Look at verse 8 with me once
again of Luke chapter 5, verse 8. When Simon Peter saw. Now. Simon Peter, up to this point,
did not really know the Lord. He esteemed him. He called him teacher, much like
Nicodemus did. And it almost sounds like he's
humoring the Lord when he says, we fished all night and we haven't
caught anything. We know fishing. This is what
we do for a living. Nevertheless, at thy word, it's
almost like he's humoring the Lord, at thy word, I'll let down
the net. And when he let down that net, they got so many fish that they
filled both boats and they began to sink. And he had never seen
anything like this. And he knew there was one reason
those nets were filled with fish, because the Lord said, fish get
in the net and they got in the net. And he saw who he was. When Peter saw. He fell down. at Jesus' knees,
the place of worship. And he makes this amazing statement, depart from me. You don't want to have anything
to do with me. Depart from me for I am a sinful
man. Oh Lord. He had known he was a teacher. He was right. But now he knows
he is the Lord. Depart from me. You don't want
to have anything to do with me. I'm a sinful man, O LORD." Now,
the word sinful is the word usually translated SINNER. It's the same word that was used
of the publican when he beat upon his breast, crying, God
be merciful to me, THE SINNER. I've entitled this message, Am
I a sinner? Am I a sinner? Now the word sinner means especially
wicked. That's the word that was used
to describe such people. especially wicked, devoted to
sin. Depart from me, oh Lord. You
don't have anything to do with me because I'm especially wicked. If a man, if you or if I, ever
see that we are sinners, all sins of personal merits, rights,
and entitlement dissipates. It's no more. If I ever see that
I am a sinner. You know, when I hear people
argue over the fairness of God, How could it be fair for God
to elect some and not elect everybody? How could it be fair for Jesus
Christ to die for some and not die for everybody? How could
that be fair? When that objection comes, all
I say by that is I don't believe I'm a sinner because if I believe
I'm a sinner, I know God would be just in passing me by. When Christ was revealed to Peter,
he said, depart from me. You don't want to have anything
to do with me. Depart from me. I am a sinful man. Oh Lord. Now I've entitled this message.
Am I a sinner? And this title is very important.
I didn't say, are you a sinner? I already know you are. You see, we all have an amazing
ability to see sin in others. And the precise same sin we see
in others, it's not so bad in us. We have an excuse. We have a reason. I mean, we're
almost justified in it. But I'm not asking, are you a
sinner? I'm asking myself this question
and I pray that God will enable all of us to ask this question
personally with regard to ourselves. Am I a sinner? Now, I'm not asking you to ask,
am I one of the elect? Very important. I'm not asking
you to ask, did Jesus Christ die for my sins? Am I sure that
he died for my sins? I'm not asking you to know, have
I been born again? I'm asking you this question
and your answer to this question really will answer those other
questions. Am I a sinner? Do I understand Peter's response? Am I a sinner? Now one of the things that I
think is amazing about us, me and you, all men, is we'll even
make our sin a reason to give us hope. I've heard people say, well,
at least I know I'm a sinner. What if somebody said, at least
I know I'm a pedophile? Is there anything good about
that? At least I know I'm a serial killer. Does that make it better?
Just saying, well, at least I know I'm a sinner. Why, people will
actually make that as the ground of their hope. At least I know.
That doesn't get it. Well, sure, I'm a sinner, isn't
everybody? Well, yeah, but that's only a half a truth. That makes
you a generic sinner. Yeah, I'm in that group, that
demographic. Of course, I'm a sinner. Everybody's
a sinner, aren't they? Well, not everybody's a sinner
in their own understanding in the biblical sense of the term,
as we're going to see that in just a moment. If you are a sinner in the biblical
sense of the term, you're somebody the Lord's done something for.
So I hope you and I can understand what it means by being a sinner. When I asked the question, am
I a sinner? Now, let me repeat. Not am I
saved. Not do I know for sure that Christ
died for me and that I'll be in heaven when I die. Not do
I know that I'm one of the elect. Not do I know that God's done
a work of grace in me. I'm asking this question. Am
I a sinner? Now to answer that question honestly
and accurately, I'm going to have to know what the Bible means
by being a sinner. I'm going to have to know what
the Bible means by sin. You know, I remember one time as a 30 or
40 years ago, it's been that long. I was watching MTV and
they had somebody interviewing different people. Do you believe,
what do you believe sin is? and everybody gave some kind
of answer. Here's the really bad people, they do this, and
I think this is sin. It doesn't matter what you think,
or what I think. What does God say sin is? That's all that counts. Amen? What does God say sin is? I've even heard people say, God
loves the sinner, but he hates his sin. Can you show me where
that's in the Bible? It's not there. Understand God
doesn't put sins into hell. He puts the people who committed
them into hell. What is a sinner? Am I a sinner? What is sin? Now, if there is a God, and there
is, There he is. If there is a God, there is such
a thing as sin and it is what he defines as sin. Now what I
want us to do this morning is look at how the Bible defines
sin. Not what so and so thinks, not
what you think. How does God's word define sin? Because I can't ascertain whether
or not I'm a sinner unless I see what the Bible says with regard
to sin. I'm going to give you some scriptures.
And the first scripture is this. First John chapter three, verse
four, sin is, there's God's definition. It ought to catch our attention.
Sin is the transgression of the law. What's that talking about? That
talk about 10 commandments. Now, if you've never heard the
Ten Commandments, you were born with the Ten Commandments in
your heart. Did you know that? You were born knowing lying is
wrong. You were born knowing sexual
sin is wrong. You were born knowing murdering
is wrong. In every society, it's wrong
to be a thief. You were born with the law written
in your heart. Sin is the transgression of the
law. Well, let's just take the 10
commandments. Thou shalt have no other God before me. The second commandment is the
commandment against idolatry, no man-made gods, not your thoughts
of God, your idolatrous thoughts of God. The third commandment,
Don't take his name in vain. The fourth commandment, remember
the Sabbath to keep it holy. The fifth commandment, honor
your father and mother. The sixth commandment, thou shalt
not kill. The seventh commandment, thou shalt not steal. The eighth
commandment, thou shalt not commit adultery. The ninth commandment,
thou shalt not bear false witness. The 10th commandment, thou shalt
not covet. Sin is the transgression of the law. Now how do you measure
up there? Well, I wouldn't say that I actually
put things before God. I don't bow before idols. I try to keep his, I try not
to take his name in vain. Sabbath's no longer in, that
one doesn't even count. We can just skip that one. I
feel like I honor my parents. I've never murdered anybody. I'm not saying that I'm free
from bad thoughts, but you couldn't call me an adulterer. I'm not shoplifted. I don't always tell the truth,
but I wouldn't call myself a liar. I'm not greedy. What kind of sinner are you then? You say you're a sinner. If you
understand you're a sinner, you know that you have broken every
one of those commandments every You've not kept one commandment
one time. That's what a sinner is. He transgresses
the law. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. If you think you've kept one
commandment one time, you're yet in darkness. God's not open your heart. You
see, the scripture says the strength of sin is the law. Am I a sinner? We ought to try to keep the law.
I'm not going to deny that. But the fact of the matter is
you haven't kept the law one time. Is that so with regard
to you? Sin is the transgression of the
law. I think of what the Lord said. He said to love the Lord, your
God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your strength and with all your might is the greatest commandment.
You know what that means? Let me tell you exactly what
it means. If to love the Lord, your God
with all your heart and all your strength and all your mind is
the greatest commandment to not do so is the worst sin. And you
know what? I am continually guilty of committing
the worst sin. In Romans chapter 14, verse 23,
Paul tells us whatsoever. is not of faith is sin. There's another scriptural definition
of sin. Whatsoever is not generated from
faith, whatsoever is contrary to faith is sin. When the Lord said when he has
come he'll convict the world of sin of righteousness and of
judgment he said of sin because they believe not on me now if
you think you have the natural ability to believe you don't
really believe you're a sinner if you think well i can get things
straightened out tomorrow i'll start believing then If you believe
that about yourself, you don't really believe that you're a
sinner in the scriptural sense of the word. I think of what
James said, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not,
to him it is sin. There's another scriptural definition
of sin. To know to do good. You know to do good? Yeah, sure
you do. Sure you do. You know, people
say we need to teach men how to live. They already know how
to live. The law is written in their heart. To know to do good
and to do it not is sin. I love what James said. To show
respect of persons is sin. to treat somebody differently
and use different standards with them that you use with somebody
else because of how you're affected by that person. You know, there's
only one person to ever show no respect to persons, that's
God himself. On the cross, he demonstrated
that he showed no respect to persons, even to his son. His
wrath came upon his son. when sin was found in him. And even though that sin was
not his own, it was the sins of his people. They became his
and God treated him like that. No respect to persons with God. Proverbs 24, nine says the thought
of foolishness, the thought Somebody says, I can't be condemned for
my thoughts. Yeah, you can. The thought of
foolishness is sin. And this is what God says. Am
I a sinner? Am I a sinner? Proverbs 21, four says a high
look. A proud heart. That high condescending look,
that proud heart. Do you know pride is the most
groundless, baseless thing? There he is. To be proud before
God. And I like what he said next.
A high look, a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked is
sin. And this is God's definition.
Now, when I think of plowing, I can't think of any much more
of a wholesome activity than plowing. Let's say you want to
feed the hungry and you want to feed the poor, and you go
out and you plow up the land, straight furs to plant food to
feed the poor. The plowing of the wicked is
sin. Now, here's the point. If I did
it, It's sin. You believe that about yourself?
If I did it, I don't care if it's plowing. First John 1 8 says, if we say
we have no sin present tense, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. We've lost all credibility. If we say we've not sinned with
regard to anything we've done, no sin in that, my motive was
pure there, I did that right. If we say we've not sinned, we
make him a liar because he says we have. And his word is not in us. Am I a sinner? John tells us that All unrighteousness
is sin. There's a scriptural definition.
Any lack of perfect conformity to righteousness in God's sight
is sin. Romans 3.23 says, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Anything in you that comes short
of the glory of God? God says it's sin. I think this is interesting.
The very first time sin is ever mentioned in Genesis chapter
four, it's mentioned like this. He said to Cain, if you do well,
you'll be accepted. If you do like your brother did,
He brought the right sacrifice by the grace of God. He came
into my presence only through the blood sacrifice of the coming
Lamb. He wouldn't come any other way.
He knew the only way He could come at all times is through
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you do well, you'll be
accepted just like He was. But if you don't, if you come
some other way, Sin lieth at the door. Sin is the cause. Sin is the reason. To bring the wrong sacrifice
is sin. I repeat the question, am I a
sinner? Am I a sinner? I hope you're
asking yourself that question. Am I a sinner? Now, if I'm a sinner in the biblical
sense of the word, not a generic sinner, but a real sinner, a
real sinner, I know this. Number one, if I see myself in
this light as a sinner, I know this first about myself, I cannot
not sin. Now, if you can keep from sin,
you're not a sinner in the biblical sense of the word. Secondly, if I'm a sinner in
the biblical sense of the word, all I do is sin. If I didn't,
it's sin. If I'm a sinner in the biblical
sense of the word, I cannot not sin. All I do is sin. And listen to this, all my sin
is all my fault. I can't blame my circumstances. I can't blame God's sovereignty.
I'm not a victim in this thing. It's all my fault. If your sin
is not all your fault, you're not really a sinner. Not in the
biblical sense. If you ever understand, if I
ever understand that I'm a sinner, all my sin is all my fault. And if you really are a sinner,
if I'm a sinner, I can't look down in judgment on anybody about
anything. If I'm a sinner, I can't judge
anybody. I can't judge anybody. If I'm
a sinner, Anytime I make a judgment on you, I'm saying at that time
in my mind, I don't believe myself to be what I profess. I don't
really believe I'm a sinner. When I judge, judgment's so evil,
it's so hypocritical. Therefore thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judges, for you that judges do,
do right now the same things. That's what God says. Somebody
says, no, I don't. Am I supposed to believe you
or God? I believe God. And that's what he says. And if I am a sinner, I have no claims on God. If he passes me by, if he doesn't
show me mercy, if he sends me to hell, He's just, he's righteous. He is worthy of worship. That is who God is. Am I a sinner? Paul said in Romans chapter seven,
verse 13, but sin that it might appear sin. sin is very deceitful and can
appear to be what it's not sin that it might appear sin working
death in me by that which is good the law that sin by the
commandment might become exceeding sinful now if i see myself in
any other light then that of being a sinner in the sense that
the Bible gives. If I see myself in any other
light, I am yet dead in trespasses and sins. Am I a sinner? The answer to
that question is yes. Yes. Yes, I am. I did not become a sinner when
I sinned. I sinned because that's what
I am. A sinner. Somebody says, well, how'd we
get that way? How'd you get that way? That's a good question. Romans 5 12 says by one man sin
entered the world and death by sin so that death passed upon
all men me and you that's how you got this way and that all
sin you see what adam did me and you did somebody says i didn't
do it yeah you did Yeah, you did. And don't think you wouldn't
have done exactly what he did if you were put in the exact
same circumstances. What he did, he did as a representative
man. Somebody says, well, how could
that be fair for me to be judged by what somebody else did? Hold
on, hold on. The only hope you have is if
you're judged by what somebody else did. That's the only hope
you have, being judged by what Christ did. So don't say that's
not fair. That's the most glorious thing
there is. If you can be judged by what somebody else did, you
can be saved by what somebody else did. And listen to me, I'm
saved altogether by what somebody else did, not what I do. I mean,
what I do is nothing but sin. I'm saved by what somebody else
has done. Turn with me to Romans chapter
five for a moment. You know, it's funny, any time
I deal with this, any time I preach, I ought to be preaching this,
obviously, every time I preach, and I hope to some measure I
do, but every time I deal with this, I start thinking, what
if somebody thinks it's okay to sin? I start thinking that
way, and I thought, why do you have to? God's people are not gonna
respond that way, and I shouldn't try to hedge everything. No, everything I do is sin. My
preaching, you tell me you're sinning right now, preacher?
Yes, sir, I am. I'm preaching in such a way that I guarantee
you there's enough sin to sink me to hell forever in what my
prayers, my Bible reading, the good stuff. I love what Charles
Spurgeon said. He said, I can't tell the difference
between my good works and bad works. I can't even sort them
out. My only hope is to come into heaven on the plank of free
grace. And that is the only hope of any believer. Now look what
Romans chapter five says in verse 20. Moreover, the law entered. What's it say next? To keep men from sin, to restrain
sin, to check sin. So what it says, is it? The law, God's holy law. I love God's law. I delight in
the law of God after the inward man. But what did the law do? Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might overflow and abound to where that's all there
is. But where sin abounded. Would that be you? Where sin
abounded, where it overflowed to where that's all there was. Where sin abounded, grace. Grace did much more abound. There's only one place where
grace much more abounds, where sin abounded. The only person that can have
an appreciation of grace is a sinful person. Verse 21, that as sin hath reigned
unto death. Now, What that means is how to
send rain to death. How much ability do you have
to keep from dying? Do you have any ability at all to keep from
dying? If you ate perfectly, if you
exercised perfectly, if you stayed away from all disease as much
as you could, how much success could you have against this thing
of death? You don't have any choice here. You're gonna die.
Sin reigns in that sense. Even so, in the same manner,
might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, which is by
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, grace reigns the same way
sin reigns into death, grace reigns into life. If God gives
you grace, you can't do anything but live before him. And it reigns
through righteousness. This is a righteous salvation.
Sin is completely put away and I stand before God without guilt.
It reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Now, listen to this as the Lord
enables you real carefully. If I look at every man and woman
in this room, and said, God loves you. Christ died for you. God, the Holy Spirit is calling
you. If I said that to men and women, just everybody, you know
what I'd be doing? I'd be lying on God. I don't know if God loves you.
I don't know if Christ died for you. I don't know if God the
Holy Spirit's calling you. And listen to this, a preacher
who preaches that way is lying on God. He's not a true representative
of the truth. He's a liar. He's a false prophet. Now understand that he's a false
prophet. He's never bowed the knee to Christ. He's never known
the gospel. He wouldn't be preaching that
way. Turn with me for a moment to
John chapter 9. The Lord tells us why I came. Verse
39, and Jesus said, for judgment, I am coming to this world. that they which see not might
see, and that they which see might be made blind. Now I came for this purpose. Twofold. The folks who see, I'm
blinding them. And the folks who cannot see,
I'm giving them sight. I think of what the Lord said
to the Syro-Phoenician woman. I'm not sent but for the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. I didn't come for everybody.
The Lord made a declaration. He said in his great high priestly
prayer, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me for they are thine. The Lord says, I'm not praying
for the world. I'm praying for the elect. I'm
praying for those you have given me. Now, stay here in John chapter
nine. You see why it would be wrong
to look at a group of people that some are believers and some
are unbelievers, maybe, and say, God loves you. I don't know if
he does or not. Christ died for you. That's the
assurance of a believer. And look what the Lord says in
verse 40. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these
words and said unto him, are we blind also? Jesus saith unto them, if you
were blind, you should have no sin. If you were blind, and you
could not see one reason why God would ever look in favor
on you. Guess what? You have no sin. But when you say, I see, I can
see why God saved me. I did this, I did that. You've
been made blind. You're under the judgment of
God. Now, if you are a sinner, in
the biblical sense. If you are a sinner, I can guarantee
you God elected you. Christ died for you. God the
Holy Spirit has given you life. You wouldn't know you were a
sinner if he hadn't. You know the only folks who know
what sin is is people who are sinners. They're the only ones
You have to have a new nature to even understand what sin is,
to have any... A lost man, I don't care how
religious they are, they just look at sin as this, if I can
keep from this, if I can do this. Sin's a nature. Turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter
one. This is the last scripture I'll
ask you to turn to. Verse 15, this is a faithful saying. Now this is something that me
and you can rely on. I love the way he calls it a
saying. This had reached the status of a saying in the early
church. This is what folks in the early
church always said. This is a saying. It's a faithful
saying. This can be utterly relied on
and it's worthy of all acceptation. You ought to embrace this. This
ought to be the best news you've ever heard. That Christ Jesus
came into the world to save who? Now before I give the word, you
see it, what I want us to notice, there's no adjective in front
of that word. It does not say he came to save
elect sinners. It does not say he came to save
believing sinners. It does not say he came to save
sinners who have been born again. It doesn't say he came to save Sensible
sinners, that's what the Puritans used to like to say, sensible
sinners. Sinners are stupid. Amen? They are. He came to save sinners. Am I a sinner? If I can say yes to that before
God, He came to save me. And whatever He intends to do,
it's done. There isn't anybody He came to
save that was not saved. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. Everybody he
came to save, he saved. It is only as a sinner that you
can hear the gospel. Well, the preacher was awful
dry today. Maybe he was, but the problem's
not with the message. The problem's with you. You've
got a dry heart. Preacher wasn't, he was off today.
No, no, maybe he was. I'm not trying to defend the
preacher, but if you're not hearing the gospel, it's because you're
not hearing as a sinner if the gospel's being preached. That's
why. You can only hear the gospel
as a sinner. It only comes with good news
when you hear as a sinner. Then drew near all the publicans
and sinners for to hear him. And it's only as a sinner that
you can trust him to save you. If you're not just a sinner,
you've got something else you can trust. It really is that
simple. It is only as you have nothing
that you can trust Him as all. If you have anything more than
that, you can't trust Him. It's sinners He came for. He
said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now, It is not your sin that will
ever keep you from the Lord Jesus Christ. Not gonna happen. Your sin cannot
keep you from Christ. It's your righteousness that
keeps you from Christ. Your sin will never keep you
from Christ. If you're thinking, oh, I need
to get this straightened up before I come to him. No, don't think
that. I need to work up faith before
I can come to him. You come to him for the faith.
I need to stop committing this sin before I can come to him.
That'll keep you from him. I'm not saying continue in sin
that grace may abound, you know that, but if you think I can't
come to him until I stop this sin, why, that's salvation by
works. That's all it is. Salvation by
works. You come to him because you did
this. You come to him as a sinner and
nothing more, and he will receive you. They were criticizing him. This man receiveth sinners. Aren't
you glad he does? He is called the friend of publicans
and sinners. Only the gospel is a sinner's
religion. Did you know that? Only the gospel
is a sinner's religion. Sinners are saved in the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray together. Lord, we confess our sin. We're ashamed
of our sin. Lord, we pray that we might be
found in Christ. We pray that we might be forgiven
of our sins, which we know we are through the blood of your
son. Lord, enable each person in this
room to really believe I am a sinful man. And doing so, let us really
believe that thy son is the savior of sinners. Bless this message
for your glory. and our good. In Christ's name
we pray, amen.