0:00  
So are all sins really the same? We're going to find out today on the Why do Christians podcast. Hey, welcome to the show. My name is Mark dickey. I host the afternoon show on the bridge radio station. My two favorite pastors are here in the room with me, Pastor Burt and Pastor Josh. Hey guys, hey. So we're talking about sins, and are they the same? What do you think?

0:27  
No, I don't think they are.

0:29  
I'm

0:29  
excited to get into this topic because, no, I don't think they are at

0:33  
all. Yes,

0:34  
oh,

0:36  
maybe just a little bit the same.

0:38  
All right. So I feel like we need to do some, you know, some groundwork for this. Where does this concept come from? And I imagine, at least for me, when I hear that all sins are the same, it's because, through Jesus, every sin, you know, with the exception of blaspheming the Holy Spirit, we did an episode on that, right, every sin can be wiped clean through the blood of Jesus, so therefore all sins are kind of the same,

1:10  
yeah. I mean, Josh, hold on. I will rebuttal that, but give me your thoughts first.

1:18  
Oh,

1:18  
I say yes.

1:19  
I mean, there is the, I think there's a difference between, like, guilt and degree. So there's the sense where all sin carries a certain level of guilt because of the person that we sin against. So in that sense, that's what I mean, that like we any, any level or degree of sin is against this great, greater being. And so the way to practically think about it is if, like, well, you know, if I, if I were to push, like someone I met off the street that has a degree of penalty to it, but if I were to run and push the president united states, that has a different degree because of his office, right and all that comes with him, the idea is, no matter what we do, we are offending. We're offending God. So in that sense, every sin, no matter how small our big, offends God, and so that that carries a massive penalty,

2:10  
okay? But what you just said there actually, I think, says that you don't believe that all sins are the same. Because if you're saying our, hey, listen, like you know, the degree of offense comes from the office. That means that there are degrees of offense.

2:23  
Yeah, yep,

2:25  
okay,

2:26  
I would say that,

2:27  
yeah,

2:29  
oh yeah, oh yeah. I would definitely say there is, there are degrees. It's just that, is there a point where they're all the same? Yes, and that point is, we're offending God absolutely on that point there, no matter what you do is offense. Is offensive to God?

2:45  
I get that like, conceptually, like in their in their scripture passages, like I'm thinking of, like James 210, where it says, Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point becomes guilty of breaking all of it. Or you've got Romans 323, which says, All have sinned and fall short of the glory of the glory of God. So I get the idea that to sin breaks fellowship with God, and so in the sense of sin having the same effect, yes, like, if, if we're saying, like, when we say it's all the same, if what we mean is what it does. Okay, like we are talking about a and I think maybe this is what you're getting at, like we are getting or we're being broken away from a a being who is so holy, that's a sin, and even the smallest way disqualifies us from His presence, short of some act of mercy on his part,

3:36  
correct?

3:36  
Yeah, right. But I think where people misunderstand is, I don't know if we do like to make us feel better about our own sins. I'm not quite sure like why this happens, but the Bible absolutely talks about there being different degrees of sin,

3:54  
really.

3:55  
Yeah, more severe and less severe. That's the New Testament and Old Testament.

3:59  
Okay,

3:59  
so, for instance, you got Jesus when he's on trial in John 19, he's before Pilate, and he tells him, like, hey, the one who's handed me over to you is guilty of a he calls it a greater sin

4:11  
you

4:12  
could think about. You've got first John 516, and 17, where it says like, there's sin that leads to death, right, which we mean there's sin that doesn't like, there's, there are varying degrees. So like, if person says, you know, well, you know, genocide is the same thing as taking a Wally pop from a baby. Incorrect. Like, both, both our sins both disqualify you from earning a relationship with God. But no, those two things are not the same at all.

4:44  
Okay, so if they're not the same, then are there different consequences? Ooh, so that's a good question. I mean, what would make us if, if it's not consequence? Is, how could it be different? You know what? I mean?

5:03  
Yeah, yep. I think Scripture does talk about that, that like, like Bert was saying that some sins carry a greater weight to them, and so by implication, that would mean a greater, greater penalty to them as well. But if, the if, inside that question, we say are, do they all have the same What's the question? Do they all have the same penalty? Do they all have the same like, weight, like, what? What are we asking here?

5:33  
I'm curious about

5:34  
Yeah. I think it depends on what you mean by penalty. So we're saying, hell yes. LIKE TO SIN once is to make it so what you have earned, what I have earned is hell

5:45  
and and taking a lollipop from a baby.

5:49  
Yeah, right. And there's always, like, the will how, you know, I'm at least, I'm not as bad as so and so. And, you know, like, well, how can you say that if I took the lollipop from the baby, it's such a weird and who's

6:03  
giving their baby,

6:04  
right? Right? Not dentists, I'll tell you that. But anyway, so like, Well, that's all. I've never killed anybody. And what we do is we compare justice to our standard or our record,

6:16  
right?

6:17  
So we're like, Well, I'm not as bad as the problem is. And what Scripture teaches that we are inherently skewed towards ourselves. So what we wanted to do is come up with a system of justice that looks a lot like us, and it doesn't work like that. The standard is God, who is without sin. So to sin once is to disqualify yourself from God.

6:36  
Yeah. And what I would add to that is, and we kind of see this in our justice system, that the idea that a person can can be a repeat offender, right? Okay, that, yeah, so that they sin, or, like, they've done wrong, but they keep doing when we something's wrong with them, right? They're, they're broken somehow, that they keep having to come back to court. And that an idea. So it's not just that, like, Hey, I got this. How come this one sin is gonna take me to hell if I take a lollipop from this baby, it's like, oh no, no, you sir, are a repeat offender. You might have gotten caught on this one thing, but set you free. You will repeat sin after sin after sin, and you will be guilty of like, all of it, I think, a way I think about it is sometimes we ask, like, how is it fair that God was sending someone to help for like, forever? Well, if he lets them out, what do we think they're gonna do? Yeah, something's broken, and unless Christ fixes it and changes it, that person will just go back to repeat offensiveness. So, so anyway, long story short, you can't have this idea where, like, Oh, I just send this once in. Like, no, there's something deeper inside of you that is bit towards sin, that will want to go against God, and that that deserves its penalty. So,

7:59  
so, like, my mind immediately goes to temptation, the things that just things of this world that are not godly, that we tend to go back to over and over again, to be a repeat offender. And like, I think I know the answer to this, but in the context of this question, is there a limit, like, can I mess up in something so many times, you know, like, where the blood of Christ doesn't cover it?

8:34  
So I have a thought on this, but Josh, I'd be interested to hear yours as well. I think that framework is wrong in terms of, basically, what we're saying is, like, all right, you know, we're viewing sin as a bucket, right? So, like, how many drops of water can I put into the bucket before the bucket overflows? Right? That's, I think, entirely the wrong thing, rather than being how many times can I sin and be forgiven? That's not the question. The question is, what forgives my sin?

9:08  
Okay,

9:08  
right? So, rather than it being my resume, and this is what we've just kind of echoed earlier, is it's not about your resume at all. It's like, this is why? Like when we talk about this idea of sins being equal or less, and, oh yeah, it's another one. By the way, Jesus, when He does the parable, He say, hey, who loves more the one who's been forgiven a little, or the one who's been forgiven a lot? Right? Okay, the purpose is not to create resume. The purpose is to glory in God. So essentially, what that means is we can go, like, Hold on, I either look at this and go, at least my sins aren't as big as and if I do that, I'm missing the point of God's justice. Or I know what a savior that he would choose to forgive me. And so like, okay, you know, how many sins have I committed? Wow, and he's taking care of all of them. So rather than being a tally count, it takes my eyes off of me and puts them out of Christ. Just the only one who can save me.

10:02  
Yeah, yeah. I would, I would, I would second that. I mean, as far as is, is there a limit that would be like saying that I could, I could sin more than God has grace, right? And in the opposite of that's true, God has more grace than I have sinned, right? And it's I think of First Timothy, where Paul calls himself like an insolent man, a blasphemer, a murderer of Christ's people. And what he says is, the grace and mercy of Jesus overwhelmed me. Is just this picture of like this flood of water just much bigger than me, just poured over me and it and then wiped away just me being the worst of all sinners, I mean, and that's and that's the picture we're given, that Christ is so gracious and so merciful that He can transform the Worst of sins.

10:59  
So immediately, where my mind goes is okay if I'm living this life of sin and I become a Christian, great, the Slate's wiped clean. But what if I've already had my slate wiped clean and then I sin again, that repeat offender stuff?

11:19  
Yeah, and well, and there are, I'm not, I'm not accusing you of this. So just there are cults that operate along this line that is like, Okay, God forgives your sin, for before you convert, but now that you convert, you got to stay and do everything on the straight and narrow, otherwise you'll have lost all hope. And this comes from misreading of verses in Hebrews. And First John, I think. But

11:44  
you would, you would say,

11:45  
I would dispel that,

11:46  
yeah, and

11:47  
I'll tell you why. So there's this line, I think it's the Gospel of John, where John the Baptizer, who's the forerunner of Jesus, he's one who first identifies Jesus as the Messiah. He's the last Old Testament prophet, right? John sees Jesus coming up, and he says, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And sin singular, it's not sins. It's like one thing, almost as though sin is this big ball of just guck, right?

12:18  
And

12:18  
you can translate versus like takes away. You translate it as like picks up and carries away. Okay? I bring this up to say, when you are in Christ, God has taken away the penalty of your sin as an entity, past, present and future. He hasn't just taken away your sins. Toes. He hasn't just taken away your sins elbows. Like, no, it's not. Oh, he got rid of just your past, but now for you to keep your spot on the team, make the coach happy and play really well on the court. No, and you should play well in the court, like, let your heart of gratitude overflow into love for God who's behaved towards you in a way you haven't deserved. But no, he's taken away all of it like he has, yeah, that's Josh. I love that language that you said that like you know that there's that misery of something they can out sin, the mercy and the grace of Christ. Now he's so much bigger than you or me.

13:11  
So then, why does it matter if some sins are worse than others, if they're just all gone? Why? Do we even need to talk about this?

13:24  
Because, well, a few reasons just off the top of my head. One, Christ does put variation on the level of sin, and He does say that there are weightier matters, that if one offends against that that brings a weightier responsibility or a weightier penalty. And so then, so then, so then, that's not something we can overlook. Also. Then there is the relational manner. So we don't sin in a vacuum. It's not like I can go in a corner and sin and then now it's just me. My sin will affect you. It will affect my relationship with God. It will affect my relationship inside my community, my church, and so there's, there's never this sense where I do wrong and I just can quietly fade, yeah.

14:06  
Okay, so explicit. You got First Corinthians six, where Paul is talking about intimate relationships, right? And he talks about person who, who sleeps another person, the other person receives money for doing this, right? And he says, he says, Flee sexual immorality in First Corinthians, 618, he says, every other sin a person commits is outside of the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. And he links with this language of hey, like, when you choose to engage in that kind of intimate activity with a person, you're bonded to them, so it affects you in a way that's different than, hey, you know what? You stubbed your toe and you said a swear word, like something has again. That's not say that that's good, like that. There's something in you that you want to deal with and repent of. But there's something about that kind of similar, okay, it's it is spiritual, and at the same time, it affects you in this life. Because at a. Affects your relationship with other people and just the way that your life goes. And so, you know, with that idea of, hey, we don't live in vacuums there, I love that idea. Josh, like that, no, like a reason, it's important to recognize that there are different kinds of sins. Is because other people besides us matter.

15:19  
Yeah, and something else I could think it's in Ephesians, where Paul talks about how, how did you learn Christ? You Yeah, when you met him and you learned of him, did you learn of someone who who loved the sin, who just did whatever he felt like? No, like the Lord who saved you, saved you from sin. And so that gives us the reason why we should avoid it, right? Because if everything's wiped out, then the idea of who cares doesn't fit, because of the one who wiped him out, the one who wiped him out calls me to be like him, calls us to follow after his heart and his lifestyle. There's, there is at no point where Christ wipes our sin, and then it's just like, oh, just go ahead and be whoever you want,

16:01  
do whatever you

16:02  
want. Yeah, it's, it's not just I forget, I forget the waiting. It's a

16:07  
Christ, yeah,

16:09  
it's a saving from, but it's not just the saving from the penalty of sin, but it's a saving to the Lord Jesus Christ. So at no point are you just just like your own person. Yeah. In fact,

16:21  
that comes in the flow of thought in Ephesians, where he talks about, like, Hey, listen. He says, this is in Ephesians, I want to say four or five. He says, You once. He doesn't say we're in darkness. He says, you once were darkness, but now you're light. This is why it's important to realize, like, an appreciation, of God's mercy and grace. Like, sometimes what we want to do is maybe, like, Okay, listen, does God forgive me? He's willing to cool moving on, and the goal is absolution, rather than cleansing. So sometimes, like, what we want is we want God to forgive us, but we want him to cleanse us, right? And I think it's important realize like the reality is and it's sad, but also we can thank God this. All of us will abuse God's grace.

17:10  
All

17:11  
of us will all of us like we will know what is good. We will recognize that like man God, it's not that we look forward to it's not that we plan on doing it. It's just this is how this life goes. We will, we will know what is good, and knowing that God will forgive us, we'll, we'll abuse that All right, thank God that he doesn't deal with us as we deserve. But at the same time, none of us, I don't think anybody who has the Holy Spirit in their heart could ever look at sin and be like, it's cool. Just go ahead and do whatever you want, and thank God that you're forgiven. Like, there's not that kind of passivity towards sin. And so the effect of recognizing that there are different sins understood properly is it lets us glory in Christ more like, Wow. What a savior that he would take that away. What a savior that sinner that I was, he forgave me, and we magnify Him, but it doesn't keep us in a place where we're just passive towards it.

18:12  
Yeah, yeah, that that same grace that brings salvation is the same grace that teaches us to renounce all forms of ungodliness, all forms of unrighteousness. It's a saving from and a saving to, and sometimes we we forget that two part. Yeah,

18:30  
so we're all sins the same, nope. But they do all need the blood of Christ to be forgiven. So that is one thing to remember that they're not the same, but we still need Jesus. If you have ideas for future episodes, let us know in the comments or email them to podcast at we are the bridge.org don't forget to subscribe and share with a friend. Thanks for watching. You.