Is my sin really that bad?

Ephesians 2: And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body, and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
I often get the question, “is sin really that bad? I mean, everyone does it, whether it is looking in lust, or homosexuality, or cheating, sex before marriage and the list goes on”.
I agree everyone sins. I sin all the time, am I proud of it? Absolutely not,however, I have trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of my sins. First of all, let’s look and see what sin is exactly. Let’s start in the garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve were by that tree that God commanded not to eat. The serpent told Eve to eat it, and she said they weren’t even allowed to touch it. That was a misrepresentation of God’s command. He said not to eat from it, never said they couldn’t touch it.
But what happened after, is the kicker. The serpent told them that if they ate from it, they would be like gods, knowing the difference between right and wrong. That’s what Eve, and Adam wanted. If the serpent would have told them they will die, live in a ditch from a life of alcoholism, catch an STD, and a whole list of other sins that didn’t quite exist yet, they would no doubt have refused. But the temptation was set, they could be just like their creator.
They had 1 rule, just 1. Not 10 like are mentioned in Exodus (10 commandments, a little more on that later), not the 623 laws the Pharisees had burdened on the Jewish nation, just 1 and they couldn’t keep it.
Then God had to kill an animal for them to be covered with shame. But mostly, because God is a just God. He CANNOT let sin slide, not even one. So someone HAD to die in their place.
You see, even the 10 commandments, they weren’t commandments for us to follow. God knew from the beginning that we couldn’t follow them. Let’s look at them briefly for a moment.
2“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3“You shall have no other gods before me.
4“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
8“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labour, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12“ Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
13“You shall not murder.
14“You shall not commit adultery.
15“You shall not steal.
16“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
17“You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbour’s.”
All these commandments are a reflection of God’s character. Notice something interesting. The 1st five commandments are all man’s behaviour towards God, and the second half, are all man’s behaviour towards man. Every one of them is respectful and loving towards one another. Breaking any of these shows a lack of respect and love towards either God, or your fellow man/woman.
Now the interesting thing is, we could never have followed these commandments even a single minute of a day. One of them is broken continually. Our society is so broken and sinful that we now just endure and tolerate everything. Even many sins today, we embrace!!! Look at adultery, cheating on your spouse. The old excuse is “well, he/she wasn’t treating me right”. We have a mentality of indulgence and self fulfilment. We deserve this, we want that.
Here’s the issue with the sin mentality, it offends God. It offends him beyond what ANY of us can ever imagine. The reason it offends him, is that he created EVERYTHING. And He commands love and respect. It’s His rules.
When we offend Him, since He is holy, righteous and just, He can’t overlook sin as if it never happened. He must judge it. But since He’s also eternal, the only compatible punishment is hell for eternity. It doesn’t sound right. However, we have never seen God, we can only go by His word. Sin cannot be in the presence of God, so therefore it must be the lake of fire.
It’s not the size of the heinousness of the sin that matters (beyond evil or wicked sin) or the little white lie that matters. It’s the size of the God you have offended that matters. God cannot and will not tolerate it, no matter what it is.
This is why He had to send His only Son to die on the cross 2000 yrs ago. He didn’t have a choice cause He knew we couldn’t follow the rules. And remember with Adam and Eve, they needed someone to die in their place, Christ died in our place 2 millennia ago. He didn’t have a choice. My friend, the only chance you have at shedding your guilty conscience, of whatever it is that burdens you, is trusting in Christ. You must repent of your sins and trust in Christ for their forgiveness. Otherwise, it will be the lake of fire for all eternity.