In just four days, 2019 will be history, and a brand new year will begin. Some people will make resolutions, and most will fail to keep them more than a few days. As we age, we find how difficult it is to change ourselves, but God willingly changes people all the time. When one comes to realize that God really does exist and that Christ is his only hope of heaven, he may, if fortunate enough, pray to receive Christ and trust Him as Savior.

Then God works a miracle and changes the individual into a “new creation.” The Lord Jesus imparts to every saved person His righteousness, which makes one acceptable in God’s sight and fit for heaven. He also provides the Holy Spirit to live in, help, comfort and counsel the new child of God. Some new Christians, in their enthusiasm, make the mistake of feeling they are now “good” and maybe even better than other people. They might just make the mistake of unknowingly judging others as sinful. What they all need to realize is that they, and all of us, are still sinners, although now sinners saved by grace.

There are, as I heard my friend Milton Gardner preach, only two types of people in the world: saved sinners and lost sinners. But each person always remains a sinner as long as he is on this earth. Being saved makes one righteous, but never good. Even the greatest Christian we’ve known, the Apostle Paul, had to admit he was still a sinner struggling with a bad side. He explains in God’s Word, that every person retains an old, evil nature that he never sheds until physical death. Paul called this evil, original nature the “Old Man.”

I find much encouragement in Paul’s confession in Romans 7:14-15. He said, “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that do I.” If the greatest Christian had to admit that, where does it leave us?

Jesus called His own disciples “evil.” He said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him” (Matthew 7:11). His disciples were still evil, but all except one was righteous because of Christ’s having imputed to them His righteousness. And that is exactly what every man and woman in this world so desperately needs. Let us all remember in 2020 that we are not good and will never be good on this earth. However, we can be righteous and see heaven when we die if we only trust Christ to save us. As the old song goes, “He will save you, He will save you, He will save you now.” May “God bless us, every one.”

Then God works a miracle and changes the individual into a “new creation.” The Lord Jesus imparts to every saved person His righteousness, which makes one acceptable in God’s sight and fit for heaven. He also provides the Holy Spirit to live in, help, comfort and counsel the new child of God. Some new Christians, in their enthusiasm, make the mistake of feeling they are now “good” and maybe even better than other people. They might just make the mistake of unknowingly judging others as sinful. What they all need to realize is that they, and all of us, are still sinners, although now sinners saved by grace.

There are, as I heard my friend Milton Gardner preach, only two types of people in the world: saved sinners and lost sinners. But each person always remains a sinner as long as he is on this earth. Being saved makes one righteous, but never good. Even the greatest Christian we’ve known, the Apostle Paul, had to admit he was still a sinner struggling with a bad side. He explains in God’s Word, that every person retains an old, evil nature that he never sheds until physical death. Paul called this evil, original nature the “Old Man.”

I find much encouragement in Paul’s confession in Romans 7:14-15. He said, “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that do I.” If the greatest Christian had to admit that, where does it leave us?

Jesus called His own disciples “evil.” He said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him” (Matthew 7:11). His disciples were still evil, but all except one was righteous because of Christ’s having imputed to them His righteousness. And that is exactly what every man and woman in this world so desperately needs. Let us all remember in 2020that we are not good and will never be good on this earth. However, we can be righteous and see heaven when we die if we only trust Christ to save us. As the old song goes, “He will save you, He will save you, He will save you now.” May “God bless us, every one.”