Religious Sin
Categories: Sermon Outlines, Topical Sermon OutlinesPROPOSITION: To set forth religious sin.
OBJECTIVE: To help us avoid religious sin.
INTRODUCTION:
1. Read: Acts 17:22-31.
2. Regarding the text:
1) Athens.
2) Very religious = too superstitious = demon worshipers.
3) There IS religion and worship of ignorance.
4) Ignorance is no excuse. Why?
5) Romans 1:21, 25, 28.
6) God does not need what WE have, but we do NEED what God has.
7) We can and will receive what God has on and only on God’s conditions.
8) Therefore, any offering made to God which is not according to his instructions is sin . . . even religious sin.
3. Reference to S.T.P.O.
DISCUSSION: We ask —
I. Isn’t being religious enough?
1. Cartoon in Ft. Worth Star Telegram, “Rick-O-Shea,” man leaving assembled folks where he never attended, went up into the mountains and there said, “Hi, Boss, I waited till you were finished with those folks down in the valley before I came to see you in your cathedral in the mountains.” This man was a murdering gun-slinger who killed for fun and profit.
2. Men have always been religious.
3. Jesus did not come into the world to make men religious, but to make them religiously correct, John 4:21.
4. James says that a Christian’s religion can be and IS vain if that Christian does not bridle his tongue, James 1:26.
5. Acceptable religion requires at least four things according to James 1:27. It must be:
1) Pure;
2) Undefiled;
3) Visiting fatherless and widows; and
4) Keeping oneself unspotted from the world.
5) NOTE: One can NOT keep himself unspotted from the world if he has never been cleansed from the world in the first place.
II. Doesn’t a person have the right to his own opinion?
1. 1 Corinthians 1:10.
2. 1 Timothy 4:16.
3. John 8:32.
4. In FACT, no one has the right to be religiously wrong.
III. Can religion be sin?
1. How about idolatry?
1) Ephesians 5:5; and
2) Colossians 3:5-6.
2. How about heathenism and paganism in all their forms?
1) 2 Kings 16:3;
2) Matthew 6:7; and
3) Matthew 18:17 (all KJV).
3. But what about those who believe in Christ but just believe differently?
1) John 12:42-43.
2) Acts 26:27.
3) James 2:19.
4) John 1:12.
4. All disobedience is sin, even religious disobedience.
1) This is true for denominations!
2) This is true for the Lord’s body!
5. God wants us to be more than obedient; he wants us to be holy.
CONCLUSION:
1. We have asked:
1) Isn’t being religious good enough?;
2) Doesn’t a person have the right to be wrong?; and
3) Can religion be sin?
2. Let us never be guilty of religious sin, Romans 6:16-18.