God wants us to be happy, but we can not achieve this
goal until God is happy with us. Sin makes God unhappy. Are all your sins
forgiven? Nothing is more important than this assurance. Food, water, clothing
and shelter are important. But all of these have no eternal value. Forgiveness
of sins gives us hope of eternal life.
The Bible tells us we can be forgiven. Of
course, before we will seek forgiveness we must be convinced we have sinned and
are in need of forgiveness.
The gospel (or good news) was first preached on a
Jewish feast day called Pentecost about A.D. 30 on the Roman calendar. This is
recorded in the second chapter of Acts (
"When the people heard this, they were cut to the
heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we
do?"” (Acts
Why did they ask such a question? Because
they saw themselves as very much in need of forgiveness. Their life had
no hope - no peace. They needed to be saved from the penalty of their sin.
We need to ask the same question ourselves. We have
all sinned. When we admit our guilt and are willing to follow God's way to
forgiveness, we can surely find it. The very worst thing in life is sin. It
separates us from God and eternal life with him..
THE MEANING OF SIN
1
John 3:4 defines sin as lawlessness.
The person who sins has no respect for God's
law. Whatever is done in opposition to God's law
is sin. John also said, "All wrong-doing (all that is not right as defined
by God) is sin . . . " (1 John
There
are three ways we can sin:
1. We sin when
we disobey God
by doing things such as
committing fornication
(sexual intercourse outside
of marriage), adultery, getting drunk, worshipping idols, lying,
stealing, murder, hatred, and covetousness. Here are references that tell us
about this kind of sin. Read them carefully.
2. Not only
do we sin by doing the things listed above, but we also sin when we fail to
do what we know we should do. God wants us to avoid evil - and also to do good! James said: "Anyone, then, who knows the good he
ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." (James 4:17)
3. We
also sin when we have wrong attitudes. God's Word goes right to the
heart of sin. Sins in motives, intentions and desires are very serious. Read these references:
THE ORIGIN OF SIN
Satan was the first sinner. "He who does what is
sinful is of the devil (Satan), because the devil has been sinning from the
beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's
work" (1 John 3:8).
Those who practice sin are called sons of Satan or
sons of the devil. Read John 8:44; 1
John 3:10.
Satan is always trying to lead us into disobedience to
God's will. (Read John 13:2; Acts 5:3.) He does this through temptation. Read 1
Corinthians 7:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:5. Temptation appeals to our natural desires
such as the desires of the flesh for sex and food. The desire for the things we
see or the lust of the eyes - and the pride of life or being like those about
us who are sinners (1 John 2:15-17 and James 1:14).
It is not a sin to be tempted. It is only when we
disobey God that we sin. Read James
1:12, 15. Even our Lord Jesus was tempted, but he did not sin. Read Hebrews
4:15;
The fact that Adam and Eve were tempted by what the
devil told them was not sin. (Read Hebrews
WHO HAS SINNED?
Sad to say, the record of mankind is "all have
sinned." None of us can say we are not guilty. As the scriptures say:
"There is no one righteous, not even one …" (Romans
Since all have sinned and the penalty of sin is death
(Romans
If the only quality in the character of God was
justice, we would truly all be lost. But God is
love (I John 4:8); therefore he extends grace (unearned favor) to us.
Paul tells us we are justified (declared not guilty) freely by his grace
through the redemption (purchase with a great price) that is in Christ Jesus.
(Read Romans 3:24).
We cannot expect
to be forgiven
because we are
worth it -- or for
our perfect
obedience. It makes no difference how many times we have
sinned - the wages of one sin is death (Romans
WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS AND RESULTS OF SIN?
The effects of sin can be seen everywhere: families are divided; there are prisons, war, and
unhappy people all about us. Without Christ and forgiveness people are
miserable. The Bible describes such persons as sick spiritually; read
The final result of sin is eternal death. There are two deaths: physical death (Hebrews
Physical death is the result of Adam's sin - not our
own personal sins. All people face physical death. All people will ultimately
be delivered from a physical death. - "For since
death came through a man (Adam), the resurrection of the dead also comes
through a man (Christ). For as in Adam all die (physically), so in
Christ all will be made alive" (at the resurrection). 1 Corinthians 15:21,
22
We do not have to answer for the sins of Adam. God does not hold us responsible for the sins of
others, but only for our own personal sins. Read 2 Corinthians 5:10. "So
then each of us will give an account of himself to God" (Romans
This horrible death is an eternal separation from God
and Christ. Jesus said to those who refused to turn from sin, "I am going
away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you
cannot come." (John 8:21). Such persons "will be punished with
everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord…" (Read
2 Thessalonians 1:9.) This is the final result of sin. (Read Romans
Hell is a very real place, a place of weeping and
gnashing of teeth. (Read
God does not want anyone to go hell. Hell was "prepared for the devil and his
angels" (
We are free to choose. We can choose the way that
leads to hell - or the way that leads to heaven.
God does not force any of us to follow the way to
forgiveness and salvation. (Read John 5:39-40). But he invites us and gives us
the opportunity to come to him if we will. (Read Revelation 22:17).
Are you forgiven? Are you a sinner? We hope this
lesson has shown you the terrible results of sin. We do hope and pray you
decide to seek God's help. The next
lesson will consider the way of escape and freedom.
Now, click here to go to the Questions for Lesson One
Click here to go to Lesson Two