The Exceedingly Sinfulness of Sin

A friend recently stated that while listening to a sermon in church, his pastor said that the word sin was not actually in the Bible.  Whether or not his pastor meant to convey this to the congregation or whether this man heard one misleading statement and ran with it, I cannot know.  Yet, unfortunately he has now decided that the meaning of being a Christian is to try to behave as “good” as we can as Jesus was just a “good” man.  He said that when we find ourselves doing something that is wrong, then we are to just step back and tell ourselves to stop it, then go on living.  To my friend, sin is just an unbiblical concept formed by ignorant and intolerant individuals.  Therefore, the concept of Hell is nothing more than a mere myth. 

     I remained completely calm, and silent.  I am sure that he truly and genuinely wants to believe that sin does not exist and that there are no eternal consequences or accountability for his actions.  If I had questioned him, he surely would have begun an argument consisting of the following questions: “Are you telling me that there is actually something called sin?  Surely there isn’t really a Hell where sinners are sent.  What about all of the people who have never even heard of Jesus?  Why would not believing in Jesus cause a person to go to Hell anyway?”   

     The fact is, most people would rather believe as my friend - that there is no such thing as sin and future punishment.  At the very least they might say, "but all of the sins that I have ever committed were so small."  That is the point of failure in the first place.  We actually believe that sin is trivial - that some sins are small and inconsequential.  We actually believe that we are basically good enough people, so much so that any tiny transgression can just be overlooked.  Yet this is where we make our initial and life altering mistake.  We blind ourselves as to how exceedingly horrible "any" sin is. 

      Have you ever needed to paint a room and the color you chose was white?  You already had a small can of white paint and knew that when you ran out, the hardware store was only a block away.  So, you painted one wall and half of the next and then you drove to the store.  After grabbing the closest can of white paint you brought it home and proceeded to paint the rest of that second wall.  After a couple swipes with the roller you step back in complete shock.  The stark difference between the "whiteness" of the two paints was like black and white.  The second paint was like dirt there on the wall compared to what seemed to be a more perfect white next to it.  You go back to the paint store and discover that there are a myriad of degrees of whiteness of the different paints.  That is why it is so difficult to perfectly match up white paint.  Even if you were to add just a tiny speck of black paint to a great amount of white paint and then compared it to the perfect whiteness of the original, it would now look like a very dirty paint.  The stain is permanent and no matter how much white paint we add, it never again truly and perfectly matches up.  Likewise, the stains of sin are indelible.  The dictionary describes indelible as: Marks that cannot be removed; not able to be forgotten; cannot be washed away or erased.  Sin makes us imperfect which then separates us infinitely from the perfection of our perfect God.      

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.  No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to our sins (Isaiah 64:6-7 NIV). 

     Standing before God, we would look like pure filth compared to His pure clean perfection.  Even the very best that we can be, the most perfect version of ourselves, is described by God in the above verse as nothing better than filthy rags when compared to the Holy perfect righteousness of God.  At our very best there is an infinite distance between God's perfection and our corrupt nature.  Even worse is the fact that we can never overcome that span of distance by any "good thing" that we can do ourselves.   

Why Hell? 

     We naturally cringe at the thought of Hell and wonder at the reason why it is required to be that harsh of a punishment.  Let’s compare this reasoning to our own society’s civil laws and the phrase that comes to mind is, "the time fits the crime.”  If we read in the newspaper that a man was sentenced to life in prison, we would immediately assume that he had broken the law by committing a great crime.  As we continued to read the article that describes how he had committed murder and theft, we would quite well understand the reason for his conviction as well as his subsequent sentence.  The judge, by giving him life in prison, had executed a "just" judgment.  If, when we first read that article, he had been sentenced to only one year then we would have naturally thought that this criminal had only committed a small crime.  But then, after reading about his murders, we would have definitely questioned the judge's sanity of only giving him one year in prison.  The prison time of a life sentence more correctly and more justly fits the crime.  

     The Bible says that God is good, just and perfect in all of His ways.  We must understand this fact and have faith enough to believe in our very own hearts that God really is completely good and that He is completely just in His judgments as well.  Then and only then can we understand that there is no “trivial” sin.  If the sentence for any sin is death in Hell, then that should help us understand just how bad sin is - the time fits the crime.  If sin, any sin, justly deserves a life sentence in Hell then sin is that exceedingly bad.  Breaking the Laws of God is truly that bad.   

You shall have no other gods before Me.  You shall make no idols.  You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.  Keep the Sabbath day holy.  Honor your father and your mother.  You shall not murder.  You shall not commit adultery.  You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.  You shall not covet.  

     God plunges right to the actual heart of the matter with these ten commandments which ultimately reveal our sinful natures.  You might believe that you have never made an idol.  Yet, we all have.  In our own minds we have created our own version of who God really is: One who tolerates every sinful imagining that we think, say or do; one who is completely different then the One described in the Bible.  Why do we do this?  Well, the imaginary one in our mind will not hold us accountable in the end for our crimes. 

     Have you never committed murder?  Think again.  Jesus equated hatred as murder.  He also destroyed the manmade distinction between lust and adultery.  Only the idolatry of our mind would separate the two.  Have you ever used the name of God/Jesus Christ as a substitute curse word?  The Bible says that you will not be held blameless if you take His name in vain. 

     The Laws of God strip man of any self-righteousness and reveal our sinful natures.  We can never boast of our own goodness when the light of these laws is shining down on top of us revealing the fact that we have all broken every one of these commandments.  The Bible says that if we have broken one then we are guilty of all.  We all fall short of the Glory of God in the light of His Law.  How then can anyone be saved?  How can I be saved?  If God is good and as powerful as the Bible says He is, why can't He just come up with another solution instead of sentencing us to Hell when we die?  Doesn't He care?"     

     Who is God?  God is the creator of all the heavens and earth as well as the stars, plants and animals.  He created time, space, gravity and the air that we breathe.  If He says that the absolute only outcome of sin is death in Hell, than that is absolute truth.  Yet, He did in fact have a solution to the problem of sin, death and Hell.  However, the resolution to this dilemma still needed to result in death and punishment - of Him this time.  If this great God in Heaven had to go the extreme of offering Himself as a sacrifice in our places, then, yes, sin, any sin, is that horrific.  This all powerful, all perfect God that created everything including the universe itself had to actually die the death that we deserve in order to save us from our horrific sins.   

     Jesus, who became man but was still fully God, willingly died on that cross at Calvary 2000 years ago in order to defeat death and Hell forever.  In His complete perfection, He became sin for all of mankind.  All of our sinful unrighteous acts were placed to his charge as He was tortured, beaten and nailed to a cross.  He hung on that cross dying a most painful and horrific death while bearing the conviction of all our sins.  We committed the crimes and He willingly paid the fine - with His life.  Our perfect God in Heaven loved us so much that He became sin, our sin, in order to save us from death and eternal Hell.   

     Sin is real.  Sin is a Biblical fact.  Sin was paid for by the blood of God Himself.  Sin must never be trivialized but recognized for the exceedingly horrific thing that it is.  Let the light of the Law of God reveal to you that you are a sinner and in danger of Hell’s judgment.  Let the love of Jesus who allowed Himself to be sacrificed for you on the cross cause you to repent and turn away from what God calls sin, choosing to place your entire trust in Him as your only hope.  If you believe with your whole heart that He willingly died to save you from your sins and if you ask His forgiveness then you will never see Hell.  If you genuinely accept Him as Lord and Savior of your life then you will be welcomed into Heaven being given the gift of everlasting life for He defeated death and Hell forever on the Cross of Calvary for all who believe and trust in Him.

© 2017 G. R. Workman  

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