Why is Grace so great?

Grace chooses the least worthy of honor 

and bestows upon them so many benefits

that the One who chose and blessed them

is seen as gloriously lovely and praiseworthy.

(Psalm 103:1-5; Ephesians 1:3-7; 2:5-9; 1 Corinthians 1:26)

Grace reveals the face of the most Lovely

in the midst of trials to the most unlovely,

then makes them into that same lovely image.

(2 Corinthians 1:9; 3:18; 1 John 3:1-2)

But what is greatest about grace

is the joy of knowing and being known 

by the glorious One who gave it.

(John 1:18; 1 Peter 3:18; Ephesians 2:7)

Total Depravación, part 2

That title translates into "Total Depravity" from the Spanish tongue. It means totally corrupt, depraved, wicked, sinful, rebellious, ungodly... totally unworthy of grace. (Note: the following verses are really found in the Bible. I am pretty sure you will not find many of them like this in the Quran, the book of Mormon, or any other religious book that claims to be from God, except the only true book - the Bible. They are a powerful reminder of exactly why we need Jesus Christ as our Savior, and why it is by grace we are saved and not by our own efforts).

Here are more of the verses on my Depravity Verse list:
Again:
Man says, "Man is good."
God says, "Man is evil."
Who is telling the truth?

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 works were evil.

John 7:7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.

Romans 3:10-12 as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."

Romans 5:6-10 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Romans 5:18-19 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

Romans 7:18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

Romans 8:7-8 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

1Corinthians 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Ephesians 2:1-3
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Ephesians 2:12
Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Ephesians 2:17-19
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

The doctrine of Total Depravity is seen most horrifically during the events of the crucifixion of our Lord. When He was betrayed. When His disciples were asleep. When He was arrested. When they bound Him, mocked Him, spit in His face, beat Him, judged Him, condemned Him. When the Sanhedrin questioned Him, and when He had answered they accused their own promised Messiah of blaspheming (truly they were evil to the core). They had Him delivered to Pilate, then to Herod and back to Pilate again. Even though they found no fault in Him, yet they could not stand to be near the light, so they condemned Him anyway. They hated Him without a cause, and so fulfilled the Scripture which was written about them. The guards did not regard His clothing as holy, but treated Him mockingly. Even the dying thieves next to Jesus were so depraved that they "cast the same in his teeth." Judas Iscariot is also an example of this awful condition. After he betrayed the Master whom he had followed for so long, he then sought to clear himself. But after being rejected any help by the priests, he went out and hung himself. A man who had walked and talked with Jesus Christ for so long, seeing His miracles and hearing His wisdom every day and night. Nevertheless, Judas ended his own life in utter darkness. How sad. How terrible it is to reject God. And oh how this is the condition our country is in, our world, even ourselves unless we repent. And we need the Sovereign grace of God to turn us from darkness unto light, so that we may receive eternal forgiveness of our sins and an eternal inheritance with those who are sanctified through faith in Jesus Christ. His atrocious death was our payment. His resurrected life is our security. He is our only hope. Thank God for Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!

"Let us test and examine our ways,
and return to the LORD!
Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
"We have transgressed and rebelled,
and you have not forgiven." (Lamentations 3:40-42 ESV).

"Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored!" (Lamentations 5:21).

Total Depravación, part 1

Here are some verses that have me convinced. The more I meditate on what exactly they are communicating, the more real the depravity of sinful mankind becomes to me, not only of those lost in the world, but especially of myself apart from the grace of God.

Man says, "Man is good."
God says, "Man is evil."
Who is telling the truth?

Genesis 6:5
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Genesis 6:11
And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

Psalm 51:5
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Psalm 58:3
The wicked are estranged from the womb;
they go astray from birth, speaking lies.

Proverbs 28:26
Whoever trusts in his own mind [or heart] is a fool,
but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.

Ecclesiastes 7:20
Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

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.

Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?

Matthew 7:11
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Mark 7:20-23
And he said, "What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

Those last two verses were spoken directly from the mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ! Loving, compassionate, gentle, gracious, merciful, Jesus spoke some very sharp words about the true heart of mankind. I believe He said it all with deep compassion and love, even when He blasted the Pharisees in Mattew 23, but nevertheless He spoke the truth plainly.

My hope is that in reading these verses, and becoming more familiar with them, my heart (as well as yours) will grow more deeply in love with the great mercy and kindness of God our Savior. As I wrote before about Hell and Grace, grace would not be necessary if we were not in this situation.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV). "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life." (Romans 5:10 ESV).

Hell and Grace

One of the essential truths that must be understood by all grace believers, is hell. Hell is the place of punishment for all who suffer the righteous judgment of God without forgiveness of their sins. Grace is God's free and undeserved favor toward some, sparing them from His wrath in hell by setting forward Jesus Christ as a propitiation instead. Without hell, grace would not be amazing, it would not even be necessary. But grace is necessary, because hell is real.

"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28 ESV).

"For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority." (2 Peter 2:4-10 ESV).

Understanding hell is important, because it has to do with the righteous judgment of God, which is what makes salvation necessary. So it had significant meaning when Paul wrote: "among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved..." (Ephesians 2:3-5). Grace is amazing, because the justice of God is terrible. For all who have truly repented and have cast themselves completely on the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, the judgment and wrath they deserved has already been poured out upon the Lord on the cross.

"But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him." (Hebrews 9:26-28 ESV).

May our praise of God be a combination of both healthy fear and joy with thankfulness. And let all saints who fear Him continually praise the Lord for His steadfast love and grace!