VIII. What is Sin?

            Sin is a system of governance exercising its tyrannical power over every living thing on earth.  It is responsible for every affliction and death imposed on life.  Sin exists for one reason: the hatred of Satan against GOD.  Satan carries out his hatred by his deliberate defiance of GOD’S laws preserving life and love.  This is the government of sin, which in turn has brought immense suffering to GOD’S creatures, robbing from them the peace and joy GOD created them to receive.

            Sin’s war against life goes back to the first “war in heaven” when Satan waged a campaign against his Creator—attempting a hostile takeover at the very throne of GOD.  After losing this battle for the supremacy he then brought his rebellion to Earth, seducing Adam and Eve into becoming complicit with him in his sins against GOD’S Laws preserving life.  And Satan has led all men to imitate his lawless example to one degree or another.  He imbues his spirit for supremacy on weak-minded men, prodding them to sin to satisfy their lust for gain.  But like the temporary “fix” of drug addition it has no lasting value.  Man tries to satisfy what can never be satisfied in a sinful world.  This is why the history of man is a history of ruin.

            Without GOD’S intervention to overrule man’s destructive inclinations the extinction of the human race would have come a long time ago through war and disease.  And yet, society is so blind to its suicidal course, that sin is now declared a virtue and an acceptable moral judgment even among the ruling religions of Earth, including Christianity who evangelizes the world into universal sin against two of the Ten Commandments (as will be reviewed in Study XII).  Sin has breeched the Holy Law that alone secures the safety of life, and is the reason our civilization faces extinction as predicted thousands of years ago by “the prophets” of GOD.  In simply social terms, sin has led mankind to disregard the Ten Commandments, the Great Standard that GOD gave to insure our mutual safety with one another.  It is, in essence, Utopian Law.  And through compliance to its judicial benefits it guaranties the peace and prosperity of every man, woman, and child.  Said GOD by His prophet; “ye shall find rest for your souls.” Jer.6:16.  But the fact that the world is filled with unrest proves that mankind is defiant against GOD and His Holy Law: the Law given to save, not destroy: to set free, not oppress.  

1. Who is the source of sin?

John 8:44  Ye [religious leaders] are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.  ____  _____  ___  ______________  ______  _____  ________________, _____  ________  _____  ____  _____  _________, because there is no truth in him.  When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

2. Is mankind naturally good or naturally evil?

Romans 3:10-19,23  As it is written, There is ________ righteous, no, ______  _______: (v.11) There is ________ that understandeth, there is ________ that seeketh after God. (v.12) They are _____ gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is _________ that doeth good, no, ______  ______.  Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.  Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law [which includes all mankind]: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God... [v.23] For ______ have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

3. What then is the consequence of sin?

Genesis 2:16,17  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: (v.17) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof _______  ________  _________  _____.

         The “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” was GOD’S one and only investigation to determine how man would use his freewill, whether for life or for death.  GOD gave man the desire to live and to love as life’s strongest attributes.  With this desire, coupled with heaven’s gift of a freewill, GOD hoped to settle in man’s heart the wise use of His gifts.  But Satan, disguised as the winged serpent, deceived our Premier Mother Eve into eating the forbidden fruit.  And through Adam’s discovery of her death-sentence, his heart sank in his soul.  He had to choose to live without her or die with her.  His love for her led him to eat of the forbidden fruit and die with her.  Since all humanity was “in Adam” when he sinned we inherited his legacy of a fundamentally self-destructive nature.  Through this same heart-rending discouragement Satan has deceived multitudes to their ruin.

4. How then can the family of mankind be redeemed from

     sin’s condemnation of death?

Romans 5:12-21  Wherefore, as by one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law [or the giving of the Ten Commandments on mount Sinai] sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed [or implicated] when there is no law.  Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is [as the father of mankind] the figure of him [Christ, the Father of Adam] that was to come. [All of us were of the seed of Adam when he chose to sin, which became internalized in his flesh; therefore, we (the human race) had inherited his condemnation even without our own personal sins.] But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one [Adam] many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift [the sacrifice of Jesus Christ] by grace, which is hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one [Adam] to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence [Adam's] 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 [Adam] judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one [Jesus Christ] 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: (v.21) That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign ________________  ______________________ unto eternal life by _________  ___________ our Lord.   

         In summation, when Adam sinned he condemned his children to the same fate as himself.  At that moment, man’s salvation became dependent on our “near kinsman” (Ruth 3:9), the Father and Creator of Adam, Who created man in His own “image” and “likeness.”  Only the Creator had the legal right to come to redeem the family of Adam, by becoming as one of His children, live the sinless life that we could not, bear our condemnation to the grave, and then conquer the jurisdiction of death that its power over the family of Adam would be broken, effectively removing our condemnation from sin, placing all mankind “in Christ” (in the place of restored innocence before GOD).  The “Everlasting Father” of man (Isa.9:6) became “the Son of man” (Matt.12:8), to redeem “the children of men” (Ps.36:7).

         How can this be?  GOD has ordained that death’s dominion can only hold sin, as it is written, “The soul that sinneth it shall die,” for “the wages of sin is death.” Eze.18:4; Rom.6:23.  But Jesus Christ had no sin!  He is the only man who ever lived in this world who never united His will with sin, by thought or deed.  Therefore, the grave had no legal right to hold Him!  It had to set Him free!  And this now includes you and me!  Paul summed it up in I Cor.15:22: “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”  GOD then promises to come and live in our hearts (Lu.11:13), and through His companionship, we, together live out an endearing respect to His Holy Law: the Law where all are safe in one another’s care.

5. Where does sin exist?

Romans 7:22,23  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man [as a believer in GOD]: (v.23) But I see another law in _____  _____________,  warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to ______  ______  ____  ______ which is ____  _____  ________________.

Ephesians 4:17,18  This I say therefore, and testify in the LORD, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in _____  ____________  _____  ________  ________, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of GOD through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts.

            In the predicament of sin’s jurisdiction that we all face is the need for GOD’S deliverance.  His deliverance comes in three areas:

  1. To be saved from the condemnation of sin, which is death.

  2. To be saved from the power of sin, which is our selfish nature.

  3. To be saved from the presence of sin, via the temptations of devils.

6. Do we have the strength to overcome sin?

Philippians 2:13  For ____  ____  ______  ________  ___________  ____  ______ both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

Psalms 65:4  Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and ____________  ____  ______________  ______  ______, that he may dwell in Thy courts.

John 15:3-5  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. (v.4) Abide in me [Christ], and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; _____  ________  ______  ____, except ye abide in me. (v.5) I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for _______________  _____  ____  _____  ____  _____________.

Luke 18:27  And He [Christ] said, The things which are __________________  ________  ______ are possible with GOD.

7. How does sin relate to the holiness of GOD'S Law?

James 2:8-12  If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons [or show favoritism to the neglect of another], ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. (v.10) For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet ___________  ____  ______  __________, ____  ____  __________  ____  ______.  For He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. (v.12) So ___________ ye, and so ____, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. 

I John 3:4  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for ______  ____  ______  _____________________  ____  ______  ______.

Ezekiel 18:4   Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: _____  _______  _______  ______________  ____  ________  ______.

         The opposite of holiness is sin, just as the opposite of life is death.  Sin is the opposite everything fair, loving and pure.

8. Will GOD'S established laws of Creation ever change?

Psalm 111:7,8  The works of His hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure. (v.8) They stand fast _____  _______  _____  _______, and are done in truth and uprightness."

Psalm 119:160  Thy Word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments _______________  _____  _______.

9. Are the temptations to sin the same as sinning?

James 1:12  ___________  ____  ______  ______  _______  ______________  ___________________: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 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.

Matthew 26:41  Watch and pray, _______  ____  _________  _____ into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

I Timothy 6:9  But they that will be rich ______  _______  ____________________ and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

         Temptation is not sin!  Christ did not sin when he was tempted of the devil during His forty-day fast in the wilderness.  The LORD was even tempted through the time of His crucifixion, but never once united His will with the temptation.  This is why Christ said, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.” Matt. 26:41.

10. Will the dominion of sin ever end?

Revelation 21:1-5  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (v.4) And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for _____  ___________  __________  _______  __________  _______.  And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.  

Nahum 1:7-9  The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him. But with an overrunning flood He will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue His enemies. (v.9) What do ye imagine against the LORD? He will make an utter end: ________________  _______  _____  _______  ____  ______  __________  ________.