Posts Tagged ‘ Sin ’
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
Luke 9:23-24, ESV
We willing give up our sin, which means giving it to Christ who took it all on the cross. It is the only true sacrifice we ha e to make.
To hold on is to give up eternal life.
“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Matthew 18:20, ESV
We call out sin. We repent. We glorify God.
Together.
In Christ.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23, ESV
We all have sinned. We all deserve death.
Yet, our God is full of grace, mercy, and forgiveness, shown through the cross of Jesus Christ. Our faith in Him is what grants us eternal life.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
James 5:16, ESV
We don’t confess sins to gossip or hold something over others. Instead, we confess to begin healing and show we believe God can heal and forgive.
I have started a small group series on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). I am sharing my notes in case anyone else wants to use them with their group. [Reminder that these are only notes!] (And I just realized I forgot to publish this earlier in the week!)
Matthew 5:1-2:
Jesus wants to teach the crowds: Who are they? Jewish disciples: People who understand the
Scriptures (at least to a point). Notice from 7:28 the crowds still came along, but this teaching is for His disciples.
What does “blessed” mean?
Based on the first twelve verses, blessed means realizing our own wretchedness and need for a Savior. In other words, it is becoming/being a Christian.
Can God see into our hearts and minds?
• 1 Samuel 16:7 – “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but
the Lord looks on the heart.”
• Psalm 44:21 – Would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.
• Proverbs 21:2 – Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.
• Jeremih 17:9-10 – “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can
understand it? I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his
ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
Mormons believe God can’t see into human hearts.
What is that old, archaic word for wanting something badly (found in the 10 Commandments)?
Covet – What does this mean? [To want more than God, to desire to the harm of others]
Is it the same as lust? What is lust?
[e.g. disordered desire for someone or something, usually sexual in nature]
What is Jesus saying?
[Is it okay to look? “It’s not hurting anyone!”]
What is Jesus saying?
[“STOP IT!” It is severely serious how bad sin is.]
• Matthew 18:7-9 – Our own temptations can lead others into temptation
o Will we actually enter eternity mutilated and deformed? (Remember, Jesus has His scars!)
• Jesus refers to Deuteronomy 24:1-4
o Sometimes a woman was given a second dowry if she remarried.
▪ What is the abomination in God’s sight?
• Remember that brothers were to give their widowed sisters-in-law a child, so is it purely sexual?
• If there is a second dowry, the first husband may be taking her back just for the money.
• We see the seriousness of divorce.
o Matthew 19:1-9 (Genesis 2:24)
• Does this mean a divorcee can never remarry?
o Consider 1 Timothy 3:2
o What if it was before they became a Christian?
o Consider Israel through Hosea: Israel was His unfaithful wife. The Church is not a new wife, rather a
renewed wife, for Israel is still included. In fact, we have been grafted into Israel (Romans 11)
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23, ESV
We deserve death for our rebellion against God, but Jesus took our penalty on the cross. Now we hope in eternity with our risen Lord.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Matthew 5:4, ESV
We are blessed when we realize our wretchedness compared to God, and we mourn the sin the separates us from God – our own sins and the sins of others.
For only then can we seek the blessing of forgiveness and eternal life in Jesus Christ.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 1:7, ESV
We cannot know God if we do not know about who He is. We must remember first that He is a God of wrath who must punish sin, then we can know the God of grace and forgiveness.
Then we can begin to rightly understand our world and ourselves.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus
Romans 3:23-24, ESV
No one is perfect nor obeys God perfectly, but through Jesus – the only perfect One – we get grace, forgiveness, and power to live for Him.
Let us take this good news to all.
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Romans 10:17, ESV
Saving faith comes from knowing the Gospel: we are all sinners, yet Jesus – God in the flesh – came to live a perfect life and die for our forgiveness and then arose again to life.
Hire can we be saved if we are never told the Gospel?
Share it with all.
a simple man of God 