The gospel message of Jesus is beautifully simple. John 3:16 tells us that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8-9 that it is “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” For many, these are the only words needed to persuade them to turn to Christ for salvation. But for many others, the message may sound great, but they wonder if they even need this gift from God. After all, they have lived their lives in such a way as to treat others with kindness and respect, and have put forth the effort to simply be good. Sure, God’s gift of salvation is needed for those who lie, cheat, steal, or commit serious crimes against humanity. But is salvation really necessary for the good, the kind, the generous person who has always made an effort to put others first?
The answer to this question is found throughout Scripture. In Psalm 51:5, David declared, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” In the New Testament, Paul wrote “[we} were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:3), and then in Romans he quotes from the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, “None is righteous, no not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12). None. No one. Not even one. Not the person who does their best to not lie, cheat, steal, or treat others unkindly. No one is righteous, and there is a reason for that. We are all born sinful by our very nature.
So, let's talk about sin. What is sin?
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, sin is “a condition of estrangement from God as a result of breaking his law.” Webster says sin is “the failure to realize in conduct and character the moral ideal, at least as fully as possible under existing circumstances.” These definitions are good, but sin goes beyond this. When Jesus taught his disciples, he told them that any man who simply looked at a woman and selfishly desired her body for his pleasure (lusted after her) committed adultery in his heart. This tells us sin is more than our behavior; sin even includes the desires and intentions of our heart. Think about this ... no one can honestly claim that they have never had any desire that would dishonor God.
Why do we sin?
So why do we sin? Paul writes in Romans that “sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men” (5:12). We are told in Genesis that God created Adam in his own image. He was free to obey God or to choose his own way. Adam was created in an original state of righteousness; he had no sin. But when he chose to disobey God, he forsook his original righteousness, not only in position before God, but in his very nature. He became a different sort of creature, no longer righteous, but a man with a sinful nature that would be passed on to all his descendants. Because Adam sinned, every human being since Adam is born with a sinful nature. We are truly “children of wrath,” and in desperate need of a new nature that is not enslaved to sin.
In Christ, we are made new!
In John 3:3-6, Jesus told Nicodemus that unless a person is born again, he or she cannot see the kingdom of God. He said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Having been born in sin, we are “dead in [our] trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). From birth, we are alienated from God and must be “made alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:5). We are hopelessly lost in our sinful condition. But when we turn to Christ in repentance with a contrite heart for our sin, and acknowledge Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are born again, made alive together with Christ. We are no longer condemned by sin, as Paul writes, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
Why do we need Jesus? Because without him, we are spiritually dead, separated from the immediate presence of God and enslaved to sin that condemns us to an eternity without him. When we trust in him as our Savior, he gives us new life —- eternal life in fellowship with the God who created us and loves us so deeply that he gave his own life so that we may live. This is why we need Jesus!