Announcer: Today on Let the Bible Speak
- What is sin?
Well, stay with us.
Today we'll see how God defines it.
Thank you for joining me today for Let the Bible Speak.
From the churches of Christ
Let the Bible Speak
with Kevin Presley
♪ Intro Music ♪
Thank you for joining me today for Let the Bible Speak.
The bible declares that all
accountable men and women are sinners.
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,
says Romans three verse 23.
And there is none righteous, no not one,
Romans three and verse 10.
But how do we become sinners?
What does it mean to sin against God?
You ask any number of people that question
many might tell you number of different things.
For example they might tell you that
to sin means to break one of the 10 commandments
or that it means to do harm to another person.
Many in fact have summarily dismissed the whole idea of sin
because you would be hard-pressed
to get them to identify something as a sin
besides maybe murder or stealing, something horrific.
Secular humanists of course reject the very word
or concept of sin
but surprisingly the list of sins among the religious world
is growing shorter all of the time.
The word sin has nearly disappeared
from the world's vocabulary today.
Up until about a hundred years ago
most religious people believed that
men are sinners who need to repent.
But during the 20th century the appeal of positive thinking
and preaching took over
and the word sin began disappearing from pulpits.
Preachers and church leaders began to emphasize
the positive aspects of Christianity
and the appeal of a light
and happy, I'm good and you're good approach to spirituality
that has erased sin from our collective conscience.
But sin does still exist.
What God once called sin he still calls sin
and sin has the same consequences
in the eyes of God that it always has.
We would do well to understand what sin is and to avoid it.
John gives us a simple definition of sin
in First John chapter three in verse four
simply saying that sin is the transgression of the law.
But again, what does that really mean?
What does it take to sin against the Lord?
Well, sometimes when the meaning of a word is unclear to us
it helps to look at its synonyms,
alternative words that mean the same thing.
And the bible illustrates sin in a number of ways
so today I wanna talk to you about synonyms for sin.
- The Psalmist said, "Through Thy precepts,
"I get understanding."
The Bible is the revelation of God to man
and you simply can't live for God until you know something
about the Word of God
and you may say, "Well, I want to read
"and study the Bible, but I don't know where to begin.
"I feel overwhelmed" or "I don't understand the Bible."
I want to offer you a wonderful way
to get acquainted with the scriptures.
You'll learn about some of the most basic
and foundational teachings of God's Word
and you'll get a better handle on how to read
and approach and study the Bible as a whole.
Won't you get in touch with us today
and ask to be enrolled in the Bible Correspondence Course.
It won't cost you a penny and we'll mail the lessons
to your home and you take your time to read and study
through the lessons,
I think you'll be surprised how much you'll learn.
Sin is the source of all of the problems
we deal with in the world today.
We don't just have economic problems, we have sin problems.
We don't really have a race problem, we have a sin problem.
Now we don't have a problem with disease and suffering,
we have a sin problem.
Because you see every problem that we encounter
is ultimately the result of sin's existence
going all the way back to the beginning.
Adam and Eve introduced sin into the world
and with it death and destruction and degradation.
In Romans chapter five Paul explains that
sin entered the world with Adam
and that death, physical death was the result.
Romans five in verse 12 says,
wherefore as by one man, sin entered into the world
and death by sin.
And so, death passed upon all men
for that all have sinned.
That is to say sin began with Adam
and death was the penalty of his sin.
Man was originally placed in the paradisiacal Garden of Eden
where he could eat from the tree of life and live forever.
However, when Adam rebelled against God
he was driven out of the garden
and this cut off man's access to the tree of life
and physical death resulted.
He introduced into the world
what would ultimately lead to the ruin of man
because the bible tells us that all have sin.
And then Paul goes on in verse 14 of Romans five
to show us that death reigned from that point forward
even among those who did not commit the same sin as Adam.
Now that is to say Adam was given a specific instruction
not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
and the death penalty was attached to that law.
God said, "The day you eat of that forbidden tree,"
he said, "You will surely die."
Well, it's impossible for you or me
to commit the same sin that Adam committed
for obvious reasons.
But that doesn't mean that we have not sinned.
Now between the time of Adam
and the giving of the law of Moses,
there was no law like the on given to Adam
that specifically had the penalty
of physical death attached to it.
But the creation was nonetheless universally cursed
with death because of Adam's sin.
All men were because of Adam cut off from the tree of life.
Now notice that he says in verse 14,
he says, "Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses
"even over them that had not sinned
"after the similitude of Adam's transgression."
Now man could not commit the same sin as Adam committed
and no sin like Adam's was possible
in that dispensation of time
because men were under no such law.
But that doesn't change the fact
that sin still existed in the world
and there was no moral law that men repeatedly
and increasingly violated.
Now the point I wanna draw from that for our study today
is that while sin is sin,
not all sin is the same.
Sin takes different forms.
I mean, it's all still sin but it takes different forms.
Yet I think we've lost sight of the meaning
in bible definition of sin today.
If people even believed that sin exist today
they will define it quite differently.
But how does God define it?
What constitutes a sin in the eyes of God?
Is it only those things that the bible expressly forbids?
Is it like God's prohibition in the garden?
Is it like the 10 commandments?
Is a sin merely something that God has expressly
and adamantly forbade in his word?
Or is the definition of sin more broad?
What if the bible doesn't say
not to do something for example?
Does that necessarily make it all right?
What if it is not preceded by the words thou shall not
reading like one of the 10 commandments
that Moses gave to the Hebrews?
Does that mean we're at liberty to practice it
if the bible doesn't read in that way?
Well, if we wanna really understand
and truly appreciate the meaning of a word
it's often helpful to look at its synonyms
and that's what I wanna do today in regard to sin
because I think it will us to learn a lot about what
sin is and how men commit it.
Now John gives us a very concise definition of sin
in First John three in verse four
where he says, "Whosoever committeth sin
"transgresseth also the law
"for sin is the transgression of the law."
Now the word transgress simply means to violate
or to go beyond the law.
Sin in other words encompasses everything that violates
or goes outside the law of God.
It encompasses anything that is wrong
in the eyes of the Lord.
Now obviously the word sin would include
the act of violating a positive command,
doing something that God says not to do.
And if anybody believes in the existence of sin
they would likely acknowledge that
a sin would be to violate
a stated prohibition in God's word.
Now Adam was guilty of violating
a positively stated prohibition.
And so, we'll note as our first synonym for sin prohibition,
that will be a good word to remember,
to do something the bible prohibits.
Now, that opens up another question.
Are all of God's laws or commands positively stated?
That is to say, do his commands
all read like a legal code that begins with
you are not to do such or the other?
Some expect the bible to read that way
if the bible is to have any authority in our lives.
Well, the Old Testament law did
in many respects read that way
but Jesus later pointed out that the pharisees
and other people of his day were guilty of
claiming to mind the letter of the law
while ignoring the spirit of it.
And friend, the spirit of the law did not negate the letter.
That's important to underscore, to remember.
The spirit of the law
and you hear a lot of people talking about
the spirit of the law as opposed to the letter of law
but one's not really opposed to the other.
The spirit of the law did not negate the letter of the law,
rather it reinforced it.
For example on the sermon on the mountain,
Jesus cited the law of Moses
and then not only cast it in its rightful context
but he lays down his own law by his own authority
that goes even farther
and you might say spiritualizes
the law's previous requirements.
For example, the law of Moses specifically forbade
the act of adultery just as adultery's been wrong
in every dispensation of time.
The law of Moses specifically spelled out
and forbade the act of adultery.
Jesus in Matthew five in verse 27
quotes Moses' seventh commandment,
saying ye have heard that it was said of
by them of old time, thou shall not commit adultery.
He's hearkening back to the Mosaic law.
Now adultery according to the law
was a specific sexual act that was verifiable
and punishable by death even according to
Leviticus chapter 20 and verse 10.
Leviticus chapter 18 as well as chapter 20
spells out in very plain terms
what constitutes the act of adultery
and the penalty that was to be attached
if one was caught within that act.
But Jesus comes along on the sermon in the mount
and he broadened the scope of that law.
Now adultery may not have been specifically
and expressly forbidden until Moses
was given the law on Sinai but it was still a sin
even before the law of Moses.
Because it violated the very nature
and the very design of the sacred marital covenant
that God established in the beginning of time.
Jesus goes back even before the legal code of Moses
and he reinforces the very principle
behind the expressed command by saying
in verses 28 through 30.
"But I say unto you that whosoever
"looketh on a woman to lust after her
"hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
"And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out,
"and cast it from thee
"for it is profitable for thee
"that one of thy members should perish,
"and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
"If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off,
"cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee
"that one of thy members should perish,
"and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."
What's he saying?
Well in other words, according to the law of Christ,
a person sins before the specific act of adultery
even takes place.
Adultery stems from what?
Stems from lust and sin begins when one allows
his eyes to wander and linger in a place they don't belong.
Let's think about that, let's apply that idea.
Is there a commandment of the New Testament for example
that expressly says that it's a sin
to watch a dirty movie
or to watch a dirty movie,
to read salacious literature,
to put oneself in a compromising place
with someone else's wife or husband.
You know you'd be hard-pressed
to find a verse that says that in those terms
but that doesn't mean that it's not a sin.
Jesus said it's not just the act,
it's the very process of allowing the eye
to lead us to offend.
The apostle Paul did say in Philippians
chapter four in verse eight,
he commanded that we are to think on things
that are true and honest and just and pure and lovely,
of good report and virtuous.
It's very difficult to do that
when one sets wickedness before his own eyes.
What about gambling?
We hear a lot about gambling
and that's a very hotly contested issue
even in religious circles these days.
Is there a verse that specifically addresses gambling?
Is there a passage that says thou
shall not play the lottery?
Thou shall not play a slot machine
or bet on a race or a game?
Well, I don't know of a verse like that.
I've never read a verse like that
but I do read where I'm to work for gain
and not covet what someone else has.
Second Thessalonians chapter three in verse 10,
Ephesians chapter five in verse three.
I know that when I gamble I'm gaining
from someone else's loss,
I'm not practicing the Golden Rule.
I'm practicing stealing by consent just like a duel
and just like a duel is murder by consent.
So in gambling, it's stealing, it's theft by consent.
I'm taking somebody else's money hoping to beat them
so they won't take mine.
You know, in fact, there's not one single thing
about gambling that is compatible
with the teachings and principles of scripture
in regard to the Christian and how he deals with money
or with other people.
Therefore, I contend that it's sinful to gamble.
The bible doesn't say not to wear a bathing suit
but it teaches modest dress
in First Timothy chapter two in verse eight.
It teaches me not to do something
that would lead another to sin
which would include provoking unclean thoughts and lust
in the mind of another.
It teaches that nakedness is something to be
ashamed of, not proud of, Revelation three in verse 18.
You see the prohibitions of God
extend much farther than express commands.
Whatever I do and the way I live
must fit within the parameters of not only the letter
but the spirit of the law of Christ
or else I'm wrong in the eyes of God.
Prohibition is a synonym for sin
and then number two, there is the word omission.
Now that too is a synonym for sin.
To leave undone what God has commanded.
James chapter four in verse 17 says
therefore to him that knoweth to do good,
and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Did you know that it's just as offensive to God
to ignore his commandments
as it is to actively violate them?
That a person who doesn't take God seriously
and chooses to ignore what his word says to do,
he's just as wrong as the thief,
the murderer, the liar, the adulterer.
The bible tells the story of a man
who was deposed as king of Israel
because he disobeyed the Lord.
Now how did he disobey God?
Well, he disobeyed God by not doing what God said to do.
God dealt very harshly with him.
In his arrogance, he thought he knew
as much as God did about the matter
and he ignored the commandment of God.
He set it aside.
Now, I'm talking about King Saul.
And in First Samuel chapter 15 verses one to three,
we read where Samuel said to Saul,
"The Lord sent me to anoint thee
"to be king over his people, over Israel,
"now therefore harken thou
"unto the voice of the words of the Lord.
"Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
"I remember that which Amalek did to Israel,
"how he laid wait for him in the way,
"when he came up from Egypt.
"Now go and smite Amalek,
"and utterly destroy all that they have,
"and spare them not
"but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling,
"oxen, sheep, camel and ass."
God's instruction here is very, very clear.
There was no ambiguity whatsoever
and Samuel begins this instruction
by telling Saul, listen up,
you harken into what God says.
You be prepared to obey what God is gonna tell you to do.
And God's instruction was very, very clear.
He didn't leave it to Saul's interpretation.
He told him to destroy every living thing
that belonged to the people of Amalek.
Now please notice, Saul did not refuse to go and fight.
Saul didn't say well, I'm not gonna go and do that.
I don't have anything against the Amalekites,
I'm not gonna go and destroy those people.
That wasn't Saul's reaction.
In fact, he did go.
And he slaughtered the Amalekites.
He laid their nation waste.
But he got over there, if you remember the story,
and he began to presume that he knew more than God.
And the bible says in verses seven through nine
that Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah
until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt.
And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive,
and utterly destroyed all the people
with the edge of the sword.
ut Saul and the people spared Agag,
and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen,
and of the fattlings, and the lambs,
and all that was good,
and would not utterly destroy them.
But every thing that was vile and refuse,
that they destroyed utterly.
Now notice what happened here.
He went and he killed a lot of people.
He went and he absolutely devastated the Amalekites
just like God said to do
except did he really do what God said to do?
He destroyed most of them but not all of them,
what's wrong with that?
Well, God said to destroy all of them you see.
So did Saul see them?
Well, listen to the next verse.
Fact verses 10 and 11.
Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying,
"It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king
"for he has turned back from following me,
"and hath not performed my commandments."
Now there it is, God says he did not do what I said to do.
He hath not performed my commandments.
Did he got to the Amalekites?
Yes.
Did he wage war against the Amalekites?
Absolutely.
Did he kill Amalekites?
Yes, he killed nearly all of them
but he spared the best in his own presumption.
He kept the king alive,
he kept the best of their animals
to offer as a sacrifice unto the Lord.
He did not perform the commandments of God
and God rejected him as king as a result.
Samuel goes and he questions Saul
about whether or not he completed the mission
God had sent him on.
And Saul says oh yes.
Saul brags, he boasts, yes, we went
and we did what God said to do.
And about that time, Samuel hears the lowing of an oxen,
the bleating of a sheep and he says,
"Well, what's this I hear?
"If you did what God said to do
"why do I hear the sheep and oxen?"
And you see it was exposed Saul really didn't obey the Lord
because he left undone what God said to do
and God rejected him and condemned him as a result.
Did not matter that he did some of what God said
or even most of what God said.
In God's eyes he disobeyed.
He violated God's instruction,
he knew to do good and did it not
and to him it was sin.
Now sometimes people will reason today
about let's say salvation.
And they say, well, they may not have been baptized
but they believed.
Or they may have a hard time repenting
but at least they believe.
And sometimes we rationalize things like that
and we sometimes say well, you know all is not lost
because at least they believe in Jesus,
at least they claim to believe in God,
or at least they have some good moral qualities about them.
Friends, that's not how it works.
That's not how God looks at the matter,
that's not the kind of obedience
that God expects and requires.
Now when it comes to salvation,
Jesus said in Mark 16 in verse 16,
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved."
Now that's very plain.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
Unfortunately, preachers by the multitudes
stand in pulpits throughout the land.
They stand on television, they preach over the radio
everywhere they have the opportunity
and tell people they can be saved
by simply believing in Jesus and the baptism
has nothing whatsoever to do with it.
That's not what Jesus said.
Jesus said he the believeth and is baptized
shall be saved.
Now man who refuses or fails to submit to the Lord
in baptism might as well not even believe
because he's not obedient to God.
It does no good to say that you believe
but repent of your sin and give it up.
It does not good to believe and be baptized
even if one is not going to continue
in faithfulness to Christ.
In fact, do you know the most tragic and graphic pictures
of those who will be doomed in the day of judgment
are pictures of people not who did
what they weren't supposed to do
but who did not do what they were supposed to do.
Second Thessalonians chapter one verses eight and nine.
"In flaming fire," Paul said,
"taking vengeance on them that know not God,"
listen now, "And that obey not the gospel
"of our Lord Jesus Christ."
What will happen to them?
He goes on to say, "Who shall be punished
"with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord
"and from the glory of his power."
Why?
Because they knew not God and obeyed not the gospel.
Matthew 25 in verse 27 shows
that the man who failed to invest his talent
that the Lord gave him was cast into outer darkness
whereas weeping and gnashing of teeth.
In the same chapter Matthew 25 verses 34 through 46
Jesus says of those who failed to feed the hungry,
clothe the naked, visit the sick, those in prison,
he's not talking about murderers and liars and thieves.
This is of the people who failed to do these things
and he said then shall he answer them.
Verily I say unto you inasmuch as ye did it
not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me
and thee shall go away into everlasting punishment.
But the righteous in life eternal
Matthew 25 verses 45 through 46.
Why were they lost?
He said, "Because you did these things not unto me."
Friend, have you obey the Lord?
Have you obeyed the gospel in baptism
for the remission of sins?
Are you active in his church
in living a holy and faithful life for Christ?
If not you're in rebellion to the Lord.
You can have all kinds of sentimental feelings
about Christianity, about Jesus
but are you obeying him?
If not you're living in sin.
Omission is a synonym for sin.
Now Lord willing in our next time together
we'll continue this important study
and we're gonna look at least three more synonyms for sin,
and I hope that you'll join me for that
because they may surprise you
just what constitutes sin in the eyes of the Lord.
So again in our next time together,
my time is gone today but in our next time together,
Lord willing, we'll talk about that
and I hope you'll join me for that study.
In the mean time I'll be back in a moment.
- If you've ever visited an Assembly of the Church of Christ
you've seen that it's different.
No rock bands, no choirs and praise teams,
no theatrical productions.
That's because we believe worship is simple
but profound, and is according to what's revealed
in God's Word.
When you visit with the Church of Christ,
you'll find that everybody simply sings
the praise of the Lord together, congregationally.
We meet around the Lord's table every Sunday
to remember the body and blood of the Lord
in His new covenant.
We pray together, and none of that pop psychology.
But sound teaching from the Word of God.
Oh and one more thing.
We won't ask for your money.
Members provide for the needs of the local church
through a weekly collection.
So forget all the hype.
Come see the difference,
and be our honored guest today.
Well, don't forget to join me next time
as we continue our study the Lord willing
on synonyms for sin.
It's an important study and I do hope you'll join me for it
and encourage someone else to watch as well.
In the meantime if you would like
a free printed transcript of what
you have heard today,
we'll be happy to send it.
Just contact us at the information we'll give you
and ask for the lesson, Synonyms For Sin
and it will be on it's way.
Don't forget about us online. We're on Facebook and Twitter.
You can also subscribe to our podcast
and receive the program that way each week. And subscribe to
our YouTube channel as well. Thanks for joining me today!
I hope you have a great week ahd and until we meet again,
the Lord willing, I pray the Lord will bless you.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét