Hope for the Hopeless

In Psalm 58:3, we are told that we go astray as soon as we are born, speaking lies. Psalm 51:5 says, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” We must understand the principle of Romans 5:12, that even before we personally sinned against God by choice, we had the sin nature of Adam imputed to us. The inherent nature of sin is passed down from generation to generation. In the eyes of God, mankind has no redeeming qualities that would cause Him to reach down and become involved in our lives.

Now, what would constitute God to notice our desperate condition? Picture the newborn child in an open field in Ezekiel 16. Available to every prowler and stranger that passed by, the child would, no doubt, perish. This child is an illustration of the hopeless condition of man without the redeeming grace of God. The sinner is helpless without Christ. Ezekiel 16 exhibits to us the overwhelming compassion of God and His limitless capacity to love us, despite the sinful state of our souls. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).

Thank God, He redeemed us from our helpless state by the blood of Jesus Christ. Now we must allow ourselves to be sanctified and cleansed by the washing of the water of the Word of God (4).