Word of Salvation – Vol. 37 No. 42 – November 1992

Whence Sin?

Sermon by Rev. W. Wiersma on Lord's Day 3

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Man was created to know and love God.  God made human beings in His own image so that He could communicate with them, and we with Him.  God gave us a mind with which to think and a heart with which we can love.  He gave us a soul with which we can enjoy life.

Yes, God created us with great abilities.  God wanted man to be a creature who could respond to His power, majesty and love in a way that no other creature can.  God gave man the ability to speak.  God gave us the gift of language.  That means we can think, we can imagine.  God gave us the power to observe, to analyse and to describe things.  We have the ability to exchange information and ideas.  And it was all intended to be used for the delight and glory of God.

God made mankind in such a way that we human beings might know that we are His creatures and children, and be happy with that.  In other words, it should be natural for us to be glad and proud to be God's creatures.  It should be natural for us to respect and admire God and to gladly follow His directions.  For did God not make all things?  Does He not know the best way to do things and the best way to live life on His earth in harmony with all His creatures?

I think the Westminster Catechism sums it up beautifully when it says that the chief end and purpose of man's existence is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.  That is what our life is meant to be; a life of glorifying God, a life of admiring and praising God.  And that kind of life would mean an enjoyment of God.  It would not only make God happy.  It would make us happy too.  If all mankind had admired and served God as He intended, it would have meant perfect happiness and bliss for every man, woman, and child who had ever lived on this earth.  Everybody would have enjoyed God.  Everybody would have enjoyed living on God's earth in God's way.  BUT IT IS NOT SO NOW.

Men do not praise and glorify God.  Men do not enjoy God.  We do not experience perfect happiness.  WHY?  Why do men not love God?  Why do they make life miserable for themselves and for each other?  What is the cause of our misery?  Who is to blame for the hatred and suffering which we cause and experience in this world?

The catechism puts the question like this: Where does man's corrupt nature come from?  Did God perhaps make man so wicked and perverse?  NO, says the catechism.  God did not make man like that.  God created man good!  Where then does man's twisted nature come from?  The catechism answers: from the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve in Paradise.  This fall has so poisoned our nature that we are born sinners, corrupt from our conception on.

Now this is of course only part of the answer.  And it is a part with which we shall have to be satisfied.  Because God does not reveal to us the mystery of how evil came into His creation.  The catechism is right in telling us that our sinfulness and consequent suffering can be traced back to Adam and Eve.  God made man good.  Adam and Eve fell from this goodness.  In other words, there was a good and happy relationship between God and man; there was a good relationship between Adam and Eve, between husband and wife.  There was perfect bliss in paradise, because God had made man good.  Good is to be what you are supposed to be; to do what you are supposed to do.  God created man good; Adam and Eve were able to love each other, and they did.  They loved each other more and better than anyone of us have ever loved our husband, wife, children or parents.  Adam and Eve had a perfect marriage.  But that happiness and harmony was broken.  The trust disappeared.  And when they lost their trust in God, Adam and Eve could no longer obey God.  Instead of being free to do His will, they felt they must, somehow do the opposite.

When you don't believe someone, you distrust that person's advice.  You are unsure of intentions.  You start looking for other ways, listening to other ideas.  You are sure of nothing and no one.  That's what happened in Paradise, when the devil suggested that God was not genuine.  Adam and Eve believed the devil's lie and turned against God.  God had not changed.  God had not become less mighty, less wise, less caring, less loving.  No, it was man's attitude to God that had changed and which twisted everything.  The question is: can man fix that?  Can we by an act of will on our part fix our relationship with God and each other?  Put another way, can man save himself from his sin?  The catechism answers: No, he cannot save himself, because as children of Adam and Eve we are born sinners.  We are corrupt.  Sin is, as it were, in our bones.  It affects all we do.  And it takes an act of God to change and renew us.  That's the point of Lord's Day 3's last question and answer.

Our relationship with God and our fellowman will always be dominated by sin UNTIL God himself intervenes and changes the relationship.  I'll repeat that: our relationship with God and our relationship with our neighbour will always be dominated by sin.  It will also be influenced by sin, by distrust, pride, jealousy, until God Himself changes our relationship with Him and consequently with each other.  The catechism in this connection, talks about being born again.  That is, getting a new life, a new existence, a new attitude, a new identity.  To be saved we have to be born again.  I've heard it said that the Reformed churches don't teach the necessity of rebirth, of being born again.  Don't believe it, when people say that!  We have it here in L.D.3 and we read in the form for baptism, that we cannot enter the kingdom of God unless we are born again.  We cannot be right with God; we cannot be right with each other, UNLESS WE ARE BORN AGAIN.  To be saved we HAVE TO BE BORN AGAIN.

To glorify God, and to really love our neighbour, we have to be born again.

That is something which you and I cannot do for ourselves.  That is something which the Holy Spirit has to do.  The Holy Spirit is somewhere called the Lord and Giver of life.  He is also the Spirit of Truth.  The Holy Spirit opens eyes and minds.  And, for a time, that can be a very confusing process of discovery.  To have to come to terms with the truth from which you have been hiding so long, can be a painful process.  For the Spirit uses both the Law and the Gospel to teach us the things we need to see and know.

We need to see our sin and its folly.  We need to see God and His love.  The Spirit has to convict us of our guilt.  And the Spirit has to convince us of the Saviour.  The Spirit rubs our nose in our sin and death.  The spirit also speaks of forgiveness and life.  I say, that can be confusing.  The person in whom the Spirit is at work will ask himself/herself: What is true, my sin or God's love, my guilt or eternal life?  Am I lost or am I saved?  All of this is brought about by the Spirit who calls us to look at the crucified Christ.  You see Jesus on the cross?  That's what YOU caused.  That death is what YOU deserved.  The Spirit also says: That death was suffered and died for YOU!

Sin is an awful reality in this world; a dreadful reality with dreadful consequences.  Even unbelievers are aware of the evil in man's heart.  They may not talk of it as sin and rebellion, but they are aware of what man is doing, for instance, to the environment.  They see what men are doing to each other; even looting and burning the food that is sent to the starving.  That's what man is capable of.  Yes, man is corrupt.  He is capable of atrocities beyond description.  Sin is a disease which people try to hide and ignore.  But it is there all the time.  Again and again it flares up.  Until the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, convicts a man and persuades him to admit his sin and cry for mercy.  Lord forgive me!  Lord, change me with a change that is impossible for me to bring about!

We are unable to do any good; unable to live in trust in God and in love for our neighbour,

UNTIL...

There's hope in that word 'until', isn't there?  I mean, there is another fallacy being proclaimed by some.  'You'll always be a sinner.  You'll always only be able to sin and never be able to do any good.'

Not true!

For when the Spirit causes us to be reborn, He brings change.  And the fruit of the Spirit, the result of His activity, is love.  And love is obedience.  And obedience is good.

The Spirit enables the born-again to do what is pleasing to God.  And so relationships are healed.  God's love is known.  And if God has forgiven us and loved us, we ought to forgive and love each other.  If we trust God, we shall be free to do as He tells us, because we know He will look after us.  He will give us everything He promises to those who believe and trust in Him.

AMEN