https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Extremes.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Ecclesiastes 7:11-22<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nI. In March, 2000, Mona Charen wrote an article that appeared in the Omaha World Herald\nunder the title “Nation With No Sin”\n A. In it she made the point that while the nation for the most part believes in God and\nbelieves religion is important, at the same time we have become a society that is\nvery reluctant to make moral judgments\n
B. Even popular conservative religious leaders focus on worldly standards<\/p>\n
1. James Dobson focuses on building and maintaining self-esteem<\/p>\n 2. Kenneth Erickson focuses on “building self-esteem, understanding one’s\n‘inner child’ and eschewing ‘perfectionism and shame-based morality.’\n
C. Among denominations<\/p>\n 1. In a pamphlet for young people, published by the United Churches of\nChrist: “Loving myself is at the heart of living, loving, and growing. … To\nlove oneself is holy.”\n 2. Presbyterians have stated that they “reject ‘handing out absolutes,’ for\nthese can be ‘a disservice to youth.’”\n 3. A rabbi for the Reformed branch of Judaism stated, “Sin isn’t one of our\nissues. My guess is that in 12 years of religious school, our kids will never\nhear the word.”\n 4. A principal of a Catholic school concerning sin said, “Oh no, that kind of\nlanguage would not relate to them anyway. When I was growing up, I\npersonally might have responded to someone if they said ‘Hey, this is a\nsin.’ Today though I don’t think that young people would respond to that.\nThe most you can say to them is ‘That is not allowed.’”\n
II. We have lost a standard of righteous absolutes<\/p>\n A. In its place we have substituted other standards: our opinions, our conscience,\navoiding imagined offenses (the politically correct crowd), and psychology\n
B. Oh, but we still think of ourselves as religious and righteous<\/p>\n 1. Look at the fervor of the PETA group. They constantly use terms of\nmorality and ethics, they claim justification in the Bible, but when their\nflawed reasoning is exposed, well it doesn’t matter, they “know” they are\nright.\n 2. Chanting that “love” is the standard, activist groups have been pushing\nacceptance of homosexuality and winning the hearts of society. It is “the\nright thing to do.”\n C. There is a passage dealing with making moral decisions that often confuses people\n– Ecclesiastes 7:15-22\n 1. How can a person be overly righteous? Is that our aim, to be righteous\nbefore God? So how can a person over do what he is supposed to do?\n 2. And overly wicked. Does that imply that you can have some wickedness?\nShould it say don’t be wicked period?\n
III. Overly Righteous – Ecclesiastes 7:15-16 <\/p>\n
A. No forgiveness of sins in self or others<\/p>\n 1. A person who sets up for himself a goal of living a perfect, sinless life is\nsetting himself up for failure.\n
2. Don’t think too highly of self – Romans 12:3<\/p>\n
a. An example – Luke 18:12<\/p>\n
3. We don’t accept the fact that even good people sin – Ecclesiastes 7:20<\/p>\n
4. A denial of sin is a denial of reality – I John 1:8-10<\/p>\n
B. More restrictive than God<\/p>\n
1. Some strive so hard not to sin that they become afraid of doing anything.<\/p>\n
a. Like the man with one talent – Matthew 25:24-25<\/p>\n
b. In trying not to commit sin, they sin by omission – James 4:17<\/p>\n
2. Paul was righteous and wrong – Philippians 3:6<\/p>\n
a. He followed the law, but he ignored the change it predicted.<\/p>\n
3. Focusing on only part of the law – Matthew 23:23<\/p>\n
a. Getting one part down really well, but to the neglect of the rest<\/p>\n 4. The Jews tried so hard to please God that they made rules to make sure\nthey followed God’s laws.\n
a. Making more requirements than God – Matthew 9:14<\/p>\n b. Fasting was required in the Old Testament, but the Jews required it\nmore often than God and for the wrong reasons.\n
C. Using our opinions as law<\/p>\n
1. Don’t think beyond what is written – I Corinthians 4:6<\/p>\n
2. The Jews were guilty putting man’s opinions above God’s – Romans 10:2-3<\/p>\n
3. Don’t be wise in your own opinions – Romans 12:16<\/p>\n
a. A sin of the Jews – Romans 11:25<\/p>\n
D. People placing heavy burdens on others – Matthew 23:4<\/p>\n
1. An example, binding good rules beyond their purpose – Matthew 15:2-9 <\/p>\n
E. Others place too heavy a burden on themselves.<\/p>\n
1. They become overly critical of everything that they do – Ecclesiastes 7:20<\/p>\n
2. To the point that there is no room for peace in their lives <\/p>\n
3. God is the author of peace – I Corinthians 14:33<\/p>\n
4. Become complete – II Corinthians 13:11<\/p>\n
F. Being religious for show<\/p>\n
1. For some, being religious is what others see – Matthew 6:1-7<\/p>\n a. An example of this is the prayer around the flag-pole that many\nadvocate\n
2. A false humility – Colossians 2:18<\/p>\n
3. An appearance of religion – Colossians 2:21-23<\/p>\n
IV. Overly Wicked – Ecclesiastes 7:17<\/p>\n
A. No attempt to battle sin<\/p>\n
1. Giving in to an overflow of wickedness – James 1:21<\/p>\n
2. Go on sinning because God will cover it – Romans 6:1<\/p>\n
B. Self decision that sin is all right – Proverbs 3:7<\/p>\n C. I John 3:7-10 – Though poorly translated, the point of this passage is that a\nrighteous person does not stay in sin, just as a wicked person is unable to stay in\nrighteousness.\n
D. The reason Solomon did not say “don’t be wicked” is that it is an impossibility. <\/p>\n
1. Admitting that we all sin at times is facing truth – Romans 3:23<\/p>\n
2. But because we sin, it doesn’t mean we don’t give effort<\/p>\n
3. We cannot allow ourselves to be come careless<\/p>\n
V. Holding on to both ideas – Ecclesiastes 7:18<\/p>\n
A. Don’t give in to sin because that route leads to death<\/p>\n
B. Don’t set standards of righteousness beyond what God has established.<\/p>\n 1. Don’t expect more from yourself or others than is humanly possible to\ngive.\n
2. Will I make mistakes and sin? Most likely. <\/p>\n a. I might condemn myself, but God is the greater, more accurate\njudge – I John 3:20-22\n
C. It always comes down to following the authority God has laid out for us to follow<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ecclesiastes 7:11-22 I. In March, 2000, Mona Charen wrote an article that appeared in the Omaha World Herald under the title “Nation With No Sin” A. In it she made the point that while the nation for the most part believes in God and believes religion is important, at the same…<\/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,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[78,238,179,987],"class_list":["post-8582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-authority","tag-righteousness","tag-sin","tag-wickedness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":90438,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/united-in-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":8582,"position":0},"title":"United in Christ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Acts 10:34-43 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Our Lord and Savior prayed before his death - John 17:13-26 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was his desire that we would share the same oneness that he and the Father shared. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is a oneness based in love \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If we are committed to\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":35053,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-marry-a-person-of-a-different-nationality\/","url_meta":{"origin":8582,"position":1},"title":"Is it wrong to marry a person of a different nationality?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My family believes that it is a sin to marry a person who is not of the same nationality as you.\u00a0 As an example, they believe that is wrong to marry someone who is Mexican, Italian, Indian, etc.\u00a0 Being white, they also believe that it is a sin to\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":69363,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/feeling-guilt\/","url_meta":{"origin":8582,"position":2},"title":"Feeling Guilt","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 18, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel Download Audio","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":51782,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/justifying-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":8582,"position":3},"title":"Justifying Sin","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Alan Feaster","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":53327,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/desensitized-to-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":8582,"position":4},"title":"Desensitized to Sin","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel","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":53697,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/views-of-mark-1616\/","url_meta":{"origin":8582,"position":5},"title":"Views of Mark 16:16","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Mark 16:14-20 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jesus had just one meaning in mind when he spoke Mark 16:16. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It isn\u2019t for men to put their own spin on Jesus\u2019 words - II Peter 1:20-21 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Not that this has ever stopped people from trying \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God doesn\u2019t author confusion -\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8582","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=8582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8582\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}