Avoiding Sin
Gtcotr/ws061505
Sin means to miss the mark and therefore not share in the prize.
As though one were shooting an arrow at a bull’s-eye …
What is the mark?
It is the finish line. To have run our race, finished our course and to have kept the faith.
To complete our life with our character, integrity, morality, honor and grace intact having kept ourselves unpolluted by the world and all its enticements.
1 John 2
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abides for ever.
What is the mark? Our mark is God’s goal for our life.
The Apostle Paul wrote:
Philippians 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
To miss the mark is to sin … to stray off of the path and err from God’s way.
Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
To avoid sin is to avoid its consequences.
Sin will take one farther than they expect to go
Sin will keep one longer than they want to stay and
Sin will cost one more than they are willing to pay
Because when we know what to do and we don‘t do it, our sin has become exceedingly sinful. James 4:17 & Romans 7:13
So tonight I wish to share three bible ways to avoid sin and its consequences.
I. Romans 6:6-16 Says that “We are no longer the servants of sin … unless we yield!”
A. We have been made free from sin
B. Sin no longer has dominion over us ... unless ... We Yield!
C. Allow it to have place, grow and take over in our lives.
II. 3 Bible Ways We Can Avoid Yielding To Sin
#1. Confess and Forsake Your Sin
Proverbs 28:13 He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.
a. 1John 1:9 If we confess our sins He will cleanse us
b. James 5:16 Confess one to another … and be healed
c. John 3:19-21 Bring darkness to light and darkness will flee
d. 2 Timothy 2:25-26 Acknowledging truth is a necessary first step to recovery
e. Hebrews 12:1 If we want to run the race of life successfully we must lay aside the sins which detour us in the face of the great cloud of witnesses who offer us their testimony in scripture.
#2. Flee!
a. Run away from sin and its enticements.
1Corinthians 6
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
b. There are just some things one needs to flee from. Wake yourself, shake yourself and run!
#3. Don’t Travel The Highways of Sin
a. Speaking of the harlot who seduces a man to sin, the bible says: don’t wander in her paths (don’t go down the road she lives on, walks on or occupies)
Proverbs 7:25 Don’t fool around with a woman like that; don’t even stroll through her neighborhood. (The Message)
b. Romans 13:14 Make no provision for the flesh …
c. Matthew 7:13-14 Walk the straight and narrow way …
d. Proverbs 6:23-28 Don’t think you will not be affected by fooling around with sin.
“Can a man take fire into his own bosom and not be burned?”
e. James 1:2 Count it all joy when you fall into temptation
f. Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation
g. James 1:13-15 The cycle of sin
* Enticement
* Conception
* Sin
* Death
Note: The devil may tempt us with many things to see what tempts us. He tried this with Jesus in Luke 4 but could not find any area of His life that was not covered by the Word of God.
Hebrews 4:15 says that in all points Jesus was tempted like as we are yet He was without sin.
Don’t forget to Cover yourself with the Word of God in prayer.
