What’s so Bad About Sin?

SIN WILL:

1. TAKE YOU FARTHER THAN YOU PLANNED ON GOING.

2. KEEP YOU LONGER THAN YOU PLANNED ON STAYING

3. COST YOU MORE THAN YOU PLANNED ON PAYING.

Sin is a condition

The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Original Sin)

ORIGINAL SIN A term referring to the universal defect in human nature caused by the fall, entailing the loss of original righteousness and the distortion of the image of God.

Romans 5:12–14 “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— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.”

Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

Sin is a net that has all of the Earth tangled in it…

Sin entered the world because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience. This original sin taints all people and all things. It is the reason we have sickness and disease, natural disasters and famine, and why mankind’s hearts are so broken.

Sin is a choice

Genesis 4:7 “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.””

James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

James 1:14–15 “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

The condition of sin is what turns our desires towards what is against God; the choice of sin is what converts that desire into action.

We also have power and responsibility over our actions. This trumps the devil made me do it argument. Remember last week when we talked about conviction? Conviction is when the Spirt begins to deal with us on the choices in relation to sin.

Sin Desecrates

Desecration is the act of taking something holy and replacing it or compromising it with something unclean. This is one of the main reasons there were so many laws of cleanliness in the OT.

Isaiah 64:6 “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.”

Psalm 51:1–2 “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!”

I spent some time painting this week. And I tried really hard to not get paint all over the place. I used rags and drop cloths; I did everything I could. But as hard as i tried I was not able to do it. There was a drip that made it onto my hand; the problem was I then used that hand to pick up my coffee cup- paint on the cup; gotta clean it off. I got too much paint on the edger tool I was using- got paint on the trim- had to clean it off. Dripped some paint on the drop cloth had to be careful that the dog stayed out of the room or he would have tracked that pain all over the house. One spill and it gets everywhere- the story of sin.

Sin Separates

Isaiah 59:1–3 “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness.”

Colossians 1:21 “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,”

Sin is like a chain link fence between you can God’s best. You might be able to see it, feel it, and even touch a bit of it; but there is a barrier keeping you from being caught up in it.

Sin Separates us from God

God could not even look upon Jesus on the cross because of the sin he had taken on (Matt 27)

This is why we need to be reconciled (2 Cor 5)

Hell is the eternal separation from God (2 Thess 1:8-9)

Sin Separates us from Others

Sin broke the perfect relationship of Adam and Eve (Gen 3:12-16)

Matthew 18:15–17“

When we sin it is never done in a vacuum. Our sin almost always bears consequences on someone else.

If I gossip I bring someone else’s reputation with me; if I commit adultery I harm my relationship with my wife; if I lie I break trust with the person i lied to.

Sin Dominates

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Ephesians 2:1–3 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

Romans 6:14 “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

Dominion” means “to lord over.” It is related to “force,” “strength,” and “manifested power.” Before we were saved sin was our master.

What is so bad about sin? It compromises God’s best in our lives. Sin takes all the amazing things that God wants for us and begins to push us from them.

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”