Text: “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the hearts, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah 17:9-10.
Good morning, totally depraved Christian! Let all self-righteousness take a timely beating this morning. Let each of us who profess the name of Christ declare HIS righteousness, and thus let HIS light shine into our hearts of darkness. Amen!
“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me: but how to perform that which is good I find not.” (Romans 7:18)
“As it is written, ‘There is none righteous, no not one.’” (Romans 3:10) (Psalm 14:1-3)
Essential Confession: No person, woman or man, can ever have the full righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ imputed unto them by God, unless she/he first admits, both to self and to others, the total and utter depravity of mankind’s heart - the consequences of the original sin of Eve and Adam in Eden’s Garden.
“By one man sin entered into the world, and death (i.e., Spiritual death!) by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” (Romans 5:12)
Total Depravity: Total depravity, the result of our progenitor’s disobedience to God’s instruction after their Creation, is passed down to each individual heart, the essence of our being, in the same manner in which a hereditary disease is communicated from parent to child.
“Behold (look, and fully understand), I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” (Psalm 51:5-6)
Thus, mankind became totally depraved in Adam. We are unrighteous beings in God’s impeccably pure and Holy sight. (Habakkuk 1:13)
“But we are ALL as an unclean thing, and ALL our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we ALL do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6) (Genesis 6:5-7)
Our total depravity is revealed by Christ in today’s Bible reading - the Lord lists just some of the vile, depraved, evil things which proceed from the essence of our beings to further defile us and to prove our natural, totally depraved, state. (Vs.20-23)
We therefore, don’t become sinners when we commit our first sin - we commit acts of sin NATURALLY because we are natural born sinners! (John 8:44-47)
Today’s text from the prophet Jeremiah clearly shows just how totally depraved our hearts actually are - we are so depraved inside that we can even deceive ourselves and believe a self-made lie! We can believe we are not really that bad, and if we just do some ‘good deeds’ we will please God and enter into His Holy Heaven when we die. What deceitful error! This lie leads countless millions into Hell’s fires daily. (2 Thessalonians 2:8-15)
No human heart can do a truly righteous deed, unless it is first, fully quickened and led by God the Spirit to be BORN AGAIN (Spiritually regenerated) by Christ Jesus, and then to do something from a pure motivation that will, perhaps, help others and bring greater glory to the Lord God. (Matthew 5:16)
Deeds that outwardly APPEAR to be ‘good’ in man’s depraved eyes, are often unacceptable in the Holy eyes of a thrice Holy Lord God Almighty. Clear recognition of this Scriptural fact is our first step towards Salvation through Christ’s righteousness ALONE. (Acts 4:12)
“...for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7b)
J.C.
Ryle Comments:
“We see, in the second place, from this passage, that the heart is the chief source of defilement and impurity in God’s sight. Moral purity does not depend on washing or not washing, —touching things or not touching them, —eating things or not eating them, as the Scribes and Pharisees taught. “There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, these are they that defile the man.”
“There is a deep truth in these words which is frequently overlooked. Our original sinfulness and natural inclination to evil are seldom sufficiently considered. The wickedness of men is often attributed to bad examples, bad company, peculiar temptations, or the snares of the devil. It seems forgotten that every man carries within him a fountain of wickedness. We need no bad company to teach us, and no devil to tempt us, in order to run into sin. We have within us the beginning of every sin under heaven.
“We ought to remember this in the training and education of children. In all our management we must never forget, that the seeds of all mischief and wickedness are in their hearts.” (J.C. Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels 1816-1900)
In conclusion, therefore, let us rejoice together. Why? Because in spite of the Scriptural fact that Adam’s fall from grace brought us, all mankind, Eternal death - according to those same God-breathed Scriptures, Christ Jesus, “...the last Adam...”, by His Cross, can bless us with Eternal Life. Hallelujah! What a Saviour! Thanks be to God for true and everlasting Salvation, in Christ Jesus! Amen. (Romans 5:15-21)
Thought:
The Gospel cries, “New hearts for old hearts!”.
(Ezekiel 36:24-29)
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