Sin Blinds You // Sermon - Femi Osunnuyi

The good work we do for God can blind us to the development and work of sin in other aspects of our lives. When we obsess over our good deeds, we begin to flatter ourselves until we become blind to our other sins.

When God does the good work of exposing these sins, we may try to quickly fix them or become paralysed by them. but the way to regain our sight is through a broken and a contrite heart.

Two Reactions to Sin

“In our last sermon we examined Cain who was a murder. He murdered his own brother and after then what did he do? What was his reaction? He moved further and further away from God. Despite God wanting him to change. A bad reaction.

Only a deep interaction with the gospel is the adequate response for gaining increasing victory over sin.

Today we are going to look at another murderer. His name is David. We are going to see why he fell into sin and how he responded after being confronted by God about his sin. And what David is going to show us is how only a deep interaction with the gospel is the adequate response for gaining increasing victory over sin. In other words we are going to see a better reaction than that of Cain.

Sin Blinds Us

“And so today we are going to talk about the blinding nature of sin. But don’t get me wrong. We are not just going to see the blinding nature of sin. We are going to see the eye opening nature of the gospel.”

In this sermon Pastor Femi examines how sin blinds us under three headings: the blind man, the contrite man and the seeing man.

We are not just going to see the blinding nature of sin. We are going to see the eye opening nature of the gospel.

The Anatomy of Sin

Are you tired of constantly being defeated by sin? Are you surprised that it somehow always keeps getting victory over you? This is because we never fully understand sin and therefore underestimate it. Combating sin is crucial for Christian growth and we will only begin to be victorious when we understand the essence of sin and fight it from its roots.

This is the fourth in a five-part sermon series where we consider the biblical description of sin and learn how to be victorious over it. Pick up the other sermons here: 1. The Anatomy of Sin – The Essence; 2. Sin is Systemic; 3. Sin Hardens Your Heart; 4. Sin Blinds You

Text: 2 Samuel 12:1-14

Preached: 2 February 2020

Location: City Church, Lagos, Nigeria

Transcript

The reading today is from 2 Samuel 12:1-14

12:1 And the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. 4 Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” 5 Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, 6 and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 8 And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. 9 Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbour, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’” 13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child who is born to you shall die.”

This is the word of the Lord.

Introduction and Prayer

Good morning church and good morning if you are here with us for the first time. We are so happy to see you. We are so happy to meet you and we would love to talk to you at the end of the service or beyond that as well.

We have been going through a series and this is the fourth of the five messages. This is the penultimate message of the series. We have called it “the anatomy of sin.” So before I get into this message can we just pray together quickly.

Lord, your word is light. And so we ask that there will be light right now. We ask Holy Spirit that you come. Come in the word I will speak, come in the hearts that will be opened to receive. We need you Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen

Confession! I haven’t watched one of the movies in the Fast and Furious franchise. From what I know I think they are on number 24 right now, or something like that! It just keeps going – whatever. There’s almost as many as the iPhones that you have! You know?

So I don’t know. What’s your own favourite movie franchise? Avengers? How many of them are there in the Avengers movie franchise? 2? 4? Whatever. Anybody else? All the Chicago PDs… Star Wars… We are in church so you can’t have anything bad!

I’ll tell you mind. Mine is Rocky. Yes. I saw that look in your eye… You see recently I even got (I am not old!) Agism is a problem. Go and listen to the second message in this series. Now I even watched the closing scene recently with my two sons. The closing scene of Rocky 3 with my two sons. Just trying to show them the characters. Just initiate them into it. Because my wife refused to be initiated into it.

You know I work out to the Rocky theme songs. If you don’t know the Rocky theme songs you are missing! But all of you are looking at me strange. And so what I am going to do is something I always wanted to do to my wife but she will not allow me personally. But I am going to do it now that she is here in front of all of you people. I am going to give you a brisk talk through the Rocky franchise.

No, no, no! I didn’t tell you to put that – before we get that there (on the screen) – wait for my cue.

Alright – there are about 7-8 of them. It’s just that they have different names. But in Rocky 1, Rocky Balboa is this grade-B fighter. You know, he’s never been one of the big people, and then there was this champ. And through some kind of luck, the champ – called Apollo Creed – is looking for… he just wants to… he has beaten everyone and he just wants to have a fight that can seal his legacy. And somehow they choose this Rocky Balboa.

So in Rocky 1, very nice story, wonderful. He meets a woman that he likes – he falls in love with. But in Rocky 1 he fights Apollo – it wasn’t meant to be a title fight, and they draw. They draw. Rocky really fights well – it’s like stunning. By the time you get to Rocky 2 Apollo now feels that he needs to get his image back. Right? How could this bum take me the distance and I couldn’t beat him? He felt people questioning the legitimacy of his title. And so Rocky gets another shot. Right?

Now his wife, but his wife doesn’t want him to actually fight. She is pregnant. And so he is wrestling… should he fight or should he not fight? And then at the end when she does give birth – I’m going to cry! When she gives birth and he is thinking “I am not going to fight again”, she just says “I have one more thing to say to you – I want to say win!” Win! And then the song starts playing and whatever.

So at the end of Rocky 2, Rocky fights Apollo and in one of the most dramatic scenes the two of them fall down and they are counting 1-10 and around 9 Rocky stands up, Apollo falls down, Rocky is the champion of the world. Amen?

So then in Rocky 3 what happens is a new fighter comes on the scene. His name is Clubber Lang – Clubber Lang is played by Mr T. He has beaten everybody but Rocky’s manager doesn’t want him to fight him. Eventually they fight and he defeats Rocky and at the same time Rocky’s manager gets a heart attack. So Rocky’s manger doesn’t see Rocky lose. He actually thinks Rocky wins and then he dies at the end – just when Rocky comes back from the fight. And that’s such and emotional scene.

So what is Rocky going to do? He feels like a bum. There is nothing to do again. He is feeling sorry for himself. He gets another coach. Somebody offers to coach him. You know who offers to coach him? Apollo Creed – the guy he defeats in Rocky 2. So they now become best friends. They train – Rocky 3 is probably the best of the lot. They train, they do everything, and then at the end he fights Clubber Lang, and Rocky, because Apollo coached him, Rocky now wins. Alright?

In Rocky 4 – and this is the height of the Cold War between America and the Soviet Union. In rocky 4 there is a drug filled machine of a man called Ivan Drago. Ivan Drago comes and sorts the whole of America. There is now an exhibition fight. Apollo comes out of retirement – he want to fight someone in South America. And exhibition fight. Everybody is meant to be happy. Drago beats Apollo so much that he kills him! And Rocky himself now feels like he too has to come out of retirement. And so he decides he is going to fight Ivan Drago. Not in America but in Russia on Christmas Day, in the Soviet Union.

And so he fights – it was a veritable fight – but you know what happened? Rocky wins! That’s how Rocky 4 works – alright? And there is some chat with the USA… Cold War stuff.

Rocky 5. Let’s just forget Rocky 5. It was bad. It was just very bad – I don’t know what they were doing. But now you get to Rocky 6. And in Rocky 6, Rocky is now an old man. Wife old. That son that they had in Rocky 2 has now grown up. He is trying to make a name for himself without the father’s name. And then there is a new loud-mouthed champ. Played by a guy – a former boxer – called Antonio Tarver – and he is just he is insulting Rocky. And so Rocky comes – very old – now in his ’50s or maybe ’60s – and he decides he is going to fight him.

But the son doesn’t want him to fight him. The son doesn’t want him to embarrass both of them. And he is begging Rocky – don’t do this! And so he get’s to one point where he says “don’t you care what people think about you? You just want to go and disgrace yourself!” And then you get one of the most important scenes in the entire Rocky franchise. Yeah.

[Plays footage on screen – quote from movie Rocky 6]

“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place. And I don’t care how tough you are – it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me and nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!

Now if you know what you’re worth, then go on and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that.”

There is one point I want you not to miss there.

He said “it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” In other words, it’s not necessarily just about action, it’s about reaction.

And if we think about what we were talking about with sin, it’s not so much that we don’t sin. We’ve said before that sin is present in all of us. We all sin. And as was said in the song for the word in 1 John 2: We all sin. But it’s not just about whether you sin (action). But more about what you do after sinning (reaction).

And so in our last sermon we examined Cain who was a murder. He murdered his own brother and after then what did he do? What was his reaction? He moved further and further away from God. Despite God wanting him to change. A bad reaction.

And so today we are going to talk about the blinding nature of sin. But don’t get me wrong. We are not just going to see the blinding nature of sin. We are going to see the eye opening nature of the gospel.

So, let’s examine this sermon called Sin blinds you under three headings: the blind man, the contrite man and the seeing man.

Femi Osunnuyi is lead pastor of City Church, Lagos, Nigeria, a gospel-centred urban church that exists to catalyse a gospel-centred movement in the city of Lagos. Femi is passionate about church planting and leadership development thus, in addition to his pastoral duties, he also serves on the Lead Team of Acts29’s Emerging Regions network and the Advisory Council of City to City Africa. He is happily married to Tosin and is father to Tofunmi and Timilehin.