The more I learn about myself, and the closer I draw to God, the more I am convinced that there is no greater doctrinal truth that needs to be driven home into our hearts than that of “total depravity” or the inability of man to do good apart from God.  Now, many people will say that teaching “doctrine” isn’t sexy, the hearers won’t listen, and it’s better to throw up a softball topical lesson on life.  I say that’s ridiculous, doctrinal truth of God and man is central to our understanding of the God we worship, and if we love God, we want to know about Him.  I can’t begin to express just how a relevant an issue in our post-modern church, I’ll only say even within the church, if I walked up to 100 people, maybe 10 would have heard of this doctrine, and maybe 1 would be able to articulate a Biblical understanding of it.

Let me explain the background first.  Most people don’t like the idea that there isn’t an innate goodness in themselves.  There is this idea that we are all kind of good, kind of bad, and we’re all seeking for some higher power.  So now you have some churches who want to tell you that you’re ok, you’re seeking after God, let’s make you comfortable and entertain you, maybe get you to say a prayer, baptize you, and generally just make you feel good about you.  God doesn’t want you to feel bad, right?  Now that sounds loving, doesn’t it?  It’s not very hard to see why this is appealing to many people.  They are never really confronted with the weight of their sin – they have no idea about the depth of their condition, they are just on a journey, littered with Christian rock bands, comfortable chairs on Sunday, with a latte in their hand.  Repentance is a catch phrase that means kind of feeling bad when you do things you shouldn’t do.

Now, there’s probably enough sarcasm in my previous paragraph that I’ll need to pray through whether or not I’ve got some sin of my own I need to confess… most likely I do, but am I that far off?  People are told that they just need to choose God – and they do.  They’ll say their prayer, get baptized – do whatever they are told to do.  They approach God on their own terms, and they keep God on their own terms.  They remain under the impression that there’s good in them, they just need God’s help to bring it about.  Now before I explain why that is not Biblical, and an impossibility, I want to point our attention to Jesus, and His parable of the rich young ruler from Matthew 19 – “And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him,”All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Jesus was telling him, that there was no good that he was capable of.  There is only One who is good, and the rich young ruler was talking to Him.  Later, he tells him to give up all that he has, and to follow Christ.  Jesus wasn’t telling him that for Him to be “good” he needed to keep all of the commandments, the whole point was to show him that he wasn’t good – he lacked “one thing” – Jesus.  The rich young ruler had deceived himself into thinking he was good in himself, Jesus lovingly wanted to show him the condition of his heart, that he would trust and follow the “one thing” he lacked, Jesus, who is good.

Couple this with Paul’s referencing Psalm 14 in Romans 3:10-18 when he says – ”    “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.”  “The venom of asps is under their lips.”   “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”  “Their feet are swift to shed blood;  in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.”  “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

This isn’t me talking here – God’s Word stands on its own.  What is important for us to understand, as we approach a holy God on a daily basis, is that there is NOTHING that we bring to the table.  If any of us think we’re choosing God, that there is some good in us that he will accept, we will find our meeting with Him to be a cold, and wrathful occasion.  There is none who stand before Him in their own righteousness.  Even the faith to believe on Christ, is a gift, it doesn’t come from within us but from God (Eph 2:8-9).

Now, my goal here isn’t to beat everyone down, but maybe for some of us, we haven’t heard this, and we need to be beaten up a bit.  Maybe we’ve lost sight of this truth, and have been walking under our own power for a while.  What I want our eyes to be opened to, is the beauty of this doctrinal truth.  Let’s look at the two options:  If there is any measure of our own goodness that causes us to choose to place our faith in God, then that goodness must be sustained until death by us to secure our salvation.  That is a burden, that personally, I don’t want to bear.  If on the other hand, God has granted you eyes to see the depth of your depravity, the depth of your need for Him, you will find a savior that has accomplished for you all that you need to be reconciled to Him, even your faith to believe.  If you are walking in your own righteousness, feeling secure in your faith because of your good works, I hope you are living perfectly (I know I’m not), because God will not accept less than perfect righteousness into His presence – He is an all consuming fire (Duet 4:24, Isaiah 33:14, Heb 12:29).  Rather, my security is in the perfect life of Christ, the Righteous One, who has credited to my account His perfect life of righteousness, so that when I stand before a holy God, I can feel confident not in my own life and flawed righteousness, but in His.  We don’t need to hear how good we are, we don’t need to be coddled like infants – we are men and women of faith.  We come to Him daily, broken in our sin, but joyful, knowing that our dependence on Christ is hope indeed, He will never fail us.

2 Corinthians 6:9-13 – “We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

I’ll close with the lyrics of a hymn, “All I have is Christ” that I love for it’s simplicity, and the beauty of it’s truth.

I once was lost in darkest night
Yet thought I knew the way
The sin that promised joy and life
Had led me to the grave
I had no hope that You would own
A rebel to Your will
And if You had not loved me first
I would refuse You still

But as I ran my hell-bound race
Indifferent to the cost
You looked upon my helpless state
And led me to the cross
And I beheld God’s love displayed
You suffered in my place
You bore the wrath reserved for me
Now all I know is grace

Hallelujah! All I have is Christ
Hallelujah! Jesus is my life

Now, Lord, I would be Yours alone
And live so all might see
The strength to follow Your commands
Could never come from me
Oh Father, use my ransomed life
In any way You choose
And let my song forever be
My only boast is You

 – Jordan Kauflin

When we stand before God daily, and into the halls of eternity, I hope our hearts will sing the same song – Hallelujah!  All I have is Christ  Hallelujah!  Jesus is my life

Grace and Peace,
Adam