Many seek to explain sinful behavior (which they would call socially unacceptable behavior) as originating from the environment in which one was raised. For example, a violent home will produce violent children. Change the environment and you will change the child. But is that a biblical explanation for the source of sin in a person's behavior?
Others have described sinful behavior like addictions (which they call an illness) as originating from a deep sense of dependency and need within a person. For example, the need to be accepted or liked causes one to do what the crowd is doing. Make the person self-reliant and filled with self-esteem and self-love, and the addiction will subside. Is that a biblical explanation for the source of sin in a person's behavior?
Others have defined sinful behavior as originating from substances like booze (which has been called “spirits” or “the demon of liquor”). For example, it is said that even a taste of booze has the power to enslave a person. Therefore, ban all making, selling, and using alcoholic beverages to rid one of such abusive and enslaved behavior. Is that biblical? Jesus makes it abundantly clear from our text that sinful behavior proceeds from the corrupt and sinful heart of man. In all of the unbiblical theories above, it is not the person himself that is directly responsible for sinful behavior. It is the parents, or the need of self-esteem, or it is the substance itself that is to blame. But Scripture teaches it is you and I that are to blame, even from the point of conception—it is our own sin from within that produces sinful behavior (Psalm 51:3-5). We must begin there in order to know God's forgiveness.
SERMON ACTIVITY
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