The Sinful Man

 

Man has always striven to achieve a higher purpose. Throughout history we read of men, who transcended worldly desires of wealth and power and sought for something greater than temporal gains. It wasn’t an easy way for those who chose this path of thorns and tears.

The Bible speaks of a similar path - a struggle of epic proportions. This struggle has resonated throughout the centuries in the hearts of all those who seek Yahweh. A deadly tussle with sin.

There has always been something within man that makes him yearn to be someone better, to rise above his base desires and to walk in the paths of purity and holiness. Man yearns to be set free from the yoke of sin that keeps his body, mind and soul in bondage. This begs the questions-What is sin? Though there exists many definitions of sin, sin is primarily disobedience of God’s laws.

“The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not
submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled
by the sinful nature cannot please God.”-Romans 8:7-8

How did man come to be yoked to sin?

“Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world,
and death by sin; and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned:” – Romans 5:12

“For as by one man’s disobedience
many were made sinners,…..”-Romans 5:19

Sin can be traced back right to the first man whom God created on earth-Adam. When Adam and his wife Eve disobeyed God by eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge, sin entered the world. So when man sinned, he fell from the seat of purity and holiness he possessed.

Therefore there exists in each man a longing to go back to that seat of purity and holiness which the first man Adam once possessed, before he fell due to sin. We long to be pure and holy in God’s sight and to be set free from the bondage of sin.

Hence from the creation of the world till this very day many have been locked in a mortal combat with sin.

The Bible records some such struggles.

When the prophet Isaiah saw a vision of the holy Lord, he was convicted of his own sinful nature and imperfections and cried out

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man
of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean
lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”-Isaiah 6:5

King David records his anguish thus

“For mine iniquities are
gone over mine head: as an heavy burden
they are too heavy for me…..
I am troubled; I am bowed down
greatly; I go mourning all the day long.”-Psalms 38:4,6

“For innumerable evils have compassed
me about: mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me, so that I am not able to look
up; they are more than the hairs of mine
head: therefore my heart faileth me.”-Psalms 40:12

“Deliver me from all my transgressions:…”-Psalms 39:8
 

When King David sinned against the Lord and the Lord convicted him of his sin, David wept and asked for the Lord to forgive his sin. His languish is recorded in Psalms 51.

“Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness: according
unto the multitude of thy tender
mercies blot out my transgressions.

“Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge
my transgressions: and my sin
is ever before me. Against thee, thee
only, have I sinned………….

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be
clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than
snow………

“Hide thy face from my sins, and
blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me
a clean heart, O God; and renew a right
spirit within me. Cast me not away from
thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit
from me………..

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
thou God of my salvation: and my tongue
shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.”

The great apostle Paul records his struggle with sin in the letter to the Romans.

“I do not understand what I
do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I
do………As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it,
but it is sin living in me.” Romans 7:15,17

“For I have the
desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For
what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do
not want to do—this I keep on doing.
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is
sin living in me that does it.”-Romans 7:18-20

Paul inwardly desires to do good. But he is unable to. His actions ultimately turned out to be the evil he did not want to do. And he realizes that this is due to the sin that resides in him. He reasons that the sin living in him prevents him from doing pure and holy things and instead makes him to do the evil he detests with his heart.

Paul thus concludes

“So I find this law at work: When I want to do good,
evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight
in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the
members of my body, waging war against the law of my
mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at
work within my members.”-Romans 7:21-23

Is not this the very same thing, that both you and I experience in our day to day life? A struggle with sin? And does not always sin always emerge victorious over us? Does not the very same cry of Paul echo in our hearts?

“What a wretched man I
am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”-Romans 7:24

Who can save us Sinful Men from the sin that resides in us? Who will save us from the sin that drags us ever deeper into a pit of darkness and despair? Who can deliver us from the incessant pull of sin that will lead us to an eternity AWAY FROM GOD? It is easy to spend a carefree life on earth but which man when he thinks of eternity does not quake at the thought of spending an eternity in torment? Who can save us?

Paul answers his own question with joy.

“Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”-Romans 7:25

“….through Christ
Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the
law of sin and death.”-Romans 8:2

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one
and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life.”-John 3:16

He who puts his faith in Jesus Christ is set free from the power of sin. Through faith in Jesus you will receive the power to emerge as victor over sin. If you believe in Jesus, you no longer fight your war against sin alone. For HE will be with you till the end of the ages.

“And surely I am with you always, to
the very end of the age.”-Matthew 28:20

 

Bible verses taken from King James Version(KJV) and New International Version(NIV)