Depravity is nothing new.  It’s been resident in the hearts of humans since the fall of Adam.  It’s been under the sleeves all along, the sleeves of social stigma and religious conformity. The answer is not a return to long sleeves any more than the answer to the flashing oil light on the dashboard is a strategically placed piece of masking tape.

Nowadays people wear their depravity on their sleeves.  Jeremiah said of the sin of the people of ancient Israel that they no longer “knew how to blush.”  Acts once thought abhorrent became accepted and commonplace.  There was no shame.  History repeats itself.

Not only do people today wear their depravity on their sleeves, it’s worse than that.  They wear it as a badge of honor.  From women having abortions because they can, to men romantically kissing men in public to make a statement, such exhibitions are elevated as honorable and heroic.

But here’s the thing.  Depravity is nothing new.  It’s been resident in the hearts of humans since the fall of Adam.  It’s been under the sleeves all along, the sleeves of social stigma and religious conformity.

The answer is not a return to long sleeves any more than the answer to the flashing oil light on the dashboard is a strategically placed piece of masking tape.

The answer to people’s depravity is the gospel.  It is the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ to atone for sin.  It is the endowment of His perfect righteousness that brings acceptance before a holy God, a righteousness received by grace through faith.  It is the power of the resurrection life of Christ to break the grip of reigning sin.

God’s answer to depravity, a depravity descriptive of you and me and of every descendent of Adam, is not the cloak of morality.  It is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Stan Gale is a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America, and is pastor of Reformed Presbyterian Church in West Chester, PA.This article appeared on his blog and is used with permission.