We Sin Because We Are Sinners - The Wake-Up Call

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Wake-Up Call Host: John David Walt | Guest: David Walt
Episode: “We Sin Because We Are Sinners” | Date: February 23, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode of The Wake-Up Call dives into the Lenten journey with an exploration of the fundamental Christian understanding of sin. Through personal reflection, scriptural exposition, and community-focused encouragement, John David Walt unpacks the distinction between “sin” as a condition and “sins” as its symptoms, emphasizing humanity’s inherited brokenness—and the cure offered in Jesus Christ. The episode is punctuated by prayer, probing questions, and a heartfelt hymn, grounding the theological discussion in worship and practical application.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Reconnecting the Community & Introduction to Lent

John David Walt welcomes listeners back and expresses gratitude to guest host Andrew Forrest for holding down the fort.
He reflects on the communal nature of faith:
“There’s more than just a bunch of yous and me’s. There’s a big we, we are walking together. We’re walking each other home, in fact.” (02:28)

2. Scriptural Foundation — Romans 5:19

Main text: "For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one the many will be made righteous." (Romans 5:19) (06:04)
Core message: Humanity’s status as sinners is inherited through Adam’s fall; righteousness comes only through Jesus’ obedience.

3. The Condition of Sin vs. The Symptoms of Sin

Walt explains the difference:
- Sin (capital S) = the sickness, inherited fallen nature.
- Sins (lowercase s) = the symptoms, individual failures.
“We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners.” (09:33)
Treating the symptoms (our sins) isn’t enough; the sickness (sinful nature) requires a deeper cure.

4. Salvation as Cure — Not Self-Improvement

Illustrative analogy: Sin as terminal cancer, Jesus as the cure.
Emphasizes futility of self-effort:
“Trying harder to do better may manage and even mask the symptoms, but it will not cure the sickness.” (11:51)
Only Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection can address the root cause:
“Jesus is the cure for the capital S cancer of sin. We can only be cured by the chemotherapy of the blood of Jesus and the radiating glory of his righteousness.” (13:44)

5. The Gospel Is Grace, Not Moral Ledger

Critique of shallow gospel understanding:
- Many “check the boxes”—admitting sinfulness, needing a savior—but don’t grasp the depth of inherited fallenness.
“Deep down, I don’t think I really thought I was that bad of a sinner. And that is to miss the whole point.” (14:45)
Standard of heaven: All are born into sin; salvation is a received gift, not a worked-for wage (16:17).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On sin’s nature:
“Sin is not a moral failure. It is a complete system failure.” (12:15)
On salvation:
“You can’t pay it back. It has to be paid back for you. Jesus paid it all.” (20:48) — John David Walt
On the hope of the Gospel:
“There’s a cure. There’s the chemotherapy of the blood of Jesus.” (19:49)

Important Timestamps

Community Welcome & Lenten framing: 00:04-04:20
Prayer of Consecration: 04:21-05:09
Scripture Reading (Romans 5:19): 06:04-06:24
Theological unpacking of sin’s source: 07:00-14:00
Personal reflection on misunderstanding sin: 14:30-17:00
Prayer for deeper healing: 13:57-14:37
Journal prompts/questions: 13:57-14:37
Summary analogy & call to Lenten reflection: 17:00-19:00

Reflection & Application

Journal Questions (14:00):

Have you, like me, misunderstood sin and sins?
Do you see how our status as sinners is inherited before it is earned?
How does this reshape your understanding of salvation as a gift?

Musical Interlude

Song: “Nothing but the Blood” (17:05-19:31)
- Expression of the central message: “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
- Reinforces the episode’s theme that only Christ’s sacrifice can cleanse sin’s condition.

Memorable Moments with David Walt

Conversation about the hymn reaffirms the message: “He paid a debt he did not owe… because we owed a debt we can’t pay.” (20:24)
Emphasizes receiving salvation rather than striving to earn it:
“All you have to do is ask him, receive it and he’ll do it.” (20:56)

Conclusion

This episode offers a compelling call to shift from managing symptoms (moral effort) to receiving the cure (grace in Christ), urging listeners to see sin at its root and embrace Lent as a journey of awakening and surrender.
“Repent. That means wake up and believe the gospel.” (18:46)

For the full experience:

Reflect on today’s journal prompts
Engage in honest prayer for deeper healing
Let the words and melody of “Nothing but the Blood” reinforce the power of Christ’s grace

Hosts: John David Walt & David Walt
Key Texts: Romans 5:19, John 3:16-17, 2 Corinthians 5:21
Theme: We sin because we are sinners — but in Christ, there is a cure.

Transcript

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Sower Nation. It is Monday, February 23rd, in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ, 2026. I'm John David Walt, and this is your wake up call. Man, I've missed you all so much. And it wasn't but a short period that we were apart. And my gosh, I want to thank Andrew Forrest for just delivering the mail. Okay? He brought some good, some good food for that two and a half week period. And I'm very grateful to him for that. Appreciate all your kind words about him too. Well, it's Monday and we're on day five. We're in day five of 40 in this journey to the cross. We're calling it Jesus asking. So let's begin on this Monday, first Monday of Lent, first full week in consecration. You ready? Deep breath. Jesus, I belong to you. Hang on, I'm already, I'm already messing up, aren't I? Sorry, gang. Wake up, sleeper. Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Now we're ready. Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you. And we're praying in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. A lot of people ask me, you know, why do I add that plural we at the end of the prayer of consecration? And it's because I'm thinking about you and me and you and me. And there's a lot of you and me's, and there's more than just a bunch of yous and me's. There's a big we, we are walking together. We're walking each other home, in fact. And I just want us to be aware of each other. I want us to pray for each other. We're, we're, we're going the gospel, the Bible, Jesus is better together. And, you know, I, I, I hear from so many of you all, I got this card, y', all, a postcard. On the front of it it says cappuccino, but on the back it says things. If you're watching, you can see this. I may try to put it on our Facebook group today so somebody can translate it. It's written in another language. Maybe it's Greek, maybe it's Italian. I believe it says Ephesians 5:14, which we know what that says. Wake up, sleep, or rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. So, and it didn't have any kind of signature on it, so thank you for sending me this postcard. Thank you. Well, today's entry is entitled we sin because we are sinners. And our text is Romans, chapter 5, verse 19. You're going to notice in this Lenten study that we're going to. We're going to move through a variety of texts. We're not going through like a straight book of the Bible like we did in Proverbs or the Gospels. So this is Romans 5, verse 19. Hear now the word of the Lord. For as through the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous. The word of the Lord. Now consider this. As we delve further into this movement we call Lent, which is the movement from death to life. We need to make sure we have clarity on the core fundamentals. We began with the fundamental of the original image of God, something none of us has known or experienced. Because of the failure of our ancient forebears, we were all born into the failure of fallenness. It is so important to understand that we are not fallen creatures because of our failures. It is actually the opposite. We fail because of our fallenness. In fact, short of some kind of miraculous intervention, we can't not fail. Let's try this another way. There is sickness and then there are symptoms of the sickness. The sickness in this instance is capital S. Sin. It is fallenness, the condition into which we were born. The symptoms of this sickness are little S sins. Our sins are our failures. So let me ask you this question. Do the symptoms come from the sickness, or does the sickness come from the symptoms? Of course the symptoms come from the sickness. If the sickness can be cured, the symptoms will subside. Here's the point. We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. We are not fallen because we fail. We fail because we are fallen. It follows then that we must treat the sickness rather than try to endlessly manage the symptoms. We must deal with the condition of our fallenness rather than endlessly try to mitigate our failures. Trying harder to do better may manage and even mask the symptoms, but it will not cure the sickness. We need a much deeper treatment. For as through the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners. We were born with the cancer of Adam. So also through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous. The real problem comes when we spend all our energy trying to treat the symptoms. Sin is not a moral failure. It is a complete system failure. This system failure creates many varied moral failures. But we must understand that these failures, while problematic, are not the real problem. Sin is the big problem. Our sins are the problems stemming from the big problem of our capital S sin. Jesus is the cure for the capital S cancer of sin. We can only be cured by the chemotherapy of the blood of Jesus and the radiating glory of his righteousness. It's why the Bible says things like this. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. That's John 3, 16, 17. And here's another. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. That's 2 Corinthians 5, 21. Let's pray. Our Father, thank you for your son Jesus and Lord Jesus. We're tired of treating the symptoms of sin. We want you to treat the sickness of sin. We receive your sacrificial life, death and resurrection for our capital S sin and for our sins. We receive you, Jesus, as our cure. Holy Spirit, would you deepen our salvation, our healing, praying in Jesus name. Amen. Here's a few journal prompts for today. I hope you're writing in the book. If you've gotten the book or maybe you just have a journal by your side. I want you to engage. So here's the questions. Have you remember Jesus asking, have you, like me, misunderstood sin and sins? Do you see how our status as sinners is inherited before it is earned? And how salvation cannot be worked for and earned, only given and received? Yeah, I think these are the questions. And I don't know, guys, I think for a long time in my life, I have not. I've not understood the real gospel. I just kind of checked the box like, yeah, I'm a sinner and yeah, I need a Savior and yeah, I don't want to go to hell. And yeah, I want to go to heaven when I die. And let's just kind of cross the T and dot the I and just sort of get the ledger right. Thank you, Jesus. But deep down, I don't think I really thought I was that bad of a sinner. And that is to miss the whole point. It's kind of like you either have terminal cancer or you don't. And the verdict, the revelation of Scripture. And this is what's hard for us to grasp because we want to think in the terms of like, well, moral failure. And how bad did you fail? And what have you done wrong? And have you been a good person or have you been a bad person? Man, that's the calculus of hell right there. The calculus of heaven is to reveal to us that every single one of us, because of Adam, because of Eve, were born into terminal, the terminal cancer of sin. We got it. That explains. That's the only way to account for the sheer disaster that is this world. Every one of us has the problem and the mercy and the miracle of God is that he has provided a cure. He's not saying try harder, try harder to do better. You can do this. You can get over it. No, you can't. This was the failed experiment of the human race in the Garden of Eden. We turned from God, all of us inherited that genetic reality. We are sinners and yet we've spent so much time just trying to treat the symptoms. Right, let's don't really. Let's, let's just deny that we've got the cancer and let's just try to exercise more or take over the counter medicine or deny it or medicated in some other way that I don't know. You're, you're, you're, you're hearing me. I think this is what, this is Lent. That's why, that's why on Ash Wednesday we said, from dust you've come and to dust you will return. Repent. That means wake up and believe the gospel. All right, are you ready to sing today? All right, everybody, look who's here.