The Sinfulness of Sin

Bible. Back in the day, I had
12-12 vision. And as some of you know, as you
get older, that doesn’t hold up. And now this thing, I don’t
know, it’s like 16 print. It’s massive. But I still have
to wear the glasses. But I could just see in two or three years,
I’m going to need a dolly up here to get this New Testament with
two words on each page the way it’s going. So thank you for
bearing with me. We get prepared here. All right, as we gather to worship
our God today by listening to his word, my prayerful plea is
that we’ll all hear what the word of the Lord has to say to
us about sin and the sinfulness of sin. Let’s pray. O Father, our pure, merciful,
just, righteous, and all-holy God, we pray that we will hear
and apply the words presented to your people from your word.
I also ask that your word would be truly heard by those who are
not yet of your people. Sin is the great defiling which
separates us from You, and our only hope to be saved from eternal
damnation is through the sacrifice offered by Your Son in His death
and resurrection in forgiveness of our sins. I pray that You
can use my words to reach the minds, the hearts, and the wills
of those listening here today. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
I do want to just set this up a little bit. Holy, holy, holy,
that’s my favorite song. So thank you very much for whoever
decided to use that song. I love that song. Over the last
few weeks in preparation for today, I’d originally started
by preparing a sermon on reviving and revival. But I just felt
like the Spirit was telling me, how can you talk about that until
we deal with sin? So I wanted to make sure I dealt
with sin, and then hopefully, if I’m asked to do this again,
I can speak to revival and reviving ourselves. And Martin Luther
Jones… has been very important to me.
And I believe it was him that said, preach to yourself before
you preach in the pulpit. And over the last few weeks,
that’s exactly what’s happened. Talk about being undone and seeing
the fallen aspects in my life and sin and hidden sin, which
we will talk about. I pray that you’ll hear my heart
today. It’s for all of us to be, to see this sin and see what
it really is and what it does to us and how it interrupts our
life with our God. So today we will look at this
on very unpopular topic in so-called Christian America today. It is
the really it is the first conversation is understanding and acceptance
that must be had in order for anyone to truly comprehend salvation
in Christ. It’s my sincere hope that most
here understand why I say this, but it’s my honor to share with
those who who know little or none of what a sin is, why it
matters, and what we are commanded to do by God in his word with
respect to sin. Today, it is often an overlooked
topic addressed only secondarily, if at all, in salvation. It’s
critical that we understand how vile, defiling, corrupting, poisonous,
and rebellious sin truly is. As Jonathan Edwards said, the
smallest sin is an act of cosmic treason against the Holy God.
Do we really see sin that way? It’s my conviction that Jonathan
Edwards is correct. I will seek to prove this from
Isaiah 59 as well as from other passages. The passage I want
to review for today is Isaiah 59 verses 1 through 21. While
this is a lengthy passage, it is critical to hear God’s view
of sin and the effect on man. It also provides a clear indication
of our hope in Christ. The book of Isaiah is often referred
to as the fifth gospel. This chapter will give you a
good idea as to why. In the book of Isaiah, it speaks
of a servant, a man of sorrows, who would be pierced for our
transgressions, accomplishing God’s purposes of salvation. The final chapters give a beautiful
description of a new creation in which God in Christ will rule
as king, judging the wicked and establishing eternal peace. Isaiah
prophesied from approximately 740 to 700 BC. While the book
certainly speaks to the sins of Judah, it also speaks to us,
the church, as confirmed by the many references to this chapter
in the New Testament. There are those that insist that
we do not need the Old Testament and that you can’t find Christ
in the Old Testament. This is utter nonsense. There
are at least 65 references to this book in the New Testament
in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1st
and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, 1st Peter, Hebrews,
and Revelation. At least 29 of these references
were used by Paul. Paul being a Pharisee of Pharisees
in Old Testament knowledge, knew Isaiah was referring to the Redeemer.
On the Dabascus Road, when confronted by Jesus, he understood that
this Redeemer was Jesus Christ. His interpretation is without
question, as his doctrine and knowledge of Christ was provided
directly by God, as we’re told in Galatians 1.12. A number of
key references speaking of the Redeemer and redemption in Isaiah
include in chapter 9, verse 1, Light in darkness, we find that
in Matthew. Chapter 42.4, hope for the Gentiles,
that also in Matthew. Chapter 59.20, a deliverer from
Zion, it’s in Romans. Chapter 27.9, when I forgive
their sins, also in Romans. Chapter 45.23, every knee shall
bow, in Romans as well. Chapter 59.29, a covenant I make
with them, we find this in Hebrews and in Jeremiah. So we can see
how critical it is to read, understand, and digest the teaching and prophecies
of Isaiah, as well as the rest of the Old Testament, in order
to properly understand the revelation of God holistically. As it has
been well said, the New Testament is a commentary on the Old Testament.
You cannot have Christianity without the Old Testament. In
this chapter, we find a condensed view of the plan of salvation.
So now let’s open up our Bibles and let’s read through chapter
59 of Isaiah. As we read, I would ask that
you consider the key elements of this chapter. God’s confirming
that he can save and he can hear. Our sin creates a separation
between us and God. Our sin is indefensible. Our
sin affects everything. Our sin deeply offends our God. Our God provides us a redeemer
to overcome our sins. Our God will remain with us to
the end with his spirit and his word. Chapter 59. Behold, the Lord’s hand is not
so short that it cannot save, nor is his ear so dull that it
cannot hear. But your wrongdoings have caused
a separation between you and your God, and your sins have
hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. For your hands
are defiled with blood, and your fingers with wrongdoing, and
your lips have spoken deceit. Your tongue mutters wickedness.
No one sues righteously, and no one pleads honestly. They
trust in confusion and speak lies. They conceive trouble and
give birth to disaster. They hatch viper’s eggs and weave
the spider’s web. The one who eats of their eggs
dies, and from what is crushed, a snake breaks out. Their webs
will not become clothing, nor will they cover themselves with
their works. Their works are works of wrongdoing, and an act
of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they
hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of
wrongdoing. Devastation and destruction are
in their paths. They do not know the way of peace,
and there is no justice in their tracks. They have made their
paths crooked. Whoever walks on them does not
know peace. Therefore, justice is far from
us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light,
but there is darkness. For brightness, but we walk in
gloom. We grope for the wall, like people
who are blind. We grope like those who have
no eyes. We stumble at midday, as in the
twilight. Among those who are healthy,
we are like the dead. All of us growl like bears and
moan sadly like doves. We hope for justice, but there
is none. for salvation, but it is far from us. For our wrongful
acts have multiplied before you, and our sins have testified against
us. For our wrongful acts are with
us, and we know our wrongdoings. offending and denying the Lord,
and turning away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart. Justice
is turned back, and righteousness stands far away, for truth has
stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking,
and one who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey. Now
the Lord saw, and it was displeasing in his sight, that there was
no justice. And he saw that there was no one, and he was amazed
that there was not one to intercede. Then his own arm brought forth
salvation to him, and his righteousness upheld him. He put on righteousness
like a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head, and
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing. He wrapped himself
with zeal as a cloak. according to their deeds so will
he repay wrath to his adversaries retribution to his enemies to
the coastlands he will deal retribution so they will fear the name of
the lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the
sun for he will come like a rushing stream which the wind of the
lord drives A redeemer will come to Zion and to those in Jacob
who turn from wrongdoing, declares the Lord. As for me, this is
my covenant with them, says the Lord. My spirit, who is upon
you, and my words, which I have put in your mouth, shall not
depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring,
nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring, says the Lord, from
now and forever. This is the inspired word of
our God. We used to be a society with
a Judeo-Christian worldview that was at least bounded by the morality
and principles of the Bible, even if not believed or practiced
by all. Tragically, now that is not the case. Most simply
disregard any notion of sin and its penalty. Sadly, we see most
of our young have no idea what sin is, let alone having been
taught what it is from God’s word. Many teachers and preachers
today do not proclaim sin as part of the gospel, let alone
teaching repentance from it and the killing of it. These false
teachers view sin as non-essential to the gospel. They even believe
that it is harmful to proclaiming the gospel. They falsely proclaim
that salvation can be obtained without turning from or even
acknowledging sin. The accountability certainly
resides with the apostate teachers that proclaim such. Make no mistake
though, Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 4.3 that the people, not just
the teachers, want them to tell them what their itching ears
want to hear. They do not want to hear God’s truth, so the people
who listen to them are accountable as well. Let’s look to us. Do we not say that sin is unimportant
if we make peace with it, with all the little sins we keep secret
in our own lives? We’ll talk more about this a
bit later. Over the last few decades, our
society has rapidly degraded morally and ethically. Masking
the truth of sin has been a critical part of our fall. We found creative
ways to hide or mask sin, to salve our consciences while enraging
our God. The other aspect to our denying
sin is that our society, including intellectuals, scholars, medical
professionals, government officials, and many of these so-called churches,
have all but eliminated sin from the public vocabulary, as well
as a denial of sin as the serious cause of all that ails us. They
now say that all that ails us is due to psychological or environmental
issues. There is no personal responsibility.
Certainly, it’s not due to us disobeying God. We have reached
the terrifying point in which morality is determined by polls
or social media. No longer is the Judeo-Christian
worldview supreme. The worldview has fallen in American
society as well as much as the professing church. The restraining
force of the Holy Spirit in our country seems to have been removed
as part of judgment, and we see the results. This is what a low
view of sin gets us. As we look at this chapter, we
need to understand that Isaiah is addressing the nation of Israel
primarily, but he is also addressing us today as the church. Paul
makes this clear in Romans 3. So again, we ask, what is sin?
Sin is the willful transgression of God’s law for character, whether
in thought, feeling, speech, or action. We focus on the action,
but it also includes the thoughts, the feelings, and speech, everything
that comes before it as well. Ralph Venning, the great Puritan
pastor in London in the 1600s, wrote the book, The Sinfulness
of Sin. This sermon seeks to focus on that very point in his
title. He tells us, the sinfulness of sin not only appears from,
but consists in this, that it is contrary to God. Indeed, it
is contrariety and enmity itself. And what is meant here is it’s
total antagonism and deep-rooted hatred of God. That’s what that
means. Do we really hear that? That makes the sinfulness of
sin very clear. With that background, let’s now
look at chapter 59. I’ll break it up into several
parts with our focus on sin. Part one, we’ll look at verses
one and two. Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short that it
cannot save, nor is his ear so dull that it cannot hear. But
your wrongdoings have caused a separation between you and
your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that
he does not hear.” God lets us know up front that he’s able
to hear and save. Then we move on to see what we
have done to break communion with him. As a reminder, these
are God’s people. It says this in this chapter. They are the ones that were sacrificing,
doing the things commanded by the law, though not perfectly.
We should most definitely listen to the words of this chapter
as being directed to us, his people in the church, as we mentioned
in Paul and Romans made this clear. In Habakkuk 1.13a, it
says, he went on to affirm the holiness of God and how God cannot
tolerate evil. You who are of pure eyes than
to see evil and cannot look at wrong. In verse 2 we’re talking
about the wrongdoing, the wrongdoing which is sin. The word wrongdoing
here in the NASB means iniquity. This wrongdoing, iniquity, and
sin has caused a separation between us and our God. Our sins have
hidden his face from us so that he does not hear. Micah 3.4 tells
us, then they will cry out to the Lord, but he will not answer
them. Instead, he will hide his face from them at that time,
because they have practiced evil deeds. Zechariah 7.13, and just
as he called and they would not listen, so they called and I
would not listen, says the Lord of armies. Psalm 66.18, if I
regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear. And on
the positive side, 1 John 3, 22, and whatever we ask, we receive
from him because we keep his commandments and do the things
that are pleasing in his sight. Sin is very serious. Our God
takes it very seriously. He will not hear us while we
are in our sin. To reestablish this abiding in
fellowship, we must face and kill our sin. In part two, we’re
gonna look at verses three through eight. For your hands are defiled
with blood and your fingers with wrongdoing. Your lips have spoken
deceit. Your tongue mutters wickedness. No one sues righteously and no
one pleads honestly. They trust in confusion and speak
lies. They conceive trouble and give
birth to disaster. They hatch viper’s eggs and weave
the spider’s web. The one who eats of their eggs
dies, and from what is crushed, a snake breaks out. Their webs
will not become clothing, nor will they cover themselves with
their works. Their works are works of wrongdoing, and an act
of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they
hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of
wrongdoing. Devastation and destruction are
in their paths. They do not know the way of peace,
and there is no justice in their tracks. They have made their
paths crooked. Whoever walks on them does not
know peace. How can we not hear the echoes
of Romans 1, 18 through 31 in this part of this chapter? Here
we see all the sins that they committed in clear detail, wrongdoing
meaning iniquity, activity that transgresses the moral or civil
law. It has the aspect of habits and
premeditation. The Hebrew word awon means to
do wrong, twist, or to be bent. Their sins are compared to venomous
snakes. Only poison comes from them and
their offspring. They are destructive and deadly.
They breed poison. The spider web shows they spin
webs of deceit and inequity. They work evil in all things.
In their work, they use their hands, their feet, and their
thoughts. Their paths are crooked, no justice, devastation, and
destruction. In the end, there is no peace
for themselves or with others. In part three, verses nine through
11, we see the results. We begin with the word therefore.
Therefore, justice is far from us, and righteousness does not
reach us. We hope for light, but there
is darkness. For brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope
for the wall like people who are blind. We grope like those
who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as in the
twilight. Among those who are healthy,
we are like the dead. All of us growl like bears and
moan sadly like doves. We hope for justice, but there
is none. For salvation, but it’s far from us. Hear this. There’s
no justice, corporate or individual. There’s lacking in righteousness,
no light or hope in this situation. There’s no direction. They’re
unsteady. There’s no joy. There’s worry
and fret. There’s no deliverance. There’s no relief from guilt
and sin. Does this not remind us of our time in America today?
Judgment is here, it is upon us. Part four, verses 12 and
13. For our wrongful acts have multiplied
before you, and our sins have testified against us. For our
wrongful acts are with us, and we know of our wrongdoings, offending
and denying the Lord, and turning away from our God. speaking oppression
and revolt, conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart. We
see that once we’re chained to sin, it multiplies before God
and our sins testify against us. Do we understand that we
are offending, denying, burning from, lying to, speaking of oppression
and revolt against God as we sin? Part five, verses 14 through
15a. Justice is turned back and righteousness
stands far away for truth has stumbled in the street and uprightness
cannot enter. Truth is lacking and one who
turns aside from evil makes himself a prey. Again, there’s no righteousness,
there’s no justice, truth is lacking, it has stumbled. The
people have no recourse. Those who seek to follow God
become prey. The evil one and his minions
prey on those who obey God. Do we not see this in our country
today and around the world? We are certainly seeing those
who obey God becoming prey in the marketplace, in the government,
in culture, in the courts, and even in schools. Part six, verses
15b through 19. Now the Lord saw, and it was
displeasing in his sight that there was no justice. And he
saw that there was no one and was amazed that there was not
one to intercede. Then his own arm brought salvation
to him, and his righteousness upheld him. He put on righteousness
like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head, and
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and he wrapped
himself with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, so
will he repay. Wrath to his adversaries, retribution
to his enemies. To the coastlands, he will deal
retribution, so they will fear the name of the Lord from the
west and his glory from the rising of the sun. For he will come
like a rushing stream, which the wind of the Lord drives.
15b through 17, we’ll look at this first. God recognizes and
indicates his displeasure and amazement with the situation.
He then intercedes. God brings salvation by the righteous
one. The Redeemer puts on the breastplate of righteousness
and the helmet of salvation. He also puts on garments of vengeance
for clothing and wraps himself in zeal as a cloak. Here we see
the perfection, the passion, the zealousness, and the vengeance
of the Redeemer. Notice here that the Redeemer
has a bread plate of righteousness and a helmet of salvation, since
only He is the possessor of these, in and of Himself as our Savior. How can you not think of Romans
13, 12 through 14? We see the armor of God applied
to the people of God in the new covenant in the church. We use
them for protection and as weapons in defense of God’s holiness. Note that the Redeemer possesses
wrath, vengeance, retribution, and zeal for God’s righteousness,
while we share the zeal of the Redeemer as true believers, but
our focus is to be for the glory of God. In verses 18 and 19,
we see the Redeemer indicating He will repay the unbelievers
that are His adversaries. And what He will do, they will
receive wrath and retribution and fear of the name of the Lord.
God’s holiness demands His wrath on sin. The attributes of God
revealed in Scripture show His holy perfection. Only those who
are Christ’s people, regenerated by God, repentance towards God
and man, and having faith in Christ, will be covered by Christ’s
righteousness and receive forgiveness for their sins. Part seven, verses
20 and 21. A Redeemer will come to Zion,
and to those in Jacob who turn from wrongdoing, declares the
Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord. My
spirit, who is upon you, and my words which I have put in
your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the
mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s
offspring, says the Lord, from now and forever. In verse 20,
we see the Redeemer, our Savior. He did come to Zion. or Jerusalem,
as prophesied here. The Lord indicates he also comes
to those in Jacob that turn from their iniquity, transgression,
and sin. We see this salvation at the
hands of the Redeemer declared in other parts of the Old Testament,
whether it’s Jeremiah or throughout the rest of the Old Testament.
The call to turn from their iniquity, transgression, and sin was declared
by Jesus, also by John the Baptist, the other disciples. And while
the salvation through the Redeemer is more shrouded in the Old Testament,
God’s progressive revelation in the Bible makes this salvation
crystal clear in the New Testament. Unbelievers and the purveyors
of a false gospel see man as Savior, not Christ. They, like
Satan, seek to elevate man and in so doing commit the most offensive
form of sin in idolatry and self-worship. This is the lie of Satan. In
verse 21, you can hear the echoes of Joshua 1.8 here as well. This
book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall
meditate on it day and night, that you may be careful to do
all that is written in it. Paul quoted verses 20 and 21
here in Romans 11, 26 and 27 to support his argument that
God has not rejected Israel, but has a future plan to save
a believing remnant. Paul also applied Isaiah’s words
to the Gentiles. who are also included in God’s
salvation through faith in Christ. The new covenant is in view here.
The Holy Spirit and the Word is in and upon us and our offspring
now and forever. Through the Spirit and the Word,
he will maintain his covenant people. In these two verses,
we can also point to Jeremiah 33, 14 through 16, and hear of
the Lord’s new eternal covenant, in which he says, Behold, the
days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the
promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
In those days, and at that time, I will cause a righteous branch
to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness
in the land. In those days, Judah will be
saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name
by which it will be called. The Lord is our righteousness.
Charles Spurgeon has a great quote here I want to read to
you in full. The church of God shall have the spirit of truth
and the word of truth ever abiding in her midst. God will not break
his covenant by withdrawing his spirit from his church. The Redeemer
has come and his work of redemption is accomplished. The Spirit also
has come, but His work is not yet done. It is being performed
from day to day, and the Spirit will never be withdrawn while
any part of His ministry remains unfulfilled. The consequence
of all this is the glory of the true Church of the living God.
There are better days coming for the cause of Christ and of
truth. Listen and be encouraged, all ye that are of heavy heart.
Now that we’ve completed our review of the passages and we
have strong indication of God’s view of us and our sin, as well
as the impact on man and society as a result, I’d like to transition
to what should we say about sin. As we now look more at sin, we
continue to be focused on Isaiah 59 and the sinfulness of sin.
If you have a superficial or low view of sin in terms of what
it is and its importance, you will be more vulnerable to sin,
to its effects, and your response to it in yourself and others. You only have to look at the
state of our country and the world to see how a low view of
sin impacts all aspects of life and the necessity of the judgment
of God. A proper view of sin can only come from God’s word.
It does not come from the world or culture. These will always
seek to devolve in the most base elements. History supports this
simple fact. In developing this proper view,
it is essential to first understand who God is in relation to sin
in his personal character and commands. Once we understand
sin in relation to God, we’re able to see ourselves correctly
in view of this sin. In Ezekiel 36, 23, and I will
vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned
among the nations in which you have profaned among them. and
the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God,
when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.
In Jeremiah 3.25, let us lie down in our shame and let our
humiliation cover us, for we have sinned against the Lord
our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day,
and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God. Isaiah 53.6,
let us lie down in our shame, I’m sorry, all of us like sheep
have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his
own way. In Romans 6.23, where the wages of sin is death, but
the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ezekiel 14.6, therefore, say to the house of Israel, this
is what the Lord God says, repent and turn away from your idols
and turn your faces away from all your abominations. Again,
we hear from Ralph Venning in his book, he says, sin is contrary
to all the names and attributes of God. It sets itself in opposition
to them all. Sin denies God’s self’s all-sufficiency. As if there were not contentment
and satisfaction enough to be had in the enjoyment of God,
every prodigal who leaves the father’s house says, in effect,
it’s better to be elsewhere. Sin challenges the justice of
God and dares God to do his worst. It provokes the Lord to jealousy
and tempts him to wrath. It disowns his omniscience. Who,
they say, God does not see, nor does the Most High regard. The
more we learn about the holiness of God, the more we will become
consumed with his glory and be less focused on ourselves, enabling
us to become true worshipers of him and true haters of the
sin that so offends him. To reiterate, sin is idolatry
and rebellion against God. Sin is the willful transgression
of God’s law or character, whether in thought, feeling, speech,
or action. Iniquity is sin that is intentional, premeditated,
and progresses into a habit. It also takes on the aspect of
being evil with no fear of God. It becomes a sin that we practice.
If we look honestly at sin and shine the bright light of God’s
truth upon it, we see that we seek to minimize it. We seek
to convince ourselves that God doesn’t really care about insignificant
or hidden sins. We seem to think we can negotiate
with God, especially if we believe we are saved. It’s easy for us
to focus on the more serious sins like murder or sexual sin,
and for good reason. However, it is not acceptable
to make peace with other sins. We have found a way to make these
other sins acceptable by overlooking them, by minimizing their seriousness,
or by learning to accept them and not even seeing them as sin.
These sins we tend to make peace with, we work to justify. Some
of these sins we seek to justify are secret sins that we protect,
keep private, or seek to not give up. We must reflect upon
and expose these. It is these that are often the
reason for broken fellowship and abiding with God that we
are blinded to. Psalm 66, 18 and 19, we read,
if I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not
have listened. Thomas Brooks said, secret sins
commonly lie nearest the heart. We often abstract these justified
or secret sins in order to hide or overlook, divert or even ignore
them, as I mentioned. What I mean by abstracting is
that we seek to define them in less offensive or more acceptable
ways. We find a way to make peace with these sins. Our society
has gotten very good with this, and so have we. Here are some
examples of abstractions that we have created. We call provocative
dress, or a lack thereof, self-expression instead of sensuousness or immodesty. We call dishonesty exaggerations
instead of lies. We call materialism and arrogance
success or blessing instead of pride and covetousness. We call
sexual sin alternative lifestyles instead of deviant relationships
and abominations. We call sexual sin affairs instead
of adultery. We call sexual sin living together
instead of fornication. We call the unborn fetus instead
of baby. Finally, we call the action of
sinning as being triggered instead of simply accepting that the
sin is ours and not due to someone or something else. We need to
see all sin equally offensive to our God. We are commanded
to turn from it all. We don’t get to have hidden sin.
Sin is all that the Bible says is sin. Sin includes worry, sin
includes deceit, includes control, manipulation, pride, condescension,
favoritism, superiority, and arrogance. And it includes materialism
that goes beyond our needs and focuses more on our wants. Sin
includes men and women abdicating their roles or usurping the other’s
biblically defined roles. This is sin. Sin includes abusing,
twisting, misinterpreting the word of God to support your sinful
desires. Sin causes us to hate God. We mock, rebel, and do so willfully,
walking in opposition to our God, and to think we do that
as his children. Another key point in relation
to sin is to understand that a key root for much sin is idolatry. I would even argue that all sin
can be understood as a derivative of idolatry. As we said earlier,
sin is self-worship, idolatry, and rebellion against God. Idolatry
is putting self before God. It is demanding that which we
are not to have. Is this not what Satan has done
and tries to do to us? Idolatry sits right at the heart
and shows that we worship ourselves in rebellion against God, seeking
things that are not permitted. This then manifests in different
forms depending on where our thoughts and base desires take
us. Our nature is sinful. We start with desires where we
want something we are commanded to not pursue, then we chase
it, we obtain it. The desire is sinful, the thought
is sinful, the action is sinful, the hiding it is sinful, and
the justification of it is sinful. Consider the commandments our
God has given to us. In Exodus 20, we see the two tablets comprised
of the 10 commandments. The first five really focus on
idolatry, idolatry against God and parents. He makes it clear
that he will not abide with us. We are to have no other gods.
This includes all gods, including material and spiritual, that
come before Jehovah. Even the fifth is to honor our
mother and father is rooted in idolatry, as idolatry is rebellion
against what God commands, and the mother and the father are
his ambassadors on earth for children. The last five commands
expand on this idolatry as it manifests in murder, adultery,
stealing, bearing a false witness, and coveting. All is rooted in
idolatry and entirely sinful as rebellion against God and
what he has commanded. Understanding this should undo
us, I know it did me. If we truly hear this, we begin
to see how truly sinful we are, even when saved by Christ, and
our humble thankfulness for our salvation can only grow. Martin
Lloyd-Jones said, the nearer a man gets to God, the greater
he sees his sin. But what should we do about sin?
As we consider this, one more quote from Ralph Venning. Be
as willing to die to sin as Christ was to die for sin, and as willing
to live to him as he was to die for you. Be as willing to be
his, to serve him, as that he should be yours to save you.
Take him on his own terms, give up yourself wholly to him. We
show ingratitude by taking all he gives, and then we betray
our Father and our Savior by welcoming a friend of his, becoming
a friend of his enemy, Satan. We are letting Satan stamp his
image on us when we sin. For the Christian, we must grasp
that God is not hearing us while we are in a state of sin. We
see this in Isaiah 59 too, and it makes sense. God cannot condone
or be part of sin. We need to be clear. A believer
who sinned does not lose their salvation. These are true believers. They are to be corrected, rebuked,
and restored to fellowship with God. This is done through the
church as part of fellowship, preaching, and teaching, and
discipline. When we sin, we break fellowship with God. We lose
our communication to grow and abide in Him. The seal of the
Holy Spirit received at salvation wants to regenerate it, and you’ve
repented, and you’ve shown faith. It’s still within us. If you
truly love God and are grateful and thankful for all that he
has done for us in salvation, we will strive zealously to uproot
and kill all sin in us and repent. It is what he commands us to
do. Charles Spurgeon, if you will not have death unto sin,
you shall have sin unto death. There is no alternative. If you
do not die to sin, you shall die for sin. If you do not slay
sin, sin will slay you. So we have shown that sin is
serious, that God judges sin, God commands us to kill it, in
thought, word, and deed. We must fight to kill it and
repent. And God is faithful to assist us. We will grow in Christ
and reestablish our abiding. We will be his faithful, holy
people. God is the perfect holy standard. He doesn’t call us to be perfect
like him. We cannot. But he does call us to be holy.
In 1 Peter 1, 14 through 16. As obedient children, do not
be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance.
But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also
in all your behavior, because it is written, you shall be holy,
for I am holy.” John Owen said this, everybody knows it, be
killing sin or it will be killing you. How do we kill sin? I got five simple bullets here.
We want to reflect on it. We want to rip it out and aggressively
pursue repentance. Pray that God will grant us this
repentance. Reflect moment by moment and repent moment by moment
as we go through each and every day of our lives. Number two,
engage in the Christian walk. Do not allow anything to infringe
upon this. Do not allow yourself to be put in a position to sin
in thought, word, and deed. This includes removing apps,
sites that seek to engage you with sin. Do not give in to temptations. Look to Christ. Memorize scripture. John MacArthur, I was just listening
to some of this from John MacArthur, and he talks about temptation.
Temptation being a test from the side of God, but Satan’s
on the other side trying to get you to give into it, the sin
against God. Look to Christ. Memorize scripture. Don’t focus on the temptation,
focus on Christ. Develop pure habits. Start simply,
but change what is feeding your mind and your heart. Listen to
good teaching and preaching. As I said, study and memorize
scripture, and fasting to maintain your focus and your zeal. Fill
your time with fellowship, caring, and accountability. And number
five, learn about God. Pray deeply, conversationally,
focused on the glory of God, meditating on Him and His truths.
Grow in knowledge of the character and attributes of God to know
who He is by His word. Grow in the knowledge of God’s
faithfulness and His love for His children by His word. In
heaven, side by side with the giants of the faith, brothers
and sisters, we’ll all answer for every idle thought, indeed.
Do we really want to be excusing ourselves because we didn’t take
sin seriously and hide our private sin and its offense to God and
impact on us? In conclusion, I just want to
say, in looking at Isaiah 59, we have seen the sinfulness of
sin, its impact, how God views it, and what we have to do about
it to be reconciled with God. In all humility, I call on each
and every one of us, saved and unsaved, to hear this, that we
know who we are. We’re desperately sinful. We’re
lost for eternity. Know who God is, perfectly holy,
and that he cannot abide sin. Know what sin is. It’s disobedience. It’s denial of his authority.
It’s rebellion against him. And it’s idolatry or self-worship.
know the need for salvation, that we are lost and fallen,
needing reconciliation from God. And knowing the only way we can
have that reconciliation is through Christ. Despite what the world
says through Satan, there is only one way to heaven, eternity,
salvation, reconciliation, and forgiveness. It is through Christ
and Christ alone. For believers, in sin we lose
our fellowship, not our salvation. We must confess, repent, and
abide. For unbelievers, these are those
that are not true believers. Unbelievers are those that have
never truly repented of sin, have not been regenerated by
God through the Spirit, or accepted Christ in faith. Our appeal is
for you to hear and see the truth of sin and seek this forgiveness,
reconciliation, and salvation through Christ. We must face our sin and all
our sin and repent. And just to show the providence
of God, I thought this was really interesting today. We were driving
down here and there was this quote from J.C. Ryle. To abide
in Christ means to keep up a habit of constant, close communion
with him. to be always leaning on Him,
resting on Him, pouring out our hearts to Him, and depending
on Him as our fountain of life and strength, as our chief companion
and best friend. How do we do that when we’re
sinning? Brothers and sisters, we’re called and commanded to
purge sin from every part of our lives. Our loving, just,
merciful, pure, and faithful God has called us to be holy.
It is our duty. It is our responsibility. It
is our calling. It is our witness before the
world and our Father. Most of all, motivation for mortifying
all sin is out of gratitude and thankfulness for what the Father
has done through His Son and by the Holy Spirit. We obey out
of love and thankfulness. To not mortify sin aggressively,
relentlessly, and zealously at all times is to mock the sacrifice
of Christ. Let’s pray. Holy Father, you’re worthy of
all glory and honor and praise. Thank you for the opportunity
to worship you in spirit and truth, to learn about the truth
of sin. We thank you for your…