a hopeless incurable

It's ironically relieving to learn that I am hopelessly incurable. There's no fixing me. There's nothing in me that's redeemable or worth redeeming. That is, of course, in my sinful nature, as Paul says in Romans 7. I am, as he was, a wretched man. Nothing rings truer with my 24 years of life experience than this fact. But it's not depressing, it's relieving. Afterall, I'm not incurably hopeless.

There is hope in the Cross (and only there). However, I must realize that the Cross is a death sentence. Which means that God's prescribed method of dealing with this fallen creature, this sinful nature, this hopeless incurable, is not improvement. It's not a second chance to do better. It's death. The old is not repairable, not capable of goodness, not deserving of heaven and therefore, there is only one solution--destruction.

The Cross has carried out this death sentence. We were crucified there with Christ. His sacrifice provided forgiveness for our sins, but what next? Forgiveness is not enough to keep us from continuing in a life of sin and our nature is permenantly bent toward sin and unable to be corrected. So it must be discarded and replaced with a new nature. One that tends towards righteousness. One that is capable of pleasing God. That is why Christ did not only die, but was also resurrected. We died with him so that the old man could be done away with. We rose with him so that we may walk in new life.

There are two parts to salvation: forgiveness of sin and renewal of self. We have lived in sin and must receive pardon for our misdeeds, but we must also receive freedom from sin that we will not continue living in it. Sin must be dealt with in regards to it's penalties as well as it's power over our lives. Both of these are accomplished in the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. And we must accept it all by faith.

How do we accept grace for the cleansing of sins? By believing that Christ died as a sacrifice for those sins. More than that, by coming to the end of ourselves and realizing that it is only by Christ's death that we are saved. We cannot not earn our acceptance in God's eyes or add a single thing to the perfect work of the Cross. Faith is the only way.

How do receive freedom from the power of sin over our lives? By believing that we died and were risen to new life with Christ. The old nature has been sentenced to death and the sentence has been executed. We cannot not add to the work of the Cross, but only accept it by faith. We cannot go on striving to improve the old nature, trying to teach it to act accordingly, trying to rescue it. We must accept that it's only place is the grave. It can be held there by faith in our identification with Christ at the Cross and by faith we can receive the new life Christ died to give us and learn how to live in it daily. It is a process of years, but it begins at the end of ourselves and the first step is believing.

So after years of striving to cure the incurable it is encouraging to know that it is utterly impossible, but there is another solution all together. I don't have to heal the old man, I've been given a whole new self in Christ!

Just a bit of what God has been teaching (and re-teaching) me lately. Hope it blesses you. Here's a few verses to consider:

¹ What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. -Romans 6:1-4

 ⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. -Romans 6:8

 ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here! -2 Corinthians 5:17

 ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. -Galations 2:20

³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. -Colossians 3:3