Man Can’t Save Himself
Man was created perfect and in harmony with God (Genesis 1:31). But through disobedience, his powers were corrupted, and selfishness took the place of love (Genesis 3). His nature became so weakened through transgression that it was impossible for him, in his own strength, to resist the power of evil (Romans 3:23). He became the captive of Satan, and would have remained in that state had not God interposed. It was Satan’s plan to fill the earth with destruction (John 8:44). And the evil one charged God for this sad condition.
Before sin, a human had a loving relationship with God but after his sin, he could no longer find joy in holiness (Genesis 3:8). This is still the condition of the unconverted heart. Heaven to the sinner would be a place of torture; he would long to be hidden from God who is light (Isaiah 59:2). The carnal person “does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” For this reason, Jesus said, “Ye must be born again” (1 Corinthians 2:14; John 3:7).
It is impossible for a person, by his strength, to escape from the pit of sin in which he had fallen. His heart is evil, and he cannot change it. “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.” “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Job 14:4; Romans 8:7).
The apostle Paul wrote that “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” But he added, in the bitterness of his soul-anguish and despair, “I am carnal, sold under sin” (Romans 7:16, 12, 14). He longed for the purity, to which in himself he was powerless to attain, and cried out, “who shall deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24).
Christ Is the Answer
Praise God, Christ is the answer. The Son of God bore the sins and guilt of people and provided a way of escape from its penalty. John declared, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). God’s grace alone can give life to the dead soul. The Savior said, “Except a man be born from above,” unless he shall receive a new heart, new desires, purposes, and motives, leading to a new life, “he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Of Christ it is written, “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men”—the only “name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (John 1:4; Acts 4:12).
Through Christ, earth is again linked with heaven. With His own merits, Christ has bridged the gulf which sin had made. “Every good gift and every perfect gift” (James 1:17) is from God. Christ says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
The heart of God yearns for His fallen children with a love stronger than death. In offering His Son, the Father has given out to humans all heaven in one gift (Romans 8:39). The Savior’s life and death and the Father working through the Spirit shows the Father’s infinite love for humanity. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Shall we not regard the mercy of God? What more could He do? Let us give our hearts to Him who has loved us with amazing love (John 15:13). Let us use the means provided for us that we may be changed into His likeness, and be restored to His love (1 Corinthians 6:17).
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
