…precious to us. We see in a young baby innocence, purity and love. We see a heart that is unspotted by this cruel world and the dark times in which we live. God sees, in this young baby, a heart that is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). Shocking? Perhaps at first, but maybe you have never thought about the fact that babies are born with a nature of rebellion and depravity. Do you have to teach a child to lie? Do you have to teach a child to take things that do not belong to him? Do you have to teach a child to throw tantrums when they do not get there way? Sadly, the answer is no, you don’t.
The child has the same problem that you and I have, a corrupt and sinful nature. Our hearts are naturally set to do evil, and are the enemy’s of God because we are set against His ways. It was not so in the beginning. God created Heaven and Earth and everything in it and said that “It was very good”. There was no death, no disease, and no sickness because there was no sin; everything was perfect. When Adam, the first man whom God created, rebelliously ate the fruit that God commanded him not to eat, he died spiritually (Genesis 3). He thrust all his descendents, all of mankind, into a spiritual death; bringing guilt upon mankind. Man was not born with the good nature God created Adam with, but the inherited the sinful, rebellious nature. Romans 3:10-11 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. None of us are good, we have all sinned. We are born with a sinful nature, and continue to break God’s laws.
Yes, it is natural for us to sin and there is not one person alive that naturally wants to obey God’s laws, but is that an excuse for us, everyone else is just as BAD as I am? That explains the nature, but what of the consequences? The Bible says that the wages of sin are death. There will be a pay day for sin since the wages of sin is death, but after death is the pay day for sin as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.
But, here is the GOOD NEWS! Romans 3:23-26 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Do you know what that means? It means that man CAN be justified, or looked upon as innocent in God’s eyes! God sent his son to be propitiation or atonement, a substitute for those who have faith in His sacrifice on the cross. Jesus took upon Himself all the sin of His people on the cross and paid that awful wage of sin. He redeemed us. He paid the judgment that we were due, that we might have HIS righteousness. He takes away the guilt of the old nature, and puts upon us the Righteousness of Jesus Christ, the Sinless Son of God.
How can a man be justified with God? You are a sinner, and you need a Saviour. I know this because we are all sinners. You have lied, you have coveted, you have looked upon another with lust in your heart, you have not loved God with all you heart and soul. These are sins. The wages of sin is death. We are all guilty. We are BORN guilty, we are naturally rebellious and are hearts are dead set against God. We need a Saviour; YOU NEED a Saviour. The bible says “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Believe that Jesus Christ is the Saviour, that He died on the cross for sin that He died and was buried for 3 days and 3 nights and rose again for justification. Trust in Him, that His blood paid the price and penalty for sin. Jesus saves all that trust in Him.
Jesus said in the book of John 6:37; 40 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Trust in the Saviour for the forgiveness of sins. If we can be any help to you spiritually, please contact us.
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Douglas Newell IV
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