Sin and Consequences

Happy Sunday. Thank you so much for joining me today. We will look at verse 4 of Matthew Chapter 5 in our study on The Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

We live in a world that loves to excuse sin. We call many sins by many other names. Things that were once hidden are now practiced in the wide open. There's a "so what" attitude by the majority of this world about Sin.

Still, we can deny that we sin, we can try and cover it up, we can call it all sorts of other names; however, we cannot escape the consequences of our sin. If we are Christ followers, we are forgiven, and we change. If we do not follow Christ, we are in big trouble.

Galatians chapter 5, verses 19 through 21 talk about all sorts of sins. First 21 inch with these words: "I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God." Romans 6:23 tells us that "the wages of sin is death."

Back to The Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." Those who mourn here are mourning as a result of being sorry for their sin. They Mourn because they have hurt god with the way that they have lived. Many years ago, churches were known to have mourner's benches at the front, where those convicted of their sins would come and sit and mourn and repent. Those days need to come back.

The encounter Isaiah had with God in chapter 6 comes to mind. You might remember these words: "In the year that King Uzziah died," Isaiah said, "I saw the Lord, high and exalted, Seated on a throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings. With two Wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.'" Isaiah goes on to say, "At the sound of their voices the doorpost and the thresholds Shook, and the temple was filled with smoke."

To me, it's very interesting to see Isaiah's response to what he had just seen. Isaiah says, "'Woe to me,' I cried. 'I am ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the king, the Lord Almighty.'" I love what Isaiah does here. He sees God, and all that he can think about is how Unholy his life is and how unworthy he is to be the presence of God. And so he starts to mourn for his own sin.

One problem we can have as Christians is that we compare ourselves to the worst people that we know. I tried to do this as a kid. When I'd get in trouble, I would think, well, at least I'm not like so and so. God wants us to measure Our Lives against scripture, not against the world.

When we do that, when we deal with our sin, when we seek his forgiveness, we will enter the kingdom, and that is comforting. If you're listening to these words today and you are a Christian and you are forgiven, you should have great comfort. We're promised a great treasure. You know, this is totally opposite from what we might expect.

We might think, if I tell God what I've done, he won't love me. That's crazy. Thank you. God already knows all of it. We have done all that we will ever do.

He wants us to confess. It does not prove us guilty, though we are; it proves us needy of a savior. The only way we can come to Christ is by admitting that we are sinners in need of a savior.

I read a story this week about a famous baseball player who played in the 70s and the 80s out on the West Coast. The media called him Mr Clean. He looked like the All-American boy. His teammates, however, called him Mr phony.

The ball player was in the middle of a divorce, and he was leaving his wife and kids to marry another woman whom he had gotten pregnant. And right before that wedding, he decided to marry another woman. In an interview, the ball player said, "If the children are mine," about the women he'd impregnated, "if the children of mine, I'll live up to my moral obligations, which I feel strongly about, because I'm a Christian." That had to be confusing for people that heard it.

He was then asked why he did not seem embarrassed or disturbed by his behavior, and he said, and I quote, "God has a purpose in everything that happens to us." This man seemed to have no idea nor remorse for his sin. In fact, he seemed to think that God condoned it all.

Not dealing with our sin will keep us from God, and it will confuse the world. Mourning for our sin will lead us straight into his comforting arms.

Pray with me. Father, thank you that we can be blessed even with what we have done. Thank you that you love us and that you care for us and that you forgive us, but you wait for us to come to you and confess. Father, we pray for this world that leads Jesus. In his name we pray, amen.