Gilbert Keith Chesterton was one of the most influential English writers of the 20th century. He has been called the “prince of paradox.” Time magazine observed of his writing style: The Times newspaper once had asked a number of authors to write on the topic: “What’s wrong with the world?” Chesterton’s answer at that time was the shortest of those submitted, he simply wrote.
Dear London Times,
I am.
Sincerely Yours,
G. K. Chesterton
He was not joking. As a writer, his answer was very fundamental. The problem of this world will never be addressed in full until we come to understand in our minds, hearts, hands, moral fiber, and soul that the problem lies first and foremost within us. Bible says In Jeremiah 17:9”The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” The heart denotes the inner man, his thoughts, his will, his inclinations, and his affections; or the human soul with its faculties and operations. The heart, in its natural state, is the soil of sin. Heart is deceitful with relation to God, respect to other men and in regard to ourselves. Jesus said “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies, pride, foolishness“(Mark 7:21-22).
According to the Bible, every human being comes into the world with an inborn nature that is inclined to go astray. This means all are sinners and stand under the judgment of God. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory (the perfect holiness) of God” (Romans 3:23). We are all infected and impure with sin. Psalm 51:5 says “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”. Bible describes (Sin is Willful breaking of law or transgression.) “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.” (1 John 3:4). “All wrongdoing is sin….” (All unrighteousness is sin) (1 John 5:17). Every page of human history tells the sad story of man's natural corruption. Like leprosy, it may not be visible in the whole face or body, but being in the blood it is only a question of time as to when it will claim every part. . Our sin separates us from God who is perfect in holiness (righteousness and justice) and God must therefore judge sinful man. “But your sinful acts have alienated you from your God; your sins have caused him to reject you and not listen to your prayers. “ (Isaiah 59:2) Sin is defined to be that of missing the mark. In other words, God’s law is there, but when one does not live according to it or when one breaks it, he misses the mark – that is SIN.
Those who break God’s law will have to pay a heavy price. Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Sin – in its infancy – may seem somewhat innocent. As Pastor Adrian Rogers said, “First sin fascinates; then it assassinates. First it thrills; then it kills… And the grandchild of sin is death.” Sin is like a virus lodged in our hearts. It has infected us. No human heart is completely free from the contamination of sin. No human heart is completely pure or completely free from the contamination of sinful thoughts. We are imperfect. We fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).
In order to be accepted by God, we must be as good as God is. But before God, we all stand naked, helpless, and hopeless in ourselves. Scripture also teaches that no amount of human good works, morality, or religious activity can gain acceptance with God or get anyone into heaven. No amount of human goodness is as good as God. God is perfect in righteousness. The moral man, the religious man, and the immoral are all in the same boat. They all fall short of God’s perfect righteousness. God is not only perfect in holiness (whose holy character we can never attain to on our own or by our works of righteousness) but He is also perfect love and full of grace and mercy. Because of God’s love and grace, He has not left us without hope and a solution. God has created a plan, a path, so that even the biggest sinners can get to heaven. He cared so much about the problem of evil in human hearts he sent his one and only son to suffer and die, to pay the price for every sin you’ve committed, past, present and future. According to Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
God dwells in the glory of perfection. God is the standard of righteousness, not us. God says be holy because he is Holy (1 peter 1:16). Holiness is the quality of God that is synonymous with his perfection, his sinlessness, and his righteousness. He is perfect and righteous in every thought and every deed. His holiness is a quality of his essence a powerful and pervasive presence of incredible purity. This is the standard that God wants for us because it reflects his greatness and perfection. But because we fall short in our sins, we are not holy. We are not able to accomplish what is necessary in order to be saved from the righteous judgment of God. God knows this and so he provided for us a means of salvation.
So we need to understand what Christ has done to make our salvation possible. Bible says God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins. That means is through the incarnation of Jesus who is God in flesh (John 1:1, 14; Colossians 2:9), who never sinned (1 peter 2:22), and who bore our sin in his body and the cross (1 peter 2:24). Sin is a legal debt. Our legal debts were transferred to Christ and canceled on the cross (Colossians 2:14). Jesus did it all. Therefore, all we have left is our faith in what God does. This is why the Bible says we are justified by faith (Romans 5:1) apart from the works of the law (Romans 3:28). This is the good news of the Bible, the message of the gospel. It’s the message of the gift of God’s own Son who became man (the God-man), lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sin, and was raised from the grave proving both the fact He is God’s Son and the value of His death for us as our substitute.
The Gospel is not man’s invention; it is divine revelation. Jesus paid the price of the gospel with His life. The law demands perfection; only the gospel gives perfection in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. (Romans 10:4) Jesus Christ has already made the provision of salvation available to us through His incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection. Jesus said, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). We receive salvation as a gift from God. Therefore we need to respond to God’s work. God in His grace offers us the gift of eternal life. But like any gift, it becomes ours only when we take it. You can’t buy it, borrow it, steal it, or earn it. It is grace of God and it was bought by Christ on the cross. When He finished, it was accomplished and you cannot deplete it or add to it-it is the supernatural work of God. Salvation is not a creed. You’re not saved by the plan of salvation; you’re saved by the man of salvation. It’s Christ. Salvation is God's gift to humanity. Men, left to themselves, can never produce salvation through their good works or self-improvement. Salvation is produced only by trusting Jesus Christ as God's perfect offer of forgiveness. Eternal life begins the instant a person receives Jesus as his personal Savior. Salvation is a gift of God's sovereign grace. Man is only responsible for believing, by faith, what the Word of God says concerning salvation in Jesus Christ. Faith is essential for salvation. "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved . . ." (Acts 16:31)
Within the Scriptures there are other terms associated with the concept of salvation. The "new birth" speaks of being made alive in Christ (John 3:3). "Redemption" speaks more of the means of salvation (the payment of a price to bring one back to God). Redemption is limited to those who are in Christ — those who rest on Him alone for salvation and prove this faith by putting His words into practice (1 Cor.15:22)."Reconciliation" speaks of a change in relationship. "Propitiation" points to the turning away of God's wrath. All of these terms are sometimes used for the broader concept of salvation. Salvation is the entire process by which God rescues sinful human beings from their bondage to sin, and gives them an overhaul from the inside out. Salvation is accomplished in three tenses-past, present, and future. Those individuals who accept Jesus Christ by faith, and repent of their sins, and take a vow of obedience to Christ --can say with other believers: "We have been saved from the penalty of sin (called justification); we are being saved from the power of sin (called sanctification); we shall be saved from the presence of sin (called glorification)." Justification is our acceptance with God on the basis of Christ's perfect righteousness. Sanctification is the working out of right living in our daily behavior. Glorification is the future perfection to be experienced in the world to come. In other words Justification refers to "the removal of guilt." Sanctification means "a setting apart unto holiness." Glorification speaks of "the final harvest."
Mans greatest need is salvation; Salvation is something that is absolutely necessary. Every human being has a universal need for salvation is one of the clearest teachings of the Bible. Salvation is deliverance from the grip of sin. All we have to do is to come with empty hands and receive the wondrous provision that God had made for us to be Saved for all eternity. If we acknowledge and confess our sin and truly trust Jesus as Lord and Savior, God forgives our sins, and then imputes the righteousness of Christ on our account. We become acceptable to God on the basis of the sacrifice of Jesus. We are chosen, adopted, accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1). The pollution and imperfection of the human heart means no one is acceptable to God. We have inherited sin; God does not condemn us for having inherited it, but for choosing to stand by the sin we have inherited, and refusing to give it up and turn from it when He calls upon us to forsake it and accept His abundant mercy in forgiveness, together with a new nature in Christ Jesus.
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