“Snake Handlers In Church”
Isaiah 59: 1-5

Intro.: Background and explanation of text. I hate snakes!!! Illus. I stepped on a snake! A revival will always expose sin, enlist souls, and enthrone the Savior. David acknowledged the seriousness of sin in Psalm 139, “Search me…” What are we to do with snake eggs and the horror they hatch? We must understand…

I. The Definition, Description, and Destruction of Sin

A. What Sin Is: There are several words the Bible uses to define sin…

-Transgression: “Going against God and His revealed will”
-Iniquity: “To twist out of shape, to distort”
-Error: “Departure from that which is right”
-Trespass: “The intrusion of self will into the area of divine authority”
-Sin: “Missing the mark, falling short”
-Insubordination: For the Christian…

You can write everything that is wrong…in one word, SIN! The Bible tells us that sin is both a position (“in sin”) and a practice (“commit sin”), i.e., we are sinners and we do sin.

Dr. R. G. Lee said it so well…
“Sin is no disagreeable hindrance to the smooth ongoing of the social machinery. It is not egotistic abnormality. It is not goodness in the making, as though garbage could be fried chicken in the making. It is no upward stumble in man’s progress. Sin is the cancer of the soul; the leprosy of life; the poison of the heart; the madness of the brain; the palsy of the life; the frenzy of the imagination; the pollution of the blood; the blindness of the eyes; the prostitution of the tongue. Sin stole the keys of man’s nobility and threw him, woefully deranged, miserably erratic, and lost into hell.” Sin is no light discord, it is a thunder clap of horror. It is no trickling stream, but rather a raging flood of death and destruction. Sin is no pen knife, it is a guillotine separating man from God”

We have lost our definition of sin.
Man says……..God Says…
-Accident…Abomination
-Blunder…Blindness
-Carelessness…Curse
-Disappointment…Disaster
-Error…Eclipse of man’s moral judgment
-Fascination…Fatal fall
-Glamour…Grievous and Gruesome
-Harmless…Hellish
-Incidental…Insidious and Immoral
-Joke…Judgment
-Kind...Killer
-Laxness…Lewdness
-Minor…Madness and Misery
-Naughty…Nightmare
-Obstacle…Outrage
-Problem…Paralyzing
-Quirk…Quicksand
-Rational…Repulsive
-Safe…Scandal
-Trivial…Thief and Treason
-Unfortunate…Ugly
-Virtue...Vicious and Vile
-Weakness…Wretchedness

And God hates sin. He says so by every drop of blood from Jesus’ Holy veins! Sin is the serpent which will destroy you!

B. What Sin Does… It is a snake’s nature to bite! In Psalm 51 David pours out his heart with a description of what sin does.

-“Stains the soul, v.2, “Wash me thoroughly…”
-Stays in the mind, v. 3, “My sin is ever before me…”
-Stirs the conscience, v. 4, “I have sinned…”
-Short Circuits reason, v. 6, “Make me to know wisdom…”
-Saddens the heart, v. 8, “Make me to hear joy and gladness…”
-Sours the spirit,” v. 10, “Renew a right spirit within me…” (Adrian Rogers)
-Sin…darkens the understanding, deadens the conscience, defiles the heart, and disorders every faculty of your being. Sin is deceptive. It is sweet to the taste but sour to the stomach. Sin produces mountains of grief, rivers of tears, oceans of guilt, and regret.
-Sin is the unconscionable thief that steals God’s blessings.
-Sin is the cold-hearted murderer that takes life.
-Sin is the merciless prison that holds man captive.
-Sin is the debilitating blindness that keeps man in darkness.
-Sin is the habitual liar that deceives man.
-Sin is the deceitful allurement that leads men down a destructive road.
-Sin is the deadly poison that defiles men’s hearts.
-Sin is the malicious trap that ensnares men’s souls.
-Sin has an irrevocable harvest principle…

1. We reap what we sow…
2. We reap later than we sow…
3. We reap more than we sow…

Sin will take you farther than you want to go.

It will keep you longer than you want to stay.

It will teach you more than you want to know.

It will cost you more than you want to pay.

II. A Delineation of Sin, Note Psalm 139, “…any wicked way…”

A. We Are Handling The Deadly Pythons Of Our Own Sinful Desire, (Some feel these are virtually harmless and keep them as pets) James 1: 14, “…every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust…” Paul warns us of the sins of …

1. The Desires of Sinful Priorities, I John 2:15
2. The Desires of Sinful Pleasures, I Cor. 10: 7
3. The Desires of Sinful Passions, I Cor. 10: 8, Proverbs 5

B. We Are Handling The Dangerous Amazon Anacondas of Disregard…
The “Thou shalt nots..” Exodus 20. These are biblical prohibitions! Not the Ten Suggestions!

C. We Are Handling The Subtle Cobras of Disobedience;
The “Thou Shalts…” These are biblical admonitions!

1. Our Worship,

-No other Gods, Exod. 20: 3
- Keep the Sabbath Day Holy, Exod. 20:10
-Not forsaking worship, Heb. 10: 25

2. Our Walk,

-worthy (Eph. 4:1)
-different (Eph. 4:17)|
-in love (Eph. 5:2)
-in light (Eph. 4:8)
-in wisdom (Eph. 5:15)

3. Our Witness, Matt. 5: 16, “Let your light so shine…”

4. Our Giving, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse..”

5. Our Going, “Go ye into all the world…”

6. Our Serving, Rom. 12:1-2

7. Our Loving, Eph. 4: 32

8. Our Families;

-Honor thy father and mother, Exod. 20: 12
-Husbands and wives, Eph. 5: 21, 25, and 31

D. We Are Handling The Treacherous Copperheads Of Sins of Disposition; Eph 4:30, “And grieve not the Holy Spirit…”

1. Bitterness
2. Wrath, anger, and clamor
3. Evil speaking, malice, and murmuring (I Cor. 10: 10)

E. We Are Handling The Coral Snake Of Disguised Sins;

1. Secret sins; Eph. 5:12, “For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.”

2. Presumptuous sins, I Cor. 10: 9, “Neither let us temp Christ…” Heb. 10:26, “If we sin willfully…no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain looking for of judgment…”

No wonder Isaiah said, “Woe is me…” (Isaiah 6) But there is good news. There is…

III. The Deliverance From Sin

This is the Gospel!

Song, “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Song, “There is a fountain filled with blood…”

-Isaiah 1:18
-I John 1:7-9

In Jesus is deliverance from sin’s curse…

In Jesus is deliverance from sin’s contamination…

In Jesus is deliverance from sin’s control… (“He breaks the power of cancelled sin and sets the prisoner free…)

In Jesus is the antidote for Satan’s poisonous, lethal bite, Numbers 21.

Conclusion: May we turn from everything we know to be wrong and yield our hearts to Jesus! Jesus became sin for us. As the Children of Israel looked to the brass serpent lifted high on the pole and found life so we are to look to Him and live! “There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.”