Romans 5:14-21: “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”
We can see from the Bible that Adam’s sin had such a detrimental effect on mankind throughout history until someone had to come into the scene to rescue everybody. If it were not for Jesus Christ who came to the rescue, everything would have been cut off and falling apart.
Where would we be right now without Jesus Christ?
Some people treat sin as a joke, but sin is very deep in scope and seriousness in God’s eyes. Once we understand the nature of sins, we will learn more about how to conquer them, battle with them, and not be discouraged. More importantly, to live a joyous life.
Sin May Appear Innocent
Sin is so powerful and deep in scope that it may appear to be innocent, and invincible, that is why everyone takes it so lightly. Nevertheless, it comes with a heavy price to pay.
Galatians 6 cf Hosea 8
Galatians 6 shows God’s plain rule of sowing and reaping, and it is a law that cannot be broken.
Galatians 6:7-8: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
If we sow to what our flesh desires, not just sin, then we will bear the fruits of the flesh. There is no doubt that the decisions we make are often a result of wanting to please our flesh, but there are consequences following these choices.
Often we tend not to consider our action as a sin, but most actions, even the ones that are deemed innocent and not dangerous based on our flesh, will eventually spiral down into a sinful act. For example, it didn’t seem dangerous for Eve to take the fruit off the tree and eat it, but that seemingly innocent act causes the fall of man.
Sin Is Unfair
Sin is what we do that contradicts the will and glory of God, as mentioned in Romans 3:23. The effects of sin:
- Sin deceives us and makes us reap what we sow.
- If we have a stubbornness and prideful problem, it will pass on.
- If we have an addiction that we struggle with, it will affect our family members.
- Our depression will rub off on others who are around us.
Hosea 8:7: “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk; the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.”
Sin does not only affect us the sowers, but it extends to those around us as well.
One good thing that the Bible warns us of is that if we take sin seriously, it will save us many problems. For example, one reason why we suffer from a lot of mental health problems, struggles, and afflictions, is because of our sin.
On the other hand, we need to know that we can live clean for the Lord, but still suffer from pain and affliction, this is known as the Christian trial. This is probably due to someone else’s sin that we have to live with.
Romans 5:12: “Wherefore, 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:”
This verse reminds us that if we do not fix our sin problem, we will affect and hurt innocent people. Let’s not wait till it’s too late. Just like when Adam sinned against God, it passed down to his offspring, and Abel became the victim due to his brother’s cruelty.
Sin Creates An Unbearable Lust
James 1: 14-15: “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”
Sin creates an unbearable desire, and the level of intensity is similar across different activities. One university professor claims that rock music is just as strong if not stronger than drugs. We are so used to contemporary music that we become hooked on it, and allow it to consume and manipulate our lives and damage our health.
When sin becomes a part of our lives, we naturally commit it without the need for consciousness getting involved. It will progress and becomes so bad until we start to clean up our sins. As we remove ourselves from those sins, we may sometimes even experience withdrawal symptoms, just like what a drug addict will face during his/her rehabilitation.
This comes to show that we are so embedded with sins that changing our character and personality requires such a huge battle.
Sin Makes Us Envious and Jealous
Once we are accustomed to sin, we tend to want to move on to the next phase and crave more. Sin will make us jealous of unrealistic things that God does not intend for us to have.
James 4:2-3: “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
This is why God does not answer some of our prayers because He knows what truly makes us happy.
We need to learn to be contented with what we have, and not fall into worldliness. Eve had all the fruits in the garden to enjoy, but yet she fell for that one forbidden fruit because Satan painted the sin so beautifully.
What will help us not to be jealous of others and let sin take over us is when we start to count our blessings and rejoice in the Lord. Think of the fruits God has given us, the promises that He has blessed us even amid our pain as mentioned in Romans 8:28, and His grace that dwells in us in 2 Corinthians 12. This will encourage us to give up on our sins and have faith in the Lord.
Sin Makes Us Ignorant
Sometimes we think of ourselves so pious and faithful because we spend more time with the Lord and serving Him, but what is pulling us back is our tendency to ignore our weaknesses and errors, usually caused by our sin.
Acts 17:30: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:”
We know that God will hold us accountable and not consider us ignorant, which is when we come to the knowledge of the truth, and know what sin is. So instead of rejecting the truth, we need to come to repentance. For example, we did not know the modern versions of the Bible are corrupted, but now that we know, we need to stay away from them.
Sin Makes Us Prideful
Before Satan fell, He was second in charge and had all the power. Nonetheless, pride got into him, and sin followed along. This will also happen to us if we allow pride to dominate us, and become less submissive to God.
Pride will cause us to always look for excuses not to serve God, and walk according to His will. Everyone can commit this sin, even Pastors themselves. Many churches do not preach about sins and condemn those who commit sins, but instead, they constantly feed the members with watered-down messages, only to set them up for disappointment in their lives.
On the contrary, the Bible teaches us that true joy is only acquired if we battle against sins, and live a clean life for the Lord, not justifying them.
We need to fill ourselves with humility instead of pride and pray to God fervently so that He can remove the dirt from our lives and help us to live as sanctified as possible.
Don’t trust our hearts because we can easily be deceived, just like Cain and some others mentioned in the Bible who thought they were living in good works for salvation but end up sinning so much against God and had to die and burn in hell.
If anything, we should allow God’s words to triumph over our beliefs and our own worldview. Then, when God shows it to us, we need to have humility and peace of mind to receive whatever counsel God gives us through the scripture of the Holy Spirit. The saddest way to learn the counsel is through experiencing it because once it becomes a life lesson, it will require both pain and suffering.
Therefore we need to act upon God’s counsel immediately after it has been given to us.
Sin Causes Us To Feel Guilty And Ashamed
It is one thing to be toxic to the Church and get expelled and not welcomed back. However, we should not feel guilty of our sins to the extent we are ashamed to go to Church. We need to repent under the blood of Jesus, then we are forgiven and head back to Church.
Romans 10:17: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
We hear the word of God, but it means nothing if we do not put our faith in God.