The Bondage of Sin

(30) Ken Loucks - The Bondage of Sin - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgwuhIttR0g

Transcript:
(00:01) the title of the sermon today is the bondage of sin the bondage of sin now look if we've been in the church for a long time that's not a new idea that's like a that's the classic description of what we talk about this time of year egypt portraying sin and Israel being delivered from the bondage of sin is slavery in Israel and all that in Egypt and so all that imagery is well a part of our culture historically but it is very appropriate for us to think about that because unless we fully understand that sin truly is bondage then how would
(00:36) we truly understand Christ's sacrifice like we need to let that sink in we can't really fully process and understand the sacrifice of Jesus Christ unless we understand the bondage of sin from which we are being freed so today I want to walk through the bondage of sin how is it sin how does it create bondage for us what does that slavery look like how does it form in us how does it develop in us what does it lead to those are all the elements I kind of want to walk through today and it's should be a refresher for
(01:10) us i don't think I'm covering anything new but I but I'm going to take the I'm going to take the I'm going to take that little bit of a longer path around the subject and I'm going to come back to James and I'm going to help hopefully when we get to James 1 we're going to be able to read that with new eyes it should come to us a little bit more clear what he's saying there uh because he says very succinctly what I'm going to cover in a bit more detail so let's begin today by understanding that sin itself it doesn't come at us
(01:43) with you know a pitchfork and horns and you know looking like a devil in a cape kind of a thing how does how does sin app appeal to us it it certainly isn't that does it advertise itself as death and danger if you think about it if it if if it did would would it would there be any appeal in it do this and I guarantee you're going to die most of us are like "Okay I'll just not do that.
(02:17) " Like isn't that the way the human mind works often times sin comes at us in really small ways maybe a whisper or a flatter maybe the idea of entertainment it makes little promises to us maybe something like no one's going to get hurt it's not that serious it's no big deal you deserve this but little by little it becomes not just a suggestion but a tug a pull maybe a bit of a yearning maybe an ache the problem is we often don't see sin as the prison that it is until the door shuts the culture around us loves to rebrand sin boy it's not hard to look
(03:13) around and see the rebranding what does it look like what is what comes to your mind when you think about things today which you look at you and I look at and we say but that's that's not right but it's presented to us as choice freedom it's presented to us as self-expression maybe even liberation because it often brings immediate pleasure or maybe temporary escape maybe it feels a little bit like a doorway to something better but what if the very thing that feels like freedom is actually the start of captivity
(03:59) second Peter chapter 2 second Peter chapter 2 and verse 19 this is speaking of carnal man where it says where Peter says here while they promise them liberty they themselves are slaves of corruption for by whom a person is overcome by him also he is brought in to bondage there's something deeper happened that happens beneath every act of sin it's it's not just like moral missteps it's there's more to it than that if if if sin's desire was simply that we just make a mistake once in a while then it wouldn't be much of a trap
(04:51) really sin's desire is to make us captive to make us slaves and unless we recognize the power it holds over us and how subtly that power works we will never fully grasp why deliverance matters why Passover was necessary and why God calls us not just to be forgiven but to be free so let's walk through this picture in scripture that's given to us i'm not going to turn immediately there but it is from Proverbs chapter 7 and this picture shows us a warning a trap a choice and it's the same one that we all face every single day as we're
(05:40) making decisions about obedience or sin and I don't want to I don't present this topic obviously out of a desire to create shame but really just a wake-up message like hey we need to be paying attention as was brought out in the sermonet that self-evaluation that we go through and we should be doing that on an annual basis like regularly checking to see where we are but this time of year gives us a opportunity to place a special focus in that direction so I want to describe the four elements or ways in which sin
(06:20) permeates creates in us bondage it begins with point number one sin appeals to the emotions sin appeals to the emotions it begins with a feeling doesn't have to be a big one maybe it's just a little tiny flicker maybe just a little flutter maybe it's curiosity or a little longing maybe it's boredom maybe it's need for validation or affection or adventure but that's when sin first enters the mind well the heart as we're going to see because it's the seed of emotions and it doesn't enter with logic but it does have an
(07:16) appeal it doesn't come at us with a command it comes at us with an invitation and it's seductive that's its method of reaching us it seduces us that's why in Proverbs chapter 7 the imagery that's used is what is used because we can relate to it we can understand exactly what's being described and yes what we see described for us is adultery but is that what's really being described for us i hope we'll see that it's really just a metaphor for sin that's really what it's about so let's turn over to Proverbs chapter
(08:11) 7 and verses 18 through 20 for the sake of time I'll just pick up the story here in verse 18 of Proverbs 7 where he says "Come." She says to him the young man this is the married woman says to the young man "Come let us take our fill of love until morning let us delight ourselves with love for my husband is not at home he has gone on a long journey he's taken a bag of money with him and will come home on the appointed day.
(08:49) " So she paints this picture very carefully doesn't she it's not chaos she's painting a picture of destruction and of danger and risk looks to me like comfort and satisfaction and maybe even a little joy but that's the appeal of sin where is she appealing to she's not coming at him intellectually let me describe for you all of the benefits of us having an immoral affair that's not the way she approaches him she appeals to the emotions the secrecy the fulfillment the satisfaction of that promise of safety of escape of doing something wrong without
(09:37) cost or consequence at least that's what she wants us to believe but this is how sin begins it doesn't open with a presentation on the wages of death it gives us a promise of something better from where we are that's the pole you know the fruit on the tree in the Garden of Eden what did that look like to Eve did it look like destruction it said to her "It looked pleasant to the eyes.
(10:21) " And here the forbidden woman entices with what looks pleasant and satisfying to the young man she targets the emotion before the mind can even object the emotions are involved and that's of course the first chain in sin's bondage emotional surrender when we stop asking is this the right thing to do should I be doing this instead we begin to ask questions like "How would this make me feel?" If we're doing that we're already halfway to being bound the moment we give authority to our desires rather than God's truth we're trapped we're beginning our journey down
(11:07) that path to becoming a slave jeremiah chapter 17 i gave a Bible study all not all that long ago on Jeremiah chapter 17 if you guys remember this as we investigated in that message or in that Bible study the difference between the heart and the mind because it says something very hard here in Jeremiah 17:es 9 and 10 about the reality of the heart it says that the heart which is the seat of our emotions our passions that the heart is deceitful above all things who can know it it's desperately wicked who can know it in verse 10 he
(11:50) says "I the Lord search the heart i test the mind even to give every man according to his ways according to the fruit of his doings." There's a lot packed into that about what's wrong and why we're vulnerable in the heart that's why emotion is where sin first goes at us our hearts can't be trusted because they're not always honest might feel true but our hearts can lie to us when I I think about this when when it comes to talking with young couples in pre-marriage counseling for example where they're in this phase of
(12:38) infatuation deep infatuation effect which is oftentimes misconstrued by this world is love love moves way past that the heart can can lie to us and tell us things and deceive us it's it's the feelings themselves but those feelings don't have substance that are durable you got to think about that it's not in the feelings themselves that and and the feelings aren't necessarily wrong it's what we do with those feelings right where do they lead us to that's the challenge here it's going to pick on us where we're vulnerable where
(13:10) we're vulnerable is our heart our emotions our passions that's where we're vulnerable but when we let emotions become the guide as we just read in Jeremiah that is dangerous we can be easily led astray like the young man in Proverbs 7 we may find ourselves drifting not towards fulfillment but towards failure and we won't even have realized it ecclesiastes 11 verse9 Ecclesiastes 11:9 where Solomon helps us to see this tension 11:9 where he says rejoice oh young man in your youth and let your heart cheer hear you in the days of your youth walk
(14:11) in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes but here's the tension but know that for all these God will bring you into judgment if you let your emotions drive the bus wherever that bus takes you God's going to hold us accountable for that so he's saying he's not saying that the motions themselves are evil but where you let them lead you is the problem and that is the risk and that's where we need to understand that we are going to be held accountable for that therefore feelings are not the final authority and they should not be but God
(14:50) must be but this is where bondage begins not in rebellion but in our vulner vulnerabilities when we let our emotions drive the bus become the most powerful voice to us sin doesn't need to drag us away it just needs to invite us and we'll go so before sin becomes a habit it becomes a desire a want maybe we convince oursel that it's a need but it's a hope for something isn't it a hope for something better something more something that fills an ache in us that's why it works when it picks at and affects our emotions but when we look to sin to
(15:47) satisfy that ache it does not free us it hooks us and the longer we listen to it the more that voice becomes familiar and even perhaps comforting and that's how bondage starts point number two sin persuades the mind sin persuades the mind it starts in our emotions it doesn't stay there it opens the door but it's the mind that decides whether to step through you know once sin has stirred up our feelings it begins to reason with the mind have you considered the the way that sin works we've all sinned so if we can just reflect back and analyze what
(16:46) happened could you see that the roots might have started with some kind of an emotion and from that emotion where did you let it go did we begin to reason within ourselves about it because that's the process that the scripture outlines for us that happens to us we begin to justify and say things to oursel about why things aren't why this may not be that bad or maybe what's not really so wrong with it we can deceive ourselves at that point because we're trying to talk ourselves into it if sin gets its way by reasoning with our
(17:27) minds at the end of the day we might just be thinking "This is fine this is okay this sin." The young man in Proverbs 7 is no longer being enticed emotionally as we're going to see in verse 21 so turning back over to Proverbs 7 and verse 21 notice that she began with it with appealing to his emotions and then she moves on here she says here in verse 21 "With her enticing speech she caused him to yield with her flattering lips she seduced him.
(18:05) " It's a subtle shift but it's really important because what does it say he does it's what we do he yields he yielded the choice was his so what's going on in the mind that says it's okay to do it except yielding to it nobody forces he's not forced she doesn't tie him up drag him around he chooses he listened and of course he allowed her words basically to shape his thinking she builds a case that sounds logical and comforting even moral in kind of a twisted way but he ends up agreeing which leads him to yield and this is of course where the
(18:59) real danger is if the mind becomes convinced that the sin is what's desirable and where we should go then we will reject the truth because that's where we are at this point the emotions are driving the bus the mind is finding a way to justify there's a pattern throughout scripture when people fall into let's call it a deep kind of sin it often begins with a change in thinking about sin what once seemed wrong becomes justifiable that's sin working with our minds what once raised red flags maybe now it feels more normal or
(19:50) acceptable the longer we entertain sin's voice the more our moral clarity begins to fade isaiah chapter 5 isaiah 5 20 and 21 this is the world that we live in isaiah 5:20 says "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil who put darkness for light and light for darkness who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight this is talking about the world that we live in i mean can't we be influenced by this world we are influenced by this world and when it calls wrong right and it
(20:50) does it loud enough and long enough are we still holding to the truth are we still defending God's positions of what right and wrong is or do we find the world having its effect notice how it says to those who are wise in their own eyes woe to them not wise in God's eyes not wise the way God wants us to think and to behave it's wise in our own eyes we start making decisions this is where sin is working in our minds to change our thinking about what right and wrong is so that means that this is not just a war between us and the world it's that
(21:36) war that's happening within us we have to fight that fight right here between the ears we have to fight the thinking we see the process unfolding in the earliest pages of the Bible when the serpent approaches Eve he doesn't Let's go back and look at this genesis 3:es 1-5 notice that he does not begin by attacking God genesis chapter 3 I'll begin right here at verse one it says "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made and he said to the woman "Has God indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of
(22:24) the garden." Okay so this isn't a challenge yet of God he's actually just asking a question and Eve is naive of course and the woman says to the serpent "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God has said "You shall not eat it nor shall you touch it lest you die.
(22:47) " Verse four he says "Then the serpent said to the woman "You will not surely die for God knows that in the day that you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil." What do you think really happened here you think when Adam and Eve ate that apple that you became a sinner you know that's a Catholic dogma which is called original sin and it says that because Adam sinned all of us have sinned is that true if it's not true that you're not guilty we have plenty of scriptures where God says "I don't hold you guilty
(23:32) for your parents' sins so if you don't know us guilty for their sins then we're certainly not guilty for Adam's sin we're guilty for our own sin and all of us would probably look in the mirror and say "Yeah that's a guilty person." Plenty of their plenty of sin there on his own so what did they do because what they did the decision that they made is what they gave to us the devil did he go up to Eve pluck the apple and put it in her hand no she willingly went over and took of the tree she willingly ate of it why
(24:08) what did it do when she did that what does that demonstrate for us what was that tree the tree of the knowledge of good and evil who was the decider of good and evil up to that point it's God but the moment they took that apple they made a choice what's the choice i want to decide what is right and wrong that's what we were given by Adam and Eve the choice of what is right and wrong that I will decide not God me when we look around at our society we live in a society in which this is what you see people deciding for themselves what
(24:57) is right and wrong that's why when we look at it we see an upside down world where they call what we know biblically is wrong and they say it's right what we say is sin they say is freedom is liberation it's anything but wrong it's upside down when we compare it to the Bible because mankind has been doing the same thing that Adam and Eve did choosing for themselves to decide what right and wrong is because of that the sin must work in the mind in the intellect where we need to be have our thinking changed choose for yourself what is
(25:44) right and wrong don't let God decide that for you the sin wants us to believe that's what's good that's what's right that will make us happy 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 2 Thessalonians chapter 2:es 10-12 it says "And with all unrighteousness or all sorry 2 Thessalonians chapter 2:10 Ken and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved.
(26:44) " For this reason God sent send them God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie verse 12 says "And they all that they all may be condemned who do not who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." This is the power of a persuaded mind it's why sin moves from our emotions to our minds helping us to choose to change our thinking about that sin to decide that that sin's not wrong for us that it'll be okay if it can get us there you know what the next step is action once we've decided in our minds
(27:41) that the sin is okay however we got there the next thing is doing it that's an easy move after we've already surrendered our emotions and our intellect so when that happens of course who we are begins to experience something far more serious than just a mistake it begins to in experience enslavement we've surrendered at that point to the sin it now becomes our slave master you know the young man in Proverbs 7 he doesn't just linger in thought he moves he acts on what he has accepted but the way the passage describes
(28:33) it it is a little haunting he doesn't walk confidently or heroically turn with me and look and see how he behaves see what happens this is what's described we're back in Proverbsap 7 I want to read verse 22 here we already know that she's persuaded him so he's there now he's intellectually convinced himself it's okay and verse 22 immediately so he doesn't delay once the mind is there the body immediately is ready immediately he went after her as an ox goes to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks how does
(29:19) an ox go to the slaughter does it know it's going to slaughter does it willingly go yeah what do you picture in your mind then do you picture the the ox fighting and resisting and all of that as it goes to be no it doesn't do that it it goes where it's being led it has no idea what's about to happen to it that's the imagery that's paint being painted here speedily it goes what does verse 23 say till an arrow struck his liver as a bird hastens to the snare he did not know it would cost his life it's not even entering the mind
(29:58) anymore it's not a part of the consideration the dangers sin never presented itself as death it was a rescue it was a reward it was a relief it certainly wasn't death he's looks to me like someone being led someone who doesn't realize the danger until it's far too late have you watched this came to my mind this morning as I was reviewing my notes i was thinking about this ancient movie if I wonder if our young guys if our young kids have seen this have you guys seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang the the the little Have you guys
(30:37) Have you seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang you got to have your parents show you that movie that's a great movie there's a scene I'm not going to describe the whole movie but there's a scene that's so on their imaginations it becomes sort of a played out story for us as viewers to watch the movie and they're in a town and the town has no children and all of the parents in the town have lost their children and they're all upset and here shows up these two children in this town and the parents are worried because these
(31:08) children might be taken like their children were taken and who comes to town but the candyman with his cart full of magical wonderful treats every imagination every imaginable treat a child could think of is hanging on the sides of this cart it must be filled with these treats and so despite all of the warnings where do the children go they run out to the candyman as he puts his cart on display for them and entices them with the goodness that is waiting for them inside the cart all you have to do is go inside
(31:49) and your dreams will be fulfilled every wish you have is there every treat you'd like is available and the moment they step into that cart all of the candy all the facade fades away and he slams the door shut it's a cage and he takes them away to where the other children are and I thought that is a metaphor for sin in a nutshell we don't see it coming it doesn't advertise as it what it really is and so we go willingly into it if we have gotten this far as it said here immediately he went after her as an ox goes to the slaughter
(32:36) or as the fool to the correction of the stocks that's not the language of freedom that's the language of bondage the ox doesn't have a choice he's already committed he's going where he's going to be led he's unaware he's passive and he's controlled his steps are not leading to pleasure though that's where he might think in this metaphor but he's going to death and he has no idea like a bird rushing into a trap he's moving quickly but blindly because he's already given up seeing the truth and that's what sin does it takes people who think they are
(33:24) in control and leads them exactly where it wants them to go us to go so the choice no longer feels like a choice it's more like compulsion at this point and this the Bible does not soften this reality it describes the enslaving nature of sin in very clear terms what becomes a single act or starts as a single act becomes a pattern that's the slavery the repeated pattern that you can't break free from because what once felt dangerous now feels normal and before long sin stopped being something that we do and becomes
(34:13) something that rules over us paul says something here to Titus in Titus 3 and verse three titus chapter 3 and verse three i've always been fascinated how Paul was very self-aware he says here "For we ourselves were also once foolish." He's not pointing his finger he's saying "Me too." Disobedient deceived serving various lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another you know what the key word here is for us in this context what's the key word in this scripture as you reread it to yourself
(35:16) the key word is serving serving various lusts and pleasures that's language of slavery now I understand in the church we use service in a different context serving one another here it's talking about slavery the master demanding service of its slave this is what Paul is referring to that's not freedom it's the opposite of freedom paul understood this bondage very deeply because he spoke of it in very personal terms you remember how he talked about this in Romans chapter 7 romans chapter 7 14 and 15 we all no doubt we've all read
(36:18) through this passage a number of times and probably recognize and see and understand what he's talking about because we've lived it romans 7 14 and 15 he says for we know that the law is spiritual he uses the word we but then he says very personally but I am carnal sold under sin i am a slave to sin is what he's saying that's how I was called just like the rest of us for what I am doing I do not understand for what I will to do that I do not practice but what I hate that I do this is obviously somebody who's caught
(37:14) between knowledge and powerlessness as he describes it to us because that's what happens to us when we get entrenched in sin in the bondage of sin he feels unable to do anything about it and really that's why this is important for us to to put this kind of message before we get to the Passover in the days of unleaven bread to frame the real subject for us we came out of bondage to sin that's what God called us out of and if it had not been for that calling we would be in bondage to sin to this day there's no hope for us to come out
(38:01) of that except for Christ the world lives in bondage to sin period exclamation point three exclamation points but this is where we find ourselves before conversion or right at that point of conversion where we begin to see then and we begin to understand and hopefully that's where we are even right now we know the consequences of sin we don't want to live there we did live there at some point what Paul's describing is what it means to be bound to want freedom but to lack the strength to grasp it these chains are not physical they're
(38:50) not really we don't really have physical chains on us at that point they're all mental and spiritual but they're real and of course slavery to sin is not always visible from the outside can you look at somebody and say "Oh yeah I know that i can tell they're a slave to sin." Of course not they might a person might look successful they might look confident self-sufficient but they deep inside they may be completely dominated by what habits desires mindsets pride anger lust envy addiction bitterness can you see those from the
(39:29) outside of somebody probably not these things don't simply visit the soul they take claim you know what they dig in they make a home there job chapter 15 makes a good point job chapter 15:es 20- 22 job 15 20-22 says "The wicked man writhes with pain all his days and the number of years is hidden from the oppressor dreadful sounds are in his ears in prosperity the destroyer comes upon him he does not believe that he will return from darkness for a sword is waiting for him you know one of the things that this illustrates for us
(40:29) that sort of picking up on as I just reread this thing for the 19th time in prosperity the destroyer comes upon us it's when we are rich and increased with goods that we may be the most vulnerable i mean Satan is looking for every opportunity to take advantage of our weaknesses and this is legitimately a an area where some can be weak it's an area to be aware of and cautious of it certainly reveals something sobering as we read through that sin may be invisible but it is not harmless it affects the whole person
(41:10) mind body and spirit and it always inevitably leads to pain fear and destruction the young man in Proverbs 7 thought he was chasing love what was he really chasing death bondage and of course by the time he realized it it was too late so bondage to sin doesn't start with visible change it starts with surrender first emotional surrender and then mental then physical or the action where we actually just do it and once sin has our actions of course it sets the terms we serve that master we answer to it we suffer under
(42:06) it and most people never realize it until it's too late and of course the fourth point is sin ends in death sin ends in death we read that in Proverbs 7:23 where the young man having gone willingly as an ox to the slaughter as a fool to the correction of the stocks and it says till an arrow struck his liver as a burden as a bird hastens to the snare he did not know it would cost his life too late for him that's the end of the path it's not disappointment or discomfort yes those things certainly can be a part of the awakening that
(42:59) happens in someone the reality is the end is death the scripture is not ambiguous about this it's not unclear it's crystal clear the wages of sin is death we can think we're in control but death is what's waiting for us when we go down that path and that's what makes the bondage of sin so devastating it hides the consequences until it's too late to turn back sin doesn't advertise the cost upfront it presents itself as a harmless indulgence a manageable compromise a consequenceless action but according to scripture it's
(43:50) far more than that it's actually lethal romans chapter 5 and verse 12 romans chapter 5 and verse 12 therefore just as through one man sin entered the world who was that adam and what entered with that sin because they are inextricextricably connected it says "And death through sin.
(44:29) " And thus death spread to all men because Adam sinned death spreads to all men because we all sin the wages of sin is death from the beginning sin and death have been inseparable wherever sin enters death follows but here's the thing it's not just physical death but obviously that can be a part of it but what about relationship death the person that does something let's say has an extrammarital affair do you not think that destroys the marriage do we think abuse destroys a relationship between two people certainly it does well we can have emotional death we
(45:15) can have spiritual death we can have the death of trust of integrity maybe just connections with other people ultimately it severs our relationship with God himself as the scripture says that our sins have separated us from God and we cannot forget this truth death is not just the result of sin it is its reward scripture is clear that death is not incidental it is its conclusion death is not incidental to sin it is its conclusion james chapter 1 as I've taken you now the long way around this so that when we get to James
(46:09) chapter 1 verses 14 and 15 where James says this very succinctly and it might not have been particularly easy to understand what he was saying until we had taken the long way around to now see what he says in verses 14 and James 1:14 but each one is tempted when he is drawn away by what his own desires the seed of our emotions our passions and he's enticed meaning he reasons through what happens to him what he's going to do and then when the desire has conceived which means action we've already got the first three
(47:06) elements emotions the intellect and then the actions when all three are involved sin has been born as it says it gives birth to sin and sin when it is fullgrown brings forth death that's kind of an interesting idea isn't it sin is born yes is it too late we have to ask that question because as converted Christians are we sinless of course not we still sin we still make mistakes but and so if we let that sin grow up and mature we'll be right back where we were before we were converted it's what he's that's what James is
(47:56) talking about so don't let it become fullgrown because the fullgrown sin is death you've got to stop that somehow well look we've gone through all of this to this point to really anchor in us this idea of bondage to something we have no power over by ourselves when we understand that we can look at that Passover that's coming and realize we have a savior we have someone who can free us from that bondage who can prevent that sin from becoming fullgrown for us leading to inevitable death spiritual death eternal death
(48:52) this is why scripture is so urgent in its warnings it does not speak gently about sin's endgame it does not downplay its effects it reminds us that if left unchecked sin is not just damaging it is deadly and this is what makes bondage to sin so dangerous it doulls our awareness until we stop seeing the threat alltogether notice this is the danger for those of us who've been at this for some time ezekiel 18 ezekiel 18 verse 24 this is our risk verse 24 but when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity and
(49:48) does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does shall he live all the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed and because of them he shall die that's a warning for us we've been in this walk we've been walking it for a while can we turn when can we stop overcoming when can we when's it okay for us to shake hands with sin and sit down and start becoming pals never not ever there's no guarantee of protection in
(50:39) past righteousness we're not God does not have a set of scales upon which he stacks up our good behavior and on the other side he stacks up our misbehavior and then hope if we just have enough good behavior to outweigh the bad behavior then we'll be okay but God doesn't do it that way no matter how much misbehavior there is if we turn from it he promises forgiveness he doesn't say balance the scales then I will forgive you it's just repent turn from that and if you turn back to that whatever you've done doesn't matter
(51:31) i don't present this to frighten us as people without hope but I do want us to wake up to this reality sin is not a joke it is not a weakness it is a killer if we do not see that we may never truly grasp why we need to be delivered from it before we can celebrate Passover as freedom we must understand what we were freed from not just bad behavior but the death sentence that came from our sins fortunately someone was willing to step in for us we have freedom only from and through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ the story of the young man in Proverbs 7
(52:29) ends in darkness he walks willingly into the trap and he takes the arrow to the liver death is the outcome for him and as a metaphor for us that is the lesson for us we walk blindly down the path of sin death is the only outcome for us except if Christ intervenes for us god intervenes on our behalf through the shed blood of his son to give us hope not just forgiveness but freedom real freedom yes Christ obviously paid the price for our sins and he took the death sentence that we earned on for himself on our behalf but his sacrifice also
(53:21) opened the door to something more than a pardon he opened the way to overcoming which we're not capable of unless we have his sacrifice applied to our sins and we have the indwelling of God's spirit that is the gift that God gave to us romans chapter 6 vers 17 and 18 romans chapter 6 again we're back here in Romans verses 17 and 18 where Paul says "But God be thank though you were slaves of sin yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered and having been set free from sin you became slaves of righteousness."
(54:14) We're invited to become a new kind of slave the the kind of slave that serves being right with God that's what righteousness is that's the kind of slavery that is offered to us which is really freedom you you look at the world would you honestly assess this world as free when you see the consequences of the sins of the world solomon expressed it as the sorrow of wisdom you see same as I do this world and its choices you see the misery and the suffering as a result of human choices choosing sin that's the world we live in that's
(55:01) what's before us as a witness to us about that way of life but that way of life we can overcome because God freed us from that through the sacrifice of his son and during our conversion and acceptance of the Holy Spirit we can change and overcome sin as John said here in in 1 John chapter 5 1 John chapter 5:es 4 and 5 verse four he says "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.
(55:40) " And this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith who is he who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the son of God the world might try to convince us that overcoming sin is too hard it's too difficult it's too challenging it's okay if you're into addiction or if you have these problems that's just the way that it is but God calls us and says "No we can overcome those things.
(56:12) " He's given us the power to do that through his son Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit yes sin is not going to leave easily it's going to resist it's going to come back of course it does you know it whispers to us all the time and it waits for us to let our guard down so yeah we have to be on guard all the time the minor prophet Micah here this would might be my last scripture today micah says something interesting i probably went right past Micah i'm supposed to memor you kids memorize your books of your Bible it's just helpful later here it is i got it okay micah
(57:00) chapter 7 and verse 8 micah says something really interesting here he says in verse 8 of chapter 7 he says "Do not rejoice over me my enemy sin Satan when I fall I will rise when I sit in darkness in that in that bad place who is there?" He says 'The Lord will be a light to me.' That should be a comfort to us to know and to understand that God's not going to abandon the work in us that he began when he called us out of this world that he's there he's ready to help us to overcome he gave us his spirit to be able to do that he
(57:45) wants us to be in his kingdom he wants us to be free of the bondage of sin and he sent his only son to to pay the price for us so that we could be freed so as we approach this Passover season let yeah let's examine our hearts not with fear but with real clarity we have to confess what needs to be confessed admit the wrongs that we've done we owe that to God every single time we at this time of year we just pay special attention to that though we should be doing that year round let's turn from what binds us and
(58:32) let's believe deeply fully and joyfully that we're not the young man in Proverbs 7 we're not doomed to be led away we're called to walk in freedom come out of that to be free from that because Christ is overcome and in him so can we