I'd like to talk to you about sin. Original sin.

Now I should say up front that it is almost impossible to commit an original sin.

That's because they've all been done already. To be quite honest, there's a terrible

lack of originality where it comes to sin. But that of course is not what theologians mean

when they talk about original sin. What they're referring

to is the idea that because the entire human race is descended from one man, a man who rebelled

against God, we have all inherited his sinful nature and

his guilt. We are all of us, to use a biblical phrase in Adam. A friend of mine was born in Australia

simply because one of his ancestors a lady called Anne Forbes was deported

from England to Australia as a criminal in 1787. Now my

Australian friend hadn't done anything wrong himself but because of the crime

of his ancestor he is now part of a family that is Australian.

He's Australian by birth and everyone in his extended family owes their existence and their identity to one person, one crime, one exile.

So you see, sin isn't just a question of behavior. It's a question of being. It's not just what we do. It's who we are. It's in our DNA. It's our natural state and despite what your local grocery store might have you believe

natural is not always good. Whether we like it or not, you and I are part of a highly dysfunctional family

that stretches all the way back to Adam. We all bear the family likeness, and we're all the black sheep of the family because there

are nothing but black sheep in the family. Sometimes after one of our less

commendable moments we'll say of ourselves,

I really don't know what came over me.

That's not who I am. But the reality is that nothing came over you, and it is who you really are. Jesus says in

Mark chapter 7 from within out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,

coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.

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