Faith

Why You Desperately Need Jesus and to be Born Again

by Michael Edwards 
06/05/26
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Humanity’s desperate need for Jesus stems from our inherited sin nature from Adam, rendering us enslaved to sin and death apart from a radical new birth in the Spirit. This is not mere moral improvement or "stopping sinning" through willpower; it is a profound spiritual rescue from our very constitution as fallen beings.

The Apostle Paul explains this foundation in Romans 5. “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12 ESV). Adam’s disobedience was not isolated; it plunged the entire human race into corruption. Paul continues: “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19 ESV). We are not born neutral or basically good. We inherit a sin nature—a bent toward rebellion, a heart curved in on itself. This explains the universal reality of sin: no one escapes it. “None is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). From birth, our flesh is hostile to God, producing death in every area of life.

This sin nature operates under “the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2 ESV). In Romans 7, Paul vividly describes the internal war: “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Romans 7:18-19 ESV). Sin seizes opportunity through the law itself, arousing covetousness and producing death (Romans 7:8, 11). The flesh cannot be reformed or managed; it must be dealt with decisively. Self-effort, religion, or behavior modification fails because the root—our Adamic nature—remains. We are enslaved, sold under sin, dead in trespasses.

This is why we desperately need a Savior and must be born again. Jesus told Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. ... That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’” (John 3:3, 6-7 ESV). The new birth is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, imparting God’s life and a new nature. It transplants us from Adam’s lineage into Christ’s.

In Romans 6, Paul unveils the mechanism: union with Christ’s death and resurrection. “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin” (Romans 6:6-7 ESV). When Jesus died on the cross, believers were crucified with Him positionally. The old self—the Adamic nature dominated by sin—is executed. The power of the flesh is broken, not by our striving, but by our identification with Christ’s finished work. We are buried with Him in baptism and raised to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4 ESV). The law of the Spirit of life now reigns, freeing us from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).

This is no superficial change. The cross crucifies the flesh with its passions and desires (Galatians 5:24). Daily, by the Spirit, we put to death the deeds of the body (Romans 8:13), reckoning ourselves dead to sin and alive to God (Romans 6:11). Victory flows from our new identity in Christ, not gritted teeth. Without Jesus, we remain under condemnation, powerless against indwelling sin. With Him—through faith—we receive forgiveness, imputation of His righteousness, the indwelling Spirit, and eternal life. We move from death to life, slavery to sonship, defeat to triumph.

In summary, every person needs Jesus because we are born spiritually dead in Adam, bearing a sin nature that the law exposes but cannot cure. Only the gospel provides what we desperately lack: a Savior who bore our guilt, crushed the old self on the cross, and grants new birth by the Spirit. This alone sets us free. Turn to Christ, be born again, and live in the glorious liberty of the children of God.

TRUST IN JESUS HERE!