When God Looks Upon

When God Looks Upon Mankind What does He See?

Introduction: When we deal with God and His Gospel, the first point is to understand what His Word teaches about our standing before Him. When God looks upon man, in the present condition, since the sin and fall of Adam and Eve, what does He see? This question does not concern itself with what men or women see when they look, but what does God see when He looks. What God sees when He looks is called in the science of theology, TOTAL DEPRAVITY and TOTALLY INABILITY. Yes, we believe so and this is what we now want to show.

Definition of Terms: What do we mean by the terms TOTAL DEPRAVITY? These terms teach us that the total, complete and entire human being, in mind, body and soul, is SINFUL before God. This does not mean that man is as sinful as he can be, for God restricts and restrains men even in their sins, Psa. 76:10. But, the meaning is that the entire man, in every part, is sinful before a Holy and Righteous God, and as such, man cannot stand before God directly and without help in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The term is INABILITY. This means all human beings are unable, from birth, by their human nature, to do anything to produce their salvation or to place themselves in a right and saving position before God. Man, by nature, before and without the direct rebirth from God, is unable to help himself or unable to do anything that God will receive. He cannot earn his salvation nor seek after God or find Jesus Christ in a SAVING WAY.

Yes, man is very religious and has invented many steps and ways to try to avoid this awful fact and cover it up, but still does the Bible teach this doctrine? We must deal with man as he is seen by God, for God is the one which Whom we must have to do in the final and complete end. We must find out what God sees when He looks down from heaven to see if there be any that understand and that do seek after Him in their natural condition. Let us ponder these two Bible verses as we study this subject further:

The Foolish shall not stand in thy sight, thou hatest all workers of iniquity, Psalms 5:5.

I would note that He hates the workers, not simply their wicked works. In addition, note,

God judges the righteousness, and is angry with the wicked every day. Psalms 7:11.

The Total, Complete Human Being is Sinful

First, the Total Person Is a Sinner. He is such by nature, in deeds as well as in every important part of his being. As we list the following essential parts of man from the Scriptures, you will be able to see why we say TOTAL sinner. We mean, in all his human nature and parts (I don’t mean physical organs, though they too are contaminated by the sin curse and have death in them).

1) The HEART, “The heart is deceitful ABOVE ALL THINGS, and desperately wicked: who can know it.” Jeremiah 17:9.
2) The HEART is the source of all evil, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murderers, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies.” Matthew 15:19.
3) The UNDERSTANDING is darkened, “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart,” Eph. 4:18.
4) The CONSCIENCE of man is also just as evil, “But unto that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled.” Titus 1:15.
5) The MIND of man is also just as evil, “But unto them that defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled.” Titus 1:15.
6) The Spirit of man is dead before God, “And you (the saints), hath he quickened (made alive) who were dead in trespass and sins.” Ephesians 2:1, note here, Paul is not talking about physical death, which comes because of sin, but spiritual death which has already come because of sin.
7) The Will is also so depraved and sinful that no man is willing to come to Christ on his own, “And ye will not come to me that ye might have life.” John 5:40. When some one does come, it is only because God has so worked in that person so that person can both will and do of God’s good pleasure. The end being, they can work out their salvation, with fear and trembling, Phil. 2:11-13. Also, note that while salvation is promised to whosoever will, and to him who comes, how does a sinner possess the will to believe and the will to come to Christ? Is it by His own human nature or because God has worked in it him to respond and believe or come to Christ?
8) Human beings are LED BY THE DEVIL BEFORE THEIR SALVATION, “That they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” 2 Tim. 2:26.
9) Man walks according to the DEVIL AND HIS COURSE. “In times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince (devil) or the power of the air, the spirit (devil) that worketh in the children of disobedience.” Ephesians 2:2.
10) Man’s will is not the power in his own salvation, but God works through his will. Salvation is the result of God’s will working though man’s will, “who were born not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:13.

Secondly, The Total Person Is a Sinner From Birth and By Nature, not by the act of human reproduction, but due to the sinful human nature itself which died unto God and became sinful when Adam sinned, Romans 5, Genesis 3 and I Tim. 2. This is a spiritual death, which resulted also in physical death. For an example of the way the Bible uses death in this way, not physical, but spiritual see I Tim. 5:5,6.

1) Human Beings are SINFUL FROM BIRTH, “Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Psalms 51:5. King David was about the last of many children born unto his father and mother, and he did not mean out of wedlock. It is not the act of reproduction here considered, but the state of being into which human beings are born.
2) This even starts from the WOMB, “The wicked are estranged from the WOMB, they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies, “ Psa. 58:3.
3) Human beings have this as their nature, a sinful nature, “Among whom also we all had our manner of live, in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Ephesians 2:3.

Thirdly, the TOTAL HUMAN BEING is unable and unwilling to come to Christ for salvation on His own. No person will seek after Christ before God works on his will, mind and heart to do so. We are not saying that all persons are without religion and even without a form of Christianity, but true Christianity is a supernatural and revealed religion, not a natural religion. What we are dealing is, are those spiritual acts of salvation which men accomplish. How do they do these acts of repenting and believing? That is the issue.

1) Due to pride, sinners will not seek after God, but they will seek after what they can do or invent in the ways of religious steps, acts or worship . . .”The wicked, though the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God, God is not in all his thoughts.” Psa. 10:4.
2) Sinners will NOT SEEK AFTER GOD on their own, “There is none that understands, there is none that seek after God,” Romans 3:11.
3) Sinners will not come to Christ on their own, “Ye will not come to me that ye might have life . . .” John 5:40.
4) Sinners must be drawn to Christ, “No man can come to me, except the Father who haw sent me, draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:44.
5) God must give sinners the ability to come to Christ, “Therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.” John 6:65.

Conclusion: The very first thing in salvation is that God must show a person that he is a sinner, that he cannot help himself, that he is without hope and without God and Christ in this world. This we call the sentence of death within us. This is given to us so that we will not trust in ourselves, but in the Living God who has both raised up the dead and will raise us also.

God, and He alone must bring you to a deep personal sense and awareness of your sins and His condemnation of your sins. If this has not happened, then there is no salvation in our life, there may be religion, but not salvation, Ephesians 2:11-16. You must know by experience what God sees when He looks at you. You must know by experience that without Christ you are nothing. If these things are lacking and never happen to you, then you will die and go into eternal damnation. If you do not know you are a sinner, take your place as a sinner before God, and confess your sins, then you will perish in the fires of never-ending damnation. Only God can bring you to this. You cannot, because you are a sinner. God alone saves sinners by the operation of His own will and grace, though the total and complete saving works of Jesus Christ.

For by Grace are you saved, though faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, least any man should boast, Ephesians 2:8-10. Why? We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind have taken us away. Isaiah 64:6.

Do you realize that you are a poor sinner, realize it and know it by deep personal inward awareness and sensitivity? Do you have a great and terrible sense of your sins before God? Do you know and feel your need of Christ as a Savior? Do you desire to come to Christ and do you desire to confess your sins before God? Then look to Christ and His death, burial and resurrection on your behalf. Here are some words of comfort for such as know they are sinners:

Come now and let us reason together, saith the LORD; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Isa. 1:18;

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heaven laden, and I will give you rest. This is what Jesus said to feeling and knowing sinners in Matthew 11:28.