 This is going to sound strange, but sin can be a good thing. Hey smart Christians, welcome back. It sounds weird to hear this. As a matter of fact, it even sounds weird to say it, but let me explain. If I say that sin can be a good thing, sin in and of itself, obviously that's not a good thing. But what can be a good thing, it can be the effects of sin, the results of sin. That is, if you let it, God is not after your destruction. He's after your obedience. He's after your faith in Him. And sometimes we as sheep, we can be wayward. That is indeed, we are sheep. And don't forget, the Bible says in Hebrews 12 verse 5, towards the middle, He says, My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him. In other words, do not despise God disciplining you. Why? For those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines and He scourges every son whom He receives. Important lesson. You've probably heard it said before about shepherds who when a lamb, a sheep would stray off, that that shepherd would go after that lamb, find that lamb, take a club to the lamb's leg, and break his legs and bring the lamb back to the fold. And then when asked, the shepherd would say for two reasons. One, he would know that he has to have some fear of me, that I'm the one that can break his bones, but also I'm going to mend him as well. He will see me as the mender, and I will mend him close to my bosom to teach him never to leave, but also to get him to enjoy feeding from my hand, because I'll take from my hand. And so then that sheep would understand and would even develop a closeness, a close bond with that shepherd. Well, that's also not unlike with what we see David saying in Psalm 51. In 51 and 51-7, David says, Purge, some verses are here, purify me with hissa, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than so. Now, this is after David's sin with Bathsheba, and then also his murder of Uriah, Bathsheba's husband. And so David is fallen. David is distraught, David is broken, and so he's praying, God cleans me. And he says, Make me hear the joy and gladness. Look what he says here. Let the bones which you have broken rejoice. His point is, I know that you have punished me. What's happening is a good thing. He's saying because it's going to bring you closer to God. All of us have sinned. All of us have messed up sometimes in a horrendous fashion in ways that we would not have ever imagined. But then after that, if you are a true believer, then God, as Paul says, he's going to call all things, cause all things, including those sins, and the punishment that accompanies it, he's going to cause that to work for your good, that is, for those who love him. And so in that regard, sin is not a good thing, but the consequences of sin can be. In one of the truest statements that's made, whether it says result of sin or pride or arrogance, or just because God wants to keep you close to him, Paul makes a statement where he says that when I'm weak, therefore I am strong. He says, regardless if it's because of insults or enduring distress with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ's sake, doing this and that's the key. With or for Christ's sake, he says, when I am weak, then I am strong. Hopefully what sin will do is to remind you of how weak you are, how frail, how fallen you can be on your own by recognizing how weak you are. You would then, if you're his, you will lean to him, because when I'm weak and I'm leaning on him, then I'm strong, not enough myself, but because of God. I have learned, like many of you, not to touch an open flame, not to touch a fire. And how long did it take me to learn that lesson? One time, early on, because there was an immediate punishment. And so sometimes if the punishment is immediate, if the consequences of the sin is even harsh, maybe not immediate but harsh, then there can be, there should be a lesson learned. The whole point of what God is doing is to take that sin, use the consequences as a result of it, and then cause you one to not do that, but also bring you closer to him. When you've recognized your fallenness, your weakness, your sin, then you also begin to appreciate the fact that you have been forgiven by God. Jesus brings us up when he's at Simon's house, not Simon Peter the disciple, but Simon the Pharisees. And there's a woman who is worshiping Jesus with this oil that he, that she's put on him. And he asks a question, because this person does not think that this woman, who was a sinful woman, is worthy to be around. And so Jesus asks a question about two debtors being forgiven, one who owed a lot, one who didn't owe as much. And so the question that he makes in Luke 11, I'm sorry, Luke 7, verse 41, he says about these money lenders. He says, when they're unable to pay and both are forgiven, the question he asks in 42 is, which one of them will love him more? And so what does he say? I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And Jesus said to him, you have judged correctly. So verse 44, he says, do you see this woman? I've entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but she since the time that I came in has not ceased to kiss me. And his point is, look at how she has worshiped me. Now we're talking about a woman who has had a lot of sin. He's going to verify this when he says verse 47, for this reason, I say to you, her sins. And he indicates, yeah, you're right, which are many. She's got a bunch of sin. Her sins, which are many have been forgiven for she loved much, but he who was forgiven little loves little. And it's not the person that is forgiven little is actually forgiven little. It's the person who thinks they have been forgiven little, the person who thinks that I haven't done as much. But her, on the other hand, she recognizes her sin. She recognizes her fallen ways. And she also recognize that though she's low, she's been forgiven. And because she recognized the gravity of her sin and the love that has overcome that sin, she loves even more. And so in that way, guys, your sin can be a benefit if you use properly understood in the proper context, but not the sin itself, though that you should recognize the sin. If you can recognize the reason why you see it is because of who you are, the kind of person you are, just because you are a human being, you can recognize that and then still recognize that God still loves you. And the consequence that may accompany that sin would are used to bring you closer. God in that regard, sin can be a benefit. Sin can be a good thing if repentance and restoration occurs as a result of that sin by itself. Bad thing. But if you allow God to work in you, then the benefits that you learn as a result of that sin, one, you likely won't do those again. You could also help someone else who's also been caught in that sin, helping to, as Paul says in Galatians 6 to restore that person, remembering yourself as well, then in that regard, it can be used to be a benefit. And that way, God can cause those things to work for the good of those who actually love him. So sin is not a good thing. The consequences that are brought about from God, that can be. Amen.