The document discusses how the concept of sin has disappeared from modern culture and many churches. It has been replaced with softer language that downplays offenses. This has led many Christians to only condemn obvious sins outside the church while ignoring sins in their own lives like pride, gossip, and envy. However, the Bible says that all sins are transgressions of God's law. While some sins seem small, they still violate God's perfect standard and make us guilty. The only solution is to accept Jesus' payment for sins through his death on the cross.

1. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF
SIN
Based on Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges

2.  C.S. Lewis once noted: “The barrier I have met is the almost total
absence from the minds of my audience of any sense of sin.
 D.A. Carson said the following about evangelism of students on college
campuses: “They know how to sin well enough, but they have no idea of
what constitutes sin.”
 The concept of sin has all but disappeared in American culture and has
been softened within many churches to accommodate modern
sensibilities.
 Sin has been excised from modern vocabulary. Adultery vs. an affair.
Stealing vs. fraud. Lying vs. exaggeration or misspeaking. Grudges vs.
hatred.
 Sin in churches has been deflected to those outside our buildings who
commit flagrant sins such as abortion, homosexuality, murder, etc.
 It’s easy to condemn those while ignoring our own pride, gossip, envy,
bitterness, lust, or even our lack of the fruit of the Spirit.

3.  James 2:10
 Here’s the problem: God’s Law is seamless. It is one Law, not a
collection of individual laws.
 When someone commits murder, he breaks God’s law. When a
Christian lets corrupting speech (speech that tears down another) come
out of his mouth (Ephesians 4:29), he breaks THE SAME LAW!
 Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28
 Jesus said you were guilty of the “larger” sin in these verses by
committing the “lesser” sin because both violate the same law.
 I John 3:4 All sin is transgression of the law, no matter how minor.
 There is no such thing as a “law-abiding citizen” in reality. The so-
called good man that only gets the occasional speeding ticket is just as
much a sinner as the serial murder and rapist. ALL sin is transgression
of the law.

4.  James 1:14-15
 We gossip or lust because of the sinful pleasure we get out of it.
 Even our “respectable sins” – the sins we tolerate in our lives – are
serious in God’s eyes because they are still sin and break His law.
 Religious pride, critical attitudes, unkind speech, impatience, anger, and
anxiety.
 Galatians 3:10 Paul is quoting the Old Testament here for emphasis.
 This standard means that scoring a 99/100 is still a failing grade. God
has a perfectly exacting standard of obedience.
 God’s solution to this standard is stated in Galatians 3:13.
 Jesus Christ became sin for you and I! All you need do is accept His
payment and ask for His forgiveness.

5.  Many Christians have redefined sin to cover only the obviously gross
sins of our society.
 The result is that many morally upright believers, the awareness of
personal sin has effectively disappeared from their consciences.
 Does that describe you?
 Those whose lives most reflect the fruit of the Spirit are usually those
most keenly aware of and repentant over these so-called respectable
sins in their own lives.
 There are those who are quite judgmental toward the grosser sins of
society, but who seem pridefully unaware of their own personal sins.
 A lot of us live in-between.
 Where are you?
 No matter where we are on the spectrum of personal awareness of sin
in our lives, that sin is still reprehensible in the eyes of God and
deserving of His judgment.