Michael Lyris Woods argues sin remains serious despite cultural trends downplaying it. He defines sin as hamartia, missing God's mark, and outlines three consequences: shame like Adam and Eve felt, separation from God, and forfeiting a real relationship with him. Genuine knowledge of God brings conviction when you sin.
Chapters
Hey, what's up, family? Listen, couple of quick things today about sin, and it's going to be quick. Don't scroll. Sin has become a very restricted subject, seemingly even in the church. And the reality is sin is a very real thing. While God loves everybody— get it, he loves everybody— but sin is still sin. Matter of fact, the word sin is from a Greek word harmasia, and it means to miss the mark, come short. Comes short of what, you may ask? God's standard, God's way of doing and being right. So when you're actively involved in living a sinful lifestyle, here's a few things that happen. Number one, it causes shame. If you study the scripture, when Adam fell in the Garden of Eden, The Bible declares that he and Eve hid themselves from God. They were shamed. Uh, they really didn't want to be seen naked. They didn't want to be seen exposed because they had disappointed God. I'm going somewhere with this. Secondly, sin not only causes shame, it causes separation. Sin causes separation. The Bible said, "Is because of your sin," and this is God speaking in this text, "you have been separated from between you and your God." So when we consider those two things, one, shamefulness before God, two, separation from God, it lets me know a person who actively sins and feels no conviction, no remorse, They actually don't know God, because I promise you, once you get to know him for real— I'm not talking about the conviction you get from the preacher or being afraid of hell or any of that. I'm talking about having a bona fide relationship for real with God. When you have that, listen to me, it's gonna make you shame if you mess up. Trust me, I've been there. My relationship with God is tight, for real. It's not based in religion, it's not based in anything but knowing him for real, that he's a real entity that's actively, imminently involved in my life. So reality is, when you come short, you're shamed because you want to always please this amazing deity. Secondly, watch this, It does cause separation because God is holy. Which brings me to the third point: sin is always sacrificial. What do you mean, Michael Lyris Woods? What am I sacrificing when I sin? I'll tell you, you're sacrificing the opportunity to really know God for real. And the reason many of you don't know him is because you choose to continue in sin, period. God is holy. I know he loves everybody, and I know the inclusionist is going to teach you there is no hell, and you're gonna— many of you will probably throw this out of the window. But the reality is, I'm here to tell you today, God is real, and he wants to know you for real. But you gotta line your life in holiness where you can enter into the holy place and into those wonderful places of splendor and glory that only those who are righteous can enter into. Listen, I'm not talking about when you die. You can have heaven on earth, but you got to clean up your life and you got to move in purity. I love you guys. Y'all stop sinning, please. Thank you.
