INTRODUCTION: Our attitude toward eating establishments determines how many time we frequent them. For example, when our children were small they were always wanting to go to McDonalds. Bonnie and I, on the other
hand could barely stomach the food. We would put off them as long as we possibly could and then finally go. It would be like pulling teeth.

On the other hand, Bonnie's father loved to go to McDonalds. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner, it did not matter. Any time he could talk everyone else into stopping, they would end up at the "Golden Arches." You see, it all depends on your attitude.

It's that way toward everything in life. It all depends on our attitude toward something. What is your attitude toward sin?

BODY

I. THE BIBLE STRESSES ATTITUDE.

A. Listen to Solomon's words.

1. Proverbs 4:23 - "Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life."

2. Proverbs 23:7 - "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. "Eat and drink!" he says to you, But his heart is not with you."

B. The New Testament stresses the attitude of the heart.

1. Matthew 15:18-19 ""But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. {19} "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies."

2. Romans 10:9-10 "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. {10} For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

A. Some deny it.

1. Some believe that there is no such thing as sin. Many psychiatrists believe that all sin is just hang ups.

a. One writer described how we have rationalized and euphemized away sin:

* Abortion is no longer murder. It is simply a woman exercising her right of privacy to her own body.

* Homosexuality is merely a difference in sexual preference.

* Pornography is an expression of free speech.

* Adultery is "living together" 

2. But the Bible clearly says that sin is sin.

a. 1 John 3:4 - "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness."

3. The Bible says it is real!

a. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, {10} nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. {11} And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God."

4. If sin is not real, why did Jesus die because of it?

a. Isaiah 53:5-6 "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. {6} All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

b. 2 Corinthians 5:21 - "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

c. Hebrews 9:28 - "so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation."

B. Some mock at sin.

1. Remember all the jokes that people make about hell and eternal punishment. Many will laugh at the thought that they are going to answer to God for their actions.

2. Proverbs 14:9 - "Fools mock at sin, But among the upright there is favor."

C. Some minimize sin.

1. Many will lesson the importance of sin.

2. Some will try to minimize their sins, and the sins of others, by saying something like this, "God loves me so much that he surely wouldn't condemn me to hell just because I have sinned.

3. But unforgiven sin will bring about consequences.

a. Galatians 6:7-8 "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. {8} For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life."

D. Some try to put off dealing with their sins.

1. Acts 24:25 "Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, "Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.""

2. Acts 17:32 - "And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, "We will hear you again on this matter.""

3. Some "sweep sin under the rug" and hope that it will somehow go away. They are like Scarlet in "Gone With The Wind" who said "I'll think about that tomorrow!"

4. The Bible warns that we have only one day for salvation.

a. 2 Corinthians 6:2 - "For He says: "In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."

A. We should hate sin.

1. Psalms 119:104 - "Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way."

2. Proverbs 8:7 - "For my mouth will speak truth; Wickedness is an abomination to my lips."

3. Jude 23 - "but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh."

B. We should repent of (turn away from) sins.

1. God wants us to turn to him in sincere repentance.

a. Joel 2:13- "So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm."

2. Acts 17:30- ""Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,"

3. We must have the attitude of the prodigal son.

a. Luke 15:21- ""And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.'"

C. We should forsake sin.

1. Romans 6:1-2, 6-7 "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? {2} Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?...knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. {7} For he who has died has been freed from
sin."

2. Galatians 5:24 - "And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."

D. We should do all we can to avoid sin.

1. Proverbs 4:14-15- "Do not enter the path of the wicked, And do not walk in the way of evil. {15} Avoid it, do not travel on it; Turn away from it and pass on."

2. 1 Thessalonians 5:22- "Abstain from every form of evil."

3. This teaches us that we should not come any closer to sin that we have to. It is wrong to try to dabble as close to sin as we can get.