Posted by
ValiantForTruth on Tuesday, September 28, 2010 11:39:16 AM
What Scripture makes the men of this world recoil in unbelief? Is it not the doctrine of total depravity that stirs up their enmity?
‘The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?’ [Jeremiah 17:9-10]
Jeremiah answers the question…
The LORD [searches] the heart…even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.
Men will show their disapproval of this doctrine by confirming their depravity. They are in a desperate condition in the world without God, lost and without hope. No matter the evidence, they cling to the false hope that man is good at heart and that his goodness will be evident under the proper environments and education. Their doctrine of man is the autonomous perfectibility of man.
But God has spoken truth to his image bearers…
’Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life’ [Proverbs 4:23].
And in these last days Christ has confirmed the same doctrine…
“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” [Mark 7:21-23]
There is nothing inherently evil in what God has made, but men would rather believe a lie. Evil proceeds from the sinful heart of man inherited from our father Adam. Like the father of lies, Adam fell from his state of open communion with God. Since then man has tried to regain what was lost under his own means and merits. But even from the curse of sin God provided a covering for sin by the shedding of blood. This was the testimony of Able and why his brother hated him. The two brothers represented the two streams of mankind: the children of wrath and the children of promise.
It is no different today. The secular religionists are offended by the cross of Christ. The doctrine of a blood sacrifice and substitutionary atonement is foolishness to them. But it is written…
“ The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone” [Psalm 118:22]
The context is the Jewish rejection of Messiah. The kingdom of God was taken from them and given to a nation bearing the expected fruits. Peter is very bold in his identification of this new nation. He applies the promises given to Israel to the New Covenant Church, a holy nation of kings and priests to their God. [1 Peter 2:9-10]
In the New Covenant all things are new. There is no longer a Mosaic theocracy, but a free church and free state under the authority of Christ. This was realized in America under the world view of our founders. Our constitution instituted limited government with many checks and balances on the power of men as an affirmation of the depravity of man. The system of justice was established on the foundation of Biblical Law.
Christ was the chief cornerstone of American culture. Now He is the rock of offense. It is written that those who stumble over Him ‘shall fall and be broken’ [Isaiah 8:15], but ‘whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame’ [Romans 9:3].