Preachers tell us not to sin, but what is Sin? People have all kinds of ideas.
"Pastor, is it a sin to play golf on Sunday?" "Son, I've seen you play, and it's a sin for you to play any day of the week."
Sin originated in the heart and mind of an angel, Lucifer, son of the morning. The sin was pride - a desire to be above God. The sin brought God's judgment.
There was no sin before Lucifer. He became the devil, satan. This great deceiver used the form of a serpent to tempt the first human beings on earth. Sin entered the human race through deception. There is a need to understand the mind of God in reference to sin. This can only be found in the Scriptures. We live in a permissive society. It is no longer popular to use the words "sin, lost, eternally doomed, depraved" because these terms are too strong for "good people." In the church, the Bible class, the private study of God's Word, we can never change the terminology of God to fit the so-called moral standards of society.
God loves the Sinner and is willing to give him mercy, but God never loves Sin and never justifies it. When a Sinner repents he becomes a child of God, he is forgiven for having sinned and he is declared justified, which means he will be treated by God as if he had never sinned. However, the sin itself was never declared right. In our study of sin, the hardest thing to do is separate in our minds the sin from the sinner. One is to be hated and avoided - the other is to be loved and helped.
This may not be a popular study but a needed one in our time. The truth of God always helps, even though it man hurt.
Most, if not all, people recognize the conflict between conscience and conduct. Man has a natural tendency to go astray, to think and act in a debased way. There is a endless struggle to do good but evil is always present to distort, to lead astray. The conflict is real within the heart and mind. Why the conflict between conscience and conduct? Something happened to the nature of man. It happened in the "fall of man" in Genesis 3. Since then, sin has been inherited. To inherit means "to receive from progenitors." We are born with a sin nature. If you doubt this, then answer the question: "Do you have to teach a child to do wrong?" Quite the opposite - you have to teach the child to do right. Were this not true, the sacrifice for sin, paid by Jesus on the cross, was unnecessary. Jesus came and died to impart a "new nature" to all who believe.
People who do not understand the nature of sin are offended when someone speaks of them as sinners. Their defense is usually something like - "I'm a good person, pay my debts, attend church occasionally, am good to my family and friends, am a good moral person -" and on and on they go. The question is not "Goodness." The question is, have you been washed in the blood of the Lamb?" He gives a new nature, making all who come to Him realize that there is no goodness in man. He becomes the source of spiritual awareness and the good things done are done for Him and His glory.
This study is not about the "goodness" of "good people" but rather about the "sin of all humanity."
THE ORIGIN OF SIN
Sin originated with satan (Isa 14:12-14). It entered the world through Adam.
SIN IS UNIVERSAL
Sin was then, and is now, universal - Jesus alone excepted.
This statement covers both the past (have sinned) and the present (fall short).
The Sunday School teacher had just concluded a review of the day's lesson. "And now, children," she inquired, "who can tell me what we must do before we can expect forgiveness of sin?" There was a pause, but finally one little boy spoke up, "Well," he mused, "first we've got to sin."
That story shows what may be one of man's biggest obstacles to becoming a Christian. We will never ask Jesus to forgive our sin until we have come to the realization that we have sinned and need His help. Thomas Carlyle said rightly that "the deadliest sin is the consciousness of no sin." Even nature proclaims the fact of sin. (ROM 8:20-22)
DEFINITION OF SIN
Some are fooled into thinking they never sin because they use too narrow a definition of sin. A Harvard psychiatry professor who surveyed 5,000 children was shocked to find that the moral standards of nearly 60% of them are motivated by self-gratification. Many of these kids, the professor says, have been reared without any sense of guilt or shame. Guilt and shame come from feeling we have done wrong, but if we don't know what wrong is, we will not feel guilty about doing it. The following shows the different kinds of sins the Bible describes:
In the same way faith connects us to God, unbelief destroys our relationship with God, robbing us of spiritual vitality. Unbelief attacks us in three areas:
Unbelief gnaws at us from many different angles but the most basic source of it is our own pride, our natural tendency to rely on our own wisdom and strength rather than God's. It also arises from our inclination to try to please other people by fitting in with our culture. Our society's preoccupation with security and comfort also feeds unbelief. "The more we believe in providing for ourselves and trusting in what we have, the less we will believe in God's provision and trust in Him for our security." A culture's prevailing understanding of reality and values, its world view, determines to a large extent how its members think and act. As the western world view - with its focus on the temporal and on immediate gratification - has become increasingly secular, it is more and more at odds with the traditional Christian world view. Yet many believers are unaware of the discrepancies between the two. Mature, open-minded individuals are expected to tolerate or even welcome viewpoints that are, in fact, spiritually toxic. The materialism, humanism, faith in science, and moral relativism of the secular world view are having a very subtle effect. Modern Christians do not deny the existence of God but they tend to mentally disconnect Him from any actual involvement in human affairs. Yet Scripture speaks of our Father as active in our world and its events by sustaining and governing the creation and also as intervening personally in the lives of individuals. From His Word we know that God is absolutely faithful. That faithfulness, rather than our own trusting, is the basis for our faith. It is a simple, three-step process:
By doing all that God enables us to do, we can overcome unbelief. Realizing that faith is not indestructible, we should do all we can to nurture and protect it. Instead of carelessly exposing ourselves to vain philosophies and people who do not share our beliefs, we ought to exercise prudence. Even Jesus was careful to remove Himself from the influence of unbelievers at times. We must see that this is a matter of spiritual warfare. The constant battle we face is not the problem. It is when we stop struggling with unbelief that we have a problem, because Christianity is not faith in a creed or a system of rules but in a living Person.
WHAT SIN DOES TO PEOPLE
The story is told of an eagle perched on a block of ice just above Niagara Falls. The swift current carried the ice and its majestic passenger closer to the edge of the great precipice. The cries of other birds and animals warning the eagle of danger that lay ahead were to no avail. "I have great and powerful wings," he boasted. "I can fly from my perch at any time. I can handle it." Suddenly the edge of the falls was only a few feet away. The torrent of water rushed the block of ice over the great falls. The eagle spread his powerful wings to mount up over the impending doom only to discover too late that his claws had become frozen to the cake of ice. Do I have to say more? None of us is immune to the consequences of sin.
THREE FORMS IN WHICH SIN APPEARS
THE TOTALITY OF SIN
WAGES (PENALTY) OF SIN
The wages of sin is something we earn. The term "wages" means we work for an end result. In this life, for a paycheck, for fame, for worldly goods.
RESULTS OF SIN BY A CHRISTIAN
God chastens His own.
Eternal punishment is for the unbeliever. God deals with His own as a Father. A natural father only chastens his own children.
THE ONLY REMEDY FOR SIN
The Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Jesus paid the penalty for all sin.
Have you believed?
One day a young minister was being escorted through a coal mine. At the entrance of one of the dim passageways, he spied a beautiful white flower growing out of the black earth. "How can it blossom in such purity and radiance in this dirty mine?" the preacher asked. "Throw some coal dust on it and see for yourself," his guide replied. When he did, he was surprised that the fine, black particles slide right off the snowy petals, leaving the plant just as lovely and unstained as before. It's surface was so smooth that the grit and grime could not adhere to it. In commenting on this incident, an unknown author said, "Our hearts should have the same characteristic. Just as that flower could not control its habitat, so we cannot avoid living in a world filled with evil. But God's grace can keep us so clean and unspotted that though sin touches us on every side, it will not cling to us."
The crowning sin of all sins is to refuse the free gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. People are not lost because of sin, but because they will not surrender their hearts and lives to Christ. There is a difference between "sin" and "sins." Sin is that tendency or disposition to sin inherited from Adam. Sins are the specific acts of sin that one commits as a result of the sin nature.
Jesus came to provide an atonement for sin, not for sins. He came to change the hearts of all who would accept Him. He gives a new nature to everyone who accepts Him - a nature to turn from the old life to a new life. Paul said, "Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (2CO 5:17).
Paul states in a few verses the difference between the two Adams - "So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven." (1CO 15:45-47).
TO GAIN VICTORY OVER TEMPTATION
The promise of 1 Cor. 10:13 is vital for any believer who wants to gain the victory over temptation.
The first step is to be alert, realizing that temptation is inevitable, and the second is to not lose hope, knowing that God will be with us. Based on His faithfulness, we can be sure that the temptation will be within the limits of what we can stand. If God's sovereignty does not extend over the temptations we face, then all His promises are meaningless. We should then face temptation boldly with the assurance that by His grace we can overcome it. God's faithfulness is also demonstrated in His leading us through temptations and providing a way out. Scripture describes several possible escape routes:
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