The Curse

Good morning welcome to ATM 2025. Today we are talking about the curse. We have a fascination today with curses and what the spiritual world is all about. Today more than ever there are new age mystical things that are prevalent in our lives. We have been ok with certain things because its widely acceptable. Today I want to look at the curse and see what happens when the curse becomes what we follow. You see Today we are going to be looking at the curse through the eyes of some swashbuckling characters. Today we are going to look at the curse and how we can overcome the curse that all of us deal with by taking a look at Pirates of the Caribbean the curse of the black pearl. We can learn something as we look at the life of Capitan Jack Sparrow. One thing that I will say is that some clips may be intense. So if children are in the room parents please use your own judgement. We are in fact today talking about the curse of sin. Every human being from Adam and Eve forward have this curse placed upon us and we live with it but we dont have to. We get to make a choice. So today I want to look at what sin does in our lives and how we can deal with it. The first time we meet Captain Jack he is sailing his vessel into port royal. Lets meet Captain Jack.

CAPTAIN JACK VIDEO

There is a problem with the curse of sin. It makes us feel as if we are grander than we actually are. It inflates us. His “ship” was meerly a fishing boat that was sinking. He barely made it onto shore but in his mind he is

CAPTAIN JACK SAVVY

He is untouchable. He thinks he can do anything. His ego is inflated. You see thats the problem with sin is it makes us feel invicible it makes us feel as if we can live forever

English Standard Version Chapter 5

5 This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. 3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

Adam was created in the image of God but because of the disobedience of Adam he no longer produced after the image of God but produced his own image one marred with sin and shame and guilt. We see a key that we all have been born from this point forward with the curse of sin in our lives. There is a couple of scriptures in proverbs that talk about pride in our lives. You see I believe with all my heart that the root of sin is pride. Its not about the sin its about making us feel better seem better or putting the blame on someone or something else. It all boils down to pride.

English Standard Version Chapter 16

18  Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

English Standard Version Chapter 11

2  When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

The source of sin is pride.

Saint Augustine of Hippo

Faithlife Study Bible The Fool in Proverbs

The fool in Proverbs is assured an ultimately destructive fate (

We see time and time again that the fool or the one who is cursed by sin meaning all of us. WIll not prosper. You may be saying here today I have done well or I have seen people who are not following Christ win at life. What are you measuring success by? are you measuring by the culture or the worldview or do we have a biblical view of success. That success is found in wisdom and truth not in cost of life or the nicest things. So today the grandeur of me caused by sin pushes me to see that I can do anything or I can be anything I want to be.

You see sin makes us focus on what we think matters but what actually matters slips by undetected. Lets see what I mean by focusing on what matters as Captain Jack uses trickery….

CAPTAIN JACK STEALS THE INTERCEPTOR.

He was able to trick the royal navy into prepping the ship for him. Scripture says it like that.

English Standard Version Chapter 14

12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

There is an old saying that says

“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you are willing to pay.” Steve Farrar “Finishing Strong”

Sin is a thief. It will rob your soul of its life. It will rob God of his glory. Sin is a murderer. It stabbed our father Adam. It slew our purity. Sin is a traitor. It rebels against the king of heaven and earth.

Charles Spurgeon

There are consequences of sin in our lives. In POTC we find the consequences of greed lets let Captain Barbossa explain it.

BARBOSSA EXPLAINS THE CURSE

You see the curse of sin will destroy you. Romans tells us this

English Standard Version Chapter 3

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

English Standard Version Chapter 6

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This curse of sin is death in the physical although we eventually decay and die but this is a spiritual death it is separation from God. Its being a part from the eternal life we have been promised. Sin is a killer. It will destroy things that you have built and will keep you from the life that God has for you. However there is a freedom from it. Barbossa explains

BARBOSSA EXPLAINS THE FREEDOM FROM THE CURSE IS THE BLOOD BEING REPAYED.

Sin makes us feel as if we are Invincible and can’t be hurt. Or we become a person who feels like they can hurt others because of the darkness in our hearts. That darkness is what causes us to be agressive or prideful. Its what keeps us from seeing that there is a way out.

THE WALK

The curse of sin is the ability to do what we think is right when we think it is right. There is no desire to change. No desire to come clean. We have the curse that is pushing down on us. But there is a way to be free. There is a way to feel again.

Hebrews tells us this

English Standard Version Chapter 9

22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

This means that according to the law for there to be freedom and forgiveness of sins then blood had to be shed. We have the ability to have our sins forgiven not because we shed blood but because blood was shed for us.

Ephesians tell us this

English Standard Version Chapter 1

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

We have a freedom through Jesus. Jesus said that He is the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through Him. He is the way we break the curse. He is the way that we can be made right.

Through the blood that Jesus shed on the cross we can be made whole.

THE BLOOD SCENE

We can feel again. We can sense again. We can be made clean be washed white as snow. You see once we are cleansed by the blood of Jesus we can live a life for Him. So how are we cleansed by the blood of Jesus?

We can be cleansed when we accept the fact that we are sinners in need of a savior. Romans tells us this

English Standard Version Chapter 5

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

English Standard Version Chapter 10

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

We must learn to believe on the Lord as our savior. that He is who He says he is and then we confess who we are and what we need from Him. The answer to sin is simple its ABC accepting believing and confessing. We then fall to the fact that no longer are we our own. No longer do we serve ourselves our greed or our lust. We are called to a higher standard. We are called to choose Him. Romans tells us this wonderful truth.

English Standard Version Chapter 8

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We must choose for ourselves who and what we are following.

THE ENDING

We all must make a choice. We must decide what is the important aspect of our lives. Do we follow God or choose ourselves. Do we choose to live in sin or repent and follow him. The Gospel is simple. Jesus is the answer. We have made it so complicated. There is a freedom that happens when we choose to follow God. Its a taking of your burdens your past and your life and wiping the slate clean. Its a fresh start.