SIN

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“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  (Romans 3:23)

Sin is breaking God’s Law or missing the mark. 

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As the Creator, God has set the standard (or mark) for mankind to be 100% perfection.  Unfortunately, man had never been able to live up to these standards.  The first humans, Adam and Eve, were created sinless and perfect in God’s image.  However, they lost their perfection by disobeying God.  As a result, a sin nature entered into them that was passed down to us from generation to generation.  We are, consequently, ALL born with a sin nature.

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Sin entered the universe even before Adam and Eve.  The most powerful Angelic Being, a Cherub named Lucifer, was the first sinner and pride was the first sin.  As a powerful Angel, through whom all worship flowed, he alleged that God was hording all the glory for Himself and wanted some of that worship.  Pride is always self-seeking and envious.  Dissention broke out in heaven as Lucifer convinced one-third of the angelic beings to side with him.  They were thus thrown out of heaven.  It was Lucifer (the Serpent) who persuaded Adam and Eve to sin, using the same tactics he used on his angelic counterparts: that God is holding out on them.

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Here was God’s situation.  On one hand, one-third of His created angelic realm had just rebelled and tried to overthrow His very throne.  God’s very nature required Him to punish that rebellion since the foundation of God’s Kingdom is based on Righteousness and Justice.  On the other hand, two-thirds of the angelic beings remained loyal to God.  He wanted to reassure those faithful angels that His eternal love is for them is genuine. 

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We also have man who had just sinned against God.  Two of God’s created beings, the angels and man, had missed the mark.  Was this a dilemma for God? Not at all!

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On the contrary, this was part of God’s secret plan to demonstrate to ALL of His created beings His absolute love and righteousness.  This plan would be one of reconciliation and restoration through grace and forgiveness.  Jesus would take upon Himself our sins and give us in return, His perfect righteousness!

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There is only one way in which God could forgive the sin of man and be perfectly just at the same time.  He would come down to earth as a man (Jesus), live without sin, and later go to the cross and bear His own righteous judgement for ALL sin.  He would them rise from the grave, forever conquering death and Satan, and reign forever in heaven with His chosen elect.

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So in a sense, a great way to know for sure that you will be spending eternity in heaven is to sin. This may sound odd since the normal thought process would be to assume that sin assures anything but a ticket to heaven.  But it’s true.  You see, without sin, you cannot accept God’s free gift of grace and be saved!

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Additional References: 1 John 1:8, James 4:17, Galatians 5:19