Love More: Sin Less
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Love Subverted: Sin
Love Subverted: Sin
God made a perfect world. In the beginning God saw it was good. That perfect world didn’t last long. 2 chapters actually, by chapter 3 of Genesis we see the fall of man. Not only do people fall, but even the angels.
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;
Both the angels and Adam’s and Eve’s punishment was to be out of God’s presence.
Though we have the examples, sin continued and still does today.
We all Sin. ,
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Life does not have to be controlled by sin.
14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
What is Sin? There are two main types of sin. Doing wrong and knowing what is right and failing to do it.
17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
we have many words used in the Bible to represent the concept of sin. Our book tells us about a few.
1. Missing the mark-
21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The chief aim of the life of a christian is love. -greatest commandment and if you love me you will keep my commandments.
2. Trespass- “to side-step” we cannot walk the line. Have you ever heard the illustration of the fence. You are sitting on the fence not being bad really, but not committing to doing good. God doesn’t want those on a fence, he wants committed Christians.
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
When saints commit a sin, we violate healthy relational boundaries.
3. Lawlessness
4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
What Does Sin Do?
We must understand that sin is personal.
Whenever we sin we sin against someone.
a family member ()
a brother in Christ ()
an authority figure ()
yourself ()
Ultimately we sin against God
Joseph pleaded
9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”
David and Bathsheba
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.
Sin separates us from God.
2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
God hates sin and we should too. Sin damages relationships.
Why then do we keep sinning?
1.The adversary.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
Our book says Satans tactics are not like drive by shootings. They are well planned. Satan specializes in confusing the mind and quieting the conscience.
3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
2. The Accomplice.
The devil cannot succeed if we do not allow him to. We must guard our hearts and minds. We can become an accomplice by not taking the best precautions.
13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
3. The Advice.
knowing satans tactics Paul gave us advice.
21 but test everything; hold fast what is good.
our book gives us 4 ways to test and make sure we are holding to what is good.
Check with scripture. Are my beliefs biblical? ()
they were examining the scriptures daily and seeing if what they were told was correct, not taking the words of others.
2. Check with counselors ()
we need a support system
3. Check their fruits. ()
who is the information coming from? We should always go back to #1 and what fruit am I producing? We should continually check ourselves.
4. Check your heart. ()
the golden rule. Am I doing good, how I want to be treated?
When a person disables their conscience and disengages from reality we lose our primary defense system, and become an easy prey for the devil.
We have spent
Solutions to Sin.
thankfully we don’t just have a problem but God gave us a solution. Christ.
Christ.
we cannot do it alone, while we make make some headway we cannot sustain doing it all alone.
We must transform our mind and heart.
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
the solution to sin is love for Christ.
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Often we look at this verse and say okay, I love God I will follow him. It should be that simple. We must go back to the initial love we felt that displayed in us beginning our Christian journey and being baptized. This will continue to be discussed in the following chapters so I am going to stop before I take someone elses class.
Sin is a symptom of a divided heart. We must have integrity. Integrity is the alignment of feelings, thoughts and actions. Integrity is knowing God’s will and gladly doing it. When belief and actions do not go together the conflict makes us spiritually weak.
The church is the critical response team that works to restore wholeness to sin damaged hearts. Faith and fellowship are good medicine for the soul. My last lesson in this class we talked about how the church is a hospital not a museum. We need to be loving, not accepting wrongs, but trying to lovingly help those trapped in the wrong.
The worst thing we can do is approach a person struggling with sin and act like we don't struggle ourselves. or approach in an unloving manner, making them feel bad and not want to talk with you. But we must remember we cannot help correct someone without first having a relationship with them.
We must be honest.
Sin looses it allure when we see the consequences of sin.
Righteous living is a result of loving the right things. Solomon said this.
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
Sinful living is the result of loving the wrong things.
1 John 2:
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
We must ask ourselves “What or Whom do I love?”
1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
we are to imitate christ and his examples of love. He showed love and compassion to those hurting and in sin. We must also. We must examine ourselves using His guide, the scriptures. We will never be done working on ourselves, we are human and there is always something to correct. We must wake up each day and ask “how can I show Christ through me today?”
WWJD was a great saying in the 90s. we should always ask this question is each aspect of our lives.