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Scripture Reading: Jer. 17:9; Rom. 3:10-18
The Bible is quite thorough in its speaking related to man’s sins. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, / And it is incurable; / Who can know it?” Romans 3:10-18 says, “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks out God. All have turned aside; together they have become useless; there is none who does good; there is not so much as one. Their throat is an opened grave; with their tongues they practiced deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Swift are their feet to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
The content of the gospel that is revealed in the Bible includes many items. We have covered the existence of God and the vanity of man’s existence without God. In this chapter we will speak about sins. The matter of sins raises the question of whether man is good or evil. When someone calls us an evil person, we are not happy, but our unhappiness only proves that we do not believe that we are evil. No one is happy with criticism, but our unhappiness is an indication that we do not believe that we are evil. If we truly knew that we were evil, we would never become angry when people call us evil.
When we consider and compare the behavior of people, it is possible to say that some are good in relation to others, but I am not speaking about good and evil in a relative sense. For example, an older brother may provoke his parents to anger once a month, but a younger brother may provoke his parents only once a year. In a relative sense, the younger brother is a little better than the older brother. However, we need to consider good and evil in an absolute sense, not in a relative and comparative sense. Who is absolutely good in this universe? Who has never hated a person, never reviled a person, never told a lie, never coveted, never had a malicious intention, or never done anything wrong? No one can raise his hand to say that he is such a person. Even if someone raised his hand, he would be lying, and this would only prove that he is sinful.
Stealing involves theft no matter if something large or something small is stolen. Stealing is stealing, regardless of the scale of the theft. Likewise, a light bulb is damaged no matter if it is broken into many pieces or it has only a small crack. Many people who are morally bankrupt are like a light bulb that is broken into many pieces, but many, who are not completely immoral, are like a light bulb with a small crack.
There was once a Western missionary who employed a Chinese cook. He preached the gospel to the cook, saying, “All men are sinful; there is no one who is good.” The cook was unconvinced because he acted according to his conscience and, therefore, did not regard himself as being sinful. When the Western missionary asked, “Can you keep yourself from sinning?” he answered, “Yes.” Then the missionary agreed to give the cook a horse if the cook did not sin for an hour. After making this agreement, he left the cook for an hour. After an hour he returned and asked the cook whether or not he had sinned in the past hour. The cook answered, “No.” The missionary then asked the cook what he had been thinking about during that past hour. He answered, “I thought about getting a horse, but it was not easy because I also realized that I needed a saddle. Since I knew that you had not promised to give me a saddle, I spent much of the time trying to think of ways to ask you for a saddle.” Then the missionary asked, “Is covetousness a sin?” The cook said, “Yes.” The Western missionary responded by saying, “So with the promise of a horse you began to covet a saddle?” When he heard this, the cook could not say a word.
A man does despicable things with his hands, walks on crooked and evil ways with his feet, looks at corrupt things with his eyes, speaks filthy and malicious words with his tongue, and thinks dirty and depraved thoughts with his mind. Man needs no instruction in order to commit these sins. A human being will spontaneously sin by hating, lying, stealing, and thinking filthy thoughts.
If we examine ourselves, we will see that we are full of hatred. Students hate their principals, teachers, and schoolmates. Family members also hate one another. For example, wives hate their husbands, husbands hate their wives, and children hate their parents. We all have some experience of hating others. None of us has a perfect heart.
We all tell lies. We do not need anyone to teach us how to lie. Before a person can speak, he knows how to lie. It is an indisputable fact that the world is full of lies.
We all have stolen something as well. There are pickpockets on trains, and there are “pickpockets” in homes because husbands and wives often steal from each other. There is stealing on a large scale and stealing on a smaller scale. Some steal using guns, and others steal using pens. Many people bring stationery, pencils, and erasers home from their work for their children. When we were in Shanghai recently, some brothers and sisters were riding on a train together, and a nurse sat next to us. When the conductor served us with tea and towels, she pretended to be in our group so that she would not have to tip the conductor. This was a blatant act of stealing! If we think that our conduct is honorable, we should consider how much of the money that we have carelessly handled has “carelessly” ended up in our own pockets.
There is no need to describe the filthy thoughts in our mind in great detail. We all have had filthy thoughts that are known only to ourselves. The Bible speaks of the heart of man as being “incurable” (Jer. 17:9). Some versions translate the word incurable as “exceedingly corrupt.” Man is vain and empty, but he is also corrupt. He is vain because he does not have God, and he is corrupt because he is empty. When a man is empty, he becomes wicked and corrupt. Originally, God’s intention was that man would be His dwelling place, but when man does not let God dwell in him, he is truly empty; and once he is empty, he becomes corrupt. In order to have meaning, man must have God. If a man does not have God, there is no way for him to not be filled with corrupt things. When a person dies, his body will immediately begin to decay and rot. All decay and corruption is an issue of not having life. Without life there is death, and death spontaneously brings in corruption.
Man’s wickedness is undeniable, so throughout history he has tried to develop many “cures” for his evil ways. One method of restraint can be found in the teachings of Confucianism. More than ten years ago a close friend of mine passed away. When I saw him in the coffin, his face was rosy, and his hair was combed in a tidy manner. He looked so nice because the mortician had applied cosmetic makeup to his face and dressed him up. Although he looked nice, he was still dead. Confucianism is comparable to the work of a mortician; it can only dress up and cover up man’s sinful behavior. Confucianism will not change the nature of a crafty man, eliminate the hostility within a violent man, or cleanse a defiled man. Dressing someone up in the teachings of Confucianism will not cause a dead person to be alive.
Another way that man attempts to cure his wickedness is through education. We need to ask ourselves whether education can change people. I have specifically discussed this matter with people involved in education, and they have many favorable opinions about the impact of education. However, when I recently asked a college student whether or not his education had made him a better person, he honestly answered that he had been a better person in high school. Then he said that he had been better in junior high than he had been in high school and better in elementary school than he had been in junior high. Although this was the honest confession of a student who was only in college, it reflects the situation of man in general. Students are honest and simple in elementary school, but they learn to do bad things from others in junior high school. As they grow older, they become worse and worse. Before receiving an education, a person may tell lies in a clumsy way, but with an education he will become a skillful liar.
Many highly educated people return to their country after studying abroad, having made a name for themselves, but they still twist the law and take bribes. Education is like a sharp knife that can be used to make good food if it is in the hands of a good chef, but if the knife is in the hands of a mentally ill person, it can be very dangerous. Regrettably, education is often put into the hands of those with an improper heart, and it becomes a tool for sin. The proper use of education requires God. The knife of education will be in the hands of a good chef only if the chef has God. A man’s heart can be proper only when he has God, and only then will education not be a tool for sinning. Those in darkness can be guided into the light, and those with an improper heart can become proper persons only if they have God. In order for education to be beneficial, the educated one needs to have a proper heart, but education itself cannot change man’s heart.
Man also tries to cure his wickedness with religion. Most people believe that religion can change a man’s heart. Many people have asked me if they should join a church, because they think that religion can save man. Joining a Christian organization just to be a member is like wearing a nice suit but being dirty underneath. Joining a religion cannot save man; the only One who can save man is God Himself. A sinful person does not lack religion but God. We should open our heart to let God in, and through this we can have a real change and receive true benefit.
Neither Confucianism, nor education, nor religion can save man; these are of no use in changing man’s sinful condition. Only God Himself can save man and change man. Those who have God are saved, and those who have God can be changed.
All of man’s cures are ineffective. Man is corrupt, commits sins, and is full of evil because he lacks God; the root of man’s sickness is that he does not have God. Therefore, we need to receive God as our salvation in order to be delivered from the corruption associated with hating, lying, stealing, and filthy thoughts so that we may gain the eternal life of God.
