WHAT IS SIN & WHY IS IT SO BAD?
Sin is literally ‘missing the mark of God’s perfect standard’. We all sin for two reasons. One reason is because we were born in sin. The account of humanity’s first sin, (the sin that catapulted us into being born in sin), is recorded in the book of Genesis.
Genesis 2:15-17, ‘15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”’
Genesis 3:1-7, ‘1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.’
The other reason we sin is because we choose to sin and this makes us sinners (Romans 3:23). When we sin, we choose to sin and we break God’s holy law. Much like when we break a traffic law when we speed, we have to pay a fine for breaking the law. Likewise, when we do anything against what God’s law says, we sin; and therefore we are in debt to pay an unpayable fine to God. This makes us spiritually in debt to God; the debt is too high. Worst of all, when we sin, we break the heart of God.
God’s Law is written out for us in Exodus 20:3-17 and it says,
- “You shall have no other gods before Me.”
- “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in Heaven above, or that is in the Earth beneath, or that is in the water under the Earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God,”
- “You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His Name in vain.
- “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work”
- “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”
- “You shall not murder.”
- “You shall not commit adultery.”
- “You shall not steal.”
- “You shall not bear false witness (lie) against your neighbor.”
- “You shall not covet (jealousy that consumes)”
God’s law is written to show us what sin is (Romans 7:7) and by doing that, the law shows us our need for Jesus, the Savior (Galatians 3:24).
Have you ever stolen anything? Have you ever committed adultery? Jesus said that if we look with lust towards someone that we’ve committed the very act. And James says that if we’ve broken one law, we’re guilty of breaking the whole law (James 2:10). So we’re spiritually bankrupt before God and dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1). It’s been said that sin will take you farther than you’re willing to go and make you pay more than you have. We are slaves to sin (Romans 6:20-21).
GOD IS HOLY & GOOD and WE ARE SINFUL & REBELLIOUS
God is holy (Isaiah 6:3) and perfectly good (Psalm 34:8). This means that God is perfect, set apart from sin, has never sinned, and will never sin and He desires that we be in a saving relationship with Him. But again, there’s a problem: mankind, (you and I), are sinful. We consistently sin and it separates us from God. In fact, the Bible says that when we sin, we not only hurt one another but we also make ourselves enemies of God (Philippians 3:18, Romans 5:10). Our rebellion makes us dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1), blind to God and His Good News (2 Corinthians 4:4), and therefore God and His Good News is foolishness to us (1 Corinthians 1:18 & 2:14) as long as we choose to rebel against Him. Our sin and rebellion towards God and humanity makes God angry at us: Psalm 7:11, ‘God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.’
LIFE OR DEATH
The Bible says that when a person dies, their eternal judgement is set whether the judgment is favorable or not (Hebrews 9:27). So there’s an opportunity for all of us to choose life while we’re alive. The fact is that those who do not turn to Jesus continue to be slaves to sin, are under God’s just wrath, and their destination is Hell (Matthew 13:42) and then the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:15 & 21:8). People go there because they are sinners and they’ve rejected Jesus Christ (John 12:48) and His Good News, the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
John 3:36, ‘Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.’
Romans 2:5, ‘But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.’
Hell and the Lake of Fire was always meant for the devil and his demons and it was never meant for people (Matthew 25:41, Revelation 20:10). In fact, God desires for all people to turn away from their sin and turn toward Him (2 Peter 3:9).
CAN WE GET TO HEAVEN ON OUR OWN?
The Bible’s answer is, “No.”. We need to be saved from our sins and from the eternal wrath of God (God's wrath is a just penalty for our sins). No amount of good deeds or comparing our ‘so-called’ goodness to someone else’s evil will be enough to earn our way to God (Ephesians 2:8-9). Neither baptism, being ultra good, or church attendance is good enough to save anyone; only Jesus can accomplish the impossible (Matthew 19:25-26). The Bible says that our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), that there’s no one good enough for God’s standard of perfection (Romans 3:10), and that salvation (being delivered from spiritual death to spiritual life) is not dependent on our good deeds but only on God’s grace (Titus 3:5-7). We need to have a saving relationship with God.
Salvation is obtained by God’s Grace alone, through Faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.
THERE IS GOOD NEWS
There is one permanent solution that brings rescue and therefore brings eternal blessing, joy, and rewards. That one solution, the only solution, is the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). The Gospel is God’s Good News to mankind that:
How did God make this solution happen? Jesus, the only Son of God, chose to come down to this Earth from Heaven, be miraculously born of the virgin Mary, live a perfect & sinless life, bled and died on the cross for the sins of the world, was buried, rose from the dead three days later, and ascended back into Heaven to be seated at the right hand of God the Father forty days later.
We need forgiveness from our sins but we can’t accomplish that. So God the Father sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to take on our sins for us (John 3:16). Christ was condemned for us because of our sins (Romans 8:3). As the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, ‘For our sake He (God the Father) made Him (Jesus Christ) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.’
All of this was accomplished so that God would be glorified and that those who choose God would, escape God's wrath & the judgment to come, be set free from sin, and freely choose Jesus. The apostle Paul wrote to his fellow Christians about what God's love and mercy looks like in providing the way of eternal forgiveness... 'but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.' Romans 5:8-9.
RECEIVE THE GOSPEL, RECEIVE SALVATION
You must be born again (John 3:1-21). This is the only way that a person will be with Jesus for eternity (inherit the kingdom of God). The choice is yours to choose life or choose death. If we choose life, we receive the Gospel. When we choose the Gospel, we’re literally asking God for His eternal forgiveness; we’re throwing ourselves on His mercy. Jesus Christ will not turn away anyone who comes to him (John 6:37). Those who come to Jesus with a heart broken over the sin they committed, with a spirit that is contrite, and with a knowledge that their only hope is Jesus- is the kind of person that Jesus grants eternal life (Psalm 51:1-10). In crying out to God, the posture of our heart is to repent. Repent means to change your mind totally. Once your mind changes, your actions follow.
Those who believe and put their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord & Savior and repent from their sinful life become children of God (John 1:12-13). For those who cry out to God for eternal mercy, salvation is a reality in their life (Romans 10:9-13), Heaven is their eternal destination (John 14:2, 1 Corinthians 2:9), and they spend eternity with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). Jesus is the only way to forgiveness and eternal life (Acts 4:10-12). God’s desire for you is found in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
OUR HOPE & WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT IN YOUR NEW LIFE AS A CHRISTIAN...
We hope that you choose to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you’ve called out to God and asked Him for forgiveness, here’s what you can expect from the Christian life: YOU WILL…
No matter what: True fulfillment happens when we enjoy God and do life His way.
If you've turned from your sin, turned to God and called out to Christ in faith for eternal forgiveness, the blessings are infinite to know that God is your Savior, Lord, King, Shepherd, and Friend.
If you have surrendered to Jesus and have become a Christian, please share this good news with us so we can help you take that next step in equipping you in your lifelong journey of being a follower (Disciple) of Jesus Christ. If you would like to talk with someone about becoming a Christian, or if you have any questions... simply get in touch with us Here
