You are probably already asking, “What does he mean by that one?”

Well, for this old soldier, that’s what this thing called ‘sin’ is all about, and by the way, the focus of the first point of the two part gospel message (See this earlier post). If I consider it my duty and Great Privilege (See this earlier post), I had better have a good explanation when I tell folks that ‘Christ died for our sins’. A correct ‘view’ of sin is as essential to delivering the gospel message as is the ‘fact’ of sin. Sadly, and to our shame (us evangelicals), we sometimes forget to mention sin when we share the gospel, and often when we do dare approach the subject, we treat it poorly.

Listening to today’s popular gospel, one might think that ‘sin’ is just about the annoying little things we ‘do’ and Jesus died so we could make it to heaven anyway because after all, we are born ‘good’ and of such great worth/value to God that he can’t even imagine heaven without us. Or, sin only means being ‘separated from God’, or ‘missing the mark’ – both true statements. If ‘sin’ is not just those things, what is it?

Listen to what the Apostle Paul had to say on the subject to believers in the city of Ephesus:

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” Ephesians 2:1-2

Now hear what Jesus said to a religious leader named Nicodemus:

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” John 3:18

Apart from Christ we are spiritually dead and already condemned. Would it be fair to say that those two concepts aren’t brought up much (if at all) in today’s ‘seeker friendly’), discover YOUR special purpose, have YOUR best life NOW ‘evangelical’ environment?

How did we end up this way – spiritually dead and already condemned?  We know the story – the first couple (the only two people who ever walked the earth with complete ‘free will’), in an act of willful disobedience, broke the only rule God gave them and sin entered to pollute God’s perfect creation. The effect on the human race was devastating. Everyone born since then (Christ excluded) has inherited what we call a ‘sin nature’ (also known as ‘original sin’) and under a death sentence. If that’s not bad news (REALLY BAD NEWS), nothing is!. And if that’s the bad news, what’s the GOOD news?

The good news (REALLY GOOD NEWS) is that we can get out from under the ‘death sentence’ – receive a FULL PARDON! When we deserved to die (the wages of sin is death – Rom 3:23) and spend an eternity in Hell, someone died IN OUR PLACE. That someone was Jesus, sent to the Cross by his own Father to die in our stead!

“God made him (Jesus Christ) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (Emphasis mine.)

When we realize our lost and dead condition, admit that we cannot help ourselves, and believe in our heart that Jesus paid for OUR sin with His death, we can receive a ‘full pardon’.

That means a whole lot more than Jesus just dying for the ‘bad stuff I do’, or there being this gulf between me and God called ‘sin’. Jesus suffered the death I deserved! There’s a huge difference between the two concepts. Do you see it? Can you see how our definition of ‘sin’ impacts the gospel message itself?

Does God save people if they only hear the ‘love’ message? I’m sure He does, but it might be ‘in spite of’ a poorly delivered message! By all means talk about love, abundant living, God’s blessings for the one who believes, but as secondary to dealing with the ‘sin’ issue. That’s the difference between a ‘man-centered’ and a ‘God-centered’ gospel – and a message this important deserves to be delivered in its entirety.

We’ll talk about why there’s absolutely no need to dilute the message in a later post.