By JFK Mensah
JFK is a respected bible teacher and also serves Pioneers Africa doing mobilization while based in Accra, Ghana.
One of the greatest shocks in my Christian journey was the discovery that after I was happily born-again, water-baptized and baptized in the Holy Spirit, I found myself still tempted to lust after girls! I was disappointed with myself. The ‘big’ sins like masturbation, fornication and stealing from my Daddy’s shop all dropped off easily, but the ‘small’ sins like impure thoughts and pornography clung to me.
Pride and anger visited me often and I continued in my old habit of biting my finger nails viciously. The more I fought , the more I lost. Worse of all, I started progressing as a Christian leader on the university campus. The scripture declares that God created man innocent and sinless, but with capacity either to sin or refrain from sinning, Gen. 2:15-16.
When Adam & Eve fell into sin, every part of their nature was affected. They died spiritually-separated from God, Rom. 3:23; their mind, emotions and will became warped and prone to evil. Gen. 6:5,6 is the most graphic description of sinful nature in the Bible.
And the Lord saw that every imagination of the heart of man was only evil continually. Gen. 6:5
David acknowledges that he was born in sin, Ps. 51:5 and that the wicked go astray from the womb and begin lying as soon as they are born, Ps. 58:4. This condition is universal, no matter our race, nationality or tribe. We understand Paul well when he quotes Ps. 53 in Romans 3:10-18 to convict all humankind that there is absolutely none righteous.
Man is not a sinner because he sins; man sins because he is a sinner. We steal, lie, cheat in exams and lust sexually because of who we are outside Christ. Just as the force of gravity affects every stone thrown upward and drags it back to the earth, so also the sinful nature in man drags him back into sin continually.
This condition makes Jesus Christ indispensable to every culture and kindred. Of all men who walked on this earth, Jesus Christ’s life is outstanding. The testimony of those who knew him best while He walked on this earth declared Him sinless.
Peter attests that Jesus knew no sin and no guile was found in His mouth, 1 Pet.2:21-23. John testifies of the same in 1 Jn. 3:5.
And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 1 Jn. 3:5
Both Paul and the writer of the book of Hebrews confirm this in 2 Cor. 5:21 and Heb. 4:15. As long as there are sinners who desire to be saved on this side of heaven, the salvation message of the church of Jesus Christ will continue to be relevant.
The angel Gabriel who announced His birth declared, “…And you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matt. 1:21.
Hurray! The new creation in Christ is a reality! Anyone who recognizes himself or herself as an incorrigible sinner on the way to eternal destruction can come to a compassionate Savior. The death of Jesus on the cross is the junction where the absolute holiness of God and His love meet.
God’s justice demands the death of the sinner but His mercy and grace provides a substitute in Christ. Paul reveals that God did not only forgive us our sins on the cross; the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ dealt a death blow to our sin nature also. God made the sinless Jesus to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ. 2 Cor. 5:21.
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of Christ in Him. 2Cor.5: 21
