For Those With Ears to Hear

I’m going to say something that might offend you.
You are not a good person.
And neither am I.

The world will try to convince you otherwise.
“You’ve got a good heart.”
“You mean well.”
“You’re doing your best.”
But the Bible doesn’t say that. Not even close.

The Bible says we’re spiritually dead.
Not sick. Not struggling.
Dead.

Ephesians 2:1 says
“You were dead in your trespasses and sins.“

That’s not poetic language. That’s a spiritual autopsy.
Dead people don’t reach out. Dead people don’t ask for help. Dead people don’t “make good choices.”
They rot.

We weren’t born neutral.
We weren’t born clean.
We were born sinners.
Psalm 51:5 says
“Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

That’s not exaggeration. That’s total depravity.

It means sin isn’t just something we do, it’s who we are by nature.
We sin because we’re sinners, not the other way around.

Romans 3:10-12 puts it in plain terms
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away.”

That’s the human condition.
You don’t have to be a serial killer to be depraved.
You just have to be human.

Depravity doesn’t mean you’re as bad as you could possibly be.
It means sin has touched every part of you, your heart, your thoughts, your desires, your motives.
It means even your “good deeds” are stained with self-interest and pride.
Isaiah 64:6 says
“All our righteous acts are like filthy rags.”

That’s how holy God is, and how hopeless we are without Him.

And here’s the worst part.
People don’t want God.

Not the real one.
They might want blessings.
They might want peace, purpose, a better life, or a get-out-of-hell-free card.
But on their own, they do not want the true, holy, sovereign, sin-killing, soul-saving God of Scripture.

Romans 8:7 says
“The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.”

Not “will not.”
Can not.

That’s the reality.
And it’s terrifying…
Until you realize it’s also the reason grace is so stunning.

When you finally see how dead you were.
How blind, how corrupt, how uninterested in God.
And yet He still came for you?

That’s when the Gospel explodes with beauty.

That’s when the cross stops being a symbol and becomes a lifeline.

That’s when worship stops being a song and becomes a cry of the rescued.

You’ll never love grace until you see what you’ve been saved from.
And you’ll never understand the cross until you understand yourself.

You weren’t just in a pit.
You were buried under it.

And Christ came anyway.