Painting the Proper Picture

Abstract Paintings

- An exercise in getting people to see the world other than it really is.

- Born out of Post-modern philosophy - reality is whatever you perceive it to be.

Satan’s oldest trick is to portray the world as something other than it really is.

“You won’t die.”

His attempts have been largely successful.

The world today, including many Christians, have a way of painting their own picture of events and people that fits what they want to believe.

We have this tendency to color things in such a way that fits with the world’s perspective rather than God’s.

His ultimate goal is to get people to ignore the reality of Sin

Hugh Hefner - Whitewashing sin

Hugh Hefner - Whitewashing sin

- Some are praising him as a champion of women’s rights and empowerment

- Many criticize that we are in no place to question his final resting place....

Whitewashing sin is dangerous.

Ignoring Sin is not exclusive to the Secular World.

1 Corinthians 5:1–3 HCSB

1 It is widely reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles —a man is living with his father’s wife. 2 And you are inflated with pride, instead of filled with grief so that he who has committed this act might be removed from your congregation. 3 For though I am absent in body but present in spirit, I have already decided about the one who has done this thing as though I were present.

1 Corinthians 5:1–5 HCSB

1 It is widely reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles —a man is living with his father’s wife. 2 And you are inflated with pride, instead of filled with grief so that he who has committed this act might be removed from your congregation. 3 For though I am absent in body but present in spirit, I have already decided about the one who has done this thing as though I were present. 4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus with my spirit and with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 turn that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 5:1–8 HCSB

1 It is widely reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles —a man is living with his father’s wife. 2 And you are inflated with pride, instead of filled with grief so that he who has committed this act might be removed from your congregation. 3 For though I am absent in body but present in spirit, I have already decided about the one who has done this thing as though I were present. 4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus with my spirit and with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 turn that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord. 6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast permeates the whole batch of dough? 7 Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch. You are indeed unleavened, for Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old yeast or with the yeast of malice and evil but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Ignoring the Presence of Sin is Dangerous

Sin is dangerous to the Individual

1 Cor. 5:4-5

1 Corinthians 5:4–5 HCSB

4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus with my spirit and with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 turn that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord.

Sin has a corrupting influence on our hearts.

Paul tells them it would be better to have one’s body destroyed to prevent further corruption than to allow it to continue to preserve a person’s physical well-being.

The longer it is allowed to go on, the more damage is done, and the less the likelihood of repentance.

Sin is like a drug. The more we get, the more we want.

Sooner or later, your sin will become so great that there will be no escaping it.

Sin is dangerous to the Congregation

1 Corinthians 5:6–8 HCSB

6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast permeates the whole batch of dough? 7 Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch. You are indeed unleavened, for Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old yeast or with the yeast of malice and evil but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

1 Cor. 5:4-

Disease and infections.

Hospitals have practices to prevent diseases from spreading. The more serious the disease, the more aggressive the practices.

Anti-bacterial foam versus masks, versus full body cover.

It’s infects others

Ignoring sin by the congregation ignores the reality of the danger.

Paul compares sin to a disease. Sin has a way of permeating those around it. If allowed to continue unchecked, sooner or later, it will spread to those who are unsuspecting. Just like a disease, the more serious the sin, the more aggressive we must be in its treatment.

Ignoring the Presence of Sin is a Symptom of a Deeper Issue.

Hugh Hefner - Whitewashing sin

Whitewashing sin is dangerous.

1 John 1:5–10 HCSB

5 Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We don’t have any sin,” we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

1 John 5 HCSB

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of Him. This is how we know that we love God’s children when we love God and obey His commands. For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands. Now His commands are not a burden, because whatever has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith. And who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Jesus Christ—He is the One who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood. And the Spirit is the One who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water, and the blood —and these three are in agreement. If we accept the testimony of men, God’s testimony is greater, because it is God’s testimony that He has given about His Son. (The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about His Son.) And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life. I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not bring death, he should ask, and God will give life to him—to those who commit sin that doesn’t bring death. There is sin that brings death. I am not saying he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin that does not bring death. We know that everyone who has been born of God does not sin, but the One who is born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true One. We are in the true One—that is, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

Ignoring the presence of sin is a symptom that we have fallen pray to Satan’s abstract view of the World.

Our Acceptance of the Truth

Our attitude toward sin is directly tied to our acceptance of the truth.

Attitude Toward Sin is Directly Tied to our Acceptance of the Truth (). If we believe the message of God, then we will treat sin accordingly in our life, or in the life of those around us.

It Determines our Practice of the Truth ().

1 John 1:5–6 HCSB

5 Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth.

1 John 1:5

“Danger: No Swimming” (Alligators in Disney World)

Whether you believe the sign or not is demonstrated by whether you obey the sign.

The degree to which we believe a message will determine the manner in which we respond to the message.

It Demonstrates our Possession of the Truth ().

1 John 1:8 HCSB

8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1 John 1:

Every Christian will not be walking in the truth at all times.

Whether we recognize our sin or not is based on the closeness of our relationship with Christ at that moment in our lives.

When we cannot call our sin, sin, it is because we are out of touch with God.

It Reveals our Rejection of the Truth ().

1 John 1:10 HCSB

10 If we say, “We don’t have any sin,” we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

1 John 1:

Difference between having no current sin and having no past sin.

One is being ignorant of our sin nature and blind to our actions and attitudes.

The second is denying the message of the Cross and the sovereignty of God.

Our Acceptance of the Truth is Directly Related to our View of God.

Whenever someone tells us something, whether we recognize it our not, we immediately evaluate the content of the message against our opinion of the messenger. The greater the claim, the more intensely we consider whether or not we can believe what we are being told based on the person telling us compared to the likelihood we place on the message being true.

For example, if your child tells you that the cat knocked the lamp over and broke it, you might be inclined to believe the child, if you know you have a rambunctious cat. This would be especially true if your child has a history of telling the truth. However, if the same child tells you that a herd of elephants came through the house and broke the lamp, but nothing else was damaged, you might begin to question the messenger, especially if the child has a history of lying.

John 18:37–38 HCSB

37 “You are a king then?” Pilate asked. “You say that I’m a king,” Jesus replied. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.” 38 “What is truth?” said Pilate. After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no grounds for charging Him.

Accepting the Truth of the message depends on how we view the messenger, or more to the point, the source of the message.

Pilate was repeating a common discussion among Greek philosophers. In order for a person to know what is true, they must first establish the source of that truth. In other words, they must establish what is the reality that all truth claims will be measured against.

Safe to skate

When we see a sign that says, “Ice is safe for skating,” whether we consciously think about it or not, we automatically consider whether we can trust the judgment of the person who put the sign there. Whether or not we do is demonstrated by whetehr you go ahead and skate, or you turn around an go home.

When we see a sign that says, “Ice is safe for skating,” whether we consciously think about it or not, we automatically consider whether we can trust the judgment of the person who put the sign there. Whether or not we do is demonstrated by whether you go ahead and skate, or you turn around an go home.

The same concept applies to God. How we respond to the Word of God, and how we let it shape our view of the world and the people around us, including ourselves, demonstrates whether we believe God has the right and ability to place those demands on our life, and whether or not He is the person His Word says He is.

It forces us to call into question:

God’s Objective Morality (that there is an objective standard)....

to declare

God’s Perfect Holiness to serve as the basis of that standard....

God’s Sovereign Authority (to hols us accountable to that standard)

Conclusion

When we ignore sin, cover it up, or worse, praise it as admirable, it can have some devastating effects in our life or the life of the congregation, but it is a clear sign that we are believing Satan’s lie over God’s Word.

It is essential, as we consider our own life, and the world around us, that we consider who’s view of the world we are using to evaluate it. You cannot choose both. The two views are in direct contradiction of one another.

Satan seeks to have us deny the reality of sin and the eventual judgment that will follow. However, John all but guarantees that we will sin, even after we are saved.

John tells us that when, not if, we sin, we need to confess our sin and ask for forgiveness, not deny or and pretend it doesn’t exist. Satan wants us to believe we have nothing to fear, but God’s Word tells us that we should fear God’s judgment, and turn to the only means of forgiveness, Jesus Christ.

The picture we paint reveals a lot about not only our view of the Word of God, but of God Himself.

So, we can either believe Satan’s lies, calling evil good and good evil, or we can reject his lies and seek to live according to God’s truth. If so, then we need to make sure that our view of the World, our view of people, and our view of sin matches the one God provides in His Word. We cannot accept God’s message without first accepting God, and we cannot claim to be in fellowship with God unless we are also believing and obeying His message.