Chapter 12
Sin, the Great Divider
I John 3:4
Whoever practices sin breaks the law, for sin is lawlessness.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 51:5
I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.
Psalm 32:1-2
1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord does not count iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
Romans 7:15 - 25
15 For what I am doing, I do not understand, for I do not practice what I will to do, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 But if I practice what I do not will to do, I agree with the law that it is good.
17 So now it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing, for the will to do what is right is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
19 For the good I desire to do, I do not do, but the evil I do not want is what I do.
20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who does it, but sin that lives in me.
21 I find then a law that when I desire to do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man,
23 but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Lessons Learned
These texts reveal that sin is more than a mere action one commits. Sin is a condition with which one is born. As stated in an earlier text, what Adam did resulted not only in losing his standing with God. It resulted in a genetic mishap that would result in his descendants losing their standing with God. If sin were just an action, I imagine it would be much easier to overcome. We may even be able to do it alone. All we would need is to know what to do and what not to do. However, because it is something woven into our physical and spiritual DNA, we need an outside source to eradicate it and its consequence, death.
THINK ABOUT IT
Step out of your Judeo-Christian mindset for a moment and imagine you are a cosmic physician/psychiatrist/pathologist.
1. As you studied human history, what would you say the symptoms of sin are?
2. What prognosis would you give for humanity, if the sin is not cured?
3. What medicine/vaccine/cure would you prescribe for sin?
Why Do We Need a Savior?
Genesis 1:26
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Romans 5:18-19
18 Therefore just as through the trespass of one man came condemnation for all men, so through the righteous act of One came justification of life for all men. 19 For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One the many will be made righteous.
Isaiah 53:4-6
4 Surely he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
John 3:16-17
16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Lessons Learned
There are many texts in the Bible that expound upon this subject. I did my best to find those that crystallized what all the others revealed. As you may have ascertained in the previous questions, the condition of sin leads to suffering and death. These two realities are devastating in and of themselves. Throughout history we have seen the diseases, disasters, and destruction man has wrought as proof of this reality. Something or someone without the condition had to free us from the condition. The Bible reveals that to be freed we simply have to believe we have been freed and walk in that freedom. However, many of us struggle believing we are free in the midst of an enslaved world. We struggle walking in that freedom, when most of what we see around us are those trapped in the chains of sin.
1. If you believe that Christ has saved you from the condition, does that take away the condition?
2. Can you have a savior and be saved, without ever knowing who the Savior is?
3. If I am saved from the condition, when will I actually be released from the condition? (suffering, sickness, death)
Why Death
Genesis 2:17
...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.”
Ecclesiastes 12:7
"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."
Genesis 2:7
Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.
Romans 5:12
Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, so death has spread to all men, because all have sinned.
Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10
v. 5 The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.
v. 10 10 Whatever your hands find to do, do with your strength; for there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, the place where you are going.
Lessons Learned
Death is the scourge of the universe. No matter where we find it, a browning leaf, a cancer-stricken patient, or a super nova, it is a catastrophic event for all involved. It is what God warned Adam would happen if he ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Life not only includes the physiological machinery that provides us the ability to breathe and move through creation. Life includes consciousness, thought, imagination, and innovation. It includes the ability to reproduce life and pass our thoughts and the products of our imagination and innovation to succeeding generations.
However, death halts this process. It not only takes our consciousness and participation. It robs us of the ability to pass any artifacts of our existence to our progeny. God told Adam from the beginning that separation from Him would mean that he would no longer have any role in the universe that was created by God for him.
1. Why would God choose death as a consequence?
2. Why didn't God mention Hell as the consequence to Adam?
3. Why would Adam choose Eve and death over living eternally with God?
Introduction
One of the major questions asked is, "Where do I go after I die?" Within religious circles, people are comforted by the possibility that they will exist in eternal bliss with God in Heaven. However, the same people are terrified of the possibility of being condemned to some type of eternal punishment. These two sides of the same coin bring some questions to mind. First, what does the Bible declare is the judgement of those who do not earn a place in Heaven? Second, what is the determining factor for one to be given this punishment? Third, what is the purpose of the punishment?
Heaven and Hell: The Two Freedoms
There are three Greek words in the New Testament that are commonly translated to mean Hell.
Hades (translation of the Hebrew word Sheol) means the grave or state of the dead.
Psalm 16:10
For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You suffer Your godly one to see corruption.
Acts 2:27
For You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
Gehenna – a valley near Jerusalem where children were sacrificed with fire
Mark 9:43
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched,
Matthew 10:28
Do not fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Tartaroo – This has only been used once in the scriptures to describe a place of waiting for fallen angels.
2 Peter 2:4
For if God did not spare the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be kept for judgment;
What does"Hell"do?
Malachi 4:1, 3
v. 1 Surely the day is coming, burning like an oven; all the proud, yes, all evildoers will be stubble.
v. 3 And you will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I do this, says the Lord of Hosts.
When Does "Hell" begin and end?
John 5:28-29
28 “Do not marvel at this. For the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice
29 and come out—those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
Revelation 20:7-10
7 When the thousand years are ended, Satan will be set free from his prison
8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea.
9 They traveled the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. But fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.
10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet were. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Matthew 25:41
“Then He will say to those at the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.
Lessons Learned
We first see that the word "Hell" in the scriptures is translated from Greek and Hebrew words that merely mean the grave. They are talking about the state of death we discussed earlier. The Bible says that during the time Christ was dead this is where He was. The second word compares death to a place where children were sacrificed during a time of apostasy and refers to the manner of death not the state of death. The last word refers to a state that is reserved for fallen angels.
The natural ultimate consequence of sin isn't a punishment. It is a state from which people will not be able to return, death. The natural consequence of accepting the sacrifice of Christ is the ability to return from the state of death and live a life that is not corrupted by the disease of sin. I believe both states accomplish the same thing, freedom from the condition of sin. Think about Revelation 20:10 and Matthew 25:41, The entire concept of punishment as taught by traditional religions was not meant for man. The Hell we fear was not designed for human beings. It was designed for the devil and his angels.
1. Did Christ come to save us from Hell or save us from a condition?
2. Did Christ come to give us Heaven or give us another condition?
3. How does this impact your view of Salvation and your Christian walk?
Heaven and Hell: Both Free You From Sin