And so the title of this morning sermon is the inequality of sin the inequality of sin
And what i'm preaching against this morning is this idea or this philosophy that's out there
That all sin is equal now. How many people have probably heard that in their life that hey, you know
You know one sin is the same as another sin. We're all sinners and uh, you know, therefore all sin is equal
Well, we're gonna hopefully by the end of the sermon you'll see that that is not true that all sin is in fact not equal
And the source of that error where that that idea or that thinking comes from is completely unknown to me
I don't understand where people get that and and it's so unbiblical that even most you know
compromised watered down lukewarm churches
Even they understand this a lot of them will even preach. Hey, no, actually some sins are worse than others that all sin is not
equal
so
Just trying right out of the gate just trying to figure out where does this even come from?
Where does this mentality come from, you know, and I can't put my finger on it where exactly uh, you know
I first heard this but you know
I don't recall ever having heard it preached in any church that i've ever been in
You know and I haven't been in a lot of churches
But you know before I got in a king james only independent fundamental
Fire breathing soul winning baptist church, you know before I got into that i'd been in
You know for a very short amount of time in some more liberal churches and I don't recall
Ever hearing them preach this or now I never recall them hearing them preach against it either but you know
I'm trying i'm scratching my head trying to figure out where do people even come up with this idea that all sin is equal
Because when you really start to break that down and really start to think about what you're saying
When well all sin is the same, you know, it it's ridiculous
It's it's ludicrous to sit there and think that you know stealing, uh, you know
Some small item or something that a child might do some sin that a child might commit
You know is on par with something that a you know, a full-grown adult is capable of, you know
Some sins aren't even available to us in certain stages of our life or certain situations of our life
For example, you know the bible warns about those that will be rich
For those that will be rich have will pierce themselves with many through with many sorrows
And uh, you know talking about the fact that you know written, you know riches, you know for a lot of people will ruin them
You know, there's a lot of sins that we're just never going to get involved in because of the fact that we can't afford it
Right, and there's a lot of other people out there that can't afford it and they get into some pretty wicked sins
So this whole idea of all sin being equal when you start to really think about it
Doesn't make any sense and it's hard to even understand where it comes from now where I have heard it is out door knocking
You know
We go out into the community here in tucson
And we knock on doors and we ask people if they're saved if we can show them from the bible what it takes
To know to be 100 sure that they're on their way to heaven and a lot of times, you know
We'll start to talk to these folks
And some of that's where i've heard it the most is in conversation at folks with people at their at their doors of their home
They'll say well, you know all sin is equal
So, you know, maybe where it comes from is from just this carnal philosophy just this carnal way of thinking
Were of people who just kind of want to you know, excuse themselves from having to live to a higher moral standard
You know people say well, you know, it's not important how I live because at the end of the day all sins equal, you know
It doesn't matter if I go to church or if I if I you know live by the commandments or try to keep god's word
You know, none of that matters because at the end of the day all sins equal so it doesn't really matter what I do
You know, we're all on a level playing field
now again
They'll they'll even cite certain examples. A lot of them will even go to the bible, you know
They'll even i've even heard people say will say, you know
Uh, jesus said that if you even look on a woman to lust after you've committed adultery in her heart
So, you know, there you go. It's okay for me to be
living in fornication unmarried with my partner and and having that relationship because after all
You know, everybody's looked on a woman to lust so we're all guilty
But here's the thing. We're not all guilty of that sin. We're not all fornicators. We're not all drunkards
We're not all covetous. We're not all extortioners
And those are sins that specifically would get you kicked out of church
so to sit there and say
You know and that's courtnik first corinthians five you can read that and it gives a list of sins that if any of a man
That is called a brother is partaking of we are to have no company with him
Until he gets it right and then he's to be received back
But that's another sermon but that in and of itself goes to show you that not all sin is equal
You know, there's some sins that we could be guilty of of in this morning in this in this building
And I guarantee you there's not a person from the pulpit to the pew in this building that doesn't have some kind of sin in their life
You know because we're all sinners I get that
But there's some you know, a lot of those sins aren't going to be sins that are going to get kicked out of church
You know or suffer some other punishment
So to sit there and say that all sin is equal. It just doesn't make any sense when you just approach it logically
But this morning what we're going to do is we're actually going to go through some scripture in the bible
And just debunk this carnal philosophy of all sin being equal
Now when you look there in james chapter 2
this probably might be
One of the verses that somebody could turn to to try to make this case
That hey all sin is equal it says there in verse uh verse
James chapter 2 verse 10 for whosoever shall keep the whole law yet offended one point. He is guilty of all
Now see see there you go. If you just do one sin, it's like you did them all
No, that's that's not what it says. It doesn't say if you're guilty of one you've done them all it says you're guilty of all
Right you might it's as if you might as well have already done them because you you know you what it's showing us is that
We're already condemned, you know that we're already it's already possible for us to commit all of these sins
You know, we could we could get all uh, we've all fallen short of the glory of god
Right for all have sinned we understand that and people turn to verses like this
And in romans and they say well bible says for all have sinned, you know, therefore, you know
We're all sinners. It doesn't really matter what we do doesn't matter how we live our life because after all all sin is equal
Now james chapter 2 verse 10 and others it does condemn us guilty as sinners and that's the point
That's the point of it right there and we've all come short of the glory of god that we are guilty of all right
But that doesn't make us all as sinful as one another
Does it does that mean that everybody in this room is as equally much as a sinner as the next person?
Does that mean you know little corban john up here, you know, he's my spitting image
Is he guilty of all the sins that i've committed at four years of age?
No
And pray, you know pray the lord that he is never guilty
Of of some of the sins that you know, his father has committed and so on and so forth
You know and for all all of our children, you know, we pray that
What does that mean everybody in this room is at the same level of sinfulness?
Do some people in this room maybe have a little bit more sin than other people?
Certainly possible. Well, one thing is for certain is that not everybody in this room is not equally sinful
And everybody in the world is not equally sinful
And I don't think that's a real far stretch. I don't know that I really have to
You know go to great lengths to convince you of that this morning
But we are going to go to the scripture and if you would turn over turn over to first timothy chapter one first timothy chapter one
And we're going to start to look at some scriptures that just just completely demolish this false way of thinking
This carnal vain philosophy that just wants to excuse itself from having to live a godly life a life of righteous living
And by saying well all sins equal we're gonna just smash that this morning, you know, I don't want anybody walking out of this room
You know not convinced of the fact that all sin in fact is not equal that there is an inequality of sin
It says there in first timothy chapter one verse 15
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that christ. Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief
So paul here is saying that he is the chiefest of sinners
And as he's saying I you know of whom we all are
Sinners, you know, we're all hey, we're all equal sinners. You know, we're all all sins equal
He's saying no he came to save sinners and i'm the worst of them
So that statement right there shows us that jesus or not jesus
But paul understood that all sin is not equal that some people are more sinful than others
You know and if you know the story of paul before he was called paul he was saul
And he was uh, you know of the tribe of benjamin. He was a pharisee of the pharisees
Right and he persecuted the church
You know, he even brought letters and and hailed some of the church and carried them away in bonds to imprisonment and even death
That he was consenting under the death of stephen the first martyr in the book of acts
I mean he before his conversion was a wicked man
He opposed christ when jesus confronted him on the on damascus grode. He said that he kicked against the pricks
So he was a he was a sinful man and he knew it, you know, he did now has everybody in this room persecuted the church
Have you ever had a believer hauled away and thrown in prison like paul
So to sit there and say well all sins equal, you know, i'm just as sinful as paul is inaccurate
Go over, uh, if you would to first john chapter five first john chapter five
How about another example where the bible just flat out says that some sin is worse than others, you know one that comes to mind
Is genesis chapter 13?
Talking about the city of of saddam and gomorrah
And it says in genesis chapter 13 verse 13 that the men of saddam
Were wicked and sinners before the lord what exceedingly?
Exceedingly sinful is what they were. They weren't just your average run-of-the-mill sinner. They were on a whole nother level
They were reprobates. They were sodomites so on and so forth
That's another sermon, but i'm just going to that scripture to show us that some people are worse sinners than others
That not everybody has this equality of sinfulness that there is an equality inequality to sin
So some sinners are worse than others just as some sins are worse than others
It's not just that some people are worse centers than other people
But there's actually sins that you commit that are worse than other sins
And when we're getting i'm going to make application here at the end
So stay with me because this can't apply to even us in this room that already understand this because there's another danger
There's another pitfall
That can come with this line of thinking so just stay with me
But right now I just want to make the point that you know
Some sins are worse than others just as some sinners are worse than others. Look there in first john chapter five verse 16
If any man see his brother sin a sin, which is not unto death
He shall ask and he shall give him life
For them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death. I do not say that he shall pray for it
Now people read that and they think well, what's this one sin unto death?
No, what he's referring to is the old testament, you know, if you've been with us through the book of deuteronomy
Especially these last few weeks where we've been going through a lot of the civil law that god laid out in the old testament
God puts the death penalty in a lot of things
God puts the death penalty a lot of sins that even today people are guilty of
Right and what he's saying here is like look according to the word of god
There is a sin that is unto death and it's not just one sin
There's multiple sins
That you know some sins are punished in god's law by a financial penalty some sins are are punished by an actual physical beating
Uh, you know and we're talking, you know within a judicial system, you know, not at like we're not this isn't something we do here
Okay
But you know and some sins are also punished by death and that right there should show you just the most casual
Just you know read through the bible through the old testament
It becomes very obvious
If you're paying attention
That some sins are worse than others that some sins have a sin unto death and there's a sin that is not unto death
So just as some sinners are worse than others some sins that people commit are worse than others as well
So again the point at the beginning of the sermon is just to debunk this carnal philosophy that all sin is equal
This idea that this excuse that people want to have that it's okay for them to have their sin
Because you know their their their sin as bad as it might be
Is just the same as everybody else's that we're all sinners, but that is not biblical
You know, and I I think we could probably just close our bibles and go home right now
And hopefully everybody's already convinced. I mean how many more scriptures do we have to look at for you to see the fact that?
Some sins are worse than others
That some sinners are worse than others
Well, we're not going to do that we're going to continue to go through a few more verses here
So some sins as we just read in verse john chapter five are worthy of death others have other punishments that are listed there
Uh, or or can be found in scripture
So if you see that there's less extreme punishments doled out for certain sins, how can they all be equal?
Some sins are in fact worse than others if you would go to john chapter 19
john chapter 19
You know, this is this is a great passage to prove this because it's right out of the mouth of jesus christ
It's him saying it
and of course this is talking about the point of the story where
They're bringing jesus to pilot to have him crucified
Pilate's kind of on the fence not sure if he wants to carry it go through with it
It says in john chapter 19 verse 10
Then saith pilot unto him speakest thou not unto me
Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee to have power to release thee
Jesus answered thou couldest have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above
Therefore he that delivered me out or excuse me delivered me unto thee
hath the greater sin
So look it was was pilot off the hook
No pilot was guilty. He you know later in the story
He he washes his hands and said I am free from the blood of this innocent man
Sorry, that doesn't cut it. You know, he still delivered him to be crucified
You know pilot still has his sin in this part of the in this story
Right, but jesus is saying look the people that delivered me unto you have a greater sin than you pilot
and uh
So right there showing us that even in god's eyes in the eyes of the lord. Jesus christ
Some people are worse sinners than others
You know this can be further proven if you go over to matthew chapter 10 verse 5 matthew chapter 10 verse 5
The fact that there are going to be varying degrees of punishment in hell
Did you know that that when the people that go to hell are gonna there's not everybody's gonna suffer the same degree
Now look there isn't a nice part to hell
It's not like well hell won't be that bad for me. I don't want any part to do with it
I don't want a toe in hell
Okay, and praise god that salvation's free that it's all by belief that it's not of our works of our own righteousness
But by his grace, he saved us that nobody has to go there by just simply believing in the lord. Jesus christ
But the people that go there there's going to be varying degrees of punishment look here in matthew chapter 10 verse 5
these 12 jesus sent forth and commanded them saying
Go not into the way of the gentiles and into any of the city of the samaritans enter ye not
But go rather to the lost house of the sheep of israel and as ye go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand
So get the context of what's going on. Jesus is sending out his 12 disciples and saying don't go to the gentiles
Don't go to the samaritans. He's saying go to the lost house of the sheep of israel
Right, so he's going to the jews first. That's who he's sending them to right so jump down to verse 12
And when you come into a house salute it
Verse 13 and if the house be worthy let your peace come upon it
But if it not be not worthy let your peace return to you and whosoever shall not receive receive you
Nor hear your words when you depart out of that house or city shake off the dust of your feet
Verily I say unto you
It shall be more tolerable in the land for the land of sodom and gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city
So jesus is saying look if I when I send you to the city of the lost house of the tribes of israel
When I send you to these people and they if they reject you
And you know let your peace come unto you and leave that city shake off the dusty feet
He's saying but for those people that reject you it's going to be more tolerable
For the lands of the the for sodom and gomorrah in the day of judgment
and on the day of judgments was when people are going to be you know, the the resurrection where people are, you know,
Brought before the great white throne the books will be opened and they'll be judged according to their works
And people will be cast, you know into the lake of fire
Is what the bible teaches and he's saying look at that day
It would be better to be be a resident of sodom and gomorrah
Which if you recall what I read earlier, those people were sinners exceedingly before the lord and we recall the story
God rained fire and brimstone out on those cities
And god is saying look because they have rejected you they've rejected me they have rejected the gospel
Out of hand, you know, it's going to just be worse for them than in the day of judgment
So there's going to be a worse punishment doled out unto these people than even for those of sodom and gomorrah folks
There are varying degrees of punishment for sin
All sin is not equal
You know because because of the fact that jesus said, you know, there are some people he said of to pilot
Hey, this guy has the worst sin. He has the greater sin
He's saying here these people of these cities that reject you it's going to be more tolerable for other people in the day of judgment
You know their sin is going to be worse than others
And what is it here? You know, it's kind of a side note, but what is it here that makes
Uh, you know the day of judgment more tolerable for the others than for the jews here
It's because of the fact that these people that jesus is sending him to
Are are being held to a greater degree of accountability
Right the bible says he came unto his own and his own received him not
Right, so he's coming onto his own. He's not sending his 12 disciples to anybody else but them exclusively
And right out of the gate he's been amongst them preaching doing miracles. They know who he is
They have a greater degree of accountability
Given their access to the truth given to the fact that jesus was walking amongst them preaching to them sending his disciples doing the miracles
He said if you believe not for my word's sake believe me for the for the for the works that I do
You know, they had a greater degree of accountability folks. So when you have a a
a greater degree of accountability before god, you know, you're
You know, how am I trying to put this when you when you're given more responsibility or more knowledge the more you know
About god the more you know about the bible the more you're in church and learning the things of god
The more accountable you become to god
Even as his child you're born again, you know, even more so you have the holy spirit dwelling in you if you're born again
You've been saved
You know and he's leading you and guiding you into knowledge and all truth
You have the word of god you have someone preaching you to the word of god
You know, you're held to a higher degree of accountability than just the guy who's never heard about jesus
The guy who's never been in church who doesn't know those things that you know
And that was what's going on here in the story he's sending him onto a people
That were held to a higher degree of accountability and why was that because of what it says in romans 3 i'll read to you
It says what advantage then half the jew paul's saying like what what what profit is it to the jew? What advantage do they have?
Or what profit is there of circumcision?
You know that's referring to the jews again. What profit do they have? What advantage do they have? He said this much
Much every way he's saying look they have a great deal advantage
they have a great deal of they profit a great deal being a jew be chiefly because
Unto them were committed the oracles of god. They had the scriptures. They had the prophets. They had jesus come to them
They were held to a higher degree of accountability if you would turn over to luke chapter 12 luke chapter 12
This is a concept that jesus taught throughout scripture
Luke chapter 12 verse 47. We'll see again
That some people are held
To a higher degree of accountability ability and therefore will suffer a greater degree of punishment for their disobedience
It says in verse 47 and that servant which knew his lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will
Shall be beaten with many stripes
But he that knew not and did commit such
And did commit such
Things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes for unto whomsoever much is given of him shall much be required
To whom men have committed much of him. They will ask them more
Look the more you know the more you understand the things of god the more accountable you are
And that's what jesus is teaching. Look the guy that you know, they did the same thing
He's worthy of stripes, but he didn't know his lord's will you know what he's going to get a lesser punishment
So all sins are not equal
Okay, and all sinners are not equal now. We're all sinners
We all deserve you know, our the wages of sin is death. We all deserve
You know the death of this body that you know, the second death being cast in the hell
We all deserve that because we've all committed sin. Okay, but not every that doesn't make everybody
Uh as sinful as as one another
Because of the fact also we could even talk about
That some sins are considered an abomination to god
You know if you've read through the scripture if you listen to much preaching
About it, you know
Does god call every sin in the bible an abomination?
You know god, but god does call some sins an abomination
He even calls some people who commit some sins. He says they are an abomination
So if you would turn to revelation chapter two revelation chapter two
In fact god's got a list of things that he that he uh that are an abomination unto him in proverbs chapter six
You're going to revelation two. I'll read to you from proverbs six. It says
These six things doth the lord hate. Oh
God hates
You know, that's that's that's the lord. That's the bible that god hates some things. Okay
You know, that's that's not a very popular idea out there even amongst christians today that you know, god is love we understand that
But god is multifaceted. God is not just a you know a
One-dimensional personality, you know, god is a person
Who has you know all the range of feelings and emotions just like anybody else
It says these six things that the lord hate yay seven are an abomination to him unto him. I mean abomination
That's another level of hatred. That's to abhor something. I mean it's to be disgusted by it
I mean, you know if if you were i'm trying to think of an example of where an instance where you might abhor something
You go to a restaurant and they serve you up you're expecting this
Dish and they just bring you the the the the one dish you despise the most
You know, and it's it's cold and slimy and you just uh, you know, it's it's an abomination
I hate it. I can't I don't even want to smell it. I don't want to see it. I don't want to know it's there
You know, there's other dishes you might not be your favorite, but you could put up with them, right?
I'm we're baptists. So food is the greatest analogy we always use right but you know
You get the idea here that abomination is it's not just hating something. It's to be a bored by it to hate it
to a severe degree
In those things that he calls an abomination a proud look a lying tongue
Hands that shed innocent blood a heart that devises wicked imaginations
Feet that be swift in running to mischief a false witness that speaketh lies and he that soweth discord among the brethren
Those are things that god says he hates and he calls an abomination
God now that's a very specific list and that should show us
That some sins are worse than others
And if you're guilty of some sins, you are a worse sinner than others
Look there in revelation chapter 2. We'll see more of the same look at verse 4
He says nevertheless. I have someone against thee because thou hast first left thy first love
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else I will come unto thee quickly
And will remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent
But this thou hast that thou hatest the deeds of the nicoleatins
Which I also hate so he's rebuking this church here and he's saying look I have someone against thee
You know, you've left your first love, you know, your love for me is waxing cold. You're not doing the works
You need to repent you need to get right and fix that
Otherwise i'm going to remove your candlestick, you know, and that's basically when god just is done with the church
You know and he takes takes away the leadership and the church just dies, right?
so
That's what he's threatening them there with but what I want you to notice here is the contrast
Between what they're guilty of and what they hate
He says there he says I have somewhat against thee. Is that a scathing rebuke? Hey, i've got somewhat against you
If I were to come here and say hey i've got a little bit of a problem is that like me just coming down
You know if a brother comes to you and says hey, man, you know, i've got a bone to pick with you
I mean we could have disagreements or we could be people can offend us to a certain degree to where
You know, it's not this big deal, but we hey, we still got to work this out. You see i'm saying
And that's what he's kind of that's what reminds me there. I have somewhat against thee this isn't like, you know, you better get this right
I can't believe you know, there this is not a a scathing
You know rebuke of these people he's just saying look I do have someone against you
But notice that with the deeds of the nickelatians, which I do hate which I also hate
So there's right there in that those verses you're seeing there's some people that you know these sinners he has somewhat against them
But these nickelatians over here man, he hates them
Right. Do you see the contrast there?
Again, another great verse that's showing us that not all sins are equal
That not all sinners are equal that god hates some things and some things, you know, he just has a bone to pick with you over
So
You know another fact that or another thing a way we could approach this or look at debunk this this carnal philosophy of all sin being equal
Is we could talk about the fact
That god even in his in the bible prescribes a code of conduct for people who are guilty of certain sins
God you know, he god says look don't do this, but if you're going to do it
Do this if you go ahead and do it this happens. This is how I want to handle
That's not god putting a stamp of approval on it and we're going to look at deuteronomy chapter 24 if you'd go over there
You know, i'm kind of getting my head of myself in tonight's sermon
But there's several examples in the old testament of this
And if you've been with us on thursday nights, these will sound familiar
But what about the fact and we can we can
Know and understand that not all sin is equal because of the fact
That god prescribes a code of conduct for some sins that people are guilty of
Okay, one sin in particular are those that are guilty of divorce now divorce is a sin
And the bible is very clear about that
But look what he says here to deuteronomy 24 verse 1
When a man hath taken a wife and married her and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes
Because he hath found some uncleanness in her
Then let him write her a bill of divorcement and give it in her hand and send her out of his house
And when she is debarred of his house, she may go and be another man's wife
So he's saying look divorce is a sin, but here's an exception
And if you're going to do it, you know, you're going to write a bill of divorcement
And i'm going to talk about this more specifically tonight, you know this one exception that god has for divorce
Right, but again, we're seeing that god is prescribing a code of conduct
And he's and he his will is not for people, you know
I don't really don't want to get in myself tonight sermon, but in deuteronomy 24. Jesus even rebukes that and says, you know, moses gave you
Allowed you to write a bill of divorcement for the hardness of your hearts
Ideally, what would happen in this situation is he would just forgive her and they would move on with their lives
But god understands man. He knows that you know some men they just they can't do that that they
They have the right to go ahead and expect one thing and if they get another
Then in this instance, you know, they're allowed to to divorce and again i'm going to go over that tonight
So if you're curious about that come on back, what about the sin of polygamy, right?
God does not condone a polygamy
Multiplying wives and if you would turn over to keep something in deuteronomy go over to exodus 21 exodus 21
Now did people in the old testament did they have multiple wives? Oh, yeah
I mean solomon had a lot, right?
David multiplied wives a lot of kings had multiplied multiple wives
You know, it was something that happened a lot in the old testament now here's again
This is something that cannot be reiterated enough when it comes to your bible reading
Just because you read about something happening in the bible
Does not mean god is condoning of it
God gives us stories in the bible and all he's doing is telling us what happened
A lot of times people open up their bible and they read something that just happened a narrative in the bible
And they go oh god must approve of that
You know, that must be what I should do. Okay. Well, what about when judas went and hung himself?
You know, should you go do that? No, it's just telling you that's what happened
Right. It's not god approving of it. It's just saying look this is what happened
And people multiplied wives they had multiple wives in the bible, but that does not mean god approved of it
God in fact specifically said of the kings that they were not to multiply to themselves wives. He said that
And he said, you know one man one woman
You know and they twain shall be one flesh is what he said, right? Thank you brother
so
Again, god, he disapproves of multiplying wives, but he understands look it's going to happen
That some people are going to be worse sinners than others some of them are going to disregard god's rules god's word
and they're going to go ahead and they're going to you know, um
Commit that sin of polygamy and he says here in deuteronomy 21 verse 7 if a man sell his daughter to be a maid servant
She shall not go out as the men's servants
Do excuse me
If she please not her master who hath betrothed them to herself
Then she then shall he let her be redeemed to to sell her into a strange nation. He shall have no power
Seeing he has dealt deceitfully with her and if he hath betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters
If he take him another wife her food
Her arraignment and her duty of marriage shall not be diminished
Right, so saying look if this this girl that is working on, you know is working off this debt for her family
Is ends up being betrothed either to her master or her master's son, you know, she has certain rights as the wife
And if that master or the master's son who takes her as her wife then decides to go get another wife
Which god does not condone of
Because it's multiplying wives. He says look, but if that happens
This is what you're going to do
You know, you're going to make sure that her arraignment her food does not diminish you're going to still take care of her
As as as her as your wife, you know, you're not going to treat her a second class
So again, this is a great example of you know, there are things that that sins that take place in the bible
That god does not approve of but it's not like but god at the same time is prescribing a code of conduct
And the whole point i'm trying to make here is that showing us that look
Some sins are worse than others some sins are not as bad as others. Does that mean we should go commit these sins?
No
But it doesn't but what i'm trying to get us across is we should not have this mentality of thinking all sins equal
That it doesn't matter what we do
And we're gonna get into it more to
More of an application to us this morning here in a minute
so
There's we could look at another deuteronomy 22. We're just going to move on for the sake of time
I feel like everybody's kind of got this concept, okay
so
If people what they do is they they say no, you know, the bible is clear that hey, you know
Some sins are not as bad as others, you know, we're all sinners. It doesn't matter what we do
And their misunderstanding
You know their their their shallow understanding of scripture
And their carnal motivations to justify whatever they're involved in and their and their sin
They start to misapply scripture to suit their needs
They start to go to passage and say well
This is what you know, the bible says this here and they start to twist and rest the scripture
If you would go over to romans chapter 6 romans chapter 6
Romans chapter 6, this is one
Look at verse 14
This is one that you might hear in a more liberal church
You know this this this grace only thing that you know, somehow we're not accountable because we're saved
The bible says in verse 14 in romans 6 for sin shall not have the dominion over you for you're not under the law but
Under grace now who's ever heard of this philosophy? Hey, man, we're under grace it doesn't matter what we do
You know, it doesn't matter, you know, we're saved we can do whatever we want, you know, we're saved
it's like we can do whatever we want because
You know god we're saved god doesn't even see what we do
And they they excuse themselves from a life of holy living that god has called us on to
They excuse themselves from a life of holy living
They excuse themselves from from adhering to to just the the the commands of scripture
Because they're under grace now. Are we under grace? Yeah
But we are not without the law that doesn't that doesn't make the law void in our lives
these are still there are still standards and
Commandments that we have to live up to not to go to heaven but to be pleasing to god
God doesn't just save us and then just go do whatever you want
Because doing whatever us what we want it is what got us into trouble in the first place
So that doesn't make any sense
But they'll say hey look, you know, we're we're under grace. We're not under the law
So it doesn't matter what we do. We can get away with it that philosophy is out there and they love verse 14
But the irony is it's just sandwiched between these verses that completely completely just demolishes that line of thinking
back up to verse 12
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body
He's saying look you need to fight against sin. Don't let it have the dominion over you that you should obey it in the lust thereof
So here he is admonishing them to not let sin reign in their body
Paul said, you know, I die daily. I keep my body under and bring it into subjection
You know, he goes on and says neither yield yourselves as your members as instruments of my life
Never yield yourselves as your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin
But yield yourselves unto god as those that are alive from the dead and as your members as instruments of righteousness of god
Then it gets to verse 14
So they ignore those verses where he's saying don't sin
Yield yourself to god, you know, don't let sin reign in your mortal bodies
You know mortify the the the flesh and the deeds thereof
Right, and then they get to verse 14. Hey, we're under grace
You know, we're not under the law
So we can do whatever we want. No, you still have you know to get sin out of your life
Look at verse 15 right on the other side
What then shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace god forbid?
I mean the next verse just demolishes this line of thinking we're under grace bro. It doesn't matter what we do
You know god's not gonna be mad at you do whatever you want feels good. You're saved, right?
God doesn't care
the next verse
Shall we sin because we're not allowed but under grace god forbid?
Saying no way
No way, we should have that attitude. No way. We should have that mentality that we can just do whatever we want because we're saved
He goes on and says in verse 16 knowing not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to to obey
His servants you are to whom you obey whether sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness
What about romans chapter 8 turn over there romans chapter 8?
This is one i've heard
out of a liberal church
They'll say, you know, there's no condemnation verse one. Look at verse one
They want they love these first two verses here in romans 8
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in christ jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit
You know in the first time I confronted a guy who was you know
You know when I first time I first got saved before, you know before I really got in church. I started going to like this
You know this youth bible study and it was like this real ecumenical they had
People from all kinds of denominations getting together in these people's house and it was just a bunch of you know, kids, you know
Waving their arms and playing, you know
As the dear panther, you know these touchy feely songs and and uh, you know
then we we have a quick prayer and everybody just basically sat around and
Ate junk food and played uno right, you know, it's this christian prayer group or whatever
But there was this guy who I knew from high school he showed up and there was this other girl she was going there
You know and she's showing up in the the tank tops and the short shorts and eventually they're they're getting together
And it comes pretty obvious what's going on there?
And I finally confronted him said you can't you're christian. I mean, I didn't know much at that point, but I knew look man
The bible condemns fornication. So well, I talked to my pastor about it. He talked to his pastor
Okay, and then he said my pastor said romans chapter eight verse one
There is now therefore no condemnation to those which are in christ. Jesus and that's where he ended
Fools should have kept reading the rest of the verse
Let our own rest of romans eight or romans six or any other passage in the bible practically
Well, there's no condemnation then which are in christ. Jesus
It's okay for me to just be sleeping around out of marriage with this girl and committing fornication and doing whatever else that we're into
Because we're not condemned we're in christ
It says there's no condemnation which i'm in christ. Jesus who walked not after the flesh
Meaning this that if you're in christ, jesus and you're saved and you're walking and you are in the flesh
You're condemned not to hell but to punishment
God will you know god broke go read hebrews 12
He chasteneth every son whom he receiveth
He scourges every son who receive there's not a son whom he chasteneth not
And if you be without chastisement then you're bastards and not sons that's what the scripture says
That if you can say you could say you're saved that I believe on christ
And then you can go out and live a wicked life and have no consequences
I question your salvation
Whether you really believe
If you can just go live a wicked life and god doesn't come down. I mean I look back on my life
I wasn't raised in a christian home. I got saved in my early 20s
I learned things the hard way and I can look back at my life and go. Oh, yeah
When I was you know backslidden and into this and that and I could just see god just whipping me just for years
Just like try to get me right just fix yourself son
I look back now and say praise god that I have a loving heavenly father. It doesn't just let me walk in the flesh
But this is a contrary to this mentality that's out there
That we can just do whatever we want as god's children and there's no consequences. That's wrong
That's not bible
He says right there if you walk after the flesh
That there is condemnation
right
For the law the spirit of life in christ. Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin of death
Keep reading the passage look at verse three
For what the law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh god sending his own son to the likeness of sinful
Flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh
Yes, he made us free from sin, but he also condemned sin in the flesh in the process
He's saying look i'm saving you because you're sinful and wicked and he's condemning us in the process. He's condemning sin in the flesh
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh
But they that are after the spirit mind the things of the things of the spirit for to be carnally minded is death
It's punishment. It's condemnation
But to be spiritually minded is life and peace
Because the carnal mind is enmity with god
Against god for it is not subject to the law of god neither indeed can be so then they that are in the flesh
cannot please god
You know if you're living in the flesh if you've got sin in your life
That you're not taking care of you cannot please god
And you are going to be chastened by god
That's why this this this philosophy that all sin is equal is so dangerous
You know not only to the unsaved but to the saved to the child of god they can let this philosophy creep in
You know and they they have other passages
I remember talking to a guy once he said no, well, I don't go door to door like you guys and preach the gospel
I just go down to the bar
And you know, I don't drink, you know, I just go to the bar
And I order, you know water and I just shoot some pool
And I get to know these guys, you know, I meet the sinners where they're at
And you know on the surface that sounds great, doesn't it?
You know, but they'll quote they'll quote first corinthians chapter nine
They'll say you say, you know, I I made all things to all men that I by all means might save some
We've probably all heard that
You know, so I make myself like a
Like a wine, you know like a drunkard to the drunk
I'm, not a drunkard, but you know, i'm going down to the bar and i'm hanging out with them
You know just trying to establish a rapport. Do you think people in the bar are there to hear about jesus?
They don't want to hear about jesus down there. It's a waste of time, right?
And here's the thing the bible says avoid the mere appearance of evil
You know, you might be down there with good intentions
But you know if the wrong person sees you there and recognizes you and they just they're just gonna
If I saw you coming out of a bar
What do you think my first assumption is going to be? Oh, he must be down there witnessing for the lord
Does he think that's what i'm gonna think if I see you walking out of a casino?
Oh, he's just in there trying to you know, you know get with the common man and just you know
Which jesus, you know, I don't want to go into that
But look no i'm going to think oh he's down there getting drunk oh he's down there gambling away his money
You know that that's what i'm going to think
And rightly so because that's likely what's going on
But did people have this idea that well, we're just going to go down there and you know
We're just going to be made all things to all men
You know, but they forget verse 21 to them with our that are without the law as without the law
Right being not without the law to god
Saying look i'm i'm as unto them
I'm unto them without the law as unto without the law. Let me just read i'm butchering it
He's saying here to them that are without the law as without the law. Look i'm going to be like they are
Being not without the law of god. He's saying look i'm like that but I still have the law of god
You know, i'm, you know, i'm not going to just go become sinful just so I can win a sinner
You know, i'm not going to go just you know, live a life of sin
You know, i'm not going to become this undercover agent for christ
You know, i'm not going to go into like, you know deep
Uh, what do they call it? You know deep cover, you know for jesus
Go get involved in the gangs and the in the drugs and everything else and just say well i'm just there for jesus, you know
I'm, just trying to work up a rapport and bring these guys around the lord show them a better way by
By living like they are it makes a lot of sense
So, you know, it's just another stupid arguments out there and where does it all stem from from this idea?
That god does not hold people accountable for their sins that all sin is equal
That some you know, no one's worse than another person but the bible we've seen thus far shows us very clearly
That some sins are worse than others
That some sinners are worse than others that not everybody is as sinful as another person
Now a very sinful person can become an unsinful person
People can clean up their lives and they can start walking in the light
They can start living for the lord and get on the straight and narrow and they can become less sinful
You know, and if we're in here this morning and we've got sin in our life and you're saying man
I you know, I don't like the idea that i'm more sinful than somebody else. Well, then get the sin out of your life
You know, but don't expect others to come down. Well, let me get some sin in my life so, you know
You can feel better about yourself
That's not that that's foolish thinking
But to make all sin equal, you know, this philosophy
Is foolish it's dangerous
And what it does is it downplays the negative impact of sin?
You know sin has serious consequences in our life
I mean there's sins from my past that i'm dealing with
every day
You know, there's going to be then probably we'll have to deal with for the rest of my life consequences from sin
That we'll have to deal with for the rest of our lives
And that's the way it is so we don't want to get caught up or tolerate these philosophies
That downplay the impacts of sin in our lives
Bible says in proverbs 14 go to psalms chapter 19 psalms 19 19. We're almost done
But proverbs 14 says fools make a mock at sin
But among the righteous there is favor. It says fools make a mock at sin. Oh sin's no big deal all sins equal
God doesn't mind
It's not that big a deal. You're a fool. You're making a mock at sin and sin has
You know
When sin hath when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it's finished the bible says bring it forth death
You know, nothing good comes from sin
so
We all understand that hopefully by now
We probably understood this before we even walked through the doors this morning that not all sins are equal
But if you didn't hopefully i've made the case this morning
You know, we saw we looked at a lot of different scriptures
That show us that not all sin is equal that there is an equality in sin
And we get that but here's the other here's the danger. Here's I want to apply this tonight or this morning
Is don't let your understanding of this become an excuse for your sin
I mean some of us could be sitting in here and thinking yeah, I understand not all sin is equal
And but the sin that I have is isn't that bad of one?
You know, if god called me out for my sin, he would just say I have someone against thee
He wouldn't say I hate that
You know, we understand that some sinners are worse than others and we go well, you know
And my sin is not that bad and maybe your sin and the scale of sin is not that bad
But should you hang on to that?
Because remember again when we talked about the more, you know, the more accountable you are unto who much is given shall much also be required
You know your sin might be a little sin, but you know, you shouldn't be doing it and you're doing it anyway
So god's going to hold you more accountable even for that little sin
So don't let this philosophy this understanding
Of this philosophy rather don't let your understanding that all sin is not equal
Excuse you from your little sin because your little sin
Is magnified by the fact that you understand this does that make sense?
Don't let this understanding become an excuse for sin
We should not harbor pet sins because they aren't as bad as other sins
Well, my little sin over here isn't that bad therefore i'm going to keep it that's wrong that is the bad attitude
That's gonna that's dangerous friend
The bible says you're in psalm 19. It says in psalm 66 if I regard iniquity in my heart. The lord will not hear me
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the lord will not hear me
I'd have to assume if you're in church this morning that you're a person who's concerned about being heard by god
A person that wants to pray and know that god is hearing you
I'd assume that about everybody
But my question is are you regarding iniquity in your heart?
Well, i'm not regarding, you know
It's not like i'm out on the town, you know last night just living it up and running around
Wasn't doing that
You know, so this little bit of iniquity that i'm regarding my heart isn't that bad
No, he says if you regard iniquity in your heart if you know what you're doing is wrong
If you know what sin it is and i'm not here to you know, call out people's sins, you know what it is
Right
If that if that whatever it is your people if you know
I'm not saying everybody has it
But if if you do if you're sitting there thinking hey i've got I know exactly what he's talking about boy
I don't know that sin right there
That's the one i'm talking about
That's the one that's going to keep your prayer from being heard. Is that what you want?
It's not what I want, you know, and this is something we all have to be on guard for
Look at psalm 19 who can understand verse 12 who can understand his errors cleanse thou me from secret faults
Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins
Presumptuous sins
Sins that I know this is wrong. I'm gonna do it anyway
And a lot of times we go ahead and we do it. Anyway, why because we say it's not as bad as this sin
You know, it's not you know, i'm gonna go ahead and look at this, you know porno because after all
It's not me committing adultery
You know, i'm just gonna sit stay here at home and drink a six-pack because obviously it's not me down at the bar
Drinking hard whiskey and getting into fist fights
And we justify our sins in our life
But that's that's presumptuous that's sinning presumptuously
Okay
That's you regarding iniquity in your heart because oh, I have an understanding that my sin isn't as bad as somebody else's
But your understanding makes that sin even worse
Because you know better
And by the way, this preaching right now is making you even more accountable
So if you don't like the way it's going you better get out
No, stay we're almost done
There's still a few more donuts
Now look, we understand i'm not i'm not preaching that you know, you need to reach the sinless state of perfection
It's never going to happen
That's not going to happen
You know, we're going to sin every day
We're probably going to do things that we don't even realize are sin every day
You know, we're flesh, you know, we still have this body of of the flesh. We still fight the flesh
But we're not to let it have a dominion over us
You know first john says if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us
And there are people out there that say i've reached sinlessness in this life. No, you haven't
And that right there is a sin in of itself because that's one of the proudest arrogant statements i've ever heard
And pride is a sin
But we should strive to be so
Just because you know say well i'm never going to reach sinlessness. So why bother?
Should that be our attitude? Should that be our philosophy?
i'm, just going to go on ahead and just keep my little pet sin because
I'm going to do something today. I might as well be something I enjoy
Just something i'm used to doing
Should that be our attitude? No
We should strive
for sinlessness in our life
We should fight against the flesh. We should mortify our members
And and want to do better and when god sees you doing that
And when you mess up and you commit a sin and you backslide you have your weak moment or whatever
And those should become fewer and fewer and farther and farther between as you grow in your christian life
But nobody's without sin
But when god sees you down and he looks down and he sees one of his children
striving against sin
Resisting sin resisting the devil praying god, please help me to not do this
Coming to him in a moment of weakness rather than just giving in that person's going to get more grace from god
That person's going to get more help that person is going to be heard rather. The person just says well, you know
My sin isn't that bad?
So i'm just going to go ahead and do it anyway
That person's going to get punished we should strive to reach
That perfection galatians 5 says this I say then walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh
Did you know it's possible to not fulfill the lust of the flesh?
That it's possible if you walk in the spirit
That's the key and that's that's not always easy. Is it to walk in the spirit?
To because one to get walk with the spirit. You got to get in the spirit, right?
You gotta you gotta get in it to walk in it
You gotta get up and pray you gotta get up and read your bible you gotta get to church you gotta
Get the sin out. You gotta memorize the scripture you gotta
You know do the work
That takes effort on your part. You're not just gonna wake up one morning and be in the spirit
You can be saved you can be sealed by the holy spirit
But there's a far it's a far cry from being sealed by the spirit and being filled and being filled with the spirit
It's two different things
Having the god's stamp of this is mine the seal of the spirit
This is my child is not the same as being filled with the spirit
And that's what's going to take to walk in the spirit is you have to be filled with him
So we should strive to do that, you know to not commit those sins that we're given to
What about you know, we're not just talking about the sin the sins that we commit the bad things that we do, right?
The sins of commission is what that's called the sins we commit
And we haven't even that's just one. You know, that's just one side of the spectrum of sin
Then there's also the the sin of not doing the right thing
We don't often think about that one
When we talk about sin, we often think about the sins of commission the bad things that we do
But we don't always think about the good things that we don't do that sin as well the bible says
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not
To him it is sin
You say well, you know
Why you know is it is a sin not to read my bible. Well, should you read your bible?
Yeah, you know that should you go to church? Yeah
You know that are those good things to do? Yeah
Should you tell others about the lord and try to preach them the gospel? Yeah
Do you always do that? Nope
And to him it is sin
So, you know sin has got you know, it's got us pegged on either side folks
It's the the bad things that we do the good things that we don't do
It's a it's a fight and it's on and and we don't want to be guilty of
People that are just getting steamrolled by sin and just letting it have its way in our lives
That's no way to live. God's going to not be pleased with that
so
Understanding that sins and inequality, you know, it makes you more accountable not less
Even for smaller sins that are in your life
So don't forget the the saying there's a saying you ever heard that saying the devil is in the details
right the little things
That's where the devil often is. He's in the details. He's in those little things
You know, he you know, and don't forget this little sins lean to bigger ones
People just don't run out, you know, they don't go from living a godly christian life
to just committing adultery the next day
Or, you know, whatever, you know, we could sit here and think about the most horrible things that people do
The perfect example of that is king david in the old testament
I mean king david, you know committed the the sin of adultery with bashiba
And then had her husband killed
A man of god the bible said that the sweet psalmist of israel the man after god's own heart
The bible says committed those sins now as adultery and murder
Bad sin that's wicked and god actually puts the death penalty on it
And when when the prophet nathan came to to him and said thou art the man
He said I have sinned and god said never let me you know, thou shalt not die
You know, he gave him a pass
Because god will be merciful and he will be merciful
But the point i'm trying to make is, you know, david just didn't wake up one day and do that
What did it start with?
It said he went out on his roof in the evening. He was idle at a time when kings went to war
He was at home
bored
And he just went out for a walk and he saw bathsheba
Bathing and he looked where he shouldn't look and then one thing led to another
He should he wasn't leaving up to his responsibilities. He was idle. He saw something he shouldn't then he goes and commits adultery
Now there's a baby on the way now. I gotta have her husband killed
That's how sin goes
The devil is in the details. It's in the little things those little sins that we hang on to because they're not as bad as others
They're just as dangerous though because of where they lead where they'll take us
The bible says in galatians 5 a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump
Just a little bit of leaven leavens the whole lump
so
We understand
This morning in all likelihood. I'm sure everybody gets it that
It's foolish to think that all sin is equal
It's a foolish thing to think that it's just not biblical. You can think that if you want but don't tell me that's what the bible teaches
And
We need to be careful
Of of not forgetting the dangers of entertaining the little sins in our life because those are the ones that are going to lead
To bigger sins and they're just as dangerous and we're held accountable
For our understanding that all sin is not equal. Let's go ahead and pray