Offense of sin

A trespass in rebellion against God.

When we talk about sin, we have to keep in mind that we are a broken people and see things through a broken lens. Recognizing and understanding our sin, both in why we sin and what the effects of sin are, is crucial for a right view of the gospel. By an act of disobedience we have fallen into sin and allowed sin to take control over us.
The definition of Sin is “an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.”
The Bible tells us that sin is anything that doesn’t please God or is a transgression of His law. Sin can usually be defined as two types of sin, omission and commission.

Sins of omission – Failing to do the things we ought to be doing is willful disobedience, like failure to pray or love your neighbor or serve the poor. “therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” James 4:17

When we as Christians don’t stand for what is right or do what is asked of us by God, our disobedience weakens our resolve and opens the door for further temptation to enter our life. This could and mostly likely lead to sins of commission.

Sins of commission – Any thing breaking Gods law, such as losing temper, stealing, murder, or having idols. “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” Matt 15:18-19

Sins in deed, word and mind.

What were the effects of sin?

With the fall of man, sin entered and when sin entered so did……

>Pain – both in flesh and spirit, a war between the spirit and the flesh

“For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” Gal 5:17

>Death – physically and spiritually

“For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Gen 2:17

>Separation – from God and from each other

>Distrust – Twisted truth, lies and false teaching

>Void – A void only the creator can fill, no matter how much we try to fill it with idols

“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.” Rom 1:22-23

And much more……

We also see Adam after his act of disobedience hiding himself from the presence of God but why? Because once he disobeyed, his eyes were opened to sin and he was filled with shame and guilt for what he had done. We see, the first signs of separation in Adam hiding himself away from the presence of God because of sin. Sin had entered into Adam separating himself from the Holiness of God and creating a Eternal divide. After this we see God had to make them skins and coverings, in order to cover their nakedness. Something had to be done about their sin and we see soon after this, that they are kicked out of the Garden of Eden and out of the Presence of the Most High. Sentenced to live outside of the presence of God, that is the ultimate punishment and to live there for all eternity is the definition of Hell.

Illustration Imagine we only sinned 3 times a day (you would have to be saint of saint to only sin 3 times a day but that is besides the point). Multiply 3 sins a day by one year of your life comes to 1,095, now multiply that by 70 years of living a full life comes to 76,650 sins. whether its 1 sin or 76,000 sins, you’re still guilty before a Just and Holy God. Deserving of pain, death and separation for all eternity.

“For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.” Romans 3:23

“All” meaning all mankind… from Adam to us and to those who will come after us… no one has and no will ever live on Earth without sinning besides Christ.

“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” Gen. 5:5-6

“as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one” Romans 3:10

The Fall of man entered and righteousness was lost.

Once the fall happened God’s perfection was lost until He sent His son to take our place. He demands perfection because He is Holy and His Holiness can’t be in the presence of anything that isn’t perfect. Show me a perfect man, who has walked this earth besides Christ…. you can’t, that’s why our hope, our only hope, is found in the perfect Son. Being that he is the only one who can fulfill the Law and has fulfilled the Law. We grow up in a world with this false notion of us being good people, why is that? Because if we were truly bad/sinful that would mean, we would be forced to do something about it or be forced to need a Savior to do something that we can not do. The last thing we as sinful humans want naturally is to sacrifice our pride and our self-sufficiency for the need of a Savior. It is a beautiful thing when we come to realize that Christ is that Savior.

“you therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matt 5:48

○ As a result of the fall, we are dead in our sin.

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

Gen 2:17 “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.“

Death entered the world both spiritually and physically. Death also brought Eternal separation from God. For God can not be in the mist of sin, for there is eternal separation between holiness and sin.

• We have developed a man-centered perspective of sin that is both self-centered and prideful.

“For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Hebrews 10:4

It is impossible for us to save ourselves no matter how many times we try. Just like it is impossible for a dead man to do anything about his death. However, we find every other religion trying to save their self based on their deeds and good works. Christianity is based around the Gospel, telling us that we can not be saved apart from Christ alone and all that He has accomplished for us on the cross. Where all other religions say do, the Gospel says Done. May we rejoice and find rest in that statement.

The debt was so great, that while man alone owed it, only God could pay it. -Anselm

People say a God who judges and sends people to hell for all eternity is not a fair and just God. But they are forgetting who they are judging and try to fit God into their own image of who they think He should be. Yet we forget the severity of sin is determined by the One who is sinned against, not the sinner.
God gets to determine the severity of sin since it was us who sin against him. God is just to punish everyone for sin but we see instead that God loves His people to the point of sending his own son to die for us.

To create the heavens and the Earth cost God nothing. But to save us cost Him His very life. – Lesslie Newbigin

By Adams act of disobedience all were condemned to sin, but By Christ act of obedience we have been set free from sin.

Mortification

Be killing sin or it will be killing you. – John Owen

Mortification to me is just a cool word and is just fun to say. However it comes with a deep and important meaning for us Christians. Mortification means “putting something to death” and whats more important to our well being than putting sin to death. In John Owens book “the Mortification of Sin”, he breaks down this verse into a few parts.

“For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Rom 8:13

He points out the duty prescribed “put to death the deeds of the body”
He describes who its addressed to “you” “for if you“
He explains that there is reward/answer to duty “you will live“
He breaks down the action by which we are to do this “by the Spirit”
He then explains the conditionality of the whole proposition “if you“

Indwelling sin always abides whilst we are in this world; therefore it is always to be mortified. – John Owen

Romans 8:13 is very serious when it comes to our sin and it should be. The bible tells us that the end result of our sin by the flesh of our body is death. It also tell us the only way to fight this flesh is by the power of the Holy Spirit. For Christians putting sin to death is a life long battle of struggles experiencing both ups and downs along the way. However, we can have hope and confidence in Christ knowing that He has accomplished Victory over sin, death, and separation for all who come to Him.

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:21-24

“There is no death of sin without the death of Christ.” – John Owen

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Gal 5:16

Understanding our is sin is crucial for understanding the Gospel. Once we have come to the place of understanding our sin, we begin to see our need for the Gospel. We begin to see our need for a Savior to save from the wrath of God. We begin to see our need to repent for the sin that abides in us. We begin to see the love of God through Christ crucified on cross. We begin to see Christ Sufficiency through the Gospel…….

No matter how great the offense of sin, we have a even greater Savior.