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9/9 Reading Portions: 2 Samuel 3; 1 Corinthians 14; Ezekiel 12; Psalm 51
Psalm 51:5
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
DEPRAVITY
The theological term from the early 17th century Reformation, “total depravity,” is misunderstood by many. It doesn’t mean that a person is as bad as he or she can be. It simply means that the sin of Adam’s disobedience in his fall has been passed down to every generation so that there isn’t an area of our lives that hasn’t been stained by sin’s corruption. In theology, Adam’s willful disobedience against God’s command not to eat from the tree in the middle of the garden is called “original sin.” David, after his adulterous affair with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah the Hittite, expressed the truth of total depravity and original sin in this penitent psalm. Because both Adam and Eve had sinned in the garden, all their offspring in successive generations were conceived in sin and were brought forth in iniquity. David isn’t making an excuse for the sins he committed. He is not attempting to justify himself. He confesses that he is helpless to overcome the sin in the power of his own flesh, requesting cleansing and salvation from One greater than himself. David’s verse is basically the same thing Paul said about a thousand years later:
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. Romans 7:18
Possessing the bodies we were born with means we cannot escape the depraved condition of our fallen flesh. Nevertheless, since David’s prophetic request in the tenth verse for a clean heart and a renewed spirit was answered a millennia later through the regeneration that takes place by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, therefore, we are empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit to come to Christ for strength to overcome— and at times when we fail, to receive forgiveness from Christ by His cleansing blood. This is our struggle until the Lord returns; but it is a blessed struggle. It keeps us coming to the Lord Jesus. It keeps us trusting in the Lord Jesus. It keeps us relying upon the Lord Jesus, and not trust in the power of our weak, depraved flesh. Hallelujah! What a powerful Savior!
When I confess that I am weak,
A sinner that’s depraved;
I call to Christ for strength I seek
To live as one that’s saved.