It seemed good in the Lord for me to put forth a clear concise definition of what the Bible means by the word sin. Unfortunately this is what has been missing from the message of new evangelicalism, and those in the Purpose Driven Church, the Emerging Church and the Word Faith Church don’t hear it amidst all the talk of “love.” What is sin? In our watered down Christianity Lite what has happened is we have all but lost the majesty and absolute perfection of the LORD God Almighty Creator of the heavens and the earth.

The truth is that the Bible describes God as a Being of pure holiness, but in new evangelicalism this glorious and sovereign Lord has slowly been replaced by a non-existent god who just winks at sin because it understands how hard it is for us to be good. However, this isn’t the God Who will judge you; He is spoken of by God the Son here:

“I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:5)

You won’t hear that at a seeker sensitive service, but this is what our Creator actually said. I previously pointed out that the Greek word most often translated “sin” is hamartia. It was originally used as the term for an archer who “missed the mark.” The question that needs to be asked here is what is the mark we miss that God considers sin? We get our first inkling when Jesus tells us what the greatest commandment is:

“You should love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).

This is the standard that God has for mankind; this is the mark He has set, and if you honestly think about it, the moment you take your first breath you miss this mark. No fallen human being on his own can ever do what Christ has told us here. Our selfish sinful nature precludes our ever living without a thought for ourselves. But this is why Jesus came into the world for He is the only One Who ever could live up to this mark of sinless perfection.

Christ Jesus of Nazareth, our very Creator Himself, says we are to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” This would require we never ever do or think of anything other than living for God’s purposes. Men and women, it is only by His Spirit living in us that we could ever even hope to begin to live such an impossible command. And by not accurately holding this standard up to the world we are not helping them, instead we are actually lying to them

What Is Impossible For Man Is Possible With God

And the argument normally raised at this point by the seeker sensitives is: “God wouldn’t give us a command that He knew was impossible for mankind to do.” But can you see that this is reasoning as men here, and not as God thinks? Once again we have a perfect illustration of our selfish sinful human nature. When we don’t preach this standard within the Gospel of Jesus Christ then we withhold the very teaching that cuts through men’s hearts and drives them to ask: What then must we do to be saved?

I don’t know about you, but as I think about the awesome and majestic LORD God Almighty of Biblical revelation, it makes the very hair on the back of my neck stand up as I consider His tremendous glory and His holy perfection. Oh, what a wonderful love that He would demonstrate to His undeserving Church that when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. And it is Christ’s resurrection from the dead which proves we can trust that God will do what He says in the Bible.

If this is the first time you have ever heard this and there are questions that arise, then please don’t hesitate to ask because:

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.