There is a desire among many of the more liberal thinking segments of religion to minimize teaching about sin.
in fact some are even arguing that there isn’t even such a thing any more! They say that the idea of sin and separation from God are antiquated notions.
These are the same ones who teach that the Bible is not really God’s Word but instead is just a book collecting the words of men who were just “really religious.” Well if this isn’t God’s Word then those religious men were liars…and that’s not very religious of them.
But those teachers will teach that the things you read in the Bible didn’t really happen.
There really was no Resurrection…then why did the Apostles go and die for Him?
Jesus didn’t really do all those miracles…Then why was He killed?
The Israelites didn’t really cross the Red Sea…Then how’d they get out of Egypt?
There really wasn’t a Garden of Eden…Then where did I come from?
and so on
These things are real. And just like them, sin is real too. But because sin is such a harsh reality, people don’t want to believe it. Now those same people who grew up not wanting to be afraid of sin and judgment are the teachers telling their students “It’s okay. It’s not real.”
But it is. It’s as real as anything else you read in your Bible, from Revelation all the way back to Genesis. From the end of all things all the way back to the Garden, where man was first tempted to sin.
It’s real. It is as real as the serpent who still tempts us today is real.
Listen to the word, you can’t say it without hearing his temptation: sssssssin
Ssssounds like a sssserpent, no?
It’s real…but what is it?
John says that sin is the transgression of the law (1 john 3:4), but what does THAT mean? To transgress means “to step over a line.” God has placed some very defined boundaries defining what is right and wrong.
And you should be thankful He does that. Because He, by His nature, cannot fellowship sin. So if He didn’t give you those defined boundaries, then you might sin and have no way ever to know it, and God would still have to punish you – because that’s His nature.
But that wouldn’t be fair to you, so He gives you a Law to follow.
In the earliest days He spoke directly with the heads of the households. Even in Noah’s day, when everyone BUT Noah was wicked, God still told those wicked people what was right and wrong.
They just didn’t care.
Later, under Moses, the children of Israel were given a Law written on tablets of stone. There were 10 commands read aloud at the foot of Sinai, and then many many more given later (read Leviticus sometime).
Then when Christ came, He gave us HIS Law, under which we as Christians now live. And when I go against that Law – when I step over that line – I sin.
Now that we know what sin is technically, let’s also consider briefly, six words, that we might associate with sin.
Six words that GOD associates with sin, which hopefully will show us that we don’t want anything to do with it.
So what is sin? It’s…
DIRT
Remember Jesus’ story of the prodigal son (Luke 15)? A disrespectful, rebellious young man took his inheritance and wasted it. Then, after the money was spent he found himself without food, family, friends or funds. In order to survive, this jewish boy was forced to work in a pig farm.
And as he sat on the filthy, smelly ground, surrounded by those unclean animals, the sweat of his brow, mingling with pig filth, ran into his mouth. He realized just how far he had fallen from his father. What had sin done to him? It had made him dirty, and not just on the inside.
So he went home. And upon seeing him, his father grabbed him and kissed him, though his face was probably still dirty with pig filth. No matter: The father forgave him and the boy was cleansed from his sin.
Paul the Apostle was once Saul the persecutor. He hunted down Christians and arrested them and saw to it they were punished (even killed) for faith in Christ. The Lord however came to him (Acts 9), knocked the persecutor off his high horse and showed him just how wrong he was.
Jesus told Paul to head to the city of Damascus where he would be told what he had to do. Why? Because on the road to Damascus Paul was not yet saved. In the city Paul met a disciple named Ananias who told him that he was still dirty; stained with sin. What to do?
“Arise and be baptized! Wash away your sins! (Acts 22:16). Get cleansed. Not clean from the dirt of the Damascus road. No: Get clean from the sin that stains the soul! Paul obeyed and Paul was cleansed.
What is sin?
It’s dirt that can only be removed by going to the Father. It’s a filth that can only be washed off by obeying His will
DISEASE
Sin is a disease. It’s not a cold or cough, though. It’s not temporary; it won’t go away on its own with a little TLC. No, it’s the most fatal disease of them all. This sickness won’t just kill you, it will kill you for all eternity.
Without Christ it affects every one of us
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:23
A person can read that and think “The penalty for sin is death…oh no that’s horrible! I better stay away from that then!”
But you can’t.
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Romans 3:23
It’s too late, you’re infected. We’ve all been infected. And without Christ we all are without hope
It is the great spiritual leprosy; the old disease for which there was no cure. If you were struck with it, all the people would run in terror from you. Sin is like that, only it cripples the soul not the body.
Thankfully, my Lord is a great physician
When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.
And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.Matthew 8:1-3
You’re not supposed to touch the leper.
You touch a leper and you’re sure to become a leper.
You just need to stay away from lepers.
Just shun them for ever.
That’s the conventional wisdom. You can’t help them, so stay away from them.
Sin is the great spiritual leprosy, it’s a disease so horrible that God says “My Holy nature can’t allow Me to be near you.”
But His Grace solves that problem, and by His Grace He sent me Christ. And that Great Physician touched me, healed me and made me whole.
DRAG
By that I mean it’s a heavy weight that holds you back, slows you up, and pulls you down. It’s a burden, and if your shackled to it, there is no cutting free of it on your own.
Listen to David:
For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.
I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.Psalm 38:4-6
It is a heavy burden that that bows me down and makes me mourn. Its like a sack of rocks that you carry over your shoulder your entire life, and every time you sin, you add another rock to the bag. Every time you give in to Satan, that’s one more weight to carry.
Paul wrote about the Christian life, and compared it running a marathon:
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Hebrews 12:1
Lay aside the sin that so easily holds you back and drags you down. How do you do that…
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1
Let Him take the burden away. How?
BURDENS ARE LIFTED AT CALVARY
Days are filled with sorrow and care
Hearts are lonely and drear
Burdens are Lifted at Calvary
Jesus is very nearTroubled soul, the Savior can see (Savior can see)
Every heartache and tear (heartache and tear)
Burdens Are Lifted At Calvary
Jesus is very near (is very near)
He will take away that big bag of rocks. But only if you let Him. If we don’t turn our lives over to Him then the sin that holds us back will keep us away from Him forever.
With His help, however, we can be:
Cleansed from the dirt of sin
Healed from the disease of sin
Unburdened from the drag of sin
Isn’t sin horrible?
What is it? It’s…
DARKNESS
If I say to you “God is…”
Your answer is probably “God is…love.”
And that’s certainly true (1 John 4:8), but that’s not all God is.
“God is Love” basically defines his emotional character. There’s something else John says of Him, and this defines His moral character: God is…light.
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
1 John 1:5-6
For as long as I have sin staining my soul, I lie in darkness. Meanwhile the God I hope to spend eternity with is living in perpetual light.
As long as I stay in darkness, the Father is not with me. We have no relationship, No fellowship. And if I leave this world in darkness, then I will be condemned to OUTER Darkness from His presence forever.
But there is a solution:
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
1 John 1:7
If I go to the light, where He is…in the light…then I have fellowship with God, and the blood of Jesus cleanses me from every sin. It will continue to cleanse me too, as long as I keep walking in the light.
I can be illuminated from the darkness of sin, but I have to go to him. If I don’t I remain in darkness and I remain separated.
What is sin?
Sin is…
DEPARTURE
Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.
None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.Isaiah 59:1-4
The prophet writes of his people, Judah, who by their stubbornness and sinfulness have refused to turn to God. God is pleading with them to turn to Him. He tells them “My hand is not so short that I can’t reach you…My ear is not so stopped up that I cant hear you…BUT…Your sins have separated you from Me.”
My sins make it so that the holy Father can not reach me. My sins make it so that the holy Father can not hear me. My hands are defiled. My lips have spoken evil. So whose fault is it that I am separated from God?
Mine.
It is because of my sins that I have departed from my Father. Yet he calls me to Him, just as he did with Judah.
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.Matthew 11:28-30
You come to Me, Jesus says. I cant make you, I cant come and get you, I cant force you. But if you come to Me, then I will give you rest.
If we go to Him we can have our sins taken away and our relationship with God the Father restored. We can be embraced once again, after the departure of sin.
One more: Sin is…
Dirt
Disease
Drag
Darkness
Departure
And….
DEATH
THE DEATH THAT I DESERVE
Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Ezekiel 18:4
Christ did no sin, Christ deserved no punishment. It was my sin, and according to God right here “The soul that sins it shall die.” But Jesus died for me, He died the death that I deserved.
THE PAIN THAT SHOULD BE MINE
In the garden as He prayed, with His death near at hand. My Bible says He was in agony:
And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Luke 22:44
Agony. It’s a word only used one time in all your Bible, and it means
“horror struck”
“terrified”
“petrified.”
From that moment, to the trial where He was mocked, to the courtyard where He was beaten, to the hilltop where the railroad spikes were driven through His hands and feet. He suffered the pain that should have been mine.
THE CROSS I OUGHT TO BEAR
Because of sin there is death: physical, spiritual and and capital.
There is physical death since sin cost us the garden and man began to grow old and die.
There is spiritual death since separates me from the Holy God.
There is capital-punishment death since the penalty for sin is execution. Or at least is should have been…were it not for Jesus.
On that cross, He bore my penalty, He suffered my pain, He endured my death.
Because of MY SIN.
It is vile, it is horrible, it is shameful, scornful, and sorrowful.
And if it is currently staining your soul then why not be rid of it? Do what Paul did and wash it away in Christ’s blood. Let the Great Physician heal you, unburden you and bring you into the light. Begin a new relationship with God and live with Him forever!
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