Would you turn back to Romans
chapter 7 and while you're turning there, tonight I'm going to be
speaking from Luke chapter 11 verses 31 through 32. But I'm going to be dealing with
this subject, hearing and repenting. If I hear, I will repent. And if I'm repenting, it's because
I am hearing. Now I've entitled the message
for this morning, Sin, That It Might Appear Sin. Thanks, Rich. Sin that it might appear, sin. Now, Paul had been comparing
to being under the law to a bad marriage. We considered that
last week. And so he asked this question
in verse seven. What should we say then? Is the
law sin? God's holy law, is it a bad thing? Is God's law sin? And he concluded
in verse 12, we'll be looking at the verses that lead up to
this, but he says, no, it's not. Wherefore, the law is holy and
the commandment. Holy, just and good. And then he asked this question
in verse 13, was then that which is good made death unto me? Now the law is good. There's
no doubt about that. The law is holy. It's perfect.
It magnifies God's character. We love God's law. We delight
in the law of God after the inner man. But he had compared it to a bad
marriage. He says, was then that which
is good, the law, made death unto me? Is it the cause of my
death? God forbid. But sin, look at this phrase,
that it might appear sin. Working death in me by that which
is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. All of us by nature have a very
shallow view of sin. Every one of us are guilty of
that. Paul made that statement seeing that it might appear sin. What in fact may be great sin
in us may not appear to be sin in us. We don't see it. Paul
says the law is used that sin might appear to be what it is. If we have any understanding
of what sin is, we're going to come up with the same conclusion
about ourselves that Paul did in verse 13. Now notice what
he says. Verse 13 again was then that which is good may death
unto me, God forbid, but seeing that it might appear sin that
I might see it to be for what it is working death in me by
that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become
exceeding sinful. Now, here's what happens. When
I see sin as it is. I myself become, in my own estimation,
exceeding sinful. Now, if right now I do not see
myself in that light, it is because I am ignorant of the holy law
of God. I've not really understood it
aright. Because if I did, if sin does
in fact appear to be sin, I will see myself as sinful beyond measure. That's how I see myself. I'm
not talking about somebody else. I'm talking about myself. Now,
in 1 John 3, verse 4, John defined sin. He said, sin is the transgression
of the law. Now, the Ten Commandments, the
moral law is written on the heart of everybody to ever be born.
Did you know that? Everybody knows it's wrong to
fail to honor your parents. and to honor authority. Everybody
knows that. We're born with that knowledge.
Everybody knows intuitively that we should not kill people's bodies
or their characters. Everybody knows that committing
adultery, sexual sin, is wrong. Everybody knows that. Everybody
knows it's wrong to steal, whether shoplifting or robbing God of
glory. Everybody knows it's wrong to
steal. Everybody knows it's wrong to lie. We ought to tell the
truth. A lie is wrong. And everybody knows we should
not covet. Wait a minute. You know, I think
it's interesting that very little is said regarding this thing
of covetousness. Everybody will quickly agree
that lying is wrong and sexual sin is wrong. But not many people
say much about this thing of covetousness. Perhaps it's not
recognized as a great sin because it's the 10th of the Ten Commandments.
I guess folks think, well, it must be the 10th worst. In Exodus 20, verse 17, in the
Ten Commandments, we read, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox,
nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. To covet means
to desire. Now, who in here hadn't looked
at their neighbor's house at one time or the other and said,
I wish his house was my house. His house is bigger. It's built
better, looks better. I wish his house was my house.
I wish his wife was my wife. She's so nice to her husband.
I wish his wife was my wife. She's so nice, she's so pretty.
I wish his servants were my servants. It would make things a lot better
for me. I would get along better in this world. I'd make more
money if his servants were my servants, and if his ass was
my ass, and if his ox was my ox. Covetousness. Desiring what belongs to somebody
else. Did you know that covetousness
was the first sin? And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and
a tree to be desired, that same word desire is the word translated
coveted. A tree to be coveted. Now God
had forbid the fruit from this tree, but Eve coveted this fruit,
a fruit to be coveted, to make one wise. She took of the fruit
thereof and did eat and gave also to her husband with her
and he did eat. Did you know that covetousness
is the mother of all other sins? The love of money, Paul said.
Covetousness is the root of all evil. And covetousness is the
sin that we are the most blind to. It's involved in all other
sins. You know, when John speaks of
the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride
of life, all that's of the world, That word lust is covetousness. If I have the lust of the flesh,
I'm coveting pleasure. If I have the lust of the eyes,
I'm coveting popularity. What other men think. If I have
the pride of life, I'm coveting power. I'm wanting to have some
power over somebody so I can get them to do what I want. Covetousness
is involved in every single sin. What were the thorns that choked
the thorn-choked hearer? Our Lord tells us, the cares
of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust, the
covetousness of other things. They came into competition with
Christ and Paul said, covetousness is idolatry. Now, covetousness
is a very important part of this passage of scripture we're going
to look at when Paul says, is the law sin? Now look what he
says in verse seven. What shall we say then? Is the
law sin? Is the law a bad thing? Is the
law what trips me up? Is the law my problem? Is the
law sin? Since he compared the law to
a bad marriage in the first six verses, he says, is the law the
problem? Well, here's his answer. God
forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but
by the law. For I had not known lust, desire,
except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. I didn't know I was lusting. I didn't know I was desiring.
I didn't know I was coveting until the law said to me, thou
shalt not covet. The last of the 10 commandments,
verse eight. But sin, taking occasion by the
commandment. Now that word taking occasion
means using as a base of operations. It's actually a military term.
Sin used the commandment, the law as a base of operations.
Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. Now, I thought everything was
fine, and all of a sudden the law said, thou shalt not covet.
And you know what I began to do? I began to covet. It wrought in me all manner of
concupiscence or evil desire. All that has to be said to me
is do not covet this. And you know what I'm going to
do? I'm going to covet that. That's what the law does. It
doesn't deliver you from that. It simply exposes it. When God said, do not covet,
it worked in me all manner of covetousness. Now, when I was
without the law, I didn't feel the power of sin. I didn't feel
its power over me. I didn't feel like it reigned
in me. I was very much like Naaman. Naaman thought himself to be
a great man who happened to be a leper. He didn't realize he
was a leper who happened to be a great man. big difference. Oh, I trip and fall sometimes.
I'm only human. I make mistakes. This is the
way men think. I'm not going to beat myself
up, though. I'm only human. I can't see myself as the Bible
describes in Genesis chapter 6 verse 5 when it says, God saw
the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now I hear that, but to be honest,
I can't see how every imagination of the thoughts of my heart is
only evil continually. I read that, but it doesn't line
up with my experience. I don't see that. Now, if that
is my thought, It's because I have never understood the holy law
of God. You see, self-complacency and
self-righteousness is the enemy of true holiness. Now, let me repeat that statement.
Self-righteousness and self-complacency is the enemy of all true holiness. Let's go on reading verse nine.
Verse eight, he said, sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought
in me all this desire, this covetousness for without the law, sin was
dead. I thought I was okay before I
understood anything about the law. Verse nine, for I was alive
without the law once, but when the commandment came, Sin revived
and I died. Now I was alive without the law
once. I thought before I understood the law, I thought I had some
ability. I thought I have a free will. I can decide to accept Jesus
as my personal savior and everything's going to be okay. I can repent
of my sins. I can even straighten my life
up if the circumstances are right. I know I messed up today, but
I'm only human, but tomorrow I'll make it right. I was alive
without the law once. I had some life, some ability. I was alive without the law once
before God saved me. Here's how I saw myself. I was
alive. There are things I could do. What could a dead man do?
He can't do anything. But I was alive. I thought I could respond
and get things straightened up. But when the commandment came,
thou shalt not covet, covetousness revived. Sin revived and I died. Romans 5.20 says, moreover, the
law entered that the offense might abound, overflow. I was alive without the law,
but when the commandment came and I saw who God was and what
he required, sin became alive and I died, verse 10, and the
commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. All that God's law does is to
find sin, expose sin, and sentence to death. It cannot justify, it cannot
sanctify, it cannot give life, or even be a pattern to follow
because all it does is condemn me. That's all it does, is condemn
me. I try to keep the law, you haven't
done a very good job, You haven't kept one commandment one time. The commandment, Paul says, which
was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. Cursed be everyone
that continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. Verse 11, for sin taking occasion
by the commandment, using as a base of operations the commandment,
deceived me. Sin deceived me. It deceived
me. And by it, it slew me. It deceived me into thinking
the law, sin used the law to deceive me into thinking I could
keep it. You know, sin is so deceiving. You know why? Because we have such deceptive
hearts. Jeremiah said in Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9, the heart
is deceitful above all things. Desperately wicked. Who can know
it? Now that's the description of
my heart. That's the description of your heart. Sin deceived me. And when we're deceived, we can't
see a thing for what it is. We're ignorant by nature of the
spirituality of the law. If we have any understanding
of the law, we know that all we do is break it. And if I don't have that understanding
of God's law with regard to every single commandment, I have no
understanding of the law. You know, Satan comes as an angel
of light and his ministers, ministers of righteousness and use their
deception with the law for sin, taking occasion by the commandment,
deceive me and by it slew me. Verse 12. So he comes up with
this conclusion. Wherefore, the law is holy. and the commandment holy and
just and good. Now can you look at that law
that condemns you? That says all you've done is
break it. And you can say, can you say from your heart, that
law is holy. And that commandment is holy
and just and good. It reflects the holy character
of God. The law is holy. Verse 13. Was then that which is good,
the law, made death unto me? Is it the cause of my death?
Paul says, God forbid. But sin, that it might appear,
sin. It might appear to be what it
is. Now here's the fact of the matter. We have far too shallow a view
of sin. What really is great sin in God's
sight doesn't appear to be sin to us. We don't think it's so
bad. It doesn't appear sin. It may be great sin, great rebellion,
sin against a glorious God, but to us, it doesn't appear to be.
We're okay. I'm okay, you're okay. Sin, that
it might appear sin. Has sin ever appeared sin to
me or you? Well, here's what happens when
it does. Look what he says. Was in that
which is good, verse 13, made death unto me, God forbid, but
sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which
is good, God's law, that sin by the commandment might become
exceeding sinful. Now, when the law is understood,
here's how I'll see myself as exceeding, surpassingly sinful. Right now. Not how I used to
be, how I am right now. Whenever God's law is understood,
I'll see myself as exceeding sinful. Now, I'm asking myself
this question. Have I seen this as true about
myself? No, I've seen it in others. But have I seen it as true with
regard to myself? I've made this statement many
times before, but it's so true. It's one thing to believe the
biblical doctrine of total depravity. And it's another thing to believe
that I, not somebody else, that I am totally depraved. Have I seen myself as exceeding, surpassingly sinful? Now somebody's thinking, what's
the point of all this? This is just so negative. You
want me to see that I personally am exceeding sinful? What's the
point? What's the point of this? It's only when I see that I am exceeding sinful that
salvation by works will be exceeding impossible for me. And what a
blessed place that is to be brought to. Salvation, if I see I am
exceeding sinful, salvation will be as impossible for me as it
is for a dead man to give himself life. Now how much possibility
does a dead man, how much ability does a dead man have to raise
himself from the dead? Absolutely none. And that is
how much ability I have to contribute to my own salvation. And it's
only, listen to this, it's only when I am exceeding sinful that
grace will be exceeding necessary. Necessary. Now, if I'm exceeding
sinful, you know what's exceedingly necessary for me? It is necessary
for God to do something for me that I cannot do for myself.
It is exceeding necessary for me for God to elect me. I need Him to choose me to salvation
because I know if He doesn't choose me to salvation, I won't
be saved. Divine election is absolutely
necessary for this sinner to be saved. Is election necessary
for you? You know, folks argue about election.
They say, God's not just. He's not fair to choose some
to be saved and others He passes by. How could that be fair? And
all the different kinds of arguments people have against the Lord
for this. But if you're exceeding sinful, election is absolutely
necessary for your salvation. If you're exceeding sinful, It
is absolutely necessary for what Christ did for you to be enough
that nothing else is needed. You need Him to actually put
away your sins and make it to where your salvation is a divine
necessity because He paid for your sins. You need His atonement. His death, His bloody death on
Calvary's tree is absolutely necessary for your salvation.
Him being successful at it, Him actually making it to where you
can't be anything but saved because of what He did for you, is exceeding
necessary if you're exceeding sinful. Only when I'm exceeding sinful
Does irresistible and invincible grace become necessary for me? I can't be saved without the
grace of God. Only when I am exceeding sinful
does the gospel of Jesus Christ come as exceeding good news. If I'm exceeding sinful, Oh,
what a glorious message it is that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. Of whom, Paul said, I am the
chief. Good news, isn't it? Only when I am exceeding sinful
does Jesus Christ the Lord become exceeding precious to me." You know, the only folks who really
worship Him for who He is are people who are exceeding sinful. Oh, they see such glory in the
Son of God. They see such glory in His person,
such ability to save. When you have no ability to save,
oh, how you rejoice in His ability. You're like that leper. If you
will, you can. You have the ability to save
me. Oh, how precious is His life. That perfect righteousness. He
honored the law of God and kept it perfectly. And His righteousness
is the only righteousness I know anything about. It's the only
righteousness I have. How precious His righteousness
is, if you're exceeding sinful. How precious is His death. When I think of the Son of God
dying for sin, And I see what he accomplished by it. How precious
his death is. How precious his resurrection
is. When he was raised from the dead.
Oh, isn't this precious? When he was raised from the dead,
everybody he died for was justified before God. Now that's precious.
How exceeding precious was His ascension. When He ascended back
to the Father and all of God's elect ascended with Him and were
accepted in Him. How precious right now, to you,
how precious right now is His intercession. Him representing
you before the Father. If you're exceeding sinful, oh,
how exceeding precious is His intercession. He is able to save
them to the uttermost that come to God by Him, seeing He ever
liveth to make intercession for them. Do you know how you can know
if you've seen this about yourself? Do I know how I can know if I've
seen this about myself, that I myself am exceeding sinful? I'm going to tell you how you
can know right now if you see yourself that way. And let me
say this also before I give this answer. If you don't see yourself
this way, you don't have the religion of the Apostle Paul.
That's how he saw himself. All of God's people see themselves
in this light. But let me tell you how you can
know for sure whether or not you've ever really seen yourself
as exceeding sinful. Have you ever looked to Christ
alone? Christ only. Nothing more. Nothing less and
nothing else. Anybody who has looked to Christ
alone is someone who has in fact seen themselves as exceeding
sinful. Now I want to conclude with some thoughts from Luke
chapter 18. Now remember Paul's subject in
understanding the law was covetousness. Paul said, I have not known sin,
but by the law, except the law had said thou shalt not covet.
Now look in Luke chapter 18. Verse 18. And a certain ruler, asked him
saying, good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? What shall I do? And Jesus said unto him, why
callest thou me good? None is good save one, that is
God. Now the Lord said that because
he knew that this man didn't know who he was really. He said,
you're a good man. I'm a good man, but I want to
arrive at your goodness. What good thing can I do to be
like you? He had no idea who the Lord really
was. And that's why the Lord corrected
him. Why are you calling me good? You're, you're looking at me
just as a man. No man is good. Why callest thou me good? There's
none good, but God only. Verse 20, you know the commandments. Now the Lord is going to meet
us where we come to him. He came on the footing of law
and the Lord says, okay, I'll meet you on the footing of law.
Verse 20, thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not
kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false
witness. Honor thy father and thy mother.
He's talking about the commandments of the second table of the law.
Do you notice which one he didn't mention? He didn't mention thou
shalt not covet. He didn't mention that. He just
talked about the other five. I think it's interesting that
Mark's account says, and Jesus, beholding him, loved him. He loved this man that came up
to him. He loved him. You know, everybody the Lord
loves, he saves. You know that? Everybody the Lord loves, he
saves. And look at this man's answer.
And he said, verse 21, all these have I kept from my youth up. Now I only know one other man
who ever made such a claim as that. You know who that was? Paul.
He said touching the righteousness which is in the law, I was blameless. And this man really, I reckon,
as far as men go, this was the best man to ever live. I mean, he thought within himself,
I've actually kept the commandments. Can you imagine? I can't even
imagine that. I can remember when I was a little
boy trying to figure out which commandments that I'd kept and
which ones I'd broken. I remember one time thinking
I'd kept seven out of the ten. And I just demonstrated that
I didn't even know what any of them meant when I said something
like that. But this fellow said, I've kept them all. Now, how
did the Lord respond? Now, when Jesus heard these things,
he said unto him, verse 22, Yet lackest thou one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute
it unto the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come
and follow me. And when he heard this, he was
very sorrowful for he was very rich. Now this man did not understand
that he was eaten up with covetousness. He thought he was a law keeper,
but all he was, was a law breaker dominated by covetousness. And when the Lord said, sell
all you have and give it away, give it to the poor, and you'll
have treasure in heaven, and then you come and follow me.
Now that would be, what if the Lord told you, sell everything
you got, give it to the poor, and you come and follow me." He couldn't do it. He went away,
the scripture says, sorrowful. And you know what? I believe
his sorrow ended up turning into rage. Because I can't prove it,
but I really believe this was the Apostle Paul. He had an uncommon
hatred of Christ. And I think that he resented
this so much as his resentment turned to hatred. And he was
the one who went about trying to stamp out the name of Jesus
Christ. Now, if it wasn't Paul, it was
somebody a whole lot like him, wasn't it? He was very much like
Paul at any rate. And he went away sorrowful. Now
look what the Lord said. Verse 24. And when Jesus saw
that he was very sorrowful, he said, how hardly shall they that
have riches enter into the kingdom of God, for it's easier for a
camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter
the kingdom of God. Now, how much possibility does
a camel have to get through a needle's eye? None. Ain't no way a camel can
get through the eye of a needle. It's not going to happen. And
they that heard it said, who then can be saved? This is the
best man we've ever seen. If he can't be saved, who then
can be saved? And he said, the things which
are impossible with me and salvation are possible with God. Now, this man went away sorrowful,
but like I said, Mark's account says Jesus loved him. Jesus loved him. Turn to Acts
chapter 7 for a moment. Verse 58, this is talking about
the stoning of Stephen and they cast him out of the city and
stoned him and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a
young man's feet. He was a rich young ruler. whose
name was Saul. Look in chapter 8. And Saul was
consenting unto his death. He was giving full agreement
to the death of Stephen. And at that time, there was a
great persecution against the church at Jerusalem. Look down at verse 3. As for
Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house and
hailing men and women and committed them to prison. Look in chapter
9. And Saul yet breathing out threatenings
and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high
priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues,
that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or
women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. And as he journeyed,
he came unto Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him
a light from heaven. And you know the rest of the
story. Is the law sin? No, it sure isn't. But it sure shows us our need
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if sin has appeared to you
as sin, then grace has appeared to you as grace. And the clearer
our views of God's law, the more deeply we'll see our sin. You see, self-righteousness and
self-complacency is self-ignorance. That's all it is. Self-ignorance. Oh, I believe that I am I am exceeding sinful. I believe that. And I also believe this. His
grace, his person, his salvation is exceeding precious. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
gospel of thy blessed son. Lord, I ask in Christ's name
that by your grace, by your kindness, by your mercy, you will cause
sin in us to appear sin. Lord, we won't see it as sin.
unless you're pleased to show us. But we ask that sin might
appear to be sin. And Lord, I ask in Christ's name
that each person in this room might see themselves, not others,
but themselves, as exceeding sinful. And Lord, in that sight, Give
us the grace to look completely away from ourselves and look
to thy son as our all in salvation. Bless this message for the Lord's
sake. We give thanks for him. In his
name we pray. Amen. We got one.