Ship Wreck: Sin

Sin: Relationship Killer

Intro: The Coolant Debacle

We have a problem, a difficulty in our relationships

Submarine

There is a problem with relationships LIke what?

What is the problem? Sin

Is the problem out there or in here?

We often think our biggest problem is out there

Circumstances

Other people

Sinful World

It is most certainly a problem “out there”

Psalm 51:5 ESV

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

What is sin? A problem out there & in here.

Sin is Universal

Romans 3:23 ESV

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

Psalm 14:3 ESV

3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

The effects of sin are on us In Adam, before that proves to be true in our actions.

Sin begins in our heart, at our core

Ephesians 4:18 ESV

18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

Our actions comes from our heart

Matthew 12:34 ESV

34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

betrayal of the heart toward God that comes out in my actions.

It is our heart state before it is outward action

Sin is Relational & Personal Offense to God

Sin is always relational and always personal - It is always against the perfect nature of him. - Not against some random law

When we sin it is not only against God’s law it is against what his law reflects, His nature

Psalm 51:3–4 ESV

3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 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.

This was when? Were there other people hurt? Urriah, Bathsheba, Davids Son.

Even our sins against other people are first and foremost against God.

Isaiah 59:2–3 ESV

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. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness.

Sin is a personal enmity with God before it is a legal act

Sin is wanting to be God

Sin is the personal offense of rejecting God’s rightful rule over our lives and placing ourselves on the throne.

It is relational treason. We want to be supreme. I want to rule. Everyone else needs to bow down.

James 4:1–4 ESV

1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

James 4:1-10 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? Wanting to be supremely in control

2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. Because as god you should have what you want.

You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. wanting your bidding to be done.

You do not have, because you do not ask. For a god should not have to ask it ought to be given to him 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions since they matter most because you are God.

4 You adulterous people!

Sin is wanting and trying to be our own god before it is simple disobedience

Sin is a present reality in every relationship

Sin brings death. Always.

Romans 6:23 ESV

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

Romans 5:12 ESV

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

James 1:15 ESV

15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Why did the Israelites always have to bring an animal to sacrifice?

Sin brings relational death, death in relationships

This is how it works

Sin is a Corrupting Influence Rom 1:28-31

Romans 1:28 ESV

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

What did this cause them to do? (death)

Romans 1:29–31 ESV

29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Our fallen hearts coming out in actions toward God & Others

Our sin is deep on the inside, We need outside help

Application:

Realize, sin as a personal and relational offense toward God

It is Deceptive, It Hides, and it Blinds

Turning on the brights in a snowstorm

The community that faces its ugliness and sin is the community that becomes less ugly. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“A community which cannot bear such a crisis, which insists on keeping its illusion when that illusion should be shattered, permanently loses in that moment the promise of Christian Community”

Redeem, Seek redemption in Jesus,

Realizing our sin ought cause us to despair

To lose hope/trust in our own ability to fix it

So that we would trust in Jesus instead.

This is true whether we have trusted Christ a long time ago or if we never have.

Either You or Jesus will pay the penalty for sin

It is only by trusting that Jesus died in your place on the cross to pay for your sins that you are saved

Repent, Turn from your sin

Turn from your sins by turning to Jesus

He died to free us from it, paying its penalty.

Restoring your relationship with God

Giving a foundation to restore it with others

“We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20-21

Realize the depth of your own sin as personal and relational.

Run to the redemption only found in Jesus. Trusting him alone to save you by his work on the cross

Repent, turn away from that sin by turning to your relationship with God through Jesus leaving you more in a place to pursue your relationships with others.

Would you rather live your whole life in a virtual reality where all your wishes are granted or just in the normal real world?

Would you rather live in a utopia as a normal person or a dystopia but you are the supreme ruler?

What makes friendships or being with other people difficult?

How do those difficulties trace back to sin or the fallenness of this world?

How is our sin more about our relationship with God than just the breaking of a his rule?

Why is it important to remember that sin is first and primarily against God rather than just people?

How have you seen sin bring death to your relationships? (Death here is defined as anything that is less than full life, joy and unity God intends for us in our relationships.)

What are some ways we can go about repairing the brokenness of relationships?