Fritha Dinwiddie 9/7/24 Fritha Dinwiddie 9/7/24

THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN

#542 THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN

Scripture James 1:15; Daniel 12:1-13; II Thessalonians 1:6-9, NIV Orig. 1/19/1969

Rewr. 8/15/1985

Passage:

James 1:15

15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Daniel 12:1-13

12 “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. 2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise[a] will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. 4 But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.”

5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and there before me stood two others, one on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank. 6 One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?” 7 The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives forever, saying, “It will be for a time, times and half a time.[b] When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.”

8 I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, “My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?” 9 He replied, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end. 10 Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand. 11 “From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. 12 Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days. 13 “As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.”

II Thessalonians 1:6-9

6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might[.]

Purpose: To share with my people for a deeper understanding that there are grievous consequences to sins.

Keywords: Death Hell Judgment Sin

Timeline/Series: Deeper Life

Introduction

Someone has said that “Death is the most democratic institution on earth. It comes to all men, regardless of color, education, wealth, or rank. It allows no discrimination, tolerates no exceptions. The mortality rate for mankind is the same the world over: one death per person.”

There are two questions for which answers are needed. The first is rhetorical. It asks: “Why do we die?” The second, for the believer, is redemptive. It asks: “What happens after death?”

All literature is full of pithy statements of death. From Shakespeare’s “The weariest and most loathed worldly life that age, ache, penury, and imprisonment can lay on nature is a paradise To what we fear of death.” Measure for Measure, III 1 127. to John Donne’s “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved with mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” (Devotions XVII)

But these two questions continue to haunt us: “Why do we die?” and “What happens after death?” Searching for answers, we discover that both questions are related to our topic for this morning, “The Consequences of Sin.” Why do we die? Because death is a consequence of sin. What happens after death? Judgment, and heaven and hell are the result of death.

I. First, We Must Appraise Death. James 1:15 “Then, when desire has conceived it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.” (RSV).

Judge rightly that sin and death go hand in hand. Paul gave a strong reminder to the Roman Christians. Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death.” Used in plan of salvation; Explain “wages”—pay, or substitute for pay, [or] the fruit of our labor.

Thus the discovery that before Adam and Eve’s sin, no knowledge of death. In the garden were two trees. Tree of knowledge; tree of life; invited to tree of life, denied tree of knowledge; warning: “Lest you die,” which Satan challenged, “You shall not die.” Their disobedience was their sin.

After their sin a moral directive was given. Genesis 3:22 “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever—therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.”

Let it be clear, the first consequence of sin is death. Story of unnamed. ____ requested a visit. Her brother was involved. Took 6 to 8 weeks to get courage. Talked for over an hour. Open, seemed interested and concerned. That night she died in a drunken stupor with the man. She was dead before the fire.

The scripture so warns us. Ezekiel 18:2 “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” James 1:15 “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

II. We Must Then Be Warned about Judgment. II Thessalonians 1:7f “To give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from Heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those . . . who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

It is a universal judgment. No distinction of religious culture; the wealthy hold no favoritism with God; education will not be considered as positive or negative factor; time of life, or length of life, will gain no advantage.

Too many of us have a distorted view of such judgment. When Amos was sent to prophesy, Amaziah (Amos 7:10) “priest of Bethel” confronted him because he had spoken against the royal family. Amaziah justified their actions by who they were. It still happens. We loathe the pervert who molests children, but put him in a $400 suit and a $30 tie, let him drive up in a BMW—he becomes something else, an unfortunate man needing help.

It is a judgment on deeds done in flesh. A judgment on opportunities—Matthew 7:19 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire.” What are we doing with our opportunities?

A judgment on our activities—II Corinthians 5:10 “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in the body.” We think of Dante’s Inferno and his Divine Comedy, and John Milton’s Paradise Lost. This awful picture of death and hell is only literature. To the person in hell, they haven’t half pictured it.

It is a judgment concerning Christ. II Thessalonians 1:8 “In flaming fire taking [vengeance on them that know not God].” Imagine chaos of social order without law. Consider a mechanical world without predictable guidelines. Mull over where the farmer would be without defined limits on seed, chemicals, and fertilizer. How can we even tolerate a world without moral and spiritual limits.

Revelation 20:12f “I saw vengeance on them that know not God the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened . . . . Whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

III. Judgment Must Remind Us that There is a Hell as There is a Heaven. See Revelation 20:12 above.

Reason bears witness that there is a judgment, and if judgment then hell also. What is a court of law without a jail cell for the guilty? What good comes to the child in the remonstrance of wrong without a rod of correction?

Even more important than reason is what the Bible says. Psalm 9:17 “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” Isaiah 5:14 “Hell hath enlarged herself and opened her mouth without measure.” Revelation 21:18 “The fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Closing

The two questions remain. “Why do we die?” Because death is the fertile ground through which we pass to that for which we have labored. “What happens after death?” Through Christ we pass to eternal life. Life forever spent in the joy of oneness with God. Without Christ, we pass to eternal death. Imagine a forever spent with the pains and hurts of death and dying.

He Leadeth Me: O Blessed Thought

The United Methodist Hymnal Number 128
Text: Joseph H. Gilmore, 1834-1918
Music: William B. Bradbury, 1816-1868
Tune: HE LEADETH ME, Meter: LM with Refrain

1. He leadeth me: O blessed thought!
O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
Whate'er I do, where'er I be, still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.

Refrain:
He leadeth me, he leadeth me, by his own hand he leadeth me;
his faithful follower I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me.

2. Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom, sometimes where Eden's bowers bloom,
by waters still, o'er troubled sea, still 'tis his hand that leadeth me.
(Refrain)

3. Lord, I would place my hand in thine, nor ever murmur nor repine;
content, whatever lot I see, since 'tis my God that leadeth me.
(Refrain)

4. And when my task on earth is done, when by thy grace the victory's won,
e'en death's cold wave I will not flee, since God through Jordan leadeth me.
(Refrain)

Shakespeare: https://shakespeare.mit.edu/measure/measure.3.1.html

Donne: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/23772/23772-h/23772-h.htm

Gilmore/Bradbury: http://www.HymnSite.com