What’s wrong with us? What’s wrong with the human race? Why is there evil? The answer we find in the Bible isn’t simply that we have “sin.” Instead, the problem is an underestimate of the nature, power, and influence of sin. In this six-week series, we will gain greater insight into the nature of sin by looking at the metaphors and descriptions we find in Biblical narratives.

Temptation is everywhere. The fact that this doesn’t frighten us suggests that we might not see sin for what it really is. In every temptation, there’s always more hanging in the balance than meets the eye. The stakes are always greater than they appear. As we kick off this series, we’ll learn to see sin for what it is, and learn how to see what’s hanging in the balance. 

The first strategy of sin is to get so small and so hidden that you don’t even notice that it is there. You won’t even notice that it is about to destroy you. In this episode, we will hear the story of Cain. Although he was a religious person, he did not see the sin crouching in his heart, and as a result, it ruined his life forever. Yet God, in his mercy, was tender towards Cain. Why? Because the true Abel, Jesus himself, would give his blood to intercede for us.

After Eden, God commanded his creation to spread out over the world. Man decided to build an identity and find purpose apart from God. Man turned to his own ingenuity to build an identity and purpose apart from God. They thought that they could get to eternal life by going up. But in the story, the only way God could help them was that he had to come down. Today, we still seek to build a life for ourselves apart from God. The result is always chaos. That’s why only when Jesus came down could we finally ascend to heaven. 

Addiction doesn’t kill people as much as a denial of the addiction kills people. In the same way, self-deception is not the most terrible thing that we do, but it allows us to do the most terrible things. And until you defeat self-deception, you will never overcome the destructive power of the sins we do to ourselves. In this story, King Saul tries to prop himself up and build esteem for himself. But to do that, he disobeyed God. And, he thought he had perfectly good reasons for disobeying God. We think the same thing. We are brilliant at finding perfectly good reasons to disobey God. In this episode, we’ll see that it’s only after we realize that Christ has made us great and filled us with his esteem that we’ll stop letting sin deceive us.

One of the metaphors for sin in the Bible is leprosy. That’s because it slowly devours us, and we are numb to reality. In this episode, we’ll look at how the sin of pride is all-consuming. Pride is the opposite of faith. Pride destroys both love and wisdom. It refuses to acknowledge the need we have or embrace humility and receive grace from God. In this message, Naaman teaches us that to be healed from sin, all we need is a need that we know we cannot heal ourselves. God is quick and gracious to heal.

What is it about the human condition that we know what we shouldn’t do, we know the consequences, yet we do it anyway? The Bible’s explanation isn’t just that we sin, but that we are slaves to sin. Sin is not just an action in our lives. It is a power in our lives. In this message, we’ll see how God liberates us from our layers of slavery, so we are free to serve God.