Music In a day full of conflicting opinions and ideas, the Word of God stands true, and the Bible is the source for absolute truth. In these days of confusion and questions, it is so important to know what the Bible says. In today's study, let's ask the Lord to open our heart and mind as Scott Pauley leads us into Scripture to help us discover God's absolute truth. If you had to draw a picture of what sin looks like, what would that picture be? You know, our world draws a picture of pleasure and riches and happiness. That's the picture the devil wants to draw, but let the Lord, the true artist, the one who most accurately reflects all truth, let Him draw the picture. walk through Scripture and see the pictures that He gives symbolic of sin. When He paints the picture, He says it is darkness. It blinds. He calls it leaven. It spreads. He says it's sickness and disease. It corrupts and it is pervasive. He calls it cords and chains. It binds a man. He calls it fire, all-consuming. He calls it poison, deadly. I tell you, if we could see sin like God sees it, no matter what kind of sin it is, we would think differently about the sin in our own life. It doesn't matter what your sin is. With Achan, it was stealing. With David, it was adultery. With Saul, it was jealousy. With Cain, it was murder. Judas was betrayed. Nebuchadnezzar was pried. Lot and Demas loved the world. Korah rebelled against authority. Solomon loved pleasure. Ananias and Sapphira lied. Why do you think God gives us all of these pictures? He draws these pictures for us in Scripture so that we will come to see sin like He sees it. You see, sin is worse than you think it is. It is worse than you think it is. It's a state, a state of rebellion against God, an absence of righteousness. It is a nature that has come into every one of us. Romans chapter 3 verse 23 says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Do you know that you are a sinner by nature? That no matter what you have done or haven't done, you're a sinner because you were born that way. We're all born that way. It was passed on from Adam and Eve into all of our lives, and that we have become sinners by nature. You don't have to teach a child to misbehave or to cry. You have to teach it to be good and obey. Why is that? Because the rebellious part comes naturally to all of us. And then in a practical way, sin is an act. It's disobedience to the known and revealed will of God, and our sin nature works its way out in our sins every day. God calls sin many different things in Scripture, but I want today to talk to you about three words, if I might. Three words that really describes sin and the way God paints the picture of sin in Scripture. You see, God uses words to convey great truth. Every word is purposeful. And there are many different words used in the Bible for sin that help us understand it. Words like evil, that's a good word for sin, or unrighteousness, or wickedness, or ungodliness. Those words are all used frequently, but there are three words that are used primarily to represent what sin is in the sight of a holy God. And I'm giving you these three today, and we'll give you a little object lesson, if I might, for each that I think will help you remember it. I hope you can see what I'm about to say. The first word, the most obvious word, is the word sin. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now that word is used over 500 times in the Old Testament. It's used over 200 times in the New Testament. And the New Testament word that is used for sin literally means to miss the mark. Listen to Romans 3.23 again. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So it is to fall short of the mark. You shoot at it. You try to be good. You try to do right. You want to be perfect, but you miss it. And you miss it, be it intentionally or unintentionally. You not only miss the mark, you hit the wrong mark. Imagine that we were shooting at a target. Some friends and I recently were doing that, had a great time together. And these men that I was with, they were much better shots than me. Let me tell you, it doesn't matter if you miss the bullseye by an inch or by 100 yards. Either way, friend, you missed it. The bullseye is the perfection of a holy God. God is holy. Heaven is perfect. And it doesn't matter if you're a good moral person or you've lived the most immoral life possible. Either way, you are a sinner. You have missed God's mark. So if you can imagine a mark of holiness, of righteousness, that's God's standard. You fell short of that. Sin is missing the mark. The second word is the word transgress. And the word transgress is used all through scripture. It literally means to cross the line. So there's some lines God draws and He says, this is my law. This is what I expect out of you. This is what I want you to do in obedience. And when we transgress God's law, we rebel against God. We literally cross His line. So remember, sin falls short of God's perfect line. Transgression goes beyond God's line. It literally means to step over the line, to cross the property line. One illustration of this in the Old Testament, frequently we have reference to the ancient landmarks. Remove not the ancient landmarks which thy fathers have set, Those ancient landmarks in Bible days were simply property lines. They didn't always have fence rows like we have today to mark property distinction. And so they had these landmarks set up and you didn't cross the ancient landmarks. And you certainly didn't remove them. They were there to show you what was yours and what was not. God says, I have erected some ancient landmarks. That's my word. It's my law. And when you disobey me, you've crossed the line. You've transgressed. So now remember, sin is falling short of the line. Transgress is to go over the line. And the third word is the word iniquity. What does iniquity mean? It means crookedness. So imagine that iniquity is to draw a crooked line. Sin, it falls short of God's holy line. Transgression goes beyond God's line of law. And iniquity means that where God wants a straight line drawn, I've drawn a crooked line. See, our God is always straight, always forthright, always the same, unchanging. But as sinners, we fluctuate back and forth. We break God's law. It literally means to be lawless. And when you live without law, you are living a crooked life. Did you know as a sinner you're a crook? We want to talk about other people being crooked and committing crimes, but we all are criminals in the sight of a holy God. We all are crooks. And if you think, well that's awfully cruel, that's awfully unkind. No friend, that's the truth that leads you to the greater truth. And what is that? that only God, only God can forgive sin and only God can bring His righteous record onto your account. And only God can straighten out the crookedness that's in your soul. Only God can do all of that. In the life of an unbeliever, sin, his unbelief, his rejection of a holy God will send him to hell forever. In the life of a believer, sin is also awful. We have this idea sometimes it's only bad for lost people. God especially deals with it in the lives of His own children. He hates sin in the life of His children. And the life of a believer, you lose fellowship with God. You break fellowship with Him because of your sin. Would you look at yourself today? Would you look at your sin, your transgression, your iniquity like God sees it? Would you look at the picture He has painted? Is that really what you want for your life? Oh, my friend, the only victory over sin is through the Savior. You see, sin is why we need a Savior. There's no sense talking about Jesus if you're not a sinner. If you don't need a Savior, we need Christ because we are lost without Him. If you don't know Him as your personal Savior, would you pray that simple prayer that Jesus taught, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. And if you're a Christian and you say, I've already been saved, acknowledge this, you still have a sin nature. Be willing to agree with God about your sin. 1 John 1 and 9 says, if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Look, when you start talking about what the Bible says about sin, don't stop with sin, run to Jesus. Just talking about sin will lead you to despair, but getting beyond that to the Savior, now that will lead you to hope. Look to Jesus today and see what the Bible says, not only about the reality of your sin, but the reality of His grace. Only Jesus can deal with your sin. Repeating what other people have said about the Bible is not enough. We must know the biblical reason behind what we believe. 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