TEXT: Romans 3:10-18

SUBJECT: Respectable Sins #2: Sin and its Malignancy

Last week, we began a give-and-take study of Jerry Bridges’ book, Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate. Bridges is a well-known author, all of whose books I highly recommend. The chapters are short, clear, honest, and full of hope. In one sense, his book is very negative. Unlike most presidents, Calvin Coolidge was a man of few words. One Sunday he went to church leaving his wife home sick. When he got back, she asked him,

In this way, any book about sin has got to be negative; God is against sin, and we should be too, whether it is sin in other people, and, especially when it’s our own sin. But there’s negative and there’s negative.

Some books and sermons and conversations about sin are nothing more than scolding in God’s name. They make us feel bad about ourselves, but they don’t give hope and they don’t effect change. But of course they don’t; deep down, they’re not meant to. They’re more about the scolder feel good about himself than helping the sinner find forgiveness and freedom.

Bridges is not this way at all. Though some of the chapters touch raw nerves with me, the book left me feeling encouraged, and—if I do a good job presenting it—I’m sure it will do the same for you. Memorize this verse and live by it, Romans 5:20—

We are Christians, and this means, we are sinners, but not only sinners, we’re sinners who have been pardoned, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and given—

Today, we’ll look at chapters 2 and 3, which are—

The first thing to observe is how rarely the word, ‘sin’ is used outside of the church. When I was a boy, nearly everyone thought some things were ‘sinful’ and were not afraid to say so. Shoplifting was wrong; lying was wrong; going too far with a girl was wrong.

But, starting in the late 60’s, our words changed. Kids who shoplifted were not ‘thieves’, they were ‘from bad homes’ or ‘disturbed’. People who did really wicked things—like serial murder—were ‘sick’. When we saw toddlers throwing a fit in a restaurant, we used to say, ‘they’re brats’; now we say they’re ‘acting out’ because of something missing at home, or because they’ve got too much of this in their brain, or too little. We used to think they needed a dose of ‘belt’, now it’s Ritalin they need.

I cannot remember the last time I heard the word, ‘sin’ on television, on the radio, or at the movies (unless there’s a buffoon preacher saying it). The word has all but disappeared, and when words like it are spoken, it is nearly always in a political setting, and almost never personal.

I’m not in love with the word, ‘sin’; if a better one can be found, I’ve got no problem using it. But, is ‘disease’ or ‘addiction’ a better word? What is the salesman who cheats on his wife every time he goes out of town? Is he really a sex addict? Or is he an adulterer? If his problem is a disease, how come his wife feels betrayed? Why are his kids ashamed? Why don’t they feel about him the way they would if he had diabetes or emphysema? The answer is: because adultery is not a disease; it is a sin.

Deep down our culture knows this, but it is hardly ever admitted. It is buried under a pile of words, medical words, psychiatric words, recovery words, and so on. I’m not saying there is no truth in these things (I’m sure there is), but the deeper and truer truth is sin is sin. But we’ve lost that, in part, because society has changed our words, and with that, the way we think.

If the idea of ‘sin’ has all but disappeared in society at large, it can still be found in the church, but the sharp edges have been filed down to make us feel better about ourselves.

The most popular pastor in America preaches to 40,000 people every Sunday and writes books that stay at the top of the best-sellers’ list for months at a time. He almost never says, ‘sin’ in the pulpit or writes the word in his books.

On the blue moons he does use the word, it’s found in sentences like these—‘May God forgive us for the sin of not loving ourselves as much as He does’. Or, ‘We sin when we don’t believe God wants us to be happy and healthy and rich and successful’.

Here is a man who commands a huge following, and while other preachers of his kind influence far fewer than he does, the people who go to their churches know all about complexes, and how God doesn’t want you to have any, but nothing about sin and what God has done in Christ to get rid of it!

The idea of sin has been lost in the mushy churches of today.

And, in the churches that are supposedly not mushy. Conservative, Evangelical churches believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, the Divinity of Christ, salvation by grace, Heaven, Hell, and many other true things.

But the idea of sin has lost its edge in Bible-believing churches too. How? In many ways, of course, but the one that seems most widespread to me is, focusing on the wrong sins. Bridges tells the story of a pastor who invited the men in his church to a retreat, where they could confess their sins and pray for God’s mercy.

Every man there prayed against abortion and gay marriage. Nobody said a thing about neglecting his family, wasting time at work, laughing at dirty jokes, loving money, gossiping, or forgetting to pray, read the Bible, or care what the Lord wants him to do. If you asked the men if they believed in sin, they would say they do; but not their own. What good is hating sin in others if we don’t hate it in ourselves?

While sin is hardly talked about anymore, it’s still there, everywhere and in everybody—

Sin is not only widespread, it is also deep. In 1987 Jerry Bridges’ wife was diagnosed with cancer, and for the first time in his life, he felt the word, malignancy. It means dangerous and growing. What is true of cancer is also true of sin.

It’s there. Everyone is sinful, including the saintliest Christian. If it’s not treated by repentance and faith, it will keep growing until it kills you. Hebrews 3 says—

Sin comes out in what we do, what we say, what we think and what we feel; also in what we don't do, say, think, or feel. These are the symptoms of sin, but sin itself is far worse than a loose word now and then or a bad attitude. What it is is loving something more than you love God.

For example, wanting people to think I’m funny, I tell an unwholesome joke; they all laugh and I’m feeling pretty good about myself. But is the Lord pleased with the joke? No, He isn’t, and, truthfully, I don’t care if He is or not because, well…at that moment, I love being funny more than I love God.

What sin is, then, is making the Lord your second priority.

This shows how bad, how malignant, sin is. I’m not only hurting myself when I tell the dirty joke and polluting the minds of the people who hear it, but I’m despising God, I’m saying in effect, ‘I don’t care what You think about my joke!’

Sin is more wicked than you think it is because it is always against the Lord. To Him, sin is always Personal. It forsakes the teaching and wishes of our Father in Heaven; it put our Savior on the cross; it grieves the Holy Spirit; it mars God’s Image in us; it hurts people He wants to heal.

By thinking of sin this way, we find there is no such thing as a Respectable Sin. The things that make us chuckle make the angels weep.

If sin has been forgotten on earth, in heaven, it is carefully observed and remembered. This means nothing less than the Gospel can save us from our sins—and keep on saving us. Thank God He has provided what we need.