An Introduction to the Seven Deadly Sins: The Nature of Sin
Sermon Follow Up to Jeremiah 2:2-13,19
This week at King’s Cross, we started a new sermon series leading up to Easter on the seven deadly sins. (Of course there are more than seven but we will be primarily considering what the scriptures have to say about: gluttony, lust, envy, wrath, slothfulness, pride and greed)
We began this sermon series yesterday by looking at the prophet Jeremiah. We set the table by examining the sheer brokenness of Judah—a culture, a nation, and a people on the verge of collapse. As God speaks through Jeremiah, He reveals the reasons behind the downfall of Israel’s culture, families, and society. The essence of their question to God was: What’s wrong with us? Why has everything fallen apart?
This is a question that’s not foreign to us today. We too are left wondering: How did we get to where we are? What went wrong with the world, with our lives, with our relationships? The same question of sin that the people of Judah wrestled with is something we need to reckon with as well.
We read from Jeremiah 2:2-13 and verse 19, which encapsulates the essence of sin and its destructive effects. Through the prophet, God addresses the issue head-on:
Sin, at its core, is denial.
1. Sin is Denial
Verse 19 says, “Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you.” This language is one of intervention for a deluded loved one. God is pleading with His people to consider what’s wrong with them. Sin, fundamentally, is denial—denial of the truth about ourselves, denial of the reality of our sinfulness. This shadow of sin goes all the way back to the fall of Adam and Eve.
Just like someone who is trapped in a destructive cycle but refuses to see it, the people of Israel are blinded to the bitterness of sin in their own lives. In our own lives, too, we often underestimate the severity of sin. We say, “I’m only human” or “I’m not perfect,” but those are not admissions of sin. True repentance comes when we acknowledge the dislocation of our hearts, the fact that we are way off-center, focused on ourselves instead of on the Lord who made us.
The Danger of Denial:
One of the most dangerous things about sin is the denial it breeds in our hearts. Sin causes us to hide, shift the blame, and dismiss what is truly wrong. Like many, who spend decades of their lives believing in the essential goodness of humanity only to realize too late that human nature is marked by evil instincts, we too can become blind to our own need for Jesus’ grace. We refuse to see sin for what it is: a parasitic force that corrupts everything. When we are confronted with God’s word, we are invited to know and see the corruption of our own hearts through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Application:
Is there an area of your life where you’re in denial? Maybe you cut corners at work, or you think, “It’s not that bad”about something you’re struggling with. Denial blinds us to the truth of sin in our lives. God is calling us to consider and see the bitter fruit of forsaking Him. Let’s not dismiss or hide from the gravity of our own sin, but confess it to Him.
2. Sin Flows from a Lack of the Fear of God
The second key point in our passage is that sin flows from a lack of the fear of God. God says, “The fear of me is not in you” (Jeremiah 2:19). We often think of sin simply as breaking rules or transgressing God’s laws, but sin is deeper than behavior—it’s an attitude of the heart. It’s a posture of life where there is no awe of God.
The fear of the Lord, as the Bible describes it, isn’t tormenting dread for the Christian. It’s a deep, reverential awe that places God at the center of everything we do. The fear of God is recognizing His magnitude, His power, and His love, and allowing that to shape how we live. When we fear God, we see everything else through the lens of His greatness. We don’t act as though God is a supplement to our lives; He is the center. Without this fear, we are left to rely on our own wisdom, our own strength, and our own judgment.
Application:
Ask yourself: What do you fear most in your life? What dominates your thoughts and actions? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10), and it’s only when we stand in awe of God that we begin to understand what is truly wrong with us and with the world. If you find yourself worried, angry, or consumed with self-pity, perhaps it’s because you’re fearing something more than God. To break free from the power of sin, we must begin with the fear of the Lord.
3. The Remedy: A Gracious God Who Calls Us to Remember His Mercy
Finally, the way forward is to look to God’s grace. In Jeremiah 2, the people are condemned for forgetting the Lord’s past deliverance—“They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt?’” (Jeremiah 2:6). They had forsaken God, forgetting His goodness and grace. But God calls them to remember what He had done.
Similarly, we must not forget the grace of God that has been revealed to us most fully in Jesus Christ. Jesus came to save us from the bondage of sin and death. He took on our sin, bore our shame, and brought us up out of spiritual Egypt, so that we could walk in newness of life.
When we remember the gospel—the grace of God shown to us in Christ—it should stir in us a greater awe of God. When we truly grasp His mercy, it will break our hearts for sin and lead us to repentance and new obedience. Do we trust that his grace is greater than all of our sin?
Application:
This week, remember what God has done for you in Christ. Meditate on the exodus of Jesus from death to life on your behalf. Let His mercy and grace restore your awe and reverence for God. The remedy for sin is not merely trying harder but turning again to the grace of God and remembering His loving-kindness toward us.
As we continue this series on sin and repentance over the next few weeks at KXC, I pray that we will not only confront the nature of sin but also reckon with the amazing grace of God.
Let us, like the people of Israel, “consider and see” how evil and bitter it is to forsake the Lord and return to Him. Let us remember, with deep awe, the mercy that we have in Christ, who has freed us from the power of sin and called us to live for Him with simple faith and trust.
May we live with the fear of the Lord, in awe of His holiness, and in the light of His redeeming love and pass that on to a thousand generations.
Next Sunday we will consider together what the bible has to say about seeking pleasure and the sin of gluttony.
Grace and Peace
Pastor Chris