Jon Gordon wrote a fascinating book, “No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity.” The main premise of the book is that people should come with solutions, not just problems. Too often people feel they have the “gift of criticism” and they take no responsibility in resolving the issue. Gordon noted that this negativity was slowly killing organizations. He demanded that when people see a problem, they go one step further than just reporting it (or whining); he proposed they find a way to make it right or at least better.

1. How do you deal with negativity? 

2. Who are a few of the most encouraging people you know? 

Finding a solution for the problem is heroic.

There are 1,189 chapters in the Bible. In the third chapter of the Bible, we have a huge problem. The problem is that man sinned against God and broke the relationship with Him. This was a major dilemma. There was nothing man could do. God realized there was nothing man could do. So, in the same chapter, God presents a solution. God made a plan. He had the “fix” for the broken relationship. It was the death of Jesus. 

First, it is important to realize from Scripture that man has a problem. The problem is called sin.

3. Why is sin a problem? 

THE PROBLEM: SIN

David sinned in many ways. He was lazy, irresponsible, lustful, an adulterous, and even a murderer. He wrote Psalm chapter 32 and chapter 51 expressing his godly remorse. Psalm 51:5 says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” David not only sinned as an adult, he realized that his problem and our problem is much bigger than that; we were born sinners.

4. What does it mean that we are born with a sin nature? 

5. What “sins” do you see in little children that were not “taught” to them?

Romans 3:10-12 says, “As it is written: ‘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.”

6. How many times do these verses express our problem? 

Romans 3:23 continues the desperate need for help, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

7. What does it mean to “fall short of the glory of God?” 

Jeremiah 17:9 paints an interesting picture, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

8. Is it good to just “follow your heart”? 

Galatians 5:17 says, “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”

9. What is meant by “the flesh” and “the Spirit”?

Ecclesiastes 7:20 adds, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.”

10. How many different books of the Bible listed here show our problem?  

Sin was and is our problem. The solution was and is that Jesus died for our sins.

D.A. Carson said, “It was not nails that held Jesus to that wretched cross; it was his unqualified resolution, out of love for his Father, to do his Father’s will—and it was his love for sinners like me.” 

THE SOLUTION: JESUS DIED FOR OUR SINS

C. S. Lewis said, “It costs God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things; but to convert rebellious wills cost Him crucifixion.” God created everything out of nothing with just a spoken word. However, to correct a problem, cost Him everything.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:3, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.”

11. What is meant by “of first importance”?

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” 1 Peter 3:18

12. According to this verse, why did Jesus suffer? 

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Verse 8 adds, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6

13. What was our state when Jesus died for us? 

14. How good do we have to become before accepting the grace of God? 

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45

15. What does the word “ransom” mean and how does that relate to the topic? 

16. According to this verse, why did Jesus come to earth? 

“God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.’” Billy Graham