Bible Reading :
Mark Chapter 15 Verses 15-37

Sin

There are lots of words used in the Bible to describe things that are wrong before God. Transgression, iniquity, evil and wickedness are but a few. Another is sin and that is what I want to talk about tonight. What is sin? Sin is the missing of the mark. In archery the archer aims at the bulls-eye in the centre of the target. This is what he focuses all his skill and energy on hitting. If the arrow hits anywhere other than the bulls-eye the bowshot is described as a sin. The arrow has missed the point at which it was aimed.

In spiritual terms sin is also the missing of a mark.

Gods Law is clear and plain about what the mark, the target, is. God requires that everyone born into the world should be obedient to what God says. This obedience should be demonstrated in what everyone does, in what everyone says and in what everyone thinks. The mark that God sets is the mark He expects everyone to hit in every aspect of their life in what they do, in what they say and in what they think. God is just and righteous in expecting this because, in all His dealings with us, God meets His own standard and hits the mark in everything He does, in everything he says and in everything He thinks. We are all Gods' creation and we owe Him our absolute obedience.

The problem with our sinful nature is that we do not even accept the target God sets for us. 1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. What would we think of an archer in a competition who turned his back on the target and fired his arrows in the opposite direction?

By nature this is what we, as sinners all do with regard to the things of God and His truth.

This is what God says about sin in Deuteronomy 27:26 Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. Curses in scripture are not simply a reaction to someone's actions they are a solemn prediction of the results. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; This word "death" here is a reference to eternity in hell under God's righteous punishment. This is the result of sin.

Satan hid his purpose when he trapped Adam and Eve and tricked them into sinning against God. He told them that disobeying God would be better for them than doing what God said. He said it would make them like God and implied that God was not being good to them in forbidding them from doing anything they pleased. The Bible says satan is the father of lies.

Satan does the same today. He tells people that the things that God condemns are fun and OK and that we needn't worry about doing anything that pleases us. What satan tells us appeals to us because we are sinners. We like to think we can live life our way and everything will be OK in the end. If we think about eternity at all we believe what satan says and we expect we'll sort ourselves out in time so that we will be safe.

We like to think that as we got into this mess ourselves then we'll get ourselves out of it. A story is told about the animals in the jungle. One day the animals came across a wall built in the jungle that nobody remembered seeing before. It was built across the way to the waterhole so it was a bit urgent that it be removed as a growing crowd of creatures found their trip to get a drink was blocked. They held a conference to decide what to do.

It was agreed that the lion, as king of the jungle should roar at it and command it to go away. When that failed the elephant said he'd push it out of the way. When that failed the rhinoceros said he'd smash a way through. When that failed the snake said he'd make a hole under it and so did the mole. When that failed the monkey said he'd climb over it. When that failed the spider said he'd climb where the monkey couldn't and he'd get over it. When that failed the camel said he'd find a way round it. He was gone for days but still failed to find a way round. At last the eagle said he'd soar over the wall with ease on his strong wings and use his marvellous eyesight to find the way over. When he came back he'd flown so high he couldn't breath properly the air became so thin. He reported he'd not been able to see a way over but he had seen some strange marks on the wall that he did not understand. He described the marks to the other animals but they didn't understand either, all they knew was that their way to what they needed to sustain their life was blocked.

The marks on the wall were these "SIN".

We are like those animals in the jungle. Left to ourselves and our own ideas and solutions our way to all that we need for eternal life is blocked by our sin. Adam sinned and because we are descended from Adam we are all sinners, it is in our nature to sin and this is why we sin. As we heard on Sunday we are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. The Bible tells us that we inherit sin from the first sinner, Adam. There is no way that we can make for ourselves around our sin, over or under our sin. Our sin is one huge great mass that separates us from God. If we are EVER to find something to deal with our sin we need someone else to open up the way and deal with it or we will be lost forever in hell. Each of us faces being cast out from everything good unless we can be delivered from what our sin has brought upon us and we, none of us, knows the moment it will bring our life on earth to an end.

Far from being something we can ignore or take lightly or even as some people do, in making sin something to joke about, sin is actually the most destructive thing imaginable. Have you ever heard of a place called Chernobyl? A nuclear power station exploded and lethal radioactive fallout spread for miles and miles. Lots of the people who had to go in to sort it out when it first happened died soon afterwards from the terrible radiation. Now almost nobody goes anywhere near the place because of the awful effects. Radiation causes physical death. It so damages peoples' bodies that they die sooner or later as a result.

Sin kills peoples' souls.

Sin brings people to hell for eternity. It cuts people off finally from God and from every source of comfort and peace. People who do not understand hell make jokes about it or they deny that it exists. The Bible is plain that there is such a place and warns people to flee from the wrath of God that will one day fall on every sinner who has not found the way to escape.

Oh Yes, there is a way to escape. I've said a lot about sin blocking the way to eternal life. The animals in the story about the wall in the jungle did not understand what it was but you all know. Even if you did not know before tonight then tonight I have told you. Your sin is a block between you and God. Your sin makes God angry with you - personally. Unless you ask God to show you the way of deliverance your sin will bring you one day to spend eternity in a place of outer darkness where you will be cut off from everything peaceful and good.

The Lord Jesus is the Only Hope for anyone as He is the Only One Who has lived a life that was completely obedient to all Gods' commands. He delighted in pleasing God and, unlike each of us that is what He did all through His life. He came in to the world to make the way for sinners to be delivered from their sin and to bring them to peace with God. The Bible talks about people stained with sin being white as snow. Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Sins that show up vividly before God can be cleansed away and the sinner made pure in God's sight.

This is the only answer to our sin and the terrible judgement that comes with it. The Lord Jesus died and bore the punishment due for sin. 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: The Lord Jesus paid the penalty that sinners might overcome their sin and have access to heaven instead of hell.

Have your sins been dealt with by The Lord Jesus? It is your most urgent need if they have not. The Lord Jesus endured all that He did so He could save sinners from the penalty they deserve for their sin. To reject that is such an awful thing to do. It is a terribly dangerous thing to do because to go on in unbelief is to be determined to be lost in hell forever.