Romans
3:10-12 As it is written: “There
is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there
is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together
become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
I
remember, way back in the day, when I heard the question posed whether mankind
(men & women) were basically good or evil by nature. Most people in America
today believe that they are basically good. As I learned more and more about the
true gospel message, I found that this “basically good” belief flies in the face of biblical teaching and
contradicts human nature.
Romans
3:23 “For all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God.”
In
today’s politically correct society, we hesitate to mention the word “sin”. We
don’t talk about “right and wrong”. A person doesn’t admit to sinning, but
instead uses some softer word. Yesterday, a young man was hopping up on the
church roof, when we were walking by. I yelled for him to get down and he
promptly did. I explained that what he was doing was wrong, and he replied that
he had made a bad choice and acted poorly. That he would be more careful and
would not do it again. He crossed a line called sin.
Jeremiah
17:9 “The heart is
deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”
The
Bible expounds on humankind’s basically evil nature. The good old 1828 Webster’s
dictionary defines the word: “Moral evil
is any deviation of a moral agent from the rules of conduct prescribed to him
by God, or by legitimate human authority; or it is any violation of the plain
principles of justice and rectitude.” The Lord Jesus also believed in
humanity’s evilness. Jesus said that we are all sinners; hypocrites; filled
with evil thoughts – hate, lust, fornication and theft. History confirms
humanity’s evil nature. One-third of all human beings who have lived on this
planet have died at the hands of their fellow human beings. And look at
terrorism today!
1 John
1:8 “If we claim to be without sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
We
are all sinners. God knows our base, evil nature. He knows that none of us could ever be good
enough to have a relationship with Him, our good and perfect Creator Father. So
He made a way for us to spend eternity in heaven by placing all our sinfulness
on Jesus Christ and having Him die in our place. Praise God that he hasn’t left
us to our own sinful devices but, instead, has forgiven us and imputed to us
Christ’s righteousness. By God’s good grace, we have Christ’s basic goodness
resident within us.
In
Christ, Brian
1 comment:
Dear Brian,
The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah has written that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.
Yet what could be more glorious to God than his lavish grace and mercy, in his love saves and justifies the wicked, transforming us into his own children without any effort on our part except through faith alone?
An excellent post. God bless.
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