Jesus Can Deliver the Depraved From their Depravity

And the end of a movie on TV the other night I flicked through the channels to see what else might be of interest. I stopped at one channel and instead of dismissing it immediately it was seven or eight seconds before I did so. Depravity was the only word to come to mind; not of an explicit sexual nature, at least not in that short time, but rather, gluttony and gross obesity. Although, having had ministry experience among the gluttonous and the grossly obese, perverted sex of some kind was possibly part of it as well. Wherever the spirits of gluttony and gross obesity are, foul and unclean spirits are often not far away.

Lying in bed that night I prayed for the people in that program, asking the Lord to minister healing to the root cause of their hideous predicament. In other words, what had happened in their lives at some earlier stage to set them on the path of destruction that they were now on? For it can be guaranteed, something or someone had got to them long before they reached this sorry stage of their lives. Nobody ever suddenly wakes up one morning and says, “This is a good idea, I think I’ll do it.” Since that time too, I’ve been giving thought to the executive and program management of that TV Station. Depravity is part of what makes up who and what they are too. How about the audience? Same deal!

A few years ago, a Television Station owner here was watching a show on his own station and so appalled was he by the content he phoned the program people and told them to remove it immediately. So far as I can tell, there was no such phone call to the people responsible for putting this one to air and it’s scheduled for a repeat showing in the future. Given that TV programs don’t last if the ratings are low, one can only assume that the ratings for this one are not so. What does that tell us about people? It tells us the same thing God tells us in the Bible about people. God tells us we are depraved. The word itself is not in the Bible, but its meaning is everywhere within. This is why the depraved hate it.

The prophet Jeremiah tells us our hearts are deceitful; Jesus tells us our hearts are full of evil; the apostle John tells us we love darkness rather than light; the apostle Paul tells us we don’t naturally seek God. He tells us that we’re ungodly, slaves of sin, dead in our sins and, by nature, we are children of God’s wrath. Here’s what else the Bible tells us, Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweat and sweat for bitter Isaiah 5:20. There was a time not so long ago when TV audiences would have been repulsed by programs like that one shown the other night. “These people are sick and are in desperate need of help,” they would have once said. Now who’s sick and in desperate need of help?

Most likely the viewers would consider themselves far too educated, sophisticated and intelligent to be under anyone’s influence let alone the Marxists, but have a look at one of their long-standing goals: Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio and TV. There it is … the Marxists have won (for the moment)! No longer are those things hidden away in closets, bedrooms, seedy sex shops, theaters etc, but all out in the open – no shame, no embarrassment, quite the opposite in fact. Another: Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.” Again: Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce. 

The hour of that program viewing was at a time when lots of kids aged from 12 years would still be up. Not just that but how many kids of that age are watching programs like that on their bedroom TV at any hour? Too, how many kids would admit they watched such a program and talk to a parent or guardian about it? Not many, if any. I think of Jesus’ warning, It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones Luke 17:2. No wonder kids are confused, frightened and angry. On the one hand society’s influential are all for censorship to protect the innocent and on the other, anything goes. Hypocrites? Yes … depraved hypocrites! 

No doubt someone reading this post will accuse me of being judgmental; it’s a mantra not only in today’s Christendom, but in today’s heathenism as well. “Deal with the log in your own eye first,” so say the offended and the convicted. Apart from the Lord Jesus, the originator of those words, I have never met a person who was sincere when making that accusation to me; their insincerity has always shown up at a later date. I know what it’s like to be depraved and I know what it’s like to be a hypocrite. In fact, I know what it’s like to be a depraved hypocrite! That’s why it grieves me to read about such people in Romans 1:18-32. Were it not for the grace, compassion, mercy and love of God in Jesus Christ I’d still be part of them. 

The main players in that program the other night had given themselves over to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves Romans 1:24. I don’t know if that’s because God also gave them up, but death, hell and destruction were written all over them too. Like it or not, believe it or not, that’s the final destiny for all unrepentant people possessed with vile passions and a debased mind. People often ask what sort of mind condoned what Hitler and his henchmen did. It’s the same mind that condones sexual perversions and addictions, abortions and euthanasia – a depraved mind. 

However, what was once called depravity is now called compassion. This is how people get to change the truth of God into a lie Romans 1:25 – all done in a sophisticated manner, playing on people’s emotions, with the gullible falling for it every time. That’s just one reason why God says, Woe to those who call evil good….. Theologian Albert Barnes put it this way: “There is nothing that prevents the universal spread and influence of truth but sin. And people of wickedness are answerable for all the ignorance and woe which are spread over the community, and which have extended themselves over the world.” The Ten Commandments will always be God’s yardstick for society no matter who does what with them to the contrary.

Having said that, there’s not one of us capable of obeying those Commandments under our own strength. That’s why it is most important for the depraved to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and respond to it by faith. There’s no other way for those trapped in depravity to be released into holiness and righteousness. In spite of Satan’s lies of heathenism, humanism and Marxism, it is the attributes of God only that can lift us from the highway to hell, nothing else. See my post: That’s Why Jesus Christ Is Savior! Presently we’re living in what Christendom calls ‘the age of grace.’ This is the time when one can call on God and freely receive His gift of salvation 2 Corinthians 6:2. But time is running out, for soon it will be judgment time.

Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil 1 John 3:8. Depravity is of the devil! Therefore, Jesus can deliver the depraved from their depravity … He can set them free from it, no matter what they’re into! People often ask, “Well, if Jesus destroyed Satan’s works, how come there’s so much depravity around?” My answer: Because the people love it that way; they love their sin and are reluctant to part with it. They don’t love the problems it brings, but when informing them that Jesus (and only Jesus) has the power to cast those things out of them, they make all sorts of justifications and excuses. That’s been my experience time and time again. Of the few who get free from their depravity, there are more by far who choose to hang onto it.

That’s why all over the western world doctor’s surgeries are full and medical people are run off their feet every day of the week. That’s why we have so many pharmacies in our suburbs and towns. That’s why we have so many psychiatric hospitals. The wages of sin is death no matter what gets said to the contrary Romans 6:23. There are three kinds of death and all of them mean ‘separation‘ not ‘annihilation‘. Death is ‘spiritual separation’ – our sins have separated us from God and we are dead in them. Death is ‘physical separation’ – this separates the spirit and soul from the body. Death is ‘eternal separation’ – having rejected Jesus Christ people remain lost in their sins/depravities and therefore they’ll be judged by God into hell.

What a hell it will be Revelation 20:10. The people in there will finally get to believe that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord but it’ll be too late for them to change their mind and become recipients of it. One thing I know about hell is people’s cravings will remain with them in there but they’ll never be able to satisfy them. Craving for drugs – no drugs. Craving for alcohol – no alcohol. Craving for sex – no sex. Craving for food – no food. Craving for friends – no friends. Craving for respite – no respite. Craving for peace – no peace. Craving for release – no release. That’s what part of the wailing and gnashing of teeth is all about Matthew 13:42.

Being given a legal right to do so, the spirit of depravity is on the march like never before and has no intentions of turning back. It has spent the past fifty-plus years conditioning people to the point where they can no longer see it for what it is. So much so that pedophilia, bigamy and bestiality are the next depravities to be manipulated into societies and eventually be accepted by them as normal. Well may people laugh at this statement now, but it’s only the depraved who are doing so. One day God will divinely intervene and deal with it, but that won’t happen this side of the great tribulation, which is the awful seven-year horror of divine judgment that’s coming upon the world after Jesus removes the church. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel Mark 1:15.