What is the Bad News?

I was going to talk about the good news today, but I think I need to first give the bad news and then the good news.


So what is the bad news?


I'm a sinner. You're a sinner. We are all sinners.


For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23


God, the Creator of everything, is holy. That means that God does not sin. He does not even have the ability to sin. He also cannot be in the presence of sin.


There was a time when man was without sin and he walked with God in the garden. Can you even imagine walking and talking with God? Wow!


But then man sinned and we are all under the curse. How can you easily help someone else to see their sin? Ask them a couple questions such as:


Have you ever told a lie? What do you call someone who lies? A liar.
Have you ever stolen anything? What do you call someone who steals? A thief.
Have you ever lusted after a man/woman in your mind? Jesus says this is the same thing as adultery.


So now the person has admitted to being a liar, thief and adulterer (or even other sins).


Remember we said that God is holy and cannot be in the presence of sin?  Well, if we want to go to heaven when we die, there is a big problem. We are sinners and God cannot be around sinners.


So should a person just be moral and perform as many good works as they possibly can? I mean, sell all their possessions and give it all to the poor? Move to India and work in a hospital for the poor and dying? Spend their days in a soup kitchen and nights handing out food and blankets to the homeless?

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. Isaiah 64:6
So our good works are like filthy rags (this is actually a term used to describe a woman's menstrual cloth - ick!)? That is because our good works are all ill-intentioned because we are fallen and depraved.

So you were born a sinful person, sin all the time, think about sinning all the time and cannot do anything on your own to please God and earn His favor. If you die, you cannot even be in His presence because you are unclean.

Definitely bad news......

Tomorrow is all about the good news.