The Great Equalizer – Sin

The Great Equalizer – Sin

    Let him that is without sin cast the first stone. Writing on the subject of sin is hard for the flesh, only the Spirit of God can delve into its tragic end, which is death. But as a man who has been born of the Spirit of God, with humility and fear, I look down the barrel of sin hoping that it will not explode in my face. The stones will lay idle on the ground, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23) “For all” how complete, no one is excluded, “for all.” Why must we believe our state, because we are all born of Adam. We have the same D.N.A. of sin. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:. (Romans 5:12) I ask, what is sin? not sins which is the result of sin, but sin itself. This thing that God hates so much that He would die on the cross to end it once and for all.

   What exactly took place in the garden of God? Adam was told that he could eat of every tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God said, “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:17b) One tree out of many, even the tree of life was open to him before Adam sinned. Even, we ourselves have the opportunity to partake of the tree of life in our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. He who believes on Him has ever lasting life, and for that soul, the curse is lifted, he is united to God in an inseparable manner.

As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35 – 39)

    So sin itself must be a tangible whole. For example, the sin of the whole world was laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ, He bore our sin in His own body on the tree, He became sin for us, He who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. ( 2 Corinthians 5:21) For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Therefore, sin is not just a word of unbelief or an act, but it is a tangible article that has to be dealt with by every man. Is it sin unto death —or Christ unto life? Each one must face the weight of their own sin in repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Did Adam repent? There is no record of Adam repenting, in fact, when Adam became sin, death reigned over every man.

 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. (Romans 5:18)

 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. (Hebrews 2:9) 

  Although every man was not yet born, just as the scripture declares that Levy paid tithes to God or Melchisedec when Levy was yet in the loins of Abraham — Levy was not yet born; so too, every man that is born is born sin because of our relationship to our first father, Adam. All have sinned except our blessed Lord Jesus Christ who was conceived by the Holy Ghost so that the angel of God could say of Him, ” that holy thing.”( Luke 1:35) “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

    Because of sin Adam’s glory was gone, there was no more cloak of glory around him. He was naked before his wife, and before the serpent, and before God. The first reaction of Adam and Eve was to cover themselves and to attempt to hide from God, next came their refusal to accept responsibility. So all men attempt to hide from God. It is God who seeks them out, it is God who says to all men, “where art thou” (Genesis 3:9) Men declares “it is not me, but something else.” In Adam’s case, he blamed the woman, the word breathed from God says, (2 Corinthians 13:5) Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates.” And for the hard headed or hard hearted God says, “thou art inexcusable, O man,” without excuse. Let us just count the cost of that sin, the knowledge of good and evil. First, Adam lost his glory, and was found naked because sin now reigned in his mortal body, and the mind of Adam became enmity against God. Man blamed the woman and in that blamed God, (Genesis 3:12) And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. The woman blamed the serpent and to this day, all men cast the blame somewhere else and not on themselves. So is man today, he prides himself in knowledge but not in the knowledge of God. But to those who love the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and knowledge. (1Corinthians 1:30) But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:. (Proverbs 9:10) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. How sad for man, only the knowledge of God is true knowledge. So Adam gave up the true knowledge of God for sin. For everyone born into this world is under Adam’s curse, sin. Even the creation is tainted by Adam’s sin. The fruit of rebellion against God caused even the earth to be cursed by God.

   The first death was recorded in that God clothed man with the skins of an animal. The sin of one caused the death of another. All creation now groaned and travailed under sin. Man would lose his dominion and become the subject to sin, man and God would be in conflict. A flaming sword would now bar man from the garden of plenty to a land of thorns and thistles under a curse. The offspring of sin would be a murderer, and sin and death would now enslave man, and so the history of the natural man begins with sin and death.

   Cain killed his brother Abel because of Abel’s love for God. Sin does not take long to destroy — one act of sin soon becomes many acts of sin. Not because of the many sins but because of sin itself. We are under sin from birth to death, and for those who are outside of Christ, their sin goes with them — sin unto death and sin unto judgment if God’s Son is refused. Man must bare the judgment of his own sin before a Holy and Righteous God.

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (Hebrews 2:14)

And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:15)

 For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:29)

    Now the penalty of sin is death, for all men die because of sin. No flesh under the curse will enter into the glories of heaven. The curse must be lifted. He, the Lord Jesus Christ, was made a curse for us. Sin had to be dealt with and removed. Christ was made sin for us who knew no sin, neither was sin found in Him, for the Son of God was without sin. Our sin was placed on Him, for only the Holy One of God could free us from the curse, and only through Christ’s death on the cross could sin be put out of the way and death lifted.

   In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;  (Ephesians 1:7) 

    Sin has a nature of its own. That is why we say that man has a sin nature. Sin was the result of the direct rebellion against God, and the knowledge of evil took control of man. One of the first fruits of sin or change in Adam, as I said previously, was to hide himself from God. Adam knew that God walked in the garden in the cool of the evening, and Adam walked with God. They talked, they communicated, and Adam knew God in a way that man would never experience again on earth.

    For sin would ban man from this closeness because Adam’s innocence was now gone, he was now the subject of sin and not the subject of God. The sin of man would drive man like a master with a whip to his own destruction. Remember, Adam was put into a perfect environment, a garden of plenty, a garden of plenty was his dwelling place. He was given a help mate and a partner for companionship, and yet he sinned and so lost life for death, holiness for evil, and glory for dishonor. Since

   What must I do to be saved from myself? Man is always looking without for salvation when the root of his problem is within himself. Man must see himself in the likeness of sin. This is the inward man, from this seat or root comes all manner of evil. Yet, God still calls, “where art thou?” So God may be calling you, it is God who imparts faith. It is God who imparts grace.

   For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8) 

   It is God who gives life and that life is in Jesus Christ. Man will do all kinds of foolishness to avoid Christ. He will build idols that cannot speak, or he will worship power and fame, he will degrade himself in all manner of evil and wicked acts to hide himself from the Christ of God. Yet God will still say, “Where art thou, O man.” What have you covered yourself with and where are you hiding? God says, I know you and where you are — you are under a curse and away from God. Sin is the black cloud in our own minds hiding us from God. But God sees all and all is open and naked before him. (Hebrews 4:13) Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Not only does God see the outward but He sees the inward man as well. The thought and intents of your heart, of every heart, is open and bare before Him. God sees all, knows all, it is man who is ignorant of God and not God ignorant of man. God has His righteous microscope and His eternal telescope to see the length and breadth of all sin.

   Sin is the physical force within us. If I take a hammer and drive a nail through a board, it is my inward force that drives the hammer — it is sin within me that drives my sin. The result of the hammer is the nail goes through the board — the result of my sin is the hammer driving the nails into the hands and feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is how tragic the sin of man is, that the very God who created him and loved him, loved him unto death, even the death of the cross. Amen.

Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (James 1:15)

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Hymn information:

 Ann Gilbert (1782-1866) wrote the words and the music was composed by Lewis Edson in 1782.

©Copyright 2014, Michael Haigh

This article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.

All Scripture references are from the Authorized King James Bible. (KJV)