Undoing the Chaos of Sin: Part 2

REFLECTION QUOTES

“It’s obvious humanity is craving…People aren’t feeling fulfilled by how many cars they own or the size of their stock portfolio. Even the addicts are saying, ‘It doesn’t matter how many drugs I take, I’m not fulfilled. This isn’t satisfying.’ There’s a spiritual hunger going on. Everybody feels it. If you don’t feel it now, you will. Trust me. You will.”

~Alice Cooper, infamous rock star persona

“A man may beat down the bitter fruit from an evil tree until he is weary; whilst the root abides in strength and vigour, the beating down of the present fruit will not hinder it from bringing forth more. This is the folly of some men; they set themselves with all earnestness and diligence against the…eruption of lust, but, leaving the principle and root untouched, perhaps unsearched out, they make but little or no progress…”

~John Owen (1616-1683), English theologian
in Sin & Temptation

“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.”

~Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), American author and poet

“As long as the example of Jesus Christ stands before us, let everyone be ashamed of even a moment of self-complacency.”

~Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), Canadian-born philosopher of communication

“Sin is ironic. Its intention is self-exaltation, its result is self-debasement. In trying to ascend, we fall.”

~Glenn Tinder “Can We Be Good Without God?”
in The Atlantic Monthly

“There is no death of sin without the death of Christ.”

~John Owen (1616-1683), English theologian in Sin & Temptation

SERMON PASSAGE


Selections from 1 John (NASB)
1 John 1:5-10

5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

1 John 2:1-2

1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

1 John 2:15-17

15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

1 John 3:4-5

4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.

1 John 4:10

10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

I John 5:5,21

5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.