Born A Slave To Sin – The Extent Of Sin & The Realm Of Sin

Born A Slave To Sin

The Extent of Sin

The scriptures have made it clear that sin began in heaven with the fall of Satan (Please read Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14). Salvation is completed in heaven with the mediatory work of Christ.

“For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Hebrews 9:24). Approximately 4,000 years after the first Adam was created, a young Jewish virgin, named Mary, conceived of the Holy Ghost and gave birth to the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. The first Adam sinned, lived 930 years and died. The last Adam, the Lord Jesus never sinned. He lived 33 ½ years and on an old rugged cross gave His life a ransom for our sins. He was taken off the cross and laid in a borrowed tomb. He then descended to the heart of the earth and preached deliverance to the captive, the Old Testament saints. He was resurrected on the third day after His crucifixion, and He carried the Old Testament saints to the presence of God to wait for His bride. He returned to the earth and for the next 40 days He encouraged and instructed His followers. He then walked out to the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem, ascended back to God the Father and is there, now appearing in the presence of God for us. “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Hebrews 9:24).

As to the Earth

The entire earth feels the extent of sin. “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field” (Genesis 3:17-18).

The Vegetable Kingdom

The extent of sin is felt by the vegetable kingdom; thorns and thistles make the task of growing food difficult. If the weather is not right then our food supply is short, starvation and deaths then persist. In one-way or the other all mankind must battle with the cursed earth.

The Animal Kingdom

Before the fall of man there was no fear between the animal kingdom and man. They lived together in complete peace. But sin brought with it fear and separation to the animal kingdom. The law of the jungle now persists. Only the strong survive, and this law will remain until the millennium. “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’s den” (Isaiah 11:6-8).

As to the Human Race

The Universality of Sin

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Sin is universal. There is no place on earth where the effect of sin is not felt. There is no race, tribe, or individual that is free from sin. Even those who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ or a clear presentation of the gospel are under the law of sin and death.  Death is the result of sin and we can’t find a place where there is no death.

In a place with a great climate and beautiful landscape, a place where flowers bloom year round, and birds sing their songs from the tops of the trees that sway in the breeze, somewhere in this paradise you will find a grave yard. And as you read the names on the head stones, you will realize death has no respect to age, young, middle aged and old alike are under the law of death. “For all have sinned.” There is no place on earth where sin is not manifested in the lives of people. Blasphemy and profanity is spoken in every language. Rebellion, hatred and murder are known worldwide. The extent of sin is universal.

The Total Depravity of Man

“They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable, there is none that doeth good, no, not one… 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: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God” (Romans 3:12, 18-19).

There is nothing good about man. I have heard folk say, “There is a little good in everybody” That sure sounds encouraging but it is not true.

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not” (Romans 7:18).

Paul said, “there is no good in me.” I know some folk are morally better than others. But being morally good is not enough. Without a born again experience, the best moral man that ever lived, will go to hell with the worst reprobate on earth.

Man is depraved (corrupt) and there is nothing good about him, so says God’s Word. There is only one thing in our being worth boasting about. “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

The Realm of Sin

Man commits sin by his conduct. When children bring home their report cards from school, the concerned parent will review his report for that period. When the parent’s eyes reach the place marked “conduct” and there is a bad grade, the parent knows the child has been behaving himself unseemingly.

As an Act

As adults we don’t have a report card to show our behavior. If we did, I am sure some of our grades would be low also. As an act we sin by our conduct. There are three definitions to the word conduct that I will share with you.

To act as leader or director, to show the way, or to escort or guide. As a born again Christian, it becomes our duty and solemn responsibility to be a leader, to guide and show the way of Christ to others. We can only lead, show or guide by our actions, or the way we conduct ourselves.

The act, manner or process of carrying on. Words are not enough to lead others in the right way, but our actions and manner of carrying on is what counts. I have heard it said that, “Words come cheap.” We can say almost anything, but the way we live is what carries the weight.

A mode of standard of personal behavior, especially as based on moral principles.

The prison inmates I deal with speak in a peculiar way to the outside world. They have a lot of jargon that would not make sense to a person unfamiliar with prison. But there is one way they express themselves concerning the testimony of another that makes plenty of sense.

If a person confesses Christ in word, but his conduct doesn’t back it up, the inmate says, “He is not walking his talk.” He looks upon that person as a fake and has no confidence in him.

In the free world, there are those who watch our lives as well. We live in a glass house and all those about us are looking in on our lives. That is one of the reasons we find it difficult to witness to, and to win our lost family members and close friends to God. We have sinned by our conduct. Until we clean up our act and get it in tune with what we profess, we are looked upon as “not walking our talk” and we are spinning our wheels. I am not saying one can live a perfect, sinless life, but simply that we sin when our conduct is not right.

“A double minded man is unstable in all his ways…But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:8, 22).

Man is void of righteousness.

As a State

There is not a person on earth who can boast of their righteousness, for we as human beings are void of righteousness. “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10).

The prophet Isaiah put it this way and very correctly so. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6).

The only righteousness’s we may have is the imputed righteousness of Christ. We cannot boast of our own goodness. “That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (I Corinthians 1:31).

Never will a person enter heaven and say, “Let me tell you what I did to get here.” But we must confess with Paul the apostle. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:5-7).

We deserve to go to hell, but on Calvary, Jesus Christ cried, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do…” (Luke 23:34a). And at the new birth Jesus said, “Charge it to my account” and by His grace He justified us, pronounced us not guilty, and gave us eternal life.

As a Nature

Man is conceived in sin, born in sin, and is therefore, a sinner by nature.  In conclusion, as to the realm of sin, we see how man sins as an act, by our conduct as a state, man is void of righteousness, and as a nature we are a sinner from the time our mother conceived us, and will remain the same until God calls us home.

“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalms 51:5). What can I boast on? Only that I am a sinner, saved by the grace of God.

It is the nature of un-regenerated man to live in sin. “But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish, and without spot,” that was shed on Calvary, we are delivered from the power of sin, the penalty of sin, and will one day be delivered from the presence of sin. But until that day arrives, we can have peace through Jesus Christ, even in this realm of sin.

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).