1 Pet 2:24 (ESV) "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness."
So just how bad IS sin? We hear little talk today about SIN. You will not find it mentioned in most newspaper reports, or in the evening news. Facebook does not have a sin section, though there are no doubt plenty of sinful things happening on Facebook. Some churches don’t even mention the word “sin” anymore.
Instead…we have issues, we have problems, we have failures, hang ups, we carry baggage, we have deficiencies, set backs, relapses, we act out, we act up. We have bad habits, we misspeak, we misstep, we make mistakes.
So….just how bad IS sin? The world thinks it not too bad…
---BUT--
If sin is NOT so bad, then why the severe punishment of Adam and Eve? Banishment and the SIN nature past to posterity…for disobeying one rule?
If sin is NOT so bad then why the concern about Cain’s murder of Abel? …he was just “acting out” in response to God’s dissatisfaction with his sacrifice?
If sin is not so bad, why did God give Israel the Law?
Why did Israel wander for 40 years in the wilderness? …perhaps the 10 spies had a low self esteem...hence their fear of the Canaanite enemy?
If sin is not so bad, then why did Achan’s whole family perish with him?
Why did God take the kingdom away from Saul? …it was just some extra sheep they took for sacrifices…
If sin is not so bad, then why the DEATH of Ananias and Saphira for misspeaking? Why the countless animal sacrifices in the OT?
Why do people still die today, why do I even need a heath care plan?
If sin is not so bad, why are there…46 murders; 2300 aggravated assaults; 24000 burglaries; 1200 robberies on average every day in the USA?
BUT BY FAR the most important question in this discussion of sin is this ….if sin is not so bad, then WHY did Jesus have to die? …WHY?….
C. H. Spurgeon said…."In one word, the great fact on which the Christian's hope rests is substitution. The vicarious sacrifice of Christ for the SINNER, Christ's suffering for the SINNER, Christ's being made SIN for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, ….this is the cardinal fact of the gospel."
We NEEDED a substitute, we NEEDED JESUS because sin IS BAD, it is a SERIOUS problem….it is STILL a serious problem……
Sin is deceitful…. It convinces us we have none, it persuades us it is harmless… and then systematically destroys us, our lives, our relationships, our homes, our culture, our souls, and our testimony for Christ.
Sin DOES “take us farther than we want to go, keep us longer than we want to stay and cost us more than we want to pay.” Its scars are everywhere.
No program can fix sin, no medicine can cure it, nothing can tame it, and nothing can bind it. The only hope for sin is the Gospel of Jesus Christ; the very thing sin seeks to minimize the most.
Sin is ALWAYS bad, ALWAYS a big deal,…and the ONLY right response to sin is to AGREE with God that it is BAD, it is a big deal… We call this agreement with God confession, and after confession the next right response is to turn away from sin, we call this repentance… we turn away from our sin and turn to God, the One who has graciously extended His forgiveness in Christ. This is salvation…and it is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone!
A person who really understands how bad their sin is… is not far from salvation or one who is progressing by God’s grace and power in their sanctification. They have a passion to be holy.
C S Lewis…said it this way "...the right direction leads not only to peace but to knowledge. When a man is getting better, he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse, he understands his badness less and less. .…. Good people know about good and evil: bad people do not know about either." (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p.87).
So just how bad is sin? How we answer this question is a measure of how much we love Jesus Christ; the answer will determine our eternal destiny, it will determine the significance and satisfaction of our life here, and Christian, it will shape the impact of your life for Christ in this dark and sinful world.
I Peter 2:24 "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness." (ESV)