Be careful… we’re about to take a ride through some seminary teaching / theological terms, so bear with me.  Today’s WFTD is a largely a doctrinal discussion, but I believe it’s very important.  If there was one foundational theological truth that was most important to developing a right understanding of the gospel, and right affections for God, it would have to be understanding and embracing the doctrine of total depravity.  Now to break apart the Christianese, the doctrine of total depravity simply holds that when Adam sinned against God in the Garden of Eden, he and all of humanity that was to follow him became enslaved to sin.  That is to say, Adam, and everyone who was born through Adam (that is all of us), shared in that sin, and are by nature sinful creatures from birth.  This does not mean that we are all equally evil – certainly Hitler, and others were likely far more evil than Mother Teresa (maybe not, you never know!).  What it does mean, however, is that man is not capable of ANY good in himself/herself, that is not in some way tainted by their sinful nature.  This means that even the generosity and service rendered by man to others, is flawed in some way, perhaps as a way to boost one’s ego, etc.  Basically, you might say that you are better than I am, but one your best day, your best deed is still flawed by your sinful nature, whether consciously or otherwise, such that your “good deeds” would never achieve the righteousness of God, that God would approve of you.

This is EXTREMELY controversial to many people, especially those who consider themselves as being “good people”.  Before you write me off here, consider the words of Jesus, who himself said in Mark 2:17 – “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”  Most people want to compare themselves to others around them, and say that there is some “goodness” in them.  Experientially, I can sympathize with their assessment, because I agree that if we are morally relativistic, and compare ourselves to others instead of a holy God, then of course we are going to see some relative goodness in ourselves.  Unfortunately, believing one is “good” apart from God is maybe the biggest barrier to truth dependence in faith on Christ.  After all, if you’re pretty good to begin with, then you don’t need Christ for much.

The problem is that God isn’t just “better than everyone else”, God is pure, righteous, and holy.  God’s holiness is perhaps the greatest distinctive of His deity.  In Isaiah 6, we get a picture of what happens when man’s righteousness is confronted with the holiness of God.  Isaiah 6:1-5 – “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Now I can’t speak about you, but I will go on record, with 100% certainty that Isaiah was a better, more moral man than I am.  But what happens when Isaiah’s “goodness” is confronted with the holiness of God?  He literally calls on God to curse him as a sinner – he was completely undone.  The angels who are flying around Jesus in circles are shouting “holy, holy, holy”.  In Hebrew (the language Isaiah was written in) when a word is repeated three times, it means the purest essence of that thing.  The hebrew word for holy is “qadowsh” with a new testament equivalent of “hagios” – literally meaning set apart or separate.  We were made in the image of God, but as fallen creatures, God is altogether separate from us.  Specifically the righteousness of God is so completely pure, that our best good deeds, are not even worthy to be compared to God’s holiness.  Apart from God none of us is good, that is what we need to understand intellectually, and drive into our hearts.

Again in Isaiah 64:6, we are told – “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.”  When good moral people go are confronted with the holiness of God – it’s not only their “bad” deeds that will be judged, but their righteous deeds will have enough sin in them to condemn them.  From birth man is at enmity (at war) with God.  From birth each person can behold the glory of God in creation, understand there is a creator, and yet every single one of us rejects God, because our sin is the same as Adam’s – we would rather try to be God, than worship God.  (Romans 1&2)  Our sinful behavior isn’t our greatest problem, our greatest problem is that we are born by nature sinners, and as sinners we are enslaved to sin, and thus continually reject God – we have no hope.  This is the depth of man’s depravity and hopelessness before the righteous judgment of our holy God.  Romans 3:10-18 – “as it is written:  “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.”

My friends, why am I telling you all of this?  My passion is for you continued sanctification and joy in reconciled relationship with a holy God.  Don’t allow the gap that I’m putting between man and God be a source of discouragement, it should have the exact opposite effect.  God IS completely holy, and for those of us who have been reconciled to Him through Christ, that should be very comforting that we will spend eternity with a holy God.  Also, I want you to see what it meant for a perfectly holy God, Jesus, to come in the flesh and die for us.  That is the depth of love of our savior.  Moreover for us, who are being saved by faith, we identify ourselves with Christ’s death and resurrection, and the same holy God who died for us, is alive with us and in us, so that we can have encouragement as we struggle each day to be set apart in holiness.  Lastly, I want you to have exceeding joy in what Christ accomplished on the cross.  He did not merely pay the penalty for the bad things you’ve done and will do, he paid the penalty for your very nature, and has purchased for you through his blood, grace to be a new creation (2 Cor 5:17).  Before you were a sinner by nature.  Now by nature you are a child of God, an heir with Christ, and you are free to pursue infinite joy in God.

I’m saying these things because I want your affection for God to grow.  This is the picture we are given by God in Luke 7:41-47 – “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.  When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”  Know that we have been forgiven of more than we can possibly know until we see with our eyes clearly the holiness of God.  My hope and prayer is that in our brokenness over sin, God will produce in us a wellspring of joy at our reconciliation through Christ.  His holiness is greater than our sin, His perfect righteousness absorbed the wrath of God, we are not 95% dependant upon Christ, we are 100% dependant upon Christ, and His steadfast love was, is, and forever will be more than enough.

Grace and Peace,
Adam