Total Depravity - Part 1

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. You think of the things that mankind has done throughout history. Not least among them, mankind crucified the Son of God.

We could talk about the different atrocities, genocides that happened throughout the ages. Of course, we could talk about World War I, World War II, the Holocaust. Well, in order to really understand God, we must first understand man.

We must first understand ourselves. If we don't understand the biblical teaching on mankind, everything from that point forward will be skewed. Sort of like buttoning a shirt. You know, if you get that top button wrong, it's in the wrong hole.

Everything from there on out is going to be wrong and there's nothing you can do about it. So if you don't understand man, if you don't understand even who you are compared to who God is, everything else is going to be wrong.

So turn, if you would, to Genesis chapter 1. We're going to be looking at the doctrine of man or the total depravity of man. Sort of giving it away, but let me ask a question because I know not everyone's convinced of this.

So is mankind basically good, as so many people say, or is mankind totally depraved? Someone say, well, maybe it could be somewhere in between. You know that God is good, right? So the title of the message is the depravity of man and the goodness of God.

We know that God is good, but if you ask Christians, if you ask Bible teachers, you're going to get a variety of different answers. Case in point, there's one well-known pastor from Houston, Texas. He once said in a sermon that 99 .9 of people are good people.

He said they're not bad people, and really that's the mainstream point of view. Most people in this world would say, maybe not 99%, but they say most people are basically good. One of his critics responded and said, well, I think the Apostle Paul would disagree on that, since he wrote in Romans 3, verse 10, that there is none righteous, no, not one.

And of course, Jesus himself, do you remember what he told the rich young ruler? He said, there is none good, but God. So this is the divide that you will find today. Some people believe that mankind is basically good.

Other people, they've lost all faith in humanity. Not that they probably should have had much to begin with, but they will say, yes, man is depraved. So which is it? Because we need to settle this question once and for all.

Who are we in light of God? Do we even understand ourselves? Do we understand mankind and why man is alienated from his maker? So I'm going to break this message down into four points. Point number one, we have to settle this question biblically.

Is man good or not? Number two, what is the definition of this term? Total depravity. Is that biblical? Number three, why does this matter? Someone, someone's thinking that, why does this matter? How does this apply to my life?

And then number four, what is really the overarching point? How this whole issue, it really does cut to the heart of the gospel. I would argue if you don't really understand this issue, it's impossible for you to understand the good news of the gospel.

And then who gets to define this term goodness? Goodness compared to what? What's the standard or who is the standard? So these are some of the questions that we're going to look at. Let's look at Genesis chapter one, starting in verse 26.

You know, this is Genesis one in the beginning. Was man, you know, is man good now? Was he good? Well, let's read. Then God said, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and 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.

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

And God said, see, I have given you every herb that yields seed, which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed to you, it shall be for food. Also to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth in which there is life.

I have given every green herb for food. And so it was. Now focus in on this verse, okay? Verse 31. Then God saw everything that he had made, including mankind, right? God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good.

So the evening and the morning were the day. So we see right here that when God created mankind, God created man as good. Actually, he didn't say that man was good. He said that man was very good. However, in chapter three, if you want to skip over to chapter three, it records the fall of man into sin.

So this is point number one.

Man was good.

Man was created good, but man was good until the fall. So after the fall here in Genesis three, man is no longer good in the eyes of God. Man is what sinful, right? Look at Genesis three, starting in verse one.

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, has God indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden.

But of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. Then the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die.

For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Now that statement, you shall know good and evil. You know, the devil is subtle. He's crafty, depending on your translation.

He gives to Eve what we might call a half-truth. See, the devil knows what he's doing. The devil is a good liar. He's the original liar. He's the father of lies. And a good liar, you know, when they tell a lie, there's some truth contained in the lie.

If it was just an outlandish lie, nobody would believe it. So he sort of gives this half-truth, because there is something right about what he said. He tells Eve that you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

And that was half-true, at least, in that if man disobeyed God, he would know the difference between good and evil. He would know evil experientially, because he would have committed evil. But the lie was, you're not going to be like God, at least not in the way that you had hoped.

So if you take notes, write this down. We need to understand what evil is. Most people would recognize that, yeah, of course, evil exists. But how does the Bible define evil? Here's how it defines evil.

The Hebrew word ra can be translated. The first definition is it's malignant. Okay, so evil is malignant. It's infectious. And once it's present, you can't contain it. Once it's there, it just spreads.

The Bible also speaks of sin or evil as the lack of goodness, right? You have righteousness and unrighteousness. You have godly behavior, and you have ungodly behavior. So sin and evil is the lack of that which is good.

So here in Genesis 3, it records the fall of man into sin. We all agree man teaches man was good. He was very good. But after the fall, now he's not good. He is corrupt because the evil, once it's there, it just spreads.

And that's the thing with total depravity. Sin has affected every area of our being, your mind, your will, your emotions, your body. This is why people get sick because of sin. This is why people, not because you committed a sin necessarily, but this is why suffering exists because of sin.

It's the root problem of everything. So man was created good. He falls. And then by the time you get to Genesis 6, you find this statement. Just skip ahead to Genesis 6, verse 5. So it started with Eve eating the apple.

Okay, it wasn't an apple. It was some forbidden fruit. See, that caught everybody's attention, didn't it? Actually, it was Adam who sinned first. Eve was deceived. Eve was not held responsible. Adam was.

But it started with that one act of disobedience and it spreads. Look at verse 5, Genesis 6, 5. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Does that tell you how sin spreads? Yes, it does. Okay, so just to recap. Man was created good, but after the fall, man is no longer good. He is sinful. He is corrupt. He is totally depraved. Okay, now let's move on to point number two.

I think that's settled. Now let's talk about the definition of this term, total depravity. Some of you know this is maybe a theological term and you're tempted to kind of tune out or I don't really care about theology very much.

Again, if you don't get this right, you will get everything else wrong. I promise you people who don't understand total depravity, their theology, their understanding about God is skewed from that point forward.

So what does this mean? The total depravity of man. This is the theological term for the sinful condition of mankind. How that in our natural condition, we are alienated from God and there's nothing that we in and of ourselves can do about it.

Not everyone believes this. Of course, maybe you've seen the bumper sticker. Who's seen this? It says born.

Okay.

The first time. Have you seen that? That's kind of a swipe against born again Christians. I don't need to be born again. I was born.

Okay.

The first time, you know, the idea is I'm a good person. I don't need to be saved because that's true. If you truly are a good person, good people don't need to be saved. Sinners need to be saved. So this is really pretty simple to understand.

But again, that's the divide. Those who think man is basically good versus those who think man is utterly corrupt. So and not everyone agrees on this. So the definition of total depravity. Are you listening?

I'm going to read you a section from the Morse Corner Church Constitution. It says that this is on the depravity of man. It says, 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 is utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. Now, this offends people because we all think to ourselves, I'm not that bad. I'm not totally depraved.

And it's not saying that you're as bad as you can be. That's a misunderstanding. But this is offensive. But there is this thing called what the offense of the cross, right? The offense of the gospel that people find it offensive that they need to be saved to begin with.

So we need to get this right.

One point of clarification.

This term total depravity doesn't mean. I want you to get this. That it doesn't mean that you're as bad as you can be. It doesn't mean that mankind is as bad as he can be. Because no matter how bad a person is, what?

They can always be worse.

And the only reason someone thinks they're good is because they're comparing themselves with somebody worse. And that person is not the standard. You are not the standard. I am not the standard. Who's the standard?

God is the standard. So total depravity doesn't mean that mankind is as bad as he can be. It means that mankind is as bad off as he can be. Without the grace of God, there is no hope for humanity. And of course, this is where the gospel comes in.

But you're not going to see the need for the gospel until you first understand this. Total depravity has also been called total inability. That you are unable to come to God without assistance from God, the Holy Spirit.

As Jesus said in John 6, 44. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up at the last day. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church.

If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornickChurch .com. And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.

Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.