Introduction
• Sin is transgression of God’s law.
• 1 John 3:4 “Everyone who practices sin also
practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness”.
• The word “sin” comes from the Greek word that
means “to miss the mark”.
• Literally: to miss the bulls eye of a target.
• Spiritually: to miss the standard God has
appointed for us.
Introduction
• God hates sin.
• God takes note of those who sin.
• God will judge those who are in sin when they
die.
• God will punish those in sin when they die.
• Let us take this time to see some of the ways
in which a person sins.
We Can Sin:
Even If We Do Not Know Better
• Ignorance is no excuse
• Acts 3:17 “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in
ignorance, just as your rulers did also”.
• Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore and return, that your sins
may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing
may come from the presence of the Lord:”
• Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of
knowledge, because you have rejected knowledge, I
also will reject you from being My priests, Since you
have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget
your children.
We Can Sin:
Even If We Do Not Know Better
• 2 Chronicles 34:14-21
• For over three hundred years, the children of
Israel had not done what God commanded.
• Two hundred years later, Ezra and Nehemiah
would read the same book and the people
would realize they had not been keeping the
laws of God.
We Can Sin:
Even If We Have A Clear Conscience
• Acts 23:1 “And Paul, looking intently at the
Council, said ‘Brethren, I have lived my life
with a perfectly good conscience before God
up to this day’”.
• Acts 22:1-5; Paul’s defense before the crowd.
• I Timothy 1:15 “It is a trustworthy statement,
deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners, among
whom I am foremost of all”.
We Can Sin:
Even If It Is Legal
• Acts 5:29 “But Peter and the apostles
answered and said, ‘we must obey God rather
than men’”.
• Divorce for any cause: Matthew 5:32: 19:9
• Drinking Alcohol, Drugs, Legal Drugs,
Marijuana
• Lawsuits against brethren.
• Etc
We Can Sin: Even If Someone
Respectable Approves It
• I John 4:1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit,
but test the spirits to see whether they are from
God; because many false prophets have gone out
into the world”.
• 1 Timothy 4:1 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in
later times some will fall away from the faith,
paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines
of demons…”
• There are teachers of error
• “My preacher said so”
• “The Pope declared this”
We Can Sin:
Even If "No One Gets Hurt"
• Numbers 32:23 “But if you will not do so, behold, you
have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin
will find you out”.
• So many sins do not cause physical harm to others,
• But they might cause spiritual harm.
• Romans 14:20-21 “Do not destroy the work of God
for the sake of food. For although all things are clean,
it is wrong to cause anyone to stumble by what you
eat. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or to do
anything that causes your brother to stumble”.
We Can Sin:
Even If We Do Not Get Caught
• Hebrews 4:13 “And there is no creature hidden
from His sight, but all things are open and laid
bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to
do”.
• The policeman is at the donut shop and does not
see you run the stop sign.
• But God sees.
• Psalm 139:7-9 “where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or
where can I flee from Thy presence…:—”behold
Thou art there”
We Can Sin: Even If It Is Not As Bad As
What Someone Else Did
• James 2:9-10 “But if you show partiality, you are
committing sin and are convicted by the law as
transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law
and yet stumbles in one point, he has become
guilty of all”.
• So, who are we to compare ourselves to?
• Ourselves?
• Proverbs 16:2 “All the ways of a man are clean in
his own sight, but the LORD weighs the motives”.
We Can Sin: Even If It Is Not As Bad As
What Someone Else Did
• Can we compare ourselves to others?
• Galatians 6:4 “Let each one examine his own
work. Then he can take pride in himself and not
compare himself with someone else”.
• 2 Corinthians 10:12 “For we would not dare to
classify or compare ourselves with some of those
who recommend themselves. But when they
measure themselves by themselves and compare
themselves with themselves, they are without
understanding”.
• This is so easy to do.
• “I’m not as bad as ______________________”.
We Can Sin: Even If We Were
Trying To Do Good
•
•
•
•
•
David sinned trying to bring the ark home.
Uzzah paid the penalty for this sin (2 Samuel 6:1-7).
Does the end justify the means?
A lot of people think so, but does it make it right?
Truth can be hurtful—Truth can turn people off if handled
wrongly.
• Need for wisdom. James 1:5 “But if any of you lacks
wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously
and without reproach, and it will be given to him”.
• Ephesians 4:15 “but speaking the truth in love, we are to
grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even
Christ,.”
We Can Sin:
Even If Someone Else Influenced Us
• Genesis 3:12,13 “And the man said, ‘the woman
whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me
from the tree, and I ate’. Then the LORD God said to
the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the
woman said, ‘the serpent deceived me and I ate”.
• The blind leaders Matthew 15:14 “Leave them!
They are blind guides. If someone who is blind
leads another who is blind, both will fall into a pit”.
• Teachers of error—error will still cause a soul to be
lost no matter how sincere they are.
We Can Sin:
Even If We "Can't Help Ourselves"
• II Peter 2:12-19
• Addiction is very powerful and takes a lot of
willpower to overcome it.
• Influence of drugs, alcohol even though legal still
sends us down the wrong path.
• We are not speaking of physical imbalance that
causes people to do strange or bad things.
• We are speaking of doing things by choice knowing
the danger involved.
We Can Sin:
Even If Everyone Else Does It
• Remember what Mama said when you used
this argument?
• Matthew 7:13: “Enter by the narrow gate; for
the gate is wide, and the way is broad that
leads to destruction, and many are those who
enter by it”.
Conclusion
• So many reasons offered for participating in sin still
does not make it right.
• God will judge us.
• Many passages that warn us about the consequence
of sin, especially if it is not repented, turned away
from, and acknowledged in confession.
• A total effort is necessary on our part of overcome sin.
• Revelation 2:7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes
shall not be hurt by the second death”.
• Why not remove the sin from YOUR life?