Sermons
Sermon material that I have used, that may be of help to someone else.
Moral Insanity
Points adapted from a sermon by Charles Finney. Presented to Riverdale Church of Christ Nov. 24, 1996 by Ken Thomas
"The heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live" Ecclesiastes 9:3.
Heart (singular) of man in sin: Evil continually (Gen. 6:5) Compare Rom. 5:10; 8:7
Insanity - two kinds:
1. Head - The intellect is disordered - Intellectual insanity destroys moral agency. 2. Heart - The will and voluntary powers are disordered. Moral insanity is "will-madness." The reason remains unimpaired, but the heart deliberately disobeys. Who Are The Morally Insane?
1.They act as if truth were not truth, and as if falsehood were true. 2.They act as if self were of supreme importance, and everything else of relatively no importance. (They act as if their own self-interest were more important than everything else in the universe, and that God's interests and rights were nothing in comparison.) 3. They act as if it is far more important to secure the good of time than of eternity. 4. They assume that the body is more important than the soul. 5. They try to make themselves happy in their sin and selfishness. 6. They lose confidence in their best friends. While they inwardly know God is their real friend, they practically treat Him as their worst enemy. They treat Satan as if he were God, and God as if He were Satan. They believe and obey Satan. They disown, dishonor, and disobey God.They regard the service of God, Christianity, as if it were inconsistent with their real and highest happiness. (War, Rom 7:23) 7. They are greatly excited about trifles, and apathetic about the most important matters. 8. Sinners act as if they were afraid of being saved. 9. They are in a mad haste to be rich! Some are ready to sacrifice their conscience--some their health--all seem ready, deliberately, to sacrifice their souls! 10. They rush upon damnation as if it were heaven, and flee salvation as if it were hell. Compare Mt. 7:13-14 Sinners strangely accuse saints of being mad and crazy. (Acts 26:24,25; Acts 2 "apostles drunk?" As soon as Christians begin to act as if the truth they believe is reality, the wicked cry out, "See, they are getting crazy." Yet those very sinners admit the Bible to be true, and admit those things which Christians believe as true to be really so. And, further still, they admit that those Christians are doing only what they ought to do, and only as themselves ought to act. Yet, they charge them with insanity.The sinner drives furiously on toward hell as if he were on the high road to heaven! (See Lk. 8:33.) He loves sin, and after that he will go! Conversion to God is becoming morally sane. It consists in restoring the will and the affections to the just control of the intelligence, the reason, and the conscience, so as to put the person once more in harmony with himself--all his faculties adjusted to their true positions and proper functions.
Return to Table of Contents (Home)
| ||||||
This page was last updated on: June 20, 2011
