Week Two: Sunday School on The Characteristics of Sin
Sunday School #2 – Characteristics of Sin
Last week we looked at the section in the LifePlan that is called, ‘Our Greatest Danger’.
Review:
Do yon remember the first three reasons why sin is ‘our greatest danger’?
It leads to death- Romans 6:23, judgment- Hebrews 9:27, second death- Revelation 20:11-15
Does anyone remember the second reason why ‘sin is our greatest danger’?
It leads to physical, relational and emotional breakdown- James 4:1-2, Ephesians 4:31, Galatians 5:19-21
Does anyone remember why I said the order on page 28 was important?
It shows the appropriate Gospel order: salvation and then sanctification.
It requires the Spirit and New Life for true sanctification.
What is the prescription is for ‘our greatest danger’? (Page 29)
This morning the LifePlan is going to be asking us a very important question, “What type of life do you want to experience?”
How would you answer this question, “What do you want in your life?”
To be debt free, to be rich, to be healthy, to be happily married, to have the perfect job, to retire early and move somewhere warm, to travel, to be popular, etc.
The LifePlan puts this question in a particular biblical context on page 32.
“Do you want a Galatians 5:19-21 kind of life”?
Galatians 5:19-21 says, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
“Do you want a Galatians 5:22-24 kind of life”?
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Illustration: These verses present two very different types of lives with two very different short term and long term outcomes. I was with a man who testified about how the works of the flesh were destroying his life and relationships this week. Dave Rowan and I were ministering at the jail and we talked to a young man who is now incarcerated for the eighth time. This time he is facing the possibility of almost a decade in prison.
He confessed to us that while he is in jail he reads his bible and draws close to the LORD. As this happens his life improves but when he gets out of jail he eventually begins to neglects the means of grace like: reading the scriptures, prayer, church attendance, the ordinances, watchfulness, etc. As this happens he begins to re-engage with sin and it brings upon him disastrous consequences.
This man’s life is similar to what is described in Proverbs 23:29-35. This passage begins by asking six questions,
“Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?”
The person who lives according to the flesh experiences these things. They experience: woe, sorrow, strife, complaining, wounds, and redness of eyes.
Worse still, those who continue in these things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:21)
Is there any sin listed in Galatians 5:19-21 which does not produce these symptoms? (woe, sorrow, strife, complaining, wounds, and redness of eyes)
When you consider these sins: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; is there any of these sins that have less side effects, ramifications or consequences?
In Proverbs 23:29-35 only two of the sins that are listed in Galatians 5:19-21 which are mentioned (drunkenness and orgies) but every sin listed in Galatians 5:19-21 produces these symptoms.
What are some other consequences that sin produces in our lives? We will see some more consequences as we continue to read our text. Namely, we become enslaved to sin, deceived by sin, abused by sin, confused by sin, etc.
We read, “Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things. You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast.”
Sin is addictive to our flesh and we will tarry long and waste a great deal of time, money and effort thinking about sin, planning sin, engaging in sin with others, hiding from sins consequences, looking over our shoulder, and running from the consequences of sin. Although these sins bring some initial pleasure it does not last. Sin entangles us, enslaves and ensnares us and it causes us to experience trouble and pain, remorse, sorrow, guilt, condemnation, despair, and hopelessness.
Sin causes woe, sorrow, strife, complaining, wounds, redness of eyes.
Sin also wastes our time, energy and resources. Sin brings some pleasure but its end produces pain.
Sin also causes us to loose a grip upon reality. It causes us to...
see strange things (sin perverts our understanding, thinking, perception)
they tell themselves perverse things (sin deceives, lies to us)
they find themselves in precarious and dangerous places (sin puts us in harms way)
All of this culminates in the enslaved person saying foolishly, “They struck me, but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.” Have you ever talked to a person who is enslaved by sin and marveled and wondered at the things they would say?
A person who is enslaved to sin will love their sin and not God.
They will love their sin and not God’s instruction.
They will love their sin and those who engage in sin with them but they will hate the righteous.
All of us have been enslaved to such sins and we have all experienced these types of things before we heard the Gospel. We have all walked in the counsel of the wicked, stood among the sinners, and sat among the scoffers. But when we heard the gospel and responded with repentance and faith things began to change.
A Christian is to experience freedom from these sins after they are saved. Christ gives us the Holy Spirit, we are given a new heart, a new nature, a mind that can understand God’s Word, we are given God’s grace and divine power.
Therefore Paul says in Galatians 5:16-18 & 22-24, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law...But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:22-24)
Our memory verse for this week is Romans 8:6 which says, “The mind that is set on the flesh is death, but the mind that is set on the Spirit is life and peace.”
What does it look like to have a mind set upon the flesh?
depends upon, trusts in, cooperates with, is friends with, is loyal to, serves
What does it look like to have a mind that is set upon the Spirit?
depends upon, trusts in, cooperates with, is friends with, is loyal to, serves
Our study in the LifePlan this morning will give us 12 reasons why the mind that is set on the flesh will not be advantageous, productive, beneficial, fruitful.
The flesh, our natural man, and the carnal nature is a fickle ally in our fight against sin. Proverbs 28:26 says, “Whoever trusts in his own mind (or in themselves) is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered (will be kept safe, will be rescued).”
This section entitled, ‘The Characteristics of Sin’, will not only show us how foolish it is to trust upon our flesh but it will also show us why we are to live by the Spirit. Our section in the LifePlan this morning will help us to do two things.
It will help us see sin in our own life and deal with it. (Matthew 7:5, “First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”)
It will also help us to see sin in others and help them. We are commanded to do this in scripture.
Galatians 6:1-2, “Brothers and sisters, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep a watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the Law of Christ.”
James 5:19-20, “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”
Let us look into the Word of God which will show us two things. First, it will show us our fleshly and sinful nature. Second, it will show us who we are in Christ so so that we can put off sin and putting on the righteousness of Christ.
FACT #1: The flesh is weak; experiencing some incapacity or limitation, weakness.
Romans 6:19-
Matthew 26:41-
Proverbs 24:10- “If you faint in the day of adversity, Your strength is small.” (NKJV)
FACT #2: The flesh gives us passions that are sinful and pleasurable; that cause us to bite and devour one another when we should love one another. The passions cause us to do what God says not to do and not do what God says to do.
Romans 7:5
Hebrews 11:25
Galatians 5:13-15; 5:26
FACT #3: Nothing good dwells in my flesh. Although we desire to do right we often don’t do the right we desire to do, but we do the wrong thing.
Romans 7:18
FACT #4: The flesh produces misery, deep distress, dissatisfaction, unhappiness and causes a wretched person to want to be rescued.
Romans 7:24
FACT #5: The flesh enslaves non-believers to sin and deceived believers allow themselves to be enslaved to sin. The Christian is not a slave to sin, unless he/she submits as a slave to sin.
Romans 7:25
Hebrews 3:13
Romans 6:18
FACT #6: Futile thinking, darkened understanding, hardened heart, and callousness towards sin are characteristics of the flesh that the Christian should no longer walk in.
Ephesians 2:1-3
Ephesians 4:17-19
FACT #7: The flesh wars against the soul seeking to get us to do what the Lord commands us not to do or not do what the LORD says to do.
1 Peter 2:11
FACT #8: The flesh causes us to think sinfully, according to the ways of the world.
Romans 12:2a
Romans 8:5
FACT #9: The thinking of the mind of the flesh leads to death.
Romans 8:6
Fact #10: The flesh won’t and cannot submit to God and cannot please God.
Romans 8:7-8
FACT #11: People without Christ are in the flesh and people in Christ can choose to live according to the flesh.
Romans 8:9
1 Corinthians 3:1
FACT #12: People without Christ are obligated to live according to the flesh (sinful nature), and Christians are not obligated to obey the flesh, but can. People who obey the sin nature will die.
Romans 8:12-13
LISTS OF SINS OF THE FLESH:
Romans 1:24-32
Ephesians 4:25-31
Colossians 3:5-9
1 Peter 2:1
The Puritan Thomas Manton once wrote, “A gardener knows what roots are in the ground long before they appear, and what flowers they will produce.”
Did you know that we have a Master Gardener who attends our church?
I bet that if you showed her some roots of certain types of plants she may be able to tell you what they will produce, if they are good for medicine, or if they are poisonous if consumed.
If you showed her a stem or a leaf she would be able to tell you what type of plant it is and what type of fruit it might bring forth in its proper season.
Today’s lesson is about becoming good gardeners of our hearts and souls. It is about being able to recognize the characteristics of our flesh and sin so well that we can address it so that it will not continue to grow and produce fruit that leads to death. We don’t want to be like the man in Proverbs 23 who said, “They struck me, but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.”
Every Christian needs to be able to know the characteristics of sin so we can accurately diagnose our sin and know how to deal with it (in ourselves and in others). We have learned in our study of James that if we misdiagnose sin or deal with it wrongly we will not make much progress in our sanctification. James says in James 1:13-15, “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
The puritans used to have a saying, “It is always easier to stop a boulder when it first begins to roll at the top of the hill then it is to try to stop it when it has picked up speed half way down.” Think about these sins listed in Galatians 5:19-21 and consider how important it is to stop these sins before they pick up steam and begin to spin out of control in our lives. Whether our sin is big or small we always need the Gospel, the Spirit, and His grace to deal with sin.
We are not to trust in ourselves but consider what God has done for us. Consider the words of the 1689 LBC regarding sanctification, “Those who are united to Christ and effectually called and regenerated have a new heart and a new spirit created in them through the power of Christ’s death and resurrection. They are also further sanctified, really and personally, through the same power, by His Word and Spirit dwelling in them. The dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and the various evil desires that arise from it are more and more weakened and put to death. At the same time, those called and regenerated are more and more enlivened and strengthened in all saving graces so that they practice true holiness, without which no one will see the LORD.”
Consider Paul’s words in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
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