Our subject tonight is Total Depravity. You have my text before you in Psalm 14:1-3
Psalms 14:1 "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good."
You will notice that the words "there is" are italicized. That indicates that the words were added by the translators to make the passage read more smoothly. However, in this case, the added words are a detriment rather than a help. The text should not read, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God," but simply, "The fool hath said in his heart, No, God," or "The fool hath said in his heart, No, to God."
If David had said, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God," that would be a direct contradiction of Paul's teaching in Romans 1 and 2. Paul tells us plainly that there is no such thing as an atheist. There are many fool who would like to be atheists, and try to be. But all who claim to be atheists are liars. The Apostle Paul, writing by Divine inspiration, tells us that all men are born with a God consciousness from which they can never escape.
So when David writes, "The fool hath said in his heart, No, God," or "No, to God," he is not suggesting that some men really are atheists. Not at all. David is telling us that all men are foolish rebels by nature, constantly shaking their fists in God's face and saying, "No, God!" Now, read Psalm 14:1-3. You will see that what I have said exactly fits the context.
Psalms 14:1-3 "The fool hath said in his heart, NO, GOD! They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. (2) The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. (3) They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one."
In these three verses, the Holy Spirit describes the character and condition of all human beings by nature since the fall of Adam. Here are seven facts about the entire human race.
Thus the Spirit of God tells us that man is, by nature, a totally depraved, helpless, perishing creature. Tonight, I want to show you that the Scriptures plainly teach the doctrine of man's total depravity. We take our doctrine directly from the Word of God. As I keep reminding you, the basis of our faith is the Word of God alone. We do not build our doctrine upon human opinion, reason, and logic, church tradition, historic creeds, confessions, and catechisms, or denominational history and tradition, but upon Thus saith the LORD." All that we believe we believe because it is plainly stated in the Word of God. Does the Bible clearly and plainly teach that all the human race is totally depraved? I appeal to no authority except the Word of God. I want you to see and hear what God says in his Holy Word about this subject.
Genesis 6:5 "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
Job 15:16 "How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?"
Psalms 51:5 "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."
Psalms 58:3 "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies."
Isaiah 1:4-6 "Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. (5) Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. (6) From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment."
Isaiah 53:6 "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Jeremiah 13:23 "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil."
Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
Matthew 15:19-20 "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: (20) These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man."
Romans 3:9-12 "What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; (10) As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: (11) There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (12) They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"
Romans 5:12 "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:"
1 Corinthians 2:14 "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
Ephesians 2:1-3 "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins: (2) Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: (3) Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."
John 3:19 "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."
These fifteen passages of Holy Scripture are but a very few of the many, many statements in God's Word about the total depravity of the human race. They stand without comment, declaring that all men are by nature totally depraved. To deny what these texts declare is to deny the Word of God. To argue against the doctrine of Total Depravity is to be found fighting against God himself!
Proposition: The Word of God plainly and universally teaches that all human beings are, since the fall of Adam, born in a state of total depravity: lost, corrupt at heart, condemned under the curse of God's holy law, and utterly incapable of removing that curse or changing their condition.
In fact, as we shall see, man's depravity is so thorough and complete that he cannot even make any contribution toward removing the curse of the law, or changing his condition. Fallen man cannot even make a move toward God, much less bring himself back to God!
Divisions: I want to be as crystal clear in stating the doctrine of man's Total Depravity as I possibly can. As I said to you last week, unless we have a clear understanding about the depravity of man, we cannot have a clear understanding about any other gospel truth. So I ask you to give me your careful attention as I show you five things revealed in the Word of God about man's Total Depravity.
First, I want you to see that MAN BY NATURE IS A FALLEN CREATURE (Eccles. 7:29).
Ecclesiastes 7:29 "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man (Adam) upright; but they have sought out many inventions."
When the Lord God created our father Adam, things were far, far different from the way they are now.
A. God created Adam in perfect righteousness.
B. God placed Adam in a perfectly sinless environment in the garden.
C. By God's decree, Adam was the federal head and representative of the entire human race.
God deals with only two men: The first Adam and the Second Adam (1 Cor. 15:22, 45-49).
1 Corinthians 15:22 "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
1 Corinthians 15:45-49 "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. (46) Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. (47) The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. (48) As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. (49) And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly."
When the Lord put Adam in the Garden, whatever Adam did would be imputed to all who are in him by nature.
1. If Adam obeyed God, his righteous obedience would be confirmed and imputed to all his children.
2. If Adam disobeyed God and broke the covenant, his sin would be imputed to all his children.
D. Our father, Adam sinned against God, broke his covenant, and plunged himself and the entire human race into spiritual death, sin, and eternal condemnation (Gen. 2:15-17; Rom. 5:12-19).
That is what we have seen in the last three studies. Man by nature is a fallen creature.
Romans 5:12 "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:"
II. Secondly, I want you to see that the Word of God plainly teaches us that - ALL MEN, SINCE THE FALL OF ADAM, ARE BORN WITH A DECIDED BIAS TOWARD EVIL, WITH AN UTTER HATRED OF GOD (Mark 7:21-23; Rom. 8:7).
Mark 7:21-23 Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us that - "From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man."
Romans 8:7 "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."
Sin is not a social disease. It is not something a man has to learn, or be taught. It is the inbred family disease of our race. It is a matter of the heart. Because our hearts are evil, we do evil. The evil tendencies of our hearts are guarded, restrained, and kept in check by many things. But the seeds of evil are in our hearts by nature. This is what our Lord tells us. All men, regardless of age, actions, or social standing, are vile, loathsome, and corrupt at heart. This must be evidently true to any reasonable man.
Man is not good, but evil at heart. This world is what it is because man is what he is, sinful, depraved, and vile.
III. Thirdly, I want you to see that - NO ONE HAS THE ABILITY TO SAVE HIMSELF BY HIS OWN WORKS.
Galatians 2:16 "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."
Loraine Boettner wrote: "This doctrine of Total Inability, which declares that men are dead in sin, does not mean that all men are equally bad, nor that any man is as bad as he could be, nor that anyone is entirely destitute of virtue, nor that human nature is evil in itself…What it does mean is that since the fall, man rests under the curse of sin, that he is actuated by wrong principles, and that he is wholly unable to love God or to do anything meriting salvation."
Now let me show you why it is impossible for you, or me, or anyone else to be saved by our own works.
Even in performing our best works, we are motivated and guided by the principles of a sinful heart, so that the very plowing of the wicked is an abomination to God, and our righteousnesses are filthy rags in his sight. Even our holy things are full of evil (Prov. 21:4; Isa. 64:6; Ex. 28:38).
Proverbs 21:4 "An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin."
Isaiah 64:6 "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."
Exodus 28:38 "And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD."
IV. Fourthly, I want you to see that, according to the plain statements of Holy Scripture, NO ONE HAS THE WILL OR THE ABILITY TO COME TO CHRIST BY FAITH (John 5:40; 6:44).
John 5:40 "And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life."
John 6:44 "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."
This is the real issue at hand. Modern day religion, for the most part, professes to believe in original sin and total depravity. Very few people openly teach that man can save himself by his own works. Yet most people do teach that man by nature does have the ability to come to Christ and be saved, that he has the ability in himself, by his own free-will, to believe on Christ.
By such teachings, they men make salvation to rest ultimately upon man's free-will. According to the commonly received heresy, man's free-will makes the blood of Christ effectual, man's free will controls the operations of God, and man's free-will determines who shall populate heaven.
The Scriptures declare that man is not only morally depraved and sinful, but that he is also spiritually impotent, unwilling and incapable of coming to Christ by faith. Listen to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ again. He says, "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life" (John 5:40). "No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (John 6:44). And if the Father draws a man, that man will come to Christ; and he says, "I will raise him up at the last day."
In the Scriptures the idea of "Coming to Christ," simply means believing on him. Spurgeon said, "It is used to express those acts of the soul wherein, leaving at once our self-righteousness and our sins, we fly unto the Lord Jesus Christ, and receive his righteousness to be our covering and his blood to be our atonement."
Today we are told that coming to Christ is the easiest thing in all the world. But here our Lord himself tells us that - It is utterly and entirely impossible for any man to come to Christ, unless the Father draws him by effectual and irresistible grace. Man by nature is spiritually impotent, and helpless, utterly without strength. Indeed, man is altogether dead spiritually!
I am just as capable of believing on Christ mentally as I am of believing in Abraham Lincoln. The mind is just as capable of seeing the moral guilt of sin as it is of seeing the moral guilt of murder.
A. No man can ever come to Christ of his own accord, because of the obstinancy of the human will.
The Arminian cries, "Any man can be saved who will." That is certainly true. But that is not the question at all. The question is, Are men ever found naturally willing to submit to the humbling terms of the gospel of Christ? And our Lord answers that question with an emphatic, No!
The human will is so desperately set on evil, so thoroughly depraved, so inclined toward evil, and so disinclined toward good, that without the powerful, supernatural, irresistible grace and call of God the Holy Spirit, no human being will ever come to Christ by faith.
B. No man will ever, of his own accord, come to Christ, because his understanding is darkened (John 3:3).
John 3:3 "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
C. No man will ever, of his own accord, come to Christ, because his affections are corrupt.
We love what we ought to hate. And we hate what we ought to love. "Men love darkness rather than light."
D. No man will ever come to Christ of his own voluntary accord, without the power of God, because his conscience is depraved.
Conscience may tell me that such and such a thing is wrong. But how wrong it is conscience does not know. The unenlightened conscience of man will never tell him that…
E. It is true that men will not, and it is true that man cannot, by their own power, come to Christ - "No man can."
As I said a moment ago, man by nature is dead, spiritually dead. Certainly, if words mean anything, that means that man is without any spiritual power or ability whatsoever.
NOTE: If it is true that the Holy Spirit only gives me a will to come to Christ, and that the power to come is mine, then certainly I would have a right to share in the glory of my salvation.
NOTE: Because man is guilty of sin, and because he sinfully refuses to believe on Christ, he remains under the wrath of God, and eternal damnation will be his just reward.
But I cannot leave you with such a sad and gloomy picture. It is a terribly black scene that I have set before you…
But there is a bright ray of hope for such creatures as we are.
V. THE ONLY HOPE FOR FALLEN, GUILTY, DEPRAVED, HELPLESS, AND VILE SINNERS, SUCH AS WE ARE, IS THE FREE AND SOVEREIGN GRACE OF GOD IN CHRIST (Rom. 9:15-16)
If salvation depends in any measure upon you or me, all hope is gone. But since it is entirely the work of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ, there is hope even for us! He says, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy" (Rom. 9:15-16).
This is what God does for sinners by his sovereign, eternal grace.
Application:
1. No man has any claim upon the grace of God.This is what I am saying - The whole of my salvation and yours, from start to finish, is due entirely to the grace of God.
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