The Sin Problem

Lesson 1

Gen 6:5: And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Isa 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

 These verses illustrate the depraved condition of man after the fall of Adam. I once heard a man complaining that if he could have known before he was born, that he would be entering into this world with a spiritual death sentence hanging over his head caused by the disobedience of his distant ancestor, Adam; and also, that there was a possibility that he might wind up spending forever in a place called Hell, he would have declined the invitation to be born. It simply wouldn’t be worth the risk!

The fact is, however, that none of us were given a choice about our birth, and we all come into this world faced with the problem of a sin nature which we inherited.

Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered  into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

 Jeremiah declares mankind’s sin to be a heart issue:

 Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Sin is not something that we have to learn – it’s more like an instinct.  For example, a two-year old child runs through the house and knocks a vase off of a table and it falls to the floor and shatters.  Mom hears the noise, rushes in and sees what happened. She asks her tiny daughter, “Did you knock momma’s vase over? The child puts on her most angelic face and with a look of pure innocence slowly shakes her head from side to side and points accusingly toward their pet poodle. 

This same kind of behavior goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, when the LORD God asked Adam, “Did you eat of the tree, whereof I commanded you that you shouldn’t eat?  And Adam said, “The woman you gave me, she gave it to me and I ate it.”

And the LORD God said unto the woman, “What is this that you have done? And the woman said, the serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”

It seems that it just comes naturally for humans to always blame others rather than accept the
responsibility for their own actions. 

I’d like to ask you a question. Is it our fault that we were born with a sinful nature; having such
an overpowering tendency to sin?

I believe the answer is: No! It’s not our fault…. but it is our problem!  It is our problem in same way that new born babies of drug addicts come into this world as drug addicts themselves. 

One thing we need to understand about Sin is that it is not merely the breaking of a law, but transgressing against the very nature of an infinitely good, pure, and Holy God, thus creating a personal attack on God Himself.  Breaking God’s law, then, blocks any possibility of a relationship between us and Him.

God’s plan, ordained from eternity, was and is being carried out in time, and involves many necessary steps to bring it to completion. This plan was carried out with divine precision, in such a way as to make it possible for this infinitely pure and holy God to be united with wicked and sinful man.

We might wonder why God is so concerned with something as wretched and wicked and rebellious as man.The psalmist David had the same question:

 Psa 8:4-5 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?  5  For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

 Albert Barnes (1798–1870) had this to say about this passage:

We may ask the question here, Why was man so honored as to be united to the Deity? Why did
the God appear in human form? What was there in man that should entitle him to
this honor of being united to the Divinity, and of being thus exalted above the
angels?’ The wonder is not yet solved; and we may well suppose that the angelic
ranks look with amazement – but without envy – on the fact that “man,” by his
union with the Deity in the person of the Lord Jesus, has been raised above
them in rank and in glory.

When we consider how much God hates sin, it is amazing to me that He has such unconditional love for sinners that he willingly submitted Himself to the agonizing and shameful death of the cross.

 Rom 5:6-8 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Rom 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. Rom 5:8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

 

In my next post, we’re going to take a close look at the role that God’s Mercy and Grace played in taking us out of Adam and putting us into Christ!