What is Wrong with World?

There is something wrong with the world.

This is no secret or groundbreaking revelation. We all know it. Everyone on the planet knows that things are not as they should be. There are wars, diseases, crimes, betrayals, lies and death. It is an inescapable reality that things are just not as they should be.

Both Christians and non-believers will attribute these problems to things like politics, poor education, or lack of morals in general. And although these are certainly factors that play into the problems with the world, they are merely the thorns, not the seed. And that seed from which every wrong proverbial thorn sprouts is sin.

As Christians, we know this to be true. We know that the root problem with the world is sin. The cure to our sin malady is God. It is salvation in Christ and Christ alone. We know this as followers of Christ. Yet still so many believers grow frustrated with the problems of the world and will cast a judgmental eye towards those who do not know Jesus and live in sin.

Ive often heard preachers and evangelists tell people who are lost, “Stop drinking. Stop fornicating. Stop chasing after the things of the world and turn to Christ!” And when the lost person in question obstinately refuses to change, the preacher will begin to speak judgmentally to the sinner regarding their poor choice.

In essence, they are surprised when a lost person continues to act like a lost person.

Let me use an example that Spurgeon once gave to his flock in a sermon. Imagine that you visited a farm and ran across a pig in a fence. And you notice a pig rolling in the mud and filth and eating garbage that had been thrown into the trough. You are disgusted at how the pig likes rolling in the mud and how it delights in eating garbage.

Finally you just can’t take it anymore. You look at the pig and say to it, “Stop rolling around in that mud and eating that garbage!” In order to help the pig you even place a tub of clean water in the pen for the pig to clean off with and you place a nice steak dinner with fresh vegetables inside the pigs fence.

But the pig pays no attention to the tub of clean water nor the plate of fresh food. The pig continues to roll in the mud and find his trough of garbage delicious to eat. No matter how hard you plead with the pig, he will not listen.

Question and application time. Would it be reasonable for you to be upset with a pig for eating garbage and rolling in the mud? Of course not. To get upset with the pig for doing these things would be ridiculous. Because everyone knows that the pig is just doing what it by nature is inclined to do. This behavior is to be expected of a pig. A pig does not desire the same things as a human because it is a pig. So telling a pig to change would be against its nature and utterly useless.

Now imagine that same pig is supernaturally changed into a person. This person would find himself to be kneeling down in a pig pen, covered in mud with his face in a trough full of garbage. This new creation of a man would immediately begin to vomit up the filthy that was in his belly. And he would be embarrassed and ashamed of his nakedness.

In an attempt to remove the mud the same man who was once a pig would jump into that clean tub of water to clean himself up and he would desire then to be clothed. And that steak dinner that he once turned away from as a pig, he now sees it as irresistible.

Ive just described a picture of salvation.

The scriptures say that apart from Christ we are enslaved to sin (John 8:34). By nature, we have a sin loving nature. And a person in their natural sin loving state does not desire freedom from their slavery to sin. Like the pig, they love the filth of the world. They love their sin. And like the pig turned away from the clean water and food, the lost person will not desire the righteous ways of Christ.

Therefore, telling a lost person to stop acting like a lost person is futile. Furthermore, for believers to get upset or be disgusted at a lost person for loving their sin is like getting mad at a pig for doing what a pig does. By nature, we are lost, sin loving, children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3).

Something is definitely wrong with the world.

And the seed of all wrongs is our depraved, human nature.

And I was once part of that problem. And so were you.

So how is this problem remedied? We just come to the conclusion that pleading with the lost person to just change their ways is useless. Even telling them that Jesus is better than their sins will not suffice. Because as in the example of the pig, you couldn’t tell that pig clean water is better than filth, because by nature, it desired the filth. And by nature, so do we.

So as believers in Christ, what are we to do? First, we need to understand what we are up against. And we must realize that we are not as spiritually able as we sometimes think. We were once enslaved to sin, and we could not have freed ourselves. Jesus did that. Jesus said in John 15 that apart from Him, we can do nothing. Jesus is speaking in a spiritual sense. As in all things, the scriptures need to be our guide in this process. And unless we are in the practice of dying to self, this can be very offensive to our flesh.

One of the most debated and discussed topics I tend to hear from Christians is on the subject of free will. Ive often heard well intended believers describe salvation like this; “We are all born in sin, but when the Gospel is presented to us we are given the choice to use our FREE WILL to either accept or deny Jesus.”

Question; Does a pig have the FREE WILL to decide to change itself into a person? Of course not, that would be impossible. The pig would have to supernaturally be made into a new creation! This is how the apostle Paul described salvation, as become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). But many do not see salvation as a supernatural work of God causing us to become something that we were not. Rather, they see salvation as a choice that they have to make with their free will.

One more question to consider; Is salvation made possible only by the supernatural working of God? How is it that a person becomes born again? Is the salvation of a man or woman truly a miracle? Or is salvation initiated by human decision and man's self exerted free will?

"children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God." John 1:13

If someone makes a decision to follow Jesus, it was only made possible because God first regenerated their hearts and gave them new desires that prompted their submission to Christ. If we love Christ, it's because He loved us enough to save us first (1 John 4:19). God always acts first, not us.

Back to the topic of free will. We all agree that Jesus said in John 8 that everyone (apart from Christ) is a SLAVE to sin. Jesus goes on in John 8 to say that the slave cannot set himself free, but the SON must set him free. The lost person cannot use their free will to change themselves into a new creation follower of Christ. Because they are enslaved to sin. They don’t just need to make the right choice for Jesus. In order to do that, they need to be given a new nature and set free from their old nature. And this is a human impossibility.

Paul described our state before Christ as being spiritually dead. Can you tell a skeleton to stop lying in the rotting filth and just get up and follow Jesus. No, because dead things do not respond to human requests. However, dead things do respond to God’s call. And the Lord Jesus can speak things into existence, even making new creations.

Ezekiel 37 and the passage of the Valley of the dry bones is the best example of how God saves in scripture. The Lord gives Ezekiel a vision of standing in a valley full of very dry bones. And the Lord asks Ezekiel how the bones can live. Ezekiel does not converse with the bones and tell them that living is better than being dead. He knows the bones would not respond to him. So Ezekiel says, “Lord only you know.”

Then the Lord tells Ezekiel to prophecy (preach) to the bones. And God gives Ezekiel the words to say. His words. And as Ezekiel speaks the words of the Lord over the bones, God supernaturally brings them to life. They no longer are bones, they are a newly created army for Him.

In the spiritual sense, free will does not exist. The free will debate is nullified if we read the scriptures, because Paul and the Apostle refer to themselves as ‘slaves to Christ.’ The scriptures tell us that we are either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness. And there is no in-between. And this should not be an offense to anyone, but rather it should be like a breath of fresh air.

What is our role in bringing lost people to Christ. As Ezekiel, we are commanded to preach His words to the lost. We don’t preach our preferences. We don’t preach self help. Our words have no authority or power. We are commanded as His royal priesthood to preach HIS WORD to all men.

God has placed us in the world full of trouble and sin. We are living in a real life valley of dead bones. And these bones are all around us. Our friends, neighbors, and even family members are as the walking dead. They are like pigs in a trough that love the filth of the world. And we are powerless to convince them to change. How can these bones live and be created anew? Lord only you know.

You see, there is a supernatural element to salvation that many professing Christians often neglect. Paul said in Romans 3 that no one understands God and no one seeks for God. Why do men not seek for God? Because their nature is enslaved to sin. And due to their nature, they love their sin prison.

But when we preach the Word of God, through our preaching God brings the bones to new life. He frees them from the shackles of sin. He changes the desires of a man who once loved sin to now have a love for righteousness. Salvation is 100% attributed to the work of God and God alone.

As a pastor, this is such good news. Because I don’t have to fret over my delivery, or if I was convincing enough, or if I gave the wrong examples to draw the lost person in. If salvation is dependent upon my ability to convince, then I would fail every time. But all I have to do…and all you have to do, is be faithful to preach the word of the Lord, and He will give life to whom He will.

What is wrong with the world? The totality of human depravity. Sin.

What is the solution. Christ. And Christ alone. Because in Him is the only power to save. We don’t shake our heads at the lost in judgement. Rather, we remember that the cage that they are currently in was once our home. And in love and compassion, we preach Christ and put our trust in Him to recreate, and bring salvation. Our hope is not in ourselves, but in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Romans 1:16.