What is Sin?

By Rev. Ernest O'Neill

I'll tell you what brings a sense of angst. It's in Romans 6:23. Because of course, we're pretty selfish creatures and -- big deal, we may not be right with God, but you can't have everything. And so we're concerned about it but that would not bring the sense of fear, the sense of angst, or the sense of anxiety into us. What does bring us a sense of fear is this: Romans 6:23.

Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death". That's what brings fear into us. Because this dear book says sin -- in fact it might be good to look at what sin is-- because a lot of us have strange ideas.

James 4:17. "Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." So that's what sin is. You see it's not a complex thing and it's not, "Oh sin is just drinking or sin is just being a prostitute". Sin is knowing what is right to do and failing to do it. I mean if you know you shouldn't tell a lie and you tell it, that's sin. If God actually tells you to speak to somebody and you don't do it, that's sin. Sin is independence of God, it's doing your own will in your own power, that's what sin is and this Bible says, the wages of sin is death and the conscience, our conscience mirrors that within us.