Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: We're going to do a review of what we've been covering. So what have we been studying the last few weeks?
Or maybe some examples or what's the umbrella term we've been using for these categories?
What did you say?
Yeah, We've been studying 50 core truths of the Christian faith. That's on there. This is number 17 is what we're doing today. So we've done several. But what were some of the last few. We've done.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Angels and demons.
[00:00:38] Speaker A: Angels and demons. Right.
We did the Trinity. That was a little bit. Not too long ago, but a little bit longer ago.
That was when we were studying doctrine of God, angels and demons. We've been studying God's created things, and so we studied angels and demons. He created angels, and then demons were angels that fell. So they were created by God as well.
We studied. What about humans? Because he created humans. Right. He studied a couple things about humans.
Human nature. That was last week. Right.
So in human nature, we studied and learned that humans are embodied souls, that God has given us a soul and a body together, and that's how he intends for us to exist. And that is how he created us. Good in his what image? Which was the other lesson. Human beings were created in God's image, did that the week before.
And we studied how that gives us purpose and direction and dignity to be God's special creation made in his image.
So, but now, knowing that we're created in his image, who we are as people that have been given a soul and a body together, created by God specifically, we now need to study sin, human sin.
This affects all humans. It does affect the creation, the earth itself. But we're going to think maybe more particularly about how it affects us.
Can someone tell us what is sin?
Anything we think, say, or do that disobeys God. That's a great definition.
I've heard that one before. Has anyone else heard it said like that? Yeah. Thank you. That was really good.
Has anyone heard any. A different way to say it?
Anything going against the will of God? Yeah, I think that's a fair definition, and I think both of those are really great. The main idea, which I have partially written on the board, kind of gives us an answer to what sin is in a longer, less catchy way than what Rylan said. Sin is any lack of conformity. So you're not conforming to the moral law of God.
The moral law of God.
Now, the moral law of God is not referring to necessarily a specific set of listed commands.
It seems to be pretty well summarized in the Ten Commandments. But it's more general than that. Anything that goes against what God says is good. What he says is good and right and true is the moral law, in a sense. So any way that we don't conform to that is sin. And then this other blank is original.
So the second sentence reads, original sin is the state of all human beings at birth, and it includes their sin nature, which is the root of all actual sins that violate God's law.
And so that's a longer version. So lacking conformity to God's moral law, anything you think, say, do that displeases God. And I would even add to that, anything you don't do, we can sin by not doing something we ought.
So I might add that to think, say, do or not do anything that displeases God.
But yeah, that's exactly right.
Similarly, another theologian, he says that sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature.
So things you're doing, things you or feeling, or an attitude you have, or even in your nature. So you can sin against God in your nature. That is where original sin comes into play.
Now, we can have this definition not because God declares it this specifically, but because throughout God's Word, we learn things that are sin. And as you read the Word, you can kind of piece together a clear definition like this.
So we read the Ten Commandments, we learn at least ten sins that can be committed. You read the Sermon on the Mount and you learn even that certain attitudes can be considered sins and violations of the law. Galatians 5 teaches us that desires too can be sinful. So it's not just things we do. So as we read the Bible, the biblical data tell us that sin can be all these different things we do or don't do. And that's how we get a definition like this. I only point that out to say, I'm not just making this up. I'm not putting like a little verse next to it, because there's so many passages of Scripture which inform this definition.
Now let's kind of get into the meat of the lesson. So our first point is the origin of sin.
Where does sin come from? The origin of sin?
Let's go to Genesis 3 for this.
So flip to Genesis 3 with me.
Genesis 3 right at the very beginning, Genesis 3. And then look and read along as I read, starting in the very first verse.
Now, the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, that is the serpent. Did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden. But God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden. Neither shall you touch it, lest you die.
But the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. And she also gave some to her husband, who was with her. And he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin cloths. Now drop down to verse 14.
The Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field. On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. To the woman he said, I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing, in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you. And to Adam he said, because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground. Because of you in pain, you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you. And you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground. For out of it you are taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
This is the origin of sin.
And we notice some things about it. Does anything in particular stick out to you when you read this? Sure. You've read it many times.
What seems particularly important, if it makes you feel any better, you probably can't say something that's unimportant. This is one of the most important passages in the whole Bible.
I'm not exaggerating. So, you know. What do you notice in this text? Anything?
Yeah.
[00:10:49] Speaker B: Violet, your desire shall be contrary to your husband.
[00:10:53] Speaker A: Yeah. Do you think any reason why you think that? Stands out to you?
[00:10:58] Speaker B: I think that stands out to me, really, because it's really talking about how the man is the head of the household. But in the generation that we're currently living in, people are pressing for whoever wants to leave the household can leave the household. Women can be whatever they want to be, and they can, but the man should be ultimately over the head of the household. And that's the way that God designed it. But I feel like people are trying to change that a lot now, saying that if the women want to leave the household, they can. And I feel like the generation and the world that we're living in is trying to destroy children and family with God design.
[00:11:32] Speaker A: Yeah, I think you're hitting on some good issues. So what is being foretold is strife in the home, in the family, women seeking to rule over their husbands. And then even instead of a husband lovingly leading his family, it has a much more strict ruling over in return. And so there's sin on both sides that we see even today in many ways. Is there anything else you guys notice about this pass?
Yeah, God was angry, but he still provided something to cover them. And though he cursed things about life, he didn't take away childbearing. He didn't take away the fruit of the ground.
They just became difficult. Right?
Yeah. There are other things. Some things that stick out to me is that they questioned what God had told them, something that we typically do a lot. We question, does the Bible really say this? Is this part of the Bible really true? Is this antiquated or outdated? These are the things we're challenged with. They questioned the moral law of God, what is right and wrong. They questioned the distinction that God had made between him and them. They said, well, if this will make me wise like God, I want that.
Just like Satan. They questioned this distinction between them and God. They wanted to be like God even more than they were. Right. We know they're created in his image, but they still lusted after more power.
And they made an irrational and stupid decision. Right.
I think you read this and you can think, yeah, that was stupid. How could they have done this? It seems so obvious.
And yet that's what sin is. It is stupid and irrational decisions. And the more we make them, the more our conscience, the more our brain that makes right and wrong decisions gets worn away, and the stupider we get. So one of my professors in seminary always told me, he said, sin makes you stupid. You watch people that are addicted to sin, and over time, they get worse and worse at hiding it. They make dumber and dumber decisions until their life explodes. And it's all found out, because that's what sin is.
Now, did God create sin? I'm asking you that. Does anyone know the answer?
Were you answering yes? So you're saying no, and you're saying he gave them the ability to make a decision and they made a poor decision. I think you're right.
It would be wrong for us to say that God created sin. He does not create sin.
Deuteronomy 32, 4 says, the rock, his work is perfect for all his ways. Are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, Just and upright is he.
So a God of faithfulness and without iniquity? Iniquity is a word that means sin. We're transgressing, breaking the law. That's what iniquity refers to. God is faithful. He is without sin. All his ways are justice. He did not create sin. But then we need to ask, if he didn't create it, and Jonah started to hit on it, did sin always exist?
We know the answer is no. It did not always exist.
Before creation, only God exists.
And so sin couldn't have existed, since he is without sin.
But another hard question that I want you guys to think about.
Why didn't God stop it?
Why didn't he stop it?
Why did he create the conditions knowing what would happen? He knew exactly what would happen and when it would happen.
It's a difficult question.
A theologian named Wayne Grudem, which a man I quoted earlier, he kind of answers this, and I thought this was well put. He said, the God who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will, which is from Ephesians 1:11, that God, the God who does according to his will in the host of heaven and. And among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say to him, what are you doing? That's from Daniel 4:35, that God did ordain that sin would come into the world, even though he does not delight in it, and even though he ordained that it would come about through the voluntary choices of moral creatures.
A little bit of a long sentence. What he's saying is that God ordained, he made the plan, he set all things in place, and everything moves and has its place in the world because of his sovereign and powerful hand.
And so he knew and set it up, that by voluntary choices humans would sin. In fact, he also knew that the angels would sin as well.
And he did this not because he delights in sin, but because he delights in his glory. And in his plan of redemption.
He had this plan to bring redemption. See, God is wise. He decided and ordained and allowed the humans to fall into sin, knowing the whole time that it would happen even before he created them. And he did this to bring about this plan of redemption that he had, knowing that it would bring glory to him and it would make those founding Christ to love him for his mercy and grace that is completely undeserved. And this would result in maximal praise and worship of his glorious grace and mercy.
But this sin led to many effects on the earth. And we know that one of these is original sin, which is our second point. It's original sin, though very different than the origin of sin. Not very different, but original sin is a different concept. Does anybody know what original sin means?
It might be right in front of you. Yeah, yeah. The sin you're born into. Well put.
Yeah. It's the state of all human beings at birth. Sin you're born into.
And it's, you know, we inherit it from Adam.
We inherit original sin.
We are guilty or. Here's what it means. It first means that we are guilty and liable for eternal punishment. So we inherit this and inherently are guilty of sin. And we deserve punishment for sin because all sin must be punished because God is just. It also means that our whole beings are infected with sin.
The entirety of who you are, from your fingertips to your soul, is infected with sin. And this means apart from God, we cannot do anything pleasing to God.
We can't not sin. Does that make sense? We can't not sin.
When you are not in Christ, everything you do is not for God. You are completely enslaved to sin. And so even apparently good things you do are not done for God. And they too are therefore sin. You can't not sin, but in Christ you can not sin. You have that ability given to you through his grace until one day when he redeems all things. And you will be unable to sin entirely.
But for now, humans in their natural states can't help but sin. Everything you think, say and do is sinning. That's the hard truth. This is a belief called total depravity. You might hear this term attempt at some point in the future. Maybe you don't, and that's okay.
But it means that we are bad completely through.
And we believe in original sin because the Bible tells us so. That's why we believe this.
So go to Romans 5, other side of the Bible. Romans 5 gives us some helpful context for this, though. This is not the only passage that tells us about man's depravity being sinful all the way through, and original sin. Romans 5 helps us. Romans 5 starting in verse 12.
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given. But sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, so we're talking about Adam there much more have the grace of God, and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation. But the free gift, following many trespasses, brought justification.
For if because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous.
Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So what we're seeing here is that there's this one man we hear, the one man, the one sin. This is Adam's sin passed down through all. And it is not the only thing that condemns us, but it's what originally condemns us. And we continue to sin on top of that because of this nature, everything we do is sin.
So we can say Adam's original sin, which is inherited by us, condemns us, but also our own actions continually condemn us through our life. But through one man's righteousness, through Jesus Christ's death on the cross, his perfect life, death and resurrection, faith in him can credit his righteousness to you. It can wipe that original sin clean.
That's the only way to wipe it clean, through this second and perfect Adam, which is Jesus.
And you gain this righteousness again through faith in Jesus Christ, that's the solution to sin. This is how we are cleansed from original sin.
And it's a free gift.
Paul made great effort to let us know it is a free gift.
It is not as though we are just handed condemnation and then we have to work our way out. It is a free gift. You just need to turn from your sin and trust.
So that's original sin. Our third point is the elements.
Elements of sin.
So what does sin involve?
Is temptation sin?
Raise your hand if you think temptation is sin.
Raise your hand if you think it's not.
Okay. Not everybody participated, but it's okay. Okay, so the general answer is temptation is not sin. Why is it not sin?
Someone give an answer.
Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a great answer. Yeah, I don't think it's sin either. Yeah, Jesus was tempted.
We can't say that just being tempted is sin.
But you may not hear this, but this is a commonly argued thing. At what point is temptation sin?
And I just want to warn us that they are not the same. But sometimes there's a very small gap between temptation and sin. And it doesn't always have to lead to a physical action to become sin. It can be something in your head.
James 1:14:15 says, but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
The desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin.
And sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.
So sometimes a temptation can slip into sin quickly because it is coming from our own desires. And so if we even dwell on a temptation, it can that quick turn into a sinful desire and a lust of sorts.
Sins can be things we do arrogantly. You know, like, I don't care what people think. This is what I'm doing. They can also be things we do on accident. You can sin on accident. Sins can be things we do. They can be things we don't do, like I said earlier. So there are a lot of ways in which sin can occur.
We are sinners in our beings, who we are, our sin nature. We're a sinner in what we do. We're a sinner in our attitudes. We're sinners with our words, we're sinners with our motivations.
Words, attitudes, motivations, all these things are affected by sin. They can all be sinful.
Therefore, how quickly can temptation actually become lust or a bad desire?
So don't trick ourselves into saying it's not a physical action, it can be internal.
So when you see temptation, the only way around this is to flee Like Paul says, in regard to a specific temptation, Paul says to flee sexual immorality.
Get away from it, don't dwell on it. If there's a temptation, the longer you sit on it, the more you're actually sinning. The temptation itself is not sin, but it quickly becomes that.
Fourth and finally we'll go over the consequences of sin.
Consequences.
So what occurs because of our sin?
I hope you're still in Romans because you can just flip back to chapter three.
Look at v. 21, Romans 3, 21, 26.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.
This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
So in verse 25 there Paul says that God showed his righteousness by punishing Jesus on the cross.
What does that mean?
How can we say that God punishing Jesus on the cross showed his righteousness?
Oh, you have an answer.
[00:30:40] Speaker B: I think it really shows God's sovereign choice over in chapter 10 about what? If God desired to show his wrath and to make known his power has endured with much patience vests of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy which he has prepared before him.
Yeah, I just kind of feel like he's really showing his power and his love. The fact that he has mercy on us by sacrificing his own Son.
[00:31:13] Speaker A: Yeah, you're hitting on it right there. He has mercy on us by sacrificing his own Son. That's a hard question and it's a challenge that non Christians will loft at you.
The penalty for sin, as I said earlier, is punishment from God. All sin is against God. It's a non conformity to the moral law of God. It's anything you think say, do or not do that displeases God. All sin is against God and all sin must be punished. Not one sin, not one person's original sin even will not be punished. Nothing goes unpunished because so you look, we see in verse 25.
This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance, that is like patience, he had passed over former sins.
He had patiently waited to punish sins, and he poured out his wrath on Jesus. So he could be just, that is righteous. He could be the justifier.
What he's saying is that all sins, since they had to be punished, means that a sacrifice was needed if a person was not going to pay for his or her own sins.
Now, the animal sacrifices didn't actually cut it. That's why God had divine forbearance. He overlooked the sins of Israel for many years. Though those animal sacrifices were more symbolic than anything, God knew the whole time what the plan was.
It was to pour out his wrath on His Son, so that by the Son's sinlessness, us who are sinful can be saved from that punishment through faith.
So on the cross, Jesus bore the sins of all who had come to faith in Him.
He was punished for those sins. They are covered. Those in Christ will not endure any punishment or condemnation because Jesus bore it. And God is just.
He punishes all sins and he doesn't punish sins twice. So if you are in Christ, you will not be punished again because he has already borne your sins.
But the penalty of eternal death is still owed by those who do not have faith in Christ. Jesus didn't pay for your sins. If you are outside of him, they are owed. And so you must turn from your sin and trust in Christ. It is the only way. This sin affects us to our cores, and we all know it. Though we suppress that truth sometimes, we all know that the sin is prevalent through the world and in ourselves.
And so the only way, the only solution is through Christ.
Let's pray.
Father. God, we thank you for the grace of Christ and His death on the cross that brings salvation to sinners. God, we ask that those of us who have yet to turn to you in faith would be convicted of our sin. God, that you would grant us repentance, that we can turn away from it and turn to youo Son in faith.
Lord, those of us in Christ, help us to avoid sin.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Lord, you have the ability to do it. God, bring us scriptures to our hearts and minds when we face temptation, that we may quickly flee, that we may refuse sin, live holy and represent yout well to the watching world. And we pray this all in Christ's name. Amen.
