By W. B. Dunkum
Jesus Christ came into the world for a purpose and the purpose of His coming was to settle the sin question and settle it Scripturally and eternally.
He came to destroy the works of the devil; and the greatest work of the devil was to get carnality planted in the bosom of every child of Adam's race. I can see Jesus Christ leaving His home in Heaven, leaving the adoration of Cherubim and Seraphim and making His way to a world lost in sin. I see Him scourged, led out by a wicked mob and crucified. I can hear that wicked mob cry "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" There He hangs on the cross of Calvary and the Father seems to hide His face from Him for a time, and Jesus cries "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" This Jesus bore all for you and me that He might cure us of all sin, and make us fit subjects for Him to abide in, and send us the abiding Comforter later.
His coming was to take out of us all sin, and give us a blessed "Know-so salvation. "Beloved, if Jesus cannot do this very thing, then the devil, who injected this moral poison into the human race, is mightier than our Christ. Then he could inflict an evil which Jesus could not cure. The very thought of such is an insult to our adorable God and immaculate Christ. The plaster is larger than the sore and the supply is greater than the demand.
You should get rid of all sin because any form of sin on hand is dangerous. This awful power of Satan is seen and felt throughout the world until sin, shame, and woe are universal; and nations have gone down to wreck and ruin because of sin. And when nations go down what could be expected of an individual? Surely that was the master-stroke of Satan when he planted the germ of evil in the human heart. That germ was carnality. Sin has cursed individuals, wrecked families, and made our great cities headquarters for all kinds of sin. Sin has wrapped this world in a garment of misery and shame. Sin has visited Heaven and cast angels down from their high estate. Sin fills the bosom of God with sorrow, and turned loose a Gulf Stream of woe in this beautiful world of ours. I pray God will take this awful evil out of my readers before it becomes active.
We have a holy path to tread, A clean place to dwell, A conscience to exercise, A great God to worship, And a whole world to save.
But remember our resources are unlimited, our riches boundless, our inheritance both vast and grand and our future far more full and ample than tongue can tell or mind can grasp.
When saved from sin we can soar upon the wings of faith far above the world of gloom and sin and enter into the company of the Church of the first born and listen to the harping of innumerable angels while they play on "a harp of a thousand strings."
To question God's Word is one of the worst sins any one can commit. I think it is the paramount sin of all sins to question the Word of God. It is very dangerous and grievous to yourself, and to your God to question the veracity of God's Word.
Since we have sold ourselves for naught we belong to the devil; for we have all sinned. The devil held a mortgage on the very last one of us, but Jesus Christ came into the world to pay the sinner's debt. Did He pay it? The last words on the Cross answered the question. "It is finished." What was finished? A complete salvation from all sin to all men. Christ is not only able to save us from our past sins but is able to keep us from sinning in this present world.
1. We must separate ourselves from the sinful.
2. We must deny ourselves of the questionable.
3. We must have nothing to do with the doubtful.
Sin is the destroyer of domestic happiness. It brutalizes the husband, dissolutes the wife, debauches the son, and destroys the daughter. It is without concern for truth, without regard for honor and without reverence for virtue. It has no time for the Church, no interest in schools, no consideration for the home, no expectation of Heaven, and no apprehension of hell.
Sin demoralizes everybody that touches it from its very source to where it ends. It has many wrecks on both sides of the river of death; then come suicides, insanity, destitution and ignorance. And when you think of the jails, almshouses, prisons and asylums packed with people, I tell you, I am not surprised at Christians being afraid of sin. Sin cuts down youth in its vigor, manhood in its strength, and old age in its weakness. It breaks the heart of the father, bereaves the mother; it extinguishes natural affection, erases love for another, blots out filial attachments, blights parental love and will bring you in sorrow to an early grave. It produces weakness, sickness and death. It makes wives, widows; children, orphans; fathers, fiends; and all paupers and beggars and covers the entire land with idleness, misery and crime. It causes controversies, fosters quarrels, and cherishes racial hatreds and riots. It crowds the penitentiaries and furnishes victims for the electric chair. It takes roses from the women's cheeks, and challenges the Republic in the halls of Congress: It honors liars, respects thieves, and has the most profound esteem for blasphemers. Sin turns men into monsters and women into harlots. It resists the ballot box to corrupt it, and weakens the administration of justice.
Sin hates love, scorns virtue, and slanders the innocent. It degrades citizens, debases the legislature, dishonors the statesman, and disarms the patriot. It brings shame, despair and misery. It poisons felicity, kills peace, ruins morals, blights confidence, slays reputation, and destroys national honor. It causes the world to laugh at the ruin. Sin is the son of vileness, Father of crime, and Mother of abomination. And at last, but not least, in the end, sin murders the soul.
The Origin of Sin
The origin of sin is due to the first-wrong choice of a free moral agent. Sin must be a free act in order to be sin. Angels through jealousy rebelled against the government of God. Thus sin turned them into demons and evil spirits. This is not a myth or an allegory but is accepted as actual history. Sin is due to the wrong choice of the first free moral agent. Man was a moral being and endowed with conscience and the power of choice.
In the moral economy of God sin is a possibility but not a necessity. And our first parents converted a possibility into an actuality. Because of the fall, the ground was cursed and a blight was put upon nature.
In the plan of God justice demands the punishment of sinners; otherwise the plan of God would be destroyed. Our first parents sinned and that made sinners out of all their posterity. Sin entered the Garden and Adam and Eve yielded to gain knowledge and power. Sin is the intense desire to have your own way. Man is captain of his own soul, having freedom of will, so man makes or mars his own destiny.
The origin of sin is the subject which has baffled many an investigator. Its entrance into the world and infection of the whole human race, its nature, forms and effects, and its fatal possession of every unregenerate soul, are fully described in the Bible. Sin is a violation of the laws of God and claims of men, It is a deviation from eternal rectitude and is caned iniquity, unrighteousness, ungodliness and impurity.
Depravity transmitted from our first parents to all their seed, is called by theologians" original sin."
A single sin unrepented of and unforgiven, destroys the soul, as a single break renders a whole ocean cable useless. "For He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."
Man is the climax of all God's creation. He stands above the animal creation by his endowment or reason, discrimination, and language; he gave names to all animal creation. Man had a wonderful start but he sinned.
Sin multiplies. The tendency of sin is to gather force with every new commission. And so the battle goes on. We must either overcome sin, or sin will overcome us; you must and will decide which. Why not completely forsake all sin once and forever and do it now? Try being without sin for awhile and see the difference.
Sin is a great disturber. It is rebellion against God. It is selfish and continually causes trouble with our fellow men. The sinful heart is not satisfied and is a source of unrest. Sin is the enemy of a good conscience. If you disobey your conscience, it will not only reprove but it tells us that a settling up time is ahead. So there is plenty for a sinful heart to think about in settling up matters for eternity.
But to the devout Christian there is nothing to worry about. Having been reconciled to the Father through the death of His Son, we know that not only is there an escape from hell which is the consequence and climax of sin, but salvation unto life eternal. We are not only saved from but saved to. Having been saved from our sins, we look forward to a house of many mansions, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, the Tree of Life, the River of Life, the streets of gold, yea, the saints of all ages as they gather in from the battle fields of life.
Sin is not an illusion. It is as real as war, and far more damnable. There will never be war when sin is put away, and there will never cease to be wars as long as sin rules the hearts of men. For sin to carry out its deadly work, it must enlist human support. Sin endeavors to fill the minds of men with propaganda, endeavors to capture the will and prompt men to choose sin instead of right and truth. Satan endeavors to capture the good and corrupt it with evil. God has given us hearts to love but we are taught to hate. He gives us hands to help our neighbors but we knock him down instead.
Sin is Heinous and Ruinous
We cannot afford to treat sin lightly. It is nothing short of anarchy and rebellion against the divinely arranged program of God. If allowed to have its way it would destroy the entire universe of God; would kill people by the car load and sink steamers. It would turn cosmos into chaos. But best of all provision has been made through the blood of the Lamb for your sins to be forgiven.
Sin is a shocking reality and a mystery to man who do not want to give a up. We may not be able to give an explanation of the origin of sin but the fact and the ruin of sin are indisputable. A good fireman would not waste any time over the origin of fire, but get the facts concerning the fire afterwards, so it is our business to first get rid of sin, then later we can talk over God's reason for the origin and His tolerance of sin in the world.
All have sinned. The sinner is a transgressor. The sins of some are as scarlet, but others as crimson. But He loves those who seek Him early, yet some have gotten in at the eleventh hour but by waiting you are running the risk of having the door shut in your face.
Sin separates brothers from brothers, sisters from sisters, parents from children and husbands from wives. Your sins will hide His face from you.
The Bible is a book on sin. Many books have been written on literature and fiction unfolding sin and its consequences but our Bible is a masterpiece in the realms of literature, philosophy, and ethics. From its sacred pages we learn the origin, the nature, the effects, the consequences the penalty and the destiny of sin.
Bible Definitions of Sin, Romans 6:23
I. "All unrighteousness is Sin." I John 5:17
Righteousness is one of the strongest words in the English language. Righteousness means upright, down right, in right, out right, and all right. To be righteous means we are right with God, right with our neighbor and right with ourselves. You will have due respect for your own soul.
II. "To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." James 4:17.
As a Christian man or woman, are you guilty? If guilty frankly confess it and get forgiveness. This is the sin of omission and there is a loophole through which you may escape. If you know your responsibility and refuse to assume it to you it is sin.
III. "Sin is the transgression of the law." I John 3:4.The state laws are for our protection. When we step over the laws of our country we become sinners against our country. When we openly walk over God's laws we may look for the consequences.
IV. "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Romans 14:23. This sweeping proposition is universal.
This takes in your acts, thoughts, and imaginations. "The just shall live by faith." Have you attained unto this common end? Christ died for all men everywhere, but that is no sign everybody will be saved. It is a universal atonement but a conditional application. All men are guilty and when we turn down the blood we are guilty to suffer the consequences. In the final analysis you are not a sinner because you lie, steal, cheat, swear, etc. but because you neglect the blood which bought your pardon. There are only three steps to hell, namely: neglect, reject, despise.
The wages of sin are somewhat on the installment plan. It would be disastrous to the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of darkness if paid off in full. It would paralyze every industry of the underworld. Satan pays wages but not living wages, but pays by installment. He will not always pay off January first but he will pay and he will pay in full.
Sin is a monster, a deceiver, and a destroyer. But no one who reads these lines needs ever to be deceived by that monster, deceiver, and destroyer. Through faith in the shed blood we may escape this awful doom which awaits every impenitent soul.
"Sin is like the descent of a hill, every step we take increases the difficulty of our return. Sin is like a river in its course: the longer it runs, the deeper it wears its channel, and in proportion to the distance it goes from the fountain, it swells in volume and acquires greater strength.
"Sin is like a tree in its progression: the longer it grows, the wider its roots spread; it grows taller, grows thicker until the sapling, which once an infant's arm could bend, raises its head aloft, defiant of the storm.
"Sin in its habits becomes stronger every day; the heart grows harder, the conscience duller, the distance between God and the soul grows greater, and like a rock hurled from the mountain top, the farther one descends, he goes down, down, down, with ever increasing rapidity."-- Sel.
The Pleasure of Sin
The pleasures of sin are not of a lasting or permanent nature.
1. The pleasures of sin are of short duration.
2. The pleasures of sin leave a sting behind.
3. The pleasures of sin are such that the more they are enjoyed, the less enjoyment they contain.
4. The pleasures of sin are expensive.
(a) An acknowledgment of sin.
(b) An abandonment of sin.
(c) Confession and restitution.
Sin is the source of every ailment, both physical and social, to which the human family has fallen heir. In the beginning sin has a small and nearly unnoticeable start. Sin leaves its trademark upon the body. The world is full of physical wrecks whose ruin is traceable to sin. A person can still sin until conscience ceases to function; until it is seared. Sin is the cause of all evil habits, crime and degradation. Heredity is an undeniable fact. The Bible says that the sins of the fathers will visit the offspring of the third and fourth generations. Sin is a contagious disease. One person sinning makes it easy for others with him to do the same. We cannot escape our influence.
We punish criminals and rise up in indignation if they go unpunished for their crime against society. We must give God the same privilege. To leave sin unpunished He would dethrone Himself and cease to be supreme. Sin is the work of the enemy and God cannot look upon sin with any degree of allowance. Hell was not prepared for the human race but for the devil and his angels. The way men go to hell is to follow sin and reject Jesus Christ. Our Savior knew what it would mean for a soul to be lost so He made an atonement whereby lost humanity might escape the penalty of sin and make it through to the haven of eternal rest.
Sin has a small beginning, causes separation, is unclean, is contagious, is incurable, is fatal and the only cure is Jesus Christ. Hence Jesus alone can deliver from sin and its awful consequences. Sin is a fire, sin is a poison, sin is a disease, sin is bondage, and sin is moral leprosy. No tyrant was ever so hard a taskmaster as sin.
He gives us a holy day in which to recuperate our physical and spiritual strength, and we have turned it into a holiday for dissipation and debauchery. He has sent preachers to warn us but we have treated them shamefully. He sent a Savior to redeem us but we crucified Him. Some day God's patience with evil will end; when sin of every kind will be put away and Christ Himself shall rule.
1. All unrighteousness is sin.
2. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
3. The thought of foolishness is sin.
4. To neglect duty is sin.
5. Christ was manifested to take away sin.
Sin should be confessed, mourned over, hated, abhorred, put away, departed from, and wholly destroyed.
Salvation from sin is for all now. The conditions are simple, unalterable and universal.
He forgives, He keeps, He delivers, He cleanses.
He died to save. He lives to make holy. He is coming for the sanctified. The ground was cursed on account of sin. Toil and sorrow were caused by sin. Death -- the punishment of sin. Sin excludes from Heaven.
Our best works will fail, fade, crumble, and pass away. The works of the flesh are the products of the operation of the flesh and of sin. The sinner becomes a victim in the hands of the devil and the products are fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revelings, and suchlike. These factories operated by sin keep the devil's kingdom furnished and furnish hell with multitudes of souls to be damned.
If sins can be blotted out by good deeds on our part then where will we find a list by which we can measure our actions and deeds and to know exactly where we stand? If we give a ton of coal to the poor, how many sins will that act atone for? Will $25.00 given for religious purposes atone for a certain number of sins? What scales will you use in measuring your actions and deeds, when you desire your deeds and acts to over-balance your sins? How can we know when we have a sufficient amount of good to blot out our sinful record? Can you in one day do enough good deeds to atone for the sins of that day? Does the Bible tell us of certain kinds of deeds to be applied to certain kinds of sin? In all the Scripture you who find no remedy for sin except the shed blood. You cannot risk your soul for all eternity on some private opinion or interpretation. "It is not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy hath He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost." So it is when good works are offered to God in payment for evil deeds. The good works will only bring down more severe punishment on the head of the one who tries to bribe God. To offer pay to God is only an assault to His holiness. The debt was paid but only by a guiltless, sinless Savior who stands before the Judgment bar with no sin on Him nor in Him.
God deals with all men in the same way. He looks down in mercy upon those who have never been saved, and never been born again, and though they may be busy in Christian service and admirable acts. God is not influenced by those outward attitudes, but looks into the heart to see if Christ is there. Good works will not alter the heart. Religious service will not change the soul. The Holy Spirit renews the mind and heart and reveals Jesus Christ who wants to become our Savior. And when we are saved by Jesus Christ good works will be the natural result. But this transformation is the result of the incoming of Jesus Christ into the heart and not the result of good works.
The Bible divides the world into two classes: those who are forgiven, saved, redeemed and know it, and those who are still in their sins and lost. Then if we could be saved by good works, we should find some Scripture to tell us how many good works and what kind we should do before the great transaction takes place. God wants us to know definitely we are saved, that we are redeemed, that we are forgiven, and I urge you to never stop seeking until you have a definite experience with God.
The Effects of Sin
Sin has corrupted the heart, paralyzed the intellect, perverted the will, controlled the passions, destroyed morals and virtue, and the end is not yet.
Sin has interrupted the entire universe. It has turned the creature against the Creator. It turned rebellious angels out of Heaven and disobedient man out of Paradise. It kindles the flames of hell between individuals and nations. It brought the death penalty upon the race and the curse of God upon the earth. It turned man against his fellowmen and drenched the earth in blood. It darkens the eyes with pollution and fills the cars with cursing and blaspheming. Who can look upon the awful work of sin and speak in its favor?
I. Sin defiles what God intended to be holy.
The moral nature, the conscience, the heart, created in the image of God whiter than the driven snow is corrupted by sin. The moral vision is darkened and the discrimination inaccurate until it becomes impossible for the sinner to discriminate between sin and righteousness.
II. Sin is powerful.
Too many have found to their sorrow that the least remains of sin after regeneration has power to germinate and produce the fruits of death.
III. Sin struggles to overthrow.
"The sin which doth so easily beset us." Heb. 12:1.
1. The sin I am most unwilling to own.
2. The sin I try to believe is an infirmity.
3. The sin that causes me to doubt.
4. The sin I do not like to look at and denounce.
5. The sin that makes my sky cloudy.
6. The sin that causes remorse of conscience.
7. The sin I am quick to defend.
8. The sin that most easily leads me captive.
9. The sin that my thoughts dwell upon most.
10. The sin for which I find the most excuses.
11. The sin I avoid naming in prayer.
12. The sin that is as dear to me as my right hand. May God help us to overcome everything that formerly overcame us.
Results of Sin
1. Ground cursed by sin -- thorns and briar.
2. Pestilence, droughts, floods, tornadoes, an earthquakes.
3. Wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores.
4. Suffering, pain, and disease.
5. Every pain, burden, and broken heart, bed and grave.
6. Setting bad example, and encouraging and enticing others to do wrong.
7. Procrastination in the day of repentance and salvation.
8. When defending the necessity of sin.
9. Boasting of sin.
10. Smiling at sins of others and encouraging them to continue in sin.
11. Ridiculing the reprovers of sin.
12. Holding out a false hope.
Sin blights, sin destroys and damns.
One sin put the angels out of Heaven.
One sin put our first parents out of Eden.
Sin turns angels into demons and men into beasts.
One sin unrepented of and unforsaken will shut us out of Heaven forever.
Sin entered humanity, and humanity became disease by sin, which end is death.
The Causes of Sin
Sin is the cause of all trouble.
Sin causes strikes and wars.
Sin causes anger and murder.
Sin causes jealous and contention.
Sin causes quarreling and divorces
Sin causes sickness and sorrow.
Sin fills graveyards
Sin is blacker than Egyptian darkness.
Sin is worse than a volcanic eruption.
Sin is swifter than a cyclone
Sin is as merciless as a tiger.
Sin is as ruinous as a famine.
Sin is subtle, treacherous, deceptive, proud, haughty, diabolical, and unsparing.
Sin withers, blights, paralyzes, and damns.
Sin is hell turned loose.
Sin pollutes the mind, warps the will, and sears the conscience, and brings excruciating pain.
Avoid sin as you would a viper. Jesus Christ will forgive every sin.
Try and see.
This world would be a paradise in which to live if there were no sin.
Can you think of a large city without hatred, without malice, without greed, without robbery, without theft, where administrators are clean and holy?
Thoughtful people are asking, "Is there a remedy for sin?" Yes, there is both a cause and a remedy. Hence, remove the cause and apply the remedy -- the blood.
Sin is unnatural to man and when he is made free, he is simple and natural.
Sin brings remorse, fear and darkness. Sin is the cause of domestic unhappiness and misery in the home. It is not poverty that makes men unhappy, it is sin. Sin has its mental consequences.
1. Sin has its hand on the memory.
2. A burden on the conscience.
3. A fetter on the will.
4. Pollution on the mind and darkness to the understanding. We say reverently there is a remedy. Sin is the tragedy, without parallel in history. But the remedy is greater than the disease. The plaster is bigger than the wound. The cleansing is as complete as pardon.
There are many lessons in history to tell us that no nation can sink to the level of drunkenness and debauchery and survive. There is a point beyond which God will not endure mockery. When the point is reached He strikes. He did in the days of Noah. He did in Sodom and Gomorrah. He did in the time of Belshazzar and He will in our day.
1. Sin hardens the understanding.
2. Sin perverts the will.
3. Sin sears the conscience.
4. Sin changes the affections.
5. Sin hurls reason from its lofty throne.
6. Sin will leave its mark upon an individual and upon the nation.
7. Sin leaves its mark upon the home.
8. Sin leaves its mark upon the conscience.
9. Sin leaves its mark upon the body.
10. Sin leaves its mark upon the soul.
Sin Binds with Cords
We have the broken hearted all about us and until suffering on every hand. Sin has brought many in sorrow to an early grave. Sin in your home causes discord, trouble, suffering, agony, separation, divorce, suicide, and a hell on earth.
The poisonous malaria of lust is sweeping our land and country until we have but little moral standard left. What is God's remedy for sin? To those who do not know Him, there is forgiveness, and to those who know Him, there is cleansing.
If people were more careful about their dress that would help the situation out some. Worldly dress increases pride, encourages vanity, begets jealousy, leads to extravagance, wastes money, detrimental to health, and desires admiration, robs God, and crowds out the best thoughts and feelings.
We need to understand the nature of sin in order to understand the plan of salvation. The devil is the author of it. He concocted it in his own heart in Heaven before the creation of man. It was first seen on earth in the fall of man. "Moreover, as we study the history of sin, we find that sin is unchanging in its essential nature. What it did yesterday, it is doing today, and will continue to do while time rolls on toward eternity. The black, putrid abscess that burst in the dawn of humanity's day has stained every page of subsequent history. Sin not only marred the beautiful garden of Eden but it stained the earth just outside Eden's gate with human blood murderously shed. Sin brought the race into disrepute with God precipitating the flood; and hung a mantle of shame about the remnant of humanity as it emerged from the Ark. Sin confused the people's language at Babel and scattered them to the four winds of the earth never to understand each other again. Sin dragged the most illustrious king that Israel ever knew from his God-given throne and sent him to a premature grave and to a suicide's hell. Sin pulled the once victorious Hebrew nation from the heights of Divine protection, robbing them of their God-given country and sending them into ignominious bondage to the heathen nations, never to know National identity again until Jesus comes. Yes, sin is unchanging in its nature. Alexander the Great conquered the world and wept because there were no more worlds for him to conquer, but he dealt in sin and went down filling a premature grave and a drunkard's hell at the age of twenty-eight. Napoleon Bonaparte marshaled arms on a hundred victorious battlefields, but ambition and egotism -- sin -- he could not conquer. Sin did for him what it has done for everyone that has ever dealt with it. It proved his ruin." You can no more sin and be a Christian than you can steal and be honest, drink and be sober, or lie and be truthful.
If a man sings, he is a singer
If a man preaches, he is a preacher.
If a man paints, he is a painter.
And if he sins, he is a sinner.
One known and unforgiven sin will break fellowship with God. It may be there are those in hell now whose sins are less than yours. One voluntary, known and willful transgression, unrepented of and unforgiven will be sufficient to settle your destiny forever. One sin has brought death to the entire race.
Our peace loving nation has had a war every twenty-two years, and the greatest war of all ages is being fought now -- World War II. But think of a war between sin and salvation for six thousand years.
The average professor of Christianity will laugh at the thought of being saved from sin and being kept by power divine. The public recognizes a Christian as one who is identified with the church, but still going on every day and sinning in thought, word, and deed. Their only hope is an unconditional salvation and provided in the Scriptures for infants and idiots. Surely this indifference and ignorance must be because of the carelessness of both laity and ministry.
God reasons, pities, threatens, condemns, but never compels the sinner to give up sin since he has the power to choose his own course; therefore, man holds his own destiny in his hands.
Contrast Between Bible and Man
1. Bible says sin is iniquity; man says it is an accident.
2. Bible says sin is blindness; man says it is a blunder.
3. Bible says sin is carnality; man says it is cunning.
4. Bible says sin is a disease; man says it is a defect.
5. Bible says sin is evil; man says it is an error.
6. Bible says sin is a reality; man says it is a fancy only.
7. Bible says sin is godlessness; man says it is gayety.
8. Bible says sin is hereditary; man says it is habit.
9. Bible says sin is just; man says it is a joke.
10. Bible says sin kills; man says it is enjoyable.
11. Bible says sin is lawlessness; man says it is liberty.
12. Bible says sin is madness; man says it is a mistake.
13. Bible says sin is needless; man says it is a necessity.
14. Bible says sin is an obstacle; man says it is an opportunity.
15. Bible says sin is poison; man says it is a play toy.
16. Bible says sin is rebellion; man says it is a relapse.
17. Bible says sin is suicide; man says it is a slip.
18. Bible says sin is a tragedy; man says it is a trifle.
19. Bible says sin is unrighteousness; man says it is unwise.
20. Bible says sin is violence, and viciousness; man says it is vengeance.
21. Bible says sin is wickedness; man says it is weakness.
22. Bible says sin is death; man says it is life.
God measures by quality. Man measures by quantity.
a. Sin is essentially wrong.
b. Sin is against self, against the government of God, and is a calamity.
c. Sin shuts away from communion and fellowship with God. God's dealings with humanity proves that He hates sin.
d. Sin will undermine the spiritual. Sinners sell themselves into bondage.
e. Sinful habits hard to break. Your loss not realized.
f. The bitter memory of sin.
Why do Men Sin?
1. Some doubt the truthfulness of Christianity. If you accept and not true, you have lost nothing; if true you have gained every thing.
2. Because of the love of sin.
3. Because men will not repent.
4. Because men are wedded to pleasure.
5. Because men love to make money; no time to be religious.
6. Because of pride.
7. Because of unbelief.
Contrast Between Holiness and Sin
1. Holiness is restfulness -- normal state. Sin is restlessness.
2. Holiness is freedom. Sin binds with cords and chains.
3. Holiness is honorable. Sin is a reproach to any people.
4. Holiness is purity. Sin is a stain the blood alone can wash away.
5. Holiness is soul health. Sin is a disease of the soul.
6. Holiness is lightness of the heart. Sin is heaviness of the heart.
7. Holiness is prosperity. Sin brings ruin.
8. Holiness is union with God in character and likeness. Sin is union with the devil in character and likeness.
9. Holiness is consistency. Sin causes backsliding and should be eradicated.
10. Holiness is life. Sin is death here and hereafter.
11. Holiness is beautiful. Sin is repulsive.
12. Holiness is attractive. Sin hinders power with God and men.
13. Holiness is God's specialty. Sin is the devil's specialty.
14. Holiness is patience and longsuffering. Sin is selfishness.
15. Holiness is to be courteous and thoughtful of others. Sin is unthoughtfulness of others.
16. Holiness is a fitness for Heaven. Sin shuts a soul out of Heaven and banishes it to hell.
Differences
1. Difference between being sorry for sin and being sorry because your sin is found out.
2. Difference between confessing your sin and the sin of your neighbor.
3. Difference between confessing your faults and the faults of your neighbor.
4. Difference between conversion of the head and conversion of the heart.
5. Difference between being led by the Holy Spirit and being led by your own imaginations.
6. Difference between contending for the faith and for your own opinion.
7. Difference between a shout of victory and a yell in the wrong place.
8. Difference between being persecuted for Jesus' sake and for your own ignorance.
9. Difference between preaching the word of God and your own opinion.
10. Difference between being bid with Christ in God than being caught in the devil's trap.
Five Bible Confessions
The Bible teaches the doctrine of confession. Human experience is full of confession. Confession occupies a prominent place in the plan of salvation. Confession should be taught and preached.
1. Confession of our sins to the Lord. Lev. 5:5; Josh. 7:19; Psa. 32:5; Prov. 28:13.John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. I John 1:9.
2. Confession of Christ. Romans 10: 9-10.
3. Confession of faults. Will help us in misunderstandings and in splits. Jas. 5:16; Gal. 6:1.
4. Confession of special blessings. Regeneration, sanctification, etc.
5. Confess we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth. A city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God.
Three Great Questions
1. The careless sinner. "What have I done?" Jer. 8:6.
2. The undecided sinner. "What shall I do?" Matt. 27:22.
3. The anxious sinner. "What must I do?" Acts 16:30.
I. Why need to be saved?
1. Because you are a rebel against God.
2. Because He loves you.
3. Because He hates sin.
4. Because you are in awful danger.
II. What is it to be saved?
1. Forgiveness of sins to all who repent.
2. Deliverance from hell.
3. A clean conscience.
4. Freedom from the power of sin.
5. Fellowship with God and the saints.
III. What must I do to be saved?
1. Seek God with all your heart.
2. Repent and believe -- He loves the sinner.
3. Do what you can.
4. Inquire about it.
5. Seek in earnest.
6. Believe heartily.
7. Be thorough. Formal religion is a delusion.
IV. Do it quickly.
1. Need saving because you are in danger.
2. Today. Tomorrow may be too late.
V. What must I do to be damned?
1. Fear public opinion.
2. Keep bad company.
3. Drown conviction.
4. Live for the pleasures of this life.
5. Resist the Spirit.
6. Despise salvation.
7. Neglect God.
8. Neglect your soul.
9. Wait until tomorrow.
10. Die as you live -- Procrastinate.
Should Christians Sin?
All intelligent persons and Christians agree that they should not sin.
One who is born of God will not unless it is the sin of ignorance.
We have a divine nature and salvation through the blood.
What sin can you commit and get to Heaven?
1. To sin contradicts the word Christian.
2. To sin paves the way to perdition. Christians and sin as far apart as love and murder, Heaven and hell. The Holy Spirit can only work through people free from sin.
3. God made provision to remove sin; if not, our religion not ahead of the heathen religion.
4. Is it necessary to sin occasionally? No open door for sin.
5. If you sin it is not because you have to, but want to.
If Christians Sin --
a. It hurts yourself.
b. It hurts your brethren.
c. It hurts the heart of Jesus Christ.
1. Sin is a departure from God.
2. Sin is rebellion in heart against God.
3. Sin is an awful fact, destroys our will power and we become its victims.
4. Sin works by no set method.
5. Sin has a way to ruin every soul.
6. Sin without restraint will pull man from path of duty and cause him to neglect means of grace.
7. Sin makes world a mansion of lust and causes you to bow down and worship fame and honor.
8. Sin murders the soul and its withering and blasting effects are felt in this life and go into eternity to be perpetuated there. The slave who goes through life as such can rejoice at the prospect of laying down his burdens in this life. But for the slave of sin, there is not hope at death, only end of all hopes, and commencement of the greatest miseries.
Modernism will not smooth your pillow in the dying hour. Church-anity will not supply you with one ray of hope in the hour of death. Riches will be Valueless
1. Burden of getting them.
2. Fear of keeping them.
3. Temptation of using them.
4. Sorrow of losing them.
5. And final burden of accounting for them at the Judgment.
Sin Opposes God's Laws
God is not the author of sin as" it is inconsistent with His nature. The devil is the instigator of sin and man is the object he deceives. Faults, infirmities, mistakes, and human weaknesses will remain with us. But we should shun sin as a deadly serpent or fatal poison.
1. Sin is the willful violation of a known law.
2. Sin is a personal act for which we are responsible.
3. Sin is a fearful thing if we judge it by its consequences.
4. Sin is the greatest tragedy of the human race.
5. Sin separates us from God.
6. All sin must be acknowledged and confessed. No confession -- no salvation.
7. Confession of sin to man must meet all the demands of honesty.
8. Confession makes forgiveness possible.
9. God forgives all we confess and forsake. He wants to save everybody He can, from all the sin He can, just as soon as He can.
10. Repentance and faith the measure of your relationship with God. This world is the sinner's heaven and the believer's hell. Sinners get their best now; believers get their worst now.
Why we need to give up Sin
1. It's the only way to avoid hell.
2. It's the only way to attain Heaven.
3. It's the only way to be with the best people.
4. It's the only way to render proper service to the world.
5. It's the only way to receive life and it more abundantly.
6. It's the only way to make most of present life.
Why Avoid Sin?
1. Because it is offensive to God.
2. Because it is pernicious to myself.
3. Because it blasts society.
4. Because it damages the church.
5. Because it cost Jesus His life.
6. Because its wages is death.
Sin not Regulated but Crucified
Sin is the leprosy of the soul.
Sin is a moral uncleanness.
Sin is contagious. One sinner destroys much good. One bad boy degrades many.
Sin is incurable as to human means.
Education, culture, refinement. These all are excellent but no relief.
Sin is a cruel monster.
Sin has wrecked humanity world over.
Sin said Jesus Christ was a deceiver, mocked Him, pierced His side, spit in His face and crowned Him with thorns.
Sin tried to rob Him of His resurrection.
Sin put a stone at the door and set guard.
Devil is a creature of sin.
Devil did not cause sin.
Sin produced the devil.
All devils the result of sin.
Hell, the result of sin.
Hell will be occupied with people who would not give up sin.
Sin causes all forms of trouble.
Sin digs graves and makes coffins.
Sin wears the burial shroud.
The Hearse is the result of sin, vacant chairs, widows, orphans, Sabbath desecration, deception, hypocrisy, divorce, crime, etc.
When Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley were assassinated and the guilty parties were found, it was universally believed that sin is being punished as sin kills beyond the tomb.
Sin is an awful reality. Sin is an act, or principle. A disposition and an evil nature. No amount of reasoning, philosophizing and modernizing will take out of sin the sting.
1. Sin inhabits the soul.
2. Sin deceives.
3. Sin brings us into bondage.
4. Sin makes us miserable.
5. Sin is in no way, shape, form, style, or fashion necessary to human happiness.
The Transgressor's Way is Hard
1. It is in love, He made the way hard. Satan -- a hard taskmaster and a poor paymaster.
2. Many go when it is hard. What if it were easy?
3. Think of results if no penalty attached.
4. Salvation is uphill but not easy.
5. Have a clear conscience and know you are right, and go ahead.
6. As this is important to the whole human family, for all crime, misery, and wars came out of transgressions. Sin dug first grave -- been at it ever since.
7. Transgressions dim spiritual eyes and cause spiritual death.
8. Transgressions will harden.
9. Transgressions are incurable by man. Eats by degrees.
10. Transgressions are stubborn facts with terrible consequences.
11. Transgressions destroy happiness -- is contagious.
12. Transgression turned first parents out of garden.
13. Transgressions wrecked hearts and lives of men and nations.
14. Transgressions are dangerous and fatal,
15. Transgressions will bring our punishment and damnation.
The Transgressor is Restless
Because of conscience.
Because of memory.
Because of secret sins.
Because of his choice.
He has no lasting happiness here or hereafter.
Where is Happiness Found?
1. Not in unbelief -- Voltaire had it but said, "I wish I had never been born."
2. Not in money. Jay Gould, millionaire, had money but said, "I am the most miserable devil on earth."
3. Not in position or fame. Lord Beaconsfield said, "Youth is a mistake, manhood is a struggle, and old age a regret."
4. Not in military glory. Alexander the Great conquered the known world and wept because no more worlds to conquer.
But real, lasting, abiding happiness is found in Jesus Christ alone!
Sin's Deceitfulness Ezekiel 18
You may do like many of these and still be lost.
1. You may offer like Cain. Gen. 4:3.
2. Weep like Esau. Gen. 27:38.
3. Leave Sodom like Lot's wife. Gem 19:26.
4. Be zealous for God like Israel. Rom. 10:2.
5. Serve like Gehazi. II Kings 5:20.
6. Tremble like Felix. Acts 24:25.
7. Be a disciple like Judas. Acts 1:25.
8. Take part in service like Micah. Judges 17:5.
9. Make long prayers like the Pharisees. Matt. 23:14
10. Prophesy like Saul. I Sam. 1:10.
11. Have a godly Father like Solomon had.
12. Have lamps like the foolish virgins. Matt. 25:1-13.
13. Be near the kingdom like the young man. Matt. 19:16.
14. Be almost a Christian like Agrippa. Acts 26:28.
Sin's Restlessness Isaiah 48:22.
1. Sin does not satisfy.
2. Restless in heart.
3. Restless in the home.
4. Restless in business.
5. Restless in pleasure.
6. Restless in adversity.
7. Restless under searching truth.
8. Restless facing death.
Sin's Destructiveness James 1:15
Sin is destructive in:
I. It's Origin
1. It marred Heaven.
2. It marred the earth.
3. It marred the human race.
II. Its History.
1. Antediluvians.
2. Canaanites.
3. Sodom and Gomorrah.
4. Judah and Israel
5. Jerusalem 70 A. D.
6. Babylonian, Greek, Roman Empires.
7. French and German nations.
III. Its Manifestations.
1. Hatred, murder, and war.
2.Greed and covetousness.
3. Social sins and racial suicides.
4. Alcoholic drinks.
5. Tobacco.
6. Jealousy.
7. Anger generates poison.
8. Revelry and dissipation.
IV. Its Final Analysis.
Is everlasting destruction.
The Promise of Sin.
Sin promises great things, but it never gives what it promises. The crowns of sin are never real but only a sham. Dr. W. L. Watkins says, "Sin is full of illusions, impositions and mockery. The prizes of sin and worldliness are always cruel shams. They look well, they seem splendid, they shine from afar, they captivate the imagination, they kindle ambition and desire, but they lack in reality: when you lay hold upon them they are but tantalizing vapors. Sinners never do the grand things for which they sell themselves." Sin promises a great deal but pays off in counterfeit money. The devil promised Adam and Eve the knowledge of good and evil and that they would have knowledge as God, but paid them with aches, pains, sorrow, thorns and briars.
The devil promised Achan a wedge of gold and a beautiful Babylonish garment, but when he got them he had to bury them in his tent and in the end they buried him.
Sinful ambition promised Napoleon universal conquest and glory and he lived the last years of his life in prison.
It is not only the great Herods and Napoleons and Nebuchadnezzars who are eaten with worms, or sent to eat grass like oxen. God is no respecter of persons, and it is as true now as it was when he wrote the Galatians. "He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap everlasting life." You may think you are deceiving God but in the end you will find you are mistaken. If you only plan and labor to gain money and influence, you will be a weakling in God's sight. But when a man builds on prosperity, pride, vanity and selfishness and cares not what the results will be, his glory dies with him. Anything you obtain by sinning against God and doing violence to your conscience you may be sure will lose all its preciousness and sweetness.
The prisoners of sin are the saddest prisoners in the world; but, thank God; there is no bondage of iniquity so cruel, and no prison of sin so dark, that the light of God's mercy does not shine into it and offer to lead the prisoner out to liberty and freedom.
I do not ask you to make me a promise that you wilt do better, cast off some besetting sin, or break loose from some peculiar, uncomfortable vice; but I come to you in the name of Jesus Christ, who came down from Heaven and died on tire cross to redeem net only from the guilt, but from the power of sin, and sever your connection with all sin and give yourself to Him who is able to save you, cleanse you and keep you pure.
Redemption Through Christ
Our Redeemer is holy. A sinful being could not redeem sinners. The teaching of the Bible on this subject is in harmony with the demands of reason and science. "For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the Heavens." Hebrews 7:26. "Yet without sin." Hebrews 4:15.
"Him who knew no sin He made to be sin." II Cor. 5:2. "Who did no sin, neither was any guile found in His mouth." I Peter 2:22. "Christ also suffered for sin once; the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God." I Peter 3:18.
It is an evident fact that man is morally depraved and sinful. He is "dead in trespasses and sins," He has no power to set himself free from the bondage of sin and cleanse himself from natural defilements. He needs to get in touch with a power that will save. For this ethical purpose, the plan of redemption through Christ was decreed and set into operation through the love and grace of God, He is willing to forgive and save every one who comes to the age of responsibility, and being conscience of the personal presence of the pure and Immaculate One. Man desires a pure heart and to live a pure life. Even a desire for the impure must come out, and he must abhor the sinful. More than that, His personal presence is a comfort and help to the Bible Christian.
Sin is rebellion against God and a reproach to any people, while some are secret sins yet they are disgraceful, While a fountain was opened for sin and Jesus was manifested to take away sin and in Him is no sin. Every Christian should warn the wicked to forsake sin, keep free from everything of a sinful nature for sin excludes from Heaven,
Sin is Two-fold
First, as an evil in man, and second, as an evil done in man. One is a sinful state, and the other a sinful practice. A sinful practice is the transgression of the law. A sinful state implies a bent to evil and a corrupt nature. It has been said, "Man is not a sinner because he does evil; he does evil because he is a sinner." For the guilty sinner, there is forgiveness, and for the depraved Christian, there is cleansing. The convicted sinner should seek forgiveness. The convicted believer should seek holiness of heart and life.
The Danger of Sin
There is a more religious delusion in the world today than has been since the fall of man. For one to say we have to sin every day in thought, word, and deed is illogical, unreasonable, absurd and preposterous, yes, unscriptural Sin is dark and expensive. If you could see the exceeding sinfulness of man you would see the need of a Savior. Sin is not an homespun idea originated by some theologian but an awful reality. You are opening the flood gates of damnation to your grandchildren because of your sins. If you could only realize what sin is, and what a grip it has on you, then you would surely want to get rid of it.
Sin will not let you stay put. Sin is always trying to have you appear really better inwardly than your inward excellences would warrant. Sin loves the esteem of mankind. Only God's grace can save you from your sins.
The work of the Holy Spirit is to deal with sin. Sin came into the world and sin still interferes with the plan of God. Sin involved the race and affected the whole of mankind. The Bible points out the guilt of sin, the being of sin, the wages of sin, yes, the remedy for all sin. It tells of a Redeemer, a Savior who can break every shackle and set the captive free. Let the reader yield yourself to Jesus Christ to heed His message, to obey His voice, to do His will, to follow His guidance and leadership, to know His saving and cleansing power and have all that comes to us through being saved and cleansed from all sin.
An important step towards salvation is repentance. No salvation is possible without repentance. You might as well ask a man to swim the ocean with a hundred pound weight on his back as to ask him to be saved while he clings to sin and sinful habits. Repentance will not only cause sorrow of heart because of sin but cause you to turn from it with sorrow and earnestness of heart to what God requires and demands.
We read sometimes that in case of shipwreck the life beats are insufficient, and passengers are so crazed with a sense of danger that they forget everything but the fear of death and their desire to live, and fight for a place in the life boat. But in the life-boat launched by Jesus Christ to save sinners, there is room for all. "He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him."
But those who launch their boat upon the stream of sin and wrong doing know beforehand that it is a river of increasing danger. Its current is strong and treacherous; there is an awful undercurrent. There are dangerous rapids and upon its bosom you find floating skeletons of victims beaten to death upon the cruel rocks of sin. And whoever launches his boat upon the stream of sin does so in the face of ten thousand warnings that, though it may seem safe, the end is the way of death.
Turning over a new leaf will not solve the sin question, for "The wages of sin is death. "Dr. Godbey said, "A radical repentance puts the sinner on believing ground." Sin is net an accident, infirmity, nor a weakness. Sin is a raging principle and will likely cause trouble anytime. Joseph Parker said, "Sin is a clenched fist, a blow in the face of God." To call on a supreme power indicates a sense of helplessness and need. Jesus is the only remedy for the sin problem.
National changes arc taking place that are heart-breaking; home life is suffering because of a down-break of parental authority; in many circles cocktail parties and immoral sprees seem to be the order of the day. Moral restraint is history. Sex appeal and vice is universal and immodesty is held up and worshipped by the movie-going Americans.
In almost every church discipline you will find the following or the equivalent. "Original sin is that corruption of the nature of all the offspring of Adam, by reason of which every one is destitute of original righteousness." "All have sinned." It cannot be denied or ignored. You may try to educate or practice psychology upon it but it will not work. Any cure other than the blood is no cure at all.
Jesus can break the power of canceled sin. That one who has been bound all these years is set free. Sin has damaged the mind. Before you are saved your thinking machinery was not
adjusted. The natural mind is dark; you can't even think right, but Jesus alone can handle your case. Sin is an awful power. But Jesus is master of the situation. He defeated Satan and came out a victor. Now Jesus has formulated a plan for your recovery -- it is the plan of redemption.
The world has philosophers and reformers but only one who can bear sin. There are religious teachers and prophets but only one who can save from sin. There are many voices of confusion but only one voice of certainty who can say, "Thy sins be forgiven thee."
Our entire race is broken and bleeding because of the malady of sin. We know of no cure but Jesus and the shed blood. Let us battle our way against sin and the wrong until we can hear a voice saying, "Go in peace and sin no more." The main issue that confronts us today is the sin question and how to meet it and settle it. And how we settle this question determines the destiny of nations, races and civilization.
Sin causes war and brings on social diseases. Sin, prejudice and hatred broaden the chasm between races and nations and its end is wars and rumors of wars. The riches of the earth are being spent, the earth is becoming a cemetery and the end is not yet. But all enduring victories and lasting peace must center upon the "Prince of Peace."
Sins of Omission
1. Omit secret prayer.
2. Omit study of the Word.
3. Do not attend worship.
4. Do not win souls.
5. Do not testify.
6. Do not sacrifice.
7. Do not confess your faults.
8. Do not trust Christ.
Sins of Commission
1. Criticize everybody.
2. Trifle with God's Word.
3. Mingle with the world.
4. Compare yourself with others.
5. Do doubtful things.
6. Find fault with God's people.
7. Trust in a past experience.
8. Lean upon own understanding.
From What Are We Saved?
1. From the guilt of sin.
2. From the tyranny of sin.
3. From the love of sin.
4. From the defilement of sin.
5. From the punishment of sin.
6. From the burden of sin.
7. From the bondage of sin.
8. From the power of sin.
9. From the stains of sin.
10. From the roots of sin.
The Background of Sin
1. Sin secures wages.
2. The sinner is the servant of his master, the devil.
3. He toils from youth to old age, day and night; never known to get a vacation.
How Sin Kills
1. It undermines character.
2. It destroys peace.
3. It is always at war with love.
4. It blackens and starves.
5. It blights eternally.
The Repenting Sinner
1. He is convinced of sin.
2. He is sorry for sin.
3. He is alarmed about its consequences.
4. He confesses and renounces it.
Your sin will probably find you out in this world.
a. Because God sees it when it is committed.
b. Because the sinner's conscience often betrays him.
c. Because it will be revealed at that last and great day.
Little Sins
1. A spirit of frivolity.
2. Conformity to the world.
3. Pride of heart.
4. Uncharitable conversations.
They Injure Us
1. They interfere with our devotion.
2. They make a way for greater sins.
3. They harden our consciences.
4. They capture and destroy us.
The Realities of Sin
1. The fact of sin.
2. The nature of sin.
3. The effect of sin.
4. The fruits of sin.
5. The remedy for sin.
6. The characteristics of sin.
Sin is rebellion, deceitfulness and slavery.
a. Sin multiplies.
b. Sin testifies against us.
c. Our sin is with us.
d. We know them.
Progress in sin as in grace.
Longer you hold to sin, the longer sin will hold to you.
I am concerned about where I will go when I leave this world.
Heaven is the reward of the righteous.
Hell is the penalty of sin.
Sin is humiliating, glorifies the devil and is the work of the devil.
Sin is a tremendous and awful fact, whose existence no man can deny unless he is a fool or a willful liar. If you desire a proof of the existence of sin in the world, I point you to the wars and rumors of wars as they sweep the entire world and have been for the last six thousand years.
As you read ancient and modern history you will find sin written all over its pages in letters of blood. Yes, the pages of history are dripping with blood. War is scientific murder and has been the chief occupation of mankind since Cain murdered his brother, Abel. To deny the existence of sin is to contradict the history of all nations.
Man made in the image of God full of sin and liquor has been known to stab his wife, strangle his children and then cut his own throat; hence, sin is in the world and is the most undeniable fact of today; and any man who would deny the existence of sin would be a fit subject for an insane asylum.
Jesus Christ is the only One Who can untwist the coils of sin from around you and deliver you from the bitter pangs of sin. Jesus Christ alone has the power to forgive your sins; and when He forgives you are then as innocent in the sight of Heaven as though you had never sinned.
What Jesus Taught Concerning Sin
1. That all sin is slavery.
2. That the greatest sin is unbelief.
3. That all sin is essentially wrong.
4. That He can forgive actual sins, and cleanse from inbred sin.
The purpose of His coming was to handle the sin question. His Word settles it, for one ounce of Divine Revelation is worth a ton of scholastic speculation. Sin is two-fold -- an act and a principle. They differ as a court-house differs from a hospital. At the court-house, they settle questions of law.
At the hospital they care for the sick.
He will save everybody He can from all the sin He can, just as soon as He can.
Sin is in no way, shape or form, style or fashion, necessary to human happiness.
He brought no sin; He caught no sin.
He taught no sin; He thought no sin. He sought no sin. He wrought no sin. And He fought all sin.
You do not sin because you have to but because you want to.
1. To sin you hurt yourself.
2. To sin you hurt your brethren.
3. To sin you cast a reflection on your church.
4. To sin you hurt the great heart of God.
The Robbing Power of Sin
1. Sin will hurt your own soul.
2. Sin injures, cripples every faculty of soul and body.
3. Sin is its own detective and "Be sure your sin will find you out."
4. Sin robs of knowing God and walking with God.
5. Sin dethrones God and enthrones carnality.
6. Sin affects your spiritual hearing and taste.
7. Sin weakens your personality and leaves you a fit subject for the scrap heap of the universe.
8. Sin tears down what good men build up. It will take hundreds of years to build up what sin is tearing down now in the present World War.
9. Sin wrongs you and leaves you on the high stormy sea of life without chart or compass.
10. Sin kills beyond the tomb.
a. Sin is fatal and heartless.
b. Sin is no longer a joke.
c. Sin has no pets. d. Sin is deceitful and cunning.
e. Sin leads to a wrong destiny.
Jesus came into the world that the world through Him might be saved. He was not merely a great teacher, a great reformer, a great humanitarian but a great Savior. He came to save His people from their sins. In this, He stands alone. He is the only Savior from sin who has ever stood upon the earth.
When Jesus forgives He forgives every sin. He does not forgive one sin at a time. He forgives sins in the mass. He does not take away a mountain of guilt by removing one grain at a time. He lifts the whole mountain of sin all at once and hurls it into the sea of forgetfulness in the twinkling of an eye.
Any salvation that does not save from the power and guilt of sin does not save at all. A drunkard is not saved from drunkenness if he keeps on getting drunk. A liar is not saved from lying if he keeps on telling lies. A profane swearer is not saved from profanity if he keeps on swearing. A sinner is not saved from sin if he keeps on committing actual sins.
The salvation that Jesus gives is not salvation from imperfection of judgment, from weakness of memory, or from infirmities of the body. It is not salvation from temptations, or sorrows, or losses, or crosses, or mistakes but it is a salvation from sin. It is a perfect salvation from sin. It is perfect redemption, perfect pardon, perfect regeneration and perfect sanctification.
Christian Perfection does not mean exemption from temptation. The holiest souls are tempted to sin. The more like Jesus you become, the more the Prince of Darkness will try to harass and destroy. The perfect Christian is not a man who cannot sin. No man this side of the grave will reach a place where he cannot fall.
Sin always springs from a bad heart. Infirmities may come from a physical condition. Sins are curable in this life. Infirmities must be endured till "Mortality is swallowed up of life."
Nothing is more certain in this world than the existence of sin. Yet there are people so deluded by sin as to say there is no such thing as sin. Think of a blind man saying there is no such thing as a tree but every way he goes he runs against a tree. Sin is all about us the same as trees are in that forest yonder.
Sin batters, bruises, blinds and mangles. Sin is a terrible fact and an awful reality. For thousands of years this world has been full of lying and drunkenness, profanity and adultery, murder and hate with many other kindred evils. This world is darkened, stained, blighted, cursed and ruined by sin. Sin is the cause of pain, shame, sorrow, degradation and death. Sin is your enemy, the enemy of the human race and if you are not on the lookout it will get you yet.
What is sin ? Theologians say, "It is a voluntary violation of the known laws of God." Sin is a viper, which fastens its fangs in the soul, and fills you with the poison of death. Sin is a serpent, which will twist its slimy coil around your soul and crush out its life. Sin is a whirl pool which draws the soul into eternal perdition. Sin is a loathsome and incurable disease, which turns beauty into rottenness and putrefying sores. Sin is a chain which when thrown about you will pull you into its embrace and then leap into the fiery gulf. Sin blights the fairest bloom of youth. Sin will break the hearts of parents and in sorrow bring them to an early grave. Sin sows discord in the home, in the church and in the community. Sin turns the softest heart into a heart of steel and iron. Sin hurls reason from the throne and drags man to the bottom of the gutter.
"Sin hardens the heart, dulls the conscience, wrecks the mind, ruins the body, and damns the soul. When sin gets through with your mind, it dumps it into the insane asylum; when sin gets through with your body, it dumps it into the grave; when sin gets through with your soul, it dumps it into hell."
Five Facts About Sin
1. Sin grows. One sin unrepented of always leads to a greater sin.
2. Sin deceives. Sin may put on a beautiful smile as you walk out into the beautiful path of worldly delight. But what about the end thereof ?
3. Sin produces moral insanity. The lunatic may deem himself very unhappy but he is the object of pity to every passer by. Yet he is not any more insane than those in Satan's prison housebound by the cords of sin and call themselves free; any moment likely to slip into the flames of damnation.
4. Sin kills. Poison will bring instant death to the most robust body and sins unforgiven will bring eternal torment. Your sins unrepented of will cause you to lament in hell a thousand years from now.
5. Sin marks, disfigures and pollutes.
Poverty, slander, persecution and bereavements do not harm the soul but rather polish and beautify character but the most insignificant sin will leave its mark. Many have gone to their graves with scars on their bodies they received as they walked into the by-paths of sin. How to get rid of sin is a question of infinite importance to every human being. After our actual sins are washed away with the blood of Christ, then the question of all questions to us and to all mankind is how to get rid of the sin principle.
Some Things Will Not Take Away Sin
1. Tears will not. It is the blood, not tears.
2. Water baptism will not. To say that water can wash your sins away, such teaching is the very depth of stupidity and folly. Water can cleanse the body but it cannot reach the soul. Water applied as a religious rite is a beautiful symbol of the cleansing power of God previously bestowed. If you could make a pilgrimage to the sacred Jordan and one of the apostles would rise from the dead and locate the very spot where Jesus was baptized and give you a similar baptism, you would come up out of the Jordan as vile and as sinful as you went in.
3. The white-wash of outward morality will not take away sin. White-wash merely hides but does not remove impurity.
4. The fires of hell cannot deliver from sin. What will deliver from sin? "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin." Only one fountain opened for sin and cleansing, and this fountain has been opened to the whole human race. Have you been to the fountain filled with blood and been saved and cleansed? Such is your privilege here and now. "Who are these arrayed in white and whence came they?" The answer, "These are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
What is Sin?
The origin of sin is wrapped in obscurity. The Scriptures throw little light on the subject. Its introduction into the human race is recorded in the third chapter of Genesis.
Sin Came in a Four-fold Way
1. Through Satan's malignity.
2. Through the serpent's enticement.
3. Through woman's deception.
4. Through man's disobedience.
Sin is a sad and terrible reality. This fact may be proven in three ways, namely: by the Scriptures, by the testimony of man, and by the witness of conscience.
The teaching of the Scriptures is clear and unmistakable. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23.
A Roman philosopher said, "We have all sinned, some more and some less. "The Chinese proverb runs: "There are two good men: one is dead, and the other is not born yet."
Conscience gives us a clear witness of the existence of sin. Everyone knows that he is a sinner. No one who has reached the years of responsibility has ever lived free from the sense of personal guilt and moral defilement. Remorse of conscience for wrong doing hounds all the sons and daughters of Adam's race, while the sad and terrible consequences of sin are seen and felt in the realms of the moral, mental, physical, and spiritual.
Men never did agree with God that sin is "exceeding sinful." Some have actually denied the very existence of sin. Some regard it as an accident, an infirmity or a disease. Some have called it a human weakness. Some have thought it necessary to human existence. And some have gone so far as to call it a means of grace which is an aid to humility.
The meaning of sin is to literally miss the mark, a going beyond, a coming short, or a falling aside.
Sin is the opposite of righteousness, a disposition, and an awful evil habit.
Sin is a revolt against rightful authority. It is transgression of right; it is to cross over or go beyond a line.
It means a failure where one should have stood.
Scriptural Definitions of Sin:
Prov. 21:4; Prov. 24:9; Jno. 16:8; Rom. 14:23; Jno. 4: 17; I Jno. 3:4; I Jno. 5:17.
Theological Definitions of Sin:
1. Sin is the transgression of, or lack of conformity to the law of God.
2. Sin is insubordination.
3. Sin is a lack of conformity to God and His laws. Sin may be viewed in four aspects: Against God; against His divine laws; against man; and against self.
1. Sin is rebellion or a failure to love God supremely.
2. Sin against the divine law is either a willful transgression, or a violation through ignorance.
3. Sin against man is either injustice or failure to love him as you should.
4. Sin against oneself is either selfish or corruption. Mr. Finney said, "Sin is selfishness."