What Is Original Sin?
Sermon Notes
Hey everybody my name’s Louis I’m the lead pastor here at City Awakening, it’s great to gather with you both onsite and online. At this time we can dismiss our children to children’s church, and if you didn’t get to check your child in please see our children’s ministry leaders in the back to assist you with that...Today we’re continuing our teaching series on a book of the bible called Romans. It’s a series about renewing your mind, for the transformation of your life. What we’re talking about specifically today is the doctrine of original sin. What is the doctrine of original sin, how does it affect our lives, and what’s the cure? It’s a relevant topic for us today, because original sin explains the problem behind all other problems in our lives and world. It explains why we aren’t seeing any moral growth and progression in humanity. People who don’t believe in the doctrine of original sin tend to believe we’re good people, who can evolve into being better people. We can evolve into being better people, who can create a better world. But if that’s true, why isn’t humanity getting any better?...Why isn’t the world getting any better?...
The truth is we have more innovative and technological advancements than any other period in history. But we still aren’t seeing the moral progress in humanity we’d expect to see, if we’re evolving into better people and a better world. So we need another explanation for why our lives and world aren’t getting any better. We need another explanation, and a better solution for making things better in our lives and world. The doctrine of original can give us that better explanation and point us to a better solution, a better cure for humanity. So let’s turn to Romans 5 and check it out. You’ll find Romans in the last quarter of the bible, and we’ll be in Romans 5:12-21. Title of today’s message is What is original sin, and here’s the big idea. Original sin was the worst tragedy in history, but Jesus came to offer a better future for humanity...Original sin was the worst tragedy in history, but Jesus came to offer a better future for humanity...
Here’s your context. Romans was written by the Apostle Paul who was a skeptic and enemy of Christianity, until 35 A.D. when he has an interaction with Jesus that changes his life, and he becomes a Christian. Then 20 yrs later he writes this letter to Christians living in Rome to teach them about Jesus and the gospel that transformed his life. In ch’s 1-4 he explains why we should put our faith in Jesus, in ch 5:1-11 he explains how faith in Jesus can benefit us, and here in vs 12-21 he explains three things: #1 What is original sin, #2 how does original sin affect us, and #3 what is the cure?...What is original sin, how it affects us, and the cure. Let’s check it out.
Romans 5:12-21 states, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man...” The one man Paul’s talking about here is the first human God created, which is Adam. He says sin entered the world through one man, which is through Adam. Paul, and even Jesus, talk about how Adam was a real historical figure, the first human God created, the first human who sinned. In Genesis 3 he didn’t do what God wanted him to do, which was to protect his wife Eve, care for God’s creation, and not eat the forbidden fruit. But instead of doing what God wanted, Adam didn’t protect his wife from Satan, didn’t care for creation, and he ate the fruit. That’s when the beautiful world God created started falling apart. It started falling apart with Adam’s original sin.
So what is original sin? It’s the 1st human sin, the original sin Adam committed. The reason I said it’s the 1sthuman sin, is because Satan committed the 1st sin when he chose to rebel against God. In Genesis 1-2 it says God created all kinds of creatures including Satan, and God said they were all good. This means Satan was good at first, but somewhere in created history between Genesis 1-2, Satan committed the 1st sin and became evil. So original sin isn’t about the 1st sin committed, it’s about the 1st human sin committed by Adam. God didn’t create sin, he created us with free will and the possibility of sin. Adam turned the possibility of sin into actual sin, when he chose to disobey and turn away from God. Instead of trusting what God said is true and best for his life, he chose to disobey and turn away, thinking he knew what was true and best for his life. Instead of trusting God’s way, he chose to disobey and turn away. So Adam’s sin is original in that it’s the 1st human sin, but it’s also something we’ve now inherited at birth. Just like we’ve inherited our parent’s genetics, we’ve inherited a sin nature from Adam being the 1st parent of humanity. It’s why some theologians don’t call it original sin, they call it inherited sin. It’s because Adam’s original sin poisoned human nature. We’ve inherited a poisonous sin nature.
Now you can see the reality of this just by looking at a child. I mean you don’t have to teach a child how to sin, because their inherited sin nature automatically teaches them how to sin. I’ve never had to send my children to Sinners Camp to learn how to sin. It’s because they already learn how to sin from their sin nature, which they inherited from their mom’s side of the family... They inherited from my side too, because we’ve all inherited a sin nature from Adam. My point is you don’t have to teach children how to sin, because they’re sin nature automatically teaches them how to sin. Burton White is a respected child psychologist known for his empirical research on early childhood development, and here’s what he said about the first 3 years of childhood. White states, “From fifteen to sixteen months on...something in his nature, that we don’t fully understand, will lead him to deliberately try forbidden activities, specifically to see what will be allowed and what won’t. In other words, he will begin systematically to challenge the authority of the adults he lives with. Resistance to simple requests, becomes very common at this time...” He says there’s something, in their nature, that makes them resist. He says it’s very common, meaning it’s in every child. So his research supports what the bible’s been teaching for thousands of years, which is there’s something in our human nature leading us all to resist, rebel, try sinful forbidden things. That something, is our inherited sin nature from original sin.
Again vs. 12, “Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.” Notice Paul says death spread, to all people! This means we not only inherited a sin nature, we also inherited death. Now death in the secular world is viewed as a natural part of life, but here we’re learning it’s an unnatural part of life! Adam wasn’t created to die, he was created to live. It’s sin that brought death and decay into Adam’s life, and into our lives. Adam’s name in Hebrew means mankind, and his original sin infected all mankind, it infected all humanity with death and decay. God warned him this would happen, but he didn’t listen. So like a contagious virus death and decay spread in him and from him, to all humanity. Just like the coronavirus was able to rapidly spread throughout the world, Adam’s original sin infected us with a viral poisonous sin nature, that rapidly spread death and decay to all humanity. It doesn’t matter how great our technological advancements have become, the death rate for humanity is still 100%. It’s because death spread to all people like Paul said, and there’s really two kinds of death humanity is experiencing. We’re experiencing a spiritual death being separated from God, and we’re experiencing a physical death being separated from the people we love when we die. It’s our spiritual death, it’s our separation from the living God, that leads to the physical death and decay of everything in our lives, relationships, and world.
So how does original sin affect us? It gives us an inherited poisonous sin nature, that leads to spiritual and physical death, which affects everything in our lives. It affects things like...
#1 Our spiritual life = The reason we sometimes feel a tug pulling our hearts away from spending time with God praying, reading our bible, attending church. The reason we sometimes feel spiritually dead, and sometimes doubt God’s love and care for us. The reason we experience all these things, is because original sin has separated us from enjoying a face to face relationship with God, and our inherited sin nature keeps trying to pull us away from God.
#2 Our personal life = The reason we struggle with things like anger, patience, lust, addictions, envy from identity insecurities, is because of our inherited sin nature. We know there’s certain sins in our lives that aren’t good for our lives, it’s affecting our personal lives. But the reason we struggle to resist and overcome those sins, is because of our inherited sin nature.
#3 Our marriages and families = The reason we struggle with issues in our marriages and families. The reason we struggle with issues in our parenting, issues with obeying our parents, issues with our siblings. It’s because we’re born into a family with an inherited sin nature, and we start new families with an inherited sin nature. Your spouse isn’t the problem, you’re both the problem. Your children aren’t the problem, you’re both the problem. Your parents and siblings aren’t the problem, you’re all the problem. Our marriages and families struggle, because our marriages and families are filled with people who’ve inherited a sin nature.
#4 Our society and world = The reason we have laws, prisons, court systems. The reason we have law enforcement officers, militaries, and wars, is because we’re living in a society and world full of people with an inherited sin nature. The reason we have presidents, dictators, governmental systems that haven’t been able to fix our society and world, is because it’s all being run by people with an inherited sin nature.
#5 Every Generation = Original sin and our inherited sin nature doesn’t just affect our generation, it affects every generation. There isn’t a single generation in history we can look at and say “That’s a generation filled with good people, who never sinned and never had conflicts.” In fact I’m not sure we’ve made much moral progress over the years despite all our technological advancements. I mean our technological advancements have helped us with some things, but our inherited sin nature has also caused us to create things like nuclear bombs, cyber warfare, the objectification of men and women with porn, and the ability to publicly criticize people on social media. My point is we aren’t morally progressing, we aren’t evolving into better people, who can create a better world for future generations. It’s because every generation has the same problem! It’s that every generation has an inherited sin nature, that’s come from Adam’s original sin. So what’s the cure?...What’s the cure for our inherited sin nature and death?...Paul tells us the cure.
Vs. 14, “Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who didn’t sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. He is a type of the Coming One.” That’s Jesus. Paul’s saying Jesus is the Coming One, the 2nd Adam, the perfect Adam, who came to make things right again.
Vs. 15, “But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many...17 If by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.” Paul’s saying just like sin and death came through one man Adam, we can have grace and eternal life through one man Jesus Christ. So even though every human abuses their free will and is guilty of sin, God still wants to cure and restore us. He still wants to cure and restore his creation, through faith in Jesus.
So what is the cure? = The cure is Jesus...The cure for original sin, for our inherited sin nature, for the death and decay in our lives, is faith in Jesus. Since every human is a part of the problem, it means we can’t be the solution to the problem. If we can’t cure and restore ourselves, it means we need God to cure and restore us, which is what Jesus came to do. Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15:47, “The first man (Adam) was from earth, but the second man (Jesus) is from heaven.” He’s saying Jesus isn’t just any man, he’s God who came from heaven and became a human. He’s God who left the perfection of heaven, to live in the sinful destruction of his creation. He’s God who became a human to cure and restore what the 1st human and every human has destroyed with sin. We can’t cure and restore ourselves, but Jesus being fully human and fully divine makes him the perfect human to cure and restore us.
He’s the perfect 2nd Adam to cure and restore us from the destruction the 1st Adam caused. In comparing Adam and Jesus’ life we have:
· Through Adam we receive sin, but through Jesus we receive forgiveness of sins.
· Through Adam we receive a sin nature, but through Jesus we receive a new nature.
· Through Adam we receive destruction, but through Jesus we receive restoration.
· Through Adam we receive death, but through Jesus we receive eternal life.
· Through Adam we receive eternal separation from God, but through Jesus we receive eternal reconciliation with God.
Jesus is the greater Adam, the perfect 2nd Adam who came to cure and restore us from the destruction the 1st Adam caused. Paul says sin and death came through Adam, but the good news is grace and life can come through Jesus. The bad news is Adam chose to sin, but the good news is Jesus chose to die for our sins. The bad news is Adam’s original sin led to the fall of humanity, but the good news is Jesus is the cure that leads to the restoration and resurrection of humanity.
Vs. 18, “So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is justification leading to life for everyone. 19 For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” When Paul says there’s life for everyone, he isn’t saying everybody will be saved, because some people will reject Jesus as the cure. In vs 17 he says it’s only for those who receive Jesus and the overflow of grace he poured out on the cross. You can’t receive the cure for sin and death, if you don’t receive Jesus who died for your sins on the cross to give you grace and life. You can’t receive the cure, if you don’t receive Jesus as the savior.
Vs. 20, “The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Paul’s saying wherever sin multiplied through Adam, grace can multiply even more through Christ. So whatever sins you inherit through Adam, will never be greater than the grace you can receive through Christ.
But how is all this fair?...I mean why should we have to suffer from an inherited sin nature, from sin and death because of Adam’s original sin? How is that fair?...I used to think that same thing, until I realized three things. The 1st thing I realized, is I’m assuming I would’ve done better than Adam. I’m assuming I wouldn’t make the same mistake, which make me sinfully arrogant just for thinking that. The reality is we would’ve sinned at some point, and God knew
this which is why he already had a plan in place to save us, through faith in Jesus. The 2nd thing I realized, is God doesn’t have to save anybody. If we really want to talk about being fair, God shouldn’t save anybody, considering how much we’ve rejected him and destroyed his creation. The 3rd thing I realized, is God’s given us the cure through faith in Jesus, and so it’s on us if we don’t take the cure. Just a person can’t blame the lifeguard for drowning if they refuse to take the float the lifeguard’s given them, we can’t blame God for our sin and death if we don’t take the cure he’s given us through faith in Jesus. So we can’t blame God saying it isn’t fair, and we can’t blame Adam or anyone else, when our own sins are contributing to the problem. It’s like what G.K. Chesterton once said when he was asked by a newspaper what’s wrong with the world? His response was, “What’s wrong with the world?...I am...Yours truly, G.K. Chesterton.”
The big idea of the message is that original sin was the worst tragedy in history, but Jesus came to offer a better future for humanity...We can’t evolve into having a better life with a better future, but we can rely on Jesus to give us a better life with a better future. What Paul teaches is there’s really only two kinds of people in the world, it’s those who are in Adam, and those who are in Jesus. Those with an inherited sin nature and death through Adam, and those with a new nature and eternal life through Jesus. Those who reject the cure, and those who receive the cure. If you receive Jesus as the cure, then you’ll receive an overflowing grace from Jesus that’ll start transforming everything in your life. It isn’t a perfect life, it's a transforming life. It isn’t a dead life, it’s a new life. It’s a life where his blood shed on the cross, starts pumping out the poisonous sin in your life. If you receive Jesus as your savior, there will never be a day his grace runs out on you. There will never be a day he gives up on transforming you. There will never be a day he stops forgiving you. There will never be a day he stops loving you...Let’s pray...