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[0:00] My subject tonight is sin. Now, I have to tell you that I know I am contaminated with an awful virus.

[0:11] ! It's a terrible virus. And in fact, I've got to tell you that all of you have got the same virus. It's an awful virus. Everybody has it. The world is infected with a virus.

[0:23] A virus. And it's fatal. Thankfully, there's an antidote. An antidote. And we're going to look today at this nasty, ugly, three-letter word.

[0:36] S-I-N. Sin. Now, I won't get too graphic. Don't worry. But it's interesting, the middle letter, isn't it? I. Sin.

[0:47] I's in the middle of it. It's something that affects you. It's the main cause, really, of guilt and depression, really, of everything that's wrong in the world. It's sin at the heart of it, really.

[0:59] People ask the question, what's wrong with the world? And the answer is, I am. We have to understand sin so we can understand why Christ had to die.

[1:12] It's a virus. And it's contagious. And it's global. We have to understand sin is like this awful virus. And so we can understand sin and its awful effect.

[1:27] And we can also see the wideness of God's mercy. When we understand sin, we understand why Christ had to die. When we understand sin, we can see the wideness of God's mercy.

[1:40] When we understand sin, that it is at the heart of what is wrong in our world today. Sin is the problem. And sin's dread wages are, what are they?

[1:55] Dead. Every man is a sinner. That's the reality. That's what the book says. What the Lord says in his word. And sin, this flesh, this sinful nature, it's a virus transmitted to every human being.

[2:14] Every one of us have got it. It's in our DNA. We are born with it, we live with it, and we will die with it. Without the work of God in our lives, sin will be our master.

[2:28] Where did it all begin? Sin started at the revolt of Satan. We know Satan was a perfect one. It says, Ezekiel 28 verse 15, Then the Lord says to Satan, Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day thou wast created till iniquity, sin, was found in thee.

[2:53] And then we know, of course, not only Satan fell into sin, but man, Adam and Eve in the garden. They also fell into sin.

[3:05] Sin. And that's when the virus was unleashed right across this planet and contaminates now all, all of humanity. And sin brings disorder and chaos and ruin.

[3:21] The Bible says that sin enslaves. The Lord Jesus says of sin, Verily, verily, I say unto you, John 8, 34, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

[3:34] It's an enslavement. We might ponder, why did God allow sin? God gave angels, Satan, and every man and woman free will.

[3:49] And he wants man to love him freely, of the free volition. Freely to know him, to love him. So God allowed man to sin so that he could show his grace to us.

[4:04] There's a story told about an atheistic barber. And he was talking to a pastor one day. And he asked the pastor, If there is a loving God, how could he allow poverty and war and suffering and all of that?

[4:20] And just at that moment, there was outside the door of the barber shop, there was this dishevelled man. He hadn't had a haircut for a while. And he was a bit rough looking, this dude.

[4:32] And the pastor said, You are a barber. And you claim to be a good one. How can you allow that man to go unkept and unshaven? And the barber said, He never gave me a chance.

[4:45] And so the pastor said, Exactly. Men are what they are because they reject God. It's sin. You can't blame the barber in the barber shop for the man who hasn't had a haircut for ages.

[4:58] And we can't blame God because the world that rejects him has yet to come to that answer for sin. It's the same with sin. God offers the solution for those who will take it.

[5:11] Man must take the solution. So sin is defined, it's answered in one book alone, the Bible. The Bible is full of sin. There are over 2,000 references to sin and like words.

[5:26] We won't cover 2,000 tonight, so don't worry. But we can think. And it's right through the Bible, from cover to cover, sin. Right from Genesis to Revelation, really, isn't it?

[5:37] And what is it? It's variously described as falling from God's standard. We come short of the glory of God. It's a rebellion against God. It's a transgression.

[5:47] It's breaking God's laws. It's overstepping God's boundaries. You know, God says, don't go over that line and we just can't help ourselves. It's wrongdoing.

[5:59] It's unbelief, failing to trust in God. And think of how the Bible pictures sin and sinful acts. For example, and I've got some pictures to illustrate this, that sin is poisonous.

[6:12] It's like a viper. As the Lord told the Pharisees, you serpents, you generations of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell? Sin is poisonous, like a viper.

[6:25] Sin is stubborn, like a mule. As Job, it tells us there in Job 11, 12, vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt.

[6:36] Man's stubborn in his sin. It says that sin is cruel, like a bear. Now, they're poking the bear at the moment, aren't they, in Russia? They're poking the bear that is Russia.

[6:48] And look, I don't want to be poking a bear. And in Daniel, it talks about a bear, a beast that's like a bear, it raises itself up on one side, and it's got these ribs in its mouth, between its teeth.

[7:00] And it goes on to say, arise, devour much flesh. You don't want to get on the wrong side of a bear. And sin is cruel, like a bear. It's got that vicious result, hasn't it?

[7:13] The impact, truly, of sin. It's vicious, it's cruel, it's like a bear. It's also destructive, like a locust. We could see, as Joel 2.25, talks about the years that the locust has eaten.

[7:29] Think of times when there's a locust plague, and it just strips everything bare, doesn't it? Just eats everything in its path, this army of locusts. And sin is like a locust plague.

[7:41] It's so destructive. Sin is like, it's unclean, like a wild dog. As a dog returneth to his vomit, Proverbs 26.11, so is a fool returning to his folly.

[7:55] A wild dog, it's a gross picture, isn't it? So sin is unclean, like a dog would go back to vomit. That's an ugly, unclean, vile picture, isn't it?

[8:06] That's what sin is, truly sin is vile. It's unclean. And sin is cunning. It's like a wild fox. As the Lord Jesus talked about Herod, and he says, go and tell that fox, behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow.

[8:23] The Lord Jesus called Herod a sly old fox. Cunning. Sin is cunning, like a fox. And, you know, we live in a bit of a rural part, and the foxes, you can't see them, but they're out there.

[8:39] Sometimes at night, you can point the torch, and you can see their eyes, that they're out there hunting, looking for the little lamb that they can snatch. They're cunning.

[8:50] And sin is cunning, like a fox. We see also sin is fierce, like a wolf. It tells about the Lord Jesus as the good shepherd, and in contrast, the hireling, the one who is kind of just not really caring.

[9:04] But it says of the shepherd, whose own the sheep are, he sees the wolf coming. And it says that he leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, the hireling does, and the wolf catches them, and scatters the sheep.

[9:18] So we see that the sin is fierce. It's like a wolf that would tear the sheep apart. We see that sin is like a lion as well, as Psalm 22, verse 13 talks about, as a lion, as a ravening and roaring lion.

[9:37] What a picture of, you can imagine sin being like that, ravening, that hungry, you know, slavering, he wants to eat you, kind of roaring lion, as the devil is so pictured too.

[9:48] So sin devours like a lion would devour, and sin is filthy like a swine. It talks to Peter 2, verse 22, of the sow that was washed, that she's turned to her wallowing again in the mire.

[10:02] She's gone back to that mud, that mud pit, that pig swill, back to that muddy pen of a pig.

[10:14] And, you know, you might wash a pig, but give it time, it's just going to go racing back into the mud again, into that smelly, filthy mud. And sin is filthy like a swine.

[10:26] So we could think of all these pictures that we talked about, of sin, pictured as like a, as a serpent, as a mule, as a bear, as a locust, as a filthy dog, as a wolf, as a fox, as a lion, as a swine.

[10:43] All of these pictures, we could think of those word pictures, of those graphic pictures, that sin is something that's destructive, and you want to keep away from. It also tells us about sin, in Acts 28, verse 27, that it talks about the hearts of the people being gross, being dull of hearing, their eyes closing, they cannot hear with their ears, understand with their heart, that they should be converted.

[11:12] Sin dulls a man's ears. There's a blockage there. They don't want to hear the word of God. There's a builder of wax, or whatever, they've built up, and that they cannot hear the word of God.

[11:25] Sin does that to people. It blocks their hearing. They can't hear God. They can't listen to the word of God. And it also, sin darkens the understanding of people. It talks, Ephesians 4, 18, of some, that they have their understanding darkened.

[11:40] They're in darkness, it says. They're alienated. They're estranged from the life of God. You know, God is far, far away. And it says, of the ignorance that is in them, and the blindness of their heart.

[11:52] So, sin will darken the eyes of their understanding. We see that today. When we're witnessing to some, their ears are blocked, and their eyes are shut, as it were, they can't receive the truth.

[12:04] They shut down to it, and will not hear, because sin has resonance on the throne of their heart. Sin blinds people.

[12:15] It blinds people. Imagine if you were born blind. There was a little boy who was born blind. He'd never seen in his life. From a little baby, he'd grown up, never being able to see.

[12:27] And one day, this little boy who was born blind, had an operation to restore his sight. And the light was let in slowly, as they, I guess, took the bandages off, and uncovered his eyes for the first time.

[12:41] And his mother was there, and he said, Oh, Mother, why didn't you tell me it was so beautiful? And she burst into tears, the mum, and said, I tried to tell you, dear, but you could not understand me.

[12:54] And it's the same with sin. A blinded man, blind spiritually, one who is blind because of their sin, and unbelief, when the light of the gospel comes, it's just mind-blowing.

[13:06] The truth, the splendor, the wonder of the saving grace of God, it's only enabled through the Holy Spirit. And so that is the blessing that a man born blind, born in sin, can have new eyes and see, truly see.

[13:23] So sin, it's a universal problem. Look, you've all got this virus, I'm sorry to tell you, but it's not hopeless. We've all got this virus, if you like, but it is not hopeless.

[13:39] But truly, sin is a universal problem. We are born blinded, blinded, darkened, like there's a blindfold, that he wants to take it off you, but you've got to come unto him.

[13:55] It's a universal problem. It tells us that all have sinned, everyone, all, A-double-L. You can't translate it, really any other way.

[14:06] Everybody has sinned, and it's come short of that glory of God. People will try and excuse sin, and justify themselves, they'll try to, even governments will make laws, that say, oh, it's okay now.

[14:21] What once was a, what once was a criminal offence, what once was frowned upon, as something that was an abomination, as the Bible says, the government has, has signed the papers, and the, I guess the Governor General, has made it legal, that some things, are legal now.

[14:41] But making something legal, doesn't make it right. Amen. The Bible says it's wrong, it still is wrong. It still is wrong. And governments can do what they like, but legalising sin, doesn't make it right.

[14:55] All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. And God defines what sin is, and it's in the heart. It's in the heart of every man. It says, the heart is deceitful, Jeremiah 17, verse 9, it's deceitful, it's, it's kind of, cons us, it, it tricks us, it fools us, and it's deceitful above all things.

[15:14] There's nothing more deceitful, than our very own heart, and desperately wicked. And it says, who can know it? And then of course it tells, in the context, how it's the Lord who searches the heart, and he knows the heart.

[15:27] There was a psychiatry professor of Harvard, who surveyed 5,000 children, and he was shocked to find, that the moral standards of 60% of them, were motivated by self-gratification.

[15:40] So in other words, these kids, what guided their whole world view, was what made them feel good. And it's like that today, isn't it? Like the Nike slogan, just do it, you know.

[15:54] These kids, the professor said, have been reared with no sense of guilt, or shame. Friends, guilt, or shame, is, it comes from God. It's a good thing, that we feel guilt, and shame.

[16:06] When we do something wrong, it's conviction. It's, it shows us, the word shows us what is wrong. God shows us what is wrong. And when we know what is wrong, we'll feel guilty.

[16:18] Sin is essentially a departure from God. So said Luther. It's a departure from God. Sin is deceitful. Sin, it's like some creatures that attract others into a trap.

[16:31] You see some creatures by their colours, or their shape, or their movement, they act as a, as an attracting thing. And then snap.

[16:42] They grab that which comes into the trap. And sin is like that. The Bible describes the process here. In James 1.14, it tells how every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed.

[16:56] There's an enticement, there's a, there's a tempting there. And when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. So, you've got lust, that desire, that's wrongful, that temptation, you've got that, that it's brought, brings forth sin.

[17:16] And then sin, it brings forth death. Now, some would say, well, sin is something outside of me. And, yeah, it's interesting how someone has compared it to a worm inside an apple.

[17:30] Now, we might think of a worm inside an apple that is the worm that burrows in from the outside and makes its home inside the apple. But, scientists have discovered that the worm actually comes from the inside.

[17:44] There's an insect that lays an egg inside the apple blossom. You know, just while it's still forming and then it hatches in the heart of the apple and eats its way out. It's like that with sin.

[17:55] It begins in the heart and it works out through the person's thoughts and words and actions. That's why David said, create in me a clean heart, oh God. Got to get the heart sorted and changed.

[18:07] God has to do that. There was a Sunday school teacher teaching some young boys and girls and talking about sin and saying, we're born in sin.

[18:20] That we are all are born in sin. But, by grace, we are saved through faith. And one of the young girls was puzzled and she asked quite seriously, she said, I wasn't born in sin.

[18:32] I was born in November. Now, really, it doesn't matter what month you're born in, people. Right through the whole 12 of them, we are all born in sin. That's the truth.

[18:43] We've got a problem right from our birth. It's a universal problem. It's called original sin. It's a universal problem. And sin also, as well as being a universal problem, it's a separation problem.

[18:57] The Bible tells us, our Lord says, but your iniquities, your sins, are separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear.

[19:09] So, sin separates us. It's a big barrier that separates us. Some have pictured it as like a big canyon. You know, this big, big chasm, this big canyon.

[19:21] And God's on one side and we're on the other and we can't go from our sinful side to the holy God. Something has to bridge that chasm, that canyon for man to cross to God.

[19:37] And the Lord Jesus has affected that bridge at the cross, if you like, that we can be reunited, that we can bridge that separation and know God.

[19:49] sometimes we can miss what sin is and just willy-nilly just be disregarding what sin is.

[20:01] And the old-time preacher John Wesley, his mother was talking to him and she gave him a guide as to what sin is and she said, whatever weakens your reason, whatever impairs the tenderness of your conscience, whatever obscures your sense of God and takes the relish of spiritual things, that to you is sin.

[20:25] It can be just little things, simple things, affecting our reason, our conscience, our sense of God, the love of spiritual things.

[20:35] It's sin when it gets in the way and it's a separation, isn't it? Sin can even be not doing what we know we ought to do. As James 4, 17, it's called a sin of omission.

[20:48] It's what we omit to do, what we fail to do. And James says this, therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. So if you know, look, I ought to be doing something spiritually but I'm deliberately not doing it, that's sin.

[21:06] We ought to do what God wants us to do. To fail to do what he wants us to do is itself a sin. So we really ought to take heed of that.

[21:19] And we think, I know there's various plants that are kind of illegal. I know we've got some experts in the field of landscaping where there's certain, is it lantana or certain ivy that you can plant and it kind of takes over your garden.

[21:34] And it's been said that there's some trees that are so totally overwhelmed by these twisting ivy creepers that they get so thick and strong and eventually they suck the life out of the tree that they overwhelm.

[21:50] And, you know, when you think of it, such a little, what started off as a little tiny weeny little plant, a harmless little shoot from the ground.

[22:03] It started off as such a thing that needed help to even start to climb and now it's taken over the whole tree and it's overwhelmed it, overpowered it, this creeping destructive plant.

[22:15] What a picture of sin too. Sin can start, you might think, oh, it's just a little, it's just a little disobedience to God. It's just a little sin that I can kind of harmlessly, you know, get away with and get by and yet it can become a creeping destructive plant.

[22:34] We know, of course, addictions and various things can take control, can't they? Overwhelm us, something that seemed so insignificant, so small and so, and the devil loves to ruin lives little by little by such things.

[22:49] So, we ought to watch out for such slow and small advancing sin that can overpower us. It's like, as it's been said, really, people can die slowly of poisoning as you might have someone that's got it in for you and they just slowly put little bits of poison in your food or drink and eventually it'll kill you because it gradually overwhelms you.

[23:16] Sin can be like that. Sin's so small and harmless and it can take over. So, sin, it's a universal problem, it's a heart problem, it's a separation problem. Think of all the, I don't mean to overwhelm you here, but there's lots more we could say.

[23:31] This is just scratching the surface. But what the Bible actually says about sin, we ought to take note of it. We ought to be concerned about it and realise the importance of realising sin and sinfulness is something that ought to, it ought to awaken us to be guarded and to be mindful of sin and what it is in the sight of God, all those things that we talked about before and when you think and I've got multiple scriptures here I can give that to you for all of these different words and phrases.

[24:11] The sinner, think of the sinner, the sinner is alienated from God, blind, carnally or fleshly minded, a sinner is corrupt, darkened, dead in sin, deceived, defiled, filthy, destitute of truth, disobedient, an enemy of God, evil, foolish, going astray, hateful, hypocritical, impenitent, malicious, envious, pleasurable, world loving, proud, refusing belief, rejecting truth, resisting God, guided by Satan, lovers of self, self satisfied, a slave of sin, subordinating God, unconscious of bondage, unrighteous and vain in their imaginations.

[24:56] Friends, sin is something, it's very telling, it's very heavy to think of sin and what it looks like in the face of our almighty, blessed, perfect God.

[25:09] It's repulsive and it should shock us when we think what sin looks like to God. And sin, friends, sin has an awesome penalty.

[25:22] Not only does all have sinned, but it says the wages of sin is a very costly price to pay. We read Romans 6, 23, that the wages of sin, what it's going to cost us, what we've got to pay is death.

[25:38] But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So sin pays death. It's a bit like how we can carelessly think of our standing before God and we can excuse it.

[25:59] You know, years ago, toxic waste would just routinely have been spilled into a river. People wouldn't have thought anything much of it. They would have not have thought of any real consideration of the chemical waste pumped into river streams and into water courses and ultimately people's drinking water.

[26:23] And people can be careless about their heart too. Just as people had such a carelessness about toxic waste.

[26:36] Now we know that just two or three parts in a million of certain chemicals can seriously damage people's health, even kill them. Of course, there's talk lately of fire stations and certain products that they would test and dispel and are now seeped into water courses.

[26:57] There's concern about that. Something they would have just thought, oh, it's just a bit of foam from the fire engine. And friends, sin is like that pollution. Our hearts can get stained.

[27:09] Our hearts can be stained. Even tiny amounts are deadly in this spreading virus. And really, it affects everyone because we all fall short of the glory of God.

[27:21] So we've heard much bad news. I know I've laboured that here tonight. But some good news now. Some good news because as much as sin is a dreadful thing, it's a costly thing, it's a global malady, a disease, a virus, a corruption that destroys, there's some good news because God gives us the answer for sin.

[27:46] He tells us how we can know victory over sin. It tells us as John the Baptist pointed unto him, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

[28:00] The Lord Jesus, when he came, John saw he was the Lamb, the one to be the sacrifice for sin. And take it away. Friends, salvation has three tenses.

[28:15] We're saved past from sin's penalty by Christ's death. We're saved present from sin's power. It's the life that we live under God.

[28:30] And then we save future from sin's presence at his coming. So the past, our penalty, the present, the power of sin, the future, the presence of sin, when ultimately we're with the Saviour.

[28:43] And so it's all affected by this one who is the Lamb of God. He takes away the sin of the world. We know we've still got in the present, we've still got to live in the struggle with sin, in the living of the life and the constant pressure of tempting, of sin around us.

[29:03] God helping us will know his victory day by day. And then ultimately, the Saviour's presence will deliver us from sin's presence wholly.

[29:15] And so we see God's substitute is Christ. It says of our Lord, God has made him to be sin for us and you know sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

[29:26] Think of him. He has been made sin for us. us. We've heard about this awful universal, evil, toxic, polluting virus that we have.

[29:41] It says that Christ was made that for us, to be made righteous. And think of him. He hangs there, suspended in the agonies of death. He gasps for air, sweat coats his body.

[29:55] They mock him. Some curse. blood trickles down. It was a gruesome sight, a gripping sight. And why? It says Christ died for the ungodly.

[30:07] Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5 verse 6, for scarcely for a righteous man will some die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

[30:18] But it says, but God commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's the wonderful truth of it. That Christ became a curse for us.

[30:29] That horrible toxic, vile, cruel, wickedness of sin that infects us, Christ died for us even such as we while we were yet sinners, while we were filled with this toxic virus, this contaminant.

[30:49] That Christ became that curse. He actually bore that curse. He bore that sin, not of his own sin. He was perfect, but he bore our sin and he died for our sin.

[31:01] Christ died for us. And then we read how he died for our sins according to the scriptures 1 Corinthians 15. He was buried and he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

[31:14] So think of it, friends, the wonderful precious value of the cross, that sacrifice paid, that price paid, that judgment cancelled. Christ died for our sins.

[31:25] That's the truth. That's the truth of it. If we can but receive that. And God's cleansing is effected through this one, it says, of him, that we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin.

[31:41] We can know a complete cleansing, a complete ridding of sin, a complete addressing of sin. Now, of course, as the rubber hits the road, we know sin is still present.

[31:59] It's still present. And in the life of a believer, sin can still impact the believer. And we know that's true.

[32:15] There's many considerations here. You might say, well, I'm saved, but I'm still sinful. God wants to convict us of that.

[32:27] He wants to help us with that, with that struggle that we have. Because in the life of a believer, sin interrupts our fellowship with God. It will hinder our fellowship, our relationship with God.

[32:40] I've got many scriptures that back these statements up. Sin could cause a loss of joy. We'll lack joy because we'll know we're out of fellowship. We know we're out of accord with him.

[32:51] We know we're dishonouring him and we'll miss that, that joy that we could have. Sin causes the believer to walk in darkness. He doesn't want us to walk in darkness.

[33:02] He wants us to walk in the light. Sin can bring a lack of confidence in prayer. Sin can obstruct our prayers. And we know that sin can lead to God's chastisement.

[33:15] sin. When as a father would discipline the unruly son, so too our father. When we are not living as our father wants us to live, we're subject to his chastisement.

[33:30] And it could even lead to church discipline where someone is so treated as it courts with the scripture. And even persistent sin can even lead to physical death.

[33:43] It talks about a sin unto death. So we might be so out of fellowship and out of accord with God even though we're saved that we'll die an early death because of our disobedience.

[33:55] So friends, as a believer too, we need to be conscious of sin, of its impact and know God's abiding and God's victorious deliverance that he wants us to know in our walk with him.

[34:10] We can lose joy, we can lose relationship as far as fellowship but we won't lose that salvation. But yet we ought not to treat sin lightly, we ought to treat it very seriously.

[34:25] So we ought to have that thought as David said, against thee, thee only have I sinned.

[34:38] It's between you and God. Get that right. If you have that discord with God today as a believer, get that right today. Sin will hurt and defile and harden.

[34:54] Thankfully, God's forgiveness is available. We know the word promises us that we can know forgiveness. It tells us if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[35:09] So forgiveness is a wonderful privilege that we can know and even the world values forgiveness. You know, you can go to mental health sites and what the worldly authorities would offer as effective and useful and beneficial things, forgiveness is very helpful for good mental health.

[35:35] It's vital. And when you think of it scripturally too, we ought to forgive one another. If someone's wronged you, forgive them. God helping you, God give you the grace to forgive and so we can expect God to forgive us.

[35:53] One leading psychiatrist said that 90% of the mentally ill could be immediately well if they are able to forgive! themselves and others and to receive forgiveness.

[36:04] There's power in forgiveness. Of course we know the ultimate and absolute forgiveness is to have fellowship with God, to know God's forgiveness. Sometimes we have an insensitivity to sin where we talked about those ugly things about sin but some people are kind of oblivious to sin and they get insensitive to sin.

[36:26] There was a little girl one day who had a strange condition that she couldn't feel pain and it was called ganglone neuropathy that's a tongue twister ganglone neuropathy ganglone neuropathy and she showed her mum one day where there was a broken wrist and bent the wrong way but she had no tears in her eyes.

[36:51] She felt no pain. Here she was at four years old. When she was six she walked with a limp and the doctors discovered she had a fractured thigh. But still she felt no pain. And now at 14 she has to be careful when blisters and burns are on her hands.

[37:06] How did this happen? She didn't realise how she got injured. She is insensitive to pain with this ganglone neuropathy and it's likewise with some people with sin.

[37:17] They get insensitive to sin. They lose that sensitivity well that's actually wrong and this is right and I should choose the right and leave the wrong. And that insensitivity to God that what would God want?

[37:30] That conviction of God that sensitivity to what he would want and they're like this little girl insensitive to pain but they're insensitive to sin. And let's not get there.

[37:41] You know the Bible talks about people hardened that their consciences are seared with a hot iron. 1 Timothy 4 verse 2 and here are people that when they get burnt it takes away the nerve endings and the sensitivity.

[37:55] people can get that in their heart that their conscience can get seared as like a hot iron would sear. And so let's be sure as believers we're sensitive to sin we're sensitive to God and firstly of course be saved because I'm really preaching to believers here.

[38:14] Get saved first and get the ultimate salvation of your sins past present and future and trusting Christ as your Lord and taking his forgiveness gift his salvation gift and then as believers as you walk with him keep that sensitivity that you want to know what would God steer me away from and steer me onto let me not get my conscience seared to be hardened in my conscience but to keep that sensitivity and so friends the invitation is here for all our Lord says Isaiah 1 verse 18 come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool as a wool that is brightly cleansed and clean there's the picture here of something that was stained and then something that is pure and cleansed there's a picture there of sin of sin forgiven of sin forsaken of the saviour and his gift so friends the truth is we've got this dread virus and when we think of it the world's talking much about viruses and there's a new strain there's a new strain look this is the old strain this has been right back from the garden and friends it says that all have sinned but thank

[39:40] God there's an answer the Lord Jesus our Lord God says that he's the one who blots out our transgressions and remembers our sins no more sin is a problem it's a universal problem all of sin it's a heart problem the heart is defiled desperately wicked deceitful there's a separation problem your sin has separated you from the holy God it's like this chasm as we talked about how we can know the bridge as it were that Christ is the one who gives us that access that we can know that separation that gulf can be bridged because of the cross in Christ we can know sin's penalty paid and so God provides a substitute he provides cleansing he provides forgiveness and he gives us that invitation so sin's payment has been made in full there's no reason why we should stay in that state of separation of rejection and rebellion unto God but we can know his saving and that's a wonderful thing as we pictured it there of a boy born blind and seeing for the first time once I was blind spiritually blind now I can see and what a wonder it is to be saved to know his payment made in full when he said it is finished sin was cancelled it was paid in full stamped with paid in full that's the sense of it and that's the knowledge we can have that sin can be fully forgiven fully dealt with and it was at the cross will you trust him will you trust him to be the one the substitute for your sin the burden bearer of your sin to know him who has made sin for you that you can be made the righteousness of God nothing beats that let's pray lord we thank you that you are the wonderful saviour from sin and lord we thank you that as much as these things are ugly we see sin in all its sinfulness the exceeding sinfulness of it and we know it's entrapping and even now as believers we've got to have our eyes wide open to steer away from such lord help us young and old everyone present lord everyone watching joining in lord that each one can know that conviction of our sin which is a healthy thing that we won't lose that sensitivity when even as a believer as we walk we'll walk wisely we'll walk in the light you'll guide our steps through the light of your word so we'll tread wisely and that we'll walk in a way that honours and blesses you and that brings you praise lord we pray that each one might know the saving grace that you were made sin for us that even on the cross our sin was in your body on that tree that gruesome cross the ugliest part was our very sin that you nailed there and paid for lord we thank you for that grace that took you there that gives you that right to offer us such pardon that we can receive forgiveness today and walk in that with us with you our god and with others too lord help us to walk in that grace in jesus name we pray amen amen

[43:20] Thank you.