What the Big Deal about Sin?
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The Big Deal
The Big Deal
We have been looking at what I called the do’s and don’t of the fourth chapter of James. The Apostle begins the chapter with the pressing question to us as believers. the main point of this question is “What are you doing”? We are believers who are acting as if we have no part in Christendom. We are quarrelling. We are murdering! You are lusting for what you do not have! You ask and you don’t have. You ask with the wrong motives! And we are doing this in the church. This is a huge problem.
In order to help us Apostle James tells us what to do.
Submit Yourselves
Resist the Devil
Draw Nigh to God
Cleanse your Hands
Purify Your Hearts
Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.
James 4:9
So in developing my hermeneutic here, my question is, why “lift you up in honor”? Who would want to be lifted? Someone who realizes, they cannot lift themselves up. When you come to terms with the weight of your behavior, by ‘letting there be sadness instead of laughter”, it suggest that you realize the wretched sinner that you are. You realize that you are a hot mess and have nothing to brag about in the sight of God. This is why, no matter what mess we find ourselves in, or how bad things are, you open your mouth and praise your God. This is humility. When you understand that you have made a mess in your life, but the only one who can fix you is the God you have offended.
When you take a proper look at who you are, gloom is the appropriate emotion. But the Apostle is telling us, if we humble ourselves. If we bow before our God and acknowledge that we are nothing before him, then he will change us. He will change our position. He will lift you up in honor.
So the Apostle instructs us to be humble!
So the purpose of our attention this morning then is to consider the last verse. He, the Apostle has given us instruction. And he ends the chapter by saying:
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Beloved, we are all now, put on notice. We are all to be held to account. None of can say, “we didn’t know what was or is good”. So we are as the Apostle Paul says, ‘without excuse’. If we find ourselves in a position where we did not do what we knew is good, to us, it is sin.
What is Sin?
Westminster Shorter Catechism!
Q: What is sin?
A: Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.
GK G281 | S G266 ἁμαρτία hamartia 173x
error; offence, sin, ; a principle or cause of sin, ; proneness to sin, sinful propensity, , ; guilt or imputation of sin, ; ; a guilty subject, sin-offering, expiatory victim, → sin.
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Ezek
Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Ezek 18
The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
The person who sins is the one who will die. The child will not be punished for the parent’s sins, and the parent will not be punished for the child’s sins. Righteous people will be rewarded for their own righteous behavior, and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness.
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
gal
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
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