Preached May 2, 1999 at Faith Baptist Church
By Pastor Steven E. Mays

Course of Sin
"A Chain Reaction"


Text…. James 1:15

James 1:13-15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
It's starts with temptation, enticement, lust, sin, death..


  • Titanic 1912…  Wrong place amid icebergs, "Hit an IceBerg" 18" gash, hatches below not closed right, which had they been closed would have kept the ship afloat…  Distress flares were fired off 8 all told, but the ocean liner California only 9 miles away and "Parked" took them as some kind of fireworks show and did nothing about it.  That would, perhaps have been understandable, at that distance, a radio signal could have easily have been received but the radio operator, "fresh out of training chool" was fast asleep in his cabin… as a result 1502 people drowned in the ice cold Atlantic Seas…   When ever you hear of Chain Reactions like these you can't help but think this could have been stopped right here, or right here or right here…   I really don't think the chain reaction began though when they drove the ship into iceberg filled waters… I believe it began when The ship pulled out of dock and someone was heard to say that "Even God couldn't sink this ship".

  • That reminds me of a funny story…   A Chinese man and a Jewish man were eating lunch together. Suddenly, without warning the Jew gets up, walks over to the Chinese fellow and smashes him in the mouth, sending him sprawling. The Chinese man picks himself up, rubs his jaw and asks, "What in the world did you do that for?" And the answer comes back: "For Pearl Harbor!" His response is total astonishment: "Pearl Harbor? I did't have anything to with Pearl Harbor. It was the Japanese that bombed Pearl Harbor!" The Jew responds, "Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese--they're all the same to me.   With that they both sit down again, and before too long the Chinese man gets up, walks over to the Jew and sends him flying with a hard slap to the jaw. The Jew yells out, "What did you do that for?" And the answer comes back: "The Titanic." "The Titanic? Why, I didn't have anything to do with the Titanic!" Whereupon the Chinese man replies, "Goldberg, Feinberg, Iceberg -- they're all the same to me!"  Ignorance sets off a lot of Chain Reactions as well. 

  • Course of Nuclear flies  bird flies into a exhaust…  rust that should have been cleaned out…  overheat, busted valve that was overdue for change, nuclear melt down.. thousands of lives lost…  some don't die, they have effects of radiation in their bodies though..  they give birth to children who have birth defects, who give birth to children who have birth defects.. 

    • Ounce of Prevention..  is worth a pound of Cure..

    This morning without a doubt we'll find in many Church, in the lives of many of it's members, a Chain Reaction going on that is equally deadly….  It is the Chain Reaction of Sin in our lives.

    Where does it start…?    Sometimes it starts with     missing the House of God when we ought to be there…  Sometimes it starts with neglected Bible reading, neglected prayer life…   

    Many times it's being at the     Wrong place at the wrong time…  The Devil is hard at work to get there to be as many wrong places and wrong times as he can possibly have it… 

    Sometimes it's being involved with the wrong associations at the wrong times… Amnon had a friend…  Many a husband had a buddy…  Many a lady had a talk show…   Many a Spouse has a carnal family member..   Many a young person had an ungodly influence….


  • At any rate, I doubt very many of you ever wake and go looking for sin, I submit this morning that sin is like a disease,  often it's effects come in the course of a Chain Reaction..  I want you to notice what it's doing.. Perhaps someone can break the Chain reaction of Sin today!




    • I.)  Deadens our Senses

    Judges 16: 20  And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.

    1 Samuel 16:14 ¶ But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.


    Samson didn't even notice his Strength was gone from him until it was too late…

  • It's true, Sin take you farther than you want to go, it'll cost you more than you want to pay, and it'll keep you a lot longer than you want to stay…  Why?  When it's got root in your life, it'll take away your senses…

    • Many a church, many a Christian life has fallen prey to people who governed with Deadened senses…  How sad it is when we allow Sin in our life to     Steal the Leadership of the Holy Spirit in our Lives…

    2 Chronicles 15:2  And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin;     The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.

    Romans 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.


    II.)   Dampens or depresses our Spirit

    Lev. 26: 15  And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant:
    16  I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
    17  And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.

  • Sin will make a beautiful day a cloudy day…

  • Sin will make you to where you don't want to come out anymore…  It'll make you isolate yourself..
  • Sadly though, when sin is running its course very rarely do we identify the sin as the culprit of our depression!

    • Some this morning are in sin, as a result, they are full of sorrow, and depression..  what you need is to get shed of Sin, you need to get right with God!   It's not a vacation, or a ball game, it's God!

    Deprives us of Joy  (part of same point)

    David prayed "Psalms 51:12  Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.",

    where did it go?  It left when he called for Bathsheba… Listen to this man after God's own heart tell how he felt…


    Nehemiah 8:10  Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.


    III.)   Discourages the Brethren

    Joshua 7:5  And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even     unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.

    Man, if he can't live right and stay in the battle I know I can't.   David Lamented when Johnathan fell in Battle…  But it was his fathers sin that brought defeat.. 

    2 Samuel 1:19  The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places:     how are the mighty fallen!

    2 Samuel 1:25  How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places.
    2 Samuel 1:27  How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!


    IV.)  Darkens our visions

    We know that, "Where there is no vision the People perish", but wait a minute, you know why some never have any vision?   They've sin in their hearts and lives, and

    1 Samuel 2:9  He will keep the feet of his saints, and     the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.

    Psalms 88:6  Thou hast laid me in the     lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.

    When someone gets right with God, You know what the Lord does.. Psalms 107:14  He     brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.


    V.)  Finally Damns our Soul

  • Sin is what sent Jesus to the Cross, and it's what'll send you to hell.

    You and I are Lawbreakers aren't we…? Are you a Sinner?   


    • Let's look at the Law for just a moment..

    Ex. 20: 1 And     God spake all these words, saying,
    2  I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
    3  Thou shalt     have no other gods before me.
    4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
    5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
    6  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 

    Anything you put before God is an Idol….      Golf Club, Credit Card, Hunting Rifle, Baby… Popularity, Pride,

      7  Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

    8  Remember the     sabbath day, to keep it holy.   Do you keep The Lord's Day holy?   
    9  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
    10  But the seventh day is the     sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
    11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
    12  Honour thy father and thy mother    : that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

    We've got kids here today who back sass their mom and dads, never say "yes sir" or "no sir"… 

    Rebel You're a Sinner!


    14  Thou shalt not     kill

    1 John 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

    I don't hate nobody…  yes you do..  You don't talk to them or even shake their hand… 

    14  Thou shalt not     commit adultery

    . Matthew 5:28  But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

    15  Thou shalt not     steal.

    16  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
    17  Thou shalt     not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

    Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is Death..   You are damned to death because of your sin..

    The Chain is Broken Several Ways  -- 



    Repentance  --  Salvation.. 




    Revival



    Renewed Walk with God
    Sin starts many times innocently…  neglected Bible Reading, neglected prayer life… but when its chain reaction is at work…   it exacerbates the problem…  "It is True, Sin will keep you from this book or this book will keep you from Sin…






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