Sin And Grace

There are a lot of problems in the world. We have things like war, the problems with the economy; the millions of people out of work, Pornography, Drugs, hate, homelessness, ect... all of these issues are problems of this world. But there is one problem that stands out from the rest, and can some up all the problems I just mentioned; in fact some may say it’s what causes all of these problems in some form or fashion. The problem is sin.

That’s what today’s sermon is all about. Sin and how God gave us a solution to it through His grace.

I. SIN

Hello, my name is Willie and I am a sinner, a dirty rotten sinner. I stand here and say I’m a sinner but as I look out at all of you all I see are sinners.

That’s the truth of it we are all sinners, but what is sin?

A. What is sin?

The original Greek meaning for sin is simply “to miss the mark, to fall short of, or to err.” Basically, to sin is to do wrong. Not just doing wrong by the world’s standards, but also doing wrong through God’s eyes.

We are all trying to live up to the standards of God. We need to remember that we are all His creation and it is His rules we are supposed to live by.

When we disobey God’s law then we sin against Him, and we “miss the mark” God’s mark.

Romans 3:23 says; for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

B. But why does sin exist?

This is a tough question for some. God has given man the freedom of choice. God wants us to love and obey Him of our own free will, not because we are forced to do so. It’s interesting to think that He could force us if He wanted to. God is all powerful, but he wants it to be genuine from us.

Illus: Let’s look a children. The more you tell them to do something or not to do something the more they want to do the exact opposite. We can’t force our children to love us. More often than not if we try to force it we end up driving them farther away.

That’s the same way with God, if he tries to make us love Him then we would rebel and it would drive us farther from Him.

So in this place, God gave man and Angels the freedom to love and worship Him. Well before man there was one angel that did not love and obey God.

This angel had too much pride and he wanted to be God. So he turned on God and after God the Father defeated him and all of his followers, well they were kicked out of Heaven.

That was the very first Sin. The sin that Satan committed against His father and creator. But man wasn’t around yet.

So then God created man, and placed man in the garden. The garden was a sin-free place, everything was perfect. In this sin-free garden, God still Gave man the choice to have a relationship with Him.

But then here comes that sinner Satan and he Got Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit and that’s when sin entered into this world. This is the history of sin in a nut shell.

C. What are the results of sin?

Because of Adam’s sin, sin and death entered into the world and at the moment that we commit our first sin we are doomed to death and hell.

The bible does not teach that we inherit Adam’s sin, but it does teach that we inherit the consequences of his sin; including sickness, pain, war, grief and physical death. Those problems that we deal with every day are the consequences of that first worldly sin.

Romans 5:12 say’s; Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned.

We are not responsible of other people’s sin; we are only responsible for our own sins. Our personal sins are the only things that we have to give an account of, no one else’s.

So in conclusion to the study of sin we have learned these 3 things.

A. Everyone has sinned.

B. Sin brings death.

C. Unless something is done, every human being who ever lived will spend eternity in hell because of sin.

Now I know that starting with sin in a sermon is never really fun, but I must show you that we are all sinners. I preach this because of what John Wesley once said;

Before I can preach love, mercy, and grace, I must preach sin, law, and Judgment.