The Five Sins of Zanesville

Sin #1 - LUST

It’s not unusual to see teens making out in a car in the mall parking lot, adulterers drinking booze at the Foxhole bar, young men buying porn at the gas station, couples “shacking up” instead of marrying, or counselors handing out condoms and encouraging “safer sex.” About half of Zanesville's babies are born to parents who aren't married. The line outside of the movie theater is long on the opening night of movies that glamorize lust, illicit sex, and adultery. Lust is the norm for Zanesville's culture.

Jesus taught, "If you look after a woman to lust after her, you've committed adultery with her already in your heart. And if your eye causes you to sin, cut it out, and cast it far from you. For it is better for you to go through life with one eye than hell with two" (Matt.5:27-29). If looking at someone lustfully is sin, how much more so to look and kiss, make out, fondle, or have (sex) fornicate?

The Bible says, "It is good for a man not to touch a woman. But to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband" (I Cor.7:1-2). God commands us to save sexual intimacy for the marriage covenant. Saving intimacy for marriage is simply being faithful to your future wife or husband! If you are engaging in sexual intimacy with someone to whom you are not married, you are cheating on your future spouse! God commands you to save sexual intimacy for that special person you are going to marry. His commands are non-negotiable.

God loves us and wants us to be happy, but He knows better what brings lasting happiness than we do. His way is the best way to live. Sin brings pleasure for a season, but it is candy-coated poison. Sin always ends up bringing misery, in this life and for all eternity in hell. Don’t be deceived, the sexually immoral (adulterers, fornicators, homosexuals) will not inherit God’s kingdom (Gal.5:19-24, I Cor.6:9-12).

God did not design us for sexual sin, but "for God's pleasure." Our bodies were not made for sexual sin, but for God’s glory (I Cor.6:13-20). Lust is a sin against the person you are lusting with, against your future mate, against their future mate, against your Creator, and against your own body. You cheapen sex when you engage in sex without the lifelong commitment of marriage. Abstinence before marriage is not the absence of sex any more than Christmas Eve is the absence of Christmas presents or a savings account is the absence of money – abstinence before marriage is treasuring sex, saving sex - for the right person at the right time. His commands are for our good.

All of God's commands are summarized “to love God” with all your being and “to love your neighbor as yourself” (Rom.13:8-10). If you will live according to these two rules, you will keep all of God’s commands (I Jn.2:3-5, Gal.5:14). Lust is not an act of love or kindness, because love does not do evil (I Cor.13). If you lust, you don’t love the person you are lusting with, nor do you love God.

Jesus died on the cross to forgive us our sins. But if you continue in lust He will condemn you to hell on Judgment Day. You must repent (forsake your sins), and you must believe in Jesus to be forgiven. Jesus told the adulteress in John 8:11: "Go and sin no more."

Sin #2 - Drugs n’ Booze

Whether its teens sniffing glue for kicks - college students getting drunk at football games - patients lying to their doctors to get Xanax or Percocet - high school seniors smoking marijuana at the prom - or addicts cashing their government checks to buy crack cocaine - no one will deny that Zanesville has a major problem with substance abuse.

What’s wrong with getting drunk or stoned? God created the marijuana plant, didn’t He? Didn’t Jesus turn the water into wine?

There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with drugs or alcohol. These substances have their purpose. Narcotics are very helpful for someone suffering from bone cancer. Xanax is useful for a patient who is having a nervous breakdown after the tragic death of a child. Even marijuana has its purpose – in pill form it can increase the appetite of elderly patients who are losing too much weight. However, drinking alcohol or using drugs to dull your mental faculties and your conscience, or to escape reality and get “high” is a very destructive sin.

God gave you a conscience to distinguish between right and wrong, and to compel you to do right. When we sin, the conscience convicts us and makes us feel guilty until we make amends and get forgiveness. Drug and alcohol abuse can silence the conscience, and this is one of the reasons that substance abuse is so wrong. How many people have done something when they were drunk or stoned that they later regretted? How many have died after being struck by a drunk driver? How many women have been beat up by a drunk husband? How many women have been raped by a drunk boyfriend? How many children have been abused or molested by stoned parents? Drug and alcohol abuse can lead to terrible, destructive choices. God wants us to “Be sober, so we can pray.” He wants us to stay in our right minds because He loves us.

I Corinthians 6:9-11 says that drunkards will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Abusing a substance to get intoxicated is a sin that can lead you to hell for all eternity, whether guzzling booze, sniffing glue, popping prescription pills for a buzz, or smoking or shooting up dope.

Jesus said, “Repent or perish” (Lk.13:3). To get right with God, you must forsake your sin. You may have to reach the point that you even prefer death over getting drunk or getting high. That’s the kind of commitment that the Lord is looking for from you. You have to take up your cross and follow Him. You must love Him more than sin. Take that first step to turn from your sin and call upon Jesus’ name, and you will see how God will pour out His grace and His Spirit upon you and set you free from your bondage forever, “for he whom the Son sets free is free indeed” (Jn.8:36).

Do it now! Confess your sins, and commit your life to the One who died on the cross and rose again for you, and you will experience God’s power over sin and the devil. Get baptized and serve in a Bible-believing church, and God will use you to set others free from the chains of sin.

Sin #3 - Dishonoring Your Parents

Have you ever known a young person who was an absolute brat whose life was snuffed out prematurely? Did you know that the Bible says that a premature death may be the result of violating the Fifth Commandment and dishonoring your parents?

God commands, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God giveth you” (Exod. 20:12). Honoring your parents is a matter of life and death for you!

The Bible also says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment with promise, That it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth” (Eph.6:1-3).

How will you want your kids to treat you when they are older? Will you want to be yelled at, disrespected, and disobeyed by ungrateful kids? Will you want to be appreciated? Without exception, every parent wants their children to honor and respect them. God commands us to honor our parents the way we would want to be honored by our children.

What if you have lousy parents? You are not relieved of your duty to obey God just because others don’t. If you work for a lousy boss, you should still be honest. If you are married to a lousy spouse, you should still be faithful to your marriage vows. If you have lousy kids, you should still discipline them, feed them, and take them to church. If you have parents who are not treating you well, you are still commanded to honor them and respect them. To honor them is to honor God.

The command to honor our parents doesn’t end when we get out of their house. In Matthew 15:3-9, Jesus implied that honoring our parents meant providing for their needs when they were old. Parents are still due our honor, even when we are married and have our own children.

If you have not honored your parents as you would want to be honored, you have sinned against them and against God. God will judge you by the standard of His law on Judgment Day, and unless you meet the conditions for a pardon, you will be eternally condemned. Thankfully, the crucified and risen Lord Jesus has promised a pardon to you if you forsake your sins and commit to trust and obey Him.

Sin #4 - Hypocrisy

Jesus saved all his most harsh rebukes for religious sinners - hypocrites - who go to church, have some good works, look good on the outside, but whose hearts are far from God and whose lives are full of sin. They want to avoid hell and go to heaven, but they don’t want to repent of their sin and obey God. And, like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, they’ll even quote the Bible to justify their sin!

If you are looking for a good excuse for sin in your life, look no further than your average American church, where every Sunday you will hear drivel like this: “Nobody’s perfect.” “We’ll never be free from sin in this life!” “I was born a sinner and will always be bound to sin!” “Unbelief is the only sin that will send someone to hell!” “Once saved, always saved—no matter what I do!”

All throughout the Bible God tells men over and over to quit sinning. “Sin no more!” (Jn.5:14) “Sin not.” (Ps.4:5) “Go and sin no more!” (Jn.8:11) “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matt.5:48) Several passages state, “Be holy as I am holy!”

He not only commands us to quit sinning, but He empowers us to do it as well! He offers us the power of His Holy Spirit and the power of His Word to make the tempter flee. He promises not to let us be tempted beyond what we are able to bear, but He provides a way of escape with every temptation. (I Cor.10:13) He sent His Son to be mutilated on a cross of wood to set us free from sin to fully obey Him (Rom.6, Heb.13:20-21). The Bible says that Christians are dead to self and sin (Gal.5:24, I Jn.3:3-10). It’s our “reasonable service” to be holy (Rom.12:1-2). Those who know and love God keep God’s commandments (Jn.14:21-23, I Jn.2:4). With all the resources of God Almighty to help us obey Him, what do we get from the religious hypocrite? Obedience? No, excuses, excuses…

The Bible lists several men and women who were without sin: Job, Noah, Asa, Hezekiah, the parents of John the Baptist. Not that these never sinned, but they repented of their sin and persevered in obedience. They were descended from Adam just like you, and if they could fully obey God by God’s grace, then you cannot plead inability as an excuse.

Contrary to popular belief, Jesus didn’t die on the cross to make sin safe. His grace is not a condom to help you mess around in the world and not reap the consequences. Sin is no less fatal for the Christian than it was for the angel Lucifer. As a matter of fact, the professing Christian who persists in sin is under much greater judgment than if he had never professed Christ in the first place (II Pet.2, Ezek. 18). It would have been better not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after you have known it, to turn from it.

Jesus died to turn you from your sin to serve Him with a perfect heart. Abandon your religious excuses for your sin, repent, and live for Jesus! “Awake to righteousness and sin not!” (I Cor.15:34)

Sin #5 - Unbelief

What does it mean to believe in something? Lots of people say they believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that he was crucified and rose again, and that He is Lord of all, but do they really?

If your doctor told you that smoking a pack a day was going to lead to lung cancer, if you continued to smoke, you either didn’t believe your doctor or you had a deathwish. Isn’t that a safe assumption? If someone told you that an envelope had deadly anthrax in it, if you believed them, you wouldn’t open it, would you? If you truly believe something, you conform your life to that truth. If you don’t conform your life to that message, then you really don’t believe. If you don’t obey Jesus’s words, then you don’t believe in Jesus.

Did you know that the devil believes in Jesus? The Bible says, “You believe that there is one God? You do well—the devils also believe and tremble. But don’t you know, oh vain man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:19-20) Faith without works of obedience is not faith at all. It’s the faith of devils, who believe in Jesus yet continue to rebel against Him. It’s the faith of people who are burning in hell right now, who confessed Jesus with their lips but denied Him with their lust, their addictions, their lying, and their hypocrisy.

Jesus said, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46) Jesus is perplexed! Why do you call Him Lord and yet rebel against Him? Evidence that Jesus is your Savior is that you have submitted unto Him as Lord and do what He says.

Jesus also said, “Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of God, but he that does the will of My Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 7:21) Praying a “sinner’s prayer,” confessing Jesus to be Lord, getting baptized and doing good deeds will not make up for continued rebellion in your heart against the will of the Father. Evidence that you believe in Jesus is that you “do the will of the Father.”

Jesus also said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments… He that hath My commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves Me, and he that loves Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will show myself to him... He that loves me not keeps not My sayings.” (Jn.14:21-24) Evidence that you love Jesus is that you keep His commandments. If you don’t keep His commandments, you don’t love Him.