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— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 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.”
Among the many really difficult doctrines in Scripture is the doctrine of sin. This will be a difficult assignment with which to deal mainly because I only have two sermons to devote to this major doctrine!
There is passage after passage that is as clear as anything can be on the subject of sin. So the question for me is, “How do I decide which passages best encapsulate this teaching in a brief form that can be presented – let alone digested – in just two sermons.”
Well, at least I am going to try.
Of course, I always welcome – and I mean I always welcome – questions about my sermons and the topics I teach. So, if I am not able to address a particular question you have about sin, feel free to email, message, text me, or (if all else fails) call or come by the office – and I will happily take time to work through the Scriptures with you.
With only two sermons to available for this subject, I have chosen to begin our study this coming Lord’s Day by looking at one of the best known passages on the subject and one that gives lots of needed information.
The word, “sin” appears hundreds of times in the Bible. It is, in fact, the translation of several different Hebrew and Greek words. Since our time is limited, I will stick to the best known and most often used of the Old Testament and New Testament words that are translated by our English word, “sin.”
The most common Hebrew word for sin, “ra-ah” is used 600 times in the Old Testament; while the most common Greek word for sin, “hamartia” occurs 174 times in the New Testament.
No small subject this subject of sin!
In both cases, the words mean “to miss the mark of God’s standard.” That standard, by the way, is perfection! Matthew 5:48 records Jesus as saying, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” It is, as you understand, a humanly impossible standard to meet.
One of the simplest, yet vitally important, aspects of sin is that there are basically two kinds of sin – there are thousands (if not millions) of different sins – but, there are two main “kinds” of sin:
There are sins of Omission! These are things that we do not do that by not doing we miss the mark of God’s standard of perfection.
The Bible says in Romans 7:15-18, 15 “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”
There are also sins of Commission! These are things that we do that miss the mark of God’s standard of perfection. Again, the Bible describes these sins in Romans 7:19-23, 19 “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.”
Sin, in any and every form, is an insult to the thrice-Holy God of the Christian Bible! Whether it is that we do not do what we are commanded to do; or, if it is when we do that which we have been commanded to not do, either way we insult the holiness of God and bring us under His righteous and necessary judgment.
And, we do sin! The Bible reveals that we are sinners by nature, by choice, and by continual practice. We will closely examine the following scriptures to prove these points:
1st Corinthians 2:14 “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
Romans 3:10, 23 10 “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one…” 23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”
Genesis 6:5-6 5 “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. 6 And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”
I am beginning to think that this will never be described as a, “Feel Good Sermon.”
In our focal passage from Romans 5, I will try to reveal and make clear five major applications about sin…
I will address how sin came into the world and how it is passed on to infect the entire human race; the reality that each of us is personally responsible for our sins against God; that God’s righteous punishment of sin is death; that sin is more than breaking the Laws of God – in fact, for the two-thousand years from Adam’s sin until the giving of the Laws of God, everyone still faced God’s judgment on them for their sins – death!
Fifthly, I will close the sermon with THE GOOD NEWS that our loving and merciful God has provided a way to deal with our sins and to bring us to Him as His children! WOW… NO WONDER THEY CALL IT, “GOOD NEWS!”
I hope you will take time to read over, pray over, and think through these verses. I hope you will pray for the blessing of God as you prepare your mind to hear the preaching of God’s Word this coming Sunday.
As Tom Rains loves to say, “I hope to see you Sunday with your Bible in your hand, a smile on your face, and your family and friends by your side!”
I really do.
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