Well, good morning. You might be wondering, what's this old guy doing with a mask on? Well, Friday noon, I began to get a small fever. This has happened before, but it don't last long. Well, like a stupid idiot, I forgot to take Tylenol. If I'd taken Tylenol right away, I wouldn't have this mask on. Well, it lasted all day yesterday, but I know I was getting victory. And I don't have any fever now, but I just, for better to be safe than sorry, and I want to wear this. So you'll still be able to hear me. And I will leave right away. And Tuesday night I'll be preaching at Grace Baptist Church. So I won't be able to be with you on Zoom. But having said that, let us pray. Almighty Eternal God, holy, holy, holy is thy name. Thy word is holy. Thou art holy in all thy works and righteous in all thy ways. And now, as we are bound to share from thy holy word, we can only do that by the enabling grace of your blessed holy spirit. So speak to the unworthy servant the message you want us to hear today as we commit this time to thee. In Jesus' precious name, with thanksgiving, amen. As Pastor Bob referred to, This day is Palm Sunday. I had asked him whether I could tie in what happened after Palm Sunday. to the message on Good Friday, which was sin that made necessary the cross. But prior, I just have a few words on that famous day. You remember, as the Lord reached the descent of the Mount of Olives, there was a great multitude in front and a great multitude in back, and they rejoiced and praised God with a loud voice, saying, praising God for the wonderful works that Jesus had done. And they said, glory, glory, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed be the King who cometh in the name of the Lord. And it went on and on. And then the trials unfolded. And the thing I want to refer to is, right before the crucifixion, right before The pilot was done talking to the thousands. He said the time had come for him to release one of the prisoners. That was something that Rome had made with Israel, that on the feast day of the Passover. That's what happens when you're old. You forget something that you already know, so forgive if I'm a little slow. they made an agreement with Jerusalem, I guess, to either patronize or whatever, and so Pilate said to the thousands, he says, who should I release, Barabbas or Jesus? And they said, Barabbas. And they said, Well, what should I do with the one you called your king, the king of the Jews? What should I do with him? And they said, crucify him. And Pilate came back and said, what evil hath he done? And they said, crucify him, away with him. Well, I'll tell you. All I can say is, did you ever see such an ugly display of sin? That was sin at its worst. Just a few days later, after they had praised God, as I just said, and then when they were persuaded by the Sanhedrin and others to get rid of this man called Jesus, then they fell right in line. And so I asked Pastor Bob, as I said earlier, whether I could bring a message of Italian with Good Friday, and that's how this came to pass. Our text is from Genesis 4, 1 to 7, and it's where sin is first mentioned in the Bible. And in chapter 1, we see the order of God's creative work. In chapter 2, we see God's personal touch. in the creation of his first parents, and then the wisdom God gave to Adam to name all his creatures that flew through the air, and all that was upon the ground, the first marriage ceremony, and the one law God gave to them, and then chapter three, the adversary appears, the woman was deceived, the law was broken, and in came sin. Now, I will read the text, beginning chapter four, verse one. And Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I've gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, and offering it to the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wrought, very angry, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, why art thou wrought? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou do us well, shalt thou not be accepted, and if thou do us not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." This was right in the very beginning. God said the only approach to God would be through death. And the Old Testament, as you know, death of, and whenever they offered a sacrifice in the Old Testament, it was always right before the Lord, before the Lord, the gate of the temple. And so you remember Genesis 2.16? On the day that you disobey me, you shall die. That still never changed. And so Abel knew he was a sinner. So he knew the only way he could come before God that there had to be a death. And so he had to offer the death of a substitute. And that's the way it's been done all through the history of Israel. Yet, it could be, Cain's response will be dealt with throughout the message. It could be added that there are many Cains in the world today in their attitude about sin and their attitude about God. and one's approach to God. Some years ago, in a periodical called Moody Monthly, a Christian news outlet, there was listed a comparison of man's view of sin and God's view of sin. Listen to these comparisons. Man calls sin an accident. God calls sin an abomination. Man calls sin a chance. God calls sin a choice. Man calls sin an error. God calls sin an enmity. Man calls sin a fascination. God calls sin a fatality. Man calls sin an infirmity. God calls sin an iniquity. Man calls sin a luxury. God calls sin a leprosy. Man calls sin a liberty. God calls sin lawlessness. Man calls sin a trifle. God calls sin a tragedy. Man calls sin a mistake. God calls sin madness. And man calls sin a weakness, but God calls it willfulness. And now, a few words on the definition of sin. 1 John 3, 4, it says that sin is the transgression of the law. And the simplest explanation of that verse is man's refusal to be under the authority of God, which is so illustrated by Cain. And he is also the father of all who think that God will be or should accept their good works. It's interesting, John 5, 29, it says, Jesus was speaking, he said, and all shall hear my voice and they shall be resurrected from the dead. Some be resurrected for good unto the resurrection of salvation. And there'll be those raised again to the resurrection, that done evil to the resurrection of damnation. That word evil speaks about something that is worthless, something that has no value whatsoever. And I don't care how good we might think we are, we can't offer anything to God because of sin in us and sin upon us. You see, Abel understood that there had to be a death taking place. See, and I'll illustrate that a little bit later with the do and the done religion, but until we understand that we can't approach God on our own, a death had to take place. And that death took place in Jesus Christ, and that's why we look to him, and praise him, and love him. And the older I get, the more I love him. And the more I want to serve him until I don't have any more breath. Bible says in Luke 646, no, I'm sorry, in Isaiah 646, it says, and we're all as an unclean thing. And all our righteousness is as filthy rags. And we knew faith as a leaf. And like our iniquity, it takes away like the wind. Some of you know Peter Nicatra. Well, one day I was out, and I saw him and some of his flock. They were doing evangelism on the street. And he had two easels. On the one, there was a flock guard that said, the do religion. And the other, the done religion. Well, Cain is representative of the dual religion, but Abel understood, he looked forward to the one who would do for him what he couldn't do for himself. You see, Abel's the first one listed in the Unroll of Faith, because he looked forward to his Redeemer that the Lord promised in Genesis 3.15. By the way, sin is a voluntary act of the will. I want you to picture this. Eve had heard what God told Adam, and she also told Satan the same thing. When we eat of the fruit of that, you'll die. But then Satan came back. No, you will not die. God's withholding something good from you. So there she was at the tree. She saw that the tree was good for fruit, so were all the other trees. She saw that it was pleasant to the eyes, so were all the other trees pleasant to the eyes. But then she saw that it would be one to make one rise, and then came forth the will. The first sin in heaven became the first sin on earth. And we have suffered ever since. Romans 3.23 says, you know that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Most will refer to that as missing the mark. Someone said, it's shooting at the wrong mark. And then there's Wycliffe Dictionary says, sin is anything contrary to the character of God. For God's glory is the revelation of his character. And God's character is revealed in his laws. It also is an individual rebellion against God. That's why David said in Psalm 51, 4, he said, against thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. And over 40 times in the scripture, it says, I have sinned against the Lord. I have sinned against the Lord. And every time we sin is against him. Sin is like a finite individual pinning his will against God, his creator, his redeemer, his judge. In Hebrews 3, 12, we find that God calls sin unbelief. In John 3, 17, we learn that all unrighteousness is sin. And in Romans chapter 1, it says the wrath of God is against all ungodliness. and against those who hold the truth in unrighteousness. All unrighteousness is sin. The Bible tells us in James 4.17 that when given an opportunity to do good and we neglect to do it, it is sin. Yes, I want you to think how many times we had a chance to do good and we didn't do it. And the Bible says it's sin. And the Old Testament in Proverbs 24 9 says, the thought of foolishness is sin. And Daisy and I, we used to kid each other. And sometimes it was downright foolishness until I read this lesson. I had to stop. And then there, I want you to, I went to this last definition. I want to begin by asking you a question. I want you to think back over your life and try to remember how many times in life's experiences you took action without faith. It's worthwhile. The Bible says to take action without faith is sin. Romans 14, 23. Secondly, I'd like to talk about the character of sin. To be in rebellion against divine authority, that's what the character of sin is typified by Cain. And then the testimony of Moses. I don't know if anybody was tried more in scripture than Moses. And this is what he said in Deuteronomy 9.24. He said, from the time I knew you, this was after 40 years. He says, ever since I knew you, you've been a rebellious people against the Lord. He saw 40 years of evidence of that. In Ezekiel 33, 31, the Lord speaking to the prophet said, yes, the people will come. They will come before you. and they'll sit before you as white people, and they'll hear what you say, but they won't do what you say. Oh, with their mouth, they'll show great love, but with their heart, they'll go after their covetousness." And I thought, how does that picture someone in the church today? In Romans 8, 9, there's another characteristic of sin where it says, the natural man is hostile toward God because he's not subject to the law of God, and neither can be, and that's why we need the Savior. Until we come to the Savior, we'll always be hostile. No, I'm not hostile. Yes, you're hostile because you won't come under his authority. That's evidence you're not saved. In Luke 19.14, there's a parable, the Lord made known this characteristic of sin by referring to himself in the parable as a nobleman. And the citizens in the parable referring to the Jews who declared, we will not have this man reign over us. The character of sin is in its simple lusts, which are ever dormant. but ever ready to spring the sinful action when fueled by this world system. And this world system, listen to what it says. Live not the world, neither the things of the world, for all that is the world is not of the Father, but of the world. Excuse me. For all that's in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but the doer of the will of the Father abideth forever. In our generation, we have made God to fit in with our culture by Americanizing the gospel, and thereby Americanizing Christ. A sin can no longer... Excuse me. I'm sorry. The character of sin pretends to be what it is not. And we see that so well revealed regarding Ananias and Sapphira and Simon Magus in chapter eight. The character of sin is called deceitful. It never fulfills what it promises. Oh, illicit sex is advertised as exciting and maybe for a short time, but then the emptiness of a violated conscience. Do you remember in 2 Samuel chapter 13, Ammon had a sister, a beautiful sister called Tamar. And he had a brother from another mother, from another wife. Well, Ammon loved this Tamar. It was a physical love, but he wanted her in the worst way. And so he concocted a scheme. to get his father's permission, he pretended he was sick, and then he asked if Tamar could come and prepare a meal for him. And so he did, and he ordered all the servants out of the house. And when Tamar brought the food into him, what did he do? He grabs her, and then the love that he had for her was surpassed now by the hatred that he had for her. You talk about deceit. Another example is seen in Ecclesiastes 8, 11. Because a sentence against an evil work is not executed right away, the heart of man is fully set to do evil. Yes, the human character made in the image of God and there to his likeness and degraded by sin, it wounds a conscience, it robs of peace, and it replaces it with guilt and shame, and Judas is a good example. John Owen said, The deceitfulness of sin is to draw the mind away from its ugliness and its consequence. Deceitfulness of sin measures upon the grace of God and a leniency towards sin, as it says in Jude 4. In Jude 4 it says, for those who abstain, Unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men turning the grace of God into unbridled sensuality and denying the only Lord God, our Lord Jesus Christ. Deceitfulness of sin, John Owen goes on to say, draws the heart away from considering the evil of sin. The deceitfulness of sin makes sin look so enticing, but hides that which is so undesirable. Therefore, the deceitfulness of sin makes temptation so powerful. One more characteristic of sin is sinful lust, which can be so easily aroused. And what is that? When fueled and quickened by the culture that has lost its sense of shame. It does not take much to ignite a sinful lust into action. James 1, 14, 15, when lust hath conceived it, bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. As in our text, sin is first mentioned in the seventh verse. The Hebrew word lieth conveys the idea as to crouch. everybody to spring into action. God is reasoning with Cain to come with a sacrifice that he had instructed for. God was making it very plain right from the beginning that sin and death go together. For it's the only way one can come to God, for he is holy. And if you're here this morning and have never surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, you haven't believed. And that's the only way you can be accepted before God. See, to believe is to surrender. That's what the word means, like John 10, 9 and 10. If we confess that Jesus, the Lord Jesus, is Lord, And believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. And that word, that word Lord is the idea of owner of property, has absolute authority over what he owns. And he owns us because he bought us with a price, not with silver and gold, but with his own precious blood. And the word confesses to speak the same with or consent to the desire of another. That's the reason I say to believe is to surrender to him. That's the only, and that's one thing I really appreciated by Billy Graham. He always, when he asked people to come to Christ, surrender to him, surrender to him. It's the only way one can come to God for he is holy. God told Cain that sin's desire was to control him, but that he was to rule over sin, for sin is ever ready to spring into action. Now listen carefully. Cain refused the grace shown unto him by God, his maker. And so what happens? And sin, now no longer in a crouch, sprang into action, and the first murder was committed. You see, verse seven is so important for if we know to do right, as God's words instruct us, and then we go our own way like Cain did, sin will spring into action, which is illustrated all through the Bible. Thirdly, sin cannot be hidden. Dr. Stoll, I was a young believer. Back in, well, I became a believer when I was 37, back in 1966. They had a pastor at the church. He was a godly man. And every now and then he'd come in with some great sayings. And he gave a saying that I never forgot. He said, you can commit sin one by one, but you shall pay for sin two by two. I never forgot that. That is why in the Lord's salutation to the Church of Thyatira, he, in his salutation, he introduced himself as the son of God who hath eyes like a flaming fire. You see, the Church of Thyatira was caught up with sexual immorality. And he wanted to see how, he wants us to know how well he sees everything that goes on in our sexual lawlessness. Remember when Saul of Tarsus was on the road to Damascus? How did the Lord reveal himself to a shining light that was shown brighter than the heaven, than the sun? When, I wonder, I know, I know there is, there's a lot of sexual sin in every church. And Pastor Bob told me one time when he was at a pastor's conference, He said the greatest sin that they have in the churches, that the trouble is sexual sin. I want you to listen to this very carefully. When those who profess his name engage in fornication or adultery or entertain themselves with watching pornography, They do it in the light of his countenance. And beyond that, as we learned from 1 Corinthians 6, 15 to 17, when one has a Holy Spirit and then engages in sin outside of marriage, that person takes the Lord with them in committing that sinful act. And Hebrews 4, 13, one of my favorite, open for the eyes of him with whom we have to do. In Psalm 90, verse 8, David reminds us that even our secret sins are done in the light of his countenance. That is why he prayed in verse 12, cleanse thou me from secret faults. Most believers are acquainted with David's affair with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. I mean, the husband of Uriah. What he did when he found out she was pregnant, how he summoned Uriah back to Jerusalem. And what was his purpose? He thought, well, I made his wife pregnant. Now I'll have him come back from the war. There was a war going on between Israel and England. And so he summoned Uriah back, thought he'd go right to his home. Well, he didn't do it. Instead, he went to Jerusalem to be with the servants of David. And they said, why don't you go back to your home? He said, how can I go back and enjoy the pleasures of a home when my boys are out there fighting a war? And regardless of how much David tried to coax him to go down, he even made him drink. But he would not go down. So what does David do? He says, it's really a death message for Uriah. They put in a seal pack, he says, give this to Joab. And so he did. And you know the rest of the story. Joab obeyed the orders of the king, put him right where the most dangerous place he was killed, and David beheld Beshema. But it looks what follows. Nathan came to David. He said, I need your counsel. I need your judgment. He said, there was a man with a lot of sheep. He was a rich man. Now, once you keep in mind, David had many wives. And there was a poor man, just one sheep. He only had one wife. He says, there was a traveler came to visit the rich man. And to provide food for him, he went down and took the one sheep from this poor man. And so, the king says, what should we do to a man like that? And the king says, he shall die and name and say, you are the man. Everything is naked and open before God. You remember when God confronted Cain after he slew his brother? Where is my brother Cain? Am I my brother's keeper? And God says his very blood is crying out from the ground. God had given strict orders to Joshua and his army with the conquest of Jericho that all spoils of the battle were under God's curse. Achan's lust for financial security was greater than to be in subjection to God's word. He hid the spoils of victory in the Sunday set, but his sin found him out. Ananias and Sapphira thought their pretense would be safe and secure, but their sin of lying found them out. We ought to take sin seriously. See, Proverbs 12, 22, lying lips are the abomination of the Lord, that they who deal truly are his delight. And in my many years, I've seen people lie so easily, exaggerate or diminish, but every lie imitates Satan, because he is a liar from the beginning. Just a few more words, and I want to quote this verse from Jeremiah 32, 19. Great in counsel is the Lord of Hosts, and mighty in work for thine eyes, thine eyes are upon all the ways of men. I want you to think about something. His eyes are upon us this morning. He knows what's in our heart. He knows what we're thinking. He knows whether we're sincere or we're just putting on a shem. And I'm so thankful for that. I'm so thankful that the Lord knows all about me, even the ugliness in me. And when there's that ugliness, that's why I run to him right away for forgiveness. As long as there's sin in us, we'll still sin once in a while. But God wants us to hate sin like He does. And by the way, Psalm 32, 23, be sure your sin will find you out. Fourthly, dealing with what activates sin. Now I mentioned 1 John 2, 15 to 17 before. But I refer to it again because it has to do with this world system, and Satan is the prince of this world system. He knows how to ensnare souls of men, for he's a careful strategist. For he knows the weakness of those he plans to ensnare. For if the first uprising of sin is in the heart that would lead to sin, put it to death right away, or sin will be consummated. In Hebrew 12, one speaks of besetting sin. In each one of our lives, there may be a sin to which we are vulnerable. Other temptations that could lead to sin do not fit us one bit. But I want to address one sin that has ensnared many. In this sin-cursed culture, it truly is satanic, the way pornography is made available in so many ways. Those who get caught up with it, including pastors, know it is sin, but are so addicted to it, they go back to it again and again. It's like a pig that hasn't washed, but goes back to lay in its filthy pigsty. Let me illustrate how one can be delivered from sexual sin in its many forms. There was a man who was a believer, and he got caught up with the sin of homosexuality. To get victory over the sin, he went to a very well-known Christian counselor. And this covered a period of many weeks. But after a visit, after a couple weeks after the visit, that urge to engage in that sin would be so great, he just thought he had to partake of it. He had cried out to God, but God wouldn't help him. And the council, he was at his wit's end. He didn't know how to get this man victory. And then the Lord gave him this insight. He said, You may cry out to God to get victory over this sin when the urge comes. But he said, you're unwilling to shut the door, to stop and wait for it, under the same threat that you were waiting for. if you're here this morning and are caught up with sexual sin or any sin that you have not gotten victory over, as a child of God, make a vow to shut the door to that sin no more. And the Lord will be sure to help you, as I said. If there is that which creates lust, take it away and go to the Lord in prayer. Now, I want you to listen to something very carefully. I'm going to quote Colossians 3, 1-4, and we're going to listen to the words after that. If you want to live with Christ, set your life upon things above, not on earth, for you're dead to them. For your life to live with Christ in God, God in Christ who is your life, you shall be up there with him in glory. And notice these acts were, mortified therefore, sexual immorality, uncleanness, affections which are not pure, sinful, I'm sorry. You can think you have it memorized, but you don't. Let me start again. Mortify, therefore, in your body, put to death, sexual immorality, unkindness, affections that are not pure, super passions, evil desires, and covetousness. He says something so beautiful, then he comes in about death. I can only tell you. Can we be so careless with the promises of verses 1 to 4, and then let Satan have the victory? Let me repeat that. Can we be so caught up with the verses of Colossians 3, 1 to 4, and then let Satan have the victory because we're unwilling to mortify, put to death sin? Romans 8, 13 is a warning. For if you live after the flesh, you shall die. But if through the Spirit you do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. I shall have more to say about this in our application. Fifthly, the consequence of sin. Our first parents, consequence, paradise. Cain, Vagabond. Think of what it cost David. The sword shall never depart from your house. Moses, in his anger as I referred to him earlier, One day he got so put up, put out with the people, they're murmuring, murmuring, murmuring, that when the Lord told him to speak to the rock, he smoked the rock twice. And God would not allow him to go into the Promised Land. God is not a respecter of persons. He's not a respecter of persons. And then Achan, Ananias, Sapphira, Judas, Simon of Acts 8, the churches, the Lord evaluated, Hymenaeus, Alexander, Demas, but I would like you to look at the consequence of sin in another light. If you had COVID-19, the flu, pneumonia, cancer, fever, or whatever infirmity that may have afflict you, did it not sap your Physical energy and strength? You think I haven't noticed a physical sapping of my energy and strength? I come from the farm. And we had soil that was free of thistles and weeds. When it was well watered and cultivated, it brought forth fruit, abundant fruit. But then we had another area. that was contaminated, just contaminated with seeds, with weeds and thistles. And of course, it took away the life of the plant. Hence, it was no value to the farmer. In this case, it was my dad. In the spiritual realm, when sin has its grip on the body, it affects. of what value then, let me ask you this, if sin comes into your body, you're practicing sin, of what good are you to the Kingdom of God? What is an unclean person to do his holy work? Listen to what it says in 2 Timothy 2, 19, 20. Nevertheless, the foundation of God stand ashore, and having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his, and we who name the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there may vessel some of gold and silver, and some of wooden earth, some to honor and some to dishonor. And if any man will purge those things of dishonor, he said, yes, you'll be used. You'll be used of the Lord. You'll be sanctified into every good work. And you'll be able to count for the kingdom of God. Look at what sin did to the church at Sardis, Laodicea, Pergamos, Thyatira, and Ephesus. And you know why the Lord evaluated Ephesus first? Because it says they left their first love. And that is why the Lord reproved them. For if you leave your first love, how easy it is to experience the consequences of sin. Romans 623, the wages of sin is death and will never change. Death to a relationship, death to a marriage, death to a business, death to a ministry, death to a health, sin and death will always go together. Someone said, referring to sin, he expressed it as follows. Sin is like a corpse. that has been murdered, and it may appear safely buried, but resurrection awaits it, and sin will never be separated from a sinner unless he or she is a child of God, and then only a death absent from the body, present with the Lord. But those, I want you to think about, having all the evil stuff you've done, let going be part of you through all eternity. You'll never separate sin from the sinner unless you're converted. And because of indwelling sin, 1 John 1.8, at times we will sin in thought, in word, and in deed. How thankful we can be for Psalm 133 and 4. Lord, if you should mark iniquity, who could stand? But there is forgiveness to you that you may be feared. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Praise his name. Sin saps our spiritual energy and I'm old enough to know that. And that's a great consequence. Just a few words in application. We're living in a time when sin is glorified and many professing Christians live as if there was no moral absolutes. or we live in a culture where there's no modesty nor sense of shame. Early in the 20th century, Billy Sunday testified what was happening in his day, that sin was treated as a powder puff, but sin will never, never, will ever be a mortal enemy to one's eternal soul and should be treated as a rattlesnake. For a few minutes, I would like to expand what it means to shut the door to sin, which was mentioned earlier. John MacArthur, listen to what he said. We must see sin as a sworn enemy and commit ourselves in slaying it whenever it rears its ugly head. John MacArthur also said this. How sin perpetually stalks us, and to give sin an inch, it will take a mile. John Owens went on to say, I want you to listen to this. John Owens went on to say that the only way to get victory over sin is putting it to death, or to put it to death is to loathe thy conscience with a guilt of it. To loathe thy conscience with a guilt of sin, that's the only way to get rid of sin. There were two mountains where God made a covenant with his people. The one was at Mount Sinai, where the covenant was etched in stone. And the other was at Mount Calvary, where the new covenant was sealed with the precious blood of Christ. You remember what he said there in the upper room? He took the covenant and said, this is my blood of the new covenant shed for many for the remission of sins. And no doubt Pastor Bob will remember the Lord's death till he comes on Friday. We usually do that on Good Friday, but every time we partake, of that cup and partake of that bread, we're mindful of the terrible, terrible, terrible suffering that Christ suffered in our behalf. And how can we just give him lip service but not heart service? Which begs the question, is communion and fellowship with our Lord of such little import that we dare engage in sin, for which all the ordinances which were against us was nailed to his tree, where he, as he hung upon that tree, the sin of the world was heaped upon him." Think of that. The sin of the world was heaped upon him. And then we read in Isaiah 53, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The time for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. And the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all. And then in Galatians 3, 10, 13, we know that if we break God's law, we're under God's curse. But what did He do? He redeemed us from the curse of the world, being a way to curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth upon the tree. And then, how are we going to make peace with God? He made peace through the blood of His cross. And then, he who sinned was made to be sinned, that we might be made to righteousness of God in him. Why? For what purpose? Why? 1 Peter 3, 18. He the just suffered for our sins of the unjust, that he might bring us to God. That's the whole purpose for all this, that he might bring us sinners to God. When the Lord Jesus said in Luke 9, 23, I take that to mean to follow Jesus will include some kind of suffering as in John 15, 18 to 20. He said, if you were in the world, the world would love you. But because I called you out of the world, the world hated you. But remember this, a servant is not greater than his servant. If they persecute me, they will persecute you. But I also believe in that verse in Luke 9, 23, where he said, deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me. I also believe that he meant to kill sin, to apply the cross, apply the cross to kill sin at its first uprising in our hearts. For someone has said, use a cross to kill sin or sin will kill you. We can be born again, but desire to satisfy self will ever be present. And why it says in Romans 13, 14, the night is far spent, the day is at hand, but let us put on the armor of light, casting off the works of darkness, and let us walk honestly as in the day, not in sexual immorality, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires, which means to give oneself wholly to the Lord. 1 Peter 2, 11, Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstaining from flesh and dust which war against the soul, O that we might have a greater understanding of the majesty and glory of our God, like Isaiah had in Isaiah 6, 3. And you remember that very well. And when he saw the vision of our Lord lifted up, Holy, holy, holy servant cried out. He said, woe is me for I'm undone. And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips because my own lips are unclean. I know it's past time, but I want to end with this. If we get a vision of the holiness and the majesty of our God, which the Apostle Paul wrote about in 1st Timothy 1, 17. In 1st Timothy 6, 14 to 16, he said, to the only, let the majesty and holiness of God so occupy us, they will have greater understanding of his glorious personality. And what will this do? It will give us a greater humility to put to death the pride of heart that leads to sin. Amen.