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I am sure you, as do I, know many good, kind, generous, and wonderful people. It is hard to think of them as being sinners, or even worse, having the wage of sin upon them which is death. What is it that has brought about such a dreadful condition to people everywhere? It is called sin.

When God created Adam and Eve He gave them a garden in which they could live and enjoy true peace and the absence of ANYTHING evil or sinful. In fact before God created Eve, because Adam was not complete without her, He put Adam in the Garden to care for the beautiful creation that God had made. In the first book of the Bible it says in, Genesis 2:15-17 “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” That was the only commandment that God had given to people.

This is the point at which people rebelled against God. Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Which God told them not to do or they would die. As a result of this disobedience, sin entered the world and ever since all people have been born sinners. Romans 5:12 tells us “through one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin”; Romans 5:17 says “by one man’s offense death reigned”; Romans 5:18 tells us “through one man’s offense judgment came to all men”; and Romans 5:19 says “by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners”. Adam became a sinner because he disobeyed a direct commandment of God, and People became sinners because everyone sinned in Adam.

What can possibly bring people back into harmony with God after we have all sinned and fallen short of His glory? There is nothing we can do, because our sin has resulted in our spiritual and ultimate physical death. We are what the Bible calls lost, perishing, and dead in sin. Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians 2:14: “But 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”.

Since people cannot be good enough, do enough good works, to please God, how can we possibly become friends of God? God must do something, and He did. John 3:16: “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.” Ephesians 2:4-9: “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Because we could not do enough, or truly desired to do enough to reach up to God; God by His marvelous Grace reached down to people by sending His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to this earth to become a man, to take our sins upon Himself, and to pay the price of our sins, which is death. At the cross of Calvary the Lord Jesus Christ died for the sins of all who would believe.

John 3:16-18: “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. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

So, Acts 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved… .”

All people everywhere are lost and perishing in their sins, unable to come to God. But God out of His rich mercy has made salvation absolute for all who will believe. So recognize you are a sinner and need a savior, and the only Savior who can save completely is the Lord Jesus Christ. Then place your faith and trust in Him, knowing that what He did at the cross He did because of you and for you.

Ladies Advance ministers to women of all ages, assisting them to encourage one another and build each other up in the Lord. Visit our Ladies Advance page for more information.