When it comes to Christianity or religion, there are subjects that most people do not want to talk about and questions that they do not want to be asked. I believe that the most difficult subject in Christianity is the subject of sin. When sin is brought up in a conversation some people, especially unbelievers, try to end the conversation quickly. But in order to preach the salvation and sanctification, the subject of sin must not only be broached, it must be dug into. With this in mind, the confessing believer in Christ must stand ready to not only engage these conversations, but, possess the willingness and ability to explain sin from a Biblical perspective.
So, I ask you today, how would you answer the following 5 questions?
1. What do you believe about sin?
2. How do you think God sees sin?
3. What do you think sin does to our relationship with God?
4. What do you believe are the consequences of sin?
5. Can we escape the wages of sin, if so how?
Understanding the Biblical answers to these questions is not only vital to the believer’s sanctification, but they are equally important to the unbeliever’s salvation. Since this is a reality, we had better have the right answers. Therefore, this week, as we continue through our 40 Days of Discipleship, let us focus in on answering these critical questions from Gods perspective.
Monday
1. What do you believe about sin?
The Bible tells us that sin is any thought, or action that violates the will of God as revealed to us through His Holy Scriptures. The best place to gain this understanding is by reading through the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are Gods primary way of explaining to us His holy and non-negotiable will for our lives. As one reads through the Commandments, they will soon realize that they have actually violated all of them at one point in their lives. But the Commandments are more than just a list of do’s and don’ts, they are actually designed to inform us on what sin is and how we in our violation of the commandments, are sinners.
Read through the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1-17 and take note of the preamble in verse 1 where God states, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” In this statement, God is informing us of His right to institute His Ten Commandments over our lives. And, so because God is our Creator, He has complete authority to direct us as He pleases. For further verification of this universal truth look to what God states in Isaiah 44:24, “Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself”. These authoritative words come from the mind of our Creator and therefore demand our attention and adherence. Jesus, in His earthly ministry, understood the seriousness of the Ten Commandments and lived the life that you and I were commanded to so that He could be our fulfillment of God’s commandments. He proved this truth when He stated in Matthew 5:17-18, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”
Tuesday
2. How do you think God sees sin?
God is thoroughly disgusted with sin. Nowhere in the Bible do we see God coddling or condoning sin. Quite oppositely we read in the Scriptures that God is angry with sinners and His wrath is poured out upon them. For this reason, the Bible tells us that God commanded, “The soul who sins shall die” – Ezekiel 18:20. Please note that there is a pronoun in this statement “who”. I mention this because sin isn’t something that exists on its own; rather sin is something that emanates from an individual. It is important to understand this because God’s anger not only burns against sin, it burns against the sinner. Read Psalm 5:4-6 (How God hates sin) Psalm 7:11-17 (How God sees the sinner).
Wednesday
3. What do you think sin does to our relationship with God?
Because sin and the person who sins is detestable to God, God will not allow sinners into His presence, nor will He hear their petitions. The Bible teaches that they will be left to their own devises. The prophet Isaiah wrote of this as he was instructed by God and said (speaking on behalf of God), “When you [speaking to the sinner] spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.” – Isaiah 1:15. It is important for us to take a deeper look into Gods words regarding sin and the sinner so that we would understand the righteous indignation of God toward sin. It is through this understanding that God will open our eyes to the gravity and grave nature of sin and lead us to a heart of evangelism. Read Isaiah 59:1-15 and break down these verses this way;Verse 1-2 explain that God will not waste His holy attention on the sinner. Verses 3-8 show us how God analogizes the seriousness of sin. Verses 9-15 gives us a sobering snapshot of the results of our sin.
Thursday
4. What do you believe are the consequences of sin?
Answering this question Biblically is the biggest turn-off to most unbelievers and some who confess to be believers. The reason is that many people have heard and read that God is a loving God and so they believe and argue that a loving God would never inflict wrath or punishment upon people. Bluntly stated, this argument is rooted in Biblical illiteracy and/or willful ignorance. It is through this eternally false and dangerous argument that the Universalists have developed their erroneous doctrine of universal atonement. Other false religions, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the like, have clung to the doctrine that the unbeliever just simply ceases to exist when they die and this alone is their judgement. Neither of these false arguments are loving because they intentionally disregard the infallible Word of God. Furthermore, these false doctrines weaken evangelism and turn Christianity into just another world religion because without the doctrine of righteous judgement against sin, all religions are pretty much the same. But God’s Word is clear, anyone who’s name is not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, that is, anyone who has not believed in Jesus as Savior and Lord, will be cast into hell for all eternity. Read Revelation 20:14,15 as well as Jesus’ own words in Matthew 25:31-46.
Friday
5. Can we escape the wages of sin, if so how?
God is such a gracious and loving God that not only does He reveal to us what sin is and its consequences, but He also reveals to us how we can be saved from the penalty due us because of our sins. This way of escaping the wages of our sins is known as The Doctrine of Penal Substitution, or Substitutionary Atonement. Simply put, someone must pay, eternally, for our sins. It will be either us or someone who is altogether and eternally Holy. For this reason, God the Son (Jesus) was sent into this world by God the Father so that through Jesus’ perfect life, sacrificial death and eternal resurrection, God would accept Him as the substitution payment for all those who would believe in Jesus thereby making Him their Savior and submitting to Him as their Lord. According to this truth, the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”So, the eternal reality is this, if someone believes that they are not a sinner, that God is not indignant over sin and that He does not punish sin, they are calling God a liar. If they refuse to believe the consequences of sin and they reject the atonement of God’s only Son, they are telling God that they can handle the consequences on their own. For a greater understanding of these truths, read Nahum 1:1-6 and 2 Corinthians 5:11-21.