What is sin?

 

Someone once said that the person who controls the definitions then controls the argument. This may not work in every conflict but it certainly applies to the human need for salvation from sin. It is not the salvation part that needs clarity, but the definition of sin. The OT says this about it:

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. (Isaiah 64:6)

This flies in the face of those who consider sin as murder, robbery, and other externals seen in human behavior, and who consider those who do not do those things as ‘good’ people. However, those two verses alone define sin as doing our own thing rather than following the leading of God in faith. Furthermore, our so-called ‘good’ deeds done apart from faith in the Lord are unclean in the sight of God. That explains why the NT says things like:

As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10–12)

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23)

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— (Romans 5:12)

Sin defined makes the gospel a non-argument. That is, no one can rightly say, “I don’t need that.” However, anyone that is convinced of their own goodness must answer to the Word of God because it says that will not save us. Imagine trying to swim from the west coast of California to Hawaii. Some would get farther than others, but no one would make it. We all fall short of God’s standard of righteousness.

The Bible is clear also that “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

The Bible makes it perfectly clear that “the wages of sin is death” but also that there is a lifeboat, a way out of the death that sin incurs. Jesus Christ went to the cross, died the death we deserved, and consequently frees us from the penalty of sin when we put our faith in Him.

The NT says: “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” (Hebrews 1:3)

Hebrews goes on to say that Jesus did not need to offer daily sacrifices like the OT high priests who offered up sacrifices first for their own sins, then for the sins of the people. Jesus made only one — as both the High Priest and as the sacrifice.

He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. (Hebrews 7:27)

Then, when the sacrifice was complete, He declared, “It is finished” and died, only to rise from the dead and “sit down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” doing what the OT sacrifices could not do — covering all sin for all time. God exalted Him to His right hand where He continues to care for His own:

Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (Romans 8:34)

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 John 2:1)

PRAY: Jesus, at dinner last night with two of Your children, one of them was firm in saying that we may not always figure out the will of God but one thing is certain: our eternal life is secure and certain. How could we ever think that we could accomplish such a thing by our own efforts? You made the sacrifice for my sin and opened my access to God. In You, I have life forever more, made secure by Your great grace and power. Thank You.

PONDER Hebrews 9:1–10:18 to be reminded again of what Jesus did for me and for all who fall short.

 

 

What to do about sin

In a dream last night, I realized something I’d not seen (or admitted) in the daytime; I’ve a very bad attitude towards another person, even to the point of wishing that person would die. I woke up feeling terrible and not at all happy with myself.

Should I be shocked? I know what God says about sin, but had not recognized this particular sin was in my heart. The Lord drives home the truth of today’s verse:

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12)

Chambers’ devotional is pointed right at the problem. God’s estimation of humanity is based on the disposition of sin that began with Adam and has permeated all of us. Sin is that disposition to run my own life, be my own god, insist on my right to myself, rather than letting God change my life.

When theologians say that sin is total depravity, they are not saying that people are totally evil, but that this sinful selfishness has permeated every part of us. As Chambers says, this sinfulness “may work out in decorous morality or in indecorous immorality, but it has the one basis, my claim to my right to myself.” It is that selfish disposition that produces sin.

Jesus pays no attention to whether people live according to “all the forces of evil in them” or are “clean living and moral and upright.” Rather than considering the “moral degradation of the one or to the moral attainment of the other” He looks at that sinful nature, that disposition to have my own way, do my own thing, even to save myself as I forget, ignore, or refuse the will of God.

Like the color of my skin, or my DNA, I am born with sin. I can cover it up, but I cannot change it. Only God in Jesus Christ through the Redemption worked on the cross can anyone escape sin’s condemnation.

Sin is a terrible heredity. No one can escape it. We all do sinful things, yet our sinfulness is not the final condemnation. Jesus came to die for our sin and grant us eternal life. Does that mean every sinner is set free from the penalty for rebelling against God? No, because the sins we do are not what separates us from God.  To this, Jesus says a most remarkable thing:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” (John 3:16–19)

When Jesus Christ confronted me more than forty-five years ago, He opened my eyes to what He had done to deliver me from a life of sin and the horror of sin’s consequences. The response called for was putting my faith in Him. Had I had refused, that would be what Chambers calls “the moment I began to get the seal of damnation.” Unbelief and refusing the remedy of Christ’s redemption is what separates sinners from God.

This morning I’m reminded that my sin is covered by the blood of Christ, but I am still fighting that selfish old nature. I’m to abide in Christ and be obedient, but still fight that sinful nature and sometimes go back to running my own life. When I do that, Jesus has this answer:

“If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:6–10)

The only remedy for sin after becoming a Christian is the same as it was before I became a Christian: admit that I sin; don’t try to hide it. Confess it to God and He is faithful. Because of Jesus Christ, He stands ready to forgive me, to purge that sinful hatred from my heart, and replace it with His love.

As soon as I do that, my sinful attitude begins to fall away — because Jesus keeps His promises.