Man's state according to Scripture

We are sinful. We are sinners. We are God's enemies. We are the farthest thing from God. The Bible clearly says so. We have fallen. There is no one who is righteous. No one who seeks God on his own. We have been separated from God. We do not know what holiness is and neither can we acquire it by ourselves. How many more verses do we need to tell us the plain Truth?

hy is it that we can't believe? "Oh, I do this or I do that"--Why do we keep justifying ourselves? Why do we keep on saying that we are basically good? Don't we know that there is only One person who is good? Why do we hold on to our works? Apart from the grace of the Lord Jesus, there can be no salvation; no reconciliation with the holy and just God. No one else is righteous but Him! And the only way to acquire righteousness is through Him!

hen will we let go? We can never get to heaven on our own. We can never be reconciled with God on our own. We can never escape His wrath, which is the result of our inequities, on our own. We need Jesus Christ! Whenever we try to justify ourselves with our works or claim that we are good, not only do we make God a liar but we also mock the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus!

The cup of eternal suffering that we were supposed to take because of our sins, HE drank! The judgment and wrath of God that we were supposed to suffer, HE suffered! If you say that God will not judge us and that we are basically good, then what did Christ died for? He suffered and died to pay the penalty of our sins. He suffered and died in our place so we can be reconciled with the Father. He, the infinite God in flesh, satisfied His own infinite justice.

Jesus is not just a medicine that will remove your disease. Rather, He took your disease and put it upon His own body so that you may live. Jesus is not just a life jacket that will save you when you jumped. Rather, He jumped in your place so that you will never have to jump ever again! What happened to God's Word? Reduced into fancy illustrations that minimize God's work of salvation.

"Stop denying sin and repent! Put all your faith, hope and love unto the Saviour! Be separate from the world!" These are the things that the Apostles of Christ have been screaming about in the streets. No wonder the people hated them! No wonder their blood was spilled for the Gospel! No wonder the world despised them! The Gospel does not only show the sacrificial work of Jesus. It also shows us that we need to change. It calls for repentance and change. We need to change our hearts, our minds and our lives and conform them to the Truth. We need to let the Spirit work in us to renew and transform our lives.

When we hear these things, we so easily shout "Legalist! Critical! Mean! Radical!" But is this not the Word of the Lord? IS this not the Word of God? Tell me which is more mean: a person who loves you so much even more than himself and so will therefore tell you the Truth? Or a person who will tell you the exact words that you'd love to hear?

There is no good in us. We can try to do good, but it is not good enough to save us. Its like using dirty rags to clean your body. You're not really wiping out the dirt. You're just wiping and scrubbing, but nothing of this world can save you. None of our wiping and scrubbing can remove our evil because the very hands and rags that we use to scrub our bodies are tainted with sin. Don't you see? We need God in every way! Not only to save us but to transform us into creatures of holiness and mold us into His desires!

Human nature is the most stubborn substance in this world. And I tell you, it is a lot harder than diamonds. Human nature is against the Lord. It will try to minimize the work of the Lord. It will not admit that it is in bondage with sin. It will conceitedly try to justify itself.

Do you know what the Bible says about man's heart? The heart of man is wickedly deceitful. Stop trying to compare yourself with others! Stop trying to justify yourself by comparing yourself with lawless and ungodly people! Compare yourself with Scripture. Be justified by God's grace and work of Salvation through His Son, Jesus.

Its true that we had been created in the image and likeness of God but after the fall of man, that image has been tainted and corrupted. That is why He needs to restore that image. (Sigh). Enough of my ranting. Let the Spirit testify for Itself. Let God's grace be upon you, for it is only through Him that we can see the Truth and conform with it. I do not pretend to know the will of the Father, but one thing I do know is that we must first understand and accept the Truth about His nature and ours before we can live by it.

PS: I know I wrote horribly. I apologize for my ranting, barbaric and uncivilized style. But I will not take back anything I said. The truth about man has to be told in its fullness regardless of what you would think of the writer. In the same way, the Lord Jesus and His great work must be preached in its fullness.

We are wicked, depraved and lost and God is holy, righteous and love, all the things that we aren't. And the only way for man to be reconciled with God is through Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Lord.

If you cannot forgive a man's ranting then at least examine the Truth of the words I have written. These Words are not mine, for if it were, then there would be absolutely no reason to trust them.

God bless you!

Notes: For those who want to know more about sin, read Romans 3:10-20, 23; Isaiah 59:2; Isaiah 53