1. The word sin is used many ways in the Bible. It is both an action and an inward element in fallen humanity. The Greek word translated sin means to miss the mark; to swerve from the way.
a. All human beings have a moral obligation to obey their Creator. Eccl 12:13—The end of the matter is, Fear God (know that He is, revere and worship Him—and keep his commandments: for this is the whole (duty) of man, [the full original purpose of his creation, the object of God’s providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness] (Amp)
1. Not only is God is the standard of truth, He is the standard of what is right. I Pet 1:16—Be ye holy for I am holy. Holy is defined as morally clean, upright, blameless in heart and life.
2. We’re meant to live holy lives. That’s where true happiness is found (lessons for another day).
b. Our point for now is this: All have failed in their moral obligation to obey their creator. Even though we consider ourselves and/or others to be good people, the standard is not ours to set. Rom 3:23 —For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard (NLT). This is the truth.
2. Rom 6:23—The wages of sin is death. Death is more than physical death. Death of the body is a consequence or outflow of another category of death—separation from God Who is Life.
a. Gen 2:17—God warned Adam and Eve that if they disobeyed Him they would die. The Hebrew reads: In dying thou shalt die. When Adam and Eve sinned, their bodies did not immediately die. 1. Here’s what happened. Gen 3:7—At that moment, their eyes were opened and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness (NLT). The first affects of sin and death were shame and fear, leading them to hide from God (Gen 3:8-10).
2. Gen 3:22-24—Then they were cut off from access to God’s life. The tree of life was a real tree, but it was also symbolic of the eternal life in God Himself. It was God’s intention that man freely choose to be united to the life in Him. The ultimate expression of death is eternal separation from God, sometimes referred to as spiritual death. (many lessons for another day)
3. As the head of the human race, Adam’s actions affected the race resident in him. Rom 5:12— When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone for everyone sinned (NLT).
b. Jesus came to remedy this condition by dealing with the thing that gave death dominion over humanity (our sin) and make it possible for us to be united to eternal life, the life in God.
1. II Tim 1:10—[It is that purpose and grace] which He now has made known and has fully disclosed and made real [to us] through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus Who annulled death and made it of no effect, and brought life and immortality—that is, immunity from eternal death—to light through the Gospel. (Amp)
A. Rom 3:24—Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. (NLT)
B. Rom 3:25—For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. (NLT)
2. John 3:16—God, in love, gave His only begotten (unique) Son (the God-man) to be sacrificed for sin (v14-15) so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
A. Perish comes from a word that means to destroy fully, to perish or to lose (as opposed to annihilation). It is used of physical death, but also of eternal death which is eternal exclusion from the kingdom of God (also known as the second death, Rev 20:6; 10).
B. Jesus came to save men and women, first and foremost from eternal death. John 3:17-18 —For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge—to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on—the world; but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him. He who believes on Him…is not judged…never comes up for judgment, for there is no rejection, no condemnation, (he incurs no damnation). (Amp)
3. Luke 19:10—Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Lost is the same word translated as perish in John 3:16. Through our sin we have been lost to our created purpose which is to become holy, righteous sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ. Eph 1:4-5; Rom 8:29
3. Much of the Christianity that is popular right now has been influenced by 20th century American culture and is very different from that which is presented in the New Testament. (That’s why I beg you to become regular, systematic readers of the New Testament—read daily, and read all the way through).
a. Consequently, verses such as John 10:10 have been misinterpreted to mean that Jesus came to give us an abundant life—meaning a wonderful, prosperous life in this life. I’m not saying that God is opposed to us having a great life in this life, but that’s not why Jesus died for us.
1. When we read John 10:10 in the context of everything He said up until He made that statement, we find that Jesus was referring to providing us with an abundance of eternal life.
2. We can trace the context from here in John 3 as it progresses through the following chapters (John 4:13-14; 5:24; 6:35,40,47; 7:37-38; etc.) up to John 10:10. Every time Jesus referred to the life He came to bring, it’s clear that He meant eternal life—including in John 10:28.
b. I am certain that many of the people who teach that Jesus came to give us a great life are sincere. But a lot of what they say is imprecise and therefore inaccurate. Inaccurate is another word for erroneous. Because of the times we are living in, error can and does become heresy. Because of growing deception in the world, this is no time to be imprecise with the Scriptures.
4. I John 4:9-10—God demonstrated His love for us by meeting our greatest need through Jesus. Jesus came to earth to die for us. At the Cross He joined us in death to take us through death bring us out of death. He was punished in our place for our sins. Heb 2:14-15; Isa 53:3-5
a. Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. A propitiation is a sacrifice that appeases anger and brings reconciliation with someone who has reason to be angry.
1. Before we were saved, not only were we dead in our sins or cut off from God (Eph 2:1), our sin made us enemies of God (Rom 5:10). We were “by nature children of [God’s] wrath and heirs of [His] indignation, like the rest of mankind” (Eph 2:3, Amp).
2. Jesus’ substitutionary death satisfied divine justice against us for our sins and opened the way for us to become holy, righteous sons and daughters of God. Rom 8:30
3. Rom 8:1-2—Therefore [there is] now no condemnation—no adjudging guilty of wrong—for those who are in Christ Jesus…For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] is in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being], has freed me from the law of sin and death. (Amp)
b. Almighty God showed us His love, not by telling us to do whatever makes us happy, but by sending His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to remedy our greatest need by dying for our sins.
1. If He loved you and helped you with your greatest need when you were His enemy, why would He not help you now? Rom 8:32
2. This is objective fact. This is absolute truth. It isn’t dependent on how you feel or what you think. It is dependent on a historically verifiable truth—Jesus Christ rose from the dead, breaking the power of sin and death over us. I Cor 15:55-57
c. It’s increasingly common today to hear even people who profess to be Christians say that there are many paths to God, and as long as you are sincere it doesn’t really matter what you believe. That’s not true or truth!! Jesus Himself said: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by (through) Me. John 14:6
1. When you understand what Jesus did through the Cross, His statement makes perfect sense. All men are guilty of sin and no one can come to God without an atoning sacrifice or a sacrifice that brings reconciliation between God and man.
2. Jesus is the only one qualified to make that that sacrifice—and He has made it, but you must accept it (lessons for another day).