Jim and Betsy Kersten are going with Mark Catterson to Haiti to work on Ephraim September 16-20!...

Jim and Betsy Kersten are going with Mark Catterson to Haiti to work on Ephraim September 16-20!

HAITIHAITI

The Light of the Gospel

“The truth of the Gospel is the principle article of all Christian doctrine. . . . Most necessary is it that we know this article well, teach it to others, and beat it into their heads continually.”

-Martin Luther in Commentary on Galatians

What is Wrong?

World System: BAD NATURE BAD NURTURE

Bible: SIN

Understanding Sin

PERSON #1 PERSON #2

Understanding Sin

PERSON #1 PERSON #2Smokes, drinks, cusses, dresses defiantly

Understanding Sin


Clean cut with no major presenting vices

Understanding Sin



Divorced with a child out of wedlock

Understanding Sin




Seemingly good marriage with good kids

Understanding Sin





In debt, in and out of homelessness

Understanding Sin






Great retirement account & beautiful home

Understanding Sin







Unchurched & despises religion

Understanding Sin







Unchurched & despises religion

Faithful church-goer

The Biblical Perspective on Sin? Sin is primarily the heart desire of every

person to be his or her own Savior and Lord.

The most moral, religious, nice person is often using his morality & religiosity to self-justify

In fact person #1 may be more open to expressing need for the Gospel!

A biblical understanding of sin leads us away from superiority & exclusionary thinking

Can’t get or grow in Gospel without a right & deepening understanding of SIN

Why Did Jesus Come???

Mark 2:13-17 13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. 15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The Layers of Sin

Thoughts

Motives

Identity

Behavior

Because I Am Right…

I don’t listen. (Why listen when you already know the right answer?)

I complain. (Others…including God…have it wrong. I know what is right and best.)

I boast. (It is really cool for others to see how right I am about all sorts of things.)

I defend myself. (How dare you try to undermine my constructed image of righteousness!)


I attack and accuse. (You are obviously not as right as you think you are when you don’t agree with me.)

I am critical. (After all, people need my help to get their lives right.)

I gossip. (I am right about other people and their problems…and others need to be enlightened by my knowledge and insight into the situation.)


I attack and accuse. (You are obviously not as right as you think you are when you don’t agree with me.)

I am critical. (After all, people need my help to get their lives right.)

I gossip. (I am right about other people and their problems…and others need to be enlightened by my knowledge and insight into the situation.)

When our identity is rooted in our own righteousness, we miss out on Jesus because we are functionally our own savior and lord.

Genesis 3:6-7 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.Shame & guilt define our existence Distrust & fear define our relationships with othersDoubt & disbelief had already been embraced prior to the action!!!

The Devastating Wreckage of Sin

Genesis 3:8-10 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

We consider God a threat to our lives


Genesis 3:11-13 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

We deny the truth so as to deal with our pain & shame


Genesis 3:16 16 To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

We are at odds with other groups of people


Genesis 3:17-19a 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food…

We are at odds with work & creation


Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

We are all under the tyrannical rule of death!


Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

We are all under the tyrannical rule of death!


“Sin sets up strains in the structure of life which only end in breakdown.”

-Derek Kidner in commentary on Proverbs

Psalm 51:1-5 1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. 5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

What Do We Do???


What Do We Do???

“iniquity” = distortion of perspective and beliefs


What Do We Do???

“sin” = miss the mark; failure to live as God wants


What Do We Do???

“transgression” = willful rebellion


What Do We Do???

He takes full responsibility for his actions


What Do We Do???

He knows that his sin was primarily against a holy God


What Do We Do???

He sees how deep his sin goes


What Do We Do???

He has NOTHING left to prove!!!

Jim and Betsy Kersten are going with Mark Catterson to Haiti to work on Ephraim September 16-20!...

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