The Sinner's Need Of Christ

"Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (1)

"It is not enough to perceive the loving-kindness of God, to see the benevolence, the fatherly tenderness, of His character. It is not enough to discern the wisdom and justice of His law, to see that it is founded upon the eternal principle of love. Paul, the apostle, saw all this when he exclaimed, 'I agree with the law that it is good.' '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.' (2) He longed for the purity, the righteousness, to which in himself he was powerless to attain, and cried out, 'O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?' (3) Such is the cry that has gone up from burdened hearts in all lands and in all ages. To all, there is but one answer, 'Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!' (4)

"It is not possible, of ourselves, to escape from the pit of sin in which we are sunken. Our hearts are evil, and we cannot change them. 'Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!' (5) 'The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.' (6) Education, culture, the exercise of the will, human effort, all have their proper sphere, but here they are powerless. They may produce an outward correctness of behavior, but they cannot change the heart; they cannot purify the springs of life. There must be a power working from within, a new life from above, before men can be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ. His grace alone can quicken the lifeless faculties of the soul, and attract it to God, to holiness.

"The Saviour said, 'Unless one is born again,' unless he receives a new heart, new desires, purposes, and motives, leading to a new life, 'he cannot see the kingdom of God.' (7) The idea that it is necessary only to develop the good that exists in man by nature, is a fatal deception. 'The natural man 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.' (8) 'Do not marvel that I said to you, "You must be born again." ' (9) Of Christ it is written, 'In Him was life, and the life was the light o men.' (10)" (11)

We are cleansed, renewed and transformed by the blood of Jesus (12) and the Word of God (13, 14). Thanks be to God for His indescribable gifts to the children of men. (15)

1. Acts 4:12.
2. Romans 7:16, 12, 14.
3. Romans 7:24.
4. John 1:29.
5. Job 14:4.
6. Romans 8:7.
7. John 3:3.
8. 1 Corinthians 2:14.
8. John 3:7.
10. John 1:4.
11. Steps to Christ, pp. 8, 9.
12. 1 John 1:7.
13. Romans 12:2.
14. John 15:3.
15. 2 Corinthians 9:15