What Every Christian Should Know About Sin

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Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. I'm Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to study God's word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory, we're in a series called What Every Christian Should Know, and we're looking at the 10 core beliefs of historic Christianity. Today we've come to the study of what theologians call hamartiology, the study of sin.

And you're going to hear me say this several times, what you believe about sin determines what you believe about salvation. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. The world as we know it really is a far cry from the Garden of Eden.

Corruption and greed run rampant on a global scale, and each individual to some degree battles hardship and tragedy. How did it come to this? Well, today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress shares how sin entered the world and took residence in every human heart. Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Before we start our study, let me ask a personal question. When was the last time you took a real vacation? You see, God never intends for His children to work beyond their physical and emotional limitations, which is why we all need a vacation from time to time. At Pathway to Victory, we're preparing a wonderful vacation experience for you and your family. The dates are June 15th through 22nd, and it's our Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska. In addition to unparalleled sightseeing in the great frontier, we're reserving plenty of time for you to relax and restore. It's not too late for you to reserve your spot in the cabin level of your choice.

So go to PTB.org, take a look at the amazing itinerary, and reserve your spot today. And then I'm eager to send you my bestselling book for our current teaching series. It's called What Every Christian Should Know, 10 Core Beliefs for Standing Strong in a Shifting World. At Pathway to Victory, we believe that theology matters.

We live in a shifting world where false doctrines undermine our daily decisions. In order to remain on solid ground, Christian believers need to embrace the core doctrines that define our faith. In my new book, I explain how to avoid shaky ideas that sabotage your walk with God, and how you can stand strong on the solid ground of God's Word. A hardbound copy of my book, What Every Christian Should Know, is yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. More details later, but right now, let's open our Bibles to Romans chapter 5 so that I can share the next study in our teaching series.

I've titled today's message, What Every Christian Should Know About Sin. Have you ever noticed how words have changed in their meaning over time? For example, it may surprise you to know that the word naughty used to mean without financial resources. Although he was wealthy, because he was reckless in his spending, he became naughty. It might surprise you to know that the word nice used to mean unintelligent, ignorant.

I would never trust him to make a right decision, because he's too nice. But perhaps no word in human language has been transformed more over time than the word human. The word human, for a brief moment in history, used to mean the pinnacle of God's crowning achievement.

That was Genesis 1 and 2, and then came Genesis 3. Suddenly, the word human became a catch-all phrase for every human weakness you can imagine. I should have resisted her invitation to go back to her place, but after all, I'm just human. The poet Alexander Pope said, to err is human. How do you explain that drastic, sudden change in our understanding of what it means to be human? It's through an event we're going to look at today. If you have your Bibles, turn to Genesis chapter 2. We're in a series called What Every Christian Should Know, and we're looking at the ten core beliefs of historic Christianity. Today, we've come to the study of what theologians call hamartiology, the study of sin. You're going to hear me say this several times, what you believe about sin determines what you believe about salvation.

That's why this sixth pillar of Christianity is so important. Now, I wanted to divide up today's message in a way that perhaps you'll remember. We're going to first of all look at the way we were, the way things used to be in God's plan. Then we're going to talk about the way it ended, and now the way it is for each one of us. Then we're going to end on a note of hope about the way it can be. Now, let's look first of all at the way we were. In the first two chapters of Genesis, you see God's creation firing on all cylinders.

Everything's working perfectly. God created the earth and the stars and the planets and the birds and the animals, and he said it was good. Then on the sixth day, he created man, and he said it is very good. Then he created woman and said it's even better. Well, that's in the Hebrew text.

You probably don't know that, but it's close to that. That's the idea. Everything was good. How did it end? Genesis chapter 3. Here's how it all happened. Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And so he said to the woman, indeed as God said, you shall not eat from the tree of the garden. And the woman affirmed that.

Yes, that's what he said. You shall not eat from it or touch it or you will die. Then the serpent said, you will not surely die.

For God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you'll be like God knowing good from evil. First of all, he causes the woman to doubt God's word. Has God really said? He uses the same tactic today.

We'll look at that in a moment. But then he caused Eve to doubt God's character. There's a reason God told you no to this tree. He's trying to withhold something good from you. God is a cosmic killjoy and the ultimate party pooper.

He will do everything he can to make your life absolutely miserable. He's successful in doing it in verse 6 says, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and it was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate and she gave also to her husband with her and he ate. Have you ever wondered why Adam gets blamed for this sin when it was his wife who committed the first sin? It's interesting, Paul in 1 Timothy 2 makes a distinction between Eve's sin and Adam's sin. They were both sins. They both sinned. But Paul said it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite deceived fell into the transgression of the devil. Eve was wrong, she sinned, but she was deceived by the serpent.

Adam knew better. His sin was a blatant rebellion against God. And in Romans 5 verse 12 we find the result of Adam and Eve's sin. Therefore, just as through one man, Adam, sin entered into the world and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

This is how sin entered the world. It came through Adam, the Bible says. In what sense did it come through Adam? What sense did it pass on to you and me? Some people say Adam was the seminal head of the race.

You understand the etymology of that word, seminal? In that sense, we were all genetically present in Adam and when Adam sinned, we sinned. Some people say, well, no, Adam is the federal head of the race.

Just like we elect congressmen and senators to go to Washington and vote for us, Adam was voting for us. But whichever it is, the effect is the same. Sin entered the world, death came through sin. That word death, thanatos, means separation.

It's not only physical death, the separation of the body from the spirit, but spiritual death. Man's spirit, because of sin, was forever separated from God. And so death spread to all men because all sinned. From one man, Adam, sin spread to everybody. Everybody who's ever lived has inherited this sin virus.

Now, you know what people say to that? That's not fair that I'd be held accountable for what Adam and Eve did. Because if I had been in the garden, I wouldn't have made that same choice that Adam and Eve did.

Really? Isn't it interesting, even as Christians, how many times we rebel against God? Not just every day, but every hour of every day. We say no to God. We exhibit that same rebellion against God. Now, other people say it's just unfair. It's unfair because of one person's sin, everybody should be counted as guilty.

That's just not fair. Paul has an answer to that so-called unfairness in Romans 5, 16 to 17. He said, if you want to see something more unfair than that, just think about Jesus Christ. The only thing more unfair than all people being held guilty for one man's sin is for everybody's sin to cause one innocent man to be found guilty. The only thing more unfair than being held responsible for Adam's sin is to be made forgiven by Christ's righteousness.

That's what he's saying in verses 16 and 17. For the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned, Adam. For on the one hand, the judgment arose from the one transgression resulting in condemnation. But on the other hand, the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.

Now get this, verse 17. For if by the transgression of the one, that is sin, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign through Jesus Christ. You know, you don't have to do anything to inherit Adam's sin, you just have to be born. But the gift from God is not like the curse. You don't automatically become a Christian by Christ's death for you. Notice verse seven says, that gift is for those who receive, underline that word, who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. This is the picture of how sin entered the world, how we became separated from God.

Remember what I said? What you believe about sin determines what you believe about salvation. There are many people, even Christians, who believe, well, sin, you know, that's not that big of a deal. Sure, we're all flawed, we're not as good as we can be, we're not perfect, that's not what God says. If we're just simply flawed and imperfect and diseased, then perhaps all we need is a code to follow.

Or a behavior modification program to engage in, or a good example to follow. But the Bible says we're not just defective or diseased, we are spiritually dead. We are in horrible shape. And because of that, we need a radical solution to our problem.

Let me show you just how bad it is, the way it is, because of the way it ended. What is the spiritual condition of every person who's ever lived? Look at Romans three, verses 10 through 12. Paul says, as it is written, there is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have become useless. There is not one who does good, not even one.

Paul uses the phrase, no one, none, six times in three verses. He's talking about the utter depravity of the human race. I'm going to stop here for a moment and say something about the depravity of the human race.

Man is depraved. Some people wince at that and say, well, you know, that's just not really true. There are people who aren't Christians, who love their families. They build homes for Habitat for Humanity.

They donate blood to the Red Cross. They're good people. How can you say they're totally depraved? The theologian J. Dwight Pentecost has a good word on this. He said the total depravity of man doesn't mean that we're all as bad as we could be. It means we're all as bad off as we could be. We're all separated from God because even the good things we do have been corrupted, polluted by sin. If you want a manifestation of what God thinks of our goodness and how He views us, listen to God's description of the world right before the flood in Genesis 6.5. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That's how God looks at mankind.

Everything we do, everything we think is only evil continually. Let's look in depth at the spiritual x-ray, what Paul says. First of all, he says, no one is righteous, not even one. Now, that word righteous means to be in a right standing with God. He said there's not one person who is righteous in a right standing. Again, we have trouble with this because we say, well, you know, there's a great difference in human beings.

Yes, on page six of the newspaper, we read about a man who murdered his three small children and his wife. But then we turn to page seven and here's a fireman who heroically saved a group of children from a burning building. There's a great difference between human beings.

That difference between human beings is considerable, but in God's eyes, it's negligible. Let me illustrate that for you. If you go to New York City and walk the streets of Manhattan, you'll notice different sizes of buildings, some one story structures, some multi-story structures, we're skyscrapers over a hundred stories high. When we used to go to New York every Christmas, we'd get in on Christmas night late and would make a beeline to Times Square to the McDonald's there because it was the only restaurant open on Christmas night.

And it was a massive two story McDonald's, biggest I've ever seen. But looking down from outer space, if you were to look down on Manhattan, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between that two story McDonald's and a hundred story Empire State Building because from space looking down, they all look the very same. That's how God views us. The difference between human beings from our limited perspective is considerable. From God's perspective, it's negligible. What does all this mean about our human condition?

Let me get it down to where it affects you and me. Tip O'Neill said one time, all politics is local, so is all theology. What does it mean to me? The fact that I am utterly depraved and I am unrighteous before God leaves us with a problem. First of all, on one hand, we have a holy God. The Bible describes God, Isaiah 6-3, as holy, holy, holy.

That word means separate, different, a cut above. God is a cut above. He is different from all of his creation.

He has no sin in him. Now, again, we try to write that off. We'll say, okay, I admit I'm not perfect. I'm not as close to God as the apostles, Peter and James and John. I'm not as close as Jesus' mother Mary or even maybe Saint Teresa. I'm just not that close, but I'm not as bad as just these other people over here. Again, it's an illusion.

We don't recognize how vast that gulf is between God and us. Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon before? You know, there's the south rim and the north rim of the Grand Canyon separated by more than 20 miles. Just imagine for a moment all of humanity is gathered on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. They want to get to the north rim, and they see this vast gulf. They say, well, we'll try to jump over the canyon to reach the north rim.

So the first group to try is Adolf Hitler, Charles Manson, Osama bin Laden. It's their turn to jump, and they make it about six inches, and they fall to the bottom of the canyon. And then there's another group, every godly pastor or priest you've ever known, and the saints of old, and they take a running leap, and they make it three feet, and they fall into the chasm. And then you've got the apostles, and they're all together, and they run and jump, and they make it ten feet out, and they fall to the bottom. Now, there's a measurable difference between how far they jumped, but compared to 20 miles, it's negligible.

It's inconsequential. That's what Paul meant when he said in Romans 3, 23, for all have sinned, and all fall short of the glory of God. What does this all mean? It means only God is capable of spanning that chasm between a holy God and a sinful man. Again, going back to Alexander Pope, to err is human, to forgive is divine. Forgiveness is a part of the heart of God.

Romans 5, 8 says, but God demonstrated his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, he sent Christ to die for us. And you see that heart of forgiveness in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3, verse 7, after Adam and Eve sinned, what happened? Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. They felt that guilt immediately, and their first instinct was to cover over it themselves. They sewed together fig leaves to try to hide their nakedness.

It didn't do the job. They still felt guilty, and so they went and they hid from God. There's nothing we can do to cover our guilt.

No matter what we do to cover over our guilt, there's always a draft blowing that we feel. We always feel the guilt, and so what happened? God met them in the garden, and verse 21 of chapter 3 says, the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and he clothed them. Did you know this is the very first death in human history, when God killed an animal to take the skin and to cover Adam and Eve? He was teaching all of us two important lessons. First of all, only God can provide a covering for man's sin, and secondly, that covering involves something innocent, dying for something guilty.

It was a picture of what the Lord Jesus Christ would do for us one day. Jesus' death on the cross removed the penalty of sin. It removed the power of sin. For Christians, we no longer have to sin. We no longer have any more obligation to sin than we think we have. We've been saved from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, but the presence of sin is still with us.

It's still here. Make no mistake about it, the ultimate deceiver, Satan, still slithers up to us, lies to us, causes us to doubt the character of God and the word of God. The devil's goal is the same as it was in the Garden of Eden, to cause static in the transmission of God's word to us, so that we're deceived into following the lies of Satan.

You know, outside of the Bible, I think the most vivid description in literature of the power and reality of sin is found in Edgar Allen Poe's short story, The Tell-Tale Heart. Do you remember that, studying that in school? It was a short story about a man who thought he had committed the perfect murder. He took the corpse of the old man he had murdered and hid it under the floorboards of his house and thought he had gotten away with murder.

One small problem. He kept hearing the faint beating of a human heart. At first, it didn't bother him.

The police came. The beating heart didn't bother him at first. He was able to ignore him, but that beating got louder and louder and louder until that heartbeat drove him to madness and to confession. Every one of us, whether we're Christians or non-Christians, we have that realization of our guilt, our sin.

It's not through a beating human heart. It's the beating of God's Holy Spirit. He keeps reminding us, we have sinned, we have sinned, we have sinned. The purpose of God's Holy Spirit is not to drive us to madness. It's to drive us to confession and God's forgiveness.

That's the truth about sin. The silent voice you hear is often God's Holy Spirit convicting you of your sin and inviting you to receive His forgiveness. My hope is that you will take this step today and through confession walk into the loving embrace of Jesus Christ our Lord. Earlier, I described a book that I've written for you and includes an entire chapter on the subject we address today. My book is titled What Every Christian Should Know Ten Core Beliefs for Standing Strong in a Shifting World.

It's the perfect next step in your walk with God. And you can request your copy right now when you include a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Then let me invite you to become one of our valued Pathway partners. This growing circle of friends has become a tremendous source of encouragement to me because together we're able to touch lives all across the country and around the world through monthly support of Pathway to Victory. Not long ago I received a note from Michelle in Virginia who told me, Dr. Jeffress, I'm struggling with some issues in my family right now and Pathway to Victory keeps my spirit up and reminds me that God is in control. The only way through the trauma in my family is through Christ our Lord.

Thank you so much for making this available to me every day on the radio and TV. Pathway to Victory has given me hope. I really need this ministry. Well, when you give a generous gift to Pathway to Victory and when you agree to become one of our Pathway partners, you're reaching men and women just like Michelle who rely on this program as a beacon of light in the darkness. Thanks so much for your support.

David. Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. You know, you can sign up to become a Pathway partner by going to ptv.org. And when you give your first Pathway partner gift or when you give a generous one-time gift, you're invited to request a copy of the best-selling book by Dr. Jeffress called What Every Christian Should Know. Call us toll free at 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. Now, when you give $75 or more, we'll also send you the complete collection of audio and video discs for the What Every Christian Should Know teaching series.

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Again, that's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins, inviting you back next time for a message called What Every Christian Should Know About Salvation. That's right here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway partner, go to ptv.org slash podcast and click on the donate button or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.