Gospel Strikes at the Heart of the Sin Problem
When I manage to write effectively about sin, I receive more congratulatory mail than from any other subject I can think of at this moment. Many, many readers seem to recognize the importance of sin to themselves, to today's church, and, of course, to the unbelieving world. They cheer loudly. Huge numbers of others move on silently and quickly, as I did for years. Truthfully, I still don't enjoy reading or writing about sin, for I see myself in every paragraph, and it makes me sick. And beloved, this is not hyperbole. It makes me sick.
Biblically, the origin of sin is in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:6-7) along with mans first flimsy effort to cover up his own sin (3:7b), plus the beginning of mans skill at passing the buck (now that I was quick at; how about you?). Better still, Moses said with clarification, "Never forget how you provoked the Lord your God to anger in the desert. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here [Mount Sinai], you have been rebellious against the Lord" (Deuteronomy 9:7).
Got it? Rebellion and disobedience against the Lord spelled sin then, and still does. May I say, generations of the 21st Century, please dont try to plead ignorance about what that means! It means today what it did in 1500 BC and way before that.
Jesus had a habit of healing someone miraculously and saying something like: "Go, and sin no more." And people always knew what He meant the same as today. Just do what God says.
God says good things. Pick up a cheap paperback New Testament and see. If you want, my boss or I will send you one if you promise to read it and tell me how you liked it. Start with the Gospel of John, and youll love it.
You will find right away the greatest friend man ever knew. His name, of course, is Jesus and, yes, He is God, the Living Word, the Son of God the Father. They together sent God the Holy Spirit to live in and with us. But focus on your great friend Jesus, who loves more deeply than a human can at first imagine.
He wants to do a lot of things, but today let me emphasize his help with everybodys sin problem. He alone can deal and will deal head on with that problem. If you want Him to, He will take it away by simply making it possible for you to do the right things. If you want Him to. He makes the impossible possible by letting you hang onto Him. If you want Him to. But sins gotta go.
So quoting J.I. Packer, let me say this: "The subject of sin is vital knowledge. To say that our first need in life is to learn about sin may sound strange, but in the sense intended it is profoundly true. If you have not learned about sin, you cannot understand yourself, or your fellow-men, or the world you live in, or the Christian faith" (Gods Words, InterVarsity Press, p. 71).
