OUR PROBLEM CALLED SIN

Scripture:

(Romans 6:23 KJV) For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Commentary:

Dr. James Merrill in his Daily Devotional via email on the topic ‘The Problem of sin’ says this, “Deep down there is something within all of us that knows something is not right with our world. Deep down we know this place is not what it should be or even what it was meant to be. We see evil in the world. We see moral evil of terrorism, war crime, and injustice. We see the natural evil like hurricanes, tsunamis, floods and earthquakes that kill innocent people every year. We see social evil like poverty, hunger, and homelessness. There is something wrong in our world. Then we look at our own heart and know there is something wrong with us. Why do we do things that we know we shouldn’t do? Why do we not do things that we know we should do? Why are we always falling short even of own self-prescribed standards of decency and righteousness? What is wrong with us?”

Oh there is more to the story. We have so many other things that are taking place in the world. We have race against race, people exploiting others, murder, sexual perversion, addictions and the list goes on. What is the problem? The problem is with the heart of man. Jeremiah said, [Jer 17:9 ESV] “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” That sickness is called sin.

But today we try to either eliminate the problem of sin through legislation or in many churches we hardly refer to sin and if we do talk about sin we try to explain it in such a way that it reduces its power over us.   When it comes to legislation governments, using courts of course, try to have laws in place to legalize things that are otherwise evil, like abortion. That is one example.

By doing what we are doing does that somehow change God and how he views sin? It’s interesting how we try to eliminate sin and its consequences by changing laws or we try simply to explain it away. Thankfully God is still God and His Word is the truth. If sin is some insignificant thing why in the world does the Bible make a big thing of Jesus Christ coming to this world to deal with the question of sin? It doesn’t make sense. So let us look at this subject a little closer.

DEFINITION OF SIN

The definition of sin is disobeying God’s laws. Sin is rebellion. Sin is missing the mark of God’s standards. It is going against what God has placed as the rule. Breaking it means sin.

Again we as humans will say things like “No one has a right to limit me or tell me what I can or cannot do?” But God has put limits in place for our good. For instance, God knows that bitterness, hate and revenge are destructive forces at work that affect us mentally, physically and emotionally. At the same time these attitudes will hurt other people as well. So God in His love has set certain limits or laws as protection for us and to go outside of them is to sin. [1Jo 3:4 NLT] “Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God.” Scripture also says, [Pro 14:12 NLT] “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.”

WHEN DID SIN ORIGINATE?

Satan is the originator of sin. He is the instigator and deceiver who tempted Adam and Eve to sin to which they yielded and the rest is history. [1Jo 3:8 NKJV] He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

However, man is still responsible for the choice in disobeying God. God was very specific with Adam when he warned him of the consequences that would follow after he chose to eat of the fruit from the Forbidden Tree. The thing that is very important to understand is that God gave man the free will to choose to obey or disobey. [Jas 1:13-14 NKJV] Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.

Temptation is not a sin but yielding to it is sin. Jesus Himself was tempted by Satan on numerous occasions but He did not surrender. So when Adam did sin the consequences of the sin was death. He became immediately mortal. Adam died spiritually and physically. He now would be separated from God and his body would begin to get old and die. His rebellion has affected every human being that has ever lived, is living and will ever live. [Rom 5:12 NKJV] Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.

According to Scriptures we are all declared sinners. [Rom 3:23 KJV] For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. The penalty that was issued to Adam and Eve has not changed – death. It doesn’t mean that when we sin we are zapped from this life but rather it simply means that sinning is part of the human nature and if we do not adhere to the rescue plan that God has in store for us then we will suffer the eternal consequences that are in place.

The effects of sin are everywhere. Everything that is living dies. Every living thing will get sick and perish. But there is so much more. The Bible tells us that the whole creation groans with suffering because of the curse that is upon it due to man’s sin [Rom 8:20-22 NASB95] For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And because we are corrupted by sin the potential to do evil is very real [Gal 5:19-21 NASB95] Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

THE SOLUTION

We are all in the same predicament. Our punishment is death because that is what the Law demands. In order to meet the laws demand would mean that we would have to keep it perfectly. But that is impossible as we have all broken God’s law and there is nothing we can do. Someone free of sin would have to take our place and pay the debt that we all owe. That man was Jesus Christ. [Rom 8:3-4 KJV] For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  (Rom 5:8 KJV) But God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Through Christ we have forgiveness of sin and eternal life but we must now accept Him into our lives by confessing our sin and ask Him to come into our hearts to save us. [John 1:12 KJV] But as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on His name. [1Jo 1:9 KJV] If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Devotional

Toxic Relationships

Scripture: [Mat 15:14 NASB95] “. . . and if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

Your development, and in some cases your healing, can only take place when you walk with the right people! Remember the story of the scorpion that asked a frog to carry him across the river because he couldn’t swim? “How do I know you won’t sting me?” the frog asked. “If I do, we’ll both drown,” he replied. So the scorpion hopped on. Halfway across the river the scorpion stung him. As they were drowning the frog said, “You promised you wouldn’t. Why did you sting me?” The scorpion replied, “I can’t help it, it’s my nature to sting.”

Learn to recognize toxic relationships and walk away from them before they take you down with them. A toxic relationship is like a body part with gangrene, if you don’t amputate, the infection will spread. Unless you’ve the courage to cut off what won’t heal, you’ll end up losing much more.

You can’t partner successfully with someone who doesn’t share your goals. When you feel passionately about something but they don’t, it’s like trying to dance the foxtrot with someone who only wants to waltz. You picked the wrong dance partner. Don’t get tied up with someone who doesn’t share your God-given purpose. Some issues can be corrected through teaching and leadership, but you can’t teach somebody to care. And if they don’t care, they’ll infect your environment, ruin your productivity, and break your rhythm with constant complaints. So ask God, “Who belongs in my life?”

Q AND A

Question: Why does God create wicked people and then laugh at them?

Answer: [Ps 100:3 KJV] Know ye that the LORD He [is] God: [it is] He [that] hath made us, and not we ourselves . . .  God is our creator and He does not create some to be wicked and others to be righteous. God created Adam and Eve in their perfect state but they chose to do evil by disobeying God. And because of their rebellion against God we have all inherited their sinful nature. But the wickedness that is seen demonstrated by humanity are choices that we make which leads to evil behaviour. We all have the possibility of becoming evil in our behaviour.

On the other hand righteousness is not derived by being good. Scripture points out [Rom 3:10 KJV] As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one . . . We become righteous by turning to Jesus Christ and He is the one by the Holy Spirit who makes us righteous because of our acceptance of what He has accomplished for us on the cross.