Only three kinds of sin?

Genesis 3; Matthew 3; Ezra 3; Acts 3

This week I heard a pastor say in a radio sermon that there are only three kinds of sin. He quoted 1 John:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15–17)

He said that sin involves wanting what we see that is not meant for us, desire pleasure or comfort that is not intended for us or wanting what we think will in some way make us better than others. This morning I see these three in the original sin in the garden of Eden . . .

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. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. (Genesis 3:6–7)

The rest of the chapter describes the results: they were ashamed, hid from God, did not admit their disobedience but shifted the blame, and were placed under a curse. The enemy was cursed and doomed. The woman was cursed to pain in having children and wanting to be the boss all the time. The man was cursed for not taking his leadership role by a lifetime of hard work to make a living. They were also cursed with physical death even though it was delayed.

God is merciful. He clothed them to take away their shame, then took them out of the garden to protect them from eating the tree of life and living forever with the curse. He had a plan. The curse came with a promise — a curse on their tempter who would meet his demise through the woman’s offspring — who would “bruise his head.”

This story has been called a myth to explain the origin of sin but not an actual event. Some say things like that to avoid admitting that sin is an issue. Odd idea. That sense of right and wrong gets blurred these days but it remains. We know. The daily news gives evidence of sin, as does the conflicting desires in our own hearts. Besides, sin had to start somewhere and God’s version makes sense.

Three sins are hard to generalize. I suppose sin with my eyes includes stealing, covetousness, and a host of other things. Sin with my flesh equals sexual stuff and excessive desires for comfort in things and total selfishness. Sin rooted in the pride of life starts with “I will run my own life” and disobedience to all the good that God wants for me. Every day there are temptations in these areas, from eating too many cookies, to bragging, to lazing around instead of taking care of my responsibilities. I cannot imagine being without the ability to recognize good and evil. Yes, sin wants the evil and makes all sorts of false assumptions about what is good, but by the Word of God, at least I can recognize the evil.

These three sins are seen in Eve’s response to the suggestions of the evil one. She saw the tree would be good to eat. It delighted her eyes and appealed to the pride that can come with being wise. The difference now is that God sent Jesus and my heart can respond to Him instead of temptation. His lessons may take a lifetime to learn but He shows me that disobedience is not good for me, even if it looks good. He shows me that human wisdom is folly compared to God’s wisdom. He also shows me that when I share my sinful desires and encourage others to join me (like Eve invited Adam to eat too), it will bring great disaster.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— (Galatians 3:13)

Jesus came to reverse the curse, and the only way I can enjoy the benefit of that goal is by cooperating with Him. The pain of life does not disappear entirely but the power of the curse is broken by faith in the One who forgave me and takes away my shame, the One who died on a tree and who lets me have the abundant life He created for me, allowing me to feast on the life that He graciously grants. Because of Him, I look forward to living forever with Him and in total freedom from the curse of sin.

“It cannot be done . . . .”

About the time I was born, the world thought that no one would ever run a four-minute mile. Up until then, the record set in 1864 had been broken two dozen times, but it was still longer than four minutes. Finally, in 1954, Roger Bannister did it. After him, eleven runners did it too, but faster. The latest I know about is 3:43.13 set by a man named Hicham El Guerrouj.

It is the nature of many who hear “It cannot be done” to try and do it. Is that what drives some to attempt to live perfectly and thus earn eternal life? Probably not. Most people think it can be done! This is not what God says.

It is only when the Holy Spirit speaks otherwise that the human heart must admit that sinlessness is truly an impossible task. Even admitting it is difficult without the Spirit’s help and a great deal of humility. Jesus illustrated this with a parable “given to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt”:

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9–14)

Romans, the great New Testament book that explains man’s condition and God’s redemption, says the same thing:

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (Romans 3:21–24)

Salvation is a gift. It always has been and always will be because, unlike those who continue to challenge the record for running a mile, no one can improve their performance enough to hit the target. There is only one record-holder — the perfection modeled in the life of Jesus Christ — and no one can touch it or even come close because even just one sin would put them out of the running.

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he (Jesus) appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. (1 John 3:4–5)

Jesus did the will of God perfectly. He is the sinless one, the record-holder. The rest of us fall short. Yet marvel of marvels, when our faith is in Him and He lives in us, the “righteousness of God is manifested apart from the Law” and believers are “justified by His grace as a gift” — not by our own efforts but “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

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Lord Jesus, I’ve known this truth for many years yet it never fails to lighten my load and put joy in my heart. My tendency, like everyone else, is trying to do good by myself, but I fall short. I need You for every effort, every task, every challenge and all goodness required for each day. Without You I am nothing and can do nothing, certainly not run this race of life with excellence. Again, I thank You for giving Your life so I can live and giving me Yourself so I have what I need to live by faith through Your amazing grace.

Today’s thankful list . . .

For Jesus, of salvation, redemption, justification and all Your blessings.

A nice walk on a cooler day.

Wonderful neighbors.

Olive oil and my spice rack.

Finally figuring out this new smart phone enough to use it.

My friend Pat who keeps in touch after all these years, about 60 or so.

More rain, and as my mother would say, we must need it or we wouldn’t be getting it.

The consequences of saying no to God

Some days God uses the passages in my ‘read through the Bible’ to set me up for the reading in my New Testament devotional guide. This should not be a surprise considering the unity of Scripture, but when it happens, I am usually surprised.

This morning I read in Jeremiah. God sent this OT prophet to tell the people what would happen to them if they did not listen and obey. Their sin was extreme and He was going to have them overthrown by their enemies and taken into captivity. But they didn’t listen and were taken captive and held in bondage for seventy years.

The NT passage points to the same general principle: pay attention to what God reveals. Otherwise the consequences will be captivity and slavery to sin . . . 

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Romans 1:19–25)

The people in the OT had ignored God and fallen into idol worship and God sent them into the hands of their enemies. The people in the NT had ignored what they knew of God and He gave them up to their sin, sin that held them captive and resulted in “the due penalty for their error” (verse 27).

Although the sins are not the same in both testaments, nor are they the same as the sins in our day, the principle is the same: ignore what God reveals and experience the consequences. Not only that, those consequences will include bondage in the sense that sin will be served like a slave serves a taskmaster. It might be enjoyable for a time, but eventually groaning and sorrow will be heard.

I feel a bit like Jeremiah in that I want everyone to know that “sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). Eventually there is a price to be paid. Even God’s people cannot escape this principle — sin has consequences. Only the mercy and grace of God can ease the pain, eventually even use our foolishness for good but otherwise, the most certain result is that whatever the sin is, it turns on us and will not let go.

The sin in Jeremiah’s day was not like the sin in Romans 1, but in both that sin balloons like a snowball rolling downhill. Eventually it takes over and instead of being something desired, it begins to ruin lives. Consider God’s command to raise our children in His ways. Those who do it are blessed but those who ignore God wind up wondering why their precious children are not the model citizens they hoped for.

Yesterday one of my Facebook friends posted this quote from Ravi Zacharias: “The reason we have 17000 pages in our law books is because we cannot follow 10 lines on a tablet made of stone.” It might be said that the reason we have so much awful stuff happening in our world is the same — we turn our backs on what God has clearly revealed. If we refuse the most basic commands, what more can God do? He will not ‘make us’ stop our rebellion. His offer is made and if rejected, we are left to our own devices.

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Jesus, You are God’s answer to the bondage of sin. You died that we might not die but be forgiven. You rose again that we might have new life, Your life. You give us the power to escape our slavery and be set free, to reap the promise of eternal life and to experience Your grace and abundance in this life too. Jeremiah is called the ‘weeping prophet’ because no one listened to him. May God speak louder and help us pay attention.

Today’s thankful list . . .

Freedom to read the Word of God.

The Holy Spirit who enables obedience to God.

A lovely early morning one-hour chat with our granddaughter who lives far away. 
Safety on a two-hour trip to pick up and bring home my hubby’s newest motorcycle.

Sunshine even with those incredible thunder clouds overhead.

A nap after supper.

The Word of God to help me know what He expects!