Brian Cole: 'Sin' - Part One

Editor's Note: Every Sunday, DrydenWire.com publishes a submitted article in a weekly series from Pastor Brian Cole. If you would have a question for Brian or would like to learn more about him, visit his website or his official Facebook page.

Gen. 3:14-20 – SIN – Part 1

In this message I thought it was important to discuss a few questions we might have concerning sin and just what took place at the fall in the garden. Kind of a bad news/good news deal. Bad news, we sinned, good news - we got Jesus!!

In the beginning verses in Genesis we saw how God created everything and blessed it. Last week we left off with God cursing things. What exactly transpired? Let’s look at this in detail so we all have a better understanding.

So, after these verses, sin and death now enter and dominate creation. Man has become separated from the life of God, and is born with a nature that will always rebel against the Creator. Paul puts it this way in Romans 3:9-18: “What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

So, with that said, we would all be living in utter futility were it not for the foreknowledge of the Creator displayed in the effort to redeem Adam and Eve, and the rest of humanity, from their doom. But immediately, in the actions of our Creator for Adam and Eve, you and I are encouraged to trust His later provision in time with “The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8).

Over four thousand years beyond this day of Judgment on earth, came the Redeemer with the price necessary to buy all humanity back from death and sin!

So, what is sin? Wayne Grudem defines sin as: “Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature.” Sin are not just “acts” we do, but also includes “attitudes” that are contrary to the attitudes God requires of us. These would include such things as “coveting,” “jealousy,” “anger,” and “selfishness.” The sermon on the Mount adds others such as lust and unforgiveness.

This also applies to our “moral nature.” Our very nature, the internal character that is the very essence of who we are as a person, can also be sinful. How easily we deceive ourselves and our friends! While we impress others with our righteousness, we are lawless in God’s eyes. Our Lord said, “Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (Matthew 23:28).

The word that is used most frequently is hamartia, missing the mark. It is the most comprehensive term for explaining sin. Paul used the verb hamartano when he wrote, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). God has a high and holy standard of what is right, and so long as man follows the Divine standard, he will see himself as he truly exists in God’s eyes.

The flat statement of the Almighty is that all men have fallen far short of God’s required standard. It is the popular and common practice of men to create their own standards; however, God has established His standard of perfection for entry into Heaven, and all men have “missed the mark” as an archer’s arrow would fall to the ground because it fell short of its target. We can never think that we come anywhere near the standard set by God. God has demanded absolute perfection, and no matter how we measure ourselves, we fall far short.

We believers not only have the exact same testimony, we all live equal lives in the eyes of God, and are all just in need of Him as anyone else. Maybe he set the target so far away that no one could hit it for the sole fact that we NEEDED to rely on Him always!??

Next week we will look at the origin of sin, how it came about, and what that means to us.