Our Need for Salvation

We are born with an inherited sin nature and none of us can stand perfect before God, because we have all sinned at least once in our lifetime. The Word of God declares that all people have sinned against God; all have done wickedly at some point in their life (Rom.3:23). In James 2:10, it tells us, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” The problem is with our hearts, this is where all of our sin originates and it is desperately wicked as it says in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked”. All of our sin comes from the wickedness that lies within each one on our hearts, Jesus said in Matthew 15:18-19,”But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.”

We all need to examine what we have done wrong in our lives, how we have sinned, and see our need for a Savior in order to turn to the Lord and experience His Salvation. If you are honest with yourself, you will realize that you have sinned and missed the mark, the standard God has set, and see your need for a Savior. Each one of us as individuals must see our need for salvation, repent and turn of our sin, and accept His provision for our salvation. After we accept Him as the Savior and Lord of our lives, then He is to truly be the Lord of our lives. He must have first place in our lives and we are to live completely for Him the rest of our lives.

Deep down inside our hearts each one of us knows something is not right, there is something missing within us. There is an emptiness we as human beings all share, and we each try to fill it in many different ways throughout our lifetime. We may try to fill, or at least silence, the void with things like food, alcohol, drugs, relationships, sex, good deeds, education, personal achievements, money, material possessions, wealth, fame, and even religion. All of our pursuits end in frustration and disappointment, because we are unable to fill the void inside of ourselves. We may find a temporary fix, where we forget about [or numb] the pain, guilt and shame for a short time; but it is always there deep in our hearts, because nothing permanently fills the void accept Christ.

How many times have you tried to fill the void and emptiness inside your heart with different things and still remained empty? Often the things we try not only leave us empty, but in many cases due to the destructiveness of the sin, leave us worse off than we were before we tried them. We try alcohol and end up struggling with it or end up addicted; we try one or more form of drugs only to end up addicted and dependent on them. We try relationships that never work, and we end up with broken hearts. The relationships that do work out to some degree result in a dependency on our partner. We pursue our work and end up workaholics. Our sin controls us and we are unable to break free from all the sin using our self effort, no matter how hard we try. Sin is always lurking in the shadows and will capture and overtake us at some point; we may not even realize it when it happens. We end up discouraged over our inability to overcome our weakness and failures. Does this resonate or ring true with you? Are you ready for the answer to fill the void inside?

All of our pursuits end up in frustration due to the fact there is only One who can fill the void and emptiness inside each of our hearts. This void and emptiness inside of us, the longing for something we do not know or understand, can only be filled by a personal intimate relationship with the God who created you. God created each one of us with the capacity and desire for a continual and ongoing personal and intimate relationship with Him. The intimate relationship of continual unbroken fellowship with our God and Creator was broken due to Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve gave into the temptation of the devil and sinned against God, sin entered into the world and ended man’s continual relationship of intimate fellowship with God. Man’s intimate relationship with God ended due to that first sin, and each one of us inherits a sin nature when we are born that keeps us separated from God.

Each of us is prone to sin due to our inherited sinful nature with an unending and ceaseless lust for sin. It is because of the inherited sinful nature that we seek to live for ourselves, desiring our own will and our own way in life. When we live our lives on our own terms and our own way, we become easy prey for the devil, not realizing we come under his kingdoms’ rule and reign. We are sinners who are blinded by the devil and live in rebellion against our God and Creator, choosing to live in darkness and held captive by the devil as slaves to sin.

The Word of God declares “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom.3:23). Everyone has sinned against God, even if it’s only once, and will stand guilty before God, deserving of death and eternal separation from Him in a place called Hell. In James 2:10 it tells us, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” And Hebrews 9:27 says, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment”. Most of us choose to live sinful lives and have therefore committed all kinds of sins against God by following our sinful and selfish desires. All our sin comes from within our hearts, out of the core of our being, sin such as selfishness, lust, greed, covetousness, un-forgiveness, anger, bitterness, hatred, envy, jealousy, pride, boasting, lying, cheating, stealing, adulteries, fornications, and drunkenness as well as many other sins. In Rom. 1:20 it says, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse”. There is no absolutely no excuse for our sin, there is no escape without Christ, and we stand guilty before God having no hope of escape. Without Christ as our Savior, we stand before God guilty as charged and will suffer the consequence of our sin, resulting in our punishment of eternal separation from Him.

Many people realize their guilt before God and attempt to make themselves right with God through self-effort, both consciously and unconsciously. Often times, this is a religious attempt to make themselves right and acceptable to God by reaching out to Him through religious acts or good deeds. In self-effort they try to do what’s right, they try to be good for goodness sake, and they may even attend Church, read their Bibles, pray and keep many other religious rituals and traditions. They hold to traditional conservative values and Church traditions, all in an effort to be acceptable to God by their religion, not by a relationship with Christ. We attempt to do the same thing as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, through their own self effort they tried to cover their sin and shame with fig leaves. Their attempt to cover the guilt and shame with fig leaves did nothing for the sting of sin in their heart and conscience. When they sinned they died on the inside, the fig leaves only covered their shame [their nakedness] on the outside and could do nothing to restore the missing life on the inside. Adam and Eve’s self-effort to cover and hide their sin resulted in failure, just as our attempts in self-effort to cover over our sins by doing good deeds result in failure today. Our best attempts to cover our sin through self-effort produce nothing that can remove the effects of guilt and shame we feel in our consciences and in our hearts. There is always a longing for “something” we will never find, even though we search for it continually to remove the guilt and shame we feel inside. We are sinners and cannot change ourselves nor change the wickedness of our hearts with all its lusts, we are without hope. Dead in our sins with no way out, we are stuck in our condition without any way to free ourselves.

Adam and Eve had sinned against God and realized their nakedness, embarrassment, guilt, and shame, because of the sin they committed. They attempted to cover their shame and guilt through their own self-effort by using fig leaves; however, this did not work or change their situation, they were still in the same predicament and mess. The reality of their sin against God did not change; they were still naked, embarrassed, and full of guilt and shame for what they had done. Fear struck their hearts and they were afraid to face God, so they hid themselves from the presence of God. God called them out and held them personally responsible [accountable] for their sin, he had them confess the sin they committed to Him. Both Adam and Eve confessed to their Creator what happened to influence their choice to sin, and God dealt with each one justly. God brought judgment upon the sin of Adam and Eve, punishing them for their sins against Him.

In the same way as Adam and Even in the Garden, we will stand before the Lord and have to give an account for the things we have done in our lives (1 Pet.4:5). Without Christ as our Savior, we will be found guilty for all the sins we have committed throughout our lifetime, no matter how big or small, and face eternal judgment in Hell and separation from God.

The article titled Prayer of Salvation has more information on how to accept Christ as your Savior.