Sermon Outlines

By Frederick F. Schwindt, Evangelist

A THREEFOLD VIEW OF SIN

1. The penitential Psalm:
   1. Bible students consider Psalms 51 as the sinners guide to true penitence
   2. Some ministers read it while they are on their knees
2. Remember that it is a Psalm by a man after God's own heart - Acts 13:22:
   1. The skeptic tells us that if David was a man after God's own heart then God must have delighted in the sins of David, for he committed many
   2. No, the skeptic misses the mark; God abhorred the crimes of David, but he loved the penitent attitude of David

1. Sin - what is it?
   1. Sin, so the Bible teaches, is the transgression of God's law - I John 3:4
   2. Paul declares that unbelief is sin - Romans 14:23; and John says, "all unrighteousness is sin" - I John 5:17
   3. Sin is missing the mark - "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" - Rom. 3:23; Examples: The handwriting on the wall told Belshazzar, "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting" - Dan. 5:27; said the true witness to the church at Ephesus, "I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love" - Rev. 2:4
2. Three views of sin; note, carefully the confession penitent David speaks of:
   1. Iniquity - iniquity is gross injustice - an act that is contrary to justice - brutality - Examples: when David saw to it that Uriah was deliberately into mortal danger, his sin was aggravated tenfold - 2 Sam. 11:1-17; when Ahab plotted the crime against Naboth to be killed, he increased his iniquity tenfold - I Kings 21:14
   2. Transgression - the word "transgression" means to break or violate a moral principle which we profess to believe in and to uphold
   3. Sin is, as we have already indicated, an act of unbelief, an act of unrighteousness, the transgression of God's holy law

1. Is an awakened view:
   1. When the Holy Sprit opened his mind to the terrible crime he had committed, David saw sin and its true nature in a new light
   2. A sinner will never see sin in its true light until God points out to him the exceeding sinfulness of sin
   3. The very hard things that are said in this Psalm are said against David himself
   4. The only cover he sought to hide his sin was the blood of Jesus Christ
2. Why have we largely lost the sense of sin?
   1. Is it not because the world is losing its consciousness of God - Rev. 14:6-7
   2. Men fear to brake the laws of the country because of the punishment, but when it comes to the law of God and the forebearance of God, people sin with impunity - Eccl. 8:11
3. When sin becomes aggravated it takes on new dimensions:
   1. It becomes idolatry - I Sam. 15:23
   2. Rebellion and witchcraft - I Sam. 6:2; 28:8
   3. Note the connotation of the word "transgressed" - that means to deceive; David did that with Uriah; it means to rebel "Pasha" and he did that too; he rebelled against the moral duty which he as King professed to uphold
4. Note, however, what David sought in his penitence:
   1. "Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity"
   2. "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be whiter than snow" - Is. 1:18; Job 38:22
   3. "Hide Thy face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities"
   4. "Deliver me from blood-guiltiness"
5. Such humility and contrition made the penitent David a man after God's own heart:
   1. Not his sin, or his transgressions nor his aggravated iniquities
   2. Seeing sin in the light of their true nature, in the light of God's word, and confessing them is what God loves