Herbert W Armstrong

   Of course, my subject today is not eating or not eating, but the subject is sin. We're told at this time of the year to come out of sin, that we are to put sin out of our lives. But what is sin?

   Some years ago, I was driving down Green Street eastward, and in front of a large church there, I saw the sermon topic for that Sunday. And the title of the sermon was, "Are Sin, Sickness, and Disease Real?" Well, I happen to know a little bit about that particular church, that particular religion anyway, what they teach in regard to the subject. So I would like to quote here from the founder of that particular church on the subject of sin.

   This is the quote now: "A sinner is not reformed merely by assuring him that he cannot be a sinner because there is no sin. To put down the claim of sin, you must detect it, remove the mask, point out the illusion, and thus get the victory over sin, and so prove its unreality. The sick are not healed merely by declaring there is no sickness, but by knowing that there is none." Now that is taken from the book "Science and Health with the Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Morse Baker Patterson Glover Eddy. Maybe you might have known her by a shorter name.

   From another writer of that particular church by the name of Gersner, I'd like to give another quote: "Sin and disease are figments of the mortal or carnal mind to be destroyed, healed by knowing their unreality." Now that is one approach to sin - that really there isn't any sin after all, it's just a figment of your imagination.

   This reminds me of a story that my father told me when I was young. And in this particular circumstance, a story related to a practitioner, I guess, or a reader - and I don't know the distinction between the two - of this particular church. But anyway, there was a new convert to this particular religion, and this convert happened to be walking down the street one day and saw this reader or this person from this particular church. And the reader inquired as to the condition of his wife, and he said, "Well, she's sick." And the reader promptly informed him that no, she isn't sick, she just thinks she's sick. Well, a few days later they met again, and so the reader inquired again about the state of his wife, and he said, "She thinks she's dead."

   Just what is sin? Everyone has their own idea of what sin is. Now if you're a Catholic and you looked into your Catholic doctrines, you would find that according to their teaching, sin is a moral evil. Let me repeat that now so you'll be sure and understand it: sin is a moral evil. Now that's really enlightening. Another quote: "Evil implies a deficiency in perfection. Evil is metaphysical, physical, or moral."

   Now the Catholics divide sin into several categories. They speak sometimes of original sin. Maybe you might have heard of original sin. Original sin is the sin that they say we all have inherited from Adam. And unless we are baptized - now maybe I should put the word "baptized" in quotes - that's their method of baptism as they call it, which is sprinkling - without baptism, the person will end up ultimately in hell.

   Now that's original sin, but they have another major category of sin, and then this is subdivided into a couple of others. And the other major category is actual sin - actual sin. Now this is the sin of the will, the person's will, not that you inherit from Adam, but that you yourself do. And this is divided into two categories. The first one is venial, venial sin - V-E-N-I-A-L. I thought I would spell that for you. Don't look for it in the Bible, but you might look for it in the dictionary sometime. Venial is a sin that they say is easily forgiven, so it's not so bad, it's just a little sin. And it's removed by confession or by penance, and if you have that particular kind of sin at the time you die, then you go to purgatory for however long it's necessary to purge of that particular sin.

   The other type of actual sin is what is called a mortal sin. Now we might call this a major sin, and this major sin will ultimately lead to hell also. Now, the Catholics further define sin as the violation of the quote, law of God - you'll find this in Bruno's work on the subject. Sin is violation of law of God. Well, you might think, "Well, we're quite in agreement with that." We would say something of the same, that it is the law of God that is violated when we sin. But remember that this law is the law as interpreted by that particular church, and I'm quite sure that their interpretation of a specific law would be quite different from what we would interpret or understand such a law to be. Or in addition to a violation of the law of God, it could be a violation of the law of the church.

   So that tells us briefly what the Catholics teach about the subject of sin. What do the Protestants teach about sin? Well, this is varied, of course. Each church has its own idea, and I suppose each church - the members in that have their own ideas of what sin is. And I'm sure that if you were reared in a Protestant church, that you were given some instruction or some comments about what sin was somewhere along the line.

   I was reared as a small child in a very strict Protestant denomination. And in that particular denomination, they taught that sin was going to movies, or sin was drinking liquor - which of course would include wine as well as other kind of spirits - or if you were a woman who was wearing jewelry. Or believe it or not, even if a woman wore short sleeves, that was sin. And when I was very small, I think they even taught that it was a sin to get married.

   Well, in due time I got married. But I found out that the Bible said that that wasn't sin. And I also found out that sin was something different from what I had been taught, because when I began to look in the Bible and look up the word sin and look through the concordance, I didn't find where movies were sins or that drinking liquor was a sin. In fact, I found out, you know, we're supposed to drink wine for the Passover, and I also read that on the feast days especially we could eat or drink whatever our hearts desired, including various liquors of one kind or another. And I also found out that the holy women of God adorned themselves with jewelry. And I didn't find that it said anything about short sleeves or long sleeves as far as women's apparel was concerned, and so on.

   But very few of the teachings of the Protestants in regard to the subject of sin relate to the subject of law. Now, if you get in some concordance - not in concordances, but some commentaries, some Bible dictionaries - you may see some reference to law, but the general idea that Protestants have about sin is that your conscience tells you what sin is. The problem with that, of course, is that everyone has a different yardstick then in which to judge what is sin and what is not sin. What Hitler did, he thought was right and therefore, from this particular explanation of what sin is, I suppose Hitler did not sin because just about everyone justifies their actions no matter how bad they are.

   Now another idea that Protestants have is that Christ lived a perfect life, and not to set us an example that we should follow in his steps, but rather that he lived this perfect life and he did it for us, and so it doesn't matter too much how we live necessarily, except maybe one denomination might say you have to do this or not do that and another denomination might say something different. But the main thing you need to have is love.

   And it has nothing to do, at least in their minds, with the law of God or the teachings of God necessarily. You just have to have love. Well, in this, of course, the people are ignoring the scripture in I John 5:3, which I'll quote would not refer to not turn to, which says, "This is the love of God." Now if these people have the love of God, John says, "This is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous."

   You see, most Protestants believe that the law was done away, and you may have heard a recent broadcast where Mr. Armstrong made reference to an experience that he had some years ago up in Eugene, Oregon, I think it was, where a visiting evangelist was there to preach, and he and his helpers were working up and down trying to convince people to come to their meetings. And somewhere along the line they accosted Mr. Armstrong, and so he asked about this man, what he taught, and so forth, and he asked about the subject of sin since the man had made some reference to sin - that we're supposed to not sin or we're supposed to put sin out or whatever it was the man said. And so he asked, "Well, what is sin?" And they couldn't answer him. The helpers couldn't, and finally they brought the great evangelist there and he couldn't either answer from the Bible what the Bible says sin is.

   Well, to most people, I would think that sin is just a joke. The man on the street, I would say, would say that sin is a joke, and even those who are religious are not very concerned about what sin is. And many others, of course, also have the idea that it doesn't matter very much either way, that sin doesn't exist anyway or doesn't matter.

   Now to most people, sin is glamorous. It's alluring. It's enticing. It's the way of pleasure. It's the way that you ought to go, you know - whatever is sin, that's what we ought to do. Now the Bible comments along this line and does admit that there is a certain pleasure in sin. And of course, this is what the world sees. Of course, oftentimes they don't know what sin really is, but whatever they think sin is, then they think that is pleasurable and that it's enjoyable and that's what they ought to do.

   I'd like to quote from the book of Proverbs from the New English Bible, in Proverbs 9:17, which brings out this principle. It says, "Stolen water is sweet." You know, if you got it by some other means, it wouldn't be sweet, but if it's stolen, it's sweet. "And bread gotten by stealth tastes good." Yes, there is a perverseness in human nature that gives a pleasure for a while in committing of a sin. And so people have the idea that sin is desirable, that it's enjoyable, that it is pleasurable. But that pleasure doesn't last.

   Let's notice that point over in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11. We were reading a little bit in this chapter this morning. Let's notice now chapter 11 verse 25, speaking of Moses here. Hebrews 11:25, "Choosing rather" - that is Moses chose rather - "to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." Now the part I want to emphasize, of course, is that there is pleasure in sin, but it's only for a season. Or as one translation says, the New English Bible, "the transient pleasures of sin," the fleeting pleasures of sin. So there are pleasures, but the thing is that they are not lasting.

   Now, as I've been saying, sin in some cases - maybe in every case - does have temporary pleasures and therefore or thereby would seem glamorous or alluring or seem good, when really the very opposite is true. Now what we should do is not be deceived by any temporary pleasure that we might derive from sin, realizing - and we'll see this a little bit later - because there is a very terrible kickback later. And if you sin, you're going to pay. And then you're going to pay, and you're going to continue to pay. You're going to be hurt by sin, but that hurt, that pain, that trouble does not just happen once necessarily. It'll keep going right on. We'll see this a little bit more as we go on as well.

   Now sin involves cause and effect. Or to put it in other words, sin - or maybe I should put it this way - that for every action there is a reaction. And depending on what the cause is or what the action is, the effect or the reaction might be good or might be bad. Now if we want the right reaction, if we want the right effect, then we must take the right action and we must do the right cause.

   Now what really is sin? Only God can define what sin really is. Men may guess, and those who do guess almost never find out what sin is. But all man can do is to guess unless - unless they look to God to find out just exactly what sin is. Now God decided what sin was before man was ever created. And it's not for you within your power or your province or your responsibility or mine to decide what sin is. Only God can say what sin is.

   And what God did when He determined what sin was, knowing that there was going to be an effect for every cause and knowing, of course, that there was going to be a reaction for every action, God decided that whatever bad thing would come - that is the cause of every bad effect would be sin. And as I've said, it's not for us to decide what that is. Only God can decide what sin is. What we decide is not what is sin, but rather whether we will sin or whether we will not sin.

   Continuing, what is sin then? Now if I would ask you what is sin and I wanted the Bible definition, you would know what it is. I'm sure all of you, and you would know the scripture to turn to. But you ask a Protestant, you ask a Catholic, you ask a theologian, "Would you show me in the Bible where it says what sin is?" Chances are they would not be able to show you in the Bible what sin is.

   But let's turn to that. You know where it is, don't you? Let's see how many of you know where it is. So what does it say? Did you all find it? This is one of the most basic things I think that we can all learn.

   Of course it's I John 3:4: "Whosoever commits sin transgresseth also the law." And the last part of this verse now is what we usually refer to, "for sin is" - here now is the definition - "sin is the transgression of the law" or the violation of law. Now notice that that is in a sense twice repeated in that very verse. It first says that if you commit sin, you transgress the law. For sin is a transgression of the law. So you might say there we have two statements that really amount to the same thing, that the law defines what sin is.

   Now, what law is it talking about? It's not talking about the law of the United States or the city of Pasadena. It might indirectly refer to some of those laws, but it's talking specifically about God's law. And God is the one that made the law, and as I said earlier, He made the law to show us ahead of time what was sin, and if we did not obey those particular laws, then we would suffer the penalty. In other words, we would have to receive whatever action there or whatever reaction there would be because of a particular action.

   So in this particular scripture, I John 3:4 is the main place that we think of that defines what law is. And I think that many of us think, well, this is the only place in the Bible where it states that. And we don't realize that the same thing is stated in other words in other places. And I would like to show you some of those this afternoon so that if you're worried about maybe just one scripture telling you what sin is, realize that there are several others that tell us the same thing essentially.

   Let's turn over to the book of Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7, and we'll start reading in verse 7 (Romans 7:7): "What shall we say then? Is the law sin?" Now I think that many in the churches today would tell you that if you obey the law, you're under a curse. Or they may refer to the 10 Commandments as a "terrible ten." And even some religious people that claim to be Christian will say, you know, that you're not supposed to keep the 10 Commandments, that that's bad for you.

   So he says here, "Is the law sin?" or is it wrong? God forbid, or I should say not. Nay or no, "I had not known sin but by the law." He says, "I would not have known what sin was except the law told me what sin was." This is saying then the same thing that we read over in I John 3:4. Sin is a transgression of the law. The law, you see, defines sin.

   And then he gives a little example here of what he's talking about: "For I had not known lust except the law had said, 'Thou shalt not covet.'" Now he would have no way of knowing that it was wrong to covet. Now if you covet, of course this is something that takes place in the mind. It might involve other things subsequently, but to start with, it's just totally in the mind. It doesn't hurt anyone else. No one knows about it except you and God, as far as that's concerned. And so you can't say, well, it's wrong because it hurts somebody else. It doesn't hurt anybody else, it just hurts you.

   He says, "I had not known lust," or "I didn't know that lust was wrong except the law had said you shall not covet." And so he read in the Bible, he read in the 10 Commandments that "you shall not covet" - the 10th commandment, and therefore he knew that to lust or to covet was a sin.

   Now there's another point we ought to notice here, and that is that the law that he refers to is the 10 Commandment law. That is, of course, one of the laws, one of the commandments, "thou shalt not covet" - the 10th, as I just mentioned.

   Now let's go a little bit further: "But sin taking occasion by the commandment" - we might say this, that if there were no commandment against this, then it would not be sin. But sin taking occasion by the commandment, or since the commandment defined this particular sin, "wrought in me all manner of concupiscence, for without the law sin was dead."

   If there were no law, there would be no sin. "For I was alive without the law once," that is, I didn't understand the law, I didn't know about the law, I didn't know that it was wrong to covet. "But when the commandment came," when I saw the commandment and saw that the commandment says, "Thou shalt not covet," then he says, "sin revived, and I died" because you see, as we're going to read a little bit later, the penalty of sin is death.

   "And the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death. For sin taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me." You see, sin deceived him. And whereby as a result of that, it's, he says here, it slew me because the penalty would be death.

   Verse 12: "Wherefore, the law is holy," that it is sacred, it is set apart by God. It originates and comes from God. "It is holy and the commandment holy," which some people of course do hate, "and just and good."

   Now, from those verses then in Romans 7 verse 7 through 12 (Romans 7:7-12), we see the very same thing we saw in I John 3:4, that the law, specifically here, the 10 Commandment law defines sin. Now, if there is no law, then there is no sin. Now, some say that the law was done away. Now, if the law was done away, then these scriptures would make it clear that there is no longer any sin. If there is no sin, then of course there is no need for a savior, is there? The only reason why we need to have a savior is so that we might be forgiven of our sins and his blood, you know, his death, his sacrifice makes it possible for us to have our sins forgiven. But there's no need of that if there is no law, because if there's no law, there's no sin.

   All right, so we've seen the second scripture, several verses here that make it very clear again that the law, specifically the 10 Commandment law, defines sin. That's the second place. Now, let's turn to another one. This time back to I John, I John Chapter 5, and verse 17 (I John 5:17). He says, "All unrighteousness is sin, and there's a sin not unto death." The first part of this is what I want to emphasize. He says unrighteousness is sin. Now what is unrighteousness? Unrighteousness, of course, is the exact opposite of righteousness. Therefore, if we would look elsewhere in the Bible and find out what unrighteousness is or what righteousness is, we would have another definition of sin, would we not? Because righteousness would be the opposite of sin, unrighteousness would be sin.

   Let's turn then over to the book of Psalms, where we'll find this word defined in the scriptures. The book of Psalms is chapter 119. This is that very long Psalm, of course, which relates entirely to the law. Psalm 119 and verse 172 (Psalm 119:172), the last part of the verse. He says, "For all your commandments are righteousness." So we see from here, from this particular scripture that God's commandments show us what righteousness is. Therefore, if we would obey those commandments, it would be righteousness. If we disobeyed, it would be unrighteousness.

   So isn't this saying the same thing as we have been reading before in Romans 7:7 and also I John 3:4, that the commandments, the law of God, the spiritual law of God tells us what sin is? It tells us what is unrighteous and what is righteous.

   Now there's a slight difference in the Revised Standard Version that I would like to point out. It reads something like this, and I don't recall the whole all of it, but at least the one word I would like to emphasize, "For all your commandments are right" - are right instead of righteousness. Now, of course, some people, even theologians, as I mentioned earlier, will say that they're wrong, you know, that the 10 Commandments are wrong.

   So we see then in these three texts that the Bible tells us essentially the same thing, that God's law, God's commands, his spiritual law, tell us what sin is. Now let's notice another place in the book of Deuteronomy. The book of Deuteronomy now chapter 6. Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 25 (Deuteronomy 6:25): "And it shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these commandments before the Eternal our God as He has commanded us."

   All right, so here we see that it will be righteousness if we keep these commandments again, backing up what we had read in the other place in the book of Psalms. Now I'd like to notice a couple words here that are different in the Revised Standard Version where it says something like this: "It will be," or "it shall be righteousness for us if we do this" - a slight variation, not that it is ours, but if we, it's for us that we observe these commandments and so forth.

   All right, so we have seen here now three places that have told us essentially the same thing. I'd like to divert just a few moments here and notice a few other things about the commandments. Then we'll go on to a fourth place that the Bible defines what sin is.

   First, let's go to the book of Psalms again. The Book of Psalms chapter 111. Psalm 111. We're talking now specifically about the commandments, which of course do define what sin is. Psalm 111 verse 7, Psalm 111:7: "The works of his hands," speaking of God's hands, "are verity and judgment." And of course, one of the works of God's hands was to write the 10 Commandments on two tables of stone. And I think then that this particular statement would include that, it would include other things, but it would include what God did with his hand, with his finger when he wrote on the stone, the 10 Commandments.

   "The works of his hands are verity and judgment. All his commandments are sure." Now, some would say, you know, well, they're not sure or they only going to last for so long or whatever. That says "they stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness." So it says they stand fast forever and ever, not just until the cross or not just until a particular time, but forever and ever. "And are done in truth and uprightness," or as another translation says, "to be performed in truth and uprightness."

   Another thing about the Psalms or about the commandments, let's turn over a few pages to the 119th Psalm again. We had read verse 172. Let's read now verse 96 again about the commandments. Psalm 119:96, the last part of this of the verse here: "But your commandment is exceeding broad." The commandment, your commandment is exceeding broad. You see, God's commandments - all 10 of them are very, very broad principles.

   We might even go to another principle that is even more broad than the commandments, and that is the principle of love. Love to neighbor, love to God, and of course the 10 Commandments define how to love God and how to love our neighbor.

   So we have two very broad principles, or we might say one, the principle of love. Then we have the 10 Commandments. And all the rest of the laws that relate to sin and righteousness fit under those particular 10 commandments. So they are very broad, they are very wide in what they do encompass.

   And so we see then about the commandments which also define sin that they last forever as their very broad principles. Now let's go back to the New Testament and go to the first place, fourth place rather where we'll find a definition of sin. James 4, James 4, and verse 17. I can remember when I was a child hearing the minister recite this. And what he was trying to portray as far as I understood, as far as I perceived it was, that it just says here that your conscience is your guide. Your conscience tells you what sin is.

   Let's look and see if that's what it says: "Therefore," verse 17 of James the 4th chapter (James 4:17), "therefore, to him that knows to do good and does it not, to him it is sin." And so the person would interpret this to mean then you know that if you know to do good, that's what your conscience does. Your conscience shows you what you ought to do, what is good and what is bad. And therefore your conscience is your guide. Your conscience defines what sin is.

   Now if that were the case, of course, the other three scriptures that we saw would be untrue, would they not? Let's see what he means by this. "Therefore, to him that knows to do good." Now what is it to do good? Who decides what is good? Do you decide what is good? Does Adolf Hitler decide what is good? Does the Pope decide what is good? Does the head of some church decide what is good? No, God decides what is good.

   And what we have been reading, we might say, is God's definition of what good is. Because righteousness or right living or goodness or being good is defined by the law, by the commands of God. Therefore, to him that knows to do good - in other words, you know what the Bible says, you know what the law says, you know what the commandments say in regard to a particular action. Then you know what is good.

   Now, if you think something else is good, you're wrong. If you think that it's all right to murder, you think that's right - that doesn't make it right, does it? That's bad because God has said, "Thou shalt not kill" or "Thou shalt do no murder." And so therefore to him that knows to do good, the one who knows what God says is good, and does it not - to him, it is sin.

   So when we realize what is right and what is wrong, and if we go the wrong way, it is sin to us, and you might say in a sense it is a double sin. Because some people sin and don't know that it is sin, and others sin when they know that it is sin. And since the Bible shows us, the commands show us what sin is, then we should do what the Bible says. We should obey God in those things.

   I'd like to read this from Revised Standard Version, this verse 17: "Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." Jesus made some reference to that also when he talked about those whose sins remained because they knew what they were doing.

   All right, so we have seen here also that if we know what is good based on God's law, that that will be either righteousness or sin depending on whether we do it or whether we do not do it.

   So again, we might say that the law defines what is good and bad, it defines what is sin. And the one who does not do it, the one who either neglects to do what is right, or the one who does what is wrong is committing sin.

   Now we usually think of sin, I think, as an active thing of taking a particular action, but sometimes it's neglect as well, and I would like to give you one example of this that is back in the Old Testament. I Samuel 12. I Samuel chapter 12, because sometimes we think that if a particular action is not clearly mentioned in the 10 Commandments, that it's all right.

   But let's notice what it says here in I Samuel 12 and verse 23 (I Samuel 12:23). This is Samuel writing now, and I won't take the time to read the background of this. He says, "Moreover, as for me," Samuel says, "God forbid that I should sin against the Eternal in ceasing to pray for you." Here now was something that he failed to do. If he neglected, it would be sin. And so he realized that if he were going to stop praying for those people, the people of Israel at that particular time, that it would be a sin against God. He doesn't say it's a sin against you. He says it's a sin against God. And so neglect, even sometimes of what we might think are little things can be sin.

   Now we've seen several texts that all say essentially the same thing that we saw back in I John 3:4. So now I think you can see that the subject of sin is defined in more than one place and not just in I John 3:4, and we've seen very clearly now that the law, God's law, not man's law, but the law of God, the spiritual law, the 10 Commandment law defines what sin is.

   So that ought to be clear, that ought to be certain, that ought to be without doubt to any of us. But most people, except for God's church, would not accept that particular definition. They will not accept what God says. And so they have all kinds of clever arguments, human reasons, to try and to get around what is clear in the scriptures. They try to confuse those who are the gullible, those who are the unstable, those who are the weak spiritually, or those who want to sin to give them license or excuse or reason to go ahead and sin and to disobey God.

   But I believe that those of us here are not those who are of the gullible, the unstable, the weak spiritually, or those who want to sin. Otherwise I doubt that we'd be here this particular day. We're here to find out how to come out of sin, how to quit sinning.

   Now I'd like to cover a few miscellaneous facts about the subject of sin from the scriptures. Let's notice first over in the book of Romans, Romans 3 and verse 23. Romans 3:23. It says, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Now once in a great while we come across someone who says, "Well, I don't sin. I haven't sinned." And they think, I guess, that they have led a perfect life. But this shows very clearly that all have sinned, you know, that's everyone since the time of Adam, including you and me. The only exception, of course, being that of Jesus Christ himself, where the scriptures say that he, you know, did not sin.

   But otherwise, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And we still do sin. Let's notice a scripture that points that out over in the book of I John.

   I John and chapter one and verse 8 (I John 1:8-10): "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." I had a man one time, he was a member of the church. He says, "Well, I think that means that if we have not sinned." If we say that we have not sinned we deceive ourselves, he says, "I think that's what that means." But that isn't what it means. I think that's very clear from verse 10. Let's notice verse 10. Maybe we should read verse 9 as well.

   "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned," now he's not just repeating himself here, rather, he's mentioning a different aspect, and that is that we have in the past sinned. "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him, God, a liar, and His word is not in us."

   So from these scriptures, I think it's very clear that we have all sinned. And we all still do sin. And of course the thing we should do is try to sin less and less. Now once we do sin, as it mentions in verse 9, if we confess our sin, then he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and so on to cleanse us from unrighteousness, so we must repent of our sin and ask God's forgiveness of our sin and quit sinning, quit repeating that sin or whatever it is that we're doing wrong.

   All right, so since we realize that we all do sin from time to time, let's notice another aspect of this. Romans 6:23, another very important point about sin.

   Romans 6 and verse 23: "For the wages of sin is death." In other words, the ultimate result of sin is death. Now, when I mentioned a little bit earlier that when you sin you have to pay and then you pay and you pay, this is the ultimate payment - death. And of course we're speaking here of not the first death but the second death in the lake of fire. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

   Now, a couple scriptures back in the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 18. Actually, both of these texts are in the same chapter. Ezekiel 18:4, the last part of the verse says, "The soul that sins, it shall die." Repeating what we have already read over in Romans 3:23, that all have sinned and also that the wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23. This is repeated also in verse 20 so it's mentioned twice in the same chapter that "the soul that sins, it shall die."

   Now that's the ultimate penalty, but what about the meantime? I'd like to dwell on that just a moment and turn over to the book of James. So we've seen what the ultimate result of sin is. But what about the meantime? Let's notice first in James 1. We won't get the full picture there, but we'll see a certain part of it. James 1:14. What I want to point out here is that sin is a process. Sin is a process, and let me explain a little bit what I mean by that.

   Reading in verse 14, he says, "Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin when it is finished, brings forth death."

   All right now notice the process here. In verse 14, every man is tempted or as another translation says, lured. Every man is tempted or is lured when he is drawn away of his own lust. In other words, we first are lured by lust or coveting those things that God says that we should not have or that are not good for us. First, the thought has to come. And the thought then is one of enticement of luring us to think about or to do something that is wrong.

   Now I don't know how many milliseconds it takes for us to think of a particular thing and how long it takes us to think that particular point through. Maybe it's milliseconds, maybe it's seconds, maybe it runs into minutes, depending on the nature of it. But a person doesn't just automatically and without any preparation, sin. It takes a little thought, it takes a purpose here.

   And it says, he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. So first you're lured by this lust and then you are falling or being enticed by that. Then when lust has conceived. Now, when you compare this, of course, to human conception and birth and so forth, you realize that it takes a period of time. It takes 9 months, 9 months from the time of human conception until the birth, and he is going to mention something similar to that here.

   "When lust has conceived, it brings forth sin." Now you see there's a time there, and I don't know how long it's going to be. It varied. It would vary, of course, depending on the circumstance, but there's a certain length of time between the time when the idea enters, you entertain that idea, then you decide to do whatever that idea is that's wrong, and then to perform that. You see, so it's sort of a process. It takes time.

   And he continues here, "It brings forth sin after it's conceived, and sin when it is finished brings forth death." So here's a process. It starts out with an idea in the mind and it ends up in the lake of fire unless somewhere along the line the person recognizes it, repents, and changes and is forgiven. So first, lust enters, and something appears attractive or good to us, we are lured by it, then we are enticed. The desire enters. And then the action takes place and the sin is committed. The final result is death.

   So sin, at least as I think of it, is sort of a process. And in order to not sin, what we need to do is, as we've been hearing earlier in these other sermonettes, and that is that when wrong thoughts come, we should put those wrong thoughts out of our mind, and the quicker we put them out of our mind, the easier it's going to be. The longer we entertain those thoughts, the more difficult it's going to be to either put them out or to refrain from doing whatever it is that we want to do.

   Now there's another way of putting it. I remember a long, long time ago, a man said that you can stop the birds from roosting on your shoulders, but you can't stop them from flying over your head. The thoughts are going to come, but just don't let them roost on your shoulders or on your head.

   All right, now I would like to carry on this thought a little bit further about the fact that sin is a process and not only does it lead to death, but it leads to all kinds of trouble along the way. Let's notice a few proverbs. Proverbs 13 to start with.

   Proverbs 13 and verse 15 (Proverbs 13:15). He says, "The way of transgressors," the last part of the verse, "the way of transgressors," or we might say sinners, "is hard." You see, the way of sin is hard, it's difficult. Now, in another way, we know that the way of righteousness is a straight way, S-T-R-A-I-T, which is hard and rutty and difficult. Yes, it's hard to get into God's kingdom. We're not learning what God is trying to teach us.

   Let's notice chapter 8 also in verse 36. Chapter 8, verse 36 (Proverbs 8:36): "He that sins against me" - and here now talking about wisdom as though wisdom is personified. And of course, God is the embodiment of wisdom, so we might in a sense say, God - "he that sins against me" or against God or against wisdom, "wrongs his own soul," or as one translation says, "hurts himself." So if you sin against God, you just hurt yourself. You wrong your own soul. "All they that hate me love death."

   Chapter one of Proverbs. Chapter one of Proverbs and verse 31 (Proverbs 1:31). We might notice who he's speaking about here in verse 24 (Proverbs 1:24). He said, "Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded." He's talking about the one that does not regard. He's talking about wisdom again and those who refuse wisdom, and again, since God is the embodiment of wisdom, it's the one who refuses God's ways.

   Verse 31: "Therefore shall they," that is, those who refuse to go God's ways, "therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices."

   Now, I think we heard this morning about what we sow we're going to reap and if we sow just a little bit, we won't reap very much. If we sow a lot, then we'll reap a lot more. Now, if you plant wheat, you're going to get wheat in return. If you plant a fig tree, you're going to get a fig tree in return, not an apple tree or some other thing. And if we produce or do the right thing, produce the right thing in our planting, we might say, then the results of that is going to be good. It will be what we expect.

   So there is fruit or there is a result of our own way. And if we're going our own way rather than God's ways, those fruits are going to be bad. And it says, "And be filled with their own devices." So what we sow, we are going to reap.

   Now there are a couple other scriptures in the book of Proverbs that I'd like to notice. Chapter 14, verse 12, and this is repeated in another proverb as well. Proverbs 14:12: "There is a way that seems right unto a man," you know, and that's the way of sin, "but the end thereof are the ways of death." That's going to be the ultimate result, and we've seen this, of course, already. This is repeated again in chapter 16 verse 12.

   Now to the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 5. Jeremiah chapter 5, and we want to read verse 25. Jeremiah 5:25. Maybe we should go back just a little bit, even though this is the beginning of a paragraph to see what he is talking about here, at least in part.

   In verse 24, he says, "Neither say they in their heart, let us now fear the Eternal our God that gives rain both the former and the latter rain in the season. He reserves unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest," just showing some of the natural things that comes as from God, rain in due season and so forth, and also the physical blessings.

   But he goes on to say, "Your iniquities" - those of you who are the ones who receive the things that God gives - "your iniquities have turned away these things." In other words, now you're not having rain in due season. Now you're not having the normal harvest and so forth because your iniquities have turned away these things, these good things, "and your sins have withheld good things from you."

   So, again, we see that not only is sin going to result in death, but it's going to result in difficulties, problems, in this life as well. In other words, if you disobey God, you're not going to have the good things. If you obey God, you're going to have the good things. Now that doesn't mean that everything's going to be good and you won't have some problems. But the main result of living the right way is going to be good in spite of course of having trials.

   If we're going to please God, if we're going to follow God, we're going to have persecution, we're going to have trials and tribulation, but we're also going to have great blessings that otherwise we would never have as a result of obedience to God.

   Now let's continue this thought a little bit over in the book of Mark, Mark 7.

   Mark chapter 7, starting in verse 21 (Mark 7:21). He says, "For from within, out of the heart," or we might say the mind - we might say from the individual, from the innermost thoughts - "out of the heart of men proceeds evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness." All these evil things come from within.

   Now all of these things, of course, are sins that the law defines and shows that are sin. We could look at each one of these and then we could turn to a particular command or particular law that show that they are wrong or that they are evil, that they are sin. All these evil things or these sins come from within. And here's what I want to emphasize: "and defile the man." They defile the man, they pervert the man. They pollute the man.

   In other words, again, it's a matter of cause and effect. If you live the wrong way, then you're going to have the wrong results. If you disobey God, then you're going to pay the penalty, and you're going to have to pay and continue to pay. Evil things and sins defile the individual. They pollute the individual. They pervert the individual. And then ultimately that person, if they're ever going to be in God's kingdom, will have to recognize those things, repent of them, and begin to change. And of course that's quite a lifetime usually of activity to try to overcome and to get rid of that pollution, to get rid of that defilement that has really polluted the man.

   Now, we've seen some of the facts about sin, various basic things about sin and the result of sin and what sin is like, and the effect that it has and so on. So we might conclude that sin has caused or is the direct reason for all pain, for all sickness, for all suffering, for all unhappiness. Sin is the cause of woe, of trouble, of war, and we could turn to a particular scripture that refers to that of poverty, of ignorance. All of these things come as a result of sin, the automatic result of sin. All evil comes as a result of sin, because if we were going God's ways, then that way, of course, would bring the right result.

   And when we realize that all of these evil things have come as a result of sin, then we understand when we read many scriptures that say that we are supposed to hate sin, that we are supposed to abhor sin. We're supposed to shun sin. We're supposed to flee from sin. We are supposed to avoid sin, and especially at this time of the year, we're told we're supposed to learn to come out of sin.

   Now how do we come out of sin? How do we quit sinning? Well, by learning first what God's laws are, what sin really is, and then obeying God's laws and not sinning, which laws, of course, we've already seen the 10 Commandments, the broad principles, give us the basic spiritual law of God, but there are other laws besides that. And as we look in the Old Testament, look in the law there, we find that those laws, many of them are still in effect today. They still also tell us what is right and what is wrong, unless we see somewhere else in the scriptures that they are no longer required.

   And we find that there are certain examples of that. I'd like to turn over to the book of Hebrews, chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. But what we're trying to cover now is what other laws beside the 10 Commandments tell what is right and wrong, what is righteousness and unrighteousness, what is good and what is evil, what is sin and what is unrighteousness and what is good.

   Hebrews 9:10, and maybe we ought to read back just a little bit before this. Verse 8: "The Holy Spirit, this signifying," that is the comments that he had just made here about the high priest entering into the holy of holies just once a year "with the blood, which here was for the errors of the people. The Holy Spirit, this signifying that the way into the holiest of all," that is the holy of holies, "was not yet made manifest" or evident, "while as the first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a figure" or a picture we might say "for the time then present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience."

   Now a person could go and offer a gift or an animal sacrifice in doing those things that were pleasing to God, but that wouldn't change his conscience. Now notice he's talking here about gifts and sacrifices. Verse 10: "Which stood," or as one translation says, "which deal only in meats and drinks and diverse" or various "washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of Reformation."

   Now what is saying here that these particular routines, these particular gifts and sacrifices of the Levitical ritual, that those particular things were only imposed until a particular time, until the time of Reformation, till the time of Christ, until the time of his first coming, when he gave his life for us as a sacrifice, and then he became the sacrifice instead of the animals.

   All right, let's go back and read this again: "We're stood only in meats." Now, what is he talking about here when he says meats? Is he talking about clean and unclean meats? No, he's talking about gifts and sacrifices of verse 9. In other words, he's talking about here for meats animal sacrifices. We do not have to observe those particular laws relating to the animal sacrifices. There is no temple in Jerusalem and we have a better sacrifice, the sacrifice of Christ. And so it's no longer necessary for us to offer animal sacrifices.

   "And drinks" you mentioned. Now there were certain drink offerings. There were no prohibitions against any particular type of drink in the Old Testament. Some say that that's what this is talking about. It's talking about clean and unclean foods and that you shouldn't drink certain things. Well, the Bible nowhere has any prohibition about any particular kind of drinks. It's talking about animal sacrifices and various drink offerings.

   "And various" or "diverse washings." Now there were certain rituals that they had to go through. And when they became ceremonially unclean, then they had to go through a certain ritual, including washing, so that they might be then able to attend the services at the temple and to take part in those activities.

   "And carnal" or physical or fleshly "ordinances" or the margin says "rights or ceremonies." In other words, this kind of law, the animal sacrifices, the washings and these various rites and ceremonies were imposed for a time until the time of Reformation, "but now Christ being come an high priest of good things to come," and so on, it goes on to say that by his own blood, he entered in and therefore he has taken the place those pictured, what Christ did.

   Let's read verse 12: "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."

   What I'm trying to point out, brethren, is that there are places in the New Testament that show us that certain types of laws in the Old Testament are no longer required, and here are specifically what three different - four different types of laws that are no longer obligatory upon us. When you read the 15th chapter of Acts, I won't turn there, we find that circumcision is no longer required. And so when you read in the New Testament that a particular law or a particular kind of law is no longer required, then that no longer defines sin, but the others still remain on the books, you might say.

   And any personal law that relates to us in a personal way as contrasted to, say, a national law which we of course would be unable privately and personally to fulfill, except that that particular type of law is not required. It does not define sin for you and me, but there are still many laws, many laws of God that define sin.

   Now, I'd like to turn to the book of Matthew chapter 5. To bring out another principle relating to this. Matthew 5, Matthew 5 and verse 27 (Matthew 5:27): "You have heard that it was said by them of old time, 'You shall not commit adultery,'" and of course this now is one of the 10 commandments. Now, is that law still in effect today? Is it all right to commit adultery now? It was wrong then?

   "You have heard that it was said by them of old time, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say unto you that whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart."

   Now, he gives other examples beside that, but that one ought to suffice to show that now that particular law is not just physical, but it also prohibits lust. And in other words, there is a spirit of the law that we need to comprehend and understand. It's not just the letter of the law, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," but going far beyond that, there is even wrong to lust after someone of the opposite sex.

   So we see from these scriptures, and there are many others, of course, and it's not my purpose today to elaborate greatly on that, but just to show that God's law defines what sin is, and those laws involve a lot of things more than just the 10 Commandments.

   Now, in conclusion, I would like to turn to a couple of texts, both of them Old Testament texts.

   And First in the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verse 29 (Deuteronomy 5:28-29). Now this is immediately after Moses recounts to the second generation Israelites who had come out of Egypt 40 years earlier. He had just told them about the 10 Commandments in the earlier part of the chapter. And maybe we should pick it up in verse 28: "And the eternal heard the voice of your words when you spoke unto me." This is now after the 10 Commandments had been given. "And said unto me, 'I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken unto you.'"

   They have well said all that they have spoken, and of course, what it was, he said that in making a covenant with them to ask them, you know, if they would keep that covenant, and they said they would. That they would keep those commandments, so he says they have well spoken. "Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always," you see, not just for now, but always, why? "That it might be well with them and with their children forever."

   Again, this is saying a little bit of what I've been saying that there's a penalty for sin and when you obey God rather than disobey God, there is a benefit. It brings good results and so we could say, oh, that it might be well with them and with their children forever if they would just keep these commandments because the results are good.

   You see, the result of sin or lawlessness, the breaking of God's law is automatic. The result is sure. The result is certain. It's not necessary to have a policeman to follow us around to see that we obey God and then to tell us when we do wrong. It's not necessary for God to send a minister around to follow each one of us and to see what we do 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No one needs to know what we do or what we don't know. God, of course, knows and we know, and whether it's done in private or whether it's done publicly, God knows.

   And if we sin, the result is going to be automatic. It's just a law just like a physical law. And you might put it in one way that if you break the law, it's going to break you.

   And I'd like to quote one other scripture, maybe we should turn to it. Numbers 32. Numbers 32. I think this is one of the great principles of the whole Bible. Numbers 32:23, the last part of the verse is what we want to emphasize, but let's read the whole verse: "But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Eternal." And be sure - this is the part I want to emphasize brethren - "Be sure your sin will find you out."

   Brethren, the results of sin are automatic. They bring wrong results, and that's why God says don't sin. And so brethren, in view of all of these things, especially in these days of Unleavened Bread, I hope this will help all of us to come out of sin and not to continue to sin, but to put sin out of our lives, not just for seven days during the days of Unleavened Bread - it's more particularly on our mind at that time - but all the time, you know, 365 days of the year, brethren, we should quit sinning.