https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Disease-of-Sin-and-Its-Cure.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Ezra 9:5-15<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nI. Ever since Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit, sin has been a big problem for\nmankind.\n A. We just can’t seem to get away from it. You could almost look at it as a disease\n— a spiritual disease of the heart.\n B. Like any disease, it has characteristics which allow us to recognize the problem. \nLet us consider five of them.\n
II. Some Characteristics of Sin<\/p>\n
A. A Love to Sin<\/p>\n 1. Most people do not like being sick. As soon as they start having serious\nsymptoms, it is off to the doctor to find a cure. \n 2. Sin is not like that. Many people who have sin don’t see it as a problem;\nin fact, they enjoy their wickedness. – II Thessalonians 2:9-12\n a. Notice the source of the enjoyment: their choice to believe lies;\nthey do not love the truth.\n
b. The love of sin is rooted in a problem of unbelief.<\/p>\n 3. Some people love sin so much, they are not satisfied with leaving it alone. \nThey have to drag it behind them. – Isaiah 5:18\n
4. The Israelites loved to wander from God. – Jeremiah 14:10 <\/p>\n a. They did not control themselves; not that they couldn’t help\nthemselves, but they didn’t want to resist sin.\n
b. Even the leaders of Israel loved evil and hated good – Micah 3:1-2<\/p>\n 5. However, God provided a remedy for the love of sin. Remember the\nsource of the problem is choosing to believe the wrong things.\n a. Psalms 52:1-4 – Some love evil more than good. They prefer lying. \nThey enjoy causing harm with their words.\n (1) Psalms 52:7 – Why? They trust their own selves and their\nriches. There is that idea of a misplaced belief again.\n
(2) Psalms 52:8 – The cure for a love of sin is a love of God.<\/p>\n b. Proverbs 2:12-15 – The wicked enjoy evil. They delight in the\nperverse deeds of others.\n (1) The cure? Proverbs 2:10-11 – The wisdom, knowledge, and\nunderstanding from the Lord\n 6. When people put their trust in God., when they believe He exists, when\nthey believe they must answer to Him for the deeds they do, then there is\nno longer a delight in mischief.\n
a. People love evil because they think they can get away with it.<\/p>\n
B. Which brings us to the next symptom. Sin is practiced by the wicked.<\/p>\n 1. Matthew 7:15-20 – You know them by their fruits, by the things they\npractice and the results of their deeds.\n
2. There is a cure for this disease as well. We call it repentance.<\/p>\n
a. As the early Christians were taught – Acts 26:20<\/p>\n
b. Through repentance, our sins are removed – Acts 3:19<\/p>\n
c. Isaiah 1:16-17 – Purify self. Put away evil. Cease to do evil.<\/p>\n
d. Romans 6:12-13 – Do not let sin reign in your bodies<\/p>\n
e. I Corinthians 15:34 – Awake to righteousness and do not sin.<\/p>\n
f. Only if the wicked will forsake his way will he live – Ezekiel 18:21<\/p>\n
C. You see, God views sin as a state of being. It is where you choose to live.<\/p>\n
1. There is a way out of this state — baptism.<\/p>\n
2. Acts 2:38 – Baptized for the forgiveness of sin<\/p>\n
3. Acts 22:16 – Baptism washes away (removes) sin<\/p>\n 4. Romans 6:4 – Baptism takes us out of our life of sin and puts us into a new\nlife.\n 5. In fact, Paul goes on to say that baptism frees us from the bondage of sin –\nRomans 6:5-7\n D. This leads us to another characteristic of sin. When people see the sin in their\nlives, it brings to them a heavy burden of guilt.\n 1. Psalms 40:11-12 – David found his sins too heavy to bear, so he begged\nmercy from God.\n
2. Therein is the cure for the guilt of sin — God’s merciful pardon.<\/p>\n 3. Ezra 9:5-15 – Ezra saw that Israel’s sins caused their bondage (Ezra 9:9,\n13). Not just a physical bondage, but also a spiritual one, which could\nonly be release by God’s mercy (Ezra 9:9)\n 4. Have you ever heard someone say, “I can’t be a Christian. I could never\nbe as good as them.” That is the chains of guilt speaking! They see their\nsins, but it has them bound.\n
5. But God promised in the new covenant to give mercy – Hebrews 8:12<\/p>\n
6. Ephesians 2:1-8 – God’s grace has saved us from our sins.<\/p>\n
7. Isaiah 43:25 – God can remove our sins.<\/p>\n 8. Micah 7:18-20 – Who is like our God, who willingly pardons our\niniquities?\n
E. Sin, uncured, leads surely to death – James 1:14-15<\/p>\n 1. Romans 6:23 – The wages of sin is death, but God has provided a cure —\nhis gift of eternal life.\n 2. Romans 5:12-21 – All sin and so all die, but through Christ all may have\nlife.\n 3. I Corinthians 15:21-26 – Christ will destroy death that we may rise and live\nwith him.\n 4. II Timothy 1:8-10 – It is so sure, it is spoken of in the past tense. Christ has\nabolished death, and has brought life and immorality to light through the\ngospel.\nIII. Sin is a subtle and fatal disease. It kills and those who have it don’t even realize they are\ndying!\n A. But God has provided a cure. Like any medicine, it will not help you if you don’t\npartake of it.\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ezra 9:5-15 I. Ever since Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit, sin has been a big problem for mankind. A. We just can’t seem to get away from it. You could almost look at it as a disease — a spiritual disease of the heart. B. Like any disease, it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[179],"class_list":["post-62217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13355,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-laugh-at-your-excuses-that-marriage-is-important-in-reference-to-the-prevention-of-a-sexually-transmitted-disease\/","url_meta":{"origin":62217,"position":0},"title":"I laugh at your excuses that marriage is important in reference to the prevention of a sexually transmitted disease","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I laugh at your excuses that marriage is important in reference to the prevention of a sexually transmitted disease. You obviously do not understand the nature of a disease or infection. When speaking of sexually transmitted diseases, you stated, \"This is just one of many reasons why sex should\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38154,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-my-sins-cause-my-pain-if-i-stop-will-my-disease-go-away\/","url_meta":{"origin":62217,"position":1},"title":"Did my sins cause my pain? If I stop, will my disease go away?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear preacher, I am 25 years old. For the past six years, I have been walking with severe heel pain in both legs. I have consulted many doctors, and I have taken many pain killers, steroids, and anti-inflammatory medications but I am unable to walk properly. I was once\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8343,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-someone-with-aquagenic-urticaria-be-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":62217,"position":2},"title":"How can someone with aquagenic urticaria be saved?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How can people with aquagenic urticaria be saved? If these people that suffer from this disease were immersed in water would most likely die. This disease can be traced back before 500 B.C.\u00a0Although a very low percentage of the population has this disease, one would think that the total\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90957,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-alcoholism-is-a-disease\/","url_meta":{"origin":62217,"position":3},"title":"If Alcoholism Is a Disease","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Author Unknown It is the only disease that is contracted by an act of the will. It is the only disease that requires a license to propagate it. It is the only disease that is bottled and sold. It is the only disease that requires more than half a million\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35863,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/safe-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":62217,"position":4},"title":"Safe Sins","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Corinthians 6:9-11 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The lengths people will go to justify their sins is sometimes amazing \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is a rare person who will say that something they are doing is a sin and that it shouldn\u2019t be done. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0More common is to dress up the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57877,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/leprosy\/","url_meta":{"origin":62217,"position":5},"title":"Leprosy!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Paul Williams The repulsive disease of leprosy has a strange fascination. God's law for Israel described its symptoms in detail and gave minute instructions to the priest for its diagnosis. This law also said, \"As for the leper who has the infection, his clothes shall be torn, and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/YW030393V_Leprosy-skin-discolouration-on-an-Indian-mans-arm-300x212.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62217"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96117,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62217\/revisions\/96117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}