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Abraham Lincoln, in his first inaugural address just before the civil war, in an attempt to reconcile the South and the North, appealed to the "better angels of our nature" as a means of seeking reconciliation and peace. Barack Obama, presidential candidate and current senator, in a recent interview was quoted as saying that man has a "core decency" and that we should possess a certain "optimism about people." This is an absolutely outrageous view given what we know about mankind throughout history and more importantly in the Scripture. Unredeemed man has always been self-interested, and it has never been his natural bent to look after the weak and to give up his own rights for the benefits of others (unless, of course, there is some kick-back to fuel pride and one’s own selfish agenda). Scripture is plain that man is born a sinner, saying in 1 Corinthians 15:22, "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive." Isaiah 53:6 adds, "All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him." Every man sins and falls short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). Therefore, he needs salvation through the one and only Savior Jesus Christ.

To believe that man is basically good and that he possesses a decency at his core makes the remedy for sin meaningless. Man must first recognize his sin before he can be saved, so those who deny sin propagate a great deception about the natural bent of man’s heart. Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?" The Bible doesn’t buy into the jargon about basically good but not perfect. The Bible speaks of utter deceit and extreme wickedness, a nature that is set against God and His ways of humility, love, selflessness, and faith in Christ. This reality of man’s evil bent must be understood, believed, and proclaimed lest the gospel lose its worth and meaning and the death of Christ be made a mockery. Our sins were laid upon Christ so that we could receive His righteousness. We don’t merely need some polishing up on our exterior because of a good core and loving heart, but we need to be born again. We need our heart changed (Ezekiel 18:31), our mind transformed (Romans 12:1-2), and our spirits regenerated (Titus 3:5). Man’s only hope is a total rewiring of his inner person, a work which only Christ can do.

A person must learn of his sin problem before the salvation answer makes any sense. This is why the doctrine of original sin is so important: without it, man has no need for a Savior and has no motive to call upon Christ (unless of course it is one of self-interest such as in helping one get richer, smarter, stronger, etc.). The gospel is not about self-help or furthering our own inherent self-worship (i.e. pride and self-reliance). The gospel is about denying ourselves and turning to Christ as Savior and Lord (Matthew 16:24). Original sin must be dealt with if a person is going to be born again, and only Christ has the cure. Yet we have the message.

I once spoke with a young lady about the gospel, and she insisted that she had never done wrong. I knew that she had because the Bible tells me that she has because all of us have. I began sharing various commands of God such as "do not steal" and "do not lie." Finally, she remembered that she had once cheated on her time card at work, stealing from her company. This was an astounding revelation to her because then the part about the cross and repentance made sense. She didn’t receive Christ, but she said that she would have to talk with her friends about this because it was something she had never recognized or seen before. Brothers and sisters, it is our job, our mission, and our calling to tell the world that it is sick with sin and that it needs a Doctor. As Jesus said in Luke 5:31, "It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick." Telling the world it is spiritually sick with sin often doesn’t go over too well, and it is not popular. But it can be done gently and lovingly as we lead people through the Scripture and let the Spirit speak to their hearts about where they have fallen short. For those who desire the truth, they will be cut to the heart and repent (Acts 2:37). Others will be cut to the heart and gnash their teeth in anger (Acts 7:54). Either way, the Word of God does what God says it will do, cutting to joints and marrow and rightly judging the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). Our job is simply to share it. Preaching with hate is destructive to the message of grace, but helping one to see the problem of sin which we all possessed as we entered the world is an act of great love and care as it opens the door to the gift of salvation being necessary and making sense.

Those who proclaim the inherent goodness of man are greatly deceived, and they are unable to see (or at least acknowledge) the true state of their own hearts. It is a great deception and delusion not to see that our own attempts at righteousness are as filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6). We need to, like Isaiah, come to see our own need for grace and for cleansing (Isaiah 6:5). So let us acknowledge, believe, and proclaim the truth of Scripture that man has a sin problem, that he is not basically good, and that he needs to repent and be saved. Anything less is simply not true and not the gospel.

"The Way" from Kevin Pauley

The First Sin