Go and Sin No More - September 27, 2020

Pastor Chuck Ryan

“Go and Sin No More”

Text: Mark 9:42-50

Thesis: “Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against God.”

(Psalms 119:11)

 

1. Jesus is trying to educate the disciples to the fact that Sin is Destructive and Costly!
2. Sin is destructive.
3. Sin has destroyed lives, marriages, families and nations.

“If anyone causes one of these littles ones who believe in me to sin…”

1. Sin in scripture has been describe as “missing the mark of God” or “a violation of a known law of God.”

                                          (There are a number of words used in the original Greek New Testament which are translated “sin” or “sins”. These are “hamartia”, “hamartema” and “hamartano”. In the original Greek New Testament, the most common word translated as “sin” or “sins”)

 

                                        “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them.” (James 4:17)

1. Temptation is not a sin.

                         * “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)

                            * When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; “but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:13-15)

 

2. Jesus strongly teaches that Sin will destroy your Soul to Hell.
3. Jesus uses a teaching method called hyperbole (exaggeration) to emphasize the need to guard yourselves from sinning.

 

1.  Sin is costly
2. Prior to Jesus Sin cost the lives of millions of goats, sheep, and cattle. (A passage from Josephus says that at least 256,500 lambs were killed in the Temple for a Passover in one year between 66-70 CE (Jewish Wars 6.9.3).
3. Sin cost Jesus His life.

           “In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22 NLT)

1. Jesus is saying, “Do everything in your power to keep from sinning!”
2. Recognize your temptations and pray.
3. Take great precautions to avoid encountering those temptations!

 

1. Hell is just as real as Heaven because Jesus spoke of both places as real literal places.
2. Heaven and Hell were created because the soul is eternal and needs a place to reside after death.
3. God desires for every person to repent of their sins and accept His Son (Jesus) as their Lord and Savior and reside in Heaven for all eternity.
4. God has granted every person the gift of “Freewill” and it is freewill that makes our love pure for God.

    “Without freewill we neither deserve punishment or earned reward.” unknown

 

III. Be salt to those around you, that they may be preserved from the destruction of sin.

1. Christian’s are to bring Salt to their world.

   “"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” (Matthew 5:13)

1. Salt has the power to preserve.
2. Salt has the power to flavor.