06.13. Sin Should Have Four Letters
Sin Should Have Four Letters
When I was young there was a joke that made it’s rounds. It started something like, "Do you want to hear a dirty joke." Regardless of the reply you gave someone would quickly say, "A white horse fell in the mud." A dirty joke. What is the most horrific word you can think of? Many of our dirty words have four letters, as you probably are aware. Perhaps it is cancer, or heart attack, or maybe I hate you. I know these do not have four letters but perhaps they should. May I suggest another that should be considered a bad word? Not so bad that we cannot say it would our mouth’s being washed out by grandma, but perhaps the worst word of them all, Sin. Man call it an accident; God calls it an abomination.
Man calls it a blunder; God calls it a blindness.
Man calls it a defect; God calls it a disease.
Man calls it a chance; God calls it a choice.
Man call it an error; God calls it an emity.
Man calls it a fascination; God calls it a fatality.
Man calls it an infirmity; God calls it a iniquity.
Man calls it a luxury; God calls it a leprosy.
Man call it an liberty; God calls it an lawlessness.
Man calls it a trifle; God calls it a tragedy.
Man calls it a mistake; God calls it a madness.
Man calls it a weakness; God calls it a willfulness.
(Quoted from Moody Monthly in Encyclopedia of 7,700 Illustrations. P 1283.)
Today we will be talking about what I have called in times past, "Everyone’s favorite subject." It is our favorite subject because we do it so much. Sin is mentioned several hundred times in the Scriptures. It is first mentioned by name in our text when Cain slew Abel and the second time in Genesis 18:20 in connection with Sodom’s destruction. The last time Sin is mentioned in the Bible is in Revelation 18:5 when the wrath of God is complete. Some see the greatest verse in the Bible concerning sin as Matthew 1:20-21 where it says that Jesus came to save, "...from their sins."
I- Meaning of Sin!
We traditionally have defined sin from our pulpits as "missing the mark" based on Romans 3:23 "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
Also as "overstepping a forbidden line" based on 1 John 3:4 "...sin is the transgression of the law." However, this is only a narrow answer to what sin is.
C.B. Hogue, former director of the evangelism section of the Home Mission Board writes, "Anything that perverts God’s plan or purpose of life for humanity is sin." (Hogue, C.B., The Doctrine of Salvation, Convention Press, Nashville, TN.1978. p.15.) We also know there are sins of commission James 2:9 illustrates this when we treat someone better than another. There are also sins of omission. Sins of what we fail to do. James 4:17 "...to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." There are 10 Hebrew words that give us a fuller understand of what we call sin actually is. There are also 10 corresponding Greek words in the New Testament.
Hebrew Words Defining Sin!
AVAH- Commit iniquity, to be bend or twist, distort, do wrong to be perverted. (Proverbs 12:8 ; Job 33:27 ; Jeremiah 11:10 ) SHAGAH- go astray, to err, to wander, be deceived. (Ezekiel 34:6 ; Job 6:24 ) RA- evil, bad, distress, misery, harm, ill favor, wickedness. (Proverbs 21:10 ; Genesis 19:7 ) CHAMAS- do violence, violate, wrong, damage. (Jeremiah 22:3 ; Zephaniah 3:4 ; Genesis 6:11 ) CHATA- to miss (a goal), to be in fault, commit sin, have done harm, to go wrong. (Job 5:24 ; Exodus 10:16 ) MAEN- to refuse to obey (Deuteronomy 25:7 ; Exodus 7:14 ) PASHA- rebel, transgress, revolt, trespass (1 Kings 12:19 ; Hosea 14:9 ) RASHA- be wicked, do wickedly, act wickedly, criminal, corrupt, guilty. (1 Kings 8:47 ; Job 10:7 ) CHANEPH- be polluted, profane, godless, incline away from right, be defiled, corrupt. (Isaiah 24:5 ; Jeremiah 23:11 ) MAAL- falsehood, transgression, to act treacherously, trespass, unfaithful. (Numbers 5:27 ; Numbers 31:16 )
(This was developed from a chart by Ronald W. Johnson quoted in Hogue, C.B., The Doctrine of Salvation, Convention Press, Nashville, TN.1978. p.22-31.) II- Origin of Sin!
Where did sin come from? What is the origin of sin? We know that the origin of sin into the universe was with Lucifer (Satan’s) fall. Isaiah 14:12-15 "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." We also see that the Scripture teaches us that sin came into this world by Adam. Romans 5:12 "...by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin..." We could speculate and try to figure out where sin came from prior to Lucifer’s fall. Allow me to simply put it this way. By faith we know that sin entered creation this way and by faith we accept the statements of the Bible without any further explanation. (This is a fancy way of saying, I don’t know because God didn’t tell us).
III- Universality of Sin!
Someone has said that we don’t have to get into sin it is already in us. We can look at history and see that sin is a universal problem. 40 billion people have lived since Adam. Up to now 1/3 of all mankind has died at the hands of another. "If there were no other evidence to offer, the evidence of what persons are doing to themselves and to one another is evidence enough that something is gravely wrong with mankind." (ibid) We also know that Scripture states that sin is universal without exception.
1 Kings 8:46 "If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,)…"
Proverbs 20:9 "Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?"
Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
IV- Consequences of Sin!
1- Upon Lucifer. We know that the consequences of sin upon Lucifer was he went from being an anointed cherub to a depraved dragon. Ezekiel 28:14 says, "Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so..." Revelation 12:7, talking about war in heaven calls Satan, "the great dragon." Revelation 20:10 says He will be cast, "Into the lake of fire and brimstone..." 2- Upon Man. Man fell farther than we can every imagine when Adam sinned. Genesis 5:5 shows physical death passed upon man because of sin. Zephaniah 2:1 "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." This clearly shows that man not only died physically but spiritually. When we are not saved we are in fact walking dead men. 3- Upon Nature. The paradise of Adam became a wilderness. God placed a curse upon the earth to trouble man all his days. Romans 8:21-22 "Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now."
4- Upon God. It has been said that God created creation in six days and rested on the sabbath. Man sinned and God has not rested since. John 5:17 tells us "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." We might ask what God did. He started the work of redeeming mankind.
V- Imputation of Sin!
The word imputation is a key word in our understanding of sin. Imputation simply means "to put on ones account." Sin was put on the account of all men when Adam sinned. Notice Romans 5:12,18 "...as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.....by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation..." Not only are we sinners in Adam but also by our own actions.
VI- The Christians’ Sin!
There are some that teach that once we are saved we cease to sin. They claim that they are sinless and that if we are saved we should be also. This however is not the teaching of the whole of Scripture. Williams New Testament translates Paul’s confession of his sin in Romans 7:19 ff, "Indeed, I do not do the good things that I want to do, but I do practice the evil things that I do not want to do. But if I do the things that I do not want to do, it is really not I that am doing these things, but it sin which has its home within me." Hebrews 12:1 says that sin "doth so easily beset" us." 1 John 1:8-10 says that if we deny we sin we make God out the liar. Notice 1 John 1:8-10 "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." First John was written to believers and not the lost man.
VII- Remedy for Sin!
God is a holy and righteous God who cannot and will not simply turn His head on sin. Someone must pay for sin. Christ is willing and has already paid for it if we will only allow Him to do it. If we reject Christ we will pay for our own sin. The remedy for sin is simple. Allow the blood of Christ to cleanse us. Genesis 1:18 says, "Come now let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
VIII- Final Victory Over Sin!
We know that because of what Christ has done for us we have the final victory. 1 Corinthians 15:54 ff "...death is swallowed up victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin...But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Revelation 20:11-15 teaches that death and hell are cast into the eternal lake of fire. The results of sin are destroyed and eradicated from the existence of the saved.