And People Are Fundamentally... Evil

2024-05-21

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. (Romans 3:10-12)

...for there is no man that sinneth not... (1 Kings 8:46)

For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not. (Ecclesiastes 7:20)

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned (Romans 5:12)

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)

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

Paul the apostle said, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15).

Yet of the Savior, we read, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). And again, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).

It does not matter what high throne in this world that spews out to the contrary; it is evident that every single person is a sinner by nature and needs the Savior, Jesus Christ. Everyone is a rogue and a sinner. The heart is “desperately wicked.” If we were fundamentally good, there would be no need for the Lord to come down from heaven to save us. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). And again, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)...” (Ephesians 2:4-5).

If you expect accolades apart from Christ when this life is over, you are greatly mistaken. Without Jesus Christ, you only have the wrath of God waiting for you. The Savior bore the wrath of God for our sin in His own body on the cross. If anyone boasts, it is in the Lord only. For “there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”