The Scars Of Sin The Scars Of Sin
Some time ago one of our youth leaders and I were discussing problems that were present in our young people's groups. Among other things, this man said, "You know, our youth are very responsive in many ways; certainly they know right and wrong. But one thing baffles me. Many of them have the attitude (they openly admitted this) that if there is something they know to be wrong, but they very much want to do it, they will say to themselves: 'I'm going to go ahead and do it, and afterward I'll ask God to forgive me.'" "What can you do about an attitude like that?" he asked.
Let me bluntly reply that anyone who says something like that betrays a vast ignorance of what sin is, and the results that inevitably follow it. I do not want to leave the impression that this is a problem for young people only. I am sure that without exception every one of us has had this reaction to temptation. Very probably most of us have succumbed to it at one time or other, for this is a widespread attitude among young and old alike. Perhaps it is to the credit of young people that they are honest enough to admit it upon occasion, whereas we older ones cover it over with an excuse, or hide it deep in our hearts and never admit that this is the attitude we often reflect. But if we take the attitude, "I'll go ahead and do it and trust God to forgive me, cleanse me, and wash my guilt away so it will have no evil effects," it does betray that we are in the grip of satanic delusion. We have already succumbed to the wiles of the devil and have no real understanding of what sin is or what it does.
This is what we shall examine together today: What sin is, and how it acts, especially in respect to this common reaction. I want to begin by saying that I do this sympathetically. I am not sitting in judgment or condemnation upon any individual, for I sit with you under the judgment of the Word of God, where all Christians must sit if our lives are to be pleasing to God at all. One of the Beatitudes says,
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." (Matthew 5:8)
The word pure does not mean someone who has never been exposed to evil. It means literally "the purged" in heart. Blessed are those who have been cleansed, those who know the grace of forgiveness. As David put it so beautifully in the 32nd Psalm: "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity," (Psalms 32:2). It is in this attitude that I examine this subject now as one who has felt, with you, the full force of temptation, the seductive allure of some desirable thing (sin always has its pleasures -- that is what makes it so attractive) and heard the whisper of the hidden voice within that says, "Oh, go ahead, you can be forgiven afterward."
What is sin like, and what happens when we give way to temptation? According to the Scripture, what happens when we decide to cast our lot on the side of evil, to entertain a wrong desire that has risen within us, and translate it into an action? It is clear that several things occur.
8:06:56 AM 
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