Know your disease

But you have not so learned the oracles of God (Romans 3:2). You know that he who sees what is in man (John 2:25) gives a far different account both of nature and grace, of our fall and our recovery. You know that the great end of religion is to renew our hearts in the image of God, to repair that total loss of righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:24) which we sustained by the sin of our first parent. You know that all religion which does not answer this end, all that stops short of this, the renewal of our soul in the image of God, after the likeness of him who created it (Colossians 3:10), is nothing other than a poor farce, and a mere mockery of God, to the destruction of our own soul. O beware of all those teachers of lies, who would palm this upon you for Christianity! Regard them not, although they should come to you with all the deceivableness of unrighteousness (2 Thessalonians 2:10), with all smoothness of language, all decency, yes beauty and elegance of expression, all professions of earnest goodwill to you, and reverence for the Holy Scriptures. Keep to the plain, old faith, once delivered to the saints (Jude 3), and delivered by the Spirit of God to our hearts. Know your disease! Know your cure! You were born in sin: therefore you must be born again (John 3:7), born of God. By nature you are wholly corrupted: by grace you shall be wholly renewed. In Adam you all died; in the second Adam, in Christ you are all made alive (1 Corinthians 15:22). You who were dead in sins he has quickened (Ephesians 2:5). He has already given you a principle of life, even faith in him who loved you and gave himself for you (Galatians 2:20)! Now go on from faith to faith (Romans 1:17), until your whole sickness is healed, and all that mind is in you which was also in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5)!