God’s Gift to the Sinner

There is none righteous, no, not one.  Romans 3:10
Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Psalm 51:5

Without any choice, man is born a sinner. A person does not have to speak a word or even make a single decision to be a sinner; he accomplishes this just by being born. This, of course, was not God’s original plan; but, as a result of the fall of Adam and Eve to temptation, sin entered into the human race and now every man is born a sinner.

We know that in the beginning man was created holy and sinless, without even the knowledge of sin (Genesis 2:17 ). He was made in the image of a pure and righteous God (Genesis 1:27 ), so man himself was originally pure and righteous. He was given complete dominion over the earth and nature (Genesis 1:28 ) and enjoyed free and open fellowship with God. Sin disrupted everything. Man must now strive with great effort in order to eat and to live (Genesis 3:19 ), woman must experience sorrow and suffering in childbirth (Genesis 3:16 ) and because of sin, man must ultimately die and return to the earth.

For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.  Genesis 3:19
For the wages of sin is death.  Romans 6:23
Therefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin. . . Romans 5:12

But the most saddening and devastating result of sin is separation from God (Isaiah 59:1 , 2). Man lost the free and open communion that he had with his creator because God cannot fellowship with sin (II Corinthians 6:14). Not only is man separated from God during his life on earth, but any man dying in sin is alienated from God for eternity (Revelation 21:27 ).

Obviously, man needed a savior. He needed a savior who could once again make him righteous and restore the fellowship he originally had with God. It was for this reason that Jesus Christ came into the world. Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind so that people everywhere could have the choice of being saved.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin
I John 3:5

Jesus has paid the full price for man’s salvation (I Corinthians 6:20) and so fellowship with God can ultimately be restored. Man can now escape from the bondage of sin and the curse that it brought upon the world. This is because a man can be born again. Through our natural birth we inherit from Adam, our earthly father, sin, suffering and death. But when a man is born again it is a spiritual birth. We then inherit from our Heavenly Father righteousness, joy and eternal life. The born again experience is God’s gift to the sinner (Romans 5:15 ).

By being born again, a person is made a new creature and is given a chance to start his life all over again (II Corinthians 5:17). Not only are his sins washed away and forgotten (Hebrews 8:12 ), but he is filled with the Spirit of God to help him in his resistance to sin (Galatians 5:16 ). Being born again is the very heart of the gospel of Christ, and it still comes in the same glorious and powerful way that it came when the church began (Hebrews 13:8 ; Acts 2:39 ). As you will see from the following pages, the Bible gives very detailed directions on how to be born again. The eternal destiny of a person’s soul is determined by his obedience to the Word of God (Romans 6:17 ), so all of these scriptures will be explained in the most clear and simple way possible.