“There is no death of sin without the death of Christ.” – John Owen1
“Sinning will keep you from the Bible but the Bible will keep you from sinning.” – Jack Wellman
“Sin is the act of the will, and is only possible when the will assents to some unholy influence.” – F.B. Meyer
“It is because of the hasty and superficial conversation with God that the sense of sin is so weak and that no motives have power to help you to hate and flee from sin as you should.” – A. W. Tozer
“We do not have a paradise on earth; it is riddled with so much sin and disease.” – Billy Graham
“Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost; but if it is resting on Christ, you are free, and you will be saved. Now choose what you want.” – Martin Luther
“There are only two kinds of persons: those dead in sin and those dead to sin.” – Leonard Ravenhill
“One great power of sin is that it blinds men so that they do not recognize its true character.” – Andrew Murray
“We make a mockery of God’s forgiveness when we deliberately engage in sin because we think He will forgive it later.” – Billy Graham
“The only thing of our very own which we contribute to our salvation is the sin which makes it necessary.” – William Temple
“Light reveals righteousness, and it also reveals sin.” – Theodore Epp
“Overcoming sin, blessed though it surely is, is but the bare minimum of a believers experience. There is nothing astonishing in it. Not to overcome sin is what ought to astonish us.” – Watchman Nee
“A person who is not being purified from sin has no claim on being saved from it.” – John MacArthur
“The Bible does not teach that sin is completely eradicated from the Christian in this life, but it does teach that sin shall no longer reign over you.” – Billy Graham
“What is sin? It is the glory of God not honored. The holiness of God not reverenced. The greatness of God not admired. The power of God not praised. The truth of God not sought. The wisdom of God not esteemed. The beauty of God not treasured. The goodness of God not savored. The faithfulness of God not trusted. The commandments of God not obeyed. The justice of God not respected. The wrath of God not feared. The grace of God not cherished. The presence of God not prized. The person of God not loved. That is sin.” – John Piper
“The law tells me how crooked I am. Grace comes along and straightens me out.” – Billy Sunday
“It is not the absence of sin but the grieving over it which distinguishes the child of God from empty professors.” – A. W. Pink
“For a Christian to be a Christian, he must first be a sinner. Being a sinner is a prerequisite for being a church member. The Christian church is one of the few organizations in the world that requires a public acknowledgement of sin as a condition for membership.” – R. C. Sproul
“There is no repentance where a man can talk lightly of sin, much less where he can speak tenderly and lovingly of it.” – C. H. Spurgeon
1 All of these quotes are from the websites below:
So Ethyl, since it seems popular, let’s write about Sin.
Humanity’s Oldest Hobby: The Bargain That bleeds “Value” Until the Invoice Arrives. (M.r.neveu)
Reality Apologetics, 21st-Century Definition: a defense of Christianity that drags modern man by the tie-dyed roots out of his 24-7 Internet fantasy suite into a meeting with real existence, where sin is real, truth is nonnegotiable, suffering is ignored by slogans, morality requires a Lawgiver, freedom without holiness becomes slavery, and the cross is the only answer large enough for that wreckage.
Reality apologetics proclaims (sometimes very softly) that Christianity is not true because it makes people feel better. People feel better only after they realize the truth they were running from, is running in place beside them.
So, here we go about sin.
Sin seemingly has value as it offers man the 1 thing he always wanted: an illusion of being God without a burden of being holy.
1. Sin looks valuable because it sells sovereignty at street price.
Sin don’t usually show up wearing horns and carrying a pitchfork…it be too honest and too 42nd street gay.
Honesty neva been hell’s preferred marketing strategy. Sin usually arrives dressed as freedom, relief, justice, self-expression, revenge, appetite, romance, ambition, or “finally doing something for myself.”
Sin offers us something slimy to grasp: a throne small enough to sit on, and just fake enough to believe in.
That is its first value: control.
Typical sinner ain’t just chasing pleasure. He/she wants authorship…to name good and evil for himself, just as Adam and Eve were tempted to do in Eden. Satan’s offer was not merely fruit. It represented unauthorized godhood: “you will be like God” (Genesis 3:5).
The old bait, still shiny after all these centuries…because we descendants of the 1st casino players remain impressively committed to falling for the same trap with some upgraded packaging.
Sin feels valuable because it lets us say, “Mine.” My body. My anger. My truth. My money. My desire. My identity. My revenge. My life. But Scripture answers with irritating clarity of a divine audit: “You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). That line sin can’t tolerate. Sin wants, needs, demands, cajoles…the whisper of a lover without a ring: ownership without accountability.
Christ claims ownership through blood.
2. Sin looks valuable cuz it pays out immediately and hides the real cost.
The energy we call “Sin” is not stupid. It seizes timing. It gives pleasure first & sends the bill later. If we let it, It knows us intimately. If the cost of play were visible up front, even a half-wit fool might hesitate. And lotsa us be more than half-baked.
So, the value of sin is front-loaded. The pleasure is immediate. The consequence is deferred. That is why sin works so well, like castor oil, everywhere that weakness allows it.
James lays out the process without makeup. Desire conceives, gives birth to sin, sin brings death (James 1:14–15). Not inconvenience. Not mild regret… Death.
Why is sin so effective, then? You know why. It’s not just rebellion we crave when under the influence. It’s fake free stuff. Bad accounting. Sin books revenue and hides liabilities. Sin causes us to recognize pleasure as an asset & bury judgment off the balance sheet. The sinner thinks she gains value when she is actually accumulating debt, with interest.
Paul states the wage scale plainly: “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Wages, not accidents. Sin pays us exactly what sin promised in the fine print nobody wanted to read.
3. Sin looks valuable cuz it blinds the buyer before the purchase clears.
The most dangerous thing about sin is not that it tempts us. It is that it trains us. The longer a man keeps sin as an asset, the more sin teaches him to defend it.
First he commits it. Then he excuses it. Then he renames it. Then he celebrates it. Then he demands applause for it.
That is not growth. That is blindness with a PR shadow that smells like an old wound.
Jesus said, “everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). Notice the offense there. Christ does not flatter the sinner by calling him complicated, nuanced, misunderstood, or wounded by society’s insufficient affirmation program. Christ calls the sinner enslaved.
You know why we do not see sin’s true cost up front. You just don’t like to read about it. Sin shields our seeing organ. It darkens the mind, numbs the conscience, flatters the will, convinces the captive he is finally free.
Paul says unbelievers walk in futility of mind, darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God (Ephesians 4:17–18).
Sin does not merely stain behavior. It corrupts perception.
So, the drunk says he can stop. The liar says it was necessary. The lustful person says it is love. The greedy person says it is stewardship. The bitter person says it is discernment. The rebel says it is authenticity.
And the grave, patient as ever, says nothing yet.
Sin has value, but only in the way counterfeit money has value before the bank catches it, and you. Sin spends well and holds value well, in the short run. It impresses the foolish. It buys moments, moods, leverage, applause, the narcotic warmth of self-rule.
But it cannot buy peace with God. It cannot cleanse the conscience. It cannot survive judgment. It cannot raise the dead.
This is the reason Christ didn’t show up to manage sin, soften sin, rename sin, or help us build a more emotionally supportive relationship with sin. He came to bear it, expose it, condemn it, and break its reign. “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). There is no death of sin without the death of Christ.
The sinner thinks sin is valuable because he cannot yet see what it costs. The believer learns the diamond-hard truth. Whatever sin promises, Christ is worth more.
Sin is the cheap throne man buys with his soul, only to discover Christ was the King he needed all along.