God clearly explains to us why we are now all sinners and constantly disobey His Word. When we examine sin, we must remember that God is sovereign and He is the one who rules over all things including us. He is the one who establishes right and wrong and by virtue of who He is - demands that we the creature submit to the Creator.
A definition for sin is missing the mark, picturing an archer firing an arrow at the bull’s eye yet missing every time. In our life sin is evidenced consistently by missing God’s standard of holiness through rebellion, transgression, perversion, impiety, unrighteousness, lawlessness, depravity, and evil desire. Because of our sin we are not able to have a right relationship with God. So we reject His right to hold us accountable to His divine standards and His authority over us. Therefore God’s right to be who He is as Lord is denied. Sin is an act of disobedience to God’s revealed truth. It is the absence of righteousness in one’s life and the enmity towards our Creator. Yet, we are all still held to account for our sin by God.
Everyone is born in a sinful state and condition. Sin permeates our innermost being and is at the core of the human soul (Matthew 15:19-20). The root cause of sin is man’s rebellion against God. Sin places man at the center of all activity and removes God from His rightful place as Creator and Lord. It affects our intellect (2 Corinthians 4:4), conscience (1 Timothy 4:2), will (Romans 1:28), and heart (Ephesians 4:18). Sin is not just failure and lack on our behalf, or even a deficiency of some sort, but it is the lack and rejection of true knowledge. Sin would also consist of acts that we do and fail to do. The result of sin is that man is totally depraved (Ephesians 2:1-3).
An outplaying of sin upon people is that they attempt to erase the memory of God or change the existence or nature of God into something else. God clearly reveals what sin does upon the knowledge of Him in our world. This is what Romans 1:18-25 states - For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.
What happens when I die? Some people think that we just end - cease to be - are annihilated, but this is not true. God made us in His image so therefore your physical body will die due to sin, but our soul lives on. Others think that if we live a good life, are kind, and haven’t done too much wrong, then we will go to heaven, but this is not true either. Things we do on our own merit - these ‘good deeds’ cannot bring you into a right relationship with God.
God tells us this very clearly - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV). Hebrews 11:6 clearly explains that - without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. No matter how good we are, without Christ all the things we do are meaningless dead works.
What is the consequence of sin? Once again this determined only by God, the Creator. The Bible says, ‘the wages of sin is death’ (Romans 6:23). Not only are you not right with God because of your sins, you are going to die, and will forever be separated from God (Ephesians 4:18).
What awaits you is that you will face an eternity of unimaginable anguish, torment, and unrelieved darkness. Your place of eternal punishment in payment for the sin you have amassed in your life is hell. Hell is a real place, and it is described in the Bible as ‘the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth’ (Matthew 13:42); and as ‘the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched ‘ (Mark 9:43-44); it is a place where ‘the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; and they have no rest day and night’ (Revelation 14:11), and as ‘the lake of fire and brimstone,’ where the man who rejects God, that is the sinner, will be ‘tormented day and night for ever and ever’ (Revelation 20:10,15; 21:8).
Eternal punishment, God’s judgement through Christ for what we choose in this life is fair because God has made Himself known through nature, our God given instinct, and the Bible. Because God is holy and just, and that we are sinners and choose to be, people deserve to be judged by God. Jeremiah a prophet of God records the Words of God - ‘The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds’ (Jeremiah 17:9-10).
God is a loving God, but we must remember that He is a Holy and just God who hates sin. Therefore God will deal with sin in your life, by virtue of His sovereignty over us and of His character of justice. God will do this through Jesus Christ. All people will one day meet Jesus Christ face to face. God - has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead (Acts 17:31). If you choose to reject God in this life - God will reject you in the life to come. Since you choose to live an ungodly life in this temporal place - God will confirm your choice forever. God’s judgement is just, right, perfect, and without error, and we should not expect anything less from a holy God.
So if people are by nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3), we are doomed. You may at this moment sense a great deal of hopelessness and despair. Therefore we need to seriously consider this question - ‘how shall you escape the sentence of hell ? (Matthew 23:33). God clearly reveals to us that you cannot do anything to save yourself. There is no way you can work your way to salvation. There is nothing in and of yourself that can be done to gain any merit or favour from God. Only God can help you, with your problem of sin. To continue, please see Post 4.