Have you ever considered the manner in which God has set forth man’s utter depravity and complete dependence upon the grace of God?  Three examples will suffice to illustrate the point—one found in the first book of the Bible, one near the middle, and one from the last book.

            Adam stands as a testimony against any and all who find the doctrine of depravity and an inherited fallen nature to be abhorrent.  Think of him.  He came directly from the hand of God, no intermediary sired him, no womb carried him.  God Himself made Adam without any human intervention and breathed the breath of life into Adam’s nostrils.  God made Adam innocent and without sin.  He put him into a perfect environment where there was no sin and none of the antagonistic consequences of sin, made him head over all creation, and deigned to fellowship with him directly.  No man has ever been set for life as was Adam.  No one has ever had the opportunity to succeed against sin as he.  And yet, with only one “negative” command given him, at the very first occasion of temptation, he fell.  At the very first one!  The point is this, God’s test case is the best possible, and if such a creature, with every advantage God could provide was incapable of living apart from sin without the gracious intervention of God, then neither could you or I—or any other human being.

            Solomon stands as a testimony against any and all who would suggest that, given the proper set of circumstances, man would be victorious against sin and depravity.  Solomon had every advantage that it is possible for one born in the flesh to have.  His father (David) was beyond compare; his training exceptional, his opportunities unequalled.  God chose him to be king over His chosen nation.  God blessed him with wisdom such as the world has never seen before or since and with wealth to equal it.  He had everything wealth could afford; he experienced everything that it is possible to experience—in the arts, the sciences, letters, and pleasures of every sort.  He even drank deeply of the experiences that sin affords.  Nothing pleased, fulfilled, or satisfied him.  Even wisdom, which we might believe to be the apex of human achievement, cloys, for of human wisdom he wrote:  “Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity” (Eccl. 2:15).  God does not merely state the inefficacy of all experience to either save or satisfy.  He chooses the preeminent man of experience, knowledge, and wisdom to illustrate it.  Solomon experienced more of life’s natural potential than perhaps any other human being.  His inspired conclusion?  All is vanity.

            Unbelievers in the Millennium stand as a final testimony to the depravity of man and the utter inadequacy of anything but the grace of God to save and sanctify man.  For 1,000 years Christ will reign on earth in a dominion so marvelously rich and blessed, so free from the compelling influences of sin and Satan as to be as near to heaven as it is possible for fallen creatures to come.  Every human being will reap the rich prosperity of the beneficent reign of Christ on earth.  Though men will be born into the world during this time with a sin nature, most of the aspects associated with the curse will be held in abeyance.  For example, the “desert shall . . . blossom as the rose,” and “the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb” (Isa. 11:6). The peace, safety, security, wealth, and happiness available to all can not easily be imagined by those living in our age.  However, at the end of the thousand years, God will loose Satan from the bottomless pit.  And Satan will immediately organize a final rebellion against the Christ by men who have lived under Christ’s inexpressibly benignant reign.  Not even the rule of Christ on earth can save men from their sin and rebellion! 

Such blind, suicidal, ingratitude, hatred, and depravity are hard to imagine.  But such is the state of every person’s natural heart.  “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it” (Psa. 127:1).  Man is hopelessly lost in sin apart from the gracious intervention of God in the Person of His Son.  Adam illustrates that a perfect man in a perfect environment with no sin in him or around him nevertheless will rebel and sin against God when given the opportunity.  Solomon illustrates that not even all the advantages that the world has to offer can save, or even satisfy, a man.  And the unbelievers during the Millennium illustrate that not even the glorious reign of Christ will deliver a man from sin.  There is only one Hope; there is only one Help.  There is only one Way of salvation.  The Hope is Christ; the help is His death on the cross for the sins of mankind; the way is by faith in what He has done to meet God’s holy demands concerning human sin.  Jesus saves.  And He alone saves.  Have you fallen before Him in repentance and faith?   If the advantages afforded Adam, Solomon, and the unbelievers of the Millennium are not sufficient to save them, what hope have you apart from unmerited favor?  In chapter two and verse three, the writer of Hebrews asks, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?”  The answer is obvious.  We can’t.  We won’t.  “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth:  for I am God, and there is none else” (Isa. 45:22).