The Malady and the Remedy

Various authors

(You will find it helpful to LISTEN to the Audio, as you READ the text below.)

Romans 5:12, "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned."

From the very beginning, God created mankind in His perfect image--holy, righteous, and without blemish. But when Adam disobeyed God's command in the Garden of Eden, sin entered the human race. This first act of rebellion was not merely a private failure; it was federal and representative. Adam stood as the covenant head of all humanity. His sin plunged every one of his descendants into guilt and spiritual death.

The Bible reveals that we do not merely imitate Adam's sin; we inherit his corrupted nature. David cries out in anguish, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me" (Psalm 51:5). We are born spiritually dead, estranged from God, and bent toward wickedness. Our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). This corruption affects every part of our being--the mind, the will, the emotions, and the affections--rendering us utterly unable to come to God by our own strength.

This truth humbles us by showing that no human effort, no moral improvement, and no religious ritual--can remedy our condition. As Isaiah declares, "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." (Isaiah 64:6). Hence we stand condemned before a holy God, deserving His eternal wrath.

But in the gospel, God has provided a glorious remedy. Just as sin and death came through one man, so life and righteousness come through another--the Lord Jesus Christ. "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22). When the Spirit grants new spiritual life to us by the miracle of regeneration, then we are savingly united to Christ by faith, and He imputes His spotless righteousness to us.

Dear believer, remember that your salvation is entirely by God's sovereign grace. It is not based on your own goodness, but on Christ's obedience and sin-atoning sacrifice. Rest in the fact that the Lord has taken away your guilt, and given you a new nature. Be humbled by your former condition, but rejoice greatly in your new life in Him.

Let this truth lead you to daily worship the God of grace and mercy, who . . .
  rescues rebellious sinners,
  enlivens dead hearts,
  and secures eternal life!
  . . .

Today's helpful and insightful AI resource:

Childhood Conversion: A Cause for Hope, Wisdom, and the Need for Lasting Fruit