Sin: Self our evil nemesis

The human race has a cancer. Not in their bodies but in their genes. This cancer. This genetic defect is called sin.

The gospel is God’s solution to the sin problem.

You cant heal healthy people. Only sick people want medicine or a doctor. So to understand and teach the gospel we first have to understand sin.

We’re constantly trying to push Christ on people when many times they don’t know they need Him or how much they need Him. You cant really truly and fully appreciate the Cross and the Gospel without realizing how completely in need you are.

 

Only when we realize how totally and completely sinFULL we are will we appreciate the depth width and height of Gods love for us in His Gospel. Only when we know that we are desperate will we appreciate the rescue.

Don’t put the cart before the horse.

So this cancer, this virus was spiritual biological weapon of mass destruction. It was created by the first creator and casualty of this weapon. Satan. [checkout Ezekiel 28:14,15Ezekiel 28:14,15
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The Bible doesn’t explain how sin could arise in a perfect being, because sin is unexplainable.  Its why they call it a mystery,… the “mystery of iniquity” [2 Thessalonians 2:72 Thessalonians 2:7
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Lucifer’s issues started out with the sin of self-exaltation [checkout Isaiah 14:12-14Isaiah 14:12-14
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WP-Bible plugin].  Self-centeredness, the love of self, is the foundation/cornerstone/beginning principle of all sin.

It’s total opposite and enemy of the principle of selfless, self-sacrificing love. Sacrificing yourself is now foundation house and roof/cornerstone every-stone/beginning everything in the middle and ending principle of God’s character and government [checkout 1 John 4:7, 8, 161 John 4:7, 8, 16
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Sin, then, is basically rebellion against God and His self-sacrificing love.

 

Sin came into God’s perfect world through Lucifer, aka – angel formally known and currently thought to be a myth –  Satan.  He tempted our first parents, Adam and Eve. They sinned and fell from the perfect state in which God had created them [checkout Genesis 3:1-24Genesis 3:1-24
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WP-Bible plugin; Luke 4:5, 6Luke 4:5, 6
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Just a thought … humankind was created from and on Earth. Yet sin is described as a FALL. Even from the very beginning have ever actually been earthly? Earthlings? Don’t wanna get New Age and claim we’re divine because we aren’t creators. But as the word says we are passing through here. We’re from somewhere else because our Father isn’t from here. Just think it through very prayerfully and very carefully.

So after the FALL…Satan became supreme ruler and king of this earth. Adam had abdicated. Satan sat on his/our throne. He robbed us. Staged a very successful bloodless coup de tat “ man is a slave to whatever has mastered him” [2 Peter 2:192 Peter 2:19
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In the wilderness when he was tempting Christ, Satan told Jesus that the authority and splendor of the world “has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to” [Luke 4:6Luke 4:6
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WP-Bible plugin].  Notice that Jesus did not dispute that. It was so obvious Satan was right that Jesus doesn’t even respond to that statement. Again notice it says “given”. Satan didn’t take it. We gave it to him.  Since the fall of Adam and Eve, Satan has been the “prince of this world” [John 14:30John 14:30
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WP-Bible plugin].  In fact, Paul calls him the “god of this age” [2 Corinthians 4:42 Corinthians 4:4
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The Bible uses some 12 different Hebrew words in the Old Testament to define sin and about five Greek words in the New Testament.

We can combine them all together into 3 basic ideas.

All three are plainly and specifically expressed in Psalm 51:2,3Psalm 51:2,3
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WP-Bible plugin: “Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.  For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me”.

Iniquity

 

1. The root meaning of this word is “crooked” or “bent.”  The Bible uses it to describe our natural spiritual condition or state of being. Physical, mental and spiritual (more on that later).  When the Bible uses the word iniquity its not talking about actions or acts of sin but about our condition of sinFULLness.

Coz of the Fall, men and women, adults and children even babies  are by nature spiritually “bent.”  The love of self is everything to us and about us. It is the driving force of who we are. Paul defines this as “the law of sin and death” that is at work in our lives [Romans 8:2Romans 8:2
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This internal genetic law. This core. This energy source that powers our thinking and being …It is the condition the seed that gives life and powers all our sinning and makes us slaves to sin [checkout Romans 3:9-12; 7:14Romans 3:9-12; 7:14
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• Psalm 51:5Psalm 51:5
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  WP-Bible plugin.  “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” When his parents conceived him, through an act they thought was love, at that very moment they were committing sin and creating a new sinner. “shaped in iniquity”. The ingredients of David’s and our soul was and is sinful.
• Isaiah 53:6Isaiah 53:6
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  WP-Bible plugin.  “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”  Two key points.  First, everyone of us has gone astray. We’re born that way. Second, this bent and crookedness, this self-centeredness, this evil nature was LAID ON on Christ, our Sin Bearer.  When He “condemned sin in sinful man” on the cross [Romans 8:3Romans 8:3
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  WP-Bible plugin], it was his crooked nature/his bent to sin that He condemned. That’s why even in our sinful state, there is “no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus” [Romans 8:1Romans 8:1
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• Isaiah 64:6Isaiah 64:6
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  WP-Bible plugin.  “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”  Because we are “sinful at birth” [Psalm 51:5Psalm 51:5
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  WP-Bible plugin], catch it don’t miss it, anything we do, even if its “good” its filthy. If an orange tree produces bitter oranges…even if you fertilize it and water it and do all sorts of nice stuff, it only produce bitter fruit because the bitterness is in its nature. Externally theres nothing you can do to it to change that.
• The righteousness we produce through our own efforts is like a filthy rag before God [checkout Zechariah 3:3,4Zechariah 3:3,4
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  WP-Bible plugin] polluted with self-love.  But in steps the Hero! the filthy garments of our own self-righteousness, Christ hooks up instead with a divine Iron Man suit/white robe of His righteousness so that we can be truly clothed and it can “cover [our] shameful nakedness” [Revelation 3:18Revelation 3:18
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• Matthew 7:22,23Matthew 7:22,23
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  WP-Bible plugin.  “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!’” The judgment will expose our motives for why and through which power we did all these self-righteous fake acts of kindness in the name of Christ.  See God can see into our hearts. Hebrews 4:12-13Hebrews 4:12-13
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  WP-Bible plugin. He goes inside us and searches out all our secret dark corners. And for our own good. What isn’t exposed isn’t surgically removed J See how it works?
• Do our random acts of kindness or awesomeness come from Christ and, therefore, from self-sacrificing love?  Or do they come from self, “to make a good impression outwardly” [Galatians 6:12Galatians 6:12
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  WP-Bible plugin]?  Are they of faith, the result of a genuine love-relationship and sincere (not perfect) walk with Christ?  Or are we working in His name without really knowing Him?

Once we understand the power and universalness of the nature of iniquity in us, we will realize that nothing good dwells in us [checkout Romans 7:18Romans 7:18
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WP-Bible plugin and 1 Thessalonians 5:23-241 Thessalonians 5:23-24
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WP-Bible plugin].  And its bent/broken/crooked/twisted on all levels of our existence. When we get that. When we lose all confidence in our selves in anything and every part of of our lives….then the hunger comes. No one no Christian can resist the hunger forever. Eventually the hunger always wins. Once you’ve experienced Christ. And its looking on his beautiful face. Being in His pure holy and aweFULL presence that creates that hunger. Only then will we hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ offered to us so freely in the gospel.

So: Concluding remarks on Iniquity. It is simply the desire to seek our own way.  We are born with this.  It makes it impossible for us, apart from a Savior, to be genuinely righteous, because God’s law requires even our motives to be pure and unselfish [checkout Matthew 5:20-22, 27, 28Matthew 5:20-22, 27, 28
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Sin

 

2. This is the second term the Bible uses to describe where we mess up.  Its actual meaning is “to miss the mark.”  Spiritually, this means falling “short of the glory of God” [Romans 3:23Romans 3:23
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   WP-Bible plugin] or failing to measure up to His ideal of selfless love.

Since we are all born spiritually bent, it follows or kinda makes sense why “there is no one righteous, not even one,” and why “there is no one who does good, not even one” [Romans 3:10, 12Romans 3:10, 12
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WP-Bible plugin].  Our sinful condition (iniquity) makes it impossible for us to do anything but miss that aweFULL divine mark (sin) unless we have a Savior.

The gospel is our only hope of salvation. Rescue..being rescued from our greatest enemy…ourselves. Its crazy – we have a free will to accept Christ’s righteousness or to reject it, we do not have a choice whether to sin or to be righteous.  We are born in slavery to sin, and no matter how hard we try or how much we push/press/strain to do right, we will fail and fall short of the divine mark [checkout Romans 7:15-24Romans 7:15-24
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WP-Bible plugin].  For further study on this point, read Job 15:14-16Job 15:14-16
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WP-Bible plugin; Psalm 14:2,3Psalm 14:2,3
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WP-Bible plugin; Isaiah 1:4-6Isaiah 1:4-6
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WP-Bible plugin; Jeremiah 17:9Jeremiah 17:9
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Transgression

 

3. This word means a deliberate violation of the law, a willful act of disobedience.  It’s the simplest to understand. There are rules. Plain black and white. You break them that’s called transgression. The core principle to that is we have a knowledge of what the law requires.  In the spiritual dimension, transgression is a deliberate/purposeful violation of God’s moral law. The Law is God’s benchmark for goodness. Nobody slips into transgression. No one floats into sinful acts. Its not accident. You don’t trip and fall into sexual intercourse or a bottle of alcohol doesn’t slip and fall you’re your face and down your throat. We do it on purpose. We plan we plot or we decide in the spur of the moment but its all a choice.

So check it out. Its knowing God’s law that turns sin (missing the mark) into transgression (deliberate disobedience).  Note the following texts.

• Galatians 3:19Galatians 3:19
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  WP-Bible plugin.  “What, then, was the purpose of the law?  It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.  The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator.”  The law makes everything clear; makes sin into transgression.
• James 2:9James 2:9
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  WP-Bible plugin.  “But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.”  The law convinces us that we are transgressors.
• Romans 3:20Romans 3:20
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  WP-Bible plugin.  “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.”  Through the law we know and don’t have to figure out sin. Its made obvious
• Romans 5:20Romans 5:20
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  WP-Bible plugin.  “The law was added so that the trespass might increase.  But where sin increased, grace increased all the more….”  The law didn’t couldn’t wouldn’t solve the sin problem, but made it “abound” or increase. Weird? Not really. Think it through. More coming
• Romans 7:7-13Romans 7:7-13
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  WP-Bible plugin.  “What shall we say, then?  Is the law sin?  Certainly not!  Indeed, I would not have known what sin was except through the law.  For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, ‘Do not covet.’  But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire.  For apart from law, sin is dead.  Once I was alive apart from law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.  I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.  For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.  So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.  Did that which is good, then, become death to me?  But no means!  But in order that sin must be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.”  The law exposes our sinful condition and reveals our total bankruptcy as far as righteousness is concerned.

See the more clear a believer is on how sinful they are, the more empty their cup and the more God can fill it, them, their heart.

See sin is a deceiver, its impossible for us in our sins to fully realize our condition unless God reveals it to us.  Its like being wounded under your clothes. And being rushed into casualty. The first they do is cut your clothes off!!! The Law is like those scissors the doctor uses to strip away your clothes. No matter how ashamed you are of your body, its in your best interests if you have a deadly wound to be stripped naked.

God NEVER intended for the Law to be a means of salvation or for it to deal with sin. You need surgery you need a transplant. You need stitches. You need blood!!!

Because of our sinful condition, because of how we were born the law cant wont shouldnt produce righteousness in us [checkout Romans 8:3Romans 8:3
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WP-Bible plugin].  We are sold under sin, slaves. No rights. No freedom. Sold. In chains. In bondage. Kunte Kinte! And the only way we can be saved is in Christ.  “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law…”  [Romans 3:20Romans 3:20
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WP-Bible plugin; cf. Galatians 2:16; 3:21,22; 5:4Galatians 2:16; 3:21,22; 5:4
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This beautiful God we love worship and serve God gave the law like road signs. To teach us. Guide us back to Him.  “The law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith” [Galatians 3:24Galatians 3:24
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Key Points

 

1. Sin originated in heaven in the mind of Lucifer, the leader of the angels [checkout Ezekiel 28:14,15Ezekiel 28:14,15
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2. As descendants/children/heirs of Adam and Eve, we are all in slavery to sin. Born self-centered, and our natural inclination is to want to live independently of God [checkout John 8:34John 8:34
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   WP-Bible plugin; Romans 1:20-23; 6:17Romans 1:20-23; 6:17
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3. The Bible breaks down sin and defines in 3 ways or concepts:
   1. Its not the act of sin, but to a condition of sinfulness; by nature, we are spiritually “bent” [checkout Psalm 51:5Psalm 51:5
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      WP-Bible plugin; Isaiah 53:6Isaiah 53:6
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      WP-Bible plugin; 64:6].
   2. Literally, “to miss the mark.”. Bow and arrow. Off target. Askew. Not a bulls eye when bulls eye is what God expected. We were created with and for His glory!  Sin is our failure to measure up to God’s ideal [checkout Romans 3:23Romans 3:23
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      WP-Bible plugin; 7:15-24; Isaiah 1:4-6Isaiah 1:4-6
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   3. Random and planned acts of evil. They are both deliberate. A violation. A breaking. A purposeful ignoring of God’s law, a willful act of disobedience [checkout 1 John 3:41 John 3:4
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4. God gave His law to reveal to us our sinful condition.  The law cuts away our masks, fakeness, ignorance of how sinful we are. He never intended for the law to save us or for it to deal with sin [checkout Romans 3:20Romans 3:20
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   WP-Bible plugin; Galatians 2:16; 3:21,22; 5:4Galatians 2:16; 3:21,22; 5:4
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5. The law is to bring us to Christ so that we can be justified by faith [checkout Galatians 3:24Galatians 3:24
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