Defective

1. We just heard a single verse from 1 Cor. 6 read.

2. If you have the KJV you will see the word “fault” in verse 7.

3. Those who use the ASV will see the word “defect.”

4. Other translations try to bring out a special thought with different renderings.

5. In the NKJV the text says “utter failure.”

6. In the NIV the thought is expressed as “completely defeated.”

7. “Defeat” is used in the NASB and RSV.

8. The Living Bible and the New Living Translation say “real defeat.”

THE WORD FROM WHICH THESE VARIOUS TRANSLATIONS COME IS SPELLED HETTEMA, AND IT IS FOUND ONLY TWICE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT: 1 CORINTHIANS 6:7 AND ROMANS. 11:12 (IN ROMANS 11 IT IS TRANSLATED “FALL”).

a) In the LXX this term is found in Isa. 31:8 to describe a military defeat.

b) While today’s word is not used many times in the New Testament, it is important.

c) This term indicates that sin is something that leads to defeat.

2) In the context of 1 Cor. 6, the thought is especially vivid.

3) Imagine a court case between two Christians—a court case that goes something like this:

a) One church member has a favorite pew.

b) This brother has paid to have special padding attached to this pew, and it is really nice.

c) A new family comes to town, begins to worship where he worships, and they see this pew.

d) They not only see it, they sit on it and they really like it. It is the best pew they have ever used.

e) Several people are in the new family, and they decide they want to use this pew.

f) They come early, and they take up the entire special pew time after time.

g) They make it clear that they like this pew and they do not intend to sit anywhere else.

4) Before too many service times go by the Christian who paid for the pew becomes incensed.

5) He tells the new family that the pew belongs to him; he was there long before they came along.

6) It was his money and his idea that made this pew the most comfortable bench in the place.

7) If the new family does not find another place to sit, he will sue them for pew rights.

a) He will take them to small claim’s court.

b) The family refuses to move and the enraged brother files the case.

c) A judge hears the suit and says the man who paid for the padding has all rights to the pew.

d) The judge then bars that new family from sitting on the disputed pew.

8) Here is my question, which expresses the thought in 1 Cor. 6 and today’s word for sin:

9) Did the man who paid for the padded pew win or lose with the judge’s verdict?

a) He won the case, but in another sense he was “completely defeated.”

b) There was a real “fault” or a true “defect” in the life of the man who sued over a pew.

EVEN THOUGH THIS WORD IS FOUND ONLY TWICE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, IT CONTAINS POWERFUL LESSONS, ONE OF WHICH IS THIS: SIN DOESN’T MAKE PEOPLE WINNERS.

1) If sin only disappointed mankind, it would be a horrible thing.

a) In life people suffer awful disappointments.

b) People have certain expectations about jobs, but they are let down.

c) There are hopes in regard to children and family members.

d) We have hopes of health, travel, and happiness.

e) Time after time we are disappointed, and some of the disappointments are hard to take.

2) As we go through life we find that disappointments can often be overcome.

3) Defeat, however, is something different, and it is usually more severe.

4) The word defeat implies some degree of work and effort.

a) If an athlete is defeated, he or she was competing against others and lost.

b) When a sport’s team is defeated, someone else won.

c) There will probably be disappointment too, but defeat usually goes deeper.

5) When it comes to sin, many believe actions inconsistent with God’s will make them better off.

6) Or, the belief is that some form of sin will enhance life or make it more enjoyable.

7) Many of the social issues in our day and time fall into this very category.

8) How many of us have heard that divorce can be something good—good for people and kids?

9) Divorce has often been presented as a way to “have a new start,” “make things better,” or an “improvement.”

10) A lot of people have bought into these ideas, and researchers have done some evaluating.

11) Studies have shown that these ideas are myths (false). This discovery is not surprising.

a) In the Old Testament, the last book of the Bible contains a plain declaration:

b) Mal. 2:16 has God saying, “I hate putting away.”

c) That is, God is not enthused about divorce. He abhors it.

d) Why would God say He hates divorce?

e) If it were good for us, He would not hate it.

f) Since God is not pleased with this act, it is not good for God’s creation.

g) Heaven knows that divorce creates problems.

12) Divorce creates difficulties with and for children,, puts additional stress on the body, and mental trauma.

13) These are some but certainly not all the difficulties created by those who try to undo a marriage.

14) After a divorce many will want to re-marry when God says this right does not exist, Mt. 19:9.

15) When people do not stay with the law and will of God, they are headed for defeat in this life or later.

16) Defeat through relationship based sins is common place in our society.

17) Most of us heard the big news story from this past week.

18) A state in the North East has now sanctioned homosexual marriage.

19) Over 1,000 thousand marriage licenses have already been granted to “same sex” people.

20) There are a lot of folks in the United States who are shouting victory—equal rights.

21) For a time sin will look good to some, but a time comes when it destroys.

22) When a nation refuses to follow God’s plan for marriage and the home, that nation will suffer.

a) For the last couple of months I have been trying to kill some weeds in our yard.

b) These weeds are the hardiest weeds I have ever seen.

c) They have had a propane torch applied to them but many refused to die.

d) They have been hit with a pretty lethal chemical three times, but many are still there.

e) Finally this past week I called on a professional and asked for advice.

f) She said, “you are doing everything right.”

g) “You picked a good chemical which speeds up a plant’s metabolism.”

h) In other words, I am feeding the weeds. For a time, the weeds will think they are winning.

i) They will receive nourishment and food and be thinking, “We are doing very well.”

j) The time comes when those weeds choke (burst) because of what they absorbed.

k) This is exactly how sin operates; people think sin brings so many good things.

l) A time comes when sin destroys.

23) What is being said in 1 Cor. 6 is similar to Gal. 6:7 – QUOTE.

24) What we sow is what we reap.

25) If we become involved with sin, it will at one point or another destroy us.

26) This principle has been demonstrated for thousands of years; it is even in the life of Jesus.

a) Mt. 26:4 says people took counsel on how to “kill” Christ.

b) Sin was in the hearts of these people. They thought their sin would make their lives better.

c) If only Jesus could be taken out of the way, life would be good.

d) Was it?

e) Jesus provides an answer to this question in Mk. 12, a chapter that bears reading.

27) Here the Lord gave a parable that might be viewed in business terms.

28) There was a man who invested in a vineyard.

29) He planted it and made some other improvements to get it up and running.

30) When the vineyard was ready to go, he let someone else tend to it while he went away.

31) The initial reading from this chapter will be the first seven verses – READ.

32) These verses express the very idea already introduced— an act of sin will make my life better.

33) What happened in this story? Did life get better? Verses 8-9 – READ.

a) Many get what they want, but the end result is not victory; it is defeat.

b) We can warn people, tell people, and plead with people, but many will still not believe this truth.

34) Certainly we find people from the past who have often refused to recognize that sin leads to defeat.

35) Luke 15 tells us about the young man who wanted his inheritance.

36) He had the very attitude being examined today.

37) In his mind, a lifestyle inconsistent with his Father’s will would be the way to have fun (win).

38) What happened in the country he went to—did he find loss and defeat or success and gain?

39) He came back home, prepared to be a servant. Sin did not do him any favors.

40) Other examples of this principle are just as rampant.

41) Revenge and even the death of an enemy are sins that people often view as synonymous with victory.

42) How many think to themselves, “I would feel so good if only I could pay him back”?

43) People have tried that and found that it leads to defeat.

44) In the Bible we read about people who hated and wanted to capture Samson.

45) Samson was a “wanted man” because the Philistines offered to pay about $3,000 for him.

46) Samson was taken into custody, and he was blinded and treated like an animal (Judg. 16:21).

47) Samson was not treated well; people sinned against him and they did it with great joy.

48) Did the sinful acts of the Philistines lead to victory or defeat?

49) According to the sacred record, a large number of Philistines died. They didn’t win.

50) All around us we have the idea that sin will make us better off, happy, or winners.

51) Illustration upon illustration abounds, and people keep learning the hard way that it doesn’t work.

52) Last night I saw a police car come whizzing through our neighborhood.

53) Then came another and another. It turned out that a neighbor had called 911.

54) Two people planned an act of sin not far from our house, but their choice led to defeat (arrest).

55) Further away was another event this past week.

56) A 51 year old woman was introduced to two men by a friend and she let these men spend the night at her house.

57) Her intentions were for them to stay one night and then leave the next morning.

58) These two men decided to stay an extra night, and then a night after that.

59) These men stayed for six weeks in the woman’s apartment, and they were allegedly selling drugs.

60) Since these men would not leave the lady decided to “gas” them (sin would lead to victory).

a) She opened up the natural gas line for her oven and filled her apartment with gas.

b) About 5:30 AM one morning the fire department was called out to respond to the gas.

c) The apartment owner had to be hospitalized because the gas made her very sick.

d) This woman thought that an act of sin would make her life better—get rid of her houseguests.

e) Once again, sin led to defeat. The men are now gone, but she didn’t exactly win.

f) We have heard the old saying that “crime doesn’t pay.”

g) The word being looked at today might be explained as “sin doesn’t pay,” or “doesn’t pay well.”

IF SIN WERE GOOD AND USEFUL, THE BIBLE WOULD TELL US TO SNUGGLE UP TO IT AND BE CLOSE TO IT.

a) Instead of telling us this, we find a very different message.

b) Abstain from the appearance of evil (false teaching), 1 Thess. 5:22.

c) Flee from wrong, 1 Cor. 6:18. Give no occasion of stumbling, 1 Cor. 10:32.

d) The old life of sin is “put away,” Rom. 6:6. It is “mortified” (Col. 3:5, KJV).

e) “Crucified” is applied to sin and the Christian in Gal. 5:24.

f) Eph. 5:3 says sin is not to be “named” among the people of God.

g) Because of these and similar verses Jesus spoke about our “keeping ourselves” from sin, Lk. 12:15.

h) 1 Cor. 5:7 expresses the thought as “purge out the old leaven.”

i) “Fulfill not the lust of the flesh” is the statement of it in Gal. 5:16.

j) “Depart from unrighteousness,” 2 Tim. 2:19. “Denying ungodliness,” Tit. 2:12.

k) “Lay sin aside,” Heb. 12:1. We “put away” sin, Jas. 1:21.

2) Sin is the way for “complete defeat” both in this life and the next.

3) As Christians the word in 1 Cor. 6:7 is one of the things that can help us each day we live.

4) Before we willfully sin we can tell ourselves, “This act leads to defeat. For that reason…”

5) If someone here has never become a Christian, sin has defeated you and you now need help.