The Doobie Brothers were an interesting rock band back in the 1970s. What I remember most was their hit song, Jesus is Just Alright. It portrayed our culture’s distorted and minimalist view of Jesus and Christianity quite well. The Brothers were also prophetic in titling their 1974 album, What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits, which pretty much summarizes our present society almost 50 years later. One of their hit songs from that album was titled, Tell Me What You Want, (And I’ll Give You What You Need). In reading the lyrics of which this was the refrain, the song made little sense, other than possibly describing the stogie heart attitude of parents who only give their children socks and underwear, earmuffs and mittens for Christmas, when their child asked for an American Girl Doll or Lionel Satellite Train (which was the coolest gift I ever received at Christmas – along with the sox, underwear, earmuffs and mittens).
Neediness is the hallmark of human existence. We are not self-existent, self-sufficient beings as God is, even though in our sinful pride and rebellion we may think we are and strive to be so. However, the Bible clearly reveals that we were created by God and for God, that it is in Him alone that we live and move and have our being and that nothing exists that He has not willed to do so (John 1:3) (Colossians 1:16) (Acts 17:28). As such, we are dependent upon God in every aspect of our lives and accountable to Him for how we live our lives. However, mankind, beginning with Adam, has rejected both realities, and the pain, suffering, misery and death that pervades our present world is the evidence.
The Bible reveals that God is eternal, holy, righteous and good, infinite in wisdom and power. He created mankind in His image and likeness for His glory, that the infinite perfections of His being would be displayed, enjoyed and delighted within an intimate loving relationship with Him and one another (Isaiah 43:7). As beings created in the image of God, each of us would have ultimate value, dignity, significance and purpose as we would all display aspects of His glory in the uniqueness of which each of us would be created. We were to be owners and caretakers of all that He had created in the natural world for us to freely enjoy (Genesis 1:26-28).
All of this was of grace, of God’s free expression of His abundant goodness and loving kindness wherein we would enjoy God and one another as well as all of His good creation, while God would enjoy us enjoying Him. However, as I noted in a previous post, all of this was lost in mankind’s rejection of God’s purpose for and rule over our life, seeking to replace it with our own. This all began with Adam, in the Garden of Eden, joining himself and the human race that would proceed from him to the fallen angel, the devil, and his minions in their rebellion against God, claiming for ourselves personal autonomy, the right and freedom to determine for ourselves right and wrong, good and evil (Genesis 3:1-4).
This is referred to as sin, and the divine judgement against sin has been from the beginning, death, being cut off from the glorious life with God for which we were created, subject to His wrath and judgement. We would and are experiencing this partially in this world and fully and eternally upon our physical death in what the Bible refers to as Hell or the second death (Revelation 21:8).
The Bible tells us in Romans 1:18-31 that the wrath of God, His active, passionate and personal hatred of sin, is being revealed now, in this world, against all mankind in response to our ungodly and unrighteous lifestyles that suppress the truth of knowledge of the glory of God, as we worship – pursue our joy, our pleasure, our satisfaction and significance in the sin corrupted, sin cursed creation rather than in relationship with the infinitely glorious creator. This wrath is revealed in the pain, sorrow and misery that results primarily from man’s inhumanity to man (crime, wars, broken relationships) and the curse on the earth that brings devastating natural disasters (Genesis 3:17-19).
And yet in the midst of our sin and His wrath, God continues to magnify the glory of His grace in giving us good things, pleasant experiences, enjoyable relationships, successful careers; all of which theologians refer to as common grace (Matthew 5:44-45) (Psalm 104:14-15) (Psalm 145:8-9). We are told in Romans 2:4-5 that this goodness and kindness of God is meant to lead us to repentance, to turn from our self- centered lifestyle to a God centered, grace filled life, and if we don’t, if we continue to despise His grace, we only increase the punishment we will receive in the day of God’s final judgement of our lives. And the sad truth is that this common grace will never be enough to bring us to repentance due to the desperate and wicked condition of our heart, wherein all we will do is presume upon God’s grace and continue in our sin (Ecclesiastes 8:11).
It is only by a supernatural, sovereign work of grace by our holy, righteous and just God that anyone will ever be saved from His wrath and judgement. And the Bible makes it clear in the following, just why we are in such a hopeless and helpless condition.
- We are slaves to sin and deceitful lusts, meaning they pervade and control our lives (John 8:34) (Titus 3:3).
- We are the spiritual children of the devil, having joined him in his rebellion and opposition to God’s will and purpose for our lives, believing his deceitful lies over God’s truth, displaying his prideful, selfish, rebellious nature (John 8:44) (Revelation 12:9).
- We are thus enemies of God, objects of his wrath, subject to the same judgement and punishment as the devil James 4:4 Matthew 25:41.
- We are deceitful and desperately wicked at the very core of our being, with our hearts and minds filled with evil imaginations and desires (Jeremiah 17:9) (Genesis 6:5).
- We are blind to the glory of God, actively suppressing it in our ungodly lifestyles (2 Corinthians 4:4-5) (Romans 1:18-23).
- We have a debased mind that does not desire nor comprehend the truth of God (Romans 1:28) (Psalm 10:4) (1 Corinthians 2:14).
- We find the Gospel to be foolishness, as well as offensive due to its exclusive claims (1 Corinthians 1:18) (John 14:6).
- We are spiritually dead in our sins and trespasses and have no means within ourselves to change apart from the grace of God (Ephesians 2:1) (Jeremiah 13:23).
- Any of our efforts to make ourselves right with God are considered filthy rags, worthy in themselves only of further condemnation – (Isaiah 64:5-7) (Luke 18:9-14).
Thus, our ultimate, most desperate need in this life is the need for God’s grace, grace that far and forever exceeds His common grace, grace that will save us from His just wrath and judgement for our sin, grace that will restore us to the glorious life with God for which we were created (Colossians 1:27-28).
This grace is received only through faith in the person and work of God the Son, Jesus Christ, in and through whom God will provide all that is necessary for the forgiveness of our sins and the restoration of our lives to right relationship with God, who created us for His glory, that our greatest joy, our greatest pleasure, our greatest satisfaction would be found in knowing, loving and being loved by Him (Philippians 4:19-20) (2 Peter 1:2-4). And as we will see in my next post, even the faith needed to receive this grace is a gift.
Grace and Peace ×