Are We Too Bad For Salvation?

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jer. 17:9, NIV).
"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away" (Isa. 64:6, NIV).
"'Come now, let us settle the matter,' says the LORD. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool'" (Isaiah 1:18, NIV).
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9, KJV).
"I see better things and I approve them but I follow the worst."--Ovid

We are prone to play the "let's compare" (cf. 2 Cor. 10:12) game and suit ourselves by looking down on our fellow man as our inferior who doesn't measure up. As long as we can find someone worse than us we feel secure in our "holiness" or inherent goodness. After all, many of us believe God grades on a curve! Compared to the likes of Adolf Hitler, the paradigm of evil incarnate, we appear to be saints and godly enough to feel smug and self-satisfied in our goodness. But our goodness is from God and not our gift to Him, but His gift to us. Our goodness doesn't benefit God, but we are mere vessels being used for His greater good and glory, whether of honor or dishonor, we are manipulated and used by God's providence. This is a never-ending comparison and relativity since there's always someone we can thumb our nose at, no matter how wicked we are--even in the prisons there are self-righteous bullies who think they are the moral center of the place. We are all in jail, in a sense, but do not realize our depravity and need of a way out and salvation through a Savior. We cannot set ourselves free, and we weren't born free, but in bondage and slavery and can only be unbound by the power of the cross. "... Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more" (Rom. 5:21, NKJV). John Bunyan wrote Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners to expound on this motif.

How bad are we? Metaphorically, we are as far from God as a blind person comprehending the beauty of nature and hearing a symphony, if one is deaf. God is in another dimension and we are God-conscious and feel a tug to know He's there by instinct. No one has an excuse not to believe in Him and God's knowledge is plain to all. We must realize how bad we are to be good, according to C. S. Lewis, and we don't realize how bad we are till aim to be good. It's like thinking you can quit tobacco anytime, but when you try to quit you can't because it's got more power over you than you realized. We don't have the freedom of will to cease sin on our own, but are slaves to our sin nature and need to be set free by the Son (cf. John 8:36).

According to the doctrine of total depravity, we are as bad off as we can possibly be: every part of our nature is corrupt and affected adversely by evil and sin, including our emotions, mind, will, and body--all that we are. As far as our will goes, we are stubborn and hard as a stone, and God must turn our hearts into ones of flesh (cf. Ezek. 36:26). We don't think clearly because of sin and are blinded by Satan to the truth of the gospel. Our emotions are attuned to the lower nature and have lost their purity. Our bodies are dying and do not bring glory to God either apart from grace, no matter how well we treat them. In sum, we are bad, according to D. L. Moody, but not too bad to be saved! We all have feet of clay; we all are a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde--we all have a dark side no one sees.

The qualification for receiving eternal life is to realize you can't qualify! "Therefore I abhor myself And repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:6, NKJV). We can't earn our salvation, we cannot pay it back, and we don't deserve it either. We cannot rationalize our way back to God by philosophizing or thinking; we cannot moralize our way back by good deeds, and cannot emotionalize our way back by our feelings. We must be sincere, but sincerity is not the whole equation, we must be willing to do God's will and repent of our sin, renouncing and denouncing it, in order to follow Christ in obedience and trust. God has reckoned all to be dead in sin so that He can have mercy by grace on us all. We don't get saved because of our intelligence, morality, emotions, wisdom, or even philosophy--or any accompanying affiliation or party membership. We must not deify a person, group, or even party, for this is idolatry.

We must echo the wise words of William Jay of Bath, who said that he is a great sinner, but he has a great Savior. It is only in realizing that we are sinners and are spiritually bankrupt before God that we can value Jesus as our Savior. The closer we get to God, the more we become aware of our shortcomings and sins. Samuel Rutherford said to pray for a lively sense of sin because, the more sense of sin the less sin. Remember the words of George Whitefield: "There but for the grace of God, go I"; which he uttered upon seeing a man going to the gallows. Paul said in 1 Cor. 15:10 likewise: "I am what I am by the grace of God."

This is the point, just because someone seems like a worse sinner than you are, doesn't necessitate him being further from finding God; sometimes the prostitutes and tax collectors are closer to God than the Pharisees of the world. Just because your sins may be more civilized, polite, concealed, or refined doesn't make them less serious: better off the ignorant cannibal in the South Seas than the informed bully on Wall Street! The Greek admonition to know thyself goes hand in hand with knowing God. Why do you think the Law was given? To convince you that you cannot keep it and need a Savior! The Bible tells it like it is; how we are and how God is and how to restore the relationship. Once you've seen your nature for what it is, you'll realize it's not a pretty picture. The closer we get to the Spirit's illumination, the clearer becomes our blemishes.

Note that depravity is not what the world espouses: Secular Humanism postulates the inherent goodness of man and that he can be good without God! All goodness comes from the Source of all Goodness, God, and the definition of evil and temptation of Eve is how to be good without God in the equation, noting that evil is a parasite on good and distorts or perverts it; to find our own values, virtues, wisdom, and enjoyment without God in the picture. Humanism originates from the Greek philosopher Protagoras who said that "man is the measure of all things" ("Homo mensura"); thus exalting and deifying man, and dethroning God as irrelevant and even nonexistent--up with man; down with God, the credo. Their aim is to make a name for themselves and live for this world and life only, thus taking away the motive for reconciling with God. Their conclusion is that no deity will save them and so they must save themselves (cf. Humanist Manifesto II, 1973). Thus, the issue is whether one chooses to believe in himself, or in God for salvation.

Psychiatrists are starting to refer to "sin" again, according to Karl Menninger, MD (who penned Whatever Became of Sin?), and this means he knows right and wrong and is culpable unto Judgment Day. It only takes one sin to make a man a sinner, as violating one part of the Law is an infringement on the whole of it. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners (as theologians say). Martin Luther said that man doesn't see his sin, and it's our job to inform him. When Paul said that "all have sinned," he was putting us all in the same boat, with no grading on the curve--we all have been put under the scrutiny of God and found wanting. Caveat: "... Your sins have been your downfall" (Hosea 14:1, NIV); "...[S]in lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it" (Gen. 4:7, NKJV).

The worst sinners are those who are confident in their personal righteousness and see no sin; the self-righteous, goody-two-shoes sinners of the world. It is vital to realize our sinfulness because it implies our responsibility and helplessness before God and smashes our sense of self-righteousness and shows our rebellion. Many must first realize they're lost and need salvation as a requisite for getting saved from sin. Trusting in your own intrinsic goodness leads to death, for God is the moral center of the universe and the final Judge will meet one-on-one with everyone to give an account of themselves. In sum, let me emphasize that it's not that we are good enough to get saved, but bad enough to need salvation. There's hope for everyone. DON'T WRITE ANYONE OFF AS TOO FAR GONE! Soli Deo Gloria!

The Postmodern Theological Threat

"Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?"  (1 Cor. 14:8, HCSB).
"...[I]n the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth"  (1 Tim. 3:15, NKJV).


Postmodernism has not only infiltrated ("crept in unawares") our institutions of higher learning among elitist types but now clerics are being infected with its heresies.  Their goal is to completely revamp, retool, and rework the church with their distorted concept of "truth."  Postmodern Christianity, aka the "post-conservative" or the "Emerging Church movement," is gaining converts--if you can call them that.  This avant-garde wave of pseudo-evangelism is not so much against churches per se, as against the authority of churches, and especially the established Church, especially Romanism. They firmly believe in keeping faith privatized as much as possible--the jury is still out on whether they are truly evangelical and spread the Word, or if they are just leaches and proselytizers on other existing churches and believers.

This philosophy insists truth is relative, incommunicable, unknowable, subjective, and certainly not universal or absolute.  They extend this to theology in saying that no pastor can be certain of his teachings and rightly present them as dogma or in a dogmatic way, but must leave room for disagreement and personal interpretation. They must admit they could be wrong; it's just true for them, and that's just their interpretation!

Typical Postmodern inquires:  Why not sing ballads from The Beatles, such as "All You Need Is Love?"  Why does the pastor get to preach and the churchgoers don't?  Shouldn't church be democratic and not exclusive, but as inclusive as possible, open to all faiths?  Isn't all truth relative?   What does this passage mean to you, as opposed to what is meant?  (When you do surgery to the Bible's text and eliminate propositional truth you can believe anything and become subject to no one's authority, wisdom, or guidance.) They are not against God, just anyone person telling them what to believe about Him.  Consequently, they resent authority (which they see as leading to controversy, which is always to be avoided), and authority figures, but all in the name of collegiality and getting along singing "Kumbaya".

You might hear them as if they have come full circle in the Protestant mainstream church saying:  "I don't believe in the inspiration of Scripture anymore!"  They way they now "follow Jesus" is by the teaching of the church!  This is a reversion to pre-Reformation days when the Roman Church held absolute power and authority over all dogma and the parishioners were bound by church dogma and faith itself was even defined as a simple agreement with church dogma.  It was the Reformers who set us free from this authority and gave us the right to interpret the Bible ourselves; however, with this privilege comes the responsibility to interpret it correctly, as 2 Tim. 2:15, NKJV, declares "... rightly dividing the Word of truth."  We are no longer slaves to the church's interpretation and dogma, and that is meant to mean that churches are now autonomous and compete with each other for the truth--competition meant to keep them honest.

What else do they believe, or not believe in Postmodernism?  They believe that if something works for you it is true for you--truth is personal or subjective and we must find our own truths--relativism.  What the logical conclusion is that we will have churches teaching such heresies as there is no hell to shun because some people prefer not to believe in it and it doesn't work for them.  Some Christians prefer not to see God as the Judge, but only as a doting, indulgent Father that is a genie.  Interpreting the Word no longer depends upon learning and the science of hermeneutics, but of sharing ignorance and Christians deciding what they believe the Bible means and what it means to them, not what the author meant.  This is all the result of believers being ignorant of basic doctrine and not knowing what they believe or being learned in how to arrive at truth objectively.

We don't go to Bible study to become dependent on the teacher, but to arrive at a point of maturity, possibly being able to start one ourselves, by virtue of learning how to learn and study.  We cannot kiss twenty centuries of scholarship goodbye because of some newfangled philosophy of uncertainty and hermeneutic of skepticism and doubt.  Postmodernists deny that we have arrived at an orthodox gospel yet, or that we know the truth at all as a group, but must keep the door open and challenging.  It is dangerous to posit that someone else's truth has no power over you.  

Pragmatism is about what's practical and what works, not what's true, just as the usefulness of an idea is tested by results, not truth, which we don't have the right to ascertain for another, according to Postmodernists.  That's why they may say:  That doctrine doesn't work for me, so, therefore, it's invalid.  Go for whatever works for you, rather than be a seeker of the truth.  But Jesus came to bear witness of the truth, and those of the truth will listen to Him (cf. John 18:37)!  Many things that are not true work: illicit drugs, such as cannabis; yoga; TM; hypnotism; astrology; channeling; crystals; Ouija boards; karma; and even reincarnation. These methodologies do work for some and give them purpose and meaning in life, but they are not true.  The point of Christianity is that it is not true because it works--and it does work--but that it works because it's true!    Viva la difference! 

Postmodernist Christians have denied the power of the living, abiding Word, the very foundation of our orthodoxy--scholarship of our church history, and even the inerrancy and infallibility of the Word, opening it up to misinterpretation and any stand for dogmatism of any doctrine as being in vain.  They claim to be evangelical, but believe that, if they convert atheists to theists, they are converts! The ultimate truth is said to be unknowable (cf. John 8:32 which says that "you shall know the truth"), and we cannot boast of having arrived at orthodoxy or even the gospel yet.  There is an underlying contempt for all certainty, and truth is said to be ambiguous at best, even unworthy of debate--all controversy is inherently evil.  They deny the basic premise of Scripture that God alone delimits and defines the Truth, and it's not subject to or open to debate but is absolute, universal, and eternal.

To conclude: Christians are to love the truth, seek the truth, know the truth, and desire to live it in out in love by consequence. Nonbelievers "reject the truth" and refuse to "love the truth so to be saved" (cf. Rom. 2:8; 2 Thess. 2:10).  We need Christians who will "contend earnestly for the faith (cf. Jude 3, NKJV) and recognize heresy creeping in by virtue of having a foundation in the truth.  The best witness a Postmodernist believer can utter is that they think Jesus "has worked for them." Buddhists say this of Buddha.  Caveat:  refusing to acknowledge, defend, and consequently know the truth is a sort of unbelief.  A word to the wise:  Never forget that there's eternal, knowable, universal, absolute, objective Truth with a capital T.    Soli Deo Gloria!

"Many Waters Cannot Quench Love" (Compare SOS 8:7, KJV)

"This is how we have come to know love:  He laid down His life for us..." (1 John 3:16, HCSB).
"God's love was revealed among us in this way:  God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him" (1 John 4:9, HCSB).
"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits"  (Psalm 103:2, ESV).
"What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me?" (Psalm 116:12, ESV).
"I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" (John 10:11, HCSB).

When we survey the cross of Christ we see the unbounded, unrestricted love of Christ to the max, both human and divine intermingled, cooperative, and coexisting to full expression.  Oh, to know the love of God manifest in sending His Son:  "to know this love that surpasses understanding" (Eph. 3:19, NIV).  The concept of God's love must be seen in light of the fact that Jesus laid down His life for us, and it was not only sacrificial but generous.  God truly offers His love to a wayward world (cf. Titus 2:11) through the substitutionary death of His Son on the cross.  While we were enemies, He died for us (cf. Rom. 5:8)!

We often think that we merit God's love, but we don't and we are unworthy. The more unworthy our self-appraisal, the closer we are to God.  It is said that "love that reaches up is worship, love that extends outward is affection, but love that stoops is grace" and God condescended to us in reaching out and down to us when we didn't deserve it.  We have no claim on God's love and friendship, yet He offers it freely.  It is free, but not cheap!  God expects us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices; i.e., living our lives to His glory and service.  We must surrender to God's love, and the refusal of the love of God is the epitome of Sin, according to Karl Menninger, M.D.

When we resist God's love, we become callous or hardened in our souls and insensitive to His ministry in our hearts and cannot love others: God wants to love others through us!   The extent of God's love is demonstrated by all the people He can reach through us--no ethnicity, category, or class of man is excluded.  In this day and age politics plays a vital role in our social life and we must realize that God loves Democrats as well as Republicans, even if they are wrong--God doesn't love us because we are right or moral or decent, respectable and distinguished citizens who have achieved the American dream, God loves the have-nots as well as the haves; the proletariat as well as the bourgeoisie!

Financial prosperity is not the litmus test of God's love and approval--the wicked also prospers, if they are wise and play by the rules.  But we believers must realize that our reward is not in this life and the unbeliever's reward ["portion" in ESV] is in this life (cf. Psalm 17:14).  Prosperity theology, or that God guarantees and promises financial gain as a result of piety is heresy, and we are not to think of godliness as a means of gain in this life (cf. 1 Tim. 6:5).  "But godliness with contentment is great gain" (1 Tim. 6:6, NIV).

The uniqueness of God's love is that we cannot escape it: no matter where we go it follows us; angels and demons cannot separate us from it; the stars have no power over us; death and hell cannot divide us from it; we ourselves cannot outlast it or negate its power over us.  The Hound of Heaven chases us down and dogs us till He finds us!  God is in love with us and is determined to express it through Jesus living in us!

We can find out for ourselves by experience as we know the love of God (2 Cor. 13:14).  The proof is in the pudding and we are challenged to invite Christ into our hearts so we can know it for ourselves.  Indeed, the love of God is shed into our hearts according to Rom. 5:5.  The primary fruit of the Spirit is love (cf. Gal. 5:22), and the "only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love" (cf. Gal. 5:6, NIV). The point is not that we loved God, but that He loved us and "we love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).  That's why Karl Barth was asked what was the most profound truth in Scripture:  "Jesus loves me!"

God's love must be seen characteristically and can be qualified:  it's universal, in that it applies to all without discrimination, favoritism, or partiality--God is no respecter of persons; it's gracious, in that we don't deserve it, can't earn it, nor ever be able to pay it back; it's sacrificial, in that it cost Christ His death on the cross on our behalf; and it's beneficial, in that we receive multifold bounties and blessings by virtue of being reconciled to God and recipients of the love, that has fringe benefits or perks--it pays to know God!  The wonderful news is that God loves us despite ourselves, and knew all about us before we were born, so He is never surprised by our behavior and can love us eternally--God loves us anyway.

Realizing our unworthiness and being grateful for God's love is the first step to finding God in Christ through the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross by virtue of grace via a personal exercise of faith in the person and work of God's Son.  In effect, at the crucifixion, Christ was reaching out His hands and saying, "This is how much I love you!"  It was not the nails that kept Him on the cross, but His eternal love!  And this is the crux of the matter:  Once you've experienced it, you want to pass it on! God saves us to be in turn a blessing (cf. Zech. 8:13)!

In the final analysis, there's no one God cannot love or reach out to through us when He lives in us by the Holy Spirit's anointing. The heart of the matter, it's said, is that its a matter of the heart!  In sum, the essence of God's nature is love, and to know God is to know the love of God; love defines Him and it is written thus: "God is love" (1 John 4:8, 16).

   Soli Deo Gloria!