King David and the Biblical Doctrine of Total Depravity

When praying to God, King David included this plea: "Enter not into judgment with Your servant, for no one living is righteous before You" (Psalm 143:2). David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, includes a lot of good theology in these two lines of poetry. First, he indicates that he understands that he

Fear of Judgment

deserves the wrath of God. However, as God's servant, i. e., a true believer, he has the right to plead, not God's justice, but rather God's mercy, in not imputing his sin to him. And the second line is, again, the acknowledgement that he deserves the wrath of God, with the additional acknowledgement that this is the natural condition of every human being (compare Ephesians 2:3). 

In theology, we would say that David is describing the doctrine of total depravity. This is the biblical teaching that every descendant of Adam (excepting Jesus alone) is a sinner from conception, with no natural ability to do spiritual good. 

David's profession is distressing to the human heart, because we all naturally want to believe in our worthiness and value. However, from God's perspective, which is that of perfect holiness, we all fall short of His standard (Romans 3:23). And, as David says, that shortfall earns us the judgment of God (Romans 6:23). There is no innocence, no age of accountability, no excuse because of ignorance. 

This is the knowledge that the unbeliever seeks to suppress (Romans 1:18). However, it is only as a person recognizes and acknowledges that he deserves the wrath of God that he can seek the only refuge from that wrath, under the blood of Jesus on the cross, applied to the believer by faith alone.