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説教集

Subject 1 : Sin

[1-2] Human Beings Are Born Sinners (Mark 7:20-23)

Human Beings Are Born Sinners

(Mark 7:20-23)
“And He said, ‘What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.’”
 


People Are Confused and Live under Their Own Illusions 

 
Who is most likely to be saved?
He who thinks himself the world’s worst sinner
 
 
Before I continue, I would like to ask you a question. What do you think of yourself? Do you think you are quite good or quite bad? What do you think? 
All people live under their own illusions. You are probably not so bad as you think, nor quite as good as you think. 
Who then do you think will lead a better life of faith? Will it be those who think of themselves as good or those who think of themselves as bad? 
It is the latter. Therefore, who is more likely to be redeemed: Those who have committed more sins or the ones who have committed only a few sins? The ones with the most sins are more likely to be redeemed because they know themselves to be sinners. They can better accept the redemption prepared for them by Jesus.
When we really look at ourselves, we can see that we are but masses of sin. What are human beings? Humankind is ‘a brood of evildoers.’ In Isaiah 59, it says that there are all kinds of iniquities in the hearts of people. Therefore, humankind is a mass of sin. However, if we define humankind as a mass of sin, many will disagree. Defining man as ‘a brood of evildoers’ is the correct definition. If we take an honest look at ourselves, we will come to the conclusion that we are evil. Those who are honest with themselves must arrive at this very same conclusion.
There do not seem to be many who would admit that they are indeed a mass of sin. Many live comfortably because they do not consider themselves sinners. Because we are evildoers, we have created a sinful civilization. If there were many people aware of their sinfulness, they would be too ashamed to sin. However, because there are many who are unaware of their sinfulness, they do not feel ashamed of their sin. 
However, their consciences know. Everyone has a conscience that tells him, “It is shameful.” Adam and Eve hid themselves among the trees after they had sinned. Today, many sinners hide themselves behind our vile culture ― our culture of sin. They hide themselves among their fellow sinners to avoid the judgment of God. 
People are deceived by their own illusions. They think themselves to be holier than others. They cry out in outrage, “How can a person do such things? How can a believer do that? How can a child do that to his own parents?” They themselves think they would not do such things. 
Dear friends, it is so hard to know human nature. If we really want to be redeemed, we must first know ourselves as we truly are. It is a time-consuming process, and there are so many of us who will never find this out until the day we die.
 
 
Know Yourself 
 
How do those who don’t know themselves live?
They Live trying to hide themselves.
 
Sometimes we come to encounter such people who really don’t know themselves. Socrates said, “Know yourself.” However, most of us do not know what is in our hearts: murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, etc.
He has the venom of a serpent in his heart but speaks of goodness. It is because he doesn’t know that he was born a sinner. 
There are so many in this world who do not know how to look at themselves. They have been deceived by themselves and they live out their lives wrapped in their own deceptions. They throw themselves into hell. They are going to hell because of their own deceptions.
 
 

People Spill Sin Continuously All Their Lives 

 
Why are they going to hell?
Because they don’t know themselves.
 
Let’s look at Mark 7:21-23. “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” The hearts of people are filled with evil thoughts from the day they are conceived. 
Let us just imagine that a person’s heart is made of glass and filled to the brim with some filthy liquid, namely, our sins. What would happen if this person moved back and forth? Of course, the filthy liquid (sin) would spill everywhere. As he moved here and there, sin would spill over again and again. 
We, who are but the masses of sin, live out our lives just like that. We spill sin wherever we go. We will sin all our lives because we are masses of sin.
The problem is that we do not realize that we are masses of sin and that we are the seeds of sin. We are masses of sin and have sin in our hearts. This is what people really are. 
This mass of sin is ready to overflow. Humans’ sin is primarily that they do not believe that they are, in fact, inherently sinful, but that others lead them into sin, and therefore it is not themselves who are truly at fault.
Therefore, even when they act sinfully, they think that all that is required is to wash themselves clean again for sin to be expunged. They keep wiping up after themselves, every time they sin, telling themselves that it is not really their own fault. Just because we wipe it up, do we not spill it again? We would have to keep on wiping it up over and over again. 
When the glass is full of sin, it will keep on spilling. It is no use wiping the outside. However often we wipe the outside with our morals, it is useless as long as we all have the glass full of sin. 
We are born so full of sin that our hearts will never become empty, no matter how much sin we spill along the way. Therefore, we go on committing sins all our lives.
When someone does not realize that they are indeed just a mass of sin, they continue trying to hide themselves. The sin is in the hearts of all people and it does not go away by wiping the outside clean. When we spill a little sin, we wipe it with a dishcloth, when we spill sin again, we wipe it with a towel, a mop, and then a rug. We keep thinking that if we only just keep wiping it up just once more, it will be clean again. However, it simply spills again and again. 
How long do you think this will go on? It goes on until the day he dies. Man acts sinfully until he dies. This is why we have to believe in Jesus to be redeemed. And to be redeemed, we have to know ourselves.
 
Who can gratefully receive Jesus?
Sinners who admit that they have committed many wrongs
 
Let us say there are two men who can be compared to two glasses full of some filthy liquid. Both glasses are full of sin. One looks at himself and says, “Oh, I am such a sinful person.” Then he gives up and goes to find someone who can help him. 
But the other one thinks that he is not so evil. He cannot see the mass of sin in himself and thinks that he is not so evil himself. All his life, he keeps on wiping up the spills. He wipes up one side, and then the other side, quickly moving over to the other side.
There are so many who live carefully all their lives with sin in their hearts so as to try to avoid spilling it over. But since they still have sin in their hearts, what good does it do? Being careful will not lead them any closer to heaven. ‘Being careful’ puts you on the road to hell.
Dear friends, ‘being careful’ only leads to hell. When people are careful, their sins may not spill over as much. But they are still sinners in disguise.
What is in the heart of humanity? Sin? Immorality? Yes! Evil thoughts? Yes! Is there theft? Yes! Arrogance? Yes!
We know that we are masses of sin when we see ourselves act sinfully and wickedly without being taught to do so. It may not be as evident when we are young. 
But how is it as we get older? As we go to high school, college, and so on, we come to realize that what we have inside us is sin. Is this not true? At this point, it becomes impossible to hide it. Correct? We keep spilling it. We then repent. “I shouldn’t do this.” However, we find it impossible to truly change. Why is it so? Because each of us is born a mass of sin. 
We do not become clean simply by being careful. What we need to know is that we are born a mass of sin in order to be completely redeemed. Only sinners who gratefully accept the redemption prepared by Jesus can be saved.
Those who think “I haven’t done much wrong and I have not sinned very much” do not believe that Jesus took away all their sins and that they are destined for hell. We have to know that we have this mass of sin within us. We were all born with it. 
If one thought, “I have not done much wrong, if only I could be redeemed for this little sin,” then would they be free of sin afterwards? This can never be. 
The one who can be redeemed knows themselves to be a mass of sin. They truly believe that Jesus took away all their sins by being baptized in the Jordan River and that He dissolved them of sins when He died for them.
Whether we are redeemed or not, we all live in an illusion. We are masses of sin. That is what we are. We can only be redeemed if we believe that Jesus took away all our sins.
 
 
God Didn’t Redeem Those With ‘a Bit of Sin’
 
Who is the one who deceives the Lord?
The one who asks for forgiveness of daily sins
 
God didn’t redeem those with only ‘a bit of sin.’ God does not even glance at those who say, “God, I have this little bit of sin.” The ones He looks at are those who say, “God, I am a mass of sin. I am going to hell. Please save me.” The complete sinners who say, “God, I would be saved if only You saved me. I cannot pray in repentance anymore because I will only sin again. Please save me.” 
God saves those who depend on Him completely. I tried daily prayer of repentance too. But prayers of repentance never free us from sin. “God, please take pity on me and save me from sin.” The ones who pray like this will be saved. They believe in the redemption of God, the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. They will be saved. 
God only delivers those who know themselves to be masses of sin, the spawn of sin. The ones who say, “I have only committed this tiny sin. Please forgive me for it,” are still sinners and God cannot save them. God only saves those who know themselves to be but complete masses of sin. 
In Isaiah 59:1-2, it is written, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” 
Because we are born a mass of sin, God cannot look upon us fondly. It is not because His hand is shortened, or His ear is heavy that He cannot hear us asking for His forgiveness. 
God tells us, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” Because we have so much sin in our hearts, we cannot enter heaven even if the doors are wide open. 
If we, who are but a mass of sin, asked for forgiveness every time we sinned, God would have to repeatedly kill His Son. God does not want to do this. Therefore, He says, “Do not come to Me every day with your sins. I sent you My Son to redeem you from all your sins. All you have to do is understand how Jesus took away your sins and see if it is the truth. Then, believe in the gospel of redemption to be saved. This is the utmost love I have for you, My creations.” 
It is what He tells us. “Believe in My Son and be redeemed. I, your God, sent My own Son to atone for all your sins and iniquities. Believe in My Son and be saved.”
Those who do not know themselves to be masses of sin only ask His forgiveness for their own little sins. They come before Him without knowing the terrible amount and weight of their sins and pray, “Please forgive this tiny bit of sin. I will never do it again.” 
They are also trying to deceive Him. We do not just sin once, but do so continually until we die. We would have to keep asking for forgiveness until the very last day of our lives. 
Being forgiven for one little sin cannot solve anything because we commit sins every day of our lives until we die. So the only way we can be free of sin is by passing all our sins on to Jesus.
 
What is humankind?
A mass of sins
 
The Bible records the sins of human beings. In Isaiah 59:3-8, “For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out. Their webs will not become garments, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of iniquity, And the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they have not known, And there is no justice in their ways; They have made themselves crooked paths; Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.” 
People’s fingers are defiled with iniquity and they work for evil throughout their lives. Everything they do is evil. And our tongues ‘have spoken lies.’ Everything that comes out of our mouths is a lie. 
“When he (the devil) speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources” (John 8:44). Those who are not born again like to say, “I am telling you the truth. I am really telling you. What I am saying is the truth.” However, everything that they are saying are all lies nevertheless. It is as it is written. “When he (the devil) speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources.”
People put their trust in empty words and speak lies. People conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web. God says, “He who eats of their eggs dies, and from that which is crushed a viper breaks out.” He says that there are vipers’ eggs in your heart. Vipers’ eggs! There is evil in your heart. Be redeemed by believing in the gospel of the water and the blood. 
Whenever I begin to talk about God, there are people who say, “Oh, dear. Please don’t talk to me about God. Whenever I try to do something, sin spills out of me. It just floods out. I can’t even take a step without spilling sin all over the place. I can’t help it. I am too full of sin. So don’t even talk to me about God.” 
This person knows for sure that they are just a mass of sin, but they just do not know that the gospel that can save them. The ones who know themselves to be masses of sin can be saved.
In fact, everyone is just like that. Everyone is spilling sin continuously everywhere they go. It just overflows because all people are a mass of sin. The way to save someone like that is through the power of God. Is it not simply amazing? The ones who spill sin whenever they are either upset, happy, or even comfortable can be saved only through our Lord Jesus. Jesus came to save those people. 
He has completely atoned for your sin. Know yourself as a mass of sin and be saved.
 
This sermon is also available in ebook format. Click on the book cover below.
HAVE YOU TRULY BEEN BORN AGAIN OF WATER AND THE SPIRIT? [New Revised Edition]