Jesus, the Only Cure

Jesus, the Only Cure

Let me hand you a snapshot:

• Today, I woke up.
• The bed I woke up in was unfamiliar.
• The person beside me was a stranger.
• The headache I had suggested that I soaked myself in an alcoholic marinade last night (most likely tequila).
• The shame I was feeling suggested that I didn’t want to know how I spent part of my night.
• My next movement would add to my shame, realizing that I was going to have to go to the pharmacy to make sure that this night of burying pain and shame in alcohol didn’t result in 18 more years of paying for it.
• Hopefully, tonight doesn’t end the same way.

Although this picture is fictitious, it is all too true on some level for every person on planet earth. We are trapped – trapped in a sin condition that we feel powerless to change. We don’t recognize how we got here. Sometimes, we wonder if it is genetic, if we’re cursed, or if we are plain unlucky.

When we look at the topic of sin and the solution to the problem of sin, we tend to speak to the actions and behaviors that come with our sinful condition. To use our snapshot above, we might say that Jesus died so that “I” would no longer drink tequila to numb the pain of my sinful life. While that statement is true on some level, that idea limits the gospel message of salvation to a “forgiving of sins” only (meaning the sinful actions and behaviors). But the gospel message of salvation is so much more than that! It can better be explained as the comprehensive transformation of the sinful nature of believers through the redemptive death and resurrection of the Son of God, Jesus. (Wow, that is a mouthful!) This comprehensive transformation of our sinful nature is the complete message of the gospel, while the forgiving of individual sinful behaviors is only a small part.

Let me break down that statement.

• Comprehensive. The definition of comprehensive is “complete; including all or nearly all elements or aspects of something.”[1] While it may not be necessary to tell you the definition of this word, it is important. Stay with me for a few more points…
• Transformation. Transformation: “a thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance.”[2]
• Sinful Nature. Sin. Sin is an infectious disease that manifests itself in every single person. David says, “For I was born a sinner – yes, from the moment my mother conceived me,” (Ps. 51:5).[3] It’s our nature to be sinful. While there surely are some cases in which we might say that sin was “caught” (learned from another’s example), it would be more apt to say that it came through the bloodline. Genetic. It’s been passed down generation after generation since Genesis 3.

Taking these last three points, this argument would then be that there is, available to the believer in Jesus Christ, a complete and dramatic change in a condition that we were given before we were even born. How?

Before answering that question, let me expand on our snapshot at the start:
 

• I came from an extensive line of alcoholics.
• Abuse of varying types was normal in my household.
• I recently got divorced.
• I have undiagnosed and untreated mental and physical ailments.
• My mother died last week.
• My dad disappeared when I was 5.

To say that sin ran in “my” bloodline would be an understatement. To say that sinful actions were handed to me from my environment would also be a true statement. Knowing our human experience still doesn’t help or change our sinful condition. We can’t erase the past. We can’t change the future. We cannot choose our DNA. We cannot control the people around us. All of this points to the fact that we are powerless to do anything about our sinful nature and our life situations.

“The flesh,” as Paul calls it [in Rom. 8 and Gal. 5 (NIV)] affects everything: our will, our emotions, our mind, our body, etc. And we cannot compare ourselves to others. We are all wrecked! God is not judging based on quantity or quality of sin, so neither should we. “[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Rom. 3:23. The Ten Commandments in the Old Testament was not a tool to condemn us, as some may think, but rather a diagnostic tool to show us our inability to save ourselves from the penalty of sin. We are all doomed by genetics.

This whole argument points to the perfect sacrifice that atoned for the sins of the world. The untainted, perfect human being, Jesus Christ, born without the sin “gene” because His Father was uncreated and heavenly, not earthly and contaminated, like all our fathers. It points to the importance of the fulfillment of Scripture in the virgin birth of Jesus. [See Is. 7:14, Matt. 1:23} Jesus alone was qualified to be the perfect sacrifice (Heb. 9:14), once, for all.

How does all of this information connect to us and to “my” story at our start? Well, maybe you connect with “my” story on one or two points. But most likely, you only connect on point #1, you woke up today. Even if that is the only thing you have in common, it is the most crucial point in this whole story. If you woke up here, today, on planet earth, you are still plagued with the unfortunate sentence of sinner and you are contaminated by the sin handed down to us from Adam and Eve. As long as you continue here on the earth, you remain in the flesh. Sin will continue to be a problem. Thanks be to God for the rest of our above statement…
 

• Redemptive. To redeem means to make up for; make amends for; to exchange…; to buy or pay off; clear by payment; to buy back, as after a tax sale or a mortgage foreclosure; to recover…; to obtain the release or restoration of, such as from captivity, by paying a ransom; to deliver from sin and its consequences by means of a sacrifice offered for the sinner.” [4]

That extensive definition is added to make it abundantly clear... we were unfit to pay for our sinful condition. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” (Rom. 6:23). But Jesus was fit, and willing to pay the price for us.

The picture of transformation that the gospel message paints is that through the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ we can have a more complete restoration, beyond just a mere behavior change. It’s a new nature (Eph. 4:24), a new heart (Ps. 51:10), a new spirit (Ezek. 36:26), a whole new person (2Cor. 5:17) from the old one.
 

• Resurrection. Jesus defeated death, being resurrected from the dead on the third day. Through Jesus, we are reconciled to God, without blemish (see Col. 1:20-22). One day, we will join Him, and we will be like Him. [see 1Cor. 15]

Sure, sin is a problem. Sin will continue to be a problem. We can’t do anything to change this situation.  Thanks be to God that He did something about our situation!
 
  [1] Bing Online Dictionary.
  [2] Bing Online Dictionary.
  [3] Holy bible: New living translation. Carol Stream, Il: Tyndale House Publishers, 2007.
  [4] “Redeem Definition & Meaning.” Dictionary.com.