There are many who attend church every Sunday and they take what their pastor says as “gospel”.  But how do you know what they are saying is true? Pastors have a humbling responsibility to accurately teach God’s inerrant, infallible, and immutable Word so that the body of Christ is fully equipped discern truth from error (Acts 20:28; 2 Timothy 3:16-17). We are called as Paul declared to Timothy: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). But the unfortunate reality is, we live in a day where truth has been substituted for a counterfeit imitation that is void of any substance. And this is due in large part to the neglect of strong biblical expositional preaching that has instead been replaced with 20–30-minute self-help talks and man centered teachings that fill our pulpits every weekend. We have become a society that seeks the approval of men over the glory and worship of God. And in many cases, this has caused the American church to be filled with biblically illiterate, doctrinally lazy Christians who are unable to discern truth from error because they have never taken the time to verify what they believe for themselves (Acts 17:10-11).

But this is not who we are called to be! The Lord Jesus Christ during his High Priestly Prayer called on His Father to “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth (John 17:17). We are called to be a Christ-centered people who know God’s Word and keep it close to our hearts. As God’s elect, the foundational truths of Scripture should be ingrained into the fabric of who we are. But how are we to study the Word of God? How do we know what is true? Anyone can take a verse out of context to fit their personal viewpoint. You see, the only way to know truth is to carefully study it! We can only know truth by rightly handling it, by allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture.

I recently read an article from a local pastor who had issue with the biblical doctrine of the “Depravity of Man”. This is the Scriptural teaching that humanity is utterly sinful and incapable of knowing God on his own. He claimed that this was a biblical fallacy. However, we must ask, what does Scripture say about the human condition of the heart apart from Christ? Well, the Bible leaves no ambiguity on this subject. The Apostle Paul declares that every one of us was born into this world spiritually dead and were by nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:1-4). Now, I ask you, what does it mean to be spiritually dead? Can a dead man bring himself back to life? Can a dead man choose to be born God or to see his need for salvation? No… A dead man cannot do anything. Why? Because he is dead! That is why Paul declares in Romans 3 that: “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 3:10-12).

The Bible declares that man is unable to come God on his own because He is a slave to his sinful nature. There are many who love to use the term “free will” to describe man. But man’s will is anything but free in the realm of God. He is dead and shackled to his sin, totally incapable of doing anything to please God. You see, human depravity is not an issue of man sinning “more”. All people all capable of sinning more. Could Stalin or Hitler have been even more evil in their actions? It is difficult to contemplate, but yes. You see, the doctrine of “Total Depravity” is not a matter of the “level” of our sinfulness. Rather, it focuses on fact that sin has corrupted every area of our lives. Sin is in our DNA! Every person has been brought into this world in iniquity (Psalm 51:5). And we willfully sin against our Creator. We are sinners by nature, and yes, we are sinners by choice (2 Corinthians 4:3-4; Col. 2:13-15). The Apostle Paul uses the entire chapter in his Epistle to the Romans to teach this unflattering truth. He writes: “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man (Adam), and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). Make no mistake, every person enters this world spiritually dead, enemies of God (Ephesians 5:10), and incapable of choosing Christ on His or her own (John 6:44).

You see, for man to be saved, something has to happen outside of him. God must open His eyes to see his fallen condition and his need of the Savior. Just as we are told in Paul’s letter to Titus: “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration, and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Through the work of the Holy Spirit, the dead sinner has his eyes opened to see his need for the Lord Jesus Christ and in that moment, God regenerates his heart, gives him faith to believe and to be saved (Romans 10:17). He causes us to be born again (1 Peter 1:3). We are saved, by grace alone, through faith alone and in Christ alone (1 Corinthians 1:17). We are saved thoroughly and completely by the work of God (Ephesians 2:8-10). There is a lot being peddled in our day as truth. Friends, make sure what you believe is in line with what God declares, because when this life is over and you stand before God’s throne, that is all that will matter (1 Timothy 4:16).