Our sin keeps us from having a personal relationship with God.

• You see, God is holy and perfect . . . and we are not. Sin not only means doing wrong or failing to do all that God wants. Sin is also our attitude of ignoring or rejecting God. Because God is holy, He cannot accept our sin.

Who Has Sinned:
What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one (Romans 3:9,10)

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned (Romans 5:12)

What Happens When We Sin:
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear (Isaiah 59:2).

"For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23a).

• Sin causes a gap between God and us. Death, which in these verses means eternal separation from God, is the penalty for our sin.