Two Lies About Sin

Paul Ellis

Jun 2

The worst disease to ever afflict the human race is not Covid or cancer, but sin. Sin is not merely breaking the rules or acting immorally. Sin is much more serious than that.

God offers us his divine life but we fall short. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). The gap between our broken and bruised lives and his whole and glorious life is called sin.

Now that we have a Biblical definition of sin, we can look at two lies we have been told about sin.

Lie #1: A little sin can't hurt

You hardly need me to remind you that we have been sold a con. The world tells us that sin brings pleasure, but the truth is that sin comes with a hefty price tag:

For the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23)

God gives life, but sin ministers death. Sin cripples us, diminishes us, and kills us. Sin ruins our lives, our marriages, our families, our world.

When we walk after the flesh, we sow the seeds of destruction and reap a fatal harvest. This fruit is not God's judgment but sin's wage. Sin is its own punishment.

You already knew that, right? But what you may not know is that true pleasure – the kind you and I were made for – comes from the Lord.

You will make known to me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forever. (Psalm 16:11)

We were created to enjoy divine and everlasting pleasure, but we traded it all for the fleeting and fatal pleasures of sin.

What a terrible trade! Every disease, heartbreak, and crime that was inflicted on the human race happened because we said no to God and yes to sin.

Lie #2: Sinning makes God mad at you

If the first lie comes from the world, the second lie comes from religion. Religion tell us that sinning is bad because it displeases God and makes him hate us. Not true. God doesn't hate you. He hates sin!

Why does God hate sin? He hates sin because sin hurts those he loves. God never intended for us to live with the suffering that sin brings.

When Adam turned his back on God, he opened a door to a world of trouble, and so do we whenever we repeat his mistake. When we offer our bodies as instruments of unrighteousness, we become slaves of sin (Rom. 6:16).

Jesus broke you out of sin's prison, but whenever we walk after the flesh it's like we're slapping the chains right back on.

Sinning does not mean we will lose our salvation, but we will surely lose our freedom.

For the Christian, this can happen when we put ourselves under law. Paul rebuked the Galatians because they were trying to perfect in their flesh that which was begun by the Spirit (Gal. 3:3). They put on the heavy yoke of law, stopped walking by faith, and lost their liberty (Gal. 3:12, 5:1).

5 truths about sin

Now that we have exposed some of the lies about sin, here are five truths about sin:

We can sin just as easily by doing good things as bad. Whenever we walk after the flesh, we fall short of the glorious life God has for us.
We all sin, from the best of us to the worst of us. Your sin does not make you unique.
God dealt with all your sin – past, present, and future – at the cross. He did this because he loves you and wants you to share his life with him.
When you stumble, God still loves you. His grace is greater than your sin, his best is better than your worst.
God's grace empowers you to say no to sin and live the godly life he has for you.

Jesus will never condemn you for your sin. Instead, he will empower you to sin no more so that you might enjoy the whole and abundant life God has for you.

-----