The Doctrine of Total Depravity (Bad News vs Good News Part 1)

The Church’s Statement of Faith on Total Depravity

Go ahead and turn to Ephesians chapter 2 and we're continuing with the Morris Corner Church statement of faith. We come to article 3 section E on the depravity of man or the total depravity of man. So this is in our church doctrinal statement.

It reads as follows, we believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God but that in Adam's sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature and became alienated from God. And that man is totally depraved and of himself utterly unable to remedy is his lost condition.

And the verses are Genesis 1, 22 through 27, Romans 3, 22 and 23, also 5, 12 and Ephesians 2, 1 through 3 in verse 12. We're going to go through those so I know I threw them out at you kind of quickly.

So let me make some statements about this teaching, okay? There's a lot of confusion around this doctrine of total depravity. It kind of gets people's attention. One of the reasons is if you're familiar with the acronym TULIP, who's familiar with TULIP?

Also known as the five points of Calvinism. I don't want to get into that this morning because we won't get through everything we need to get through. However, this is the T in that acronym, T for total depravity.

So when people hear total depravity, that's what they think of and there's people that don't agree with that theological system. But it's been my experience that most Baptists, most evangelicals, most non-denominational Protestants or Christians believe in total depravity and perseverance of the saints.

They believe in the T of TULIP and the P of TULIP. They might not agree on the three points in between, but they do believe in total depravity. So if some of this is going over your head, that's okay.

We're not, again, we're not going to spend time on it, but why is this misleading? Or some people would say it's misleading. The total depravity of man. What does that sound like to you? Right, right.

Yeah. And when somebody says, well, not me, I'm a good person. Okay. Define good. Good in relation to what? By what standard? By God's standard of holiness and perfection. There's none good, no, not one.

Romans chapter 3. If you're comparing yourself with others, I mean, is that really what it's about? Right. Marcus. Well, and also people might say, I might say, well, I'm no longer depraved. Those who reject God, God turned over to a depraved mind, and that's in Romans 1 also, I believe.

So I would say, well, I certainly was depraved, but I'm not now, but I'm certainly not saying that my salvation has anything to do with anything I've ever done. Right. It has to do with what Jesus did.

I suppose you could argue and say, well, I believe, I believe that he died for me. Good. Thank you. Okay. Larry. And I think in your opening remarks about total depravity, you kind of clarified it by saying left to himself.

Right. Yeah. Man is totally depraved and of himself utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. So we can see, right. Right. Deceitful. Who can know? Okay. So a total depravity, it sounds like what is being said is that man is as bad as he can be.

You are as bad as you can be. You are totally depraved. That's what it sounds like to people. That is not what is being said. Man is not as bad as he can be because no matter how bad a person is, they can always be worse.

So that's not what we're saying. Total depravity is that man is as bad off as he can be and unable to remedy his lost condition without the grace of God. There is no hope for us. Paul said, in my flesh, no good thing dwells.

So this is also call total inability. You are unable to save yourself. You are unable to do anything about your lost condition. That's a little more accurate as to what we're saying. So this doctrine of total depravity, as I said, it is in the Morris Corner Church doctrinal statement.

It is biblical. We believe you can argue about the. The term total depravity, but let's read Ephesians chapter two verses one through three, and then verse 12. The Bible says, and you, he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted.

Ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And we're by nature, children of wrath, just as the others. And who would like to read verse 12 at that time? Okay.

So without Christ, what we have no hope, right? So man is dead. Ephesians two says man is dead in trespasses and sins. We are spiritually dead in a spiritually dead person can do nothing to please God.

And without faith, we can do nothing to please God. What versus that Hebrews 11, six, right? So without the grace of God, here's the point without the grace of God and without the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, man would have no hope because we cannot do it in and of ourselves because we are totally unable.

We are totally depraved. Okay. Any questions or comments so far? Yes, Marcus. There are a couple of things that we do, and maybe the real deal is, is it in and of ourselves? We have to believe, right?

That's, I mean, believe. He said to work amended to believe 44 times in the gospel of John and receive. So, I mean, salvation is a gift. We don't have to believe that there's a gift available to us. And even if we saw a gift or someone told us about a gift, we have to receive it.

We have to take it. We have to open it. I bet you there's no presents under anybody's Christmas trees that aren't open. Yeah, that may be true, but why do we believe? Um, why does one person believe in another person does not believe is that person better than this person?

He's better off, but is there something in him that's better than that other person? Because, hey, I believed for all our understanding. It's the work of the Holy Spirit. And I know we can get a little.

Why does the Holy Spirit do this with one person? Again, we're not getting into the whole Calvinism debate. We just don't have time to do that. But, um, we believe because of the grace of God. We believe because of what God, the Holy Spirit does.

And we all believe that because we pray for other people to be saved. You know, if it's all them and it's 100 them and their choice, why would you pray about it? You're asking God to save them because you believe that God is the one doing it.

Obviously, you have to profess faith in Christ and possess faith in Christ. Okay, so man is unable to remedy his lost condition. This is how we can say that salvation is of the Lord. We can do nothing to earn it.

We cannot work our way to heaven. And this is so important to lay this foundation of the depravity of man before we get into our next, um, doctrine, which is the doctrine of salvation. So, uh, in this 45 minute class, I'm going to try to combine the two into one.

And I think it's helpful that we present the bad news, the depravity of man before we present the good news of the doctrine of salvation, because as I always say, and I know I repeat it, I repeat it on purpose.

You can't make sense of the good news without first understanding the bad news, right? Let's turn to Genesis chapter one. So how did man get this way? After all, wasn't mankind created perfect? Yeah, man was made in the image of God, but in Adam, the human race fell and inherited a sinful nature.

And because of Adam's sin, we became alienated from God. All right, let's read Genesis one versus 22 through 27. It says, and God blessed them saying, be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters and the seas and let the birds multiply on the earth.

So the evening and the morning were the fifth day. Then God said, let the earth bring forth the living creature, according to its kind, cattle and creeping thing. And the beast of the earth, each according to its kind.

This eliminates a macro evolution, right? This, the Bible is teaching against macro evolution. And it was so verse 25 and God made the beast of the earth, according to its kind cattle, according to its kind and everything that creeps on the earth, according to its kind.

He's really stressing that, isn't he? And God saw that it was good. Then God said, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him male and female. He created them. And of course, that speaks against many of the things that are being taught in our culture today.

So the Bible's always way ahead of its time. You've probably heard of the doctrine of original sin, right? Who wants to give a definition for original sin? Who would like to try that? It's not a trick.

Okay. I think that's what a lot of people would think. The original sin is when Adam took a bite of that apple. No, it's not. Oh, wait. It doesn't say it was an apple. That's not what it was. That's not what original sin was.

All right. You're right. That's not what original sin is. And the Bible doesn't say it was an apple, but that doesn't really matter. It was a forbidden piece of fruit. God said, don't eat it. And Adam ate it.

That's the problem. So Adam sinned. Original sin does not refer to the first sin. Adam taking the bite, disobeying God. Original sin refers to the effects of that first sin. That in Adam, the human race fell.

Adam was our federal head. He represented humanity. He was given headship. And every human being came from Adam. So once Adam became a sinner and he reproduced, he reproduced sinners from that point forward.

So original sin refers to the effects of the first sin, not the first sin itself. Romans 512, you can make a note of this. Romans 512 says, therefore, just as through one man, sin entered the world and death through sin and thus death spread to all men because all sinned.

So in a sense, we sinned in Adam. But because Adam sin, we all, we all sin. It's in our nature. We've all heard of the sin nature, right? Okay. And then Romans 323. What is Romans 323 say? Right. For all of sin and come shore or fall short of the glory of God.

All right. Let's turn to Romans chapter five and we'll start to make the transition from the doctrine of total depravity to the doctrine of salvation. Mankind needs to be saved from sin and its penalty, which is first physical death and then second spiritual death.

Although I guess you could say that Adam technically died spiritually before he died physically. But the spiritual death that I'm referring to is is called the second death. This is when sinners at the great white throne judgment are cast into the lake of fire.

This is called the second death. So everybody dies physically, but we don't all have to experience the second death. If we're born again in Christ, we we don't die that second time. We have everlasting life.

Marcus, you had your hand up short. Okay, that's okay. Jesus said in Mark chapter eight verse 36 for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? And I realized there could be somebody watching online later on.

So, you know, I just don't believe any of this stuff, right? Because you're not a Christian. We're trying to persuade you to be a Christian and telling you what the Bible teaches. And we're glad you're watching.

But the gospel is about that. The gospel is about saving souls, the forgiveness of sin. This is the bad news. And then we're going to get into the good news of salvation. So the gospel is not about health and wealth.

It's not about you and reaching your full potential. There are spiritual elements of those things we could talk about, I suppose. But the gospel is about saving souls, freeing people from the power of sin, freeing people from the fear of death.

Right? Hebrews chapter two tells us that Satan controls people through the fear of death. When you're saved, you're liberated. Now, that kind of takes time because people have fears and we all can be tempted through these fears that are out there.

But Christ came to set us free. Two more brief statements regarding total depravity. Did I tell you to turn somewhere? Romans five. Okay, we're getting there. Okay. I promise we're getting there. Two more statements about the depravity of man.

The founders of this nation had a Christian worldview. Founders of the United States of America. I'm not saying they were all Christians. I think most of them profess to be, and that's up to God to decide whether they really were or weren't.

But they had a Christian worldview. And, uh, the reason I bring that up is because when they established, uh, the government for the United States, they were, they understood total depravity. They understood the depravity of man that you don't want one man or one branch of government having too much power.

Why? Because that one man is depraved in and of his flesh. He's, you know, nothing good dwells or one branch of government. This is why we have a separation of powers. We have checks and balances. Well, you know, that's, that's political.

No, they understood Bible doctrine. They understood and had a Christian worldview. As you referenced this verse, Jeremiah 17 verse nine, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

Who can know it? Uh, what's the expression? Power corrupts in absolute power corrupts. Absolutely. You don't want one person having all authority except Jesus, right? Because he's the only one who is without sin and is not, uh, affected by depravity.

Marcus. Speaking of our founders of our country, there's been lots of their statements say that say that this system will not work unless it is under God. Right. They, they recognized it. Yeah. What is the John Adams that said the constitution only works with a John Adams as one.

But I mean, George Washington, a lot of them have been quoted as saying things that right without God, it's not going to work. That's the short version, right? Right. So the, yeah. So the founding fathers established three branches of government, the executive branch, the legislative branch and the judicial branch.

And they did this. What? Yeah. And they did, did this because they understood something about the nature of mankind. So there's checks and balances. Okay. One final statement on depravity. And it has been said, I think this is true.

That we are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. It's in our nature. Adam, who is the representative of the human race as our federal head, Adam sin and his descendants, we inherited the sin nature.

And now we live in a world that is under the curse. So that's the bad news. And now moving on to the good news. Look at Romans five, verse 18. Say, I told you we were getting there. Romans five, 18. Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men resulting in condemnation.

Even so through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men resulting in justification of life for as by one man's disobedience, that's Adam. Many were made sinners. So also by one man's obedience, Jesus Christ, many will be made righteous.

Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

And if you think about it, Adam fell, the human race fell, and this happened at a tree, right? Here's the tree, the knowledge of good and evil. Adam sinned. He failed at that tree, but at another tree, the cross, mankind was redeemed.