“The Problem of Sin” - Pt 1
Notes
Transcript
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.
13 In fact, sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not charged to a person’s account when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. He is a type of the Coming One.
15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many.
16 And the gift is not like the one man’s sin, because from one sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification.
17 If by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
18 So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is justification leading to life for everyone.
19 For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
20 The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more
21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Several years ago, a pastor of a prominent church said that he refuses to preach on sin. “It's too negative and drives people away!”
Nevertheless, the Bible has a great deal to say about the subject and we need to know what God says about the problem of sin.
PRAY: "Thank you Lord for clear teaching of Your Word concerning the problems that trouble us...help us to see the solution for our sin...thank you for the good news of the Gospel!
I. THE NATURE OF SIN: WHAT IT IS!
I. THE NATURE OF SIN: WHAT IT IS!
John MacArthur - "Vanishing Conscience" - Preface:
“We live in a culture that has elevated pride to the status of a virtue. Self-esteem, positive feelings, and personal dignity are what our society encourages people to seek. At the same time, moral responsibility is being replaced by victimism, which teaches people to blame someone else for their personal failures and iniquities. Frankly, the biblical teachings about human depravity, sin, guilt, repentance, and humility are not compatible with any of those ideas.
The church has been far too willing to embrace the fads of worldly opinion--particularly in the area of psychology and self-esteem. Christians often merely echo worldly thinking on the psychology of guilt and the importance of feeling good about oneself. The adverse effect on the life of the church can hardly be underestimated.
Nowhere has the damage registered more than in the way professing Christians deal with their own sin...The church as a whole is growing less concerned with sin, and more obsessed with self-exoneration and self-esteem. Christians are rapidly losing sight of sin as the root of all human woes. And many Christians are explicitly denying that their own sin can be the cause of their personal anguish. More and more are attempting to explain the human dilemma in wholly un-biblical terms: temperament, addiction, dysfunctional families, the child within, co-dependency, and a host of other irresponsible escape mechanisms promoted by secular psychology.
The potential impact of such a drift is frightening. Remove the reality of sin, and you take away the possibility of repentance. Abolish the doctrine of human depravity and you void the divine plan of salvation. Obliterate the human conscience, and you will raise an amoral and unredeemable generation."
"What is sin? What does the Bible say?"
The Bible gives us a four-fold definition of sin:
A. Sin is DISOBEDIENCE the the LAW OF GOD!
A. Sin is DISOBEDIENCE the the LAW OF GOD!
4 Everyone who commits sin practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
15 because the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.
It is the Law of God, written on tablets of stone and given to Moses, that clearly defines what is right and wrong! Sin is disobedience to the known, written, revealed Law of God!
B. Sin is a FAILURE to do the RIGHT THING!
B. Sin is a FAILURE to do the RIGHT THING!
17 So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.
Here we have the sin of OMISSION - simply not doing what we know we should do!
This is the one that we tend to argue with the most--we defend that, justify, make excuses!
"I didn't have the time...opportunity...wasn't led...etc."
When you know that it is right to do something, and chose not to do it, it is sin!
C. It is a SIN to VIOLATE YOUR CONSCIENCE!
C. It is a SIN to VIOLATE YOUR CONSCIENCE!
23 But whoever doubts stands condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith, and everything that is not from faith is sin.
This covers all those "grey" areas of your life, where there is no scripture against whatever you are about to do. When you do something that is not "of faith" (i.e., you have doubts) that is sin to YOU!
14 So, when Gentiles, who do not by nature have the law, do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law.
15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts either accuse or even excuse them
God has put a moral compass in your mental process!
Often our conscience works best when there is no revealed law or principle!
“Why?” – Because we haven’t had time to rationalize, or figure an angle…
D. SIN is FAILING to GLORIFY GOD!
D. SIN is FAILING to GLORIFY GOD!
23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;
Because of sin, it is impossible for us to meet God’s righteous standards.
6 All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
II. THE ORIGIN OF SIN
II. THE ORIGIN OF SIN
"Where does sin come from?" - The answer to that question is hotly debated!
No matter who or how much you read, when you come down to it, the arguments are given that sin has its origin (to some extent) in GOD, SATAN, and MAN!
A. GOD'S ROLE in the ORIGIN OF SIN!
A. GOD'S ROLE in the ORIGIN OF SIN!
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.
There is no sin in God at all!
21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
The ARGUMENT: “If God is the originator of all things, then did God cause sin?”
13 No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am being tempted by God,” since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone.
God does not cause sin! He doesn't even bring temptation to you!
Some people say that because God is the Author of everything, then He is the Author of sin as well! They quote (Isaiah 45:7) to prove their point.
7 I form light and create darkness, I make success and create disaster; I am the Lord, who does all these things.
“disaster” - Hebrew "RA" - carries the idea of judgment, not 'evil' - KJV. This passage DOES NOT teach that God creates evil!
The Bible does teach that God anticipated sin!
8 All those who live on the earth will worship it, everyone whose name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered.
Before the foundation of the world, God anticipated man's problem!
"What's God's part in the origin of sin?"
There was an eternal anticipation in the foreknowledge of God of what man would do when God gave him an opportunity and put him to a moral test!
"Did God know that man would sin?" YES!
"Did God cause him to sin?" NO!
"Does that make God the Author of sin?" NO!
REMEMBER: Take the statements of Scripture by faith, regardless of whether they make sense!
OUR PROBLEM: Many times, the truths of scripture are like parallel lines that never seem to intersect!
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration.
9 “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
It's amazing to me how many people refuse to believe this! They limit God to what they can understand about God! They limit their theology of God to their own understanding of His ways & thoughts.
God not only knew that man would sin; He provided the solution in eternal anticipation!
The redemption God provided was from sin! He knew that sin would come!
B. SATAN'S ROLE in the ORIGIN OF SIN!
B. SATAN'S ROLE in the ORIGIN OF SIN!
12 Shining morning star, how you have fallen from the heavens! You destroyer of nations, you have been cut down to the ground.
13 You said to yourself, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will set up my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of the gods’ assembly, in the remotest parts of the North.
14 I will ascend above the highest clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
Do you remember what Satan promised Eve? - "You will be like God..."
14 You were an anointed guardian cherub, for I had appointed you. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked among the fiery stones.
15 From the day you were created you were blameless in your ways until wickedness was found in you.
16 Through the abundance of your trade, you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I expelled you in disgrace from the mountain of God, and banished you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
Satan was the FIRST one to sin!
44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
Sin originates before the sin of man in Satan!
14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and transgressed.
"Does that mean Eve was without blame?" NO WAY!
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.
Adam wasn't deceived, he deliberately disobeyed!
5 For this reason, when I could no longer stand it, I also sent him to find out about your faith, fearing that the tempter had tempted you and that our labor might be for nothing.
The "tempter" is none other than Satan!
8 The one who commits sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the devil’s works.
According to Scripture, Satan is A CAUSE of sin!
C. MAN'S ROLE in the ORIGIN OF SIN!
C. MAN'S ROLE in the ORIGIN OF SIN!
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.
The devil sinned first, but MAN caused sin to be brought into the human race!
"Did Satan tempt Adam & Eve in the garden?" YES!
Adam had the ability to chose NOT to sin as well as the ability to chose TO sin.
The reason why God kicked Adam out of the garden was so that he would not eat of the tree of life and be eternally fixed in a sinful state!
Adam (one man) caused the whole world to sin!
18 So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is justification leading to life for everyone.
19 For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
20 The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more
21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Christ is the SECOND ADAM!
The next time someone says that it is not fair for God to judge all men because of what Adam did, ask them: “Do you think it's unfair that by Christ's one act that you're saved?”
The second thing I would say is, “You will prove by your own life that you are a sinner!”
You are a sinner by nature; it'll take just a little time for us to see that.
“Am I a sinner because I sin, or do I sin because I’m a sinner?”
Jesus provides the answer:
27 “You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery.
28 But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
You are a sinner because of what’s in your heart!
CONCLUSION TO PART 1
CONCLUSION TO PART 1
“Did God originate (cause) sin?” - NO!
“Did sin originate in Satan then?” - YES, Satan sinned first.
“How did sin originate in man?”
THROUGH ONE MAN'S WILLFUL DISOBEDIENCE SIN ENTERED THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE!
But praise the Lord, through the Second Adam, salvation has come to all men!
21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
1 Working together with him, we also appeal to you, “Don’t receive the grace of God in vain.”
2 For he says: At an acceptable time I listened to you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. See, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation!
