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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Fourth Sunday of Lent |
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March 18, 2007 Recognizing Our Sin We have been talking about keeping Lent. Lent is no big mystery, it is simply a time of seriously practicing godliness. The heart of Lent is repentance. Before we can repent of sin we must find it in our lives, which is the process of self examination. After we find sin we confess it. That means we agree with God about our sin. But we have left something out, have we not? For how can we agree with God about sin, or find sin, or repent of sin if we do not first of all recognize sin? And so we begin the message this morning asking the question, what is sin? Sin is anything that is in any way less than 100% complete holiness. Any failure to be or do 100% good is sin. It is therefore, first of all a disposition of our being. Adam and Eve were righteous at the start. They became sinners when they chose to sin. Their natural righteousness was distorted. Their natural goodness was corrupted, and they became sinners in their beings as well as in their actions. Since then, all people are born with the same corrupted natures. To return to the example of the castle and the throne, we are all born with ourselves on the throne. This translates into an inborn, natural inclination to sin. This inclination is itself sin. So we are sinners before we actually commit a sinful thought, word, or deed. We too often spend much time trying to remedy sinful thoughts, words, and deeds, without working on their source; without changing the sinfulness in our natures that causes the sinful actions. This is the cause of the failure of all human attempts to make the world a better place. We try to educate people to do better, we use social engineering to redistribute wealth and equalize status and opportunity, and we pass laws enforcing peace and tolerance, only to find that people continue in the same old ways of oppression, greed, and strife. Why? Because we have not changed their natures. We have not dealt with the one issue that is the root and cause of all the others. We have not made them righteous. Indeed, we cannot make them righteous. We cannot make ourselves righteous. Only the Spirit of God can change the hearts of sinful people and give us the desire to dethrone ourselves and enthrone God. So, our natural unrighteousness is “sin,” but what is “a sin?” A sin is any thought, word, or deed that is inconsistent with the will and nature of God as revealed in Christ and recorded in the Holy Bible. Obviously, the Bible speaks clearly about some sins. The Ten Commandments and Moral Law of the Old Testament are the will of God for our lives, and any breach of their letter or spirit is sin. In other places, God gives principles of righteousness. The Bible cannot address every situation of every life, so God gives general principles of righteousness, which we are to employ in our daily lives and situations. The Bible will not tell you who you should marry, but it gives many principles for choosing an appropriate spouse and living the married life. The Bible does not tell you your calling in life. It does lay down clear principles of godly business conduct and industry, which you must apply to your career choices and practices. Failure to keep these laws and principles is sin. As we read these laws and principles we must examine ourselves for lack of obedience. This is how we can know whether certain things are or are not sins. This brings us to the Bible as the source of our knowledge. Our hearts are so deceitful. If we listen to them they will fool us, telling us our sins are really virtues. Also we may spend our time on the smaller issues and miss the major things in our lives. We may focus intensely on one sinful action, and miss the general ungodly direction of our whole life. We need an authoritative guide that will tell us what is and what is not sin. This we have in the Bible. We cannot trust anything less. We cannot trust the ideas of other people. They are sinners too, and are often concerned with legitimizing their own sins rather than discovering the truth about sin. We cannot trust our own hearts and minds, for we want to legitimize our sins, just like everyone else. We cannot trust human reason, for it is fallen and corrupted by sin. We cannot trust society, or education, or progress, or philosophy. We can trust only God who has spoken authoritatively in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible. God help us to know the Bible, that we may recognize our sin. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
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