The word 'sin' is not very popular today.
And maybe it never has been.
People seem to eliminate it from their vocabulary because it sounds judgmental.
Some don't like the word because it implies there are objective rules to be obeyed.
And nobody's going to tell me what to do.
No one's going to tell me I'm doing something wrong.
And yet we all know there's something very wrong in this world.
There's something wrong in our lives.
We see crime and violence everywhere around us, and we know that's not good.
We can see great pain as a result of maybe an abusive relationship,
a broken marriage, a rebellious child, maybe some financial hardship.
Human suffering is everywhere.
We see people with sickness and disease. We see injustice in our world.
Neighbor not loving neighbor.
People often blame the political leader or bad government policies,
but, if you think about it, over the years no matter who's in charge,
the pain and suffering continues.
And we just know the world is not right.
Somewhere in this world there will always be war.
There will always be famine.
But even in the absence of these things, there's inside of each of us an internal problem,
and it's robbing us of our peace and our happiness.
What's the root cause of these problems?
The Bible says it's sin.
Now if you don't agree with this, I want to ask you to rethink, maybe,
how you've been defining sin.
As a starting place, I'm hoping you'll agree with me:
There's something wrong with the world, and there's something wrong with us.
Because regardless of the religion, the latest philosophy everyone seems to agree,
it's important to be honest. It's important not to lie.
People agree that it's wrong to cheat and steal.
Now maybe your reason for believing that stems from
the fact that you don't want people to lie to you.
You don't want people to cheat you out of a business deal or steal from you.
And that's okay.
At this point, we just want to establish some common ground.
Almost every world religion out there agrees that we're supposed to have integrity.
We're supposed to be ethical,
and that much of the misery in society exists because people aren't always ethical.
They don't always have integrity.
What's wrong with us?
Why is it we do things that we know aren't good for us?
We know they aren't good for our family. We know they aren't good for society as a whole.
What is it about the human mind and the human heart
that maybe it knows what to do, and sometimes we do the opposite?
Again, world philosophies, the most recent trends,
and all the therapy in the world that comes and goes but nothing changes, does it?
I think the answer is going to be found in what the Bible has to say about sin,
its enslaving power, its destructive power,
and our failure to solve this problem on our own.
So, let's see what the Bible has to say about sin and how it works,
and most importantly, how we can heal from it.
The Bible defines sin in a number of ways,
and it even helps us understand it better by providing what I'll call word pictures.
The Bible says this:
"Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness,
and sin is lawlessness."
So maybe a good starting point here as we try to define it is this idea of lawlessness.
And that simply means that when we disobey God--His law--that's sinning.
But it's more than that, isn't it?
The Bible goes on to tell us:
"Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin."
That means sin is far more than just breaking a rule.
Sin is also a failure to be proactive in doing what's good and right.
So if you've read the Bible you know it's filled with commandments to
avoid certain things that God says are not good for us.
But it's also filled with commands to do certain things that are good for us and those around us.
And to fail on either front, the Bible calls that sin.
But even this is a elementary and a very basic view of sin.
There's a far deeper and greater understanding the Bible gives us on this topic
because when God sees us sin, He uses words that convey much more than merely disobeying a rule.
He uses words like trespass, wickedness, rebellion, falling short, stumbling.
We're given these pictures-- these word pictures.
As well, when the Bible compares sin to us being like an animal that goes astray.
Or maybe like a person that is blind and living in darkness.
These words imply a whole lot more the merely coming up with the wrong answer.
If you're in school taking a math class, for example,
and you get the answer wrong to a math problem.
Well, all you've done is get the answer wrong to a math problem.
There's no evil involved there.
But when we come up short with what God has commanded,
by either doing what God has forbidden or failing to do what God has asked us to do,
something very horrible happens within us.
Listen to what the Bible says:
"For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord,
and He Ponders all his paths. [That is man's paths.]
His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, and he is caught in the cords of his sin."
Did you catch that?
Sin is pictured as a trap. It ensnares us.
It holds us down.
It ties us up like cords or like ropes so that we're no longer free.
Jesus himself compared sin to a type of bondage-- a slavery.
He said, "Most assuredly I say to you whoever commits sin is a slave of sin."
Friend, you don't just do sin.
Sin, does you.
It stains you. It enslaves you.
And you feed it once, And now it's here to stay.
Here's how it works.
It usually starts with a failure on our part to think properly about sin.
We often think sin is no big deal. We don't even use the word.
I'll just try it once. I'm young.
I need to experiment with things. I need to live a little bit.
Aren't we always somehow trying to find the upside to sin, always trying to justify it,
find a good reason why we should satisfy whatever lust or craving we're having
that God has already identified in His word as being bad for us?
So with this foolish mindset-- maybe just being uneducated--
we become prime targets for the many traps our enemy the devil has set for us.
It's usually just a matter of time before we find ourselves
in some distress or maybe some disappointment in life.
Then the temptation comes to deal with that distress--that disappointment--
in an unhealthy way.
Maybe turning to alcohol, maybe turning to drugs, sexual immorality.
Whatever you're craving might be.
All of those things, they promise you freedom, don't they?
You turn to them because there's a sense of liberation or escape from my struggle,
and, so, you partake.
And you're immediately drawn in.
And it doesn't take very long for you to figure out it was all a lie.
That these things don't provide you freedom at all.
They don't provide you an escape at all.
Today, that experiment with sin might have worked for a little bit,
but tomorrow you'll need a little more.
You will start to develop a tolerance. You'll get numb.
So that innocent experiment, it no longer satisfies you.
You need more and more and more, until it no longer satisfies you at all.
But now you're addicted. Now you're stuck.
And you thought sin...
You thought that innocent experiment would give you freedom,
but you quickly find out sin takes away your freedom.
Jesus was right all along: "Whoever commits sin is a slave to sin."
And I don't think Jesus was just talking about sex and drugs.
There are things that we might not even consider to be bad in and of themselves,
but they lead to the same result.
Let's take your career, for example. Maybe your career is your idol.
Now when I say idol, I just mean something you treat as a replacement for God.
If you live for anything but God,
and if you make something more important than God, that's really the essence of sin.
That's when you've missed the mark. Sin is missing the mark.
And God is the mark. God's the target. It's not just a set of rules.
See through those rules to the God of the rules because we were created by God.
We live in God's world.
And when we fail to live God's way,
we're going against the way things work in God's world.
Now maybe you look to your career to make you happy.
You look to your career to give you fulfillment in life.
And granted, it's very exhilarating at first, isn't it?
You're learning new things. You're getting promoted.
But that stuff fades away.
And if you've lived long enough to have these kinds of life experiences,
you know what I'm talking about.
So why are we always feeling so empty?
We chase things, but it doesn't last. It's not fulfilling. We're never satisfied.
Why are we never happy? Why?
What's wrong with us?
Sin is what's wrong.
We have chosen something over God.
And, oh, how easily we forget that God is the Creator of life and all that is good
when we look for peace and joy in places other than Him.
Sin will destroy your mind.
It will take away your peace. It will steal your joy.
I have good news for you, though.
There is a path back to God.
You don't have to be enslaved forever.
There's a place of healing where all that's been lost can be restored.
But it all starts with thinking differently about how you view and define sin.
And that means learning to place your affections and your desires
where God tells you to place them, not where you've been placing them.
You see, God's not only interested in rules and in your actions to obey rules,
He wants you to have the proper thoughts, the proper feelings, too.
Because proper thinking will lead to right attitudes and then right actions.
Believe it or not, it's even possible for you to learn to hate something
that you currently love because it's not good for you.
And when God is at the center of your life, you will see that more clearly.
When you're feeling down and you want something to solve that feeling,
you will always think, "If only I had 'blank'." You fill in that blank. If only I had...
Whatever you put in that blank, that's going to become your master.
And that's the slavery and the bondage and the addiction we've been talking about.
The blank must always be filled with God.
God's word tells us we are not powerless.
Now, we're going to need God's help,
but we are not powerless to start choosing right over wrong.
We can choose God's way over our way.
We can attach ourselves to God Himself rather than be shackled to sin.
Are you ready today to break away from the grip sin has on your life?
To receive the spiritual healing, cleansing that only God can provide?
The answer my friend is only found in God's Son, Jesus Christ.
And the reason you need Jesus is because He's the only one that was willing
to bear your burden and take the burden of your sins on Himself.
The Bible says that Jesus,
"Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree..."
(The tree is a reference to the cross.)
"...that we, having died to sins..." (That's repentance.)
"...might live for righteousness-- by whose stripes you were healed.
For you were like sheep going astray,
but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls."
When you place your trust in Jesus Christ
and obey His command to repent and to be baptized for the remission of your sins,
then your sins are forgiven forever.
Now the Bible calls that good news,
and it's the message Jesus wants the church to carry to the entire world.
Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach this gospel (this good news)
to every creature.
He who believes and is baptized will be saved;
but he does not believe will be condemned."
This is the message that Jesus' disciples preached.
It's the message we preach today.
Listen to the Bible:
"Repent, and let everyone of you be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
A parallel verse to that is this:
"Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out [wiped out],
so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord."
Doesn't that sound like good news?
Listen to this verse:
"And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins,
calling on the name of the Lord."
My friend, you can't just try harder.
"I got this. I can do this on my own."
You need God's help.
You need God's son to wash away your sins and make all things new.
Now once your sins are forgiven by God by obeying His Son,
there's just one more very important thing you need to do.
This is very important.
You must spend time seeking God by reading His word
and reflecting on Him and thinking about His ways.
Here's what's going to happen when you do that:
It will open your eyes to the greatness of God to know His power and to be motivated
by knowing what He can and is doing for you.
This is the only way to replace the,
"If only I had something else," thought that we get.
Because when God is all that is on your mind, that's freedom.
When God and God's ways are all you think about, then you're free.
Let's close with one last Bible verse, something King David said in the Psalms.
He said, "Your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against You."