Rev. A.J. Ogden

The Bible plainly tells us that every man, woman and child is a sinner. Listen to what the God of Heaven had to say through Paul the apostle in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” All means all of us human beings, and the Word of God declares that there are none righteous, no not one.

First of all we are a sinner by birth, born with a sinful nature like Adam and Eve who sinned and plunged the whole human race into sin. They were our first parents and we received their sinful nature to sin. When we get big enough, old enough to know, in other words, reach the age of accountability, we must choose to accept Christ, repent of our sins, which means the new birth. Unless we repent we perish! The key word is “repent.” Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, but a gift for the guilty. We are all guilty because God said we were born sinners. At birth we are sinners by nature. Then when we are old enough to know better, we become sinners by choice.

We could join five thousand churches, sing in the choir, preach in the pulpit, and try to act Godly, but still die and go to Hell. We could be as religious as anyone living and it would not save our soul. You could do this, do that, try harder and give your body to be burned and still be lost and go to Hell.