Sound Words: Total Depravity

1 Praise the Lord, all nations; Laud Him, all peoples! 2 For His lovingkindness is great toward us, And the truth of the Lord is everlasting. Praise the Lord!

Psalm 117 NASB95PARA

1 Praise the Lord, all nations; Laud Him, all peoples! 2 For His lovingkindness is great toward us, And the truth of the Lord is everlasting. Praise the Lord!

:1-2

Introduction

Preaching to Be Heard: Delivering Sermons that Command Attention Foreword

We are at an opportune moment in the teaching of homiletics.

As part of our Sound Words study, we are going to now look at the Reformed Doctrines commonly called Calvinism, examining the traditional five points known as TULIP (Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irrestible Grace, Perseverance of the Saints). These five points are a response that was made from the followers of Jacob Arminius, who lived after John Calvin. They were spelled out in detail in the Canons of Dort (1619), almost 60 years after John Calvin died.

Today we focus on the doctrine of total depravity. We will ask some questions to gain a full understanding of each of the five points.

What does total depravity mean?

Simply stated, total depravity means that natural people are never able to anything that will be pleasing or acceptable to God. People have inherited the sin nature of Adam, being inherently corrupt from the time of birth as a result of man’s fall in the Garden of Eden. Some have renamed this doctrine as total inability, meaning they have no ability to please God.

John Piper spells out the difference between a Calvinist and and Arminian this way: “Arminians say, with regard to depravity, people are depraved and corrupt, but they are able to provide the decisive impulse to trust God with the general divine assistance that God gives to everybody.”

What does total depravity NOT mean?

It does NOT mean that people are as bad as they could possibly be. It does NOT mean that people cannot do good things. It does NOT mean that people are without a conscience and able to tell the difference between what is right and wrong.

What is the opposite of total depravity?

Those who deny the doctrine of total depravity believe in the basic goodness of people, as well as the free will of man. They see the work of salvation as a cooperative effort between God and man, with an emphasis on man’s part. While we are responsible for the actions we choose, the Bible is clear that we are enslaved to sin. (; ).

Arminians would say that our salvation is synergistic, which means that both man and God are responsible for salvation. Calvinists would say that our salvation is monergistic, meaning that our salvation is the work of God alone.

Where do we find it in the Bible?

John 6:44 NASB95

44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. Notice the first part of the verse: “No on can come to Me”

That little word “can” has the meaning of “is able to” So, no one is able to come to Christ on their own because they are totally sinful.

Romans 5:12 NASB95

12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—

rom 5 12

This is the classic passage that teaches the doctrine of original sin, which means that we are born in sin due to the sin of Adam in the Garden.

Romans 3:10–12 NASB95

10 as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; 11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”

There is none righteous, not even one There is an emphasis on “none” and “no one” throughout these verses.

There is an emphasis on “none” and “no one” throughout these verses.

Ephesians 2:1–3 NASB95

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Ephesians 2:1–3 NASB95PARA

Dead people cannot help themselves. New life can only be provided by God as taught in where it says that people are “born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Romans 8:7–8 NASB95

7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

rom 8

How does it apply to our salvation?

“We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners.” (R. C. Sproul)

He uses the term “radical corruption” because it emphasizes that people are sinners to the core of their being, from the heart.

“Without thorough conviction of sin, men may seem to come to Jesus and follow Him for a season, but they will soon fall away and return to the world” (J. C. Ryle).

With all this in mind, it is clear that people are in need of serious help if they are to be acceptable to God. Our sinfulness clearly proves that we need a Savior, and that even our best efforts to make up for our sins will never be sufficient.

If we could be good enough to get to heaven by our own works, then the work of Jesus Christ on the cross was not even needed.

Life-on-Life Question:

Do you now have a sufficient understanding of the sinfulness of people to be able to show others that they need a Savior?

What would you tell someone who believes that they are “good enough” (or at least that they hope so)?

Related Media

Related Sermons