LESSON 5 THE FACT AND NATURE OF SIN
I. INTRODUCTION
A. The first four lessons in this series have been about Christ His Deity, Lordship, Sonship, and that He is the Savior of sinners. We have attempted to show who He was, yet if He is the Savior of sinners we must also look at His work.
B. To understand the work that Jesus came to do, we must understand who we are as well as who He was. His work was done for us because of our sins and His unique competence to provide salvation from those sins.
C. When we finally see the sinners that we are, we will see and understand the wonder of what He has done for us. Sin is not just something the preachers thought up so they could maintain their jobs, it is a fact of human experience.
1. Sin is not merely a problem of man's society, lack of education or poor environment it stems from within each and every man. Every man contains within him a hard core of selfishness which leads him to sin.
2. Why do we have laws, contracts, door locks, and receipts? Because man sins we cannot trust each other and we need protection from one another.
II. DISCUSSION
A. Sin is Universal.
1. Confirmed by the Old Testament The King (Solomon): "There is no man who does not sin." The Preacher: "Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins." The Psalmist: (read Ps. 14). The Prophet: (Isaiah) " all we like sheep have gone astray."
2. Confirmed by the New Testament The Apostle Paul (Rom. 1-3) shows that all have sinned, both Jew and Gentile (read Rom. 3;22,23). The Apostle John is even more explicit (read 1 Jn. 1:8,10).
B. The Nature of Sin What is it?
1. It is a shortcoming, a lapse, a slip, a blunder, a missing of the mark as in target practice, a disposition that comes up short when compared to that which is good. It is transgression, going beyond the boundaries, lawlessness, against justice.
2. Sin's reality implies the existence of some moral standard or code that we can fail to keep or violate outright. James says, "Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." John says, "Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness, sin is lawlessness."
3. No matter what moral code has been set before man, he has transgressed it or failed to keep it. For the Jews it was the Law of Moses, for the Gentiles it was the law of conscience. For us today it is the law of Christ.
4. Yet many today feel that they are "good people," not perfect but good enough to get by. Why do they feel that way?
a. The have not set a very high standard for themselves to keep. It is easy to think yourself a great high jumper if the bar is never set more than knee-high (Stott).
b. Man overlooks God's concern with the thought behind the deed and the motive behind the action ( as taught by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount).
C. The Ten Commandments an example of a moral code that man was (is) unable to keep (Ex. 20:3-17).
1. You shall have no other gods before me God demands man's exclusive worship. Nothing can be set ahead of God. Not our families, our jobs, our recreation, or our possessions. Sin is the exaltation of self at the expense of God. To keep this commandment we would have to do as Jesus said, "love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind.
2. You shall not make for yourself a graven image God demands man's sincere and spiritual worship (Jn. 4:24). Handmade idols are of course expressly condemned here, but what of mental idols? We have attended worship, said prayers, and read the Bible, but have we really worshipped, really prayed, and really let God speak to us through His word? (Read Isa. 29:13; Mk. 7:6)
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain God demands that man respect His name. This respect includes refraining from profane language, but further includes control of our thoughts and deeds. To call God "Lord" and then disobey Him is to take His name in vain. To call Him "Father" and then not to trust Him is to take His name in vain. Anytime we talk one way and act another we are taking His name in vain we are hypocrites!
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy God demands that man worship Him consistently, continuously, and periodically. As the Sabbath was the Lord's Day for the Jews, so Sunday is the Christian's Lord's Day. It is a day in which time must be set aside for Him, for His worship and His service.
5. Honor your father and your mother This command is transitional. The first four deal with man's duty to God and the last five deal with man's duty to man, this command has aspects of both duties. Parents represent God's authority to children, yet young people are often the most disobedient, selfish, and inconsiderate in their parent's own homes. Parents are due our respect and affection, if they do not receive these things from us as physical children, can God expect to receive them from us as His spiritual children?
6. You shall not kill Jesus took this command beyond physical murder and extended it to "heart murder." John said, "Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer." We can kill with a look, with a word, with our anger, with gossip, with neglect, with cruelty, with spite and jealousy. Instead we must do all within our power to foster health and life in others.
7. You shall not commit adultery this includes any sexual activity outside the marriage relationship. It includes not just actions, but thoughts as well. As Jesus said, "everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." This command embraces every possible abuse of a sacred and beautiful gift of God. Each one of us must have a right, healthy, and honorable attitude towards each other.
8. You shall not steal taking anything from a person that belongs to him or is due to him. Tax evasion, dodging customs, working "short hours," or paying less than a sufficient wage for work done are all forms of thievery. Not only did Paul want the thief to stop stealing, he wanted him to start working. To start working so not only would he not resort to stealing, but so that he could aid others.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor Among man's greatest God-given possessions are his life, his home and honor, his property, and his reputation. Gossip, tale-bearing, perjury, slander, idle talk, listening to as well as passing on rumors, making unkind jokes, creating untrue impressions, and not correcting false statements are all ways to bear false witness.
10. You shall not covet This command puts God's law beyond simply a legal code. The law of the land cannot touch us for what we think we want, but only for what we actually steal. As lust is to adultery, temper is murder, so covetousness is to theft. What is covetousness? Its wanting what we have no right to want, be it a man's house, his money, or his wife. Paul said, "It is idolatry." In contrast he said, "There is great gain in godliness, with contentment."
III. CONCLUSION
A. Much of our sins are covert, they take place within our hearts and minds. Yet God is concerned with just that place: our minds the breeding ground of overt sin. He sees in there, "Before him no creature is hidden, but all are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."
B. The laws of God shows up our sins for what they really are. Nothing can convince us of our sinfulness like the righteous and just law of God.
C. Before we can study salvation through Christ it will be necessary to consider the consequences of our sins.
LESSON 6 THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN
I. INTRODUCTION
A. In the last lesson we examined the nature and universality of sin. Before we can appreciate what God has done for us through Christ it will be necessary to examine the results of our sins.
B. The seriousness of sin with its evil consequences can best be understood in light of sin's effects upon God, ourselves, and others.
II. DISCUSSION
A. Alienation From God sin cuts us off from God who we need to know because of His righteousness and moral perfection (Isa. 33:14; 57:15; 1 Tim. 6:15, 16; 1 Jn. 1:5, 6; Heb. 12:29; Hab. 1:13).
1. Those who have glimpsed God have shrunk back because of their consciousness of their own sins.
a. Moses (Ex. 3:1-6) hid his face from the burning bush.
b. Job (Job 42:5, 6) despised himself upon seeing God in the whirlwind.
c. Isaiah (Isa. 6:1-5) saw God in a vision and immediately realized his unclean lips made him lost.
d. Ezekiel (Eze. 1:26-28) fell upon his face in God's presence.
e. Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:1-9) was struck to the ground and blinded.
f. John (Rev. 1:9-17) fell...as though dead.
2. There is a great gulf between God in His righteousness and man in his sin. "What partnership have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?" (2 Cor. 6:14) The "wages of sin is death," because sin brings forth separation from God. The Bible uses such terms as: outer darkness, the second death, and the lake of fire to refer to the ultimate result of this separation (Mt. 25:30, Rev. 20:14, Lk. 16:19-31).
3. Why does God often seem far away to us? Why are we tempted to say as Jeremiah: Thou hast wrapped thyself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through? (Lam. 3:44) (Read Isa. 59:1,2.) God does not set up the wall between He and We, we do! Without repentance and forgiveness of sins we are bound to be dead through trespasses and sin. (Eph. 2:1).
4. Man is searching for satisfaction and if he doesn't turn to God then he will turn to the world: to sex, drugs, violence, gambling, and even sports. Rest cannot be found outside of a right relationship with God
B. Bondage To Self not only does sin alienate us from God, it puts us into captivity.
1. The outward act is the result of an inward attitude. Jesus says that the nature and health of a tree controls the kind of fruit and its condition. He taught that it is man's nature that is the cause of humanity's ills, not education, environment, politics, or economics (Mk. 7:21-23).
2. When Jesus told the Pharisees that they were enslaved, they became indignant. Yet Jesus replied, "everyone who commits a sin becomes a slave to sin." (Jn. 8:30-34) (See also: Rom. 6:17; Eph. 2:3; Titus 3:3.)
3. James used the "tongue" as an example of man's inability to control himself without God's help (Jms. 3:1-12).
4. Man cannot, in and of himself, free himself from the bondage of sin man needs a Savior! Only the spiritual power found in the Word, Jesus Christ, will give man the necessary willpower to be freed from sin's enslavement.
C. Conflict With Others sin's effects on our relationships with others.
1. Our duty to God and others is positively seen in Jesus' distillation of (Lev. 19:18) and (Deut. 6:5), (Read: Mt. 22:37-39).
a. The first command concerns our duty to God He comes first. According to God, He is first, then our neighbors, then ourselves. Satan reverses this order.
b. Our nature makes it hard to adjust to other people, we are born truly self-centered. We have a tendency to despise or envy other people, to feel either inferior or superior to them.
2. Our over-emphasis on "self" makes all our life relationships complicated: husband and wife, parent and child, employer and employee, ourselves as a member of society. Most schisms that occur in these relationships could be closed if people were humble enough to take the blame for at least some of the problem.
III. CONCLUSION
A. Conflicts in our earthly relationships would cease if we could replace the spirit of self-assertion with the spirit of self-sacrifice. The Bible calls this spirit of self-sacrifice "agape," we call it "love."
B. Sin is possessive: its characteristic is the desire to get, while love is expansive: its characteristic is the desire to give.
C. As a race of beings, humanity needs a massive "attitude adjustment." A "change from self to unself" (H.M. Gwatkin). Man cannot make this change alone he needs a Savior!
D. We have used these lessons to expose our sins for one purpose to convince us of our need for Jesus Christ and to prepare us to accept Him on His terms. (Mk. 2:17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." NKJ)
Only when we realize the seriousness of our ills, will we realize our need for urgent care!