On the 8 July 1741, a Presbyterian minister and arguably one of America’s greatest thinkers, Jonathan Edwards, delivered a sermon in his church entitled, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. The heart of the sermon was that sinners deserve God’s just punishment in hell. Therefore, people needed to repent and receive Christ who would save them. The sermon had an enormous impact, not only in his own church, but across America, where its ideas spread and helped fuel the First Great Awakening – one of the most significant revivals in America, resulting many thousands of people receiving Christ.

Lots of things have changed since the 1700s. One of the biggest changes in our culture and even in churches, is that the term “sinner” has really lost its meaning. We just don’t think in those terms anymore. If you had to ask most of your family or friends what a sinner was, I’m sure they’d say something like “Hitler” or “Stalin” or those murderers and rapists out there. It’s seen as a label for extremely bad behaviour. Many people would say that most folks today are not sinners. On the contrary, we are decent people who are mostly good. We are upright citizens who seek the good for others and ourselves. Sure, we make some mistakes here and there, but we don’t murder and rob people – we’re not sinners.

The nature of sin is that it distorts our view of ourselves. Sin blinds us to our sinfulness. This is why the Apostle John writes in 1 John 1:8 that, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” The reality is that our whole being has been deeply affected by sin – our thoughts, our hearts, our motivations, our words and our actions. Failing to realise this just reinforces how much sin is deeply imbedded in us. Romans 3 accurately diagnoses our sinful condition, in verses 11 and 12: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” Our sinfulness is so bad that our natural instinct is not even to seek after God.

It’s been this way for all of us since our ancestors, Adam and Eve fell into sin in the Garden of Eden. Their sin has affected the whole human race after them – separates us from God and each other – causing misery, death and a cursed existence. And it was precisely because of this curse of sin that Jesus came to earth, as God’s promised Messiah to break the power of sin over us, forgive us and restore us to God.

Our passage in Mark 2 this morning shows us that Jesus came to earth to deal with our sin. More specifically, that because Jesus came for sinners, we need to repent of our sin and receive the gospel.

Preacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola.