“Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today,’ so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” – Hebrews 3:12-13

If the Bible says anything about sin, it says that sin is dangerous.  One reason that sin is so dangerous is that everything about it is attractive.  It smells good, it looks good, and it sounds good.  If it was not attractive we would not call it a “temptation” would we? 

For mothers day in 2005, my kids and I purchased a rose bush for Julie.  It is now the centerpiece for our front garden.  Every summer, it grows many beautiful pink blossoms – at least it grows them if they don’t get eaten first.  Japanese Beetles regularly like to eat our roses for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  In a scene that could come straight out of Exodus 8, the day our rose bush starts to bloom, the beetles descend on the plant and start chewing up the rose buds and pedals.  In order to combat this problem, I went on a mission – keep the beetles away from the rose bush.

So we set up a beetle trap.  I am guessing you have at least seen one of these traps in your neighbor’s yard.  The trap consists of a bag that hangs under a disk of rose-smelling bait.  The bait attracts the beetle to the bag and away from the rose bush. 

I knew it worked as soon as I opened the bait.  As soon I pulled the silver safety paper off the back, I had beetles flying into me as they tried to get at the smell.  I managed to escape their attack, I set the trap up and compulsively checked the bag every day to see if it was working.  As I watched, it was humorous to see how this simple trap worked.

The beetles are a bit clumsy an imprecise in their flying.  When they are looking for the bait, they fly right by and instead buzz into the side of the bag and slide to the bottom of the trap with hundreds of other prisoner beetles.   

I was happy to see that every day I would catch scores of beetles and watch them as they confusedly swarmed over one another.

This was an illustration to me of the danger of sin.  Sin always looks good.  Think of the sinful reactions we have to life.  We may become bitter and think it is an attractive response to those that hurt us, we may be driven to sexual immorality because it makes us feel good, or we may lie to get people to like us better.  Some people are attracted to danger. 

Like the beetles in my front yard, sin is clumsy.  The very fact that a beetle is drawn toward the bait puts it into danger of falling into the bag.  If only it would stay with the real rose bush, they would be safe.  Likewise, when we are drawn to fulfilling a sinful desire, we will find ourselves stuck at the bottom of the bag.

Sin may look good, but it is not good.  If we are going to avoid the trap of sin we must know how dangerous it is.  In his book The Mortification of Sin, the Puritan John Owen (1616-1683) tells how dangerous sin can be.  The following four dangers are taken from his book. 

First, sin leads to a hardened heart (see Hebrews 3:12-13).  When there is a sin in our life, when we know that it is a sin, and when we really don’t care that the sin is there, we know that we have been hardened by sin.  This is so dangerous because we inoculate ourselves against the gospel.  We become “sermon-proof” – we no longer feel any guilt for the sin and without a sense of our guilt, we will not pursue a cure.  Like an untreated disease, that sin will grow and have increasing control over our lives.
 
Another danger of sin is that we will face God’s discipline (see Psalm 89:30-33).  God loves His children so much that He will discipline them so they will live under His loving direction.  Though God’s discipline is primarily corrective it still may be very difficult and the consequences may be more severe than we want.  Think about the life of David – the man after God’s own heart.  After his committed adultery with Bathsheba and killed Uriah (2 Samuel 11), he lost a baby (2 Sam. 12), had a daughter raped and a son killed (2 Sam. 13), and was dethroned as king by his own son (2 Sam. 15).  But God’s discipline is always gracious.  He helps us to turn away from what dishonors Him to the joy and pleasure of walking in His will.

Part of that discipline is the loss of peace and strength.  Even before his sin was revealed, David experienced a guilty conscience from his sin against God (read Psalms 32 and 38 for his explanation of this event).  The promise of God in salvation is that we will have new strength to follow Christ.  But when we sin we no longer have the confidence that we can approach God in prayer.  Care Group, Bible Study, and worship start to become more of a chore than a joy.  We feel like hypocrites when we tell somebody about Jesus.  We may start to wonder if we are even Christians at all. 

The fourth danger I want to mention is the danger of eternal destruction.  Although it is true that no elect person will ever lose their salvation, we also know that every true believer will demonstrate his faith through the fruit of obedience.  But if there is a sin that dominates your life it is possible you have not yet set your hope on the gospel.  It becomes increasingly difficult to think that we are actually Christians.  Our assurance of God’s love disappears.  There may be good evidence that you are a Christian:  you may have professed your faith in Christ, overcome some sins in your past and you may regularly attend church.  But when sin dominates your life, the evidence of sin seems to speak louder than any good evidence we have.  The Bible is clear that the “the soul that sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4).  The danger of sin is no more obvious to us than when we realize that apart from Christ, our sin will send us to hell.

Sin is dangerous to the core.  Sin destroys.  But there is a place of safety.  Safety is only found in Jesus Christ.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mind and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who builds his house on the rock” (Matthews 7:24f), and compares two foundations: rock and sand.  It is much safer to build our house upon the rock.  It takes more effort to build upon rock, it is harder to dig through, but once the home is build, it can’s be simply pushed over or washed away.  In the long run, it is easier though.  We only have to build one house.  The man on the sand keeps building and building until he himself is washed away and can build no longer.  Our lives are similar – believing in Jesus Christ, changing things that are displeasing to God, and walking in His ways may feel more difficult at first.  But then we feel His help in believing and overcoming sin and we realize that He is with us, helping us every step of the way.   

Then we realize that following Christ is easier too.  Jesus said His yoke was easy (Matthew 11:28-30).  When we build our lives around the cross of Christ we only need to build once.  Jesus is the rock and we know that He cannot be destroyed.  Our lives are as secure as the foundation.

And when we follow Christ we see the dangers of sin removed.  Our hearts are renewed (Ezekiel 36:26).  Like David we move from discipline to the experience of God’s pleasure (Psalm 32:5).  And we escape the final and eternal consequence of sin (Revelation 1:5).

So, how is your life?  Are the sins that you are playing around with, not realizing the danger you are in?  Jesus says to you, “Follow Me.”  He wants us to trust Him for the forgiveness of sins and direction for life.  Consider that sin, see its danger, set it upon the cross, and obey God’s commands in faithful trust.  Christ came to provide a safe refuge for your soul.

"I am a poor, weak creature; unstable as water, I cannot excel; this corruption is too hard for me, and is at the very door of ruining my soul; and what to do I know not.  My soul is become as parched ground, and an habitation of dragons. I have made promises and broken them, vows and engagements have been as a thing of naught; many persuasions have I had, that I had got the victory and should be delivered, but I am deceived; so that I plainly see, without some eminent succor and assistance, I am lost, and shall be prevailed on to an utter relinquishment of God.  But yet, though this be my state and condition, let the hands that hang down be lifted up, and the feeble knees be strengthened.  Behold the Lord Christ, that has all fulness of grace in his heart, all fulness of power in his hand; he is able to slay all these his enemies. There is sufficient provision in him for my relief: he can take my drooping, dying soul, and make me more than a conqueror.  ‘Why sayest though, O my soul, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?  Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?  there is no searching of his understanding.  He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength.  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint’ (Isaiah 40:27-31).  He can make the ‘dry, parched ground of my soul to become a pool, and my thirsty, barren heart as springs of water;’ yea, he can make this ‘habitation of dragons,’ this heart, so full of abominable lusts and fiery temptations, to be a place for ‘grass’ and fruit to himself’ (Isaiah 35:7)”

John Owen, The Mortification of Sin, page 80

Kindness and Truth?  Love and Doctrine?  These things win favor with God and man

"Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart.  So you will find favor and good repute In the sight of God and man." - Proverbs 3:3-4

The commandments of God?  They bring life.
"Keep my commandments and live, And my teaching as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart." - Proverbs 7:2-3

Joy over the faithfulness of other people to God?
"being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." - 2 Corinthians 3:3

Or your sins?
"The sin of Judah is written down with an iron stylus; With a diamond point it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart And on the horns of their altars," - Jeremiah 17:1