Sermon Prepared by James McCullen
Email Preach Him with Dr. Jim

The Holy Spirit Teaches Us Theology Concerning Sin
John 16:7-11

Illustration
On Thursday of this week on Email I got the headline news. There were six stories about sports. How many of the headline stories do you think were about sin in sports? Four of the six stories were relate to sin in the life of major sports.

Knight delivers farewell speech to students

Sonics' Maxwell turns himself in on warrant

Report: Central figure in Minn. scandal to plead guilty

Games' security chief: Violent protests will not be tolerated

We have a sin problem and it is well for each of us to understand better the Biblical theology related to sin.
 
 

A.    Sin Commences In . . Denying the Word of God. v 4
        And the serpent said to the woman, "You surely shall not die!
 

B.    Sin Commenced In . . Distorting the Word of God. v 5
        "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
 

C.    Sin Commenced In . . Desires Outside the Word of God. v 6
        When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

Illustration Lulled into Carelessness
Steve Green, who sang six years with Bill and Gloria Gaither, tells about getting to know some of the work crews in the large auditoriums where their concerts were held. The Gaithers prefer concerts-in-the-round, which means extra work for the "riggers," who walk the four-inch rafter beams--often a hundred feet above the concrete floor--to hang sound speakers and spotlights. For such work, understandably, they are very well paid.

"The fellows I talked to weren't bothered by the sight of looking down a hundred feet," says Green. "What they didn't like, they said, were jobs in buildings that had false ceilings--acoustical tile slung just a couple of feet below the rafters. They were still high in the air, and if they slipped, their weight would smash right through the flimsy tile. But their minds seemed to play tricks on them, lulling them into carelessness."

Satan's business is not so much in scaring us to death as persuading us that the danger of a spiritual fall is minimal. No wonder Peter advised us to "resist him, standing firm in the faith" (1 Peter 5:9). Citation: Leadership, Vol. 6, no. 1

Application

There is a danger that you and I will be lulled into the thought of false security. We may hear the voice of Satan and fail to identify it for what it is. We will Fall just like Adam and Eve because we failed to appreciate the law of God
 
 

A.    We are Contaminated through . . Conception. v 12 a
            ". . . Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, . . . "

Illustration Plugged In
Our six-year-old son, Alex, was looking at a picture of himself when he was one week old. Upon seeing his umbilical cord still attached in the picture, he asked, "What is that black thing on my belly button?" His eight-year-old sister, Maria, quickly replied, "That's your extension cord!"
 

B.    We are Contaminated by. . Choice. v 12 b
            ". . . and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned--"

Illustration
John Haggai's wife spoke on Mother's Day and did a very good job. She told of John coming home one day bemoaning the problems some women in the church were giving him. He spoke of the sin of Eve eating the apple. He said "Of if Eve had just kept her mouth shut."

Mrs Haggai was preparing a fruit salad and just took an apple and went over to John and he opened his mouth and she shoved the apple in his mouth. She then said "see if Eve had not done it you would have."

Application

You and I can not helped it that we have original sin passed down to us. We are contaminated. However we must admit at times in our life we have deliberately chosen to sin.
 
 

Introduction
All three of these verse call sin by this word. Sin =
Strong's NT: 266 266  hamartia (ham-ar-tee'-ah);  from 264; a sin (properly abstract):
KJV-- offence, sin (-ful).

264; a sin Strong's NT:264 properly, to miss the mark (and so not share in the prize),
Lawlessness = Strong's NT: 458 anomia (an-om-ee'-ah); from NT: 459; illegality,

Strong's NT: 3551 nomos law KJV-law.
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance
 

A.    Sin Is Characterized as . . Lawlessness. 1 John 3:4
        "Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.

B.    Sin Is Characterized as . . Laziness. James 4:17
        Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin. NAS
 

C.    Sin Is Characterized as . . Limiting. Rom.14:23
            But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin. NAS

Illustration
The story is told of an aged silver miner who spent all his life searching for silver in the mountains of the Old West. He had become so obsessed with his search that his wife and children had left him.

When he died the handful of people who came to bury him found in his possessions a note instructing them to bury him under his cabin. As the earth was overturned a lustrous gray material began to appear. It became known as the largest silver vein in California history. The miner had been a millionaire all his life, but he had never been able to claim his wealth. - J. Dillow

Illustration
Many a person is praying for rain with his tub the wrong side up. -- Sam Jones, Christian Reader,
Vol. 33, no. 2.

Faith Example of "Prayer is asking for rain and faith is carrying the umbrella."

Faith Is Trusting your teenage son with the car on his first date.

Faith Is: Trusting the prescription of a doctor that you cannot read and a druggist which you don't know as he mixes chemicals that you can't pronounce.
 

Application

What about the action of our church a few weeks ago concerning the calling of a Youth Director. That was an act of faith.

What about the finishing of our building? Will it be done with any additional steps of faith? Will we fail to do the best work because we don't want to borrow money?

Where is our faith?   Failing to act on faith is sin.
 
 

A.    The . . Pain Multiplied In Child Birth Is A Consequence of Sin. v 16
        ". . . To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you shall bring forth children;. . . "

B.    The . . Plague on the ground Is A Consequence of Sin. v 17 b-18
        ". . . Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18"Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you shall eat the plants of the field;

Illustration
What sin did Adam and Eve commit in the garden. What sin got them cast away from the favor and the presence, and the blessing, of paradise? She took a bite of a very appealing, and desirable fruit located somewhere in the middle of the garden.

God disowned them for that? Threw them out of paradise for taking one bite of one fruit? It doesn't sound that serious. Surely that's a venial (small) sin. Why would God get so upset over one little slip and especially when Eve was beguiled by this serpent who God had created?

Application

God does not have a scale of big sins and little sins. Adam and Eve broke the Law. They disobeyed His command. I believe they were forgiven but they still carried the consequences of their sin and the contaminated the entire human race.
 
 

Acts 4:12 "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved." NAS

Acts 10:43 "Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins." NAS

Acts 13:38-39 38 "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses. NAS

Acts 26:18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me. ' NAS

Col 1:13-14 13 For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. NAS

1 John 2:12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. NAS

Illustration William Willimon tells the following story:
I shall never forget the student whom I heard describe his own attempt to live the Sermon on the Mount. In his senior year of college, he felt called by God to spread the gospel. But how? Should he go to seminary? Should he be a missionary? Waiting for guidance, he decided to work for a year or so as a bus driver in Chicago.

On the route, a group of high school boys -- young hoods -- got on his bus every afternoon for a ride downtown. They would get on, stroll past the fare box, never put in a dime, and strut to the back of the bus, daring him to make them pay. Each day, at the same bus stop, they got on, talked loud, intimidated the other passengers, and didn't pay. Finally, one afternoon the young student bus driver met them at the door and said as courteously as he could, "Look guys, you've got to pay. Everybody else pays. . .It's not fair. If you don't pay, you can't ride."

Those four hoods dragged him off the bus and kicked and punched him unconscious, leaving him half-dead, bleeding on the sidewalk. The police caught his assailants on the next day, easily identified by the terrified passengers on the bus. A month later, he was called to testify at their trial for assault and battery.

He went to court, still bandaged from the beating, but hurting even more on the inside because he had failed to live out his Christian faith, failed to convert or convince anybody. At the trial, their lawyer pled for the young boys. They were all high school seniors. A conviction would keep them from graduating, be a mark on their record for life. The judge was unmoved.

The four were found guilty. The judge, preparing to sentence them, asked the bandaged bus driver, "What would make you happy? What would make you feel better? You're the one who suffered from these worthless thugs."

The bus driver looked each of the young high school students right in the eye. He took a deep breath and said, "The thing that would make me happy would be to serve their sentences for them, so they could go back and finish school and make something of themselves."

The judge said, "That's absurd! No one ever did that!" "Oh yes, He did," he said softly. "Oh yes, He did."

Jesus did that on the cross for us! The apostle Paul identified the good that comes when we deliberately allow the life of Jesus to demonstrated in how we live. Proclaim Magazine Fall 2000

Application

There is a consequence of sin to be paid. It can be paid bu Jesus or each individual can pay the penalty in Hell. Hell is a placed prepared for the devil and his angels. I am so glad I have taken the offer of salvation in Jesus Christ. I urge you to do the same.

1.    Concerning the . . Commencement of Sin.

2.    Concerning the . . Contamination of Sin.

3.    Concerning the . . Characterization of Sin.

4.    Concerning the . . Consequence of Sin.

5.    Concerning the . . Cure of Sin.
 

                                How Do You Receive This Cure?
 

A = Admit Your Need

B = Believe Jesus can and will forgive sin.

C = Commit you life too Jesus, acknowledging Him as Lord.