James Bond had a license to kill – but if we give ourselves a license to sin we become James Bondage!License to Sin!
Evangelistic Sermon
By Apostle Andre Pelser
04/02/20

James Bond had a license to kill ? but when we give ourselves a license to sin we become James Bondage!

Isaiah 59:1-2
Behold, the Lord?s hand is not shortened,
1 That it cannot save;
Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear.
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will not hear.

When it seems as if nothing is working and you do not know what is going on in your life any more, have you considered the option that your sins and iniquities might stand between you and God? God has not moved from His position of glory and power, His ear is not deaf and His hand is not shortened that it cannot save, but the fault sometimes lies on our side. He hides His face from you so that He will not hear because of your sins.

Iniquity is ?avon? in Hebrew and it refers to perversity and mischief. The world today is full of perversity and mischief. We see it in movies and on TV, we read about it in newspapers and magazines; it is everywhere we go and it separates people from a holy God.

?Avon? also speaks of depravity and guilt. In today?s world people who perverse their ways become famous overnight! The world honours those who dare to show their depravity on screen, in songs or in books.

In Greek the word for pervert has even more serious connotations: metastrepho (3344), ?to transform into something of an opposite character? (meta, signifying ?a change,? and strepho,) as the Judaizers sought to ?pervert the gospel of Christ,? Gal. 1:7; cf. ?the sun shall be turned into darkness,? Acts 2:20; laughter into mourning and joy to heaviness, Jas. 4:9.

When the wise man Solomon observed everything under the sun he explained a certain method to become famous in the eyes of people: do something perverse or even subversive and all of a sudden everyone knows your name. Think of movie stars and pop stars, politicians and dictators, rebels and people like Osamo Ben Laden who organizes suicide pilots to fly planes full of innocent passengers into sky scrapers to kill thousands of people and they explains that he is obeying God?but it is not the God I know who sent His only begotten Son to die for our sins so that we might be saved and not perish if we believe in Him.

The Biblical definition of licentiousness or giving yourself the license to sin includes all the modern perversion and iniquities we read about in the newspapers and magazines and see on TV and in the movies. We are surrounded with people who have given themselves the license to sin ? and we have to know how to deal with it and avoid it as people of God.

Jude 4,7See ADULTERY; IDOLATRY, WICKED PRACTICES OF, LICENTIOUS PRACTICES OF; HOMOSEXUALITY; INCEST; LUST; RAPE; SENSUALITY; SEXUAL RELATIONS; PROSTITUTE; PROSTITUTION.

From verse three onwards the Lord speaks through Isaiah to tell us all the things He counts as iniquities and sins. It is a long list and needs our attention so that we can rid ourselves and our community from the things that stand between us and God so that He might forgive us and cleanse us from all iniquities by the blood of His dear Son.

1 John 1:7-9
7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The New King James Version

Romans 3:23

Romans 6:23

I John 1:10-12

If God is righteous then we know that those who practice unrighteousness is not from Him ? it is anti-Christ! If we abide in Him and His word abides in us we will overcome the sins in our lives and we will become strong to live a righteous life ? just like Jesus! But there are those who prefer to live in sin and they do not want the light of the Gospel to expose them so they leave us in order to go and hide somewhere else ? it is easy to hide in a crowd where your works are not known. But as we walk in the light as He is in the light and we have fellowship with God and with one another our works are being judged and we have to make right and overcome things in our own lives in order to enjoy the blessing of fellowship.

The moment someone no longer feels they want to come to church there is a definite reason ? they refuse to change and keep on changing in order to be perfected in holiness. They prefer to walk in darkness rather than light. They light of God?s holiness is too bright. They actually loose out on the precious fellowship which God has reserved for the saints in the light! Not just any saint, but the saints in the light!

People who reject apostles and refuse to hear prophets cannot be perfected. They do not refuse men and women but they refuse the gift of Christ which He gave when He ascended on high.

Acts 1

Ephesians 4:11-16

Those who walk away from a church where God is busy perfecting the saints show clearly that their hearts have not been with us from the beginning! You cannot fool God or God?s people for too long. Your own deceptive heart will convict you and you will find a place where your flesh can hide and you can be comfortable with your sins that you refuse to forsake!

Today I am warning all of us: the Lord is speaking to us all: forsake your sins and forsake your evil ways and turn to the Lord with a repentant heart so that He might have mercy on you to save you, so that times of refreshing might come from the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Acts 3:19

Why do you have no joy when others worship God in spirit and in truth? Why is there no peace in your heart? Why are you miserable in your walk with God? Why do you hate going to church? Why can?t you sleep at night? Why do you have no rest? Why are you always troubled and anxious? Is it because God?s hand is shortened that He cannot save and because His ear has become heavy so that He cannot hear? Or is it because your iniquities and your sins stand between you and God like a wall that you have built over the years?

The first sin does not become a wall over night: but it is the first brick in the wall of sin?eventually that wall fences you in and you become a prisoner of your own sins.

I once heard a man testify that the devil was a builder who corners you and builds walls all around you: you cannot escape. He controls you and you become a slave of sin. But the man thanked God that the devil was not a carpenter! Jesus is a carpenter and instead of putting on a roof he constructs a ladder and lowers it down to you so that you can climb out of the devil?s stronghold in your life!

Another man testified that he was the devil?s football:
?I was the devil?s football. He kicked me wherever he wanted me to go. He kicked me into the bar and there I had to drink and get drunk. He kicked me into the dance hall where I danced with other women. He kicked me into the gambling joints where I lost all my money. He kicked me into gangs where I had to team up with thieves and murderers. He kicked me into prison where I served a sentence with evil men. But one day the devil made a mistake. He tried to kick a goal with me, but thank God, Jesus was the Goal Keeper and Jesus saved me! Hallelujah!?

What is your testimony? How