![]() ![]() Here’s the main idea for this weekend: Christ-followers don’t do what they used to do. If we want to break sin’s vice-like grip we must start by not sugar coating it or excusing it. ![]() What is that one area of disobedience that you default to? Instead of just calling it something you “struggle” with, own it right now and call it what God calls it – sin. Our topic today is “Breaking the Grip of Sin.” As we begin I want you to think of that one besetting sin that holds you in its grip. Instead of putting a spin on sin, let’s look at one of these 2,000-year-old inspired and inerrant and authoritative letters we know as the Book of 1 Peter. Simply restating the problem of sin by giving it a soft edge doesn’t make it go away. In an interview about his book called “The Zimzum of Love,” Bell said this to Oprah Winfrey: “I think culture is already there and the church will continue to be even more irrelevant when it quotes letters from 2,000 years ago as their best defense…” He died in my place as my substitute because my sin was so foul and rancid and repugnant that it separated me from a holy God.įormer pastor and best-selling author Rob Bell believes the evangelical church is moments away from “embracing gay marriage” (which is another euphemism). Jesus didn’t come just to help me manage my mistakes, or unpack my baggage or help me have my best life now. When we don’t call sin what it is, we short-circuit the need for forgiveness and thus the necessity for the blood of Jesus Christ as payment for our sins. Cry it from the housetops.” My sin was so foul and rancid and repugnant. Like any good doctor, Menninger prescribed a solution to the problem of “vanishing” sin when he called on pastors to: “Preach! Tell it like it is. He made the argument that simply removing the word “sin” from our collective vocabularies would not make it disappear. ![]() More than 40 years ago, psychiatrist Karl Menninger wrote a book called, Whatever Became of Sin? He pointed out that our society has rejected the concept of sin and no longer talks about it. Some of you are already looking for the exits. By the way, I will say the word “sin” over 100 times in this message if you’d like to count. Sin seldom shows up in sermons today or Christian books or even Christian music anymore. It’s easy to excoriate our society but let’s be honest.
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