Us Before Salvation
Matthew 9:12b
Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
People talk a lot about the love of God, and rightly so. God is love. But sometimes I wonder about the extent to which we appreciate that. When we say that God loves us, what does that mean? Does He love us like we love our friends? That is a meaningful love, but how hard is it to love people who love you? Sure, there are challenges, but your friends are generally lovable people.
But how good is a doctor that only examines healthy people? He or she will seem like a champ, right? Nobody dies on his watch, but it’s because he’s never challenged! But if we spent a day and watched this doctor for a day, we’d be totally unimpressed.
So for God’s love to have any meaning, we’ve got to be pretty unlovable people. Are we? Well, let’s take a look at what the Bible says about those who don’t know God (and remember, at one point, that was all of us!).
Ecclesiastes 7:29
See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.
This was written by Solomon, a man who had strayed from the faith to pursue everything the world had to offer. This book was written at the end of his life, after he realized the folly of what the world had to offer. And here he speaks truth: God made Adam and Eve as sinless beings, but then they messed it up, and since then every person has carried the guilt of sin. It’s not even like we could have been perfect but messed it up along the way, either.
Psalm 51:5
I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
This is King David speaking. He’s not saying that his mom was sinning by having him; rather, he’s saying that he was born a sinner. It’s inescapable.
Why is this so bad? Well, God is holy. He’s perfect, and when it comes to heaven and His throne room, nobody can stand before Him with sin on his or her heart. Matt talks more extensively about this in his article on salvation. So usually, when we talk about how we’re sinners, we usually end with these two verses:
Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We’re all sinners, we deserve death, but Jesus gave us eternal life. Praise God! But before we get to the good ending, let’s expand on this sin thing, because I feel like sometimes we gloss it over. We say we’re sinners, but what does that mean? What was the extent of our sin?
Just look at the extent of our corruption!
Our hearts were corrupted:
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Psalm 36:1
Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.
Our minds were corrupted:
Romans 1:28-31
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
Titus 1:15
…to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
Our will was corrupted:
Romans 7:19
For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
Galatians 4:8
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.
And our desires were corrupted.
Proverbs 21:10
The soul of the wicked desires evil; his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes.
John 3:19
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.
So, it’s not like we just “messed up” a couple of times. We’ve screwed up really badly!
But let’s go even further. It’s not just that people who don’t know God do bad things, it’s that they can’t even do good things! Now, remember that ‘good’ is a relative term here. You can donate a million dollars and it’ll make you look good to humanity, but it doesn’t impress God if it’s not done for His glory.
Jeremiah 13:23
Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.
Matthew 7:18
A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.
Basically, what this boils down to is that without Jesus, we can’t please God. I talk more about this in another article, but here are two quick verses to make the point:
Isaiah 64:6
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
To sum up this very bleak outlook on humanity:
Romans 3:10b-12
10 None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.
This is a tough article, isn’t it! We didn’t think we were all that bad! And maybe we weren’t, at least not in the eyes of the world. I know I didn’t kill anybody or do any drugs or hook up with a different girl every night, but I do know that I had sin on my heart that separated me from God.
And if we were this bad in His sight, then how much greater is His grace and love that He gives us? We don’t deserve it at all! We said that it’s relatively easy to love your friends, but what about that person that is hostile to everybody and hates everything? Can you love that person just as well? Because, in the eyes of God, we were much closer to the hostile person than the good friend.
This was meant to make you appreciate God’s love even more, and I hope it has had that effect!
If you don’t know God and this convicts you, pray that God would come and save you. Pray that the blood of His Son Jesus would wash away your sins and that His sacrifice would make you clean before God. And tell us about it if you did! We’d love to hear that.
Grace and peace,
Brendan
I would be remiss if I didn’t cite this page as a big source of this article.
