Born A Slave To Sin – The Reality Of Sin

Born A Slave To Sin

The Reality of Sin

As we begin point number two of this study, there are five sub-points, which we will consider.

Scripture Declares the fact of Sin

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  If you will look closely the scripture declares, “all have sinned.” There is no exception; everyone came into the world a sinner.

Do you mean to tell me that babies and little children are sinners? Yes, the Bible declares it. “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalms 51:5). It is difficult for some parents to find fault in their children.  We should love them and give them the best we possibly can, but we should not be blinded by our love, because no child is without sin. This is evidenced in many ways.

When a small baby is left alone in his room and wants attention, he will scream to the top of his voice. His parents, thinking he is in need, rush to his side. Taking the child in their arms, he begins to laugh and goo. In essence, by his screams, he was saying, “Please help me, I am in pain!” This is commonly known as lying. And lying is a sin committed by sinners.

Did you ever watch a small child taking candy from the candy bowl just before mealtime? When the child looks around to be sure no one sees him take the candy; that is known as stealing – another sin committed by sinners.

This is only two of the sins committed by small children that emphatically tell us the child has a fallen nature. Although children are sinners, our gracious God does not hold them responsible for sin until they become old enough to realize the real difference between what is right and what is wrong. When children become mature enough to know they are a sinner, (ages will vary), then God transfers the responsibility of their fallen nature over to them. He will no longer continue to excuse their sins.

Decisions for life and eternity must at this point be made. Every person, regardless of age, who reaches this point in life, will then have to both confess their sins to Christ and by faith receive Him as their personal Savior and Lord, or they will reject Him and continue in sin, and possibly die and go to hell.

“But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe” (Galatians 3:22).

It is very difficult for some folk to see themselves a fallen creature, sinful and corrupt. They have beautiful homes and good jobs, they are a good citizen, they vote, pay taxes, give to charitable organizations and belong to community clubs. They have two cars, a boat, a camper and more food and clothing than they can use. They even go to church occasionally so, “How dare you call me a sinner?”

Or, it may be the lower income family who is well aware that their home, car and clothing is not the best, that the physical needs of their family are not met as well as others, but with a prideful heart they cover up by saying, “We are as good as anyone, how dare you look down on me!”

There is nothing wrong with being blessed with the best life can offer, neither should the person who is not blessed with the best be ashamed, if he is doing his best. But until a person, rich or poor, reaches the place of realizing, he or she, is a sinner that has come short of the glory of God and is willing to admit it, there is no hope, or help for that person. No one, not even God can help them.

But every person, regardless of color, race, creed or national origin, who will see himself separated from God, lost in sin, and going to hell; and will cry out to God with a broken heart over his condition, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner,” and will believe by simply trusting God for forgiveness, will go down to his house justified in the sight of God.

“…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31).

Nature Proclaims the Fact of Sin

“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Romans 8:22).

When Adam sinned against God not only was the curse of death pronounced upon man but all creation was placed under the curse. When Adam and Eve faced God in their fallen condition and confessed they were naked and afraid, God asked, “ . . .Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?” (Genesis 3:11).

Then and there the age long act of “passing the buck” began. Adam said, “. . . The woman whom thou givest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat” (Genesis 3:12). In other words, Adam was saying, “Don’t blame me, if you had not given her to me, I would have never eaten the forbidden fruit.”

When God questioned Eve she said, “. . .The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat” (verse 13). Like Adam, Eve was saying, “It’s the serpent’s fault, don’t look at me. He told me we would not surely die. How was I to know who was telling me the truth?”

Both Adam and Eve told God the truth. The serpent did beguile Eve, and she did give the fruit to Adam. To say they were afraid and frustrated would no doubt be true. But the fact remains they were trying to pass the guilt on to someone else, instead of facing fact and crying out for mercy. People continue to follow in their footsteps.

Sin had now corrupted all that God had created and could not be looked over as ignorance. Therefore, God went back to the root of the problem and began to pass judgment.

Beginning With the Serpent, All Creation Was Placed Under the Curse

The creature which lent itself to Satan may well have been the most beautiful, as it was the most subtle of all the creatures, less than man. The serpent in his Edenic form is not to be thought of as a writhing reptile. That is the effect of the curse. Before he allowed Satan to use him it is believed he may have stood upright and been very graceful.

“And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all thou days of thy life” (Genesis 3:14).

Oh, what a horrible picture we see as we begin to look at the effects of the curse, all God did in His creative work must now be changed because of sin. God is Holy and cannot allow sin to be overlooked, so in righteous judgment God begins with the serpent and places all the earth under the curse. The serpent lost his beauty because of sin. He lost his exalted upright position and now he is to slither along on his belly and will eat dust all the days of his life. Sin had brought him down, and may I say that sin is still bringing people down. Everyday sin is the ruin of thousands, young and old alike.

Young ladies lose their beauty and charm because they give their bodies to sin. Their beauty is turned to ashes and their purity is gone forever. They have become prey to the highest bidder and there is no way to turn back.

Young men have sold out to sin and the destroyer is ever reaching out to pull them down even further. Their life of popularity and pride is gone forever. Sin has brought them to the gutter and their strength has turned to sorrow. Day after day their main diet is a bottle of cheap wine or a high on drugs that will eventually destroy their brain.

Sin is never pretty when the entire picture is revealed. I have seen parents who think the sins of their young children are cute and as the years pass they disregard their sins because they are looked upon as the “in” thing for the day. But the “in” thing is not always the “right” thing. Sin is never cute or right. It is ugly and a destroyer of all who lend themselves to it. Sin never builds up, but it always tears down.

I know people who live daily in sin and are millionaires. They live in mansions and ride in limousines. What do you say about that? I say, “Wait! The story is not all told yet.” Not everyone who lives in sin will live in poverty. But everyone will meet God and give an account for himself. Luke 16:19-31 tells of such a man on earth who was very rich, but in hell he was a beggar who had sinned away his day of grace and lost all he had, even his own soul.

“There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:19-31).

The Curse of the Woman

“Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee” (Genesis 3:16).

The curse did not take away the place of the woman, it gave her a place all her own. It did not make her man’s slave. If every woman would find the place God gave her, and get in it, homes would not be falling apart, divorce courts would go out of business, and the streets of our cities would not be full of young people who have lost their way in life. The role of wife and mother is to be looked upon as very important. The most respected woman in the world is not the woman trying to earn her rights and rise over the man, it is the godly mother and wife who fills the role God gave her.

God had a perfect plan for man and woman. They were created to reproduce and replenish (populate) the earth, and to do so without pain, sickness or death. But sin brought the curse upon the woman and now she goes down into the jaws of death to bring her children into the world. And despite all the E.R.A. can say or do, God placed the woman under the authority of her husband. That has never changed, and in all reality, never will. That is part of the effect of the curse on the woman.

“Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered” (I Peter 3:1-7).

The Curse on Men and the Earth

“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; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:17-19).

God also gave man his place in the home. First, Adam was reminded that all this started because he listened to his wife instead of God. Then God gave him the responsibility of his family. He is to rule in the home. No fifty-fifty arrangement. That is humanistic reasoning. I did not say the husband is to be a dictator ruling with a rod of iron, but a husband worth his salt will face his God given responsibility and get with it.

God said he is to work in order to supply his family with food, shelter and clothing. He is also responsible for the spiritual leadership in his home.

“Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband” (Ephesians 5:21-33).

“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him” (Ephesians 6:4-9).

No longer is everything at man’s disposal without labor and toil, all creation is under the curse of death.

Death is universal. Travel the world over and you will not find a place where people never die. No place can be found without graveyards. And no graveyard can be found without graves of all sizes. Death has no respect of age; every one dies, young and old alike. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Not only is man dying but the animal kingdom is also under the curse of death. Even the vegetable kingdoms wither away in death.

The entire creation is under the sentence of death and will continue to die until Jesus Christ returns and removes the curse. No man knows the day or hour of His return, but you can rest assured He will return, as He has promised. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (I Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Until that glorious day the earth and all that is therein will continue to grow worse and worse under the curse. World leaders have sought peace without finding it. There is no utopia to be found. But one day when the Lord Jesus Christ returns and possesses His father David’s throne, the earth will then be at peace for the first time since the fall of man. “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:32-33).

Law Discovers the Fact of Sin

“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).

“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet” (Romans 7:7).

No one has ever been saved, or will ever be saved by observing the Old Testament law. Law discovers the fact of sin, “…by the law is the knowledge of sin.” The law is a teacher (so to speak) to bring us to the knowledge of sin.

As Paul wrote in Romans 7:7, he would not have known sin, except by the law, that he would not have known lust, except the law said, “thou shalt not covet.”

Try, as you will, be good as possible; strive to keep the Ten Commandments. Abstain from certain meats, keep holy days and feasts, worship on the sabbath (Saturday), but in the end you will go down in defeat.

The law brings us to the knowledge of sin. It is grace (unmerited love of God) that saves from sin when we express faith in Jesus Christ. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Experience Proves the Fact of Sin

As we look back at some of God’s great men in the Bible, like Moses, David and Peter, there were experiences in their lives that reveal the fact of sin. These men were great men who loved and served God, but they were not supernatural beings. They were made of carnal flesh, just as we are. First, look at Moses-when the children of Israel were in their wilderness journey, they came to the desert of Zin. There was no water for them. When they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron, God told Moses to speak to a rock that was before them and he would bring forth water from the rock for Israel to drink.

Moses gathered Israel together, called them a bunch of rebels, raised his rod and smote the rock twice, (instead of speaking to it as God had commanded him). Moses disobeyed God and was not allowed to enter the Promised Land.

“And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them” (Numbers 20:12).

David, the man after God’s own heart, sinned against God by committing adultery, lying and even committing murder. He took Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, and lay with her. When she discovered she was with child, David attempted to cover his sin by having her husband brought home to his wife from off the battlefield where war was in progress. When Uriah refused to go in unto his wife, David had him sent back to the battlefield to be killed. (Please read II Samuel, chapter 11).

Peter once boasted he would never deny the Lord Jesus, and at that moment, he probably felt so strong, he really meant it. But when Jesus was arrested and stood before his false accusers to be crucified, a young lady recognized Peter as one of His followers and when she began to expose Him, he cursed and denied he ever knew the Lord Jesus. (Please read Mark 14:66-72).

Not only the experiences of these men of old but our own experiences substantiate the fact of sin. “For all have sinned…” (Romans 3:23)

Man Confesses the Fact of Sin

In the Bible we can read of both saints and sinners who have confessed to the fact of sin. First, listen to some of God’s choice people, as they own up to their sins.

Job “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6).

Isaiah “Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5).

Daniel “And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God” (Daniel 9:20).

Peter “When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8).

Paul “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (I Timothy 1:15).

If these men of God could own up to the fact of sin in their lives, surely we should be able to recognize the fact of sin in our lives, and by the grace of God own up to it.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9).

The word confess in this verse means to forsake the sin we are asking God to forgive. We must have a hate for the sin committed, and be willing to turn away from it, in order to receive forgiveness.

Secondly, we will listen to some sinners in the Bible as they own up to the fact of sin.

Pharaoh “…I have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked” (Exodus 9:27b).

Balaam “…I have sinned; for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me: now therefore, if it displease thee, I will get me back again” (Numbers 22:34b).

Achan “…I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done” (Joshua 7:20b).

Judas “…I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood” (Matthew 27:4b).

All these sinful men confessed to the fact of sin. But there is no record that any of them repented and turned to the Lord for forgiveness. Just to simply confess to the fact of sin is not enough to save. Confession must precede salvation, but without repentance there is no forgiveness. “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3, 5).

As we conclude point number two we should clearly see that sin is a reality and should not be excused as anything else. It is sin that separates from God. Committing evil acts is not what makes one a sinner. A person commits evil acts because he is a sinner, who loves darkness rather than light.