. God restrains sin if He chooses, or He purposes and governs it (Ps 76:10; Ge 20:6; Ex 34:24).

HOW BAD IS IT?

1. By Adam’s single sin all conceived human souls are guilty of sin and judgment (Ro 5:12-19).
2. God drowned the whole earth and all men in a flood of water because of sin (Gen 7:21-24).
3. God required the cruel death and spiritual torment of His Son to pay for sin (Isaiah 53:10).
4. Sin has hell to pay. Every human soul unless forgiven by God through Christ shall go to hell.
   1. Hell is the Lake of Fire. Since drowning and burning frighten all, it is a good name.
   2. It is not short punishment; it is not long punishment; it is everlasting punishment.
5. Consider God’s opinion of “little sins” (Deut 25:11-12; 27:16; Prov 30:17; James 2:10-11).

WHAT DOES IT CAUSE?

1. Sin causes of death. Sin brings death. Sin kills. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:21-23).
   1. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. This is easy enough to understand (Ezekiel 18:20).
   2. We are born dead to God; we die physically in about 75 years; then we die eternally.
   3. Our bodies after about twenty are in a process of dying until final death (Eccl 12:1-7).
2. Sin stops prayers. God will reject a man with unconfessed sins (Ps 66:18; Pr 28:13; Is 59:1-2).
3. Sin binds you in cords without allowing repentance or recovery (Prov 5:22; II Tim 2:25-26).
4. Sin calls for demons and gives the devil a place in your life (Eph 4:27; James 4:7; I Pet 5:8).
5. Sin grieves and quenches the Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:30; I Thess 5:19; Isaiah 63:10).

HOW DOES IT WORK?

1. Sin starts with a lustful thought, finds attraction, develops a plan, and then acts (Jas 1:13-16).
   1. Consider the first stage is being “drawn away” from the straight and narrow way.
   2. The first breath sin has is our thought of something God has damned as being possible.
   3. It is our own lust; it is not lust from God; it is our own lust. Do not err, by brethren.
   4. Consider Gen 3:6; Jos 7:21; II Sa 11:2-3; I Kgs 21:2-4; Job 31:9; Mat 5:28; Ac 5:1-2).
2. Sin comes from the heart, not from things (Matthew 12:34-35; 15:8,18; Proverbs 4:23).
3. It promotes “good” sins. Some lies are called “white lies.” Self-righteousness ranks sins.
   1. What about pride, bitterness, unthankfulness, unhappiness, discontentment, gluttony, debate, envy, covetousness, hatred, variance, emulation, whispering, backbiting, implacable, unmerciful, foolish talking, jesting, etc.
   2. Our deceitful hearts always justify our sins as “not so bad” and others’ sins as heinous.
4. It is like a cancer (II Tim 2:17). It is not content with one cell. It must grow and take more.
5. It is like yeast (Matt 16:5-12; I Cor 5:6-8; Gal 5:9). It affects the whole man and the whole congregation. You can’t limit it in its affects.
6. Sin deceives. Sin lies to its owner. Sin never tells you what is going to happen later.
   1. Sin lied to Adam and Eve (Gen 3:6-7). The fruit appeared desirable in every way to them before eating it, but they instantly were naked in an empty world after eating it with the most horrible consequence to pay for themselves and every single descendent.
   2. Sin lied to Amnon (II Sam 13:2,12-16). He was sick with desire for his beautiful sister Tamar, but he instantly hated and rejected her after ruining her in spite of her suggestion and willingness to be his wife and was dead just two years later.
   3. Sin lied to Israel (Ezek 23:17). She thought she desired Babylon, but then hated him.
   4. Sin lies to idolaters (Is 44:20). They cannot identify or evade the lie in their right hand.
   5. We are to exhort one another daily against sin, because it is deceitful (Hebrews 3:13).
   6. Sin deceives by God’s description of it (Ep 4:22; Jer 49:16; Ob 1:3; Tit 3:3; Jas 1:26).
7. Sin sears the conscience as with a hot iron so you are numb to conviction (I Timothy 4:2).
8. Sin hardens the heart to where you could even leave the God you once loved (Hebrews 3:13).

CAN IT BE BEATEN?

1. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom Paul was chief (I Timothy 1:15).
2. Jesus Christ destroyed sin (Romans 7:24-25; II Tim 1:9-10; Hebrews 2:14-17; II Cor 5:21).
3. We must hate – the lusts of the world – to defeat sin in our lives (I John 2:15-17; James 4:4).
4. Repudiate sin by hating its perversity and lack of profit (Job 33:27; Ps 36:2; Jer 31:18-19).
5. We must starve sin by not giving lust opportunity (Romans 13:14; Matthew 5:29; I Pet 2:11).
6. We must exercise – basic movements repeated often – unto godliness against sin (I Tim 4:7); we replace the presence and time of sin with basic things of godliness for spiritual growth.
7. Proverbs 4:23 is crucial. Start your discipline at the heart level. If you merely keep opportunity away, you will eventually burst forth into full blooming sin by the pent up demand of an unbridled heart. We cannot trust our own hearts (Proverbs 28:26; Romans 8:7).
8. Any thoughts of invincibility or righteous strength are foolish (I Cor 10:12; II Chron 32:31).
9. Any thoughts of laughter or mockery are wicked (Prov 14:9; 10:23; 30:20; Romans 1:32).
10. We pray for God to teach us to hate sin and love His law (Ps 119:5,10,35-37,54,128; 141:4).
11. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee (Ps 119:11; 37:31; 40:8).
12. We must exhort one another daily to counter sin’s deceitful affect (Hebrews 3:13; 10:23-25).