Behold, I was shapen in iniquity;
and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
Psalm 51:5
The fundamental pre-existing condition of mankind is SIN. Romans 5:12 confirms the fact that there is indwelling sin that came through Adam, who when enticed by his wife Eve, willfully and deliberately disobeyed God. He sinned. “Wherefore as by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”
Paul is speaking not of individual sins, but of a universal sinful state – the moral state of fallen man, hence our pre-existing condition. Obviously, fallen man needed to be changed and that change could only come through the sacrificial death of Christ upon the Cross. This is reconciliation, a thorough change. When we have been reconciled to God through the shed blood of His Son, the Lord Jesus, we have full access to the promises of God.
In Luke 4:40, we see the Lord Jesus in His healing ministry. “Now when the sun was setting all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto Him: and He laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.” Again in Mark 1:32-34, Jesus healed the sick and infirmed. In Matthew 9:27-33, He touched the blinded eyes, those who could speak no words, and those who were possessed with devils. The touch of the Master’s Hands, the Voice of the Son of God spoke healing and comfort to those who were needy. He still speaks peace and healing today. He is still our health provider, Jehovah Rapha, In Exodus 15:26 He says, “I am the Lord that healeth thee. And in Genesis 22:14, He is our great provider, Jehovah Jireh. Not only does He provide health for our infirmed bodies, He speaks peace to our Spirit. He heals our pre-existing condition.
Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away. A wonderful time to celebrate the bounty of God’s creation. We love the food – turkey and dressing, candied yams, ham, collard greens and turnips, and don’t forget the pumpkin pie. Makes you drool just thinking about it. It’s great to celebrate that we live in a land of plenty and if we do our jobs (work!) we can put food of this nature on our tables as often as we go to either the supermarket or the garden. These are noted as generous blessings. Dressing is good! Especially cornbread dressing like we make it in the South! But God wants to dress us in a robe of righteousness which will take care of that pre-existing condition forever.
Our Lord never sleeps nor slumbers.
He never shuts down.
That cannot be said of any other – not the politicians; not the earthy nor the refined; not the health-care system; not the world wide web; not the physicians who weary of all the interference with their Hippocratic oath until they just – throw in the towel and quit.
But … Jesus never fails!
He promised He would always be with us. Deuteronomy 31:6 says, “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them; for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee. He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” It is impossible for God to turn away from His children. Hebrews 13:5b says, “… for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
I have never once read where God cancelled an insurance policy. I have never seen His heavenly website down for any reason. I have never seen Him resort to a welfare state. He owns the cattle upon a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10b).
We are all about ourselves these days. Worried we’re not going to get our “hope and change.” We cannot seem to get enough of a Federal Government that is all up and into our business about every little detail of our lives, like we don’t have sense enough to come in out of the rain. We’re perfectly capable of making our own decisions with the help of Almighty God! Why on earth would we want a broken down system telling us how to run our business when God’s economy is up and running fine?
Jesus never fails, and He is immutable; that is, He never changes. He said “For I am the Lord, I change not …” (Malachi 3:6a). Did you need further proof?
He is our Blessed Hope! Job 8:13: “So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish.” Ouch! Dare we trust “the sweetest frame?” No! I don’t know about you, but Jesus is my “Blessed Hope.” He ensures that pre-existing condition (SIN) is gone “…as far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).
C. I. Schofield explains it like this: “Three Hebrew words are translated forgive, forgiven: kaphar, to cover; nasa, to lift away; salach, to send away. The fundamental Old Testament idea of forgiveness is not the remission of penalty, but the separation of the sinner from his sin. Praise God! I don’t want my sins just to be covered. I want them GONE! I want to be separated from them; I want them to be removed – as far as the east is from the west. Remember the scapegoat of Leviticus 16!
He will never turn you down because of the pre-existing condition – because of the sin that separates you from Him. He wants to forgive you and save you. Salvation is of the Lord and He waits patiently for you to trust Him as your Savior.
Time is wasting, dear friends. Do we want to go out worrying and fretting over healthcare or the lack thereof? Do we want to go out worrying over anything when He is able to do abundantly above all that we could ask or think? Criticize me if you will. I’m too near my heavenly home to worry about what people think or say about me. My HOPE is in Him. Some things can’t be changed because of the human factor. But God’s Amazing Grace never, never changes. It is all sufficient, all inclusive, and never ending. Thank God, we don’t need change when it comes to the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, immutable Holy God. Hallelujah!
Through Christ Alone,
Victor W. Baugh, Sr., Th.D., Ph.D.
Pastor, St. Luke AME Church
Havana, AL
http://www.thatgracemayabound.blogspot.com/
