For All Have Sinned And Fallen Short Of The Glory Of God

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God

If you doubt, read your newspaper.

A man from Boston was acquitted for flying illegal drugs into the United States because he suffered from “action addict syndrome,” and emotional imbalance that makes a man crave dangerous adventure.

A mob of young men in Miami robbed, beat, then shot to death a middle-aged man as he stopped for an accident in their neighbourhood. Witnesses say the robbery of twenty-seven dollars from the victim’s pocket was a secondary motive. The real culprit? “Young men in the neighbourhood have too many guns and too much time on their hands,” said the Associated Press in 1994.

What Is Sin?

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Romans 3:23

Def. of Sin

1. Dictionary – “Sin is a transgression, evil, a violation of accepted moral, religious code.”

2. Sin is any lack of conformity to the character of God.

3. Sin is a hopelessly incurable disease of the soul.

4. Sin is rebellion against God.

5. Sin is the opposite of holiness, of God, and of morality.

There are about twenty words in the Bible for “sin” The most popular is hamartia, “to miss the mark.” But in the Greek context is everything. “Missing the mark” is not merely an innocent blunder or a poor shot. It is something worse.

Sin is a problem of the will and desire. We are known by our actions, and defined by our nature. Jesus taught in Mark 7:21-23 that people do sinful things because they are tainted.

For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ’unclean.’

Mark 7:21-23

R.C. Sproul put it this way: “We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners.” The heart or mind of a person is already polluted with something that is opposed to the authority of God or the idea of surrender – something that sets itself up against the life of purity and discipline. This what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” (Romans 8:5)

Dogs bark. Birds fly. Bees sting. Sinners sin. Each one is done for the same reason: it is their nature to do so.

I. The Way Sin Began

1. Sin Began In The Universe With The Rebellion Of Satan.

Isaiah 14:12-14 “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! 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: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”

2. Sin Began In The World By Adam And Eve’s Rebellion.

Genesis 3:6-7 “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”

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:”

3. Sin Begins In Man Because The Heart Is Deceitful.

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

I The Way Sin Affects Man

1. It Made Man A Transgressor – Separated from God.

Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”

2. It Left Man Guilty And Condemned Before God.

John 3:18 “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

III. The Way Sin Affects God

1. It Is Contrary To His Holiness.

2. It Provokes God To Wrath.

John 3:36 “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”