Articles
Ownership of Sin
Ownership of Sin
By Paul R. Blake
Do you own this wallet? Do all of its contents, for good or ill, belong to you? Is your name or identification on it or in it? For all intents and purposes, you claim ownership of this wallet?
What about your sins? Do you own them? Most assuredly they belong to you. You worked to get them; your name is on them. Until you are redeemed from your sins, you are bound to them in ownership for eternity. It does no good to deny ownership.
I often hear people deny or try to share ownership of their sins, even when confessing them. Adam and Eve tried to do it in the Garden of Eden. Adam blamed God by complaining that “the woman YOU gave me” led me into sin, and Eve blamed the serpent for deceiving her. They were responsible for their sins; their sins belonged to them.
“I am sorry if I offended you,” is not an expression of sorrow for sin; it is stating regret for harm to the relationship. The speaker is not sorry he sinned; he is sorry others are upset with him for sinning. From his perspective, ownership of the sin is their problem, not his; they are responsible for being offended. Without their offence, he would not be concerned about the sin.
“I am sorry for doing that, but this is the reason why I did it...” Repentance for sin, immediately followed by an attempt to justify the sin is not repentance; it is a defense of the action. It does not own the sin; in fact, it altogether denies that it is a sin. “If you only understood the circumstances, you would agree that I had no choice but to sin.”
What does true ownership and repentance of sin sound like? “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter” (2Cor. 7:10-11).
Denying ownership of our sins by excusing or dismissing them will ensure that they will hang like a millstone around our necks until the Day of Judgment, at which point they will drag us down into perdition forever. Owning our sins and honestly, humbly appealing to God for forgiveness by the means He has provided will mean that He will redeem us from our sins. We have to admit to owning our sins before we can divest ourselves of them.
By Faith, We Know...
By Bill Crews via The West Main ANCHOR
- The best kind of exercise is godliness. 1Tim. 4:7-8
- The sharpest of all swords is the word of God. Heb. 4:12
- The greatest of all paths is pursued by faith and not by sight. 2Cor. 5:7
- The richest of all treasures is available even to the poorest of men. James 2:5; 2Cor. 4:7; Rom. 1:16-17; Eph. 3:8
- To be rich in good works is far more important than to be rich in this world’s goods. 1Tim. 6:17-18
- The most beautiful apparel is the apparel that adorns the inward being, the heart. 1Peter 3:3-4
- The most effective manner of revenge is kindness, which can only be administered in the proper spirit. Prov. 25:21-22; Rom. 12:17-21
- The most secure of all banks is in heaven, and making deposits there is more important than making deposits in an earthly one. Matt. 6:19-21
- The greatest and truest peace must be had while fighting the good fight of the faith.” 1Tim. 6:12; Eph. 6:10-12; Phil. 4:7
- Those who enjoy the sinful pleasures of this world shall miss the joys of heaven. Luke 8:14; 1Tim. 5:6
- The greatest multitude of people ever to assemble shall be gathered in the shortest span of time for the most important reason, and you and I will be there. Matt. 25:31-46.
A Moments Wisdom
--Sin always starts out being fun.
--Look ahead and prepare; don’t look back and regret.
--A hypocrite never intends to be what he pretends to be.
--We need less publicity on how to stay young and more on how to grow up.
--If God gave you as much time this week as you gave him last week, how long would you survive?
--When all is said and done, more is usually said than done.
--What will we tell our children we did without?
--It is easy to raise doubts about duties we don’t want to perform.
--It’s too bad so many people are thoughtless instead of speechless.
--Enjoy the little things. One day you may realize they really were the big things.
--Hate hurts the hater more than the hated.
--Don’t cut what you can untie.
--If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in the character. If there is beauty in the character, there will be harmony in the home. If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world. (Chinese proverb)
--More wagging, less barking.
--What the world needs is the kind of peace that surpasses all misunderstanding.
--An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains.
--The great question is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with failure.
--Anyone can be polite to a king; it takes a real gentleman to be polite to a beggar.
--A polite man is one who can listen with interest to things he knows all about when they are told to him by a person who knows nothing about them.
Test Your Bible Knowledge of the First Ten Commandments
1. How many of the first ten commandments address Israel’s duty to God? __________
2. How many of the first ten commandments address Israel’s duty to their fellow human beings? _______
3. What day of worship was established in the first ten commandments? __________
4. What restrictions were placed on the name of God in the first ten commandments? __________
5. What word did Moses use to describe lying? __________
6. What word did Moses use to describe lusting? __________
Upcoming Sermons
5/8/22 AM - What is a Sound Church? (Following the Bible Pattern in the Organization of the Church); PM - What is a Sound Church? (Following the Bible Pattern in the Work of the Church)
5/15/22 AM - What is a Sound Church? (Following the Bible Pattern in Worship as a Church); PM - What is a Sound Church? (The Nature of the New Testament Church)
5/22/22 AM - Guest Speaker; PM - Doug Sanders
5/29/22 AM - What is a Sound Church? (Straying from the Bible Pattern for the Church); PM - What is a Sound Church? (Scriptural Fellowship in a Local Church)
