Final lesson on hamartia

 

1.    About two years a football coach (Erk Russell) was concerned about his players using illegal drugs.

2.    This coach decided to take action and he did something very unusual.

3.    During a team meeting he had a couple of “good old country boys” burst into the locker room.

4.    His helpers had a snake with them – a rattle snake.

5.    The rattler was hissing, writing, and the country boys threw it on a table in front of the football players.

6.    Those seemingly tough football players decided they needed to move.

7.    According to the story “Everyone screamed and scattered.”

8.    The snake was not a prank; it was an object lesson.

9.    The coach sought to make this point:  Using drugs is not much different than playing with rattle snake.

10.  Both can kill you.  A second point was this:

11.  Players ran from a snake, but they may not have always fled from the presence of Cocaine.

12.  These men needed to realize that drugs are just as deadly as a poisonous snake.

 

IN LIFE THERE ARE VARIOUS FORMS OF IMMORALITY (SIN) THAT WE SURELY RUN FROM BECAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE A RATTLESNAKE.  THERE ARE OTHER THINGS THAT CAN CATCH OUR ATTENTION AND EVEN LURE US CLOSER AND CLOSER EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE JUST AS DEADLY.  

 

a)      This morning is our concluding lesson on a New Testament word that is often translated “sin.”

b)      We have seen how this term is used in the Gospels.

c)      We have seen how it is used in Paul’s letters.

d)     Today we want to consider this term in the rest of the New Testament.

 

2)      We have not looked at every passage containing this word, but we have selected key texts.

3)      Today our study begins with the scripture that was read, Heb. 1:3.

 

4)      A lot of people have a lot of different ideas about Jesus – who He is and what He did.

a)      Some look at the Lord is a cute little baby in a manger many years ago.

b)      Some would say He was a “great prophet.”  A few would claim He was a misguided lunatic.

c)      The Hebrew writer is very specific in describing the Lord.

d)     Jesus came to “purge” man of His immorality.

e)      In our world we sometimes hear things like:  “We must purge the system.”

 

5)      When used in this manner purge things like “remove, take away, get rid of something.

6)      This is what the word means in Heb. 1:3.

a)      Man is immoral; he violates the will of God and God says these violations create a debt.

b)      Jesus came to wipe away the sins of men, no matter how immoral a person is.

c)      This word for sin or immorality is a very important New Testament term.

d)     It is found in the next chapter of Hebrews – 2:17.

e)      Here we find it associated with the word “reconciliation” (KJV).

f)       Jesus paid the price for all of man’s immoral acts and this is an amazing point.

 

7)      It may be helpful to compare sin to crime and use our justice system as an illustration.

a)      Let’s say that an average person sins 200 times a year—no sin every day, but one on most days.

b)      Over the course of just 10 years, a person would accumulate 2,000 sins.

c)      What if a man received 2,000 speeding tickets in a 10 year period – what would be his fate?

 

8)      What if a person committed 2,000 robberies in 10 years?  That is just 200 a year.

9)      What would be the consequence for someone guilty of 2,000 assaults during a single decade?

a)      It is almost impossible to imagine this number of crimes.

b)      If a person were guilty of 2,000 criminal acts (major or minor), he would be confined for life.

c)      10 years is a fairly short period of time.

d)     What if we bump the number up to 50 years as we think about criminal acts?

e)      200 crimes a year times 50 years comes out to 10,000.

 

10)  10,000 crimes would probably put someone in the Guinness book of world records for criminal activity.

11)  We may not break the law of man 10,000 times, but many will break God’s law that many times.

a)      Imagine someone who has sinned more than 10,000 times during their earthly life.

b)      How can that level of wickedness be wiped away?  How can the entire debt be paid?

c)      The answer in Hebrews 2 is Christ.  Jesus is more than a baby, a prophet, and a king.

d)     He is man’s one spiritual hope to find forgiveness from all immorality.

 

12)  When we start tossing around numbers like 10,000 sins, the number seems almost too big to grasp.

13)  When sins begin to pile up, it is very possible for people to lose track of things.

a)      Let’s look at Heb. 3:13 – another passage which has our word – READ

b)      Sin (immorality) will harden people.  It is deceitful.

c)      At first an immoral act may make a person feel pretty bad about what they did.

d)     There is guilt, remorse, a man may say, “I was wrong and I will not do that again.”

e)      The next day or later in the week, he thinks back to what was done and he wants to do it again.

f)       He repeats the act and the second time he sins he finds it is a little easier than the first.

g)      A third opportunity comes along and the third time is even easier than the second.

 

14)  Immorality hardens people.  People may eventually lose their sense of right and wrong.

15)  Minds can become calloused; people may lose their ability to correctly reason.

16)  Hardening can also cause people to put God on the “back burner.”

a)      Many have said to themselves, “I am young.  I have time to live a full life.”

b)      In a previous generation people often spoke of “sowing wild oats.”

c)      This was a way of saying “live an immoral life.”  Experience sin to the fullest possible degree.

d)     The time to think about God and spiritual things is put off until later.

17)  For some, that later time never comes—they die before it arrives.

a)      Most have seen cases where lives ended early because of immorality activities.

b)      Sexually transmitted diseases have killed people.

c)      Alcohol has killed thousands.  Illegal drugs continue to take many lives each year.

 

18)  God has some very strong and powerful warnings about engaging in immoral acts.

19)  One warning in the book of Hebrews is found in 11:25 – this is in the form of an illustration.

a)      Moses had to make a choice after he became an adult.

b)      He could have been called Pharaoh’s son.  He could have probably ruled all Egypt.

c)      God tells us he chose a different plan – verse 25 of Heb. 11 – READ

 

20)  At this time Egypt was the most powerful nation on the planet.

21)  It was prosperous, influential, and flowing with knowledge.

22)  Moses could have done whatever he wanted, and no one would have probably said anything.

23)  The world, as it were, was completely his.

24)  He was able to see that there was “pleasure in sin” but he said “no” and that is our example.

25)  In this verse we learn some things.  For instance:

a)      Immorality can be fun for a while.  We do not deny that.  God does not deny that.

b)      The fun, however, is temporal.  It often comes with a price that is just too high to pay.

c)      Think of two young people have just reached the legal age limit to drink.

 

26)  They use their new privilege to go bar hopping.

27)  As the liquor begins to work its way into their blood stream, they are happy. 

28)  They laugh, talk, joke, and are having the best time of their lives.

29)  Now that they can legally drink, they really have it made.

30)  Time has passed, it is late, and they need to be at work the next morning so they decide to go home.

a)      They have heard all the stories about drinking and driving, but they are going to be careful.

b)      They don’t feel all that impaired.  Their houses are just a few miles away.

c)      They leave and a mile from their house they experience a wreck.  Both are hospitalized.

d)     One has multiple surgeries and finally dies from her injuries.

e)      The other recovers but is disfigured for life. 

f)       Each day as she looks at herself in the mirror she sees the scars from the wreck.

g)      She is not bothered so much by how she looks, but she cannot get over what she did.

h)      Every single day she thinks of how sin was pleasurable for a season (a few hours).

i)        Now she will pay for those few hours the rest of her life.

j)        Every single day she thinks about the friend—a friend she helped kill by going bar hopping.

k)      I know someone who has gone through what I just described.

l)        The man is over 60 and his emotional scars have never gone away.

m)    Sin is serious.

 

31)  In Heb. 12:1 we are told that immorality can so “easily beset us.”

32)  The image in Heb. 21 is that of an athlete.

33)  What if a runner had both of his legs bound together with duct tape?

a)      That would not make any sense to us.

b)      A runner’s legs need to be free; no one would try to fasten them together.

c)      This is exactly right and this is the point being made by the author.

d)      Immorality is like wrapping a runner’s legs together – it is going to interfere with the Christian life.

e)      Sin will bind and restrict God’s people from living and doing as they should.

 

34)  If Christians decide to be involved with immorality, it will destroy them.

35)  In the next book (Jas. 1:15) we are told that sin (immorality) leads to death.

a)      One of our songs says that love is the golden chain that binds things together.

b)      Sin is the iron chain that keeps people from living a successful Christian life.

c)      Based on these things Heb. 12:4 says “strive against sin.”

d)     Fight it, say no to it, seek to leave it alone.

 

36)  If this is our choice there is a great promise in 1 Jn. 1:7.

a)      The blood of Christ can and will cleanse from “all sin” (immorality).

b)      For this promise to come true, we must become a Christian and live a faithful Christian life.

c)      If we think we are not immoral (1 Jn. 1:8), we lie and the truth is not in us.

d)     Every single person struggle with some form of immorality.

e)      Not only is the word we are looking at used in 1 Jn. 1:7 and 8, it is in verse 9.

f)       There John said that Christians who “confess their sins” (immorality) will be forgiven.

 

37)  God requires His people to recognize immorality and put it behind them.

38)  In 1 Jn. 3:8 we have another incentive to leave behind sin.

a)      John said immorality is of the devil.

b)      Satan is the one who wants people to be involved with sin.

c)      When we choose to engage in things that are immoral, we are doing the devil’s bidding.

d)     Seeking to leave this behind is God’s will.

 

39)  When we oppose immorality, we are not always going to fare very well with others.

40)  Those on the Monday-Friday e-mail devotional list saw some information about Heinz Ketchup.

41)  This ad was airing in England and it pictured two men who kissed.

42)  The ad was pulled but some just could not figure out why people would object to it.

a)      I called Heinz and was finally directed to the customer service department.

b)      When I politely told the woman the reason for my call, she hung up on me.

c)      I took the time of the call, the woman’s name, and sent a nice little note to the chairman.

d)      He will probably not get it or read it, but it is a small reminder that immorality needs to be opposed.

e)      Many want immorality.

f)       Our world excels at ways to make immorality seem better, more secretive, and more enjoyable.

g)      God says that way leads to death.   Do we believe Him?

h)      If we do, have we become a Christian and are we living a faithful Christian life?