by Pastor Patrick Cho

A few years ago, a friend of mine had an interesting encounter with an individual while trying to share the gospel. This person simply couldn’t accept the fact that my friend was telling people they were sinners. She adamantly disagreed and was offended that my friend didn’t believe that people were generally good at heart. Her position is commonly accepted by many. Most people would argue that the human spirit is something worth believing in. They contend that people are generally good by nature. We might mess up and make mistakes from time to time, but that doesn’t take away from the general goodness within each person.

Few people would argue that they are perfect, that they have never done anything wrong. Most people understand that every person is guilty of some sin in their life. That is not what is so offensive when sharing the gospel. People aren’t upset about having to admit that they have done wrong. The problem lies in the fact that the Bible doesn’t describe the problem of sin by indicating that people have committed a few wrongs in their lives. The Bible explains that by nature, all people are sinners. It is not just the fact that people have sinned. Sinner is their identity. People sin because of who they are and because of the condition of their hearts.

This is what people are so reluctant to accept. They don’t want to believe that by nature they are wicked people who are in open rebellion against God, and that sin taints everything they do, say, and think. When you believe that there is some good in a person, you believe that they are capable of choosing good. But when you believe that a person is sinful by nature, it necessitates that sin affects everything they do because everything they do stems from who they are.

The Bible begins by demonstrating that people do not choose God. Jesus told His disciples quite clearly that no one would comes to Him unless the Father draws them (John 6:44). Left to ourselves, no one would volunteer to pursue God. It is not in our nature to do so. We are naturally inclined to turn from God and run from Him. Wherever He is, is where we least want to be. This was the Apostle Paul’s conclusion as well. No one seeks after God (Rom. 3:11-12). This means that we are content with living for ourselves. Rather than recognizing and submitting to God as Lord of our lives, we seek to be sovereign and to live for ourselves. We refuse to subject ourselves to Him and would rather choose to live for lesser things. All of this is because of our nature as sinners. We do not choose the greatest good, which is God, but turn to the things of the world that pale in comparison.

Not only do people refuse to choose God, the Bible teaches that because of our sin nature, we also aren’t able to choose God. Even if we weren’t dead set against God volitionally, we would not be able to turn to Him anyway. This is because our sin renders all of us spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1). We are completely incapable of doing anything that would merit us favor with God. Just as dead people don’t talk, move, or think, so also the person who is spiritually dead is completely impotent and incapable of doing any spiritual good. The Bible teaches that it is impossible to please God without faith (Heb. 11:6), and that faith is a gift of God’s grace (Eph. 2:8-9). Without the grace of God to change our hearts, we would not be able to turn to Him in faith.

So people are dead set against God and are completely incapable of choosing Him, but the condition of sinful men is even more severe. The Bible explains that people also do not know how to choose God. If we had the desire to pursue Him and even the ability (and we certainly don’t!), we still would not have the understanding to do so. This is because our understanding is darkened because of our sin (Eph. 4:17-19). We are utterly spiritually blind (John 12:40; 2 Cor. 4:4; 1 John 2:11). We would grope around in the darkness and if our hope was even dangling a few feet in front of us, we would not know.

The truth is that the Bible paints a very bleak picture of the condition of men. We are sinners by nature and act consistently with who we are. What is the greatest problem in the world? We are. Our sin affects us to the core so that we cannot live as God originally intended, to walk in righteousness and in right relationship with Him. We cannot please Him. We cannot earn our way into heaven. Our sin stains us and makes us unclean, and God cannot dwell with what is unclean. If we are to have any hope of being made right with God, we must first be cleansed. Since we don’t have the capability of cleansing ourselves, we need someone else to cleanse us.

This is where the hope of the gospel comes in and what Christ came to accomplish. By dying on the cross, He took on the sins of the world so that anyone who would trust in Him could be cleansed of the guilt and stain of sin. But in order to receive this salvation, one must first acknowledge the need for it. We must confess with God’s Word that we are sinners and have no hope in ourselves to change our condition. We are completely dependent upon God to save us. Salvation is His work and accomplished by His grace. We can’t do it and we certainly don’t deserve it, but He offers it to us because of His great love (John 3:16; Rom. 5:8). In order to understand the good news, it is essential that you first understand the bad news. In order to be saved, you need to realize your need for a Savior. We must first be honest about ourselves and confess our hearts’ sin condition.