The Nature of Sin, Pt 4: Universal Sin

Romans 3:9-18                      9What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” 13“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” 14“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” 15“Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16ruin and misery mark their ways, 17and the way of peace they do not know.” 18“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

We saw in a previous post in this series that sin is not just violating commandments or laws concerning certain kinds of behavior.  Sin is more encompassing than that.  The reader is almost certainly aware of the list of laws called the Ten Commandments which is given in Exodus 20 and repeated in Deuteronomy 5, but may not be aware there are 603 other laws in the Old Testament.  In their zeal to be approved of by God, the Hebrews of those days thought that a rule covering every possible transgression would guarantee righteousness.  But of course they were wrong:  No one can simultaneously obey 613 commandments.

What they failed to understand, and what Romans 3 makes clear is that sin is a heart issue, not a performance issue.  These verses make clear that ancient humans, and modern humans, are guilty of the most profound of transgressions.  This is one of the reasons that I don’t agree with the theory that humans developed gradually over millions of years.  While we certainly have increased in cognitive ability, our moral and ethical character is well described by words penned over 2000 years ago.  No, there has been no change in that arena.

A person might wonder what one of the founders of our nation would think if he were able to see the degree to which this nation has fallen in its moral standing.  After all, our Founding Fathers created a nation of high moral and Godly character, right?  But historians know Benjamin Franklin, one of the greatest of the Fathers, to be a womanizer and a person who regularly engaged in perverted sexual behavior like orgies.  You see, human beings have a well-developed ability to compartmentalize their thinking.  They can conceive of the grand idea of creating a nation devoted to Godly values while at the same time justifying their own behavior as no body’s business but their own.  To put it another way, they can equally judge another person according to their actions but judge themselves according to their intentions.

But God wants unity in mind and action, word and deed.  Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister, will be subject to judgment” (Matthew 5:21-24).  And later said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28).

So sin is not as much transgression as it is rebellion.  We modern humans are daily repeating the same sin as of Adam and Eve; we rebel against His intentions for our lives.  The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5-7 is Jesus’ exposition of God’s standard of righteousness.  It is a must-read for someone who wants to love God and live according to His ways.  But the trouble is many people, possibly most people, have never read the Bible.  They consider it archaic and inapplicable to modern times.  Verse 18 of Romans 3 has never been more applicable than today.  So if you are beating yourself up because of a habitual sin, please lighten up a little bit.  All humanity is in the same boat; we do not naturally seek after God, nor do good, nor fear God.  But there is a solution.  Jesus also said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, …” (John 6:44).  If you are reading this, it is because God has already called you into his family or is in the process of doing so.  So you can relax.  I have a good friend who frequently says, “Hit delete!”  What he means is that wherever one is with God, he can start fresh.  God loves all of His creation and wants all of them to enter his family.

Lamentations 3:19-24           I remember my affliction and my wanderings, … My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.   But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:  The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.   “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

If a person is having a difficult time reconciling his or her love of God with his or her propensity to sin, there really is only one remedy.  That is to keep going to God through His Son.  Satan wants us to give up, say there is no hope for me, and keep on sinning.  God says that’s not the answer.  When we get to the end of the day, and we are ashamed of our actions and thoughts we must ‘Hit delete’, repent of our sins, and ask God for forgiveness.  Remember, devotion to God is measured by the journey, not the endgame.  The answer is not to obey 613 commandments as the ancients so tried to do, and so miserably failed.  The answer is not to set up a grand plan for national obedience and then expect others to implement it.  The answer is personal obedience to Christ and trust in Him.  The answer is to believe in Lamentation 3 and know God loves us so much that He made us in his own image and is ready every moment of every day to draw close to us as we draw close to Him.

Reader, if you are uncertain about your relationship with God through His Son, please say this prayer of salvation aloud:

I REPENT for being master of my own life and living separate from God.

Jesus, I change my mind about You. You are the Son of God and You are God. You came into this world to show us the way we are to live and to provide eternal life to those who would accept You. 

I CONFESS with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and BELIEVE in my heart that God raised Him from the dead.

I confess with my mouth that You, Jesus, are Lord, the Ruler over all. You are the Christ, the Son of God. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead and You are alive forevermore, seated on Your throne in heaven next to the Father. The heavenly hosts worship before Your throne. I believe Your blood that was shed on the cross washes away all my sin. 

I RECEIVE You, Jesus, as my Lord and my Savior

I receive You as my personal Lord, King and Commander. I invite You into my life as the Lord and Ruler of my life. I no longer choose to be in charge of my life. I give it to You. I invite You, Jesus, to have first place in my heart and my life. I ask for Your cleansing blood that was shed on the cross to come now and wash down over all my sins. Come make me clean. Restore me to a right relationship as a child of my heavenly Father.  Thank You, Lord, for Your cleansing blood! I stand clean and white in Your presence. I put on Your robe of righteousness which You are handing me.  Thank you, Lord!