WEBVTT 00:00:05.009 --> 00:00:13.746 some time around 57 AD, the Apostle Paul wrote a very, very long letter to a church in Rome. 00:00:13.746 --> 00:00:18.385 This church was made up of Gentiles and Jewish converts. 00:00:18.385 --> 00:00:31.132 Some of these Jews were having a little bit of a trouble understanding fully grace, and they were believing that they had to hang on to some legalism. 00:00:31.132 --> 00:00:40.093 And in the first part of the book of Romans, paul decides he's going to make it clear that neither Jews nor Gentiles were righteous. 00:00:40.093 --> 00:00:56.491 And so the first part of this book says some very clear things about the heart of man, and no more clearly is it stated than in Romans, chapter 3. 00:00:56.491 --> 00:00:59.783 And so I'm going to we're going to turn to Romans, chapter 3 to open the message today. 00:00:59.783 --> 00:01:08.462 Romans, chapter 3, beginning in verse 9, and I'm going to read from the New Living Translation what then? 00:01:08.462 --> 00:01:10.106 Are we Jews any better off? 00:01:10.106 --> 00:01:11.490 Remember he was a Jew? 00:01:11.490 --> 00:01:19.409 No, not at all, for we have already charged that both. 00:01:19.509 --> 00:01:21.373 All Jews and Greeks are under sin. 00:01:21.373 --> 00:01:28.492 As it is written, none is righteous, no, not one. 00:01:28.492 --> 00:01:32.302 No one understands, no one seeks for God. 00:01:32.302 --> 00:01:34.367 All have turned aside Together. 00:01:34.367 --> 00:01:35.631 They have become worthless. 00:01:35.631 --> 00:01:38.602 No one is good, not even one. 00:01:38.602 --> 00:01:42.590 Their throat is an open grave. 00:01:42.590 --> 00:01:45.594 They use their tongues to deceive. 00:01:45.594 --> 00:01:50.471 The venom of asps is under their lips. 00:01:50.471 --> 00:01:53.549 Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. 00:01:53.549 --> 00:01:55.246 Their feet are swift to shed blood. 00:01:55.246 --> 00:02:01.810 In their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. 00:02:01.810 --> 00:02:08.633 There is no fear of God before their eyes. 00:02:11.500 --> 00:02:30.775 Father, as we go into this sermon today about well, it's about sin and it's about our unworthiness, lord, I pray that you would help us all to have an open mind, to hear the truth about what Scripture says, about what we were in our fallen state. 00:02:30.775 --> 00:02:51.554 And, father, your Holy Spirit moves among us and I pray that he would do his work, that he would show us any hidden things that we need to deal with, that he would give us the spirit of David as he repented before you so many years ago. 00:02:51.554 --> 00:03:00.550 And that, father, as we look at this and realize how unworthy we are, that we would realize just how worthy your son was. 00:03:00.550 --> 00:03:05.390 And so we pray this in Jesus' name Amen. 00:03:05.390 --> 00:03:09.387 So I pulled the short straw. 00:03:09.387 --> 00:03:13.325 I wear black for a reason. 00:03:13.366 --> 00:03:14.469 I get to talk about sin. 00:03:14.469 --> 00:03:32.209 You know, this passage of Scripture is actually he's quoting from the book of Psalms and Proverbs and actually even's quoting from the book of Psalms and Proverbs and actually even a couple from the book of Isaiah, and they paint a pretty bleak picture, don't they? 00:03:32.209 --> 00:03:36.651 And you're like Scott, isn't this supposed to be a Christmas series? 00:03:36.651 --> 00:03:39.966 Aren't we supposed to be talking about really happy things? 00:03:39.966 --> 00:03:42.733 Well, we are, we are. 00:03:42.733 --> 00:03:45.532 Well, we are, we are. 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:54.258 But we have to understand that understanding our fallen nature is vital to understanding the magnitude of what Jesus Christ did for us. 00:03:54.258 --> 00:04:19.968 And every one of us, every one of you that claims to be a Christian, had to come to a point sometime where you realized just how black your heart was, just how dark your heart was, just how corrupt you were, and how unworthy we are of the grace that's given to us, and that's really important that we understand this. 00:04:19.968 --> 00:04:33.892 So, even though we don't like to talk about this often, it's really important to grasp the unworthiness that we are in order to magnify the worthiness of Jesus Christ. 00:04:33.892 --> 00:04:36.687 So, in today's message, that's what we're going to do. 00:04:36.687 --> 00:04:38.591 We're going to do three different things. 00:04:38.591 --> 00:04:42.790 First, we're going to look at how mankind became unworthy. 00:04:42.790 --> 00:04:44.293 Secondly, we're going to look at how mankind became unworthy. 00:04:44.293 --> 00:04:48.824 Secondly, we're going to look at how the Bible describes sin, which makes us unworthy. 00:04:48.824 --> 00:04:54.327 And then, finally, we're going to talk about the hope that we have in spite of our unworthiness. 00:04:54.327 --> 00:04:57.380 So we'll do those three things and we'll jump straight into it. 00:04:57.380 --> 00:05:01.331 So how did mankind become unworthy? 00:05:01.331 --> 00:05:03.336 How did we become unworthy? 00:05:03.336 --> 00:05:10.889 Well, in order to understand how we are unworthy of the grace of God, we have to understand the source of how this happened. 00:05:10.889 --> 00:05:21.043 And since the Apostle Paul is doing such a good job of telling us how we are unworthy, we're just going to jump a couple chapters ahead and read a little bit more about how this all happened. 00:05:21.043 --> 00:05:23.189 So we're going to jump to Romans 5. 00:05:23.189 --> 00:05:26.884 And I'm going to read this in the New Living Translation. 00:05:26.884 --> 00:05:28.911 It's a little bit easier to understand. 00:05:28.911 --> 00:05:32.661 So Romans 5, verse 12, we're going to read a few verses here. 00:05:34.625 --> 00:05:36.850 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. 00:05:36.850 --> 00:05:41.648 Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. 00:05:41.648 --> 00:05:48.704 Yes, people sinned even before the law was given, but it was not counted as sin because there was yet no law to break. 00:05:48.704 --> 00:05:58.673 Still, everyone died, from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God as Adam did. 00:05:58.673 --> 00:06:04.107 Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ who is yet to come. 00:06:04.928 --> 00:06:08.675 But there's a great difference between Adam's sin and God's gracious gift. 00:06:08.675 --> 00:06:14.653 For the sin of this one man, adam, brought death to many. 00:06:14.653 --> 00:06:17.326 Welcome to the many, by the way. 00:06:17.326 --> 00:06:26.221 But even greater is God's wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, jesus Christ. 00:06:26.221 --> 00:06:32.721 And the result of God's gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man's sin. 00:06:32.721 --> 00:06:42.166 For Adam's sin led to condemnation, but God's free gift leads us to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 00:06:42.166 --> 00:06:47.355 For the sin of this one man, adam, caused death to rule over many. 00:06:47.355 --> 00:06:48.745 Again, welcome to the many. 00:06:48.745 --> 00:07:00.026 But even greater is God's wonderful grace in his gift of righteousness For all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, jesus Christ. 00:07:00.026 --> 00:07:09.273 Yes, adam's one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ's one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and a new life for everyone. 00:07:09.273 --> 00:07:18.995 Because one person disobeyed God and many became sinners, but because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous. 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:34.692 Four times in this passage of Scripture, paul places the blame for sin coming into this world on one man's shoulders, and that's Adam. 00:07:34.692 --> 00:07:49.471 Now, this doctrine I think a lot of you probably recognize this this doctrine is called the doctrine of original sin, and we're going to take a look at when this happened, because of course we have to go all the way back to the garden and that fateful story of what happened. 00:07:49.471 --> 00:07:58.725 And we're going to turn to Genesis, chapter 3, and I'll read it very quickly, but we all know the story right, verse 1 of chapter 3,. 00:07:58.725 --> 00:08:03.531 Now, the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. 00:08:03.531 --> 00:08:06.228 And he said to the woman was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. 00:08:06.228 --> 00:08:10.814 And he said to the woman did God actually say that you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? 00:08:10.814 --> 00:08:20.204 And the woman said to the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden. 00:08:20.204 --> 00:08:23.653 Neither shall you touch it, lest you die. 00:08:23.653 --> 00:08:38.712 You ever told a toddler not to touch something A comedian one time said the definition of a two-year-old was any human being under two feet tall with four foot long arms. 00:08:41.803 --> 00:08:42.727 I've experienced that. 00:08:42.727 --> 00:08:53.231 But the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die, for God knows that, when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. 00:08:53.231 --> 00:09:06.889 So the woman saw that the tree was good for food, lie, that it was a delight to the eyes lie, and that the tree was desired to make one wise a lie. 00:09:06.889 --> 00:09:13.993 She took of its fruit at eight and she also gave some to her doofus husband who was with her at the eight. 00:09:13.993 --> 00:09:18.869 I'm sorry doofus is not in the original text. 00:09:18.869 --> 00:09:24.768 Is that the first time doofus has been used from stage? 00:09:24.768 --> 00:09:25.429 I think it might be. 00:09:25.429 --> 00:09:30.240 Then the eyes of both were open and they knew that they were naked. 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:34.071 So they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 00:09:36.022 --> 00:09:38.188 I know we chuckle, but that's painful to read, isn't it? 00:09:38.188 --> 00:09:46.331 It's painful to read Because we know that Eve was deceived but Adam sinned. 00:09:46.331 --> 00:10:01.140 See, when God made Adam and Eve, he made Adam first and he made Eve from his rib and he placed Adam as the authority, as the one that was responsible, and so he was. 00:10:01.140 --> 00:10:09.447 That's why you don't see that when Paul talks about this original sin, he doesn't say the sin of Adam and Eve, he says the sin of Adam. 00:10:09.447 --> 00:10:12.785 He was responsible. 00:10:14.181 --> 00:10:15.547 So what's the result of Adam's sin? 00:10:15.547 --> 00:10:22.720 I mean, if you look back at that and if you keep reading in chapter 3 and in 4, obviously there's a couple of things that happened immediately. 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:26.211 But one of the first things is they were no longer righteous. 00:10:26.211 --> 00:10:31.647 See, up until that point they were righteous, they were one with God. 00:10:31.647 --> 00:10:33.346 Remember, they said they walked with God. 00:10:33.346 --> 00:10:36.187 No longer were they righteous. 00:10:36.187 --> 00:10:51.792 And secondly, there was a separation from God, not only physically were they told to get out of the garden and they could not enter again, but even their contact with God was limited after that point in time. 00:10:51.792 --> 00:11:04.370 And if we go back to Romans 5 and look at the consequences that are listed in there and I won't read that whole passage, but I'll just summarize Verse 15, it says through Adam's sin, many died. 00:11:04.370 --> 00:11:05.722 Verse 17,. 00:11:05.722 --> 00:11:07.246 Death reigned. 00:11:07.246 --> 00:11:11.623 Verse 18, condemnation for all man. 00:11:11.623 --> 00:11:16.129 And verse 19, many were made sinners. 00:11:16.129 --> 00:11:21.244 Adam's sin was imputed on everybody. 00:11:21.244 --> 00:11:23.469 That sucked air from that point on. 00:11:23.469 --> 00:11:25.493 That's you and me. 00:11:27.179 --> 00:11:34.234 Now, the concept of the consequence of Adam's sin is often referred to as the doctrine of federalism. 00:11:34.234 --> 00:11:40.011 You probably have heard a pastor or somebody say that Adam was our federal head. 00:11:40.011 --> 00:11:49.931 Well, federalism has to do with one person acting as a representative for others, and we talk about our federal government, people that are elected officials. 00:11:49.931 --> 00:11:56.871 Federalism basically states that Adam was the representative of all of mankind. 00:11:56.871 --> 00:12:10.210 But get this, and not only do we fall under the consequences of his sin, but we are also viewed as actually having committed that sin and that's disputed, by the way, by some theologians. 00:12:10.210 --> 00:12:13.328 But the reality is we're all guilty. 00:12:13.328 --> 00:12:19.168 It's like we did it ourselves In these two passages in Romans that we talked about. 00:12:19.168 --> 00:12:21.860 I'll just refresh here Romans 5.12,. 00:12:21.860 --> 00:12:43.327 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin Romans 5.12, and verse 19 says it even more clearly we were made sinners. 00:12:43.327 --> 00:12:53.273 Notice that Paul clearly states that Adam's sin brought sin into the world, made all of us sinners and brought the consequence of death. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:01.525 Now, if you're a good American, you might be saying that's not fair. 00:13:01.525 --> 00:13:04.349 It's not fair. 00:13:04.349 --> 00:13:14.205 I mean, after all, if Tyler gets a speeding ticket, I don't get a speeding ticket just because I'm an elder, right? 00:13:14.205 --> 00:13:16.229 What's that all about? 00:13:16.229 --> 00:13:18.754 Why is that happening? 00:13:18.754 --> 00:13:20.823 And you know it's really interesting. 00:13:20.823 --> 00:13:24.380 Anytime we dive into something like this, we all have this sense of fairness, right? 00:13:24.380 --> 00:13:29.544 You know how many times, when you're a kid, you look at your parents and say that's not fair. 00:13:29.544 --> 00:13:31.306 That's not fair. 00:13:31.405 --> 00:13:56.475 I remember when I was a kid I grew up in Saskatchewan, canada, and we had a lot of snow and the bulldozers would come and they'd push all this snow up from the parking lot in our school and these hills would be like 15, 20 feet high, but usually what would happen is they'd be at the top and then we'd go lower on the sides, right? 00:13:56.475 --> 00:14:07.201 Well, they had this competition where we were supposed to roll a tire over the hill and I practiced and practiced and practiced and practiced and I was good at rolling that tire. 00:14:07.201 --> 00:14:07.903 You know, I had my hand behind. 00:14:07.903 --> 00:14:09.366 I would roll snow was. 00:14:09.366 --> 00:14:10.529 I was good at it. 00:14:10.529 --> 00:14:28.033 And it came to competition and I lined up in the middle part of that hill and one of my teammates lined up over here where the hill was half as high as mine and when they said go, I went over that hill but he beat me and they gave him the prize. 00:14:29.321 --> 00:14:31.408 I the injustice of it all. 00:14:31.408 --> 00:14:34.225 I was infuriated. 00:14:34.225 --> 00:14:36.600 I was like that's not fair. 00:14:38.607 --> 00:14:42.788 I think we've heard quotes like life's not fair, get used to it, right. 00:14:42.788 --> 00:14:51.301 But we have this sense of fairness and it's easy to look at this and say I mean, why did God choose Adam to be my representative. 00:14:51.301 --> 00:14:53.677 Why did I have to deal with that? 00:14:53.677 --> 00:14:57.778 Well, the reality is, god chose the right guy. 00:14:57.778 --> 00:15:01.414 You want to know why? 00:15:01.414 --> 00:15:05.519 Because if he chose you, you'd be the right guy. 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:12.298 Do you realize the audacity for one of us to think, if I had been there, I wouldn't have done that? 00:15:12.298 --> 00:15:14.534 Yeah, I don't think so. 00:15:14.534 --> 00:15:20.177 Adam was our federal head, you would have been our federal head. 00:15:22.270 --> 00:15:23.657 But you know what's really not fair. 00:15:23.657 --> 00:16:06.503 If you really want to know what's really not fair, it's the fact that one of the Godhead came to this earth, emptied himself, became a man, lived a perfect life, got arrested, got tortured, got hung on a cross and, if that wasn't bad enough, had the one part of the Trinity that he had never been without turned his back on him so that he could carry all of your sins and my sins. 00:16:06.503 --> 00:16:08.136 You want to talk about fairness. 00:16:08.136 --> 00:16:10.134 That's not fair. 00:16:10.134 --> 00:16:21.299 So the reality is that perfect righteousness of Christ that's given you and me when we give ourselves over to him. 00:16:21.299 --> 00:16:25.629 That's the most unfair thing you're ever going to come across. 00:16:25.629 --> 00:16:29.692 So that's how sin came into the world. 00:16:29.732 --> 00:16:32.274 Let's now look at what sin is. 00:16:32.274 --> 00:16:37.639 You know, the simplest definition of sin is in 1 John 3, 4. 00:16:37.639 --> 00:16:42.363 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. 00:16:42.363 --> 00:16:44.625 Sin is lawlessness. 00:16:44.625 --> 00:16:46.605 So sin is the breaking of God's law. 00:16:46.605 --> 00:16:53.096 Right, and we think of God's law, we think of the Mosaic law and the Jews of Jesus' day. 00:16:53.096 --> 00:16:57.004 They had and they proved this through many scriptures they had a pretty narrow view of what that was. 00:16:57.004 --> 00:17:04.622 I mean, they added all kinds of laws on there, but they had a very narrow view. 00:17:04.622 --> 00:17:05.525 Remember the rich, young ruler? 00:17:05.525 --> 00:17:10.625 He said all of these things I have done since my youth. 00:17:10.625 --> 00:17:20.628 And then comes the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus says have you ever looked at somebody and hated them? 00:17:20.628 --> 00:17:22.109 Murder, you're guilty of murder. 00:17:22.109 --> 00:17:27.398 Say what have you ever looked upon a woman and lusted Adultery? 00:17:27.398 --> 00:17:29.123 You've committed adultery. 00:17:29.123 --> 00:17:31.575 What Blew their minds? 00:17:31.575 --> 00:17:39.440 That's what sin is, and you know it's interesting when we look at that. 00:17:39.750 --> 00:17:48.880 There's many Hebrew and Greek words for sin in the Bible, but there's three that we always think about and actually these three came up in our Bible reading program not too long ago. 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:51.671 Mary shared something that was really good about that program. 00:17:51.671 --> 00:17:56.170 Not too long ago Mary shared something that was really good about that. 00:17:56.170 --> 00:18:00.294 And these three really show us something very clear about sin. 00:18:00.294 --> 00:18:01.497 They're not just different definitions of sin. 00:18:01.497 --> 00:18:04.711 They paint a picture of the progressiveness of sin, and that's what I want to focus on. 00:18:04.711 --> 00:18:09.883 And these three words, they're listed all through the Old Testament together. 00:18:09.883 --> 00:18:15.122 In fact there's many places they come together, but I want to go to Psalms 51. 00:18:15.122 --> 00:18:19.240 Because can someone tell me what's important about Psalms 51? 00:18:19.240 --> 00:18:26.897 Yeah, david's prayer of repentance, right, so I thought this was pretty poignant. 00:18:26.897 --> 00:18:29.134 So there's three words. 00:18:29.134 --> 00:18:33.219 So let's read Psalms 51, verses 1 through 2. 00:18:36.211 --> 00:18:45.218 By the way, this is David had just been confronted by Nathan the prophet, and he finally got convicted that, yes, I've sinned. 00:18:45.218 --> 00:19:03.916 And so he reads this, or he writes this Psalms, verse 1, have mercy on me, o God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 00:19:03.916 --> 00:19:09.894 So the three Hebrew words we're going to dive into here the first one is sin, and it's shataha. 00:19:09.894 --> 00:19:11.978 Can everybody say shataha? 00:19:11.978 --> 00:19:16.005 Shataha, you think you didn't speak in tongues? 00:19:16.005 --> 00:19:22.867 Now you do, but it's a known language. 00:19:22.867 --> 00:19:24.733 That's sin, transgression, it's a little bit easier. 00:19:24.733 --> 00:19:24.993 It's pisha. 00:19:24.993 --> 00:19:26.960 Everybody say pisha. 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:31.461 And the last one is iniquity, and iniquity is avon. 00:19:31.461 --> 00:19:38.912 Can you say avon is iniquity and iniquity is avon. 00:19:38.912 --> 00:19:40.576 Can you say avon, yeah, and there's a progressive relationship between these. 00:19:40.576 --> 00:19:42.442 And we're going to start with the word sin, shataha, verse two. 00:19:42.442 --> 00:19:46.454 He says cleanse me from my shataha, from my sin. 00:19:47.237 --> 00:19:55.913 And it's the most common word for sin in the Old Testament and, by the way, it's the plural word, just like we say there are deer in that field. 00:19:55.913 --> 00:19:58.580 Sin, it's plural, right, it's not sins. 00:19:58.580 --> 00:20:09.636 When it says when you see sin, it's plural and it's got a relatively simple meaning it's to miss, to miss the mark. 00:20:09.636 --> 00:20:21.246 It's to miss to miss the mark, to incur guilt on you, to forfeit purity from uncleanness, so you become unclean. 00:20:21.246 --> 00:20:23.186 So that's what it is. 00:20:23.186 --> 00:20:32.798 It's to miss the mark and in essence, it's a failure to meet a standard, right, and David, he's obviously using this word because guess what Right. 00:20:32.798 --> 00:20:37.126 And David, he's obviously using this word because guess what His sin with Bathsheba? 00:20:37.126 --> 00:20:42.153 He failed to meet a standard, didn't he? 00:20:42.153 --> 00:20:42.756 He failed to be the standard. 00:20:42.756 --> 00:20:43.498 He was supposed to be righteous. 00:20:43.498 --> 00:20:43.878 Forget that. 00:20:43.878 --> 00:20:44.180 He was a king. 00:20:44.180 --> 00:20:48.556 He was supposed to be righteous and follow God's laws, but he actually committed adultery. 00:20:48.556 --> 00:21:02.516 And the application for us as Christians is pretty interesting, because oftentimes we fall short and a lot of times these are not premeditated sins, they're sins that just kind of get us right. 00:21:04.299 --> 00:21:08.738 Ever caught yourself telling a lie to somebody I mean you're talking about? 00:21:08.738 --> 00:21:11.068 You know the whole joke about the guy goes fishing. 00:21:11.068 --> 00:21:15.638 He said I caught one this big Really it was only this big, but he says this big. 00:21:15.638 --> 00:21:17.154 It's a lie, right? 00:21:17.154 --> 00:21:21.239 Maybe you're like me. 00:21:21.239 --> 00:21:29.565 You drive in traffic here in Knoxville and get a little frustrated by the fact that the majority of Knoxvillians don't know that there's a signal light in their car. 00:21:29.565 --> 00:21:38.694 Guys, it's crazy, and I find myself going flash of anger, right. 00:21:38.694 --> 00:21:45.044 Sometimes it's judging somebody in an ungodly way. 00:21:45.044 --> 00:21:48.071 You look at somebody, you cast a judgment on them. 00:21:48.071 --> 00:21:50.516 Then you catch yourself like, oh, what am I doing? 00:21:50.516 --> 00:22:08.703 Lustful thoughts, the cashier makes a mistake, gives you more change back and you walk out. 00:22:08.723 --> 00:22:11.492 Those are shataha, those are sins. 00:22:11.492 --> 00:22:18.663 Sometimes they bubble up quickly, we catch them, sometimes they can progress, but that's what sin is. 00:22:18.663 --> 00:22:20.244 Shattah is missing the mark. 00:22:20.244 --> 00:22:29.240 You're missing the mark of righteousness that we're called to be as Christians. 00:22:29.240 --> 00:22:32.208 Now let's go to Pesha, which is transgression. 00:22:32.208 --> 00:22:42.109 In the last part of verse 1, he says according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions, my pisha. 00:22:42.390 --> 00:22:55.431 And this word gets a little stronger than shataha, though, and the reason is because it has a meaning of more of a premeditated action of stepping over a line. 00:22:55.431 --> 00:22:56.531 In fact, one of the definitions is stepping over a line. 00:22:56.531 --> 00:23:04.502 Stepping, in fact, one of the definitions is stepping over a boundary, okay, and if anybody has ever raised teenagers, heck, if anybody has ever been a teenager, which would include most of you that are. 00:23:04.502 --> 00:23:06.085 Some of you are experiencing this right now. 00:23:06.085 --> 00:23:13.635 Well, sometimes teenagers will step over the line that you've given them. 00:23:13.635 --> 00:23:14.518 We don't want you doing this. 00:23:14.518 --> 00:23:16.102 It's not good. 00:23:16.102 --> 00:23:19.038 Okay, are they gone? 00:23:19.038 --> 00:23:25.556 Steps over the line, right, we've all been guilty of that. 00:23:25.556 --> 00:23:29.219 It's not just, by the way, I'm not picking on teenagers. 00:23:29.219 --> 00:23:32.318 I'm just trying to help them understand how teenagers think. 00:23:32.318 --> 00:23:51.201 Some of them are so old they forget you purposely step over a boundary and it happens a lot, unfortunately and the connotation of this sin of pisha is rebellion. 00:23:51.201 --> 00:23:54.217 It's a rebellious nature. 00:23:54.217 --> 00:24:00.542 I know what you said, god, but I'm still going to step over that line. 00:24:02.351 --> 00:24:05.740 In the Old Testament, this word's often used to talk about Israel's rebellion. 00:24:05.740 --> 00:24:08.297 There were plenty of examples I could give. 00:24:08.297 --> 00:24:13.125 The one that I thought was really interesting was that the dedication of the temple. 00:24:13.125 --> 00:24:25.978 When Solomon dedicates the temple in 1 Kings 8, verse 50, he says "and forgive your people who have sinned against you and all their transgressions, which they have transgressed against you". 00:24:25.978 --> 00:24:28.555 Transgressed against you. 00:24:28.555 --> 00:24:32.881 If anybody's ever read Exodus, that's all these people seem to be doing is rebelling against you. 00:24:32.881 --> 00:24:34.602 If anybody's ever read Exodus, that's all these people seem to be doing is rebelling against God. 00:24:34.602 --> 00:24:36.526 They're always rebelling. 00:24:36.526 --> 00:24:39.251 They're always doing exactly what they were told not to do. 00:24:39.251 --> 00:24:41.739 Moses goes up in the mountain. 00:24:41.739 --> 00:24:53.998 They're okay for a little while and suddenly everything that they've been told, everything that they saw, including the parting of the Red Sea, the pillar of cloud, all that stuff they forget. 00:24:53.998 --> 00:24:57.212 Let's make a golden calf that's a good idea. 00:24:57.212 --> 00:25:00.192 Willing rebellion. 00:25:00.192 --> 00:25:01.977 They're stepping over that line. 00:25:01.977 --> 00:25:04.010 They know better. 00:25:05.635 --> 00:25:12.192 And for us, as Christians, we're all guilty of this to some degree. 00:25:12.192 --> 00:25:19.332 Now I'm going to go. 00:25:19.332 --> 00:25:21.277 I'm going to step into meddling here. 00:25:21.277 --> 00:25:30.337 Expository preaching is you take the scripture, you look at what it said to the people at that time and then you apply it to us today. 00:25:30.337 --> 00:25:31.401 So that's what I'm going to do. 00:25:33.750 --> 00:25:41.781 I believe that if we were honest and I asked the question, how many of you have good Israelite blood going through your veins? 00:25:41.781 --> 00:25:50.609 Most of us would have to go yeah, that's me Because of the imputed sinful nature that we inherited from Adam. 00:25:50.609 --> 00:25:57.176 We find ourselves at times in open rebellion against God, and it can come in a lot of forms. 00:25:57.176 --> 00:26:02.278 How about refusing to forgive somebody? 00:26:02.278 --> 00:26:21.103 You know what God says about forgiveness, you even know how much you've been forgiven, but you just can't bring yourself to do it, and then you hold yourself in that jail cell called bitterness and unforgiveness. 00:26:21.103 --> 00:26:38.654 You know, you know how about refusing to follow God's teaching on morality Right, paying your taxes? 00:26:38.654 --> 00:26:48.673 I've had Christians tell me before yeah, I know how to get around that one Not legally, by the way, but literally. 00:26:48.673 --> 00:26:52.803 They're just doing things that were wrong, that are morally wrong. 00:26:52.803 --> 00:26:58.337 How about on sexuality? 00:26:58.337 --> 00:27:09.476 This happens a lot, especially a lot of people that are Christians that decide that you know what God's laws on sex before marriage. 00:27:09.476 --> 00:27:11.619 That's really, that's just. 00:27:11.619 --> 00:27:13.763 That's kind of old school. 00:27:13.763 --> 00:27:15.694 After all, they did it. 00:27:15.694 --> 00:27:16.597 They're happily married. 00:27:20.730 --> 00:27:29.356 Pesha, open rebellion, stepping over a line that you know is wrong, and we all can fall into this. 00:27:29.356 --> 00:27:31.711 We can fall into this. 00:27:31.711 --> 00:27:38.865 Sometimes, by the way, it's even a sin of omission things we know that we should do, but we don't. 00:27:38.865 --> 00:27:40.675 Forgiveness, of course, would be one of those. 00:27:40.675 --> 00:27:47.143 We need to ask ourselves if we are guilty of the sin of Pesah. 00:27:47.143 --> 00:27:59.718 And, by the way, these sermons aren't fun to give Because I qualify in pretty much every one of these and I've had to do some repenting on my own. 00:27:59.718 --> 00:28:10.313 How about scrolling through that feed and you know what might be coming on that next video and you're like I shouldn't do this. 00:28:10.313 --> 00:28:15.604 But Pesha rebellion. 00:28:16.510 --> 00:28:17.737 The last one is iniquity. 00:28:17.737 --> 00:28:23.199 Iniquity is avon, avon. 00:28:23.199 --> 00:28:28.422 And in verse 2, it says wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, from my avon. 00:28:28.422 --> 00:28:35.884 And this one is really interesting because this means to bend or to twist and distort. 00:28:35.884 --> 00:28:39.253 Okay, to bend, twist or distort. 00:28:39.253 --> 00:28:48.221 In the context, how it's often used in scripture, it's showing the result of living a life of sinful behavior and open rebellion. 00:28:48.221 --> 00:28:55.384 So there's shataha, there's pisha and if it's unrepented it can move into avon. 00:28:55.384 --> 00:29:00.580 And that bending and twisting you might say well, what's the application there, scott? 00:29:00.580 --> 00:29:04.441 Well, it's a bending and twisting of our minds and our hearts. 00:29:04.441 --> 00:29:08.733 You've run across this, haven't you? 00:29:08.733 --> 00:29:14.028 Some of you may have even experienced it, because without repenting of those things, a person can find themselves across this, haven't you? 00:29:14.028 --> 00:29:20.291 Some of you may have even experienced it, because without repenting of those things, a person can find themselves in avon, in iniquity. 00:29:21.855 --> 00:29:25.513 Think about David for a second, because we're reading his Psalms. 00:29:25.513 --> 00:29:27.701 Think about him. 00:29:27.701 --> 00:29:31.239 He goes out on his patio. 00:29:31.239 --> 00:29:38.070 There's Bathsheba, the first example of voyeurism I think we've gotten in the bible. 00:29:38.070 --> 00:29:42.999 He goes that's nice, go get that. 00:29:42.999 --> 00:29:45.142 She comes back. 00:29:45.142 --> 00:29:45.403 Now. 00:29:45.583 --> 00:29:51.498 I don't know much about Bathsheba, but you could probably say he raped her. 00:29:51.498 --> 00:29:52.558 I. 00:29:52.558 --> 00:29:59.636 I mean, let's just be honest, he's the king, she's not going to say no, but she gets pregnant. 00:29:59.636 --> 00:30:02.682 He's like uh-oh, I've sinned. 00:30:02.682 --> 00:30:06.971 Now Pesha, he willingly walked over that. 00:30:06.971 --> 00:30:12.641 Remember he had the shataha moment when he looked down and he began to lust. 00:30:12.641 --> 00:30:18.660 It moved into Pesha where he walked right over that line, and now he's starting to step into Avon. 00:30:18.660 --> 00:30:25.351 Because what he's starting to do now is I got to get out of my sin and I'm not going to do it by repenting, I'm going to do it through my own thing. 00:30:25.351 --> 00:30:26.092 So what does he do? 00:30:26.092 --> 00:30:35.260 Hey, uriah, bring Uriah off the line so he can go and sleep with Bathsheba, so maybe he can pretend that's his child. 00:30:35.260 --> 00:30:42.613 Uriah, a man of much more character at that time than David, refuses to go into his wife. 00:30:42.613 --> 00:30:49.991 Plan B let's send him to the front of the line so he can get killed in battle. 00:30:49.991 --> 00:30:52.780 He gets killed in battle. 00:30:52.780 --> 00:30:56.398 Now I'm going to take Bathsheba as my wife. 00:30:58.609 --> 00:31:17.339 Months went by you guys, with the king of Israel in Avon Because somehow he was trying to twist in his mind that this was okay, this was okay, I've worked it out, or whatever. 00:31:17.339 --> 00:31:24.417 But behind him was a trail of pain and he was about to experience even more pain. 00:31:24.417 --> 00:31:35.454 Ezekiel 18, verse 30, says this Therefore, I will judge you, o house of Israel. 00:31:35.454 --> 00:31:41.154 Everyone, according to his ways, declares the Lord Repent and turn from all your transgressions. 00:31:41.154 --> 00:31:42.648 Progressive nature. 00:31:42.648 --> 00:31:46.934 Listen to this, lest iniquity be your ruin. 00:31:46.934 --> 00:31:54.295 Move away from your Pesha or you will fall into Avon, which can bring you to your ruin. 00:31:54.295 --> 00:31:55.958 That's the progressive nature. 00:31:55.958 --> 00:31:59.442 That's where David was. 00:31:59.442 --> 00:32:09.904 But God wasn't done with David and he repented, and that's why we have this beautiful psalm. 00:32:09.904 --> 00:32:13.896 He repented. 00:32:17.345 --> 00:32:21.944 Unrepentant sin and transgression can lead us to that place where our minds get twisted. 00:32:21.944 --> 00:32:23.586 We start thinking that it's okay. 00:32:23.586 --> 00:32:29.159 You know, neil Silverberg and I have been doing a class called Falling Away. 00:32:29.159 --> 00:32:42.477 We're going through a book called the Deconstruction of Christianity and this book has been really interesting because it talks about those people who start by questioning their faith, which, by the way, is okay. 00:32:42.477 --> 00:32:45.548 If you should question, if there's things you don't struggle with. 00:32:45.548 --> 00:32:47.152 That's okay to ask questions. 00:32:47.152 --> 00:32:49.297 We as a church, want you to ask questions. 00:32:49.297 --> 00:32:56.573 If you're struggling with something we've said, please come see us, come talk to us, find somebody that you can trust. 00:32:56.573 --> 00:32:58.510 It's okay to ask questions. 00:32:58.585 --> 00:33:29.391 But what happens is they start asking questions, and sometimes they're asking questions they don't want answers to, and then out there because everybody's got a smartphone which gives you access to lies and lies and lies, and so they get on there and they start running into these deconstructionists People that have already gone through all that process through Avon, and now their minds are so twisted and warped that it's not so much that they have left their faith, but they've got to bring everybody with them. 00:33:29.391 --> 00:33:41.194 So they put these sites on and you can get on their blogs and you can hear all their reasons for why the Christian faith, the true gospel, is garbage. 00:33:41.194 --> 00:33:43.471 And that's what happens. 00:33:43.471 --> 00:33:59.557 As I was reading this and studying this scripture, it just hit me this is exactly what happens in the deconstruction movement, but, by the way, it doesn't happen with everybody, because even if you step into a bone, god can bring you back. 00:33:59.557 --> 00:34:08.197 God can bring you back, and that's why we got to talk about point three, which is the good news. 00:34:11.945 --> 00:34:19.434 When we look at this progressive nature of sin, we have to realize that not all hope is lost. 00:34:19.434 --> 00:34:33.675 There's great hope and although I'm putting one foot into next week's sermon forgive me, tyler I couldn't leave like this, though you can't leave this subject without hope, because there is great hope. 00:34:33.675 --> 00:34:44.324 If you read romans 5 as we did, I focused on adam's sin, but all through there was the rest of the story. 00:34:44.324 --> 00:34:47.869 Romans 5 17. 00:34:47.869 --> 00:34:52.516 For sin came for the sin of this one man, adam caused death to rule over many. 00:34:52.516 --> 00:35:02.079 But even greater is God's wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness for all who receive it. 00:35:02.079 --> 00:35:09.750 It will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, jesus Christ. 00:35:09.750 --> 00:35:12.112 Amen. 00:35:12.112 --> 00:35:32.375 So even us as Christians who've missed the mark, who stepped into rebellion, willingly stepping over a boundary and even to the point where sometimes our minds get twisted and truth gets twisted, we can receive forgiveness for that. 00:35:32.375 --> 00:35:35.050 He can restore us. 00:35:35.050 --> 00:35:40.452 Psalms 32, verse 5,. 00:35:40.472 --> 00:35:42.536 This is David again, look at what he says. 00:35:42.536 --> 00:35:48.438 I acknowledged my sin to you, repentance. 00:35:48.438 --> 00:35:58.987 I did not cover my iniquity, didn't make excuses for it. 00:35:58.987 --> 00:36:04.849 I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. 00:36:04.849 --> 00:36:12.010 Wow, that should give you hope. 00:36:12.010 --> 00:36:14.288 That should give you hope. 00:36:14.288 --> 00:36:22.458 God restored David from all three of those types of sins, all three of those progressive sins. 00:36:22.458 --> 00:36:28.137 He was forgiven, he was forgiven. 00:36:30.585 --> 00:36:32.418 So I want to conclude by just talking quickly to two groups of people here. 00:36:32.418 --> 00:36:33.324 I'm going to start with us as believers. 00:36:33.324 --> 00:36:49.217 So, as you sat there and you heard me talk about sin and you heard me talk about the different types of sin, maybe the Holy Spirit was doing His job today in convicting you of something. 00:36:49.217 --> 00:36:55.237 Maybe there's some shataha that he revealed to you. 00:36:55.237 --> 00:37:00.692 Maybe there's some pisha where you see some rebellion in you, things that you're doing that you know you shouldn't. 00:37:00.692 --> 00:37:14.695 Maybe you realize, and the Holy Spirit began to cut through the confusion of the iniquity that's in your mind, the avon, and if he's showing you that, repent. 00:37:14.695 --> 00:37:18.246 You know. 00:37:19.590 --> 00:37:22.277 John MacArthur said something one time I'll never forget. 00:37:22.277 --> 00:37:36.393 He said the most miserable person is not the person that does not know God, it's a person that knows God that has walked away from God, because the Holy Spirit will not leave you alone. 00:37:36.393 --> 00:37:40.576 Can anybody say amen, I've been there. 00:37:40.576 --> 00:37:56.398 If you repent and ask forgiveness, it's going to be given to you, because later in Psalms 51, we read this beautiful statement from the same guy that just outlined the sin he was guilty of all three of them. 00:37:56.398 --> 00:38:01.255 He says the sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. 00:38:01.255 --> 00:38:08.056 You will not reject a broken and repentant heart. 00:38:08.056 --> 00:38:11.449 Oh God, he won't reject that. 00:38:11.449 --> 00:38:14.369 You give yourself over to him. 00:38:14.369 --> 00:38:20.271 You get on your knees, you get on your face and you repent, and he will restore you. 00:38:22.525 --> 00:38:24.894 Now maybe you have never given your life to Christ. 00:38:24.894 --> 00:38:35.436 Maybe you've never taken that step where you said I am yours, lord, and you are dealing with some element of sin. 00:38:35.436 --> 00:38:36.831 It could be any one of these things. 00:38:36.831 --> 00:38:39.893 You are out of the grace of God. 00:38:39.893 --> 00:38:46.476 Well, if the Holy Spirit's been working with you, I got really good news for you. 00:38:46.476 --> 00:38:55.891 All that shame and guilt and all that stuff and the garbage that you've been carrying around, you can give that up today. 00:38:55.891 --> 00:39:01.574 You can, but, by the way, not unless you're ready to really walk away from it. 00:39:03.547 --> 00:39:14.907 If you just come up here and say a prayer to pacify your conscience, you're missing the point, because repentance means I've been walking this way with my shataha, my pisha and my avon. 00:39:14.907 --> 00:39:15.708 I'm going this way. 00:39:15.708 --> 00:39:33.139 Repentance means I walk this way and I'm covered by the blood of Christ and my life changes, because the Holy Spirit comes into me and begins to change me and regenerate in me and, as we see in 2 Corinthians, if any man is in Christ, he is a what New creation. 00:39:33.139 --> 00:39:34.751 That's what you have to look forward to. 00:39:34.751 --> 00:39:37.172 That's what you have to look forward to. 00:39:37.172 --> 00:39:44.371 You can experience that today, if you want, and we have a prayer team that comes up here. 00:39:44.465 --> 00:39:46.012 Let me just say something about this prayer team. 00:39:46.012 --> 00:39:58.956 They don't have any special powers you don't have but they got one thing and they have the Holy Spirit and they love you and they love to pray for you. 00:39:58.956 --> 00:40:15.597 So afterwards, if you want to come up here, if you want somebody to pray for you, if you want to just pull one of the pastors aside or somebody else, we'll pray for you, we'll encourage you, because none of us are told that we have to walk in this sin without hope. 00:40:15.597 --> 00:40:25.088 Amen, please stand to your feet, oh Heavenly Father. 00:40:25.088 --> 00:40:27.394 Without you we are wretched. 00:40:27.394 --> 00:40:31.914 Human beings, our federal head, adam, did a good job. 00:40:31.914 --> 00:40:38.849 Human beings, our federal head, adam did a good job. 00:40:38.869 --> 00:40:42.503 Father, we all stand before you, guilty, and if any man does not feel they are, does any person does not feel they're guilty. 00:40:42.523 --> 00:40:43.726 Father, you can get through to them. 00:40:43.726 --> 00:40:46.632 I know you can, just like you got through to us. 00:40:46.632 --> 00:40:59.972 But, father, I thank you and I rejoice that, even though this was one of those dark sermons where we had to talk about sin, we had to talk about the reality of sin that there's always hope. 00:40:59.972 --> 00:41:15.811 There's always hope For the prodigal that's in the pigsty eating the food the pig is eating, which is symbolic for us in the world living a worldly life. 00:41:15.811 --> 00:41:22.025 You can restore, you can restore us, father. 00:41:22.025 --> 00:41:45.889 I pray that all of us, father, that you search our hearts and you show us what we need to see, what we need to repent of and, as we go into this season, that we rejoice that you, jesus, are indeed worthy and that your worthiness gave us and placed your righteousness, you imputed your righteousness on us. 00:41:45.889 --> 00:41:59.547