Date: ??/??/96
Speaker: David Meiklejohn
Text: Colossians 3v3-5

Sermon on Sin

Colossians 3 v3-5

For ye are dead (to sin), and your life is hid with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth;

What is sin
What is its penalty
What are the consequences
How can we be dead to sin
How do we avoid it

What is Sin?

missing the mark - doing what God doesn't want

How do we know what God doesn't want?

read the Bible - 2 timothy 3v16: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
know God - if our relationship with God is a close one, we will know His mind
conscience - we are given a conscience which tells us what is right and wrong

Ommission is a sin as well as commission - James 4v17: Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

What about ignorance?

Numbers 15v27-31 And if any soul sin through ignorance...
The ordinary punishment for sin, sacrifices, is actually that for sinning through ignorance. Sinning when you know it is a much more serious offence.

Is something either a sin or not?

No, it has a lot to do with motives. In 1 Chronicles 21 David decides to take a census. There doesn't sound anything wrong in that, but his motive was pride and that made the census a sin for David.
But doing the wrong thing with a good motive doesn't make it right. Sometimes we don't even know that we've done something because we had the right motives, but it has been taken wrongly.

What is the penalty for sin?

There is one basic penalty. Romans 3v23 says For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. That means the slightest sin makes us fail God's standards. We all deserve that punishment. Romans 6v23: For the wages of sin is death. Remember, death is a separation. The penalty for sin is eternal separation from God. Some believe there are small sins which just reduce fellowship with God, and mortal sins which damn us to Hell. This is not Biblical - all sin is punishable by death.

There do appear to be several levels of punishment: 2 Peter 2v21: For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But all sin results in damnation.

The only escape from the penalty of sin is salvation through the blood of Jesus. Because all sins deserve death, there is no merit in this; it is pure mercy.

What are the consequences of sin?

We may be forgiven our sins, we may escape the penalty, but sin still has consequences, and we don't realise how far-reaching they are.

Genesis 3v17 - Adam's sin caused a curse on the ground, God's creation, and on all mankind.

Look at the relatives of Abraham. They were the ones who caused his people most trouble:

Ishmael: the result of Abraham trying himself to fulfill God's promise of a nation.

His descendents became the Arab nation, even now against Israel.
Gen 25v18 - they struggled against their brothers.
Gen 27v25 - Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites.

Midian: the son of Abraham's second wife, Keturah (concubine?)

Also mentioned as the people Joseph was sold to
Judges 6 & 7 Midianites are enemy that Gideon defeats

Lot had two sons by his daughters, again the result of sin.

Moab:

Moabites wanted Balaam to curse Israel
2 Kings 3 the Moabites rebel against Israel and are quashed

Ben-Ammi: other son

Jephthah went to fight the Ammonites (Judges 11)
David fought and defeated them in 2 Samuel 10

Esau: despised his birthright - father of Edomites

Numbers 20 - wouldn't let Israel pass through their country
Psalm 83v5-7 - join with other nations against Israel.

Amalek: Esau's grandson

It was the Amalekites who attacked Israel in the wilderness
In 1 Samuel 15 God ordered the Amalekites to be totally destroyed because of this.

Sin is far reaching. We need more of a realisation of how much damage is done to really feel the sorrow that we should sometimes. How can we be dead to sin and yet still sin?

Romans 6v2 says How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? That is, in sin.

Remember: death means separation, so dead to sin means separated from sin.

Illustration: Field is your life. Man in middle is your soul. Wolves in field are your sins.

The wolves have a free run of the field. They swarm over it and over the man in the middle, tearing at him. He can't kill them - he hasn't the strength to fight and had he a gun, they are too close to him. He needs saved.
Salvation: the wolves draw back, cages fall around them, trapping them. The man is safe, but the wolves still wander around the field. Your soul is safe from the penalty of sin (your life is hid with Christ in God), but there is still sin in your life. The wolves trample down the crop in the field, making it unfruitful.
Mortify therefore your members: now the man has a gun, and a free shot at the wolves. He can walk up to the cages and shoot the wolves, one by one. Each time he shoots one, an area of the field is left alone to grow and be fruitful.
So it's easy, he just shoots all the wolves. We can just kill off all the sin in our lives and live pure, fruitful lives. Why is it not like that. Look at the wolves. Some of them are fearful beasts, but some of them are cute little puppies. He doesn't want to kill them, that would be cruel. They aren't doing too much harm. Sin is like this as well. Sometimes we hold on to it. It looks pleasurable, and can be. It looks harmless. But wolf cubs grow into fierce creatures. Our little sins that seem so harmless can grow into great big sins, and it's not that we can't kill them off, we don't want to. We cling on to them.
The man has the capability of ridding himself of all the wolves in his field. The only thing that is holding him back is that he is blind to reality. He doesn't see the effect they have on his field. He could produce so much fruit if only he realised.

What can we do about it?

Too often we are happy with where we are. We think we've done quite well, and settle down. We need to open our eyes, to see the dangers still lurking in our lives. We need to constantly examine ourselves, look at what needs changed. Not in a morbid way, thinking that we've no hope, but a goal in mind, of being more fruitful for God. How can we recognise and avoid it?

Read the Word. We can't claim we didn't know if we didn't bother to find out.Think what would Christ do. In every situation, think to yourself what He would have done.
Confess and repent. Acknowledge what you've done is wrong. Too often we try and make excuses for our action instead of holding our hands up and saying we were wrong. "He started it". "But I was in the right"
Flee temptation. If the opportunity doesn't arise, you won't do it.
Put others before yourself. Sin is caused by selfishness. If we're thinking of others first, we won't just resist sin, but avoid it altogether.
If we are faced with temptation, rely on God's strength to say no.

Next - Seeing God in Nature