Sin

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By Oscar M. Baker

The good news is found in such verses as 2 Cor. 5:19; I Tim. 1:15 and Eph. 1:7. However, we have to deal with this subject because of that rebellious nature that’s in us, and we always will have that trouble until resurrection. That’s a continual fight in life, and we have to put up with it and face it. We can’t stick our head in the sand and say it doesn’t exist. And so we just can’t overlook sin and pass it by as if it wasn’t anything. It must be accounted for as far as our reward is concerned---not as our salvation, but as our reward.

PEDIGREE OF SIN, James 1:13-15: “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin…”. So sin is the offspring of lust. Lust can be any desire, and any desire that is outside the will of God is of our flesh and is therefore lust, no difference how respectable in our society. When we give place to that, it brings forth sin, “…and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” So there is a good picture of what we’re speaking of.

DEFINITION OF SIN: sin is lawless, a negative, something outside the law (I John 3:4). Sin is unrighteousness, that which is not right (I John 5:17). Whatsoever is not of faith is sin (Rom. 14:23). All negative, it’s an intruder, not a positive thing in God’s creation, and God did not create it!

THREE ASPECTS OF SIN: (1) Vice, a sin against our own nature, has to do with the person, against his own self as that’s where it originates and works. (2) Crime (closely related to vice) against society at large. (3) Probably the worst aspect is the 3rd---against the righteous will and holy love of God. This is sin in its fullest extent.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SIN & SINS: Sins are the fruit of sin, sin is the root. Christ died unto sin once (Rom. 6:10). He offered one sacrifice forever. (Heb. 10:12).

REDEMPTION: Redemption is needed for this sin problem, sold unto sin. Redemption means to buy back, a deliverance, an exodus. When Israel was delivered from Egypt, there was an exodus through the Red Sea. However, the atonement is access---it is the eisodus. Exodus means to go out, eisodus means to go in, into the presence of God. The atonement made on Mt. Sinai was to cover the sins of His People to the eyes of God that they might go into His presence. A sin offering had to do with the old man, the old nature, the flesh.

[To be continued from tape 5/15/79, entitled “Sin”.]