sin it ruins everything

adam j. solorio
 sin “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for
sin is the transgression of the law.” (1 John 3:4)

I know some big words. Words like existentialism and modalistic monarchianism. I can both define the word
empirical and use it in a sentence. I can even spell mayonnaise without using spellcheck. So I was surprised as I was
scrolling through an edition of the New Oxford American Dictionary and came across some words I had never heard
before.
Words like monomachy, mensal, lambrequin, fuligin, and cataphract. Words so ancient and arcane that no
one even knows what they mean anymore. Many of these words are so obscure that they have been phased out of
modern editions of dictionaries.
There is another word that is quickly becoming lost in modern languages. It is a word with ancient roots and
rich in meaning. Unfortunately, it is rarely used by the modern speakers and writers and it is in danger of becoming
undefinable by many. This word in danger of being lost is, sin.
Ask someone on the street today, “What is sin?” and you are likely to get a variety of answers. Some would
say sin is anything that hurts someone else. Sin might be doing something that is illegal. Some suggest that there is
no such thing as sin. Sin is simply an ideological relic of our religious past.
The truth is that sin is a real word with real meaning. We will never fully understand what it means to say,
“Jesus died for your sin” unless we understand what sin really is.
Sin is called many things in the Bible. We’re given an array of words throughout scripture that give us an
understanding of the nature of sin. It’s called rebellion, folly, madness, idolatry, foolishness, blindness, deafness, and
death. Sin is a law at work in the hearts of men and women that challenges the law of God. The Bible is clear that sin
is “the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4).
Sin is, to put it simply, the act of violating God’s laws and God’s order.
Some sins are things we do, sins of commission, sins we commit. Other sins are things we don’t do and
those are called sins of omission. If we lie to someone that is a sin because it violates God’s law of truth. It is a sin of
commission. If we fail to protect or come to the rescue of someone who needs us that is sin. That is a sin of
omission, something we neglected to do.
Either way, if it’s something we did or something we failed to do, sin is that which violates God. Sin doesn’t
just violate God’s law and His order. God’s order and His laws issue from His nature, from what He is. Sin violates the
nature of God Himself. It is a rebellion against all that God is.
Sin is the word we use to describe anything that opposes the nature and order of God. That’s why God and
sin cannot be in the same place. James reveals the truth that salt water and fresh water don’t come from the same
source. “Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear
olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.” (James 3:11-12). Sin is at odds
with the nature of God and the two will never blend. God brings righteousness, peace and joy. Sin corrupts, decays
and destroys. Sin ruins everything.
The ultimate problem that sin presents is that it separates us from God. It is our separation from God, caused
by sin, that brings the trouble into our lives. Sin is what denies the blessings and promises that a righteous life brings
to those who honor God and His order. Sin separated God from Adam and Eve in the garden and God has been
seeking to rid us of sin ever since. He wants to restore that relationship we had with Him before sin started ruining
everything.

sin, it ruins everything / page 1

 ruin “… and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”
(James 1:15 b)

Sin ruins everything. Everything. Everything sin touches it either ruins, cheapens, destroys, injures or corrupts.
It is toxic. It’s a poison. It ruins everything. Unfortunately, we love it.
There’s something about sinful behavior that comes easy to us. It has been the inclination of man since Adam
and Eve to challenge God’s law and God’s order. It’s our nature to sin. The Bible teaches that we inherited that sin
nature from Adam and Eve. It’s as natural for a man to sin as it is to breathe. We sin with ease and with regularity. We
sin without even thinking about it. We sin every day. We are slaves to sin.
The Apostle Paul helps us understand this nature to sin when he explains, in his letter to the believers in
Rome, that we are slaves to sin. We work for sin and it’s wages is death. If sin is in our lives, even a little, we are not
in control, sin is. When it is finished, it will not only ruin everything but it will bring death.
If you really want to develop some serious mental issues think about this. One of the most important elements
for sustaining life on this planet is oxygen. Everything needs it. Trees need oxygen, animals need oxygen, the
atmosphere contains oxygen, and of course, humans need oxygen. Water is a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen.
Oxygen is vital for all life to continue. Yet the process by which everything on this planet decays is oxidation;
exposure to oxygen.
The rust that destroys metal is oxidation. The brown spots that form on leaves as they die are the result of
oxidation. When you bite that apple, breaking its protective skin, and let the oxygen in the air begin to react with it, it
turns brown, mushy and decays as a result of oxidation. And then there’s us. We breathe it every day and our skin
cells decay and fall off and replenish themselves in constant cycle because of the process of oxidation. Yet we
cannot get enough of this precious oxygen. We need it, and it’s killing us and everything it touches!
How can we escape? That’s the same question Paul asks in Romans 7:24. I serve sin, yet I know it’s killing
me and it’s ruining everything. We’re not sinners because we sin. We sin because we’re sinners.
The big problem with sin is that it’s hard to clean out once it begins to grow. The Bible often compares sin to
yeast. Once a little bit gets in it becomes nearly impossible to ever clean it all out. Furthermore, it spreads and
influences every aspect of your life. Sin ruins everything.
Not only is it hard to clean out, it’s hard to cover up. It has a way of leaking out of whatever you try to contain
it in and exposing its presence to the world. It’s an acid. You can’t clean sins container and think it’s gone. The
Pharisee’s tried. They washed the outside clean and white but inside they were still full of sin. Jesus said they were
like a tomb that had been painted white. It looks nice on the outside but inside is dead men’s bones. The problem is
that sin doesn’t come from what’s on the outside but from what’s on the inside. The sin problem we have comes from
within. Sin starts within our hearts.
Jesus told a story about a son that left home in search of his own life. He took his inheritance from his father
and went into “a far country”. While in this far country the son spent his money on what Jesus called “riotous living”.
Soon the day came when the money ran out and his friends were gone. He had nothing left and no one to give him
anything. He was ruined.
The son, now broke, friendless and desperate, joined himself to a citizen in that far country. That man sent
him into the fields to feed the swine. It was an insult for an observant Jew to be standing in the mud and filth of pigs.
As he stood there, amongst the filth and the swine, Jesus said he almost ate the slop that the pigs were eating. He
didn’t eat it, but he came so close.
That’s what sin does. It brings us to places we never thought we would go. It joins us to people we never
wanted to walk with. It causes us to touch things we never thought we would handle. Sin will bring you closer to
losing everything than you ever thought you would be. Sin ruins everything.
Sin is the cause of death, sorrow, pain and fear. We don’t have a drug problem in our cities, we have a sin
problem. We don’t have an epidemic of divorce and broken families. We have an epidemic of sin. Sin is the cause of
violence, death and brokenness. Sin is what entices people to do stupid things in dangerous places with people they
shouldn’t trust. Sin is the reason we’re easily addicted to chemicals that destroy our minds and our bodies. Sin is the
reason people’s futures and ambitions are destroyed. Sin is what corrupts talent and potential. Sin cheapens love
and ruins relationships. Our problem is sin and sin ruins everything.

sin, it ruins everything / page 2

 solution
“for the wages of sin is death; but the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

The Jews have a word they greet one another with, Shalom. We’ve all heard that Shalom means “peace” but it
means even more than that. According to Strong’s Concordance Shalom means “peace, completeness, wholeness,
health, welfare, safety soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or
discord.” Sin challenges shalom.
I find it comforting to know that the prophet Isaiah called Jesus, “Sar Shalom”. The prince of peace. Jesus is the
only one that can clean out the toxin of sin and set us free from it’s control.
The Bible describes two types of people. The carnal man and the spiritual man. Another way to understand it is
the man who has not yet been filled with the Spirit of God and the man who has been filled with His Spirit. The carnal
man is dead and the spiritual man is alive. The carnal man serves sin and the spiritual man serves Christ.
Paul explains that the carnal man is only finally freed from sin when he dies. So the carnal man continues to sin,
he needs to sin, so that sin can work its horror in his life, ruining everything, destroying the beauty and corrupting the
sacred, until it finally brings death, freeing him from sin.
The spiritual man however, the Spirit filled believer, is dead in Christ. So he has been freed from sin while he yet
lives. He can live free from the bondage of sin in this life! The Apostle Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I
live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me”.
When Jesus died on the cross God accepted it as payment for the sins of every man. So now anyone who puts
their faith in Jesus can be freed from sin. The Bible teaches that if we will repent of our sins and be baptized in Jesus
name that He will fill us with His Spirit and we can be free from the power of sin in our lives.
The truth is we don’t have to be controlled by sin. If we will begin to believe in Jesus and live the life He teaches
we can be free from sin. It doesn’t have to ruin anymore. We can be free form the law of sin and death and live in the
liberty of a spiritual life.
Many people have offered solutions to sin throughout the ages. Some have said sin is not a real thing and if we
just ignore it soon it will fade from societies consciousness. That hasn’t worked. Some have said that if you’re a good
person that you can live a relatively happy life. That’s no comfort. I want to be free from sin. Some have said you can
believe in God, or any other faith for that matter, they all lead to heaven, and you’ll be ok. That doesn’t make sense. Not
all faiths agree. Some of them radically disagree. So how could they all be right?
The truth of the matter is that Jesus is the only way to be free from sin. There is no alternative to faith in Jesus
Christ. His death on the cross provided the way for all our sins to be forgiven in the eyes of God and for His Spirit to live
inside us, which gives us power over sin. Sin ruins everything, but the believer has, in the blood of Jesus Christ, an agent
that can clean it out once and for all. Jesus is the solution for sin.
In chemistry there is a simple principle that like dissolves like. It refers to polar and non-polar compounds or
solutions. If the structures are similar than one will dissolve the other. For instance, water is polar and oil is non-polar. So
water does not dissolve oil. However, salt is polar so water dissolves salt. Like dissolves like. If you want to clean a mirror
that’s crusted with hairspray, spray more hairspray on it. Like dissolves like.
Jesus had to become like us so that His blood could cleanse us. His sinless human blood dissolves the sin in our
blood. He is the only way. His blood is the only solution for sin.
He has been vaccinated against the disease of sin. When you’re given a vaccine you receive a non-threatening
dose of the disease itself which allows your bodies natural defenses to prepare to fight the real disease. When Jesus died
on the cross He took on all the sin of the world and it did not defeat Him. So now His blood is the only blood with the
power to fight sin.
Sin is real and it separates us from God. When we’re distanced from God sin denies us the blessings and
goodness that flow naturally from following God’s heart. Sin ruins everything, but Jesus death made a way to defeat the
effect of sin. Jesus, and only Jesus, is the solution to sin!

sin, it ruins everything / page 3

 Scriptures
James 4:17 Acts 2:38
Romans 5:12-21 Galatians 2:20
Romans 6:15-23 Matthew 23:27
Romans 7:1-25 Mark 7:14-23
Romans 8:1-10 Luke 15:11-32

Study these scriptures and then pray and ask God to reveal His truth to you through His Word. If you can, find
a church near you that will teach you the Bible’s plan of salvation from sin. What we do about the sin problem
in our lives is one of the most important decisions we will ever make.

sin, it ruins everything

adam j. solorio
copyright © 2011

for more information or to acquire printed copies for distribution contact:

ajsolorio@hotmail.com