Even a casual glance at the news of our day will indicate that we have a serious problem in America. Violence, corruption and moral decay seem to be everywhere. While lawmakers are trying to address these issues, to some extent, they actually deal more with the symptoms than the root of our problems. The problems in our society stem from what I call, “The Big Topic of Sin.” Sin is a big topic and the Bible does not try to diminish or dilute man’s biggest problem. Paul David Tripp made the statement that “sin is a bigger problem than we think it is,” and I personally agree. Therefore, please consider the following three points.
First, sin is a bigger problem than we think it is. And God’s grace is more amazing than we are able to grasp with our finite minds. The people in the church of Galatia, (Galatians 3:1-5), had been listening to people who told them, in essence, that faith in Jesus Christ was not enough to save their soul. However, Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Truly, salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone, “for we are saved by grace through faith,” (Ephesians 2:8). Additionally, we need to realize that sin is big and comprehensive. Sin alters every aspect of our person-hood (Paul Tripp), and every person in the “hood.” To give one example of how big sin really is, consider the following statement. “Most of us think we are really better than we really are.” That, my friend, is the power and delusion of sin! The Bible states clearly that all have sinned and come short of the glory or perfection of God, (Romans 3:23).
Secondly, another interesting fact is that sin cannot be erased by good deeds, or good works. However, we are impressed when someone turns over a new leaf, or adopts a New Year’s resolution, and sticks to it. Many people decide to change their life at the onset of a new year, but the truth is that, statistically, 43% quit their resolutions by February. And according to Google, it only gets worse from there. When you think about it critically, sin actually makes a mockery of all of us. None of us can attain God’s holiness without first putting our faith in Jesus Christ. If you could pray every waking moment, give to every charity, and speak from as pure of a conscience as possible, it still would not make you perfect in the sight of God. Wow!
This brings me to my third point. Sin’s only remedy lies in the reality of Jesus Christ coming to earth to save mankind from the Big Problem of sin. (Think Christmas, babe in the manger…). Sin is so bad that Jesus did not come to save the righteous, because there were no righteous people on the planet! The only person who could conquer sin was Jesus, and he conquered sin when he died on the cross for our sin, and rose from the dead the third day. His shed blood paid the price for our Big Sin problem. When we ask Jesus to forgive us of our sin and to become our Savior, He gives us the power to conquer the sin that used to control our lives. That, my friend, is the Good News concerning our Big Sin problem.
Fortunately for mankind, God so loves us that He sent his Greatest solution (Christ) for man’s biggest problem called sin. The best news is that Jesus is only a prayer away!
Prays Together is a rotating faith-based commentary and advice column among the pastors, and guest laypeople, of the First Presbyterian Church of Exeter, Church of Christ of Exeter, Nazarene Church of Exeter, Church of God of Exeter, the New Life Assembly of God and Rocky Hill Community Church and Lemon Cove Community Church.
This column is not a news article but the opinion of the writer and does not reflect the views of The Sun-Gazette newspaper.
