Article 37
Sin is bad, most will agree. But how bad is it?
We do know for sure that sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. Think about it. Take a human being in full health. As time passes, this person begins to deteriorate. The skin wrinkles, the hair grays, the vision decreases while the life forces diminish. Death comes with the passing of time. When there has been no heart trouble, no cancer or other disease, we say they died from natural causes. Natural causes?
Yes, we know what is meant by natural causes. But is death natural? Or is it average, median, and inevitable? Is it natural for this intricate, complex human body into which had been breathed the breath of life by God Himself to die, to cease to exist, to return to dust? Should that which comes from the hand of life itself whither and die as the grass of the field?
No, death is unnatural. God gave man life. It was God's intention that man was to live. Sin is bad. Sin has thwarted God's purpose (temporarily that is). What could be so strong as to counter the will of God? Sin is not only bad but sin is strong. Sin brings forth death. But while the life, affected by sin, does exist, it causes those who possess it to mistreat others. History is filled with man's inhumanity to his fellow man. There should be no need to say more.
Critics of Christianity point out how the history of this religion is fraught with misdeeds, wars, and killing. While this is all true, it must be shown that in areas of the world outside of the Judeo-Christian tradition, from ancient times to modern day Nazism and Communism, these atrocities, man's inhumanity to his fellow man, have been greater, much greater in the absence of Christianity. The truth from Heaven has been a moderating force.
Sin is bad. Sin is strong. It causes man to mistreat his fellow man, and when it is finished it brings forth death. Could it get any worse?
Yes. God created man in His own image. Man fell in sin. God takes human flesh and comes to earth to save man. What does man do? Man kills God. Man kills God. How bad can it get? This must be the height of evil. Could there be anything worse?
Yes, there is something worse. God has forgiven man for putting His Son to death. God has forgiven man for man's inhumanity to his fellow man. God's work of grace in the Person of His dear Son has atoned for the sins of mankind. Just as all became sinners in Adam, all become righteous, forgiven, accepted in Jesus Christ, the new Adam.
But sin, that bad, strong thing, so affects we poor, fallen, finite, fallible human beings who see through a glass darkly, that we are unable to clearly discern the full meaning of God's saving act in the Person of His Son. We are looking for our part in the salvation process. What must I do to be saved? Where do I fit in? (If Acts 2:37, 38 were the only texts we have, we could stop right here. There are others, you know.)
Salvation is God's work from beginning to end. Jesus says that no man can come to Him except the Father draw him (John 6:44). And if Jesus is lifted up from the earth, He WILL DRAW ALL MEN TO HIM (John 12:32). We sinners will be drawn to Jesus and will be saved … unless we resist the drawing of the Holy Spirit. Faith and repentance are gifts of God (Ephesians 2:8; Romans 12:3; Acts 5:31; 11:18) given to those who do not resist the drawing.
Sin is so bad, so strong, that it obscures the truth that humanity that was lost in the first Adam has been saved in the last Adam.
"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel … how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
The gospel, the good news, is about Christ who died for our sins. It is about His experience. It is about His death, burial, and resurrection. It is not about man. It is not about man's personal experience. Man is not saved by a personal experience but he is not saved without one.
Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing the good news that Christ died for our sins. From where does faith come? It comes from God. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that is not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8).
Faith, the ability to acknowledge that the gospel is true, comes from God. It is a gift.
When Peter was asked who Jesus was, he said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God". Jesus replied, "… flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 16:17).
The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12:3 that God has dealt to every man a measure of faith.
Just as faith is a gift from God, so also is repentance a gift from God.
Why was Jesus exalted to sit at God's right hand and made to be a Prince and Savior? "… for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins" (Acts 5:31). And not to Israel only is repentance given but also granted to the Gentiles (Acts 11:18).
We might summarize by saying: (1) sin obscures that salvation is God's work from beginning to end; and (2) that sin deceives us into thinking that we have some part to play in the redemption process. Sin is confusing.
Sin is bad. Sin is strong. Sin is confusing.
From the time God made the promise to Abraham, the children of Israel had been looking for the Messiah for two thousand years. For what kind of Messiah, Deliverer, Savior, Prince and King were they looking?
What kind of leader, commander, or chief executive would you choose? One who is head and shoulders above the others, like Saul? One who would make your enemies his footstool? One who would rule the nations with an iron rod while making our own nation first and foremost the world's only super power?
Yes, the sinful heart longs for a champion who will take its side and vanquish all opposition. This is what Israel longed for.
What did God give them? A Suffering Servant who was led as a lamb to the slaughter, who took the blame for every wrong, every offense against God and man. One who was meek and lowly of heart rather than an imposing, pompous chieftain.
Has human nature greatly changed since Christ's day? We long for one kind of Savior but God gives us another kind.
We Christians long for the time when we can enter the gates of pearl where God shall wipe away all tears … and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying. Safe at last.
Has Heaven always been a safe place? No, that's where sin began in the covering cherub, Lucifer, who was perfect in all his ways until iniquity was found in him (Ezekiel 28:15). Sin was found in this angel who dwelled in the very presence of God. This being, a little higher than mankind, drew one-third of his fellow angels with him in sin. They fought against Michael and his angels, who cast these evil ones out of Heaven (Revelation 12:3, 4, 7, 8).
Heaven has not always been a safe place. But affliction shall not rise up a second time.
"The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble (time of tribulation [Matthew 24:21; Daniel 12:1]) … he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time" (Nahum 1:7-9).
How will God put sin away so that it will not rise up a second time?
The scriptures tell us that when the Ancient of Days comes, judgment is given to the saints of the most high and they sit upon thrones when judgment is given them (Daniel 7:22; Revelation 20:4). "Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" (1 Corinthians 6:3).
Could it be that the saints will review an instant replay of six thousand years of sin? Will they see how sin has beguiled and confused mankind so that man centers on himself, becomes egocentric and is unable to comprehend the Father's great saving act in the Person of His Son?
Will it be seen that those given the most light from Heaven, the children of Israel, are the very ones who crucify the Son of the living God? Will it be seen that Christians, who have received more light than the children of Israel, are so confused in the last days that they persecute the true believers of Christ?
Will not all Christians be saved? "Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved" (Romans 9:27). Most understand that Christians are spiritual Israel.
Will the redeemed of all ages be able to see how sin, this bad, strong, confusing thing, has so beguiled those to whom so much has been revealed, that they, self-righteously, turn on the true remnant of God?
For six thousand years, sin has wrecked havoc with the truth of God. It has practically destroyed the works of His hand, in that so many who claim to be of God are shown to be of God's adversary, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan. Sin makes evil seem good and good seem evil.
God has prophesied judgment against the originator of sin:
"Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God … thou art the anointed cherub that covereth … thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee … O covering cherub … thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty … Therefore, will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee and it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth … thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more" (Ezekiel 28:13-19).
In judgment
the saints concur, "Just and true are thy ways, thou king of saints"
(Revelation 15:3).