The World’s Deadliest Disease

 One human condition stands above the rest as the world’s deadliest disease for it  has inflicted itself upon every person that ever lived. No modern disease or super  virus comes close to the amount of damage that the world’s deadliest disease has perpetrated on the human race.

It gets worse too. Everybody in human history besides Adam and Eve were born with this disease and all including Adam and Eve have suffered from it. Have you guessed what it is?

The Psalmist gave us some insight to this condition when he wrote “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalm 51:5)

Sin, the world’s deadliest disease, starts at conception and ends in death. In the book of James we read about the pattern of sin which goes like this “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” (James 1:14-15)

The good news is that there is a cure for the world’s deadliest disease.

The beloved disciple John reminds us that “ye know that Jesus was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.” The apostle Paul informs us that the sinless, eternal Son of God came to “save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15)

How do we get cured from sin? After John the Baptist was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15)

Repent and believe. Let’s go back to Psalm 51 and we will see this is exactly what David did. First he says “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness:” then he says “blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.”

David recognized the dire condition of sin and he repented of it. He also believed God could deal with his sin where he himself could not. He repented and believed.

Look also at how God deals with sin that’s repented of. He eliminates it completely, He goes beyond forgiveness. Psalm 103:12 says “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”

Removed transgression from us: Three Hebrew words are translated forgive or forgiven: kaphar, to cover; nasa, to lift away; salach, to send away. Leviticus 16:21,22 the fundamental Old Testament idea of forgiveness being not the remission of penalty, but the separation of the sinner from his sin. Psalm 103:12 expresses this. (Scofield Reference Notes)

Or look at Jeremiah 31:34 – the LORD says “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

The apostle Paul surely understood this most deadly disease as well and where to find the cure. “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)

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