Monsters of Iniquity?

I have a question for you. It is one that has floated around for ages, and now I want to bring it into the light.

What is the basic nature of man? Good? Or Evil?

You must realize that the way you answer this question is critical for the basis of all your doctrine. Look at this question. Ponder it and consider what you actually believe to be true. Not what anyone else says is true, but what you say is the answer.

There are many who have said, “We are basically good, society just corrupts us.” A single look around you and you can tell that that statement is simply not true.
“Well, OK, maybe there are a lot of bad people in the world, like Hitler and Stalin, but not everyone is that bad!”

“You cannot slander human nature: it is worse than words can paint it.” – Charles Spurgeon

The reality of it is, you and I are just as evil as Hitler and Stalin were. We are just as depraved and wicked. No, we may not have been so outward in our sinful natures, but we are just as bad and just as selfish as they were. Paris Reidhead said that people are, “Monsters of iniquity.” That seems like an incredibly harsh statement, but is it true?

Let’s see what we find in the Bible about the basic nature of man.

Most Christians know Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” However, I don’t think we quite realize the gravity of what this means. Romans 14:23 says, “… For whatever is not of faith is sin.” Anything done out of unbelief is sin. In other words, we haven’t just done a few wrong things here and there; we have done nothing but sin.

Ephesians 2 takes this idea even deeper, calling us “dead in our trespasses.” You “walked according to the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” Verse 3 goes on to say that we “were by nature the children of wrath…” because we walked according to our flesh.

Because of this nature we have, as children of disobedience and wrath, we are under a curse. Galatians 3:10 tells us, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” Our sin, our flesh, and the deeds thereof have condemned us. “Now the works of the flesh are manifest… they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (5:19, 21).”

Other places in the Bible, we are described as evil, blind, deaf, lost, rebellious, without hope, haters of God, desperately wicked, and children of Satan himself. You need to realize that we deserve hell. You deserve every inch of the wrath of God. No man is justified before God, and every man is without excuse. God is no respecter of persons, circumstance, or problem. You fully deserve the second death for all eternity.

This is what makes the gospel of Jesus Christ such good news.

It says in John 3:16, the most well known verse in the Bible, says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God so loved – when you realize what you are apart from Jesus Christ, this statement is ridiculous. We were rebels, haters of God, but He still loved us. If that doesn’t bowl you over, not much will.

Here’s the problem: most of the time, we quote this verse, say a prayer, and think we’re going to heaven. I want you to realize that when Jesus died upon the cross, it wasn’t for forgiveness or some vague thing we call grace that just covers our life mess. No, there is much, much more to the cross than that.

Eternal life is not some ethereal existence; it is not just a pleasure filled paradise where you can gratify every desire you have. If we sneak into the garden of Gethsemane, and overhear what Jesus prays in the book of John, we find what this life really is. John 17:3 says, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom though hast sent.” We have so desired to simply save people that we have truncated and twisted the gospel to simply get people into heaven by the truckloads. Let me tell you, if you don’t love Jesus Christ with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength here on this earth, you aren’t going to like heaven very much, because heaven and eternal life are all about Jesus Christ. Everlasting life starts today, not when you die, because it is knowing Jesus and Him knowing you, not some cloudy city in the sky.

In Colossians 1, we find what the gospel is really all about. See, the Christian life is utterly impossible. No man can be perfect, and holy, and righteous, and loving on their own. That’s why most people give up today and just say, “Well, I’m trapped in my lust, greed, and drug addictions, but praise the Lord, I’m a sinner saved by grace!” This is not the patter of the Christian life. However, in order to truly walk out Christianity, it takes Christ in a man. Colossians 1:28 says that the mystery of the Christian life is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

This is what Christ purchased upon the cross. His blood cleanses us of all unrighteousness so that we can enter into the presence of God and He can enter into us. “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Cor. 6:19-20).” This is not just some trite little truth, “Oh yeah, God’s in me, yadda yadda…” Do you realize how condescending this is on the part of God? He, the holy, righteous, pure, merciful God, is coming and dwelling in you who were once an enemy, a rebel, and filthy?

Everything in the gospel comes back to Jesus. It’s not about saving you and getting you safe into heaven; it is all about Him, and the glory, praise, and adoration due His name. Don’t you dare attempt to take Jesus just as your fire insurance. That is blasphemy to the name of Jesus Christ and smears the cross in mud. You come to Him, bow yourself to Him, and offer your life up as a living sacrifice, because that is what He died for. He died for you, all of you, that you would know the greatest thing you could ever know: Him. He is worthy, He deserves everything. Do not come to Him just for what He can offer you. Come to Jesus for His sake. Give all of yourself as you best know how, and He will enter in, and radically change your life. As Paris Reidhead said, “It’s not about what you’re going to get out of God, but what God is going to get out of you.”

There is such great richness in the life of Jesus Christ. As you enter into Him, now a beloved child and no longer a rebel, He washes you clean, purging you, so that He can come down and live in and through you.

Will you let Him have what He died for?