02.26.23 - Respectable Sins Part 1

Open your Bibles to 1 John 3:4. •We are beginning a new series called “Respectable Sins.” •And this morning my subject will be Sin and Sin’s Remedy. To begin, what are “respectable sins?” •Well, some sins are really obvious and grievous. They’re easy to see. And Christians often spend time talking about those kinds of sins. •Think of the sins of our culture: homosexuality, atheism, transgenderism, fornication, pornography, drunkenness, drug abuse, Marxist ideology, and things like that. •Those are indeed especially vile and very clearly seen to be sinful by anyone paying attention with an open Bible. •And, again, Christians often spend a lot of time talking about those kinds of sin. BUT, there are other sins that we don’t talk much about. They are what author Jerry Bridges calls “respectable sins.” •These are the sins that we often don’t even think about. Sometimes, we don’t even really consider them sins. At least, not when we compare them to our culture. •But we commit them. We commit them thoughtlessly and instinctively, sometimes. •OR maybe we recognize them as sins, but don’t think they’re that big of a deal and not worthy of much attention. •Some of the sins I want to preach on in this series are: ungodliness, anxiety, frustration, discontentment, unthankfulness, pride, judgmentalism, anger, and sins of the tongue. •I think you probably get the idea. •We are all guilty of these, but when it’s time to talk about sin, these are not often the ones we think of first. •They are sins, but we think they are lesser or “normal.” And so, they are “respectable” compared the others. You know, we often like to focus on the sins that are “out there” but don’t want focus on the sins “in here.” That is, among the saints. •Christians, especially those who have been Christian’s for a while and have overcome the very noticeable, “big ticket item” sins, can become numb to the “lesser sins” they commit daily and functionally begin to think that they don’t really sin that much at all. •And so, they focus on the sins of others, or the sins of the culture, and never consider their own. Brothers and sisters, it is possible for us to get to a place where we have little sense of personal sin before God. •It is possible to become numb and unaware of our sin. •But God is not unaware. God sees. Remember that. •And this ought not be so among us. •All sin is wicked and damnable and God hates it all. •So then, we need to think about our own “respectable sins,” how to fight them, how to think about them rightly, and how to keep from them. Let me be clear: I’m not saying that I think everyone in this church is some kind of self-righteous jerk that thinks he/she doesn’t sin. •But I think we’re all tempted to be that person. •And I see it sometimes in myself and others. •I think that, especially in light of how wicked our culture is, it is a real temptation for us to become selfrighteous and forget that we need the mercy of God in Christ just as much as the worst sinner we can think of. •So, I hope this series keeps us honest and humble and always kneeling at the foot of the Cross. •And I hope that God will use this series to show us how to fight against our sin more strongly than maybe we have been. But for the next two weeks, we will not get into any particular sins. •I want instead to start broadly. And this week I want us to consider Sin and It’s Remedy. •And then next week, I want to consider broadly how to fight sin. •So these first two weeks will serve as something of a foundation before we move on to particular sins. So then: SIN. •A lot of people don’t like to talk about sin. It’s almost like, for some, sin doesn’t exist. •We’ve got problems, temptations, struggles, brokenness, mistakes, failures, and a whole of other things that we talk about. •But, as a whole, people don’t want to talk about SIN. •It’s like sin has vanished. But that isn’t true at all. •Sin is very much a reality in our lives. And we need to talk about it. We need to understand what it really is. And we also need to be reminded how Christ has dealt with it on our behalf. •May God give us a view of how awful sin really is. •But may He, by His grace, also show us how great is our Savior from sin, the Lord Jesus Christ. If you would, and are able, please stand with me now for the reading of the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God. 1 John 3:4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. (PRAY) Our God and Father, Thank you for your Word that lays us bare, shows us what we are, points us to Christ, tells us what we are in Him, and guides us in righteousness. Please, teach us today by your Holy Spirit working alongside the Word. Open our hearts to receive the Word of God. Grant us repentance where we need it. And grant us faith in the Son of God who died for sinner. Grant that we would have a real encounter with you, the Living God, as we humble ourselves before your Word. Glorify yourself in us today. And sanctify us by your truth. Your Word is truth. We ask these thing in Jesus’ Name and for His sake. Amen. 1.) What is sin? •John tells us here: “Sin is lawlessness.” To sin is to act, speak, or think as if there is no law. It is lawlessness. •To sin is to live as if no commandments have been given. •To sin is to refuse to do what you ought. And do what you ought not. Sin is lawlessness. Now, if sin is lawlessness, then sin presupposes the existence of Law. •As Romans 4:15 says, “For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.” •But since sin does indeed exist, which is attested to all throughout the Bible and human experience, there is indeed a Law that is being violated. What is this Law? And who has given it? •Well, the only One who could give it has given it. The Only Law Giver has given the Law: GOD. •God is the sovereign One. God alone has the right to give Law to mankind, for God alone owns mankind by rights of creation. •As the Creator of all tings, God has the right to impose standards on His creatures. •And He has the right to judge men by His standards/ Law. •God has the right to impose upon His creatures whatsoever He sees fit. And He has done just that. •He has given us the Moral Law. •He has given mankind commandments. He has given us a standard to live by that He expects us to obey. And the Law is good. •It is holy and righteous and good. And that’s because it proceeds from the mouth of the holy, righteous, and good God. •The Law, then, is not some arbitrary list of random rules. It is an extension of God. It is a revelation of His own holy nature. •The Law is MORAL. It is upright. It is good. •And so to violate that Law, to be lawless, is to be IMMORAL and wicked. It is to be unholy, unrighteous, and evil. And the summary of this Law is found in the Ten Commandments. •Though all of God’s Moral Law is not explicitly stated in those Ten Laws, nevertheless they do contain the entirety of God’s Moral Will for mankind. •You can read this in Exodus 20:1-17, but I will give something of a summary now: •You shall have no other gods but God. •You shall worship God the way He commands. •You shall not take God’s name in vain. •You must keep God’s day holy. •You must honor your father and mother. •You shall not murder. •You shall not commit adultery. •You shall not steal. •You shall not lie. •You shall not covet. •This is the summary of God’s Law. And each commandment functions as something of a category or heading that other things fit under. •An example: The Sixth Commandment: “You shall not murder.” •Obviously, murder is forbidden here. But so is everything that tends to murder. •Just think about it: If murdering is sinful, then it follows that harming another person without just cause would also be sinful because the same principle is at work. •Murder may be the greater sin, but harming another is also be evil. Another example: VThe Third Commandment: “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” •Obviously, saying “God” in an irreverent way is forbidden. But so is all irreverence toward God. •Again, think about it: If using God’s name irreverently is sinful, then it follows that making light of anything about God or His will or ways is forbidden. •If God’s name is not to be taken lightly, then nothing about God is to be taken lightly or irreverently. •Making light of God, His Word, or His works, are all forbidden under the Third Commandment. •Flagrant blasphemy might be the greater sin than a stupid joke, but joking about the Lord is sinful. But not only does each Commandment serve as a category of sin, but each Commandment is twosided. •Each commandment forbids the opposite of what it commands and commands the opposite of what it forbids. •When God says, “Honor your father and your mother,” He is at the same time forbidding dishonoring your parents. •When God says, “You shall not steal,” He is at the same time commanding us to work and pay for our things. •When God says, “You shall not commit adultery,” He is at the same time commanding us to be faithful to our spouse and, if we don’t have one, to be abstinent. •When God says, “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain,” He is also commanding us to treat Him with the respect He deserves. You can see, then, that the Law is very broad and very deep. •The Moral Law of God touches everything. Though it is summarized in the Ten Commandments, it goes much further than just the surface of those commandments. And everyone knows this Law to some degree. •And I mean EVERYONE. You don’t need the Bible to know the Law and sin, though the Bible does make it more clear and explicit. •Everyone knows the Law. Everyone knows the basics of morality. Everyone knows right from wrong. •And why is that? Paul tells us in Romans 2:14-16: •“For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while the conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting through to accuse or even excuse them…” •Paul says that even though many people don’t have the WRITTEN LAW, they still have the work of the Law written on their hearts. Morality is UNIVERSAL. •Everyone knows that God exists. •Everyone knows He should be worshipped. And that He should be worshipped His way. That time should be given to worship Him. And that He should be respected. •And everyone knows that you should honor your parents, and not murder, not commit adultery, not steal, not lie, and not want other people’s things. •ALL MANKIND knows the Law of God in some way. It’s built into our system as human beings. We can’t get away from it. And this means that all men are accountable and guilty of sin before a holy God. •All men know what they should and should not do. And all men sin. •And so, all men are liable to the judgment of the God who gave the Law to mankind. 2.) So there is a Law. It is broad. It is Moral. God has given it. Everyone knows it. Everyone is supposed to obey it. •And yet, there is also sin. There is lawlessness. There is violation of this Law. •And there are MANY WAYS that God’s Law is violated. •There are many ways that human beings sin. 1. First, there are sins of COMMISSION. This is the most basic way we think of sin: •This is when you do what ought not to be done. You POSITIVELY commit an act of sin. •God says, “Don’t do this.” And you do it anyway. •This is TRANSGRESSION. The crossing of a line. •God has drawn the line and said, “Don’t go over this.” And you look at the line and walk right over it. 2. Then, there are sins of OMISSION. •This is when you DO NOT DO what ought to be done. •God says, “Do this.” And you don’t do it. •God says, “Worship me.” And you don’t do it. •God says, “Do good to others.” And you don’t. •That is a sin of omission. You are OMITTING the obedience that you ought to be rendering to God. You are OMITTING the good you ought to be doing. 3. But sin goes even deeper. It’s not just about what we physically or verbally do or don’t do. We can sin in our THOUGHTS AND ATTITUDES. •In Matthew 5:21-22, Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” •Jesus tells us that to be unrighteously angry with someone is the same as murder. •To be sinfully angry is to violate the Sixth Commandment just as much as murder is. (Murder is the more heinous sin. But BOTH hatred and murder violate the Commandment.) •Jesus says the same thing about lust. To lust in your heart is to break the Seventh Commandment. And this would apply to all the commandments. •To desire to steal, is to sin. •To desire what others have, is to sin. •To desire something above God is to sin. •To not desire to worship God is to sin. •TO DESIRE TO SIN, IS SIN ITSELF. •It’s not just what we do or say, but it’s what we think that can also be a violation of God’s Law. And this goes to positive commandments as well. •In Deuteronomy 6:5 God says, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” •So then, to not love God with every fiber of your being is to violate the Law. Again, sin is not just what we outwardly do. It goes right down into our minds and hearts. •And we can break God’s Law there even easier than we can with our mouths and bodies. Truly, our catechism is right when it says, •“Sin is any lack of conformity to or transgression of the Law of God.” •And sin can be committed in thought, word, and deed. •AND ALL OF IT IS SIN. Now, it almost goes without saying, but it still needs to be said plainly and clearly: YOU ARE A SINNER. •I don’t really need to prove this. You know it. •You’ve heard the Law of God already in this sermon. And if you’re honest with yourself for two seconds you know that you have broken God’s Law. •You know that you’ve not always done as God would have you. And you know that you have done the opposite of what God has commanded. •You own conscience condemns you. When you lay your head down at night, you know you’ve done wrong. •You have done evil and refused to do good. •You have sinned in your thoughts and attitudes toward your fellow men and even God Himself. Look over the Ten Commandments and just think about how deep they really go. •You have, in some way or another, broken them ALL. •Jesus summarizes the Law of God with two statements: •“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…and…you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37, 39) •Who among us would dare say that they done that? •You have not loved God with all you have. •And you have not loved your neighbor as you love yourself. You are a sinner. And so am I. •We have been lawless. Sin is lawlessness. •We have lived without a care for what God demands of us. Again, I say, we are sinners. 3.) And here is the problem: God hates sin. •He hates every sin. •But that raises a question, I think: Why does God hate sin? •The Bible says it all over the place. It’s not just a dislike or preference against sin that God has. But it is a deep-seated, violent, pure HATRED that God has for sin. •But what is the big deal? Why does God hate every sin? Why does God hate even the seemingly small sins that we commit? You know, most of us don’t think properly about sin. •Most people think of sin as just breaking a rule. •But that doesn’t even really begin to cover it. •Yes, sin is the breaking of God’s Law. But to break the Law of Almighty God is truly horrible and weighty thing. •To think of sin as merely “breaking a rule” just isn’t heavy enough. It almost makes sin out to be trifling matter. •But for our holy and just and righteous God to hate sin so much and threaten to damn every sinner to an eternity in Hell, there must be more to it. Brothers and sisters, when we break God’s Law, we are saying and doing things by our actions, thoughts, and words that are much deeper than maybe first appears or occurs to us. •But, nevertheless, when we sin we are doing something more terrible than we can fully comprehend. •I want to now flesh out what sin is at it’s core. And I hope that the Lord will give us a feeling sense of true horror of sin. And that He will cause us to feel the weight of our own sin, because, by our sinning, we have all done what I’m about to say. THIS IS WHY GOD HATES SIN: •It is contrary to Him. It goes against Him. •It contradicts Him. It denies who He is. It denies His prerogatives. It denies His nature. •Sin is opposed to God. It opposes Him in every way. •And those who commit sin, oppose Him, contradict Him, and go against Him. 1. Sin denies God’s sovereignty. •To sin is deny God’s right to rule His creatures. •God has spoken, God has given Law, and when we sin, we are denying God’s right to give Law and expect us to obey. •By sinning, we are rejecting God’s right to govern us by His sovereign command. •And, in doing so, we are functionally attempting to overthrow the King of the Universe. We are, as one Puritan put it, attempting to “ungod” God. •Sin is an attempt to dethrone God. It is a rejection of the Kingship of the Almighty. •And when we sin we are function saying, “God has no right to tell me how to live or think. I will do as I please. His authority means nothing to me.” •And that means that when we sin we are functionally declaring that we are gods over ourselves. 2. Sin denies the wisdom of God. •To sin, by your own actions, to declare that God is not wise in laying down a law for you to obey. •In your disobedience you are claiming to know better how you should live, speak, and think. •You are denying the wisdom of God by saying, “I think I know better. So I will disobey Him.” 3. Sin denies the all-sufficiency of God. •God has said that all pleasure is found in Him. And that true life consists of knowing, loving, and obeying Him. •But when you sin, you are saying that pleasure and fulfillment is found OUTSIDE OF GOD. •You are saying that your own desires and the world and the pleasures of sin are greater than God. And that’s why you go after sin instead of pursuing obedience to God. 4. Sin denies God’s omniscience. •Those who sin act as if God does not see them. •And how could it be otherwise? If you truly believed that God sees every action and thought of man, if you truly believed that the Holy One saw you, you would not dare to sin in His presence. •But you do sin. And that is a functional, practical denial of His omniscience. You act as if He does not see, is not there, and will not judge. 5. Sin challenges the justice of God. •When you sin, you sin as if there will be no recompense. As if there will be no reckoning for what you’ve done. •In your sin, you dare God to do His worst. And you provoke Him to wrath. •When you sin, it’s as if you’re saying, “I know you judge sin and sinners. But I don’t fear your justice or your judgment or your wrath. So do your worst.” 6. Sin denies the goodness of God. •When you sin, you are, in some way, believing that the sin is good, even though God says it is evil. •And therefore, you must accuse God of not being good to forbid the sin. •Or, when you refuse to obey God and do what He says, you are saying that not doing the commandment is better than obedience. And that means that God must not have issued a good commandment. •But either way, when you sin, you are denying God’s all-good nature. 7. Sin turns God’s patience into license. •When you sin, God is often patient with you and does not bring pain, death, and judgment immediately. •And, in your wickedness, you turn God’s patience into an excuse to persist in your sin. 8. Sin attempts to deify man. •When you sin, you challenge the authority of the Almighty God. •And, in doing so, you try to make yourself a god. 9. Sin defies the works of God. •Our God is a God of order and light. •But sin brings chaos and darkness. •And when you sin, you are bringing chaos and darkness into God’s world and defying His good work of creation. 10. Sin denies the will of God. •God wants this done or doesn’t want that done, thought or said. •But when you sin, you deny God His prescribed will. You contradict Him and go another way. 11. Sin is set against the glory of God. •To sin is to attempt to glorify something or someone else and, in a sense, robs God of the glory due to Him. •Instead of bringing glory to Him, you dishonor Him in your rebellion and lawlessness and unbelief. Do you see now? Do you now see why sin is so awful? •And I have not said all that could be said about sin. •But do you see now WHY God hates it? •There are many things that we can say about how sin is destructive to mankind and the good of man. BUT this is the biggest evil of sin: SIN IS AGAINST GOD. •And so, it is DETESTABLE TO HIM. •It is an insult to His majesty. It opposes Him and His rule and reign and nature. •Sin is a CRIME AGAINST GOD. It is cosmic treason against the King. In 2 Samuel 12:9-10 we read something relevant. •There Nathan is rebuking King David for his sin of killing Uriah the Hittite and taking his wife to bed. •And God says through Nathan, “Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in His sight?” •David DESPISED, thought little of, God’s word when he disobeyed God and broke the 6th and 7th Commandments. •But then God says, “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised ME…” •Hear this: To despise the word of the LORD, to disregard it, to think little of it, to break it, to go against it, TO SIN, is to DESPISE GOD HIMSELF. •No matter how small or how great you think the sin is, it is a DESPISING OF GOD, a denial of Him, and a challenge to His majesty and reign. The problem with most people is that they only think about the wickedness of sin with regard to how it harms our fellow human beings. •Or they think about it in terms of merely breaking a rule. •But they never think about it as first and foremost an offense against the holy God. •And that, at it’s core, is what makes sin so sinful. It’s what makes it so detestable. That’s what makes God hate it so much. Do your see the wickedness of sin? •Do you see how horrible your own sin is? •We’ve already covered that indeed you are a sinner. And, whether you realized it at the time or not, THIS IS WHAT YOU HAVE DONE AND SAID WITH YOUR SIN. •You have offended against God Himself. 4.) So, of course God hates sin. •And, more than that, He judges and punishes those who sin. Divine justice, God’s own nature, demands that those who are guilty of sin be punished. •Every sin brings about the justice and righteous wrath of God. Hear the Word of God concerning sinners: •“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things (sin) the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” (Ephesians 5:6) •“For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law and do them.’” (Galatians 3:10) •“Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels…And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:41, 46) The wrath of God comes upon sinners because of their sin. •Sinners stand cursed before God because they have not kept His commandments. •And, at the judgment of all mankind, the Son of God will say to the sinful, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire…” •God so hates sin, that He promises to pour out His wrath and eternally curse sinners to damnation in Hell. •An eternity. Get that. An eternity under the wrath of God is what sinners deserve. No breaks. No escape. No pause. A never ending punishment. •And all of this because of sin. And surely, this must be the case. •If sin is all we’ve seen so far, and indeed it is, then all sin MUST DESERVE DAMNATION. •And how horrible damnation is! •Eternal fire is the biblical language to describe it. •I cannot think of a worse thought. Surely, nothing is more terrifying than eternally burning in a body that will not burn up. •But make no mistake, it is just. For all sin is an offense against the eternal, infinite, all-good, all-lovely, all-pure, holy God. And catch this: It’s not just the “big sins” that deserve this. •It is ALL SIN. This is what every single sin deserves. This is what every sin merits from God. •Not just murder. Not just rape. Not just child molestation. Not just adultery. Not just genocide. Not just abortion. Not just drug dealing. •BUT EVERY SINGLE SIN deserves this. Even what we call “small sins.” •Is there any such thing as a small sin if all sin is contrary to God and an insult to His majesty? •No! There isn’t any small sin! •And that’s because whether great or small, ALL OF IT IS AGAINST THE SAME GOD. Losing your temper? Damnation. •Hating someone in your heart? Damnation. •Lusting in your heart? Damnation. •Greediness? Damnation. •Irreverence toward God? Damnation. •Imperfect worship? Damnation. •Sabbath breaking? Damnation. •Unforgiveness? Damnation. •Pride? Damnation. •Unkind words? Damnation. •Unthankfulness? Damnation. •All sin is equally damnable in they eyes of God. For all sin is an offense against Him. We sin enough in one instant to condemn us forever. •God demands perfect obedience to His Law. And we haven’t given that. •Don’t ever forget that. You have offended God. Do you see what you deserve? •If you don’t believe that you deserve to go to Hell for your sins, then there is no hope for you. For you are blind and hardened against God. •But if you see what you deserve from God, then there is hope. •And that’s what I want to declare to you now. 5.) So here is our problem: We’ve sinned against God. Damnation hangs against us. We are cursed by God. •What are we to do? •We cannot undo our past sins. We can’t turn back the clock and change them. •Even if we never sinned again (good luck), we still have sin on our record before the unchanging God who never forgets. •What are we to do? We are objectively guilty. •There is nothing WE can do. And hear me: SOMEONE MUST PAY. •God demands it. Someone must pay for sin. •He will not wink at sin. He will not look the other way. He will not give you a pass for your sin because you’re sorry. •He won’t pat you on the back and say, “You’re sorry. So it’s OK. I’ll just act like it didn’t happen.” •God WILL NOT do that. That would be unjust and wicked of Him to do so. That would be a denial of His own holiness and justice and He has spoken in His Word, “He cannot deny Himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13) •Justice must be served. God will get justice. He is the God of justice and His Law has been broken. •Every transgression of the law must be accounted for and paid for! EVERY ONE OF THEM! •And if we must pay, then we will damned eternally under the white hot wrath of God. BUT…Here is the Remedy for Sin: •But God, because He is so kind and full of grace and mercy toward sinners, because He is so good, chose to make a way of salvation for those who have offended and sinned against Him so grievously. •If we pay for our sins, then we go to Hell forever. But He desired to save a People for Himself, in spite of our sin. •And so, He decided that HE HIMSELF would take on flesh, the Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, would become a man, a true human being, in order to PAY FOR WHAT SINFUL MEN HAVE DONE. •The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth in order to pay for our sin in our place. Romans 3:25 says that God put Jesus Christ forward, “as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.” •What a blessed word! PROPITIATION. •To propitiate is to satisfy wrath. •God set forth His only begotten Son, on the Cross, to suffer and die. And, in so doing, be the WRATH SATISFIER for those who believe on Him. Hear the Good News: •Jesus Christ, the perfect man, was punished as if He Himself had personally committed your sins. •Think on that! •All of your hatred, malice, selfishness, sinful speech, gossip, ungodliness, unthankfulness, atheism, fornication, adultery, drunkenness, drug abuse, pornography viewing, ignoring the poor, greediness, unbelief, blasphemy, arrogance, discontentedness, pride, anger, lying, judgmentalism, self-righteousness, false religion… •IF YOU CAN THINK OF IT, IF YOU’VE DONE, HE SUFFERED FOR IT. •“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds yo have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24) Jesus Christ took the guilt for all the sin of all who would ever believe on Him. •And, at the Cross, where He bled and died, God treated Jesus as if He were the sinner. •And the Perfect Man, the sinless Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, offered Himself up to the divine justice and judgment of God in the room and stead, in the place of, sinners. •And He bore the weight and penalty of divine justice at the Cross. •Invisible to the eye, but nonetheless real, He suffered the wrath of God in place of sinners. •And the divine nature being united to the human nature in the one Person of Christ, made the sacrifice of infinite value to take away the sins of all who would ever believe. •Though sinful men is worthless, the value of the sacrifice of the Son of God is worth more than all the sins of sinful men put together. •And so, a full atonement, a full payment was made for all who have ever, or would ever believe on Christ. •This propitiation that Christ offered is received by faith. By trusting that He has done enough to pay for and take away your sins. Hear me: JESUS CHRIST DRANK THE CUP OF GOD’S WRATH DOWN TO THE DREGS. •He paid it all! •There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus! •All who trust in Him, receive the benefits of His work at the Cross and have their sins forgiven. •And why? Because HE PAID FOR THEM FOR YOU! •It is finished! It is done! •You owed God for your sin. Or rather, He owed you damnation for your sin. BUT JESUS CHRIST SUFFERED IN YOUR PLACE! •And now, in Him, by faith in Him, the debt is settled. Divine justice has been served. And we go free, having been forgiven by God because He Himself, in Jesus Christ, has settled our accounts for us. •The wrath that was due to us has fallen on Him. And so, we go free and are saved from the Hell we so richly deserve. •“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned— every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) But not only do we go free and unpunished though we deserve it. •We also receive peace with God. We are no longer His enemies. We are no longer counted as guilty rebels. •Rather, by faith in Jesus Christ, we have peace with Him and are counted as His children. •No more hostility. No more judgment. No more condemnation. God is now our God and we have fellowship with Him. •Having put our sins on Christ, we can now know God and are set in a right relationship to Him. Truly, the hymn writer said it well, •“Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.” •We have sinned. We need a Remedy. And in Jesus Christ, God has provided the Remedy for our sins. 6.) So then, brothers and sisters, see your sin rightly. •It is no light thing. It’s horrible. It’s not a trifle. It’s not just breaking a rule. It is lawlessness against the holy God. It is an offense against Him that brings death and damnation. •It is so horrible that only the death of the Son of God could take it away. We will never properly deal with remaining sin in our lives until we estimate it rightly. •So, see it for what it is. •It is the worst thing in this world. It is a killer. It is a damnable thing. It is vile. •See it rightly, see what it costs, and hate it for what it is. Oh, but look to Christ! •He is the Savior! He is the One who has taken away your sins if you trust in Him! •He is the One who has reconciled you to the God you’ve sinned against. •He is the One who has satisfied the wrath of God on your behalf. And there is no wrath left for you! •He is the One who has worked salvation and the forgiveness of sins for you! •He is the One who, by His blood, has brought you near to God and into His Family. •He is the One who has turned you from a child of wrath into a child of God. •Don’t ever forget to look to Christ who saves you! Think on these things daily. •Thinking on sin and what Christ has done for you is not just for the unbeliever or new Christian. It is for all of us. •We need to meditate on these things if we are to grow in the Christian life and kill the sin that remains in us. Know this, Christian: God has done this in Christ FOR YOU. •He is no longer your enemy. He is your Father. •And He will always be your Father, for Christ has put away all your sins: Past, present, and future. •And now, God no longer condemns you. •But He does tell us that we must be holy and keep from sin. But not to save ourselves. Rather, we are to do so because Christ has saved us, and this is how we show our gratitude to Him. God does not look at us now and say, “Get it together. Stop sinning, or else.” •Rather, He says, “I love you. My Son has died for you. You do need to deal with those sins and kill them. But I have already made atonement for them in Christ. I am no longer your enemy, but your Father. Now, let’s deal with them together. I will help you.” •Brothers and sisters, knowing this encourages us to fight our sin. •Knowing that we are not under wrath, but under grace lights a fire in us to kill sin and strive for holiness. •It puts gratitude in our hearts. And that is fuel for fighting sin. It is our duty to kill sin. And duty without desire is drudgery. •But knowing that Christ has dealt with all your sin, and that you am loved by God puts gratitude and desire in your heart to deal with sin properly and glorify God. •And how could it not? When you consider how you’ve been loved by God, even though you deserve His wrath, how can you not love Him back and seek to obey Him out of gratitude? •You must. For one who has been brought to peace with God can do no other. So think on these things. •See the wickedness of sin. •See the love of God for you in Jesus Christ. •And be motivated to kill your sin. May God help us to do these things. •Amen.