Chapter 2—The Sinner’s Need of Christ
Man was originally endowed with noble powers and a well-
balanced mind. He was perfect in his being, and in harmony with
God. His thoughts were pure, his aims holy. But through disobedi-
ence, his powers were perverted, and selfishness took the place of
love. His nature became so weakened through transgression that it
was impossible for him, in his own strength, to resist the power of
evil. He was made captive by Satan, and would have remained so
forever had not God specially interposed. It was the tempter’s purpose
to thwart the divine plan in man’s creation, and fill the earth with woe
and desolation. And he would point to all this evil as the result of
God’s work in creating man.
In his sinless state, man held joyful communion with Him “in
whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Colossians
2:3
. But after his sin, he could no longer find joy in holiness, and he
sought to hide from the presence of God. Such is still the condition
of the unrenewed heart. It is not in harmony with God, and finds no
joy in communion with Him. The sinner could not be happy in God’s
presence; he would shrink from the companionship of holy beings.
Could he be permitted to enter heaven, it would have no joy for him.
The spirit of unselfish love that reigns there—every heart responding
to the heart of Infinite Love—would touch no answering chord in his
soul. His thoughts, his interests, his motives, would be alien to those
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that actuate the sinless dwellers there. He would be a discordant note
in the melody of heaven. Heaven would be to him a place of torture;
he would long to be hidden from Him who is its light, and the center
of its joy. It is no arbitrary decree on the part of God that excludes the
wicked from heaven; they are shut out by their own unfitness for its
companionship. The glory of God would be to them a consuming fire.
They would welcome destruction, that they might be hidden from the
face of Him who died to redeem them.
It is impossible for us, of ourselves, to escape from the pit of sin in
which we are sunken. Our hearts are evil, and we cannot change them.
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