The Garden of Eden was bliss but it didn’t last long. Adam and Eve lived in perfect harmony with God and yet, because of their pride, they sinned. The serpent manipulated and twisted God’s words and helped to lead them astray. But it was Adam and Eve’s own pride that caused them to want to be “like God, knowing good from evil” (Gen 3:5). As a result, sin entered the world and separated them, and ultimately us, from God.
But God always planned to reunite us. God spoke of the coming Savior when He told the serpent “He will crush your head” (Gen 3:15). He began to reveal the way back. His plan culminated in the death of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection. He opened the door for us, to come back and to be with Him for eternity. What good news that is!
We can revel in this good news. God has provided a gift to us purely by His grace. “Not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph 2:8). We understand that. We can’t earn it but the thing is, as wonderful, as beautiful, as immeasurable as God’s gift is, it is meaningless to us if we don’t accept it. And in order to accept the gift, we have to admit that we need it.
I like what David Mathis said several years ago in his article, “A Reason to Be Really Offended”:
“Our message is not ‘you can do it.’
It’s not ‘you’re good enough’, ‘you’re smart enough’, or ‘people like you.’
What we preach is that you are a glorious creature gone tragically bad, that you have rebelled against the God who made you, but that he did the most difficult thing imaginable to win you back and lavish you with his eternal goodness.
It is wondrously good news. But unavoidable is the offense, that insulting supposition, that bad news that sets up the good. Did you catch it? You’ve gone tragically bad. You’re a foolhardy rebel against the most powerful person in the universe. There’s nothing you can do to save yourself, earn God’s favor, or get yourself out of the cosmic pit you’re in — the pit you dug and can’t climb out of.” (1)
We, in simple terms, have to admit that we are sinners. Not that Adam and Eve sinned and we suffer the consequences. Not that everybody else sinned and I’m not that bad. No. We have to admit that we, that “I”, have sinned. And, as Mathis puts it, “You’ve gone tragically bad.” We just don’t like admitting that we need help. That we are at fault.
The reality is that “We have all sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God” (Rom 3:23). But sometimes we want to take ourselves out of that one little word, “all.” If you know someone who thinks, “I’m not that bad”, “I’ll be fine”, here’s a simple true or false test:
I’ve never broken a rule. Never lied, cheated, or done any bad thing.
Whenever I’ve seen something good that I should do, I always do it.
Every good thing I’ve ever done I did with the right motives.
I’ve lived every moment of my life to honor God in every action, word, and thought.
If anyone could answer “True” to all of these questions it would be amazing. More likely though, if they answered “True” to all the questions they lied and failed question 1. We don’t like the term, and we don’t like to admit it, but we have all sinned. It’s pretty straight forward when we open our eyes to see.
Peter preached his first sermon on the day of Pentecost. He told all those who were there about Jesus. He told them that God had planned Jesus’ coming long ago. That Jesus performed miracles, that He was crucified, and that He was raised from the dead. He made it clear to them that Jesus was Lord and Messiah (see acts 2:14-36). How did they respond? “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 2:37)
What was Peter’s answer when they asked “what shall we do?” The first thing was to repent. Admit your sin and change your ways. He said, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). We can’t move forward unless we admit our sin. We have to admit that we need to be saved in order to accept His free gift.
Why all this talk about sin and how pervasive it is? Why this basic gospel message when most of you reading this have probably come to terms with your sin. Well maybe, just maybe, one of you hasn’t and needs to understand that sin is your problem. Sin is a “me” issue. Or perhaps, you know someone who hasn’t dealt with their sin issue. By God’s grace, something I’ve said may help you help them.
And here’s something else for those of us who have come to terms with our sin and have been forgiven. When we are reminded of the depth of our own sin, we are also reminded just how much we are loved. We don’t dwell on our sin. As the Psalmist says, our sins have been removed “as far as the east is from the west” (Psa 103:12). Still, when we revisit an understanding of the depth of our own sin, we renew our understanding of how great God’s love is. We can say with joy, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 Jon 3:1)
Repent. Change your mind. So easy to say but difficult to live daily.
Awesome word that the world needs. When reading the story of The Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25, I've wondered if refusing to acknowledge their sin is what caused the "ones on the left" to be so confused by their fate. Preachers and teachers today who avoid the serious importance of true repentance should think more carefully about the possible outcomes.