Sin is Serious, But America Doesn't Take It Seriously

We have lost the sense of how heinous sin actually is. We are comfortable with it. It does not offend us like it should. Most of the churches in America that are growing (though not all) are not dealing with sin. The preaching is incapable of offending anyone because the preacher does not get specific about sin. John tells us that he wrote his epistle so that his readers would not sin. That was one of his goals. Sin is a big deal. And John does not want us to sin. John does not teach Christian perfectionism, but neither does he have a defeatist attitude about sin. He writes so that we may not sin. But if we do sin, we have a Mighty Advocate with the Father -- Jesus Christ. In this sermon, I will also deal with propitiation and the verse that says Christ is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for those of the whole world. We will deal with the definition of propitiation and how that definition determines our interpretation of the word "world" which has a range of meanings. If Christ suffered the wrath of God on behalf of the world, then "world" must mean the world of believers. Otherwise, the verse teaches universalism. The atonement is limited to the elect.