Who I Am Apart From Jesus

I lived 30 years of my life not knowing Jesus.  One day he broke into my life and changed my heart and renewed my mind.  He made me a new creation and put his spirit in me.  He gave me a love for him that will not be shaken in the end - not because I am so strong, but because he is so gracious and loving.  This post is about who I was before that happened, and who we all are apart from Jesus.

The Bible is brutally honest about who we are apart from God's gracious intervention.  The fact is that we are wretched sinners by  nature and by choice, and all of what I say below is dead on regarding who I was before God saved me.  For those who know me personally, these things may not seem to be wholly true, but that is because you don't really know me.  Only one person apart from Jesus comes close, and you are not that person.

So here goes.  Apart from Jesus, I am:

One who does evil continually.  The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5 ESV)

Impure.  Who can say, "I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin"? (Proverbs 20:9 ESV)

Not righteous or good.  Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. (Ecclesiastes 7:20 ESV)

Full of evil and madness.  The hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. (Ecclesiastes 9:3b ESV)

Wicked and estranged.  The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies. (Psalm 58:3 ESV)

Lost, going my own way.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6 ESV)

Rebellious.  I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; (Isaiah 65:2 ESV)

Among those who have loved darkness.  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. (John 3:19 ESV)

A slave to sin.  Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. (John 8:34 ESV)

A child of the devil.  Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.  (John 8:43, 44a ESV)

A stiff necked resister of the Holy Spirit.  "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, (Acts 7:51, 52 ESV)

Unrepentant, storing up wrath.  Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. (Romans 2:4, 5 ESV)

Without fear of God.  As it is written:  "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.  Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.  The venom of asps is under their lips.  Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.  Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.  There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Romans 3:10-18 ESV)

Hostile to God.  For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:7, 8 ESV)

Spiritually foolish.  The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV)

Spiritually dead, among the children of wrath.  And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:1-3 ESV)

An enemy of the cross of Christ.  For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. (Philippians 3:18, 19 ESV)

Dead and in debt.  And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13, 14 ESV)

Defiled and unbelieving.  To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. (Titus 1:15, 16 ESV)

A slave to passions and pleasures.  For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. (Titus 3:3 ESV)

Under the power of the evil one.  We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. (1 John 5:19 ESV)

That was bad news.  Thank God for good news.  Thank God for Jesus.  Thank God for grace.