Today’s Daily Light:
How Lost is ‘Lost’?
It is my opinion that we need to understand just how lost and depraved the human condition ‘without’ God ‘is’ in order for us to fully delight in the wonder of our salvation and to be fully effective in seeing the imperative command of Jesus that we go out and share the ‘light of this glorious good news’.
We will read an article by John Piper the next couple of days….today we do point 1.
The terrible condition of man’s heart will never be recognized
by people who assess it only in relation to other men. Your son
will drive his friends to the ballgame. That is “kindness,” and
they will experience it as a benefit. So the evil of our actions can
never be measured merely by the harm they do to other humans.
Romans 14:23 makes plain that depravity is our condition in
relation to God primarily, and only secondarily in relation to man.
Unless we start here, we will never grasp the totality of our natural
depravity.
Man’s depravity is total in at least four senses.
- Our rebellion against God is total.
Apart from the grace of God, there is no delight in the holiness of God,
and there is no glad submission to the sovereign authority of God. (wow)
Of course, totally depraved men can be very religious and
very philanthropic. They can pray and give alms and fast, as
Jesus said (Matt. 6:1-18). But their very religion is rebellion
against the rights of their Creator, if it does not come from
a childlike heart of trust in the free grace of God. Religion is one
of the chief ways that man conceals his unwillingness to forsake
self-reliance and bank all his hopes on the unmerited mercy of
God (Luke 18:9-14; Col. 2:20-23).
The totality of our rebellion is seen in Romans 3:9-11 and
- “We have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks,
are under sin, as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no
one understands; no one seeks for God.’ … ‘There is no fear of
God before their eyes.’” Any seeking of God that honors God
is a gift of God. It is not owing to our native goodness. It is an
illustration of God mercifully overcoming our native resistance
to God.
Natural Man Not Seeking God
It is a myth that man in his natural state is genuinely seeking
God. Men do seek God. But they do not seek him for who he
- They seek him in a pinch as one who might preserve them
from death or enhance their worldly enjoyments. Apart from
conversion, no one comes to the light of God.
Some do come to the light. But listen to what John 3:20-21
says about them. “Everyone who does wicked things hates the
light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be
exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so
that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out
in God.” Yes, there are those who come to the light—namely,
those whose deeds are the work of God. “Carried out in (or by)
God” means worked by God. Apart from this gracious work of
God all men hate the light of God and will not come to him lest
their evil be exposed—this is total rebellion. “No one seeks for
God…. There is no fear of God before their eyes!”
Father…as my dear brother and Pastor stated in his prayer earlier this week… “help us to hold to a ‘fear of the Lord’ so that we will not have to be afraid of anything else.” I get that…if you are my highest love, my highest desires, then my highest regard is fear that I might fail you… your will and way…if I seek your will and way above all else…then I will not fear anyone else..because I am not living at their level or their will or way. Help us to see this…Amen
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