When we were saved by trusting in Christ, we became a member of the Body of Christ, the Church. Before our salvation, we served our own desires and Satan's wishes. But now, as a child of God, we have a new relationship with God. We must not take this lightly, because God doesn't take it lightly. The Bible says in I Corinthians 6:19-20:

"What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."

Since we are no longer our own, we cannot do as we please. This sounds like we are losing something, doesn't it? It sounds like becoming a Christian means giving up pleasure and joy. Now we have to be as a slave, losing our freedom of choice and being under a bondage to satisfy another. The fact is this, apart from God, we will continue to sin. We will be in the bondage to sin and its destructive influence in our lives. Never forget that SIN is the greatest destructive force that will ever come into your life. Look at what sin will cost you:

Jesus said, ". . . Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." (John 8:34)

The Bible explains that the believer has a new force directing him:

"Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." (Romans 6:18) In other words, the Lord sets the believer free from the destructive results of sin, and then guides the believer's life toward righteousness. Righteousness means simply doing that which is right and is the opposite of doing that which is wrong.

l. SIN SEPARATES US FROM THE FELLOWSHIP OF GOD

Isaiah 59:2 "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear."

The first thing sin does in a Christian's life is to separate us from the fellowship of God. God is holy and will not look upon sin. Our sin causes God to turn His face away. When fellowship is broken we can pray, BUT there is no answer. We can read the Bible, BUT it has no meaning and freshness. Psalm 66:18 says, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me"

2.SIN WILL DESTROY THE JOY OF OUR SALVATION

David was a man after God's own heart; he enjoyed the presence of the Lord and God blessed him until sin destroyed that joy. David wept with grief, desiring that joy again. David wrote this in Psalm 51:12, "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit."

The second phase of sin in a Christian's life is the lost of joy in their salvation. The joy of going to church, the lose of joy in testifying to others for God, the joy of seeing souls saved. When this happens, we normally start finding fault with everything and everyone.

3. SIN WILL BRING THE CHASTENING HAND OF GOD

Hebrews 12:6 "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth."

Just as a good parent corrects and chastens his disobedient child, so is God forced to chasten us because of our disobedience and unwillingness to confess our sin. This chastening may come in different ways. It may be in sickness; disappointments; financial lose; it may be trouble upon trouble, but God our Father, must chasten us for sin. Don't ever forget that He does it because He loves us!!

4. SIN CAN BRING PREMATURE DEATH

The most serious state of sin is when God's patience is exhausted and He turns you over to the devil for the destruction of the flesh (not the soul). This can occur when a believer refuses to turn from his sin and God after much chastening and conviction takes their life to stop them from sinning.

1 Corinthians 5:5 "To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."

1 John 5:16 "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it."

5. SIN CAUSES GOD TO TAKE AWAY SOME PRECIOUS THINGS

Because of David's sin God took away the most precious thing he had, the child that was born.

2 Samuel 12:14 "Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die."

A saved person who turns away from the Lord into sin and refuses to confess and make things right is headed for great sorrow. If necessary, God will take that which is most precious from us in order to bring us back to Him.

6. SIN TAKES AWAY ONES TESTIMONY AND OPPORTUNITY TO GLORIFY THE LORD.

I can truthfully say, I have never seen a believer who was struggling with sin win another soul to the Lord. I have never seen a husband or wife who led their spouse toward receiving Christ who did not live a consistent Christian live themselves. I have never seen a neighbor, relative, friend come to Christ under the influence of a professing Christian who was not actively fighting sin in their own lives and living for the Lord.

Jesus said, "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. . . .Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples." (John 15:2,8)

The reason churches have such trouble in finding Sunday School and Bible Study teachers is because a believer would not live for the Lord. They remained in sin and the next effect of sin occurred the believer did not mature in Christ.

Read 1 Corinthians 3:1-9.

7. SIN STOPS A CHRISTIAN FROM MATURING

Over the my years as a pastor I have learned that it is the obedient believer who matures in the Lord. The believer who is obeying the Bible and trying to live by God's Word has trouble just like everyone else. However, the difference is that the maturing believer is able to go through difficult times and never lose their inter-ward joy and peace.

They believer who follows the Word of God is being prepared in advance for the trials that come our way.

The surest way I know to live a miserable life full of doubts and confusion is to live your live doing everything wrong. If a believer is not doing what God instructs in the Bible....he is doing everything wrong!!

For example: Ones personal self esteem will be devastated by not following the Lord. Why? Because no matter what we do it will not be rewarding or satisfying and we will have little confidence in our own abilities. If there is something you know is wrong in your life and you know you should overcome it and yet you do not, you have a low opinion of yourself! The best thing to do would be to pray, ask God to give the strength to overcome the problem....and then stop doing it! After you conquer the difficulty you are free of the thing and you will feel better about yourself. Further, you will be made stronger and will be better able to cope with more difficult problems.

One real hindrance to our overcoming difficulty is to ignore the problem. Many times we know it is destructive, yet we try to justify it in any number of ways. The most common excuse we use is to plead, "I'm too weak." The fact is you really are, however that excuse doesn't hold water when we read, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4:13) Our pretext to make us feel better is dissolved in the face of Paul's exclamation, "And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power." (Colossians 2:10) A believer has the God's power and in Christ we can overcome ANYTHING!

Another pretext we use is to say, "I am not really so bad, I don't do really terrible things", or as one person told me some years ago, " I have other things to deal with now and can't be bothered with this problem". Another time I was told, "I have come a long way from what I was, in time maybe I will overcome this thing also". The real problem these folks had was that they do not except that - ALL- sin, (in our eyes -little or big) is sin and is destructive. God does not give us the latitude to commit any sin. Why? All sin is destructive. In failing to deal with one sin your in fact are destined to fail at many others. The effects of sin is accumulative. A sin that is allowed to remain effect our conscience. The longer it is allowed to remain the more deaden is our conscience and will to resist.

Think for a moment about why God commands us to turn immediately from all sin. What would you think of a parent who let their child drink alcohol, but would not let them have hard drug? A foolish parent indeed is one whose thinking is so warped. God wants NO sin in our lives! His standard is perfect. He wants us never to have to experience the harmful effects of any sin. What kind of God would he be if he overlooked our pet sins?

Two verses of Scripture puts everything into proper perspective. Carefully read the following verses.

"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." (Romans 8:29)

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." (1 Corinthians 10:13)

There is only one question for this lesson:

In your own words, what do you think that the above two verses personally mean to you and any sin that may be in your life?

WRITE DOWN ANY QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT HAVE FOR THE NEXT CLASS!

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