This morning, continuing in systematic theology, we are actually going to be completing topic five, which is the doctrine of sin, and I believe we will be headed into the doctrine of the church next in the weeks to come. But this morning, to conclude, looking at the doctrine of sin, we're asking the question, are there degrees of sin? Often discussed, and people wonder, if there are degrees of sin, how do we determine that there are degrees of sin? And of course, the initial answer, the initial thought when asked the question, are there degrees of sin, is, no, sin is sin. And all sins are the same in the sense that each sin and any sin renders a person guilty and worthy of God's wrath. And the root of all sin is autonomy and replacement of God with self. So however small a sin may seem, it's an assertion that the person is acting independently of God. So as we look at the fact that all sin is sin, that whether it is what we would classify as a big sin or a little sin, it still is going to bring the same eternal punishment, then we really need to ask and look at what the Bible says about there being degrees, levels of sin. And the Bible actually is very specific about that, and it gives us two answers, if you can imagine. The question is, are there degrees of sin? And the answer is, yes and no. So I'll let that sink in. Yes and no. No, there are not degrees in that all sin is sin and is worthy of judgment. I believe it was John Bunyan, it might have been one of the others, I'll have to check the reference, but somebody once said in the course of history, I believe it was one of the Puritans, that there is enough sin in one of my prayers to damn the entire world. Because sin is sin. But on the other hand, when you ask are there degrees of sin, the answer is, Yes, the Scripture is actually clear that there are lighter and weightier sins. Now the standard by which all sin is to be judged is the standard of God's holiness. And here's the difficulty as we're looking at sin and trying to understand sin and how it affects us. The standard for sin is not how bad we think something is. Because there are sins, and there have been sinners throughout history that we think are worse than others, right? You can name a few names of people who you know are just the worst sinners that ever lived in the world. I promise you there have been worse than the ones you're thinking of. And if you really want to have the Scripture hit home, you look at Paul's confession, I'm the chief of sinners. The point is that what we measure sin against is not what we think of being good and evil, whether it's an action, a thought, or people in history, but the standard by which sin is to be judged is the standard of God's holiness. This is how we can even define what sin is. In Romans 3, there is no difference for all who sinned and fall short of the glory of God. What we have fallen short of as sinners is the glory, the holiness, the completion, the perfection that is God. If we cannot meet His standard, then it doesn't matter how close to that standard we are. If we do not meet absolutely 100% perfectly the standard of the holiness of God, then we are guilty and stand deserving of judgment. because God is that holy. And in fact, when you look at it, if God is that holy, that is what makes our sin so heinous, because sin is me telling God, I know better than you, I'm going to do what I want instead of what you want. So even in the thought, of that pride that was rooted in the fall of Satan and of Adam and Eve, I will be like the Most High, I will be like God, I will doubt God's word. That's a sin against the character and the nature of God, against the standard of His holiness. James 2 also reminds us, for whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he's guilty of all. For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. There's only two categories, you're a law keeper or a law breaker. And the bad news of the gospel is that all of us born by natural progression from Adam and his line, because He sinned and cast all of His descendants into sin. That means we are born with a sin nature alienated from God. We are born a lawbreaker. And that's why it is not very long into our lives that we actually do then sin, because that is our nature to do so. So if there are two categories, a lawkeeper and a lawbreaker, and we are all lawbreakers, how does that affect us? Now the question, are some sins worse than others? We look first at legal guilt. When we look at guilt, any one sin, even what may seem to be a very small sin, makes us legally guilty before God and therefore worthy of eternal punishment. If we only sinned one sin, and on our scale, if it was the smallest sin you can think of, if that was the only sin we ever sinned in all of our entire life, we are still guilty and deserve nothing but eternal punishment. Why? Because God's that holy and He cannot stand unholiness in His presence. We always do come to this doctrine of sin, and we look at it from our viewpoint, how it affects us, what sin does to us, how we fight against it. But again, we've got to put it up against the backdrop of God's holiness. Genesis 2.17, the commandment was given, and think about this. What sin could be lesser in degrees than taking a bite of a fruit off a tree? Genesis 2.17, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die. This was God's word to Adam and Eve. You can't eat that fruit. And so, of course, Satan appears to them in the form of a serpent and says to them, has God really said? Let's get them to doubt God's word. In that doubt and in that questioning then becomes a denial of God's word. That leads to a disobedience of God's word. And think about this. I want you to think about this as we talk about degrees of sin. The one sin of taking one bite of one fruit cast all of humanity and creation under the curse. Because that one action was Adam and Eve saying, we will be our own gods in rebellion against God who alone is God. Deuteronomy 27.26 says, Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law by observing them. So here's the bad news about the standard of God's holiness. If you want to meet His standard of holiness, you have to be obedient to all of the law completely, all of the time, without exception. Romans 5.16 reminds us of that sin in the garden, for the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation. Think about the scope then of sin. that that one sin in the garden brought the curse over all of creation, so that now all of creation is groaning and waiting for redemption. Galatians 3 verse 10 reminds us, For as many as are the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them. The law points us to our need for Christ by showing us that if we cannot keep it all, we cannot be pleasing to God. And how long does it take for us to demonstrate that we cannot keep all of the law of God? It doesn't take long, does it? Think about it. How far into your mourning do you have to get before you sin? In thought, word, motive, action, desire. That is our bent in our flesh, the way we are made because we are born under Adam and cursed. So this is the bad news. Scripture does affirm then that there are some sins that are considered greater or weightier than others. They may have more harmful consequences and we also see differing punishments as a result of different sins. There are different levels, so to speak, within the sacrificial system depending on what is required to make atonement for different categories of sin. Here's the truth. There are some categories in the Levitical law that if you do some certain sins, you have to make a sacrifice and it may just be a grain offering or something like that. But what's the penalty if you murder someone? Well, if you can't get to a city of refuge, you forfeit your life for taking a life, because you've extinguished someone who was created in the image of God. And so we see then, obviously, degrees. If one sin can mean you die, and another means you just have to give an offering or pay a fine, obviously there are some degrees there. And we look at that based on the weightiness of what are the consequences. And this is where it comes in in the idea today that If I sin and it just affects me and it doesn't hurt anybody else, then what's wrong with that? Well, number one, you never sin and it only affects you. Because sin by its nature will affect your relationship with the people around you. It never just affects you. And on top of it all, who does that sin offend? It may just be you, and you may think there are no harmful consequences. What did David say? Against you and you only have I sinned. When it comes right down to it, if you want to measure the offense of sin, it's not that I sinned without consequence, it's that I sinned against God. And I've offended Him. You've heard the question, people will say, only God can judge me. And the answer to that is, and that should scare you to death. Because He will. we will stand in judgment. In Luke 12, 48 we're told, And James 3.1 reminds us, My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. There are degrees in judgment and in consequences because there are degrees in sin from the lighter to the weightier. That does not, by the way, make light of sin. No pun intended. Sin is still sin, but there are degrees as we look at it that way. John 19, 11, Jesus answered to Pilate when being questioned, "'You can have no power at all against Me, unless it had been given you from above. Therefore, the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.'" So even Jesus attributes a greater sin to those who turned Him over to Pilate than to Pilate in Him making His judgments and executing His office. In Ezekiel 8.13, He said to me, turn again and you will see greater abominations that they're doing. In fact, if you read Ezekiel chapter 8, I think there's three progressions through Ezekiel chapter 8 where something happens and then God says, turn around and look over here and you're going to see something even a greater abomination. And if that's not enough, turn over here and look and there's an even greater abomination. And if you don't think that's enough, look over here, that's an even greater abomination. Now let me put that in terms, that's flipping from MSNBC to CNN to Fox. Everywhere you turn, it's a greater abomination. It's always bad, it's always worse, it's always compounding. And that is the nature of sin, isn't it? Does sin ever leave us at the lowest level? Is there such a thing as an entry-level sin that does not just compound itself? Because we will sin, then we'll try to defend ourselves and our reputation, and then we'll lie, and then we'll make things up, and then we'll exaggerate, and pretty soon we're affecting everybody and every relationship in our life because we're trying to justify an action, a thought, or a desire that is sinful and is against God. Matthew 11, it says, then he began to rebuke the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done. We talked about the cities in Galilee, where Jesus started his ministry, as we're looking at Matthew. And as we look at that, we see that Christ came, he preached, he taught, he worked miracles. But then the people there rejected him. There were some that believed that came out and that followed him, but the majority of the people in those towns rejected him. The response then, by the time we get to Matthew 11, is that he began to rebuke the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done because they did not repent. And this is what Christ says, "'Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.' But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. Leonard Ravenhill stated it this way. Leonard Ravenhill said, quoting A. W. Tozer, I believe, his mentor, that if someone is saying that God is not judging our nation, and this was all the way back in the 1950s by the way, if people are saying that God is not already judging our nation, then God needs to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. because you look at the nature of sin in our nation, and you understand we are under God's wrath. You understand here Christ condemning those cities. You had the truth, you had the miracles, you had the signs, you had the preaching, the teaching, and the healing, and you did not repent. It's going to be worse for you in the Day of Judgment than those cities that you thought were the worst that had ever been. Matthew 5.19 says, "...therefore whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven." And in Matthew 23, verse 23, "...woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe to Menton, Anise, and Cuman, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone." Sometimes we just do the little things, the least that's required of us, right? Because then we think we've done our duty. We need to be doing all that we are required to do. And the question is, can we do all that we're required to do? No, that's why Christ came, and that's why we have to depend upon Him, and that's why we have to walk in the Spirit, that's why we have to mortify the deeds of the flesh, that's why it is a battle against the flesh until the flesh is finally redeemed. Leviticus 5.17 tells us, and the question is, what if a person sins and they don't even realize that they sinned? If a person sins and commits any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the Lord, though he does not know it. In other words, you sinned and you didn't even realize that there was a commandment and that you broke it. Not even aware that you sinned. you're still guilty and will bear the consequences of that iniquity. And he shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish from the flock with your valuation as a trespass offering, so the priest shall make atonement for him regarding his ignorance in which he erred and did not know it, and it shall be forgiven him. It's a trespass offering. He has certainly trespassed against the Lord. The point is, part of our duty to one another within the body of Christ is to continue to reprove and rebuke one another with the Word of God, not for the purpose of causing division and kicking people out, but for the purpose of purity, so that if we sin and aren't aware of it... How many times has this happened to you? Somebody came to you and told you that something you said or did hurt them, and you had no idea, completely, didn't even know. And our first response is, well, I'm sorry you took it that way. Don't blame them. If somebody comes to you and says, you've done this, what needs to be the response? Repentance and confession, forgive me. Let's have restoration. Let's make it right. Even if it is perceived. There needs to be a push for reconciliation. If there's a misunderstanding, sit down and talk about it. Instead, we get defensive. Well, you're just wrong and I'm right, and we're ready to draw swords and do battle, and we think that's iron sharpening iron. That is not what it means for iron to sharpen iron. Iron sharpening iron is a friend sharpening the countenance of his friend. That means, I am going to do whatever I have to do to help rub off your rough edges, while you are rubbing off my rough edges, while together we're in pursuit of the truth of the Word of God, honing one another in our usefulness to the kingdom. So even if you don't know that you've committed sin, when you become aware of it, the point is you've been guilty all along, and there still is a sacrifice that is required. There also are degrees of blessing and punishment. This is what we see. While heaven will be bliss and the lake of fire will be eternal torments, the Bible is clear that there are rewards and punishments based on the works that we've done, whether good or bad. So there are degrees of blessing in heaven and degrees of punishment in the lake of fire. Deuteronomy 32.22 says, "...for a fire is kindled in my anger, and shall burn to the lowest hell." We see levels here of punishment. Matthew 23.15, "...Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he has won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." you bring an even heavier judgment on them that's coming on you, because of what you encourage them to do in their sin. Psalm 62 verse 12 says, Also to you, O Lord, belongs mercy, for you render to each one according to his work. So you understand that while we understand that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, it is not of works, lest any man should boast, there is still a place for works in our life, and that place for works, meaning obedience to the Word of God, is that we will be judged according to those works, good or bad. we will give an account before God. Saved or lost, we will give an account. The good news is, saved, Christ paid the penalty for us. Lost, we would pay the penalty on our own, which can never be paid. Romans 2.6 says, God who will render to each one according to his deeds. In 2 Corinthians 5.10, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. When we come to the judgment seat of Christ, by the way, there's been an attitude in the church the last couple of decades that we're going to stand before Christ and we're going to be judged by Him, but that's going to be a glorious happy day because Jesus paid it all. And since our consequence is paid, then there's no real suffering at the judgment seat of Christ. Again, Leonard Ravenhill had preached a message on the judgment seat, and it was one of the most terrifying things I ever heard any preacher talk about. Can you imagine standing in front of Christ the Judge and giving account for everything you've done, good or bad, knowing that He has paid the penalty for the bad, for the sin, but still to give an account? When we look at what happens, Here in 1 Corinthians, now, "...if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear, for the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet as though through fire." Looking at the judgment seat of Christ, at the gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble, the idea is what Christ has accomplished in you is purified by judgment because there's still some contamination because it was God's work through you and we're sinful. The wood, hay, and stubble are what we've done on our own that is sinful. It is burned up. But you understand, even though it's burned up and then gone after that judgment, judgment still comes, the fire still comes, and there is still some suffering of some loss. The end of verse there, He will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." The point is, even though the end result is heaven and heavenly bliss in walking with God and Christ daily, can you imagine standing before Christ to give an account? if that does not terrify you. Put it in perspective. How many of us found it comfortable to be criticized by a father or a grandfather in our lives? This was the idea. I had a grandfather who was very supportive, but at one point in time, I did something and I did not think before I did it. I'm not going to say it was stupid, but it was stupid. I did something stupid. And he didn't even have to say anything. The look of disappointment on his face crushed me. Because I could not believe that I had done something to so disappoint him. That is a human relationship. Now imagine standing before Christ who gave himself for you and gave you everything you need to overcome sin, and then answering to him for the sin you still committed while he had done all he had done to die for you, to give himself for you, to equip you with his spirit, to walk in the spirit, and not fulfill the lust of the flesh. That's going to be a devastating moment. It's going to be sweet and precious after the fact, because the wood, hay, and stubble is burned up, and when it's burned up, it's gone, and there's no looking back, and then we're told God wipes away every tear. You understand? It's not that there won't be weeping in heaven, it's that at some point, God will wipe the tears away, and when He does, when God wipes a tear, it stays wiped. So there is good news, there is hope in salvation, but there is also the point, and even the apostles, Paul even taught this, we will stand before God and give an account. And while we all turn to Romans 8, 1, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ, there is still a judgment day coming. And that's not being preached in the church, is it? You've just got a free ticket. You're going to die and you're going to be welcomed into heaven and you're going to find all of your loved ones and it's just going to be love and unicorns and puppy dogs for all eternity, right? No. It's appointed that a man wants to die. And after that, the judgment. The good news is when that judgment comes and our works are judged, the good news is our penalty has been paid. How much more precious at that point will Christ be to us? To see all that we have done to neglect Him and to sin against Him. To see all that He has done for us that we've rejected or just not used. and yet to see through that judgment is His grace and His mercy and His love and we are welcomed into the kingdom. Can you imagine to go through that and for the final verdict to be read and the final verdict is, well done good and faithful servant. This tells us how great the grace of God is. to know that we will stand before Him and we will give an account, and it also reminds us what Christ paid for our sin. There is, by the way, the unpardonable sin. I like to tell people that there are at least two degrees of sin, sins that can be forgiven and a sin that can't. The last and most graphic example here of the degrees of sin is the fact that while Jesus died to forgive the sins of His people, there is one sin that is unpardonable. Matthew 12, 31, Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. Mark 3, The account is assured that I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation, because they said he has an unclean spirit. Luke 12, 10, "...anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him." So the unpardonable sin here involves disparaging the clear work that the Holy Spirit was doing through the Son of God. Christ was casting out demons, and the Pharisees came and said, you're doing that by the power of the devil. Of course, Christ's response is, that makes no sense at all. Why would the devil subvert his own kingdom? That's not how it works. But then He got to the heart of the matter. They knew who He claimed to be. They knew, they knew, understand this, they knew that these miracles confirmed Him to be the Messiah. And yet they were still so willing and so eager to hold on to their power, that they refused to bow the knee to Him as the Messiah. Can you imagine being that entrenched in your sin? That you see one who claims to be the Messiah and does all of the works to confirm, according to the Scripture, that He is the Messiah, and then you attribute all of that work to the work of the devil, instead of to the work of the Spirit. This was the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. So it is a willful and final rejection of the Holy Spirit who is working through Christ, by attributing God's work in Christ to Satan. It's a willful hardening of the heart against Christ, rejecting the work of the Spirit. What is the main work of the Spirit? to point to Christ, to testify of Christ. So if you blaspheme the Spirit, what you're doing is you are rejecting the testimony of the Spirit about Jesus. The power that Jesus was using to do those miracles was the power of the Holy Spirit. And they said, that's Satan, not God. You're working in the power of the devil. attributing what the Holy Spirit was doing, pointing to Christ as the Messiah, and claiming that that was something that was satanic. Louis Burkow says, This sin consists in the conscious, malicious, and willful rejection and slander against the evidence and conviction of the testimony of the Holy Spirit, respecting the grace of God in Christ. attributing it out of hatred and enmity to the Prince of Darkness. In committing that sin, man willfully, maliciously, and intentionally attributes what is clearly recognized as the work of God to the influence and operation of Satan." He goes on to say, "...this sin consists not in doubting the truth, nor in a sinful denial of it, but in a contradiction of it that goes contrary to the conviction of the mind, to the illumination of the conscience, and even to the verdict of the heart." This is someone who so hardens their heart not to bow the knee to Christ that they would rather attribute the work that the Spirit is doing through him to Satan himself than to God. That is apostasy. That is to be, at that point, unsavable because you have rejected the testimony. And here's the point. If you die in that state, if you reject the testimony of the Spirit about Christ, and you die, what hope is there? Well, I did see on TBN last week that you're given a second chance. You get to stand before God and you get to, do you believe me now? Do you believe me now? Is that your final answer? It's in the game show, folks. It's pointed to man wants to die and after that, the judgment. At some point, the understanding is you continue to reject the testimony of the Spirit about who Christ is, meaning you know the truth about who Christ is, willfully reject it and harden your heart. That is the unpardonable sin because you are calling the Holy Spirit of God a liar and refusing to believe His testimony. That cannot be forgiven. That can't. There are those who say that every sin, including the sin of unbelief, can be forgiven. If you die in your unbelief, none of your sins are forgiven. Not a one of them. What about the sin leading unto death? This is just a cheerful topic this morning, isn't it? Aren't you glad we're almost done with the doctrine of sin? The sin leading to death. 1 John 5.16, If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and he will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin as there is sin not leading to death. So this does not speak of a sin that cannot be forgiven, but this is of a sin that if persisted in will lead to death. There's actually two views of this. One view is that this is a person who claims to be a believer, but by their continuation in habitual sin, they prove that they are not an authentic Christian. 1 John 3.6. This would be apostasy, and praying for restoration is impossible for the apostate. It's impossible for the apostate to turn from that, obviously on their own, without the help of God. The other view is that this is a true believer who, like some in Corinth, brought such serious shame to Christ by their sin that it resulted in divine discipline that included premature death. These verses, by the way, are included in chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians where we learn about Paul's instructions for the Lord's Supper. There were those who abused the table. But this is what's amazing to me. We, especially in the Reformed community, we will argue to the death over baptism. Baptism does not kill you unless there's a serious mistake in the baptistry. Abusing the Lord's Supper brings sickness and death. That, again, should be frightening because we are taking the gospel and treating it without examining ourselves as we should. And the result in Corinth is that there were those there who got sick and who died because of this. Another example from Acts 5 would be Ananias and Sapphira. They lied to the Holy Spirit and were struck dead because of it. No indication given whether they were truly believers or not, but they were in the church as a result of their action and they sinned. And of course, fear went throughout the church. People understood that God was serious about sin and there was a revival. That's a hard road to get to revival. But it's the reality that there are things that we can do that if we persist in them, can lead to death. 1 Corinthians 5, Paul writes, it's actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality is not even named among the Gentiles, that a man has his father's wife. And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged, as though I were present, him who has done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." Paul basically turned this believer over and said, Satan, take him. Destroy his flesh by this sin so that his spirit can be free. And there are times, by the way, that it's just the very nature of sin, isn't it? There are sins that we can sin and things that we can become involved in, if not curbed, will just lead to death. There are addictions and all sorts of things that we can get involved in that will lead to our physical death, if not curbed. Does that mean that an addict cannot be saved? I would never go that far. because it is the sinners and the sick that Christ came to save. But in that battle against sin, there may come a time that that sin takes its toll. And the way that Pastor Mentor Me said it this way, there are times that God, allowing His children to sin, then disciplines them in such a way that they get taken home where they can't sin anymore and are finally free of that. God says, enough. In fact, if we look at the scripture, while we know that God knows the number of our days and that the time of our death is set, you understand you can hasten your death, you can bring it about faster than it should have been by your actions and by your sin. There are things we see where God extends life, Hezekiah, and others where people's lives are shortened because of things they did to sin against God. And God said, that's it, it's up. Now, did God know that in eternity past? He knew that, of course. But from our perspective, they cut their life short by their decisions, by their sin. So what is the answer for sin? We got to have some good news here, don't we? What is the answer to sin? It is here in Romans 3. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We always stop there. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But go on to verse 24. being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God has passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." There's that great theological word, propitiation. What does that mean? It means Jesus bore the full wrath of God for your sin if you're His. Every drop, all of it, He took upon Himself. Hebrews 2.17, Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of His people. 1 John 2.2 tells us, He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. I just read you the verse that completely undoes all Calvinism. There it is. Jesus died for the whole world. Okay, let's look at it. He Himself is the propitiation for our sins. John talking about ethnically people who are like Him, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. The key word to this verse is the word, our and ours, in contrast to the other nations. Look at John 11, 51. Now this He did not say on His own authority, but being high priest that year, He prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. When Jesus died, He died to gather people from every tongue and tribe and nation. So to use the phrase there, the whole world, the key is not the phrase the whole world, the key is not for our sins only, but for others. Not all every single individual who's ever lived. Christ died to pay the propitiation for our sins, John says, and for others. Those who are near and those who are far off. This is the contrast that runs throughout the New Testament. That there are those who are near and those who are far off. And where does the call go to? The call goes to bring those who are far off in so that they might be brought near. So that it's not just us. By the way, the others there, the whole world there, that's us. those outside of ethnic Israel. 1 John 4.10 says, And this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And Hebrews 9 reminds us, Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood, He entered into the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" What a price He has paid for us. Hebrews 10 verse 12 and 13 says, But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till his enemies are made his footstool. For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. This is the answer to our sin. As convicted and as awful as we feel about it, and we should, imagine the feeling of Christ on the cross. bearing the penalty for it. What did it lead him to cry from the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The answer to that question is, because of our sin. But that's the good news. Our sin and the penalty is the bad news. The good news is, Jesus paid it all. He's borne all of that upon himself. That leads us then into the doctrine of the church. Those who belong to Him, those who are the redeemed, those who are ambassadors, pilgrims and sojourners. As we continue in that doctrine, keep in mind as we conclude the doctrine of sin, the true conclusion to the doctrine of sin happened at the cross. Jesus paid it in His atonement. In that propitiation, in that redemption, we now not only have the consequences of sin, the wrath for sin, the judgment for sin taken care of by Christ bearing it on the cross, but now we've been given new life and an ability to keep God's Word, to be pleasing to Him, to do what is right. This is what He accomplished. In our justification, we find this great truth. Christ took our sin upon Himself on the cross and gave us His righteousness, so now we're pleasing to the Father. Now, being pleasing to Him and knowing Him and seeing His holiness, it should make us uncomfortable to talk about the reality of our sin. But we talk about it to make this point. Sin no longer reigns over us. We have been freed from its domination and its power and its consequence because of the sacrifice of Christ. This is the good news of the gospel of grace. There was nothing we could do about it to get rid of it, to pay for it, to make atonement. to provide a ransom, and God did it all by sending His Son for us, such is His love for us. And to look and to know that one day we will stand before Him, and we will give an account, and after the fire falls, all that Christ has done in us is purified, and that is all that remains. And you know what we're going to do with that gold, silver, and precious stones? Well, of course, I'm going to take mine, I'm going to run over to Vita, and we're going to compare it. If I've got more in my bank account in heaven, or he's got more in his bank account in heaven, then that determines whose mansion is closest, right? You know what we're going to do with it? We're going to throw it all back at the feet of Christ. And it's not going to be near enough to what He deserves. But I hope you have something to throw at His feet. And this, then, is the admonition. Fight against sin. Fight against sin for all your worth. D.L. Moody said this. I thought it was humorous, but it's actually very true. D.L. Moody said he was going to fight the devil in sin, and he was going to fight as long as he could stand. And if he lost his legs, then he was just going to walk over on his stumps and beat the devil in sin to death. And if he lost his arms, then he was going to fall down. And if he had to, he was going to bite the devil, and he was going to bite sin until he could tear it apart and be done with it. And if that knocked all of his teeth out, D.L. Moody said, well, I'm going to gum it. As long as I've got gums. Are we that determined to fight sin? To cut off a hand if necessary to enter into heaven whole. To be willing to pay that price to fight against sin. Is the battle that serious? We have to see it as that serious. And the best way to understand that seriousness, look at Christ on the cross. How serious was God about our sin? serious enough to judge His Son in our place. Let's thank God for grace this morning. Father, we do thank You for the salvation and the solution to our sin, the propitiation that has been made for us by Christ. to know that He has taken your wrath and borne it upon Himself so that even as we stand before you to give an account, all that will be left from that judgment will be to your praise and to your glory. Everything that offends or takes away from what you have done is burned up and it's gone because Jesus paid it all. Father, I pray you would remind us the terrors of sin, convict us as we need to be convicted, as we deal with our own sinfulness, our flesh, but remind us the great hope and the power that we've been given because of Christ and because of your Spirit. If we walk in the Spirit, you tell us we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh, and even then if we do sin because of the finished work of Christ, if we confess, you are faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, because in that sacrifice of Christ we've been given the full pardon for sin. Father, remind us this morning how heinous sin is, how holy you are, and how free you have made us in Christ. We thank you for this liberty given to us at such a price, and pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.