The Enemy Within
Galatians 5:16
Opening Prayer
ÒFather, what a wonderful privilege it is to gather together as a body
of believers to study Your Word, to understand all of the phenomenal assets
that You have provided for us to live the unique spiritual life of this Church
Age. We thank You that You have defeated sin at the cross through the
remarkable plan of salvation, whereby Jesus Christ paid the penalty for us, and
by faith alone in Christ alone, we have eternal salvation. We are also at the
moment of salvation set free from the power of the sin nature, and so we must
learn the assets You have provided for us that we may
on a day-to-day basis put to death the deeds of the flesh—the sin
nature—and advance spiritually by walking by means of the Holy Spirit. We
pray that as we continue our study of this topic, You
would help us to see how these things apply to our own lives. We pray in JesusÕ
name, amen.Ó
We are going to continue our study in Galatians 5 of what it means to
walk by means of the Holy Spirit. By way of introduction, we saw that this was
often a phrase that is bandied about in Christian circles, yet it seems that
more often than not, people utilize these phrases without giving them a whole
lot of thought and just sort of assuming that everybody knows what we are
talking about and everybody knows how to do it. It is amazing how many times
you find people asking questions about these things and not getting very good
answers.
We have been taking our time with Galatians 5:16 to see the background
and to understand its dynamics so that it can be something that is intensely
practical for our spiritual life. As a matter of fact, I think this section of
Galatians 5 is one of the most significant passages in all of the New Testament
for how we are to live the spiritual life.
We saw at the beginning that this is a mandate directed to every
believer. ÒWalk in the Spirit, and you
shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.Ó It is a present active
imperative, which means that this is a general precept or general principle for
the spiritual life. Paul says, ÒWalk by
means of the Spirit ÉÓ Then the result of that is given in the second
clause of the sentence ÒÉ and you will
not carry out the desire of the flesh.Ó
Last time we saw that in the Greek it uses a double negative. In English
if you use a double negative, they cancel out one another, and you end up with
a positive. A double negative is bad English, but in the Greek, it is the way
of emphatically stating a point. There are two different Greek words used for
negation—OU and ME. When they are put together, you have one of the most emphatic ways of
denial possible, especially when that is used in conjunction with an aorist
active subjunctive verb. The subjunctive mood is the mood of potentiality, and
by coupling the double negative with the mood of potentiality, what you are
saying is that all potentiality is removed.
In other words, it is absolutely impossible then to carry out or to
fulfill. This is the verb TELEIOO, and it means to bring to completion or to
fulfill. Here we are looking at the sin nature and its dynamics of tempting the
mentality of the soul to sin. It is saying you will not carry out the desire of
the flesh—flesh being a figurative way of referring to the sin nature.
We see that there is a contrast in this verse between walking by means
of the Spirit and fulfilling the lust pattern, which is the underlying
motivation of the sin nature. Because of the strong negation that is in the
middle of the verse, we see that it is an either/or scenario. Just as the
Scripture talks about walking in light or walking in darkness, as a believer,
you can still walk in darkness, which is tantamount to walking according to the
sin nature. These are mutually exclusive categories. It is not a both/and; it
is an either/or. It is one or the other.
When we come to look at the character of God, we see that God is
absolute righteousness. Because He is absolute righteousness, God cannot have
fellowship with any creature that is less than perfection. What the
righteousness of God demands (which is absolute perfection), the justice of God
executes. What the righteousness of God rejects, the justice of God condemns.
When you or I commit any sin (sin of the tongue, mental attitude sin, or
overt sin), whether it is a minor sin to us like a white lie or grumbling or
complaining about something we think is justifiable, it is a violation of the
perfect righteousness of God, so it is rejected. Fellowship at the point is
broken, so we are no longer walking by means of God the Holy Spirit. One of His
primary responsibilities in the spiritual life is to maintain spiritual
fellowship. When we sin, we are said to grieve and quench the Holy Spirit, so
that He is no longer the active influence in our lives, but the sin nature
becomes the active influence.
At that point, we decided to stop last time and begin a look at the
doctrine of the sin nature. LetÕs have a little review and then move forward.
1) Terminology—The Greek word SARX translated flesh
refers literally to the flesh (the material that covers our bones), but it is
used figuratively to refer to the sin nature in a number of different
passages—Romans 7:5, 18 and Romans 8:4–8, just to name a few. There
relates to the fact that there is a conflict between the flesh and the sin
nature. When Adam sinned and acquired a sin nature, his constitution as we will
see was radically transformed—degenerated is really a better
word—so that even in his physical makeup, there was a deterioration so
that the sin nature is passed on genetically through the male of the species.
This is not a materialism/immaterialism/dualism sort of thing, but the source
or base of operation of the sin nature is considered to be our body.
2) Definition—We reviewed the ÒWestminster Larger CatechismÓ definition which said that Òsin is any want of conformity
unto or transgression of any law of God given as a rule to the reasonable
creature.Ó We saw that Lewis Sperry Chafer modified that and I think improved
on it by saying that Òsin is any want of conformity to the character of God.Ó
That is the standard.
How do we know if something is a sin? It is not because we have some
internal impression that it is a sin, not because we have some intuitive
insight, but because there is clear, objective teaching in the Word of God
about the Person of God, His character, and the law of God expressed in the
Scriptures that give us that standard.
The general term that is used for sin in the Greek New Testament is the
word HAMARTIA. It means to miss the mark. Many of you like archery or pistol or rifle
shooting. When you miss the target, that is the literal meaning of HAMARTIA—missing
the mark, falling short of GodÕs absolute standards.
Romans 3:23, ÒFor all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God.Ó That is the meaning of HAMARTIA,
and it is this Greek word that gives us the English word hamartiology, the
technical term for that theological discipline that studies what the Scripture
says about the doctrines of sin.
The definition of sin was any mental, verbal, or overt act which violates the character, standards, and will of
God, which are revealed in the Word of God. We always add that final phrase
Òrevealed in the Word of GodÓ because that gives us that clear, objective
standard for making a decision about what sin is. It is not some subjective
impression, but it has a clear standard expressed in the Word of God.
The sin nature is the capacity, the propensity, and the inclination in
every human being to make life work independent of God. Dr. Chafer said Òsin is the restless unwillingness on the part of the
creature to abide in the sphere and limitation in which the perfect Creator
placed him.Ó We have a restless unwillingness to obey God; it is negative
volition.
3) We saw that sin originated in the universe as a result of the sin of
Lucifer—the highest, most beautiful, most intelligent of all the
creatures—when he first sinned. We saw that in Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14.
When Lucifer fell, he was given a new name or title. In Hebrew it was Satan, and we transliterate it Satan. It
means accuser; he accused God. We derive from that term the deduction that
Satan must have accused the righteousness and justice of God, saying something
along the lines of Òhow can a righteous and just God and loving God send His
creatures to a lake of fire? You ought to at least give me the opportunity to
see if I can fulfill my desire of acting like God.Ó
So God decided to give him a little opportunity to do so and created the
human race. The creation of mankind is directly related to this conflict in the
angelic realm. That is why sin and all of these things go far
beyond simply the material observation but are involved in this greater
conflict, this cosmic conflict among the angels.
4) Sin originated first with Lucifer. Then analyzing that, we drew some
conclusions about sin. Sin is an act of volition against God. We saw that it
produces sins in four categories:
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Sins of commission. This is when we
intentionally perform or engage in any overt, mental or verbal act which violates the character of God.
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Sins of omission. This is a failure to attain
the highest standards revealed by God—just a failure to obey God.
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Sins of ignorance. We do something, and we are
not sure that it is a sin, but nevertheless, it does violate the character of
God. It is a sin, and we want to do it.
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Sins of cognizance. We clearly know that
something is a sin, and we make a definite volitional decision to engage in
that sin despite the prohibitions in the Word of God.
And all sins (commission, omission, ignorance,
cognizance) were all paid for by Jesus Christ on the cross.
5) Sin is ultimately an act of independence against God, so that all
sins are first and foremost against God no matter whom else they might effect.
We do not sin against other people. We may do things that hurt other people,
there may be consequences of our sin that hurt others, but remember that sin by
definition is a violation of what? Not the character of your wife or your
husband or your friends or the law or the government. Sins are a violation of
the character of God, so by definition all sin is against God.
6) Sin originated in the human race with AdamÕs original sin in the
garden. We surveyed Genesis 1–3 and the original test in the garden. When
God placed Adam and Ishah in the
garden, she was called Ishah
in the Hebrew up until after the fall when she had her first child, and then Adam renamed her Kevah, which means mother of all
living.
Adam and Ishah
had a test. The issue in the garden is whether or not they will eat the fruit.
The issue is volition, and they could either be negative or positive to God. If
they rejected GodÕs prohibition and ate, then they would die. It is a very
strong statement in the original Hebrew that the instant they ate, they would
die spiritually. We know that at the instant they ate, they did not die
physically, so the only conclusion is that they would die spiritually, which is
defined as separation from God. We saw that when God came to walk in the garden
with them as He did on a daily basis, instead of coming to Him because there
was unimpeded fellowship, they ran and hid because sin now had erected a
barrier between man and God.
The first result is the penalty of sin, which is spiritual death.
Spiritual death as we have seen is the primary penalty. By way of shorthand, we
call this P1. It is the consequence, the penalty that God has mandated for sin.
As a result of that, there are six other categories of death mentioned in the Bible.
All other categories are the result of spiritual death. If it was not for AdamÕs original sin and spiritual death, we
would not have any other category of death.
a) Physical death
b) Sexual death
c) Positional death—when the believer is identified with the death
of Jesus Christ on the cross. At the moment of faith alone in Christ alone, you
are identified with ChristÕs death on the cross, burial and
resurrection—that is called positional death.
d) Carnal death—when you sin and are out of fellowship, you grieve
and quench the Holy Spirit and living on the basis of the sin nature.
e) Operational death—when your operational production is nothing
more than dead works (wood, hay, and stubble) because it is done from the area
of strength in the sin nature. James 2:14–26
f) Second death—eternal condemnation in the lake of fire for those
who have rejected Jesus ChristÕs payment for their sins on the cross.
All categories of death are the result of sin, but the penalty is
spiritual death, which is temporal and eternal separation from God.
7) At the instant of AdamÕs sin, he died spiritually and acquired a sin nature which inhabits the cell structure or DNA
code of the human race. The sin nature is passed on genetically to every member
of the human race through the male of the species.
Adam had perfect fellowship with God, who was +R, but at the instant of
AdamÕs sin, that fellowship was broken, and a sin barrier was erected between
Adam and God. As a result of that sin, AdamÕs basic nature (another word for
this was his constitution) was transformed, changed.
Just as we saw last time, when we look at the curse that God pronounced on both the animal kingdom and nature as well as man for
sin, we saw there were incredible physiological changes which took place to
everybody. The serpent previously went about, we assume, on legs. WeÕre not
sure what form of locomotion the serpent had prior to the Fall,
but the curse was that it would go about on his belly. So serpents/snakes now
go around on their scutes; they no longer have legs.
We also know the physiological change affected the woman. She was
designed to have children prior to the fall; after the fall, there would be
labor pains.
The consequence of sin.
As far as the man is concerned, we know that there were changes related
to his responsibility. He was to subdue the earth, and yet now, the earth would
be covered with thorns and thistles. There would be warfare, antagonism,
conflict between man and nature, so that the more we struggle to take care of
our yards, the more weeds grow. IsnÕt that amazing in the midst of this
drought, it doesnÕt rain, the grass doesnÕt grow and just burns up, but the
weeds continue to grow.
That is just a visible reminder that we are living in a cursed
environment. No matter what people do, no matter how much people try to make
the environment perfect, the environment is under a curse as a result of manÕs
sin.
Yet we are given the promise in the New Testament that Jesus Christ
controls the environment, Jesus Christ controls all of history, so that even
though man may do certain things that have a damaging impact on their
environment, it will never destroy the environment. We donÕt have to worry that
the ozone layer will disappear or anything else because we are promised in
Colossians 1 that Jesus Christ holds everything together.
Man can never do anything to override the providential care of the Lord
over all of nature. Nature, nevertheless, does suffer a curse. All of this is a
result of AdamÕs original sin.
So it has a certain physical consequence. That is what IÕm arguing here.
That is why we have phrases like the
flesh, body of sin. All of these things indicate that there is a physical
transformation that took place in man that affected his DNA.
When Adam was originally created in Genesis 1:26–27, he was created in
the image and likeness of God.
Yet, after the Fall when Adam and Eve produced
children, the Scripture said that those children were in the image of Adam;
they were not in the image of God. Why? Because that Imago Dei (image of God) was radically transformed,
constitutionally changed because of sin. Man is still, in one sense, in the
image of God, but that image has been tarnished, been changed, been affected
negatively by sin.
It affects even the DNA so that this sin nature that Adam acquired at
the Fall is passed on from one generation to another
through the male of the species. When the second Person of the Trinity became
incarnate, it was necessary for there to be a virgin conception and birth, a
male was not involved, so there would be no transmission of sin. Jesus Christ
could be born true humanity, perfect humanity without sin in the same sinless
perfection as Adam was when he was originally created.
At the instant of AdamÕs sin, he died spiritually and acquired a sin nature which is passed on genetically to the human race
through the male.
8) The result of this is that every person is born physically alive and
spiritually dead. Because of the presence of the sin nature, there is spiritual
death or separation from God. Now remember, the reason it is called spiritual
death is because man was originally created trichotomous.
That means that man had three parts: body, soul, and spirit. The body is the
material part of mankind. The soul is the immaterial part that is comprised of
self-consciousness, mentality, volition, and conscience.
The human spirit is that immaterial part of man, which is intimately
linked to the soul. The spirit doesnÕt think on its own;
it is the mentality of the soul that thinks. The spirit doesnÕt make decisions;
it is the soul that does—that is where volition resides.
The human spirit of man is that immaterial part of man which allows the
soul to have a relationship with God and to understand the things of God. When
Adam sinned, the human spirit was lost, and he became spiritually dead. So man
was divorced from an understanding of spiritual reality.
That is why it is important for man to be born again, because at the
instant that you put your faith alone in Jesus Christ, God the Holy Spirit
creates a human spirit and instantly and simultaneously imparts that to the
believer so that he becomes spiritually alive at that particular point. He is
then able to grow spiritually and to understand the things of God, especially
through the teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit.
Every person subsequent to Adam is born physically alive and spiritually
dead. The technical, theological term for this is total depravity. This is a
term that is often misunderstood. By total,
it doesnÕt mean that man is as bad as he can be; it doesnÕt mean that everybody
is wicked to the nth degree. It means that manÕs soul,
manÕs being in its entirety, every aspect of manÕs being is affected by sin.
So what does this mean? It means that we are absolutely helpless to do anything
about our fallen status. There is nothing that man can do to gain GodÕs
approbation. Man is fallen, man is lost, man cannot save himself, man cannot do any good that gains GodÕs approbation/approval
that somehow makes him pleasing to God.
That does not mean that man cannot do relatively good things, for
certainly man can. When we look around and compare ourselves to other people,
we can certainly see that some people do phenomenal works of good deeds. That
is wonderful, that is nice, that is very beneficial to other people, but it
does not gain the approval of God; it does not impress God one little bit
because it all flows from a fallen nature.
We are helpless to do anything about our fallen status. It also means
that every aspect of our being is corrupted and polluted by sin. That means
that if we look at our self-consciousness, it means that our concept of who and
what we are as creatures, as human beings is going to be distorted by sin. It
means that in our mentality, the thinking part of our soul, even the starting
point of our thinking is distorted by sin.
For example, in the history of thinking, man usually operates on either
rationalism, which has as its starting point principles of human reason, or on
empiricism, which starts from sense data and that all truth ultimately comes
through the senses.
Then there is what I call rationalism gone to seed, which is mysticism,
the idea that we just intuitively know the truth. The only other alternative is
revelation: God directly instructs us and teaches us what we should think and
where the starting points are. That doesnÕt mean that God tells us everything,
but He gives us the starting points, and then we work it out from there but
always consistent with the revelation of God.
Our mentality and our volition are affected. Our conscience is
affected—the norms and standards that we have in our soul are many times
perverted.
You go into some stoneage cultures, like the
province of Irian Jaya [western Papua New Guinea],
where they believe that the highest standard, the greatest thing that you can
do is to deceive someone else to the point of taking their life [from the book
ÒPeace ChildÓ]. There is a complete reversal of values—right is called
wrong and wrong is called right.
Every aspect of our being is corrupted and polluted by sin, and every
human being is born obnoxious to God. This runs counter to the natural
inclination of mankind. We want to think that somehow after a child is born
that he is not really obnoxious to God until he reaches a certain point where
maybe he commits certain sins or at the point of God consciousness or
accountability, and it is only at that point that he becomes a sinner. But that
is not what the Bible teaches.
The Bible teaches that at the point of birth every human being is
–R; we lack the perfect righteousness of God, and therefore to use the
term that John Calvin used, we are Òobnoxious to God.Ó We violate His absolute
perfect standard.
Now God in His justice and fairness realizes that a baby must reach the
age of accountability. What do we mean by the age of accountability? The child is old enough to understand that
God exists and to understand the Gospel and to make responsible decisions in
that realm. Until he reaches that age of accountability, if a child dies before
that point, he will still go to Heaven. That is part of GodÕs grace from the cross.
Now when is the age of accountability? We donÕt know; that differs from
individual to individual and differs from culture to culture. If two Christian
parents have a child and that child is exposed to biblical truth in the home
and from infancy they are read Bible stories and they go to church from nursery
on up, then certainly they are going to reach an age of God consciousness much
earlier than some child born in the bush in Africa or in the mountains of Tibet
or someplace like that.
There they may not reach God consciousness or an age of accountability
until what we would call adolescent years and maybe even early adulthood,
depending on the situation. Of course, other factors are taken into account,
but God who is omniscient knows all the issues.
But every human being is born obnoxious to God, so when you look at your
beautiful little child, just remember that is nothing more than a sin nature
wrapped up in the flesh. Since we are studying the doctrine of the flesh, we
know exactly what that means. That is why the Scripture says, ÒFoolishness is bound up in the heart of a child ÉÓ (Proverbs 22:15)
Foolishness is the opposite of wisdom in Scripture, and foolishness is
everything that is produced by the sin nature in Scripture. Ò... the rod of correction will drive it far from
him.Ó That is the job of the parent to at times exercise corporal
punishment in order to teach and instruct your children so that they do not
grow up undisciplined and irresponsible. It is your job to teach them wisdom
and, as believers, it is your responsibility to ÒÉ bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.Ó
(Ephesians 6:4)
This is primarily the responsibility of the father in the home, although
in our American culture, most American males have abdicated that responsibility
because they just think that is beneath them. Most American males have
abdicated spiritual responsibility too and are all relative losers in the
spiritual life.
The issue for men and women is each have roles
in marriage, and it is the responsibility of the man to make sure your children
are taught doctrine in the home. It is not for you to leave that up to Sunday School at church, but it is your job, and you ought to be involved
from infancy in telling them Bible stories and communicating doctrine. As you
go through life and see various situations, you are to help them to see how to
look at, evaluate and respond to various life situations on the basis of what
the Scriptures teach, always reinforcing in them the reality that the final
authority in life is always the Scripture.
As they go through life and school, you should be interacting with what
they are taught in school and should be familiar with what is being communicated
in their classrooms so that you can help them to develop critical thinking
skills to counter the human viewpoint and paganism that is so often
communicated through various textbooks and classrooms, as well as from their
own peers.
Every child is born with a sin nature, and part of the
parental responsibility is to teach them to
control that sin nature.
We also learn from this that as unbelievers, fallen creatures, we are
naturally unable to understand spiritual phenomenon because we do not possess a
human spirit. This is what is taught in 1 Corinthians 2:14 ÒBut the natural man does not receive the
things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned.Ó The word in the Greek is not
natural; that is a terrible
translation. The word in the Greek is PSUCHIKOS from the word PSUCHE meaning soul. The
term there is a Òsoulish man.Ó He has a human body
and a human soul but lacks a human spirit.
The text says the soulish man cannot
understand the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually
discerned. In other words, there has to be a human spirit present in order for
spiritual phenomenon to be understood.
What about the gospel? What happens at gospel hearing is you have an
evangelist—whether that is a pastor communicating to a congregation like
this or an evangelist in a crusade or just you witnessing to a neighbor,
friend, or someone at the office—communicating gospel information to the
unbeliever. The unbeliever has no human spirit so the Holy Spirit then acts as
a human spirit in order to make gospel information clearly understood to the
unbeliever. Then after it is understood by the unbeliever,
then he has to exercise his volition, either positively toward it to accept
Jesus Christ as his Savior or negatively to reject it.
Remember the issue at gospel hearing is always faith, belief, to accept
as true the claims of Scripture that Jesus Christ is undiminished deity and
true humanity, that He died on the cross as a substitute for the sins of the
world, that He was buried and rose again on the third day. The death of Jesus
Christ for our sins is the basis for salvation.
The Scripture says that it is by faith alone in Christ alone. ÒBelieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you
will be saved ÉÓ (Acts 16:31) It is important for us to get that as clear
as possible. The Holy Spirit is the sovereign executive of evangelism. That
means that if you mess up, if you donÕt know all the right answers, or you are
learning how to do this and are a little nervous and bumble and fumble around,
God the Holy Spirit is going to make it clear to the person you are talking to
how to be saved.
I have found this to be true in many different situations and in many
different church scenarios where you might have somebody standing up in the
pulpit in some religious context, and he says all kinds of things. I went to a
church one time and knew the pastor and his background that he was
neo-orthodox. Neo-orthodox means that you use orthodox terminology, but you
donÕt mean by it the same thing that it has historically meant.
When you say Òbelieve on Jesus as your Savior,Ó
by Jesus you really are talking about a good man. By belief, you just mean follow His example. By Savior, you mean that you will have a better life than if you
donÕt; it is purely ethical. I knew the pastor, and that is what he meant. Yet,
I knew people who came to a true saving knowledge of Jesus Christ because he
used the correct Scriptures, and God the Holy Spirit overrode his human
viewpoint theology.
It happens in all kinds of scenarios so just because somebody is
ignorant of what they are saying or if they make mistakes or if they fumble
around in their gospel presentation, just remember, it is God the Holy Spirit
that is ultimately in control of the situation.
As a result of sin, being born sinners, we are unable to understand
spiritual phenomenon because we are dichotomous. The other thing we learn is
that we sin because we are sinners; we are not sinners because we sin.
That is very important. You were born a sinner, and as a result of that,
you produce personal sins. You are not a sinner because you have chosen to sin.
The result of this is that every single person is born in the slave market of
sin.
The only hope of release from the slave market is for someone to come
from outside who pays the purchase price to redeem us, to set us free from
bondage to sin. That is what Jesus Christ did at the cross. He paid the
purchase price; He died spiritually as our substitute; He took on Himself the
punishment for our sins.
9) Adam became a sinner by sinning. We sin because we are sinners.
AdamÕs sin was unique. He was perfect and became a sinner by sinning; you were
born a sinner so you sin. AdamÕs personal sin caused his sin nature, but our
sin nature produces personal sins.
10) Sin changed the nature of humanity constitutionally. This is
something to think about. What I mean by the word constitutional is that it refers to the basic composition or
structure of something. Sin is not simply a disease. Sin doesnÕt mean that you
are lacking perfect righteousness. Sin is much more than that. The constitution
or nature of man changed downward.
After Adam sinned, he no longer was what he was when he came from the
hand of God. His human nature had been degenerated; it had changed downward.
The result of that is that all of his descendants are born in his image rather
in the full, perfect image of God.
11) Sin permeates every aspect of our humanity. Genesis 6:5 (just prior to
the Flood) ÒThen the Lord saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually.Ó This is another verse you can use
to show that the biblical definition of heart
is the mentality of the soul, the thoughts of his heart, not the feelings of
his heart.
Job 14:4, ÒWho can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? No one!Ó
Job 15:14, ÒWhat is man, that he
could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous?Ó
Psalm 51:5, ÒBehold, I was brought
forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.Ó That doesnÕt mean
that the act of conception was a sin, but the sin nature is transferred through
conception.
Ecclesiastes 7:20, ÒFor there is
not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.Ó
Ecclesiastes 7:29, ÒTruly, this
only I have found: that God made man upright, but they have sought out many
schemes.Ó
The Scriptures clearly testify that man is deeply infected and
constitutionally defected by sin.
12) There are various misconceptions about sin. Sometimes people define
sin as selfishness. While all selfishness is sin, not all sin is selfishness.
That is a limiting of the concept. Sin is much more.
Sin is not merely unbelief. All Scriptures clearly say that anything
done apart from faith is sin, but sin is not merely unbelief. The same is true
that all unbelief is sin, but all sin is not simply unbelief.
Not all sin is a violation of law. It goes beyond simply the violation
of law to the violation of the character of God, which lies behind all law.
13) Our sinfulness has had a tremendous effect upon God. Too often we
want to back up and rationalize and deceive ourselves into thinking that our
sin doesnÕt really affect God. I donÕt mean it affects God in His person or His
character, but it has affected God because God in His mercy and grace and love
has chosen to solve the sin problem.
Now if God could have solved the sin problem in any other way, He would
have done so. But God could only solve the sin problem by sending His Son, the
second Person of the Trinity, to become flesh, to become man, to become a
creature and to go to the cross where He would die spiritually and be separated
from man where all the sins of humanity would be poured out on Him. 2
Corinthians 5:21, ÒFor He made Him who
knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in
Him.Ó That is how it affected God.
Our sin is not something that we can treat lightly or rationalize. It
has had a tremendous impact upon the nature of God so that we cannot
rationalize our sin as being of little or no concern to God.
14) All of our sins (past, present, and future), the sins of every human
being were paid for in full by Jesus Christ on the cross. Because Jesus Christ
paid on the cross for our sins (every sin is poured out on Him), sin is no
longer the issue. The issue is what do you think about Jesus Christ?
If you are not a believer, then you will die in your sin. Sin will not
be the issue at the final judgment because sins have already been judged; the
issue will be righteousness or your works. Because your works do not add up to
perfect righteousness, you will spend eternity in the lake of fire.
John 3:18, ÒHe who believes in Him
is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he
has not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.Ó Failure to
put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ means that you die –R (without
righteousness). If you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, at that
instant God imputes to the believer the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.
When he dies, he has access to Heaven because of the perfect righteousness of
Jesus Christ, not because of his own works.
Titus 3:5, ÒNot by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us,
through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.Ó
15) The believer still possesses a sin nature. It is not wiped out by
salvation. As a believer, you still have the sin nature, but you are no longer
a slave to the sin nature. You now have a new nature, which is the human
spirit, and you are indwelt by God the Holy Spirit.
Closing Prayer
ÒFather, we do thank You for the opportunity to look at Your Word. As we
study what Your Word says about our nature and about the sinfulness of man, we
are indeed impressed with all that You have done in
regards to our salvation. This cost You, Your Son. The second Person of the
Trinity became man, true humanity, and went to the cross where He was
judicially separated from You for those three hours
when all the sins of mankind were poured out upon Him. That is the basis for
our salvation, so that it is not based on anything that we have done, but it is
based totally upon what You have done.
Now, Father, we pray that if there is anyone here this morning who is
uncertain of their eternal salvation, uncertain of their eternal destiny, that
they would know that Your Word is very clear. Your Word says that it is by grace that we are saved through
faith, and that faith is in Jesus Christ who died on the cross as our
Savior. So all that is necessary in order to be saved is to ÒÉ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you
will be saved ÉÓ (Acts 16:31)
Scripture says that is all. ÒÉ for there is no other name under heaven given among men by
which we must be saved.Ó (Acts 4:12) It is not based on works, it is not
based on moral reformation, it is not based on church attendance or membership,
it is not based on any other human factor—it is based simply on
acceptance of Jesus ChristÕs payment on the cross. Now, Father, we thank you
for the things that You have instructed us on this
morning. Help us to think about them, to assimilate them into our soul that it
may be beneficial to us in our spiritual growth. We pray in JesusÕ name, amen.Ó