General References On Sin And Temptation
What it is, and its origins
Sin is willfully disobeying God. It is doing what displeases Him. Temptation is what urges us to sin. Temptation does not separate us from God. Sin does.
God created man perfect, without a sin nature, but with freedom to choose to obey or disobey God (Genesis 2:16-17).
Adam's choice to disobey is what gave us our sin nature (Genesis 3:6, Romans 5:12).
Who sins?
Everybody sins. It's part of our nature (1 Kings 8:46).
We are sinful from birth (Psalms 51:5).
Nobody does good (by God's standard of "good") (Psalms 53:3, Ecclesiastes 7:20).
Compared to God's good, our "good" is like dirty rags ( Isaiah 64:6).
All of us tend to not follow God but our own desires (Isaiah 53:6).
All have sinned (Romans 3:23).
Everybody is under sin. If one person was able to live a sinless life, that capacity would be in all of us, but nobody can live a sinless life, therefore God sent Jesus to die for us (Galatians 3:22).
Saying we never sin just makes us liars (1 John 1:8).
What are the results of sin?
Sin always separates us from God. This is spiritual death. It happened in the garden of Eden the same day that Adam disobeyed God (Genesis 2:16-17, 3:23-24).
The following passages show that sin separates us from God and results in death (Psalms 66:18, Proverbs 11:19, Isaiah 59:2, Ezekiel 18:4, Romans 5:12, 6:23, James 1:15).
Sin also hardens our heart which drives us farther from God. It prevents us from seeking God. That is why God takes the initiative in seeking us out (Hebrews 3:13).
Where do temptations come from?
Temptations come from three places:
- The world
- The world view from sinful humanity as a whole. (1 John 2:15-17).
- Our hearts
- Our sinful desires. (Matthew 15:19, 1 Timothy 6:9, James 1:14-15, 4:1).
- Satan
- Our adversary. (Luke 22:31-32).
God may test us, but God does not tempt us to sin. Temptations try to weaken us, but testings are to strengthen us (James 1:13).
How should we respond to temptation?
Just because as believers we are saved and our sins are forgiven doesn't mean we can keep on sinning. We are commanded not to sin ( John 5:14, 8:1-11, Romans 6:1-2, 1 Corinthians 15:34).
Jesus when tempted, countered with appropriate scripture. Here's a good reason to memorize scripture (Matthew 4:1-11).
Counter temptation with prayer. When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He included asking God to not lead us into temptation (i.e. to lead us away from situations where we might be tempted) (Matthew 6:13).
When Satan attacks, resist him. Don't give in (James 4:7).
All content written by Andrew Bernhardt unless otherwise noted. Site hosted on lunarpages.com.
Topic viewed 1011 times since 2009-07-02 02:50:14.
Last updated by System on 2004-06-08 12:00:00.
