The Problem of Sin - Preaching The Cross

Romans 5:12

INTRO: Good morning church. Last week we talked about the importance of understanding the cross. The scandal of the cross is central to everything considered Christian. How we think about the cross will affect our behavior. If we want to be the right kind of person and do the right things, then we need to understand the Cross. We said when our thinking is based on the Cross; we are going to start living right.

In 1st Corinthians 1:18 the apostle Paul said about the preaching of the cross, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Inspired writers of the New Testament did not forget the cross and the crucifixion of Jesus. Central to what they wrote was the cross and its effects on humanity.

Admittedly, though, over the years, our preaching has gone in numerous directions and may often have become very application-oriented. That is not all bad, but I wonder if possibly in the preaching of application, we have neglected the preaching of the cross. Is it possible that the underpinning has been forgotten to the extent that our application preaching is very subjective?

What I'd like to do for the next few lessons, the Lord willing, is to preach the cross of Christ because it truly is the underpinning of everything else we might say. It all begins with the cross, the crucifixion, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

A Sunday school teacher asked her class, “Does anyone know what we mean by sins of omission?” A little girl raised her hand and said, “Aren’t those the sins we should have committed, but didn’t?” This morning, as we begin this series, what I need to do is to talk a little bit about the problem of sin, because it was sin that sent Jesus to the cross. It is sin which is the reason for the cross.

I. A BRIEF HISTORY REVIEW ABOUT SIN. Let's start by briefly reviewing the history of sin.

A. We will start with a definition. How does scripture describe sin?

1. In 1st John 3:4, there is a very brief but simple definition. John says, “…sin is the transgression of the law.”[KJV]
2. Sin is a violation of the law or commandment of God. It's that simple. In the New Testament, this word sin comes from an original word, which means “failing to hit the mark”, (Strong G266). Think of this in terms of archery for a moment. When you go out to the archery range, there is a target, and there is a place within the target which would be perfection, the perfect shot. We call it the bull’s-eye. The archer raises their bow, draws back the bow string and lets fly the arrow. If they miss the mark, the bull’s eye, the word for that miss is the word from which our word sin comes. Sin is the violation of the law of God. Sin is missing the mark of perfection.

B. Sin enters human experience with Adam and Eve

1. In the Book of Genesis 2:16-17, God gives instruction. He says, “… Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”[NKJV] There is the instruction of God.
2. Then in Genesis 3:6 we read this: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” There is the violation, the transgression. There is the sin. The commandment of God had been violated.

C. Sin in Cain’s murder of his brother. Starting at Genesis 4:7f “If you do well, (God is speaking to Cain) will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”[ESV] SIN is the violation of the law of God and God tells Cain he must rule over it. What happens? “Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.”… I’ll pause there.

1. We need to note what is written next carefully. “So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. "When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.'' And Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment…”[NKJV]
2. When does punishment come? When there has been a violation of the law. We see that in Genesis 3. Punishment comes with sin. “My punishment” Cain says, “is greater than I can bear!”

D. This question may occur to us. We know from Genesis 2:17, what God had instructed concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but what about Abel and Cain and instruction concerning the sanctity of human life? Where is that instruction?

1. Obviously, from what scripture tells us, we do not see specific instruction concerning this matter, but where there is sin there must be a violation of the law of God. It is proper then to assume that Cain knew he should not have taken his brother's life because of God's law concerning the matter. Yet he took his brother's life, and in doing so committed sin.
2. I'd also like us to look at Romans 5:12f. Something is said here that is very helpful as we think of these ancient times and the matter of sin. “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned." Look at verse 13, "For until the law (talking about the law of Moses) sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”

a. If you'll notice in verse 13 the apostle Paul, by inspiration of the Spirit, writes that sin was in the world before the giving of the Law of Moses. If sin was in the world before the giving of the Law of Moses, there had to have been law existing in the world.
b. That law has not been revealed to us in the Book of Genesis, but it was nevertheless revealed to those people who were subject to it. When they violated the law, they sinned. It's that simple. Sin is the transgression of the law. If there is sin, there's got to be law, and there was law.

E. What about the people in the days of Noah?

1. As we read Genesis 6:5-6 - we discover God's assessment of the situation in these words. “Then 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.” How can there be wickedness and evil if there is no law? Answer—there was law. Thus, God could assess these people were being wicked and evil. “And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”
2. Peter refers to these people as “the ungodly” in 2nd Peter 2:5. How can you be ungodly if there is no law which you must observe and within which you must walk? The answer is you can't be, but if there is law, you can violate it and become ungodly. These people in the days of Noah were ungodly. The sin of these people almost resulted in the end of human life on the earth.

F. Question - did not God know that men would sin?

1. I want to tell you that I do not understand the all-knowingness of God. I frankly admit to you that I'm just not that smart.
2. What we're will find though, is that God did foreknow that mankind ultimately would sin. Let’s continue.

a. God has given us this thing called freewill. Freewill means I can choose and that very thing with which human beings are endowed, led to sin at the beginning. God has given His law for our benefit. Moses would say to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 11:26-28, “I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today,” Here is a positive indication of the freedom of the human will. If the Israelites were not free agents, they could not be punished for disobedience, nor could they, in any sense of the word, be rewarded for obedience.
b. We talk about instinct. When baby sea turtles hatch on the beach they instinctively and quickly head to the ocean to escape the predators on land. Their mothers did not teach them to do that. It is programmed into them. Programming a specific action is very efficient.
c. In contrast to programmed actions, is freewill. When we tell our children what to do they may do something else entirely. The child can understand our instructions but still refuse to follow them. The reason is the child finds other things they want to do more appealing.

II. SIN CONTINUED TO BE A PLAGUE FOR HUMANITY

A. In the book of Isaiah 59:1-2 we find verses familiar to many of us. Isaiah writes, “Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities (or your sins, if you choose) have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” - This is the assessment of God through Isaiah, and it is not unique to Isaiah's time.

1. These two verses may well be a commentary on human history to that point and yes, beyond. Sin from the very beginning of its introduction into humanity, has continued to be a problem. It's been the curse of humanity.
2. In these two verses, something else is seen, and this is so important, the effect of sin on the man-God relationship. Sin inevitably is going to separate you from God. It isn't something God chose to happen. He didn't want you to sin. Sin is going to separate you from God because in His Holiness, He cannot abide in the presence of sin. Sin has to be dealt with in one way or another. That's the whole purpose of the cross. God is dealing with the problem of human sin.

B. In Romans 3:23 the apostle Paul wrote, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” This is the judgment of God upon all of responsible age

1. At some point in your life, at some point in each person's life, sin will enter as a matter of the individual's choosing.
2. If there is no law, there would be no sin ... but there is law. There are people who today preach the idea that there is no law; instead they say we are under total and complete grace, and that the grace of God is going to overlook all of our foolishness and our unrighteousness. Those people who preach that message have forgotten how to read. They have not read their Bibles. Or if they've read them, they have not understood. They found something else more appealing. There is law—God's law, and ignorance of the law does not excuse.
3. When you violate that law, you sin. Sin is going to come into your life by your own choosing. Death passes to all people because all have sinned.

C. Then in Ephesians 2:1-3, as if what we've already said wasn't enough, the apostle Paul talks about the effects of sin. “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”

1. You see, physical death passed to humanity because we were deprived of the tree of life. Genesis Chapter 3.
2. But spiritual death comes to each person because of their own sin. Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned”. Each and every person is dead to God, spiritually dead, at some point in their physical life, and that is because of sin. Spiritual death, unresolved, will lead to eternal death.
3. We're by nature the children of wrath. What is the effect of sin? It'll kill you. We die spiritually when sin comes in our lives. That is, we become dead to God. That's why the cross was so important. That's what the cross is all about, to take care of this problem that happens when sin enters our lives.
4. Jesus died on the cross to make life possible for eternity. He died on the cross so that we wouldn't have to continue to be dead in sin and thus spend eternity in hell because we've died spiritually.

III. SIN IS STILL YOUR PROBLEM AND MINE

A. In 1st John 1:8-9 where John is writing to Christians he says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

1. Again, this is written to Christian people like us, not to people who are out of Christ. These are people who have enjoyed the blessing of forgiveness through the cross of Christ—Christian people.
2. It's written to Christian people who recognize that sin can continue to be a problem for them. People making every effort to walk as they should.
3. Now let’s look at 1st John 1:6-7, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” We can not have fellowship with God when we are walking in darkness. As you know, "walk" in this passage, as frequently in the New Testament, is an idiom for the totality of human conduct.
4. The grammar, the language in verse 7, indicates that cleansing by the blood of Jesus comes as one is walking in the light. Walking in the light shows up our sins and frailties, revealing the need for constant cleansing.

a. This cleansing, however, is not necessarily automatic. It is based upon confession, penitence, and renewal. 1st John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This might be paraphrased, “If we confess our sins to God with a firm resolution to forsake them…” It is difficult for a person to admit blame and guilt, society is hardly capable of any such admission. The trend today is to deny sin exists. Drunkards have merely contracted an unfortunate disease. Adulterers and philanderers are schizophrenic. Thieves, murderers, outlaws, etc. are not criminals, but anti-social. Sinful behavior is not Sin, but the natural response to one’s heredity, environment, deprivation or other things beyond the sinner’s control. This way of thinking is called "self-deception."
b. Then in 1st John 1:10 – “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” To go to the length of denying past sin and present guilt, is not only self deception but to give the lie to God himself. God gave His only begotten Son upon the cross that man might be saved from sin, a salvation that was impossible for any man apart from God’s redeeming act. John’s language here is not too strong. Those who deny their need of redemption from sin, through the pretense of not ever having sinned, are the most guilty and contemptible. To say that we have not sinned is not just to tell a deliberate lie, or to be self-deceived, but actually to accuse God of lying, to make Him a liar.

B. The question then occurs to me, how seriously do we take sin?

1. Are we casual about it? Are we even, some of us, flippant about the fact of sin in our lives, our Christian lives?
2. Do we choose to do wrong things without even a second thought of the consequences?
3. Do we not realize that if we do not deal with our sin problem, that we are setting ourselves up for an eternal calamity?
4. I have a strong suspicion that folks don't like to think about sin. They don't see their unrighteous actions as sinful and can cause them to lose their soul.

C. A preacher wrote that he had preached a sermon about the subject of sin. He said one of his dear friends came to his office on Monday morning and these were her exact words, “I don't like for you to preach about sin.” She went on to explain it's an unpleasant subject saying, “I don't want to hear about it.”

1. This person, in her honesty, confronted him with the idea—I don't like to hear about sin. Perhaps she verbalized in those words thoughts that have been on many of our minds.
2. I just don't want to talk about sin, I don't want to hear about sin.
3. Truly though we haven't talked enough about sin. We haven't talked enough about the effects of sin. We haven't talked enough about how sin can condemn a soul to hell for eternity.
4. People might say; “I'm not so sinful”. What about that expression? … Sin is sin. It's a violation of the law of God, and it will condemn your soul to hell if you do not deal with the problem.

IV. BEFORE TIME BEGAN, GOD LAID PLANS. God did something wonderful. He established a plan by which we could be forgiven for our sins. We can be redeemed from the curse of sin.

A. In 1st Peter 1:20 Peter is talking about Jesus and says, “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” A perfect atoning sacrifice was planned before time began!

1. We can now answer the question… God did know that humanity would sin.
2. And with that foreknowledge, He made His plan for our redemption and set it in motion. The entire journey of the Bible, from the first chapter in Genesis, through the last chapter of Revelation, is all about this plan. Peter says, first in prospect, and now in reality, God set His plan in motion.

B. Speaking of Revelation lets take a look at Revelation 13:8 where the beast is being described – “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.”[para] It is these last words that I want you to notice. Slain from the creation of the world. This is talking about Jesus, the lamb we've read about in 1st Peter 1:20. Jesus Christ, slain from the creation of the world.

1. Wait a minute. I thought Jesus died on the cross about 30 to 32 AD, right in there somewhere. He did, in fact.
2. What we see here is the wonderful plan of God, the knowledge of God, the desire of God. Understand that God's plan, which He formulated, and set in motion, was so immutable that even in the time of Genesis 1, it could be said the Lamb has been slain. God’s plan was so unalterable as to be “accomplished” before it was actually accomplished.
3. That's just the way it is with God. It could be said of Jesus, He was slain from the foundation of the world. Of course, ultimately, Jesus died on the cross, just outside the walls of Jerusalem, in a place called Golgotha.
4. The plan of God was set in motion. The Lamb was prepared, and it was as if the Lamb had already been slain, but His blood was shed at Calvary for our sins. God’s plan involved the cross, the crucifixion - Acts 2:23. It is no wonder the writers of the NT emphasized the cross

CONCLUSION: In God's grace, He has provided both the means and the instruction that we need to know how we can be reconciled to Him. We can overcome our sin problem.

As Christians, we resolve the problem of sin in our lives by confessing and repenting of our sins, and striving to live obedient lives every day.

There are people who have become Christians and know better, yet choose to live their lives in a way that is rebellious to God. Rather then living in obedience they find other things more appealing. We are not the judge. We can see what God's word says about that though. Matthew 7:21-23 where Jesus says, “"Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. "Many will say to Me in that day, `Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' "And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'”

Remember how John defined sin saying, “…sin is the transgression of the law.” Jesus tells us that those who practice lawlessness are going to be lost for eternity.

Those folks who have not yet become Christians need to know that God's grace has provided in the gospel message the means and the instruction to deal with sin.
God waits for your obedient faith in the waters of baptism. Scripture tells us we need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of sins. The wonderful news is that all of those sins we've committed to that point in time, God remembers them no more. They're gone. They're gone because of the Cross.

Christians who have sinned presumptuously, not caring that their life is not as it should be, I urge you to do something about that. Confess your sins and ask God's forgiveness. God is faithful to forgive those with a repentant heart.

If you need the prayers of brothers and sisters on your behalf, all you have to do is come to the front here and say, I'd like you to pray with me and for me. There’s no time like the present because the present is the only time we are assured of.

I urge those in need to come while we stand, while we sing the invitation song.

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Adopted from Sermon by: Cecil A. Hutson