Romans 3:10 (NASB) As it is written: “THERE IS NO RIGHTEOUS PERSON, NOT EVEN ONE.”
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
There was only ever one human who was not a sinner: Jesus Christ, God in the flesh.
1 Peter 2:22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
When we sin, we sin against God.
Psalm 5:4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.
We deserve the punishment we earn by sinning against a holy God. Our sin requires our death as the only just and righteous punishment.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus had to die as a perfect, sinless man in order for our sins to be forgiven, for that righteous judgment to be carried out.
Romans 8:3-4 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Jesus accomplished that by taking our sins on Himself when He was on the cross.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Colossians 2:13-14 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Our sin separated us from God. By Jesus’ sacrifice alone can we come back into God’s presence. Adam and Eve sinned against God in the Garden of Eden and had to leave the garden, leave God’s presence. They walked and talked with God until they sinned. Then the relationship was severed. That relationship could only fully and finally restored by the perfect sacrifice of Jesus and by the gift of His life in us, enabling us to walk in His righteousness.
Colossians 1:21-23 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it…
Here are some Bible verses about how sin separates us from God.
Adam and Eve’s story is in Genesis 3.
Isaiah 59:2 (NKJV) But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.
Psalms 5:4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.
Psalms 101:7 No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.
Micah 3:4 Then they will cry to the LORD, but he will not answer them; he will hide his face from them at that time, because they have made their deeds evil.
1 John 1:5-6 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
Ezekiel 14:5 (NKJV) “…because they are all estranged from Me by their idols.”
Lesson Point: Sin separates us from God. To be at peace with God we need the blood of Christ to cleanse us from unrighteousness and the Holy Spirit to give us the power to walk in holiness.
Challenge Question: Ask the Lord to show you if there is any harmful way in you. Ask Him to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.