Asking for a friend 6
Asking for a Friend • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro
Intro
In this series we intend to answer your questions
You guys submitted questions to us and over the next 7 week we intend to answer them!
I always love doing this type of series because it allows for us to really dive deep into the questions that you and to show you that Jesus is truly the answer to every question we have
So far we have tackled:
Our identity
The Bible
Science and Creation
Evangelism
A lot of random questions
Tonight we are hitting a topic that is close to home for a lot of people
By a lot I mean every person in this room
Sin
Sin
Today we are going to be talking about sin
The three questions that were submitted are:
What is sin?
Are there truly good people?
Why does God allow bad things to happen?
These three questions all build off each other, so we will hit them in order 1, 2, 3
What is sin
What is sin
The first question we are going to hit is:
What is sin?
To understand what sin is, I first want to look at the words used for sin
The Hebrew word used in the OT for sin is Chata - it’s basic meaning is to miss the mark
The Greek word used most often in NT is Hamartia - it’s meaning is again missing the mark
Both of these have an important element to them
It’s not just that we are missing the mark
We are still hitting a mark — we just hit the wrong mark
So if that’s what the word means, I now want to look at where sin entered the world
1 Now the serpent was more shrewd than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard; 3 but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’ ” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die, 5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like divine beings who know good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
We see that sin entered the world through the serpent — Satan
I want you to notice what he did to cause Adam and Eve to sin:
“is it really true God said...” “surely you will not die… you will be like divine beings...”
Satan is twisting the words of God and causing us to fall from truth into a lie
He caused Adam and Eve to question God, and fall for a counterfeit
He is the author of the first lie, which caused Adam and Eve to fall into sin
Notice what happened to Adam and Eve
They didn’t just miss the mark, they hit the wrong mark
They didn’t just disobey God, they also obeyed Satan
Sin is anything and everything that goes against God
Anything and everything that is opposite of who God is
And sin has a penalty
23 For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sin causes death
Both in literal death — it’s why we die
But sin also puts us eternal in death — eternally separated from God
Because of sin we cannot get to God — because of sin we are separated — because of sin we need a savior
Because of sin Jesus had to come
Are there good people
Are there good people
The second question then stems from that one
Are there good people?
The simple answer: no
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
We have all sinned and we all fall short of the glory of God
We all have a sin nature which makes us inherently evil
We all go against God with our very nature and being
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.
Our “righteous acts” are like a polluted garment in front of God
That means that the greatest thing we have ever done — in God’s eyes is simply a dirty rag
The best thing that makes us “noble” and “good” in other people’s eyes are simply dirty rags to God
So is there people that do good things in life? Absolutely
Are there good people though? Absolutely not
Why does God allow bad things?
Why does God allow bad things?
The last question we are going to look at is:
Why does God allow bad things to happen?
This is a tough question
This is a question that theologians have studied and thought of for years
To answer that question I want us to think about how God created the world
We talked earlier about how sin entered the world
That means that before this there was perfection
31 God saw all that he had made—and it was very good! There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.
God created everything and said it is good, it is good, it is very good
God’s intention and plan was for us to be in perfection
Evil wasn’t in the world, suffering wasn’t in the world
Yet when sin entered the world — thus evil and suffering happened
Bad things happened
This wasn’t God’s intention, but because we sinned thus bad things happens
However, this where Jesus comes in
From the moment sin came into the world we see that God had plan
15 And I will put hostility between you and the woman
and between your offspring and her offspring;
her offspring will attack your head,
and you will attack her offspring’s heel.”
God from the moment sin came in promised Jesus would crush the head of the serpent — he would destroy sin
That Jesus would destroy sin
16 For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
We are saved by following Jesus
Knowing that He defeated sin and will ultimately bring an end to suffering
Listen to what Revelation has to say
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more—or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist.”
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes
He will destroy sin and suffering
Conclusion
Conclusion
Sin is in the world
Pain and suffering and evil are in the world
Sin separates us from God
That’s why we need Jesus — why we must trust in Jesus
We must believe in Romans 8:28
28 And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose,
Trusting that He is in control and is working it all out for our good
