Articles
Our Need for Rehabilitation
When man was created and lived in the garden before sin, he was in a close relationship with God and had all he needed. God created man in His own image (Gen. 1:26, 27), and “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7); God then put him in the garden “to tend and keep it” and commanded, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:15-17). Initially, God and man were close, and man was created to be able to live forever. (See Gen. 3:22.)
But, as we likely know, the serpent [Satan] tempted Eve to take of tree of the knowledge of good and evil — the only one God had forbidden — and in so doing committed an act of transgression (Gen. 3:1-6). Sin. Since that day, every man except one sinned against God; as Paul put it: “through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12). Earlier, he had noted “all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23), so it should be clear that sin spread throughout the whole of mankind; none were, or are, guiltless.
Because sin is a transgression of God’s law (1 John 3:4), and because sin separates us from God (Isa. 59:1, 2; Rom. 6:23), the relationship man once had with God has been severed and we cannot approach God in such a condition. All men have the stain of sin, and deserve the wrath of God for our sins. As such, mankind is in dire need of rehabilitation — “the restoration of something damaged or deteriorated to a prior good condition.” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) But how can this happen? As ones who are all guilty and, thus, all stained with sin, how can we ever hope to be cleansed that we might once again be able to approach God and have that original close relationship?
Obviously, this source of cleansing had to come from somewhere outside of man, since all were stained. Just as a man covered in mud from head to toe will never be able to cleanse himself in and of himself, no man is able to remove the stain of sin because he is stained. The man trying to wipe the mud off will be doing so with a muddy hand; it is all a vain effort. It will not be until he finds an outside source of cleansing [for example, a water hose for the mud-covered man]; for man, we needed the grace of God and the blood of Jesus Christ. Without the provision of the source of cleansing, provided by God because of His grace, we would remain in our sins — spiritually filthy and in an unacceptable condition to approach God, much less have a close relationship with Him. We are no different than Isaiah when he, upon seeing the Lord on His throne, cried out, “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of host” (Isa. 6:1-5).
We need rehabilitation!
We Need Cleansing. Because we are all guilty of transgressing God’s will, we are consequently all stained and polluted by sin. Peter notes that the disciple who fails to add to his faith “has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins” (2 Pet. 1:9); but how was he cleansed? He later describes a disciple as one who has “escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 2:20). John would write of Jesus as “Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Rev. 1:5). It was by this cleansing — applied by God when we are baptized into Jesus Christ and because of our faith in His working (Col. 2:11-13; Rom. 6:3, 4) — the sinner can become clean and be reconciled to God because the reason for the separation [sin] has been removed.
To this point, Paul reminds us, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Rom. 5:8-10), His blood forgave our sins (Eph. 1:7), cleansed us, and justified us [declared us ‘right’ in God’s sight], and only then could we be reconciled to God to once again have that fellowship with Him as was intended in the beginning. As disciples, when we continue in His ways, that is, “if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Walking in the light does not mean we live a sinless life, but when we do sin, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). It is in prayer we once again appeal to the cleansing power of Christ’s blood and, as His children, God grants that forgiveness.
We Need [Re]Training. Since, outside of Christ, “we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind” (Eph. 2:3) and “walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2), we need to learn a new course of life — one that leads us to, and keeps us close to, God. Outside of Christ, all of us “were slaves of sin” (Rom. 6:17) and “slaves of uncleanness” (Rom. 6:19), but now we must be “slaves of righteousness for holiness” (Rom. 6:18, 20). But one who has only known of the way of the world will be lost; how can we follow a path we have never known?
It is for this reason we need training or, as more correctly stated, retraining. Instead of being “trained in covetous practices” (2 Pet. 2:14) or living for “ungodliness and worldly lusts” (Titus 2:12) and “serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another” (Titus 3:3), we need to now learn the ways of righteousness that we might “live soberly, righteously, and godly.”
Now, as God’s people and disciples of Jesus Christ, we should pray as did the psalmist, “Cause me to know the way in which I should walk” (Psa. 143:8), and, “Teach me to do Your will” (Psa. 143:10). We should be pleading, “Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness” (Psa. 5:8), and, “Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me” (Psa. 25:4, 5). We will not learn, nor will we follow, the ways of righteousness by emulating the world, and we will not be pleasing to God if we continue down the same path we followed when outside of Christ. As His children, it is we who need “the training and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). As disciples, we must heed the invitation and demand of our Lord when He said, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me” (Matt. 11:29). We need to learn from the words of Jesus Christ!
We Need Helpers. One going through rehabilitation does not do so alone; help is needed to keep them on the correct path. It is no different with the one who leaves the world behind and chooses to follow Jesus Christ. It is for that reason we have our fellow disciples! We disciples should be the ones to strengthen one another (1 Thess. 5:11), pray for one another (Jas. 5:16), and do our utmost to restore the fallen, if needed (Gal. 6:1). Our goal is to get to heaven, but not alone.
May we help you? — Steven Harper
