One of the great challenges of spreading the Good News of Christ is also spreading the understanding that all of us are sinners.  We know the verses from Vacation Bible School days such as Romans 3:23 ("For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God") and Romans 6:23 ("For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.") but has familiarity breeded contempt or is it apathy to the truths of these verses?  I fear it is a bit of both.

As for contempt, in communicating the biblical doctrine of sin to a culture that rejects any authority over their lives but their own, this doctrine is especially heinous and offensive!  But this mindset here in the U.S. dates all the way back to a key influence in the crafters of the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution --- that influence is John Locke, the deistic philosopher who promoted the idea that humans are born with a blank slate and a propensity to do good rather than evil.

But the Scriptures tell us in Romans 5 that we are all born under sin inherited from Adam (Romans 5:12) and we need to be redeemed by another, the Second Adam, who never sinned nor had any sin nature.  Thus, when we trust in Christ, we now have a new nature untarnished and unaffected by sin.  We become sons of God and co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:12-17), and thus inherited not death but life in Christ for all eternity!

We also may deal with apathy dealing with the doctrine of sin!  Sin leads to death!  Not just physical death, but spiritual as well!  We are cut off from the fellowship and the blessings and the salvation of our God because we are by nature objects of wrath (Ephesians 2:1-3, see also Romans 1:18).  Psalm 66:18 says,

    If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
        the Lord would not have listened.

And this is the epitome of the unsaved soul --- we cherish and treasure our self and our world's system over the righteousness found in Jesus Christ.  The connection of the Holy Spirit is not there.  Christ has not redeemed you, and thus you are cut off from His interceding work!  You have cherished sin over the Savior! 

John Owen said, "Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you."  Drastic times call for drastic measures!  Mark 9:43-50 calls for engaging in active warfare against the sin that influences the members of your body!  Romans 7:21-25 shows how when good is near, evil is also nearby in our hearts. 

Learn about Satan's schemes!  Learn about the effects of sin!  Once you embrace this doctrine, you will see your need for a Savior and see His power all-through in being greater than sin.  "Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more" (Romans 5:19, ESV).

Copyright (c) 2005 by Matthew R. Perry, Treasure The Word (http://www.treasuretheword.org).  All rights reserved. You have permission to forward this or make up to 1000 copies, provided that you give proper credit to the author and the ministry which he represents.