Romans, Chapter 3. This text is a major text in the New Testament on Total Depravity and would I like for us to hear the word of God and what God says I think there are no words minced here. If there are any questions that arise after reading this text, then you just need to read it again. At the very outset it is admitted that the actural words "Total Depravity" do not appear in the Scriptures. Therefore we go to the second rule of Hermaneutics which lets us see if the precept and practice is to be found in the Scripture. The words "Total Depravity" describe the prevelance of both the precept and the practice in the Scripture and that this precept and practice is found as a continuing and ongoing theme throughout the entire Bible.

Romans Chapter 3 verse 9: "What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. As it is written. There is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become useless. There is none who does good. There is not even one."

It's always risky business to take on such a broad topic and do it justice, and I do not hope to. I hope simply to bring to you some of the main issues that surround the Doctrine of Total Depravity and encourage you to follow through with it yourself. I'm sure that there are many who believe it, who understand it and have searched it out for themselves. But perhaps there is some who have not completed their study. Let's look at several of the issues that surround Total Depravity and then to bring some implications of this doctrine to us.

First of all, this doctrine of man's spiritual condition is fundamental to understanding God's plan and method of salvation. You have to understand man's condition to understand the purpose of God's plan of redemption. J. C. Ryle in the last century, a wonderful writer, said, "There are very few errors in false doctrines of which the beginning may not be traced up to unsound views about the corruption of human nature. Wrong views of the disease will always bring with them wrong views of a remedy. Wrong views of the corruption of human nature will always carry with them wrong views of the grand antidote and cure of that corruption. So we need a clear understanding of man's condition from God's perspective in order to understand His plan of redemption."

A second reason that we need to study Total Depravity is because it is a major theological issue in church history and still remains so today. Total Depravity is one of the five points of Calvinism formulated at the Synod of Dort, or the Assembly of Dort, in the Netherlands in 1618. It was the first of the points of response which the Synod brought to the remonstrants, the followers of James Arminius, who challenged the prevailing reformed and Protestant position on salvation. Pelagius, in the early 5th century, had taught that the will of man is not affected by his physical corruption inherited from Adam, that there is no original guilt or condemnation or spiritual inability in man at birth and that man is free and able to respond to God. Augustine, however, taught that man can only sin, that Adam's internal corruption is God's moral punishment for the sin of Adam and he has passed this on to every one whom he represented. Man is spiritually dead and unable to save himself or even believe without God's help. That's Augustine.

The semi-pelagions dominated the middle ages with certain exceptions, believing that man inherits sin but has no guilt, no personal guilt for original sin until he actually sins in his life, whenever that may be, nor has he lost all spiritual ability in the will to believe of his own ability and accord. The reformers in the reformed world were Augustinian in their views of man while the Arminians were semi-pelagian. The Synod of Dort judged the Arminians to be heretical in their doctrine of salvation which began with their view of man.

Dr. J. I. Packer summarizes the five points of Arminianism brought to the Synod of Dort and condemned by the Synod of Dort.

1) Man is never so completely corrupted by sin that he can not savingly believe the gospel when it is put before him.

2) Nor is he ever so completely controlled by God that he cannot reject it.

3) God's election of those who shall be saved is prompted by His foreseeing that they will, of their own accord, believe.

4) Christ's death did not ensure the salvation of anyone, for it did not secure the gift of faith to anyone, indeed, there is no such gift. What it did was rather to create a possibility of salvation for everyone, if they believe.

5) It rests with believers to keep themselves in a state of grace by keeping up their faith; those who fail here fall away and are lost. Thus Arminianism makes salvation depend ultimately on man himself, saving faith being viewed throughout as man's own work and because his own, not God's in him.

That's Packer's summary of the five points of the remonstrants, the Arminians at the Synod of Dort. The Worldwide Protestant Synod condemned these views as heretical and responded with what is known as the five points of Calvinism, so called because Calvin set forth a more clear case for the Augustinian views held throughout the world. This was considered by this Worldwide Synod of the Reformed Faith to be orthodox Christianity in its day.

The first point is that man is totally depraved and unable to believe the gospel.

The second point is, because of this, God must choose to save sinners unconditionally since they cannot save themselves.

Any meeting of any condition results in some ability of the individual to be "Capitans of their own fate". It may massage the "self-esteem" of a person to believe that he or she has a part in their own Salvation, but, and this is basic, any elevation of man's ability diminishes God's ability. Most modern theology is based on some form of partnership between God and man. Enevitably, the tendency of mankind is to gradually usurp the authority of God until he leaves God out altogether.

Sadly, this is exactly the direction of much modern theology. The question is obvious. It was the question which the Lord asked Job, "Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. {answer...: Heb. make me know} Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;" (Job 38:1ff) The whole challenge to Job takes several chapters. Reading it all will give you a better understanding of the ludercrous endeavor it is to challenge God.

Job's response should be our response, "Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:1-6) If Job had such a clear picture of himself so early in God's Revelation, should we not have an even clearer picture?

Three, Jesus died to ensure the salvation of those God chose from before the foundation of the world.

Four, the Holy Spirit creates a new heart in those Jesus died for and plants repentance and faith in their hearts through the new birth.

Five, God keeps repentance and faith alive in his people through His grace and they all persevere to the end.

Those are the five points of Calvinism that were a systematic response to the views of the remonstrants which challenged the protestant world. These differences between the reformed and the remonstrants still exist today even if the names are not the same. They still exist in the questions over man's freedom and ability to believe, whether faith is a gift of God as a result of the new birth of regeneration or whether regeneration follows from the faith of man - or whether God condemns men only for their actual sins when they come of some particular age or whether men are condemned in Adam's sin. Many questions arise. Therefore, one of the distinctive views of the five points of Calvinism is man's spiritual condition and need of God's work. Total Depravity provides the foundation for the whole system, each point of which hangs together on the others. They are all based in the beginning upon a proper view of man according to the scriptures.

There is a third reason we need to study Total Depravity. That is because of its implications in our lives, in our evangelism, in our prayers for others, in our worship of God and in our very concept of the gospel of grace, so I would like us to study Total Depravity today under two main headings.

The first is this: What is Total Depravity? There are several subheadings under that And the second is: What are the implications of the doctrine of Total Depravity according to the scriptures?

So first, what is Total Depravity? Before theological questions which surround this issue are presented, a brief definition that is as Biblical as possible needs to be given, and it comes from the highest authority known on the subject. Total Depravity means that, "both Jews and Greeks are all under sin, as it is written there is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God, all have turned aside, together they have become useless. There is none who does good, there is not even one." That is the best definition. And this definition of Total Depravity describes all men as unrighteous in nature, unable to understand God or His will unwilling to seek God Himself and unable to do any spiritual good.

This is the same condition corroborated by God's opinion in Gen. 6:5, "then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." As a result of the fall of Adam, all mankind are born into a state of sin and misery called Total Depravity.

God made Adam in His image, Seth was made in Adam's image and every son of Adam since then. Man's mind, his emotions and his will - his total being - is ruined by sin He cannot understand and will not seek God if left to himself.

Now, under this heading of What is depravity? First, what it is not. There are a lot of misconceptions about what Total Depravity is and is not. The phrase itself is somewhat misleading and needs some clarification.

Total Depravity does not mean ABSOLUTE DEPRAVITY. That is, man is not as sinful a he could be in his actions. Total Depravity does not mean that man is unable to recognize the will of God nor unable to do any good towards his fellow man nor unable to give outward allegiance to the worship of God, (that's why so many unconverted sit in our pews) nor does it mean that all men sin alike or to the same extent. Drs. Boyce and Dagg have clear statements about this. Even a den of thieves have some kind of honor among their own kind. A ship of pirates may have a ship's doctor that heals bodies, but he does no good. The main idea of Total Depravity is that man can do no SPIRITUAL good that is worthy of God or even approaches conformity to His law in the heart.

In Romans 1:18, we are told that the reason man is not as absolutely depraved as he could be is because of God. God has kept a restraining hand upon man to keep him from going as far as he could go into sin. If God did not keep man from doing all that is in his heart, in his imaginations, in his feelings and thoughts, we would all kill each other off like Cain did Abel - we would die with each other's hands on each other's throats.

Romans 1 teaches, that in certain cases, as men harden their hearts toward God's revelation in nature as well as His revelation in the Word, that in certain cases, God gave them over to their own desires, at certain points. Then these men gave themselves over to murder, homosexuality and many other sins listed there. This shows that any relative good we see in men is a blessing of the common grace of God preventing evil, not a testimony to the innate goodness of man.

Take the Killeen massacre. People do not understand why this could happen, how this could happen. They immediately searched for a tumor or something - there was none. How could this happen? The answer to that question is that this never would have happened had Adam not sinned. It is within the nature of man to act that way. The miracle of Killeen is that it doesn't happen every day. Even the people in Belton and Killeen who knew Mr. Hanard, in the newspaper and on the screen said, "You know what amazes me is this didn't happen before now. I just knew something was going to happen." Why didn't it happen before then? Why doesn't it happen everyday? It is because of the goodness of God, His restraining hand, that keeps man's heart from going its own way. This is seen all the way from the flood to the Second Coming of Christ.

God prevents men and women from being as sinful as they can be. Think for one moment what your life would be like now if God allowed you in the past to go with the imaginations for your mind and the hatreds of your heart. Many of us, if not most of us, would be in jail now. God's restraining hand is a testimony to His goodness. Absolute depravity is not true because of God.

On the other hand, Total Depravity does not mean partial depravity. We are not effected by sin only in a partial way. Gen. 6 clearly says that "every thought and intent of man's heart is only evil continually". Any relative good a man might do in this life is still stained by sin, either by positive evil or moral defect. Every thought and motive of everything good that men would do apart from Christ is still stained by sin. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. The Proverb says "Even the lamp of the wicked is sin".

Martin Luther said it this way, "Even the plowing of the wicked is sin." Romans 3 states that "there are none good, there are none righteous, there are none who understand, there are none who seek God, no, not one." We are totally depraved by nature. All our righteousness is as filthy rags in His sight.

What then does Total Depravity mean? It means that natural man as a whole being - his thoughts, his feelings and his will - are totally ruled by his sinful nature. It also means that all of natural man's acts are selfish and self centered and self protective in their motivations until God changes man's hearts. Any relative good that a man might do, in so far as it might be according to God's law, is due to God's restraining grace, not man's goodness.

Louis Berkhoff describes Total Depravity as having two elements. Again Drs. Boyce and Dagg include these same descriptions in different ways in their subjects in their treating of this subject. The two elements that Berkhoff uses to describe it are original guilt and original pollution.

Original guilt is taught in Romans 5:12 - Paul says, "therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world and death, that is death entered through sin and so death spread to all men because all sinned." Because all sinned - what does that mean? This means that the guilt of Adam's sin and the penalty of death for it has been imputed to all men because Adam represented them and death spread to all men because they sinned in Adam. Now many dispute the translation "because" in the New American Standard preferring the translation "in that", possibly indicating that as soon as an individual man actually sins, because all sinned actual sins that they take on guilt and its penalty, death. But this does not explain something that is very clear. Why does God allow babies and infants to die when they have not, in most agreement by most people, consciously sinned, in actual sins, even in the womb. This does not explain why they receive the penalty of sin which is death before they actually sinned - if that's what Roman's 5:12 teaches.

However, the context of Romans 5:12 corroborates the correct translation of "because" - that is, that men sinned when Adam sinned. Romans 5:18 says it this way, "So then, as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men". Did you hear that? "As through one transgression there resulted condemnation or to condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men, for as through the one man's disobedience, the many were made or were constituted sinners, even so through the obedience of the one (meaning Jesus Christ) the many will be made righteous."

Original guilt comes to man the same way that righteousness comes to man, through their representative who acted on their behalf. This is one reason particular redemption is true, that Adam brought the result of His choice upon all of those whom he represented and our Lord Jesus Christ brought the result of His choice upon all those whom He represented. As a result through one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, and through the obedience of the One, the many will be made righteous. We should never forget that Adam and Eve did not immediately die as a result of their sin. They did eventually physically die; even the righteous brother was the first, as far as we know it, to die. What did take place immediately was spiritual death and the results of the presence of sin in our two first parents' lives. Read for yourself why God had to drive, He did not ask them to leave, out of the Garden of Eden.

You cannot have it both ways. If you would have Jesus Christ the second Adam, according to 1 Cor.15, if you would have Jesus Christ the second Adam to act as your representative on the cross, you must also have the first Adam act as your representative in the garden. Total Depravity recognizes that all men are born in sin and guilt, in Adam's sin as their representative, as if they had actually sinned in him and are under the condemnation and wrath of God when they are born. The wrath of God abides on those who believe not. Dr. J. P. Boyce, founder of Southern Seminary, has an excellent chapter on the headship of Adam and its affects upon his descendants. In that statement he gave this phrase, "that all men are condemned to all the penalties of death because of Adam's sin. In Adam all died ."

The second element of Total Depravity is original pollution. Original guilt now original pollution. This is the more plain teaching of Total Depravity. This is the sinful nature that has passed on from Adam to all his descendants as part of God's curse for sin. This is why David said, "In sin my mother conceived me." It was not her sin, she was not sinful in her conception of David, it was David who was sinful from the moment of conception. This is one reason why we believe, according to the scripture, that life begins at conception. David knew it, you and I know it, it is really very simple, but most of the world does not know it. Man is born with a sinful corrupt nature. To corroborate that David said, not only was he born in sin but the "wicked go astray from the womb speaking lies". We are born with a sinful nature that has been passed on to us from Adam, our father.

Do not ask how that happens. There are disagreements among good men. However the scripture says that Seth was made in the image of his father, Adam. And that's what we have, an original pollution through birth and relation to Adam and the curse of God upon Adam and all his posterity.

This original pollution includes the absence of original righteousness and the presence of positive evil. It may be called Total Depravity or total inability. Loraine Boettner prefers that term. This means that man has defects in all his actions as well as positive evil.

There are three things that total pollution means. Total pollution means that the mind of man is effected by sin, is ignorant of God's truth, and cannot understand God or His truth by himself. 1 Corinthians 2:14 is plain: "But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised."

Not only that but secondly, the emotions of man are effected by sin. They are morally twisted to self-centeredness and self-will and rebellion against God and love darkness rather than light. Men love sin and hate good by nature. This is the judgment that the light has come into the world and men love the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil. Man's mind and his emotions are depraved by sin.

Third, the pollution of man reaches to the will of man as well. He cannot change himself at will to do good, think good or choose faith in God. Jeremiah said "Can the Ethiopian change his skin? or the leopard his spots, then you also can do good who are accustomed to do evil." Man does not choose "good" out of a nature that is bad. That's why Paul wrote in Romans 8:7 - "The mind set on the flesh, which is the unbelieving mind, 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. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God ."

So original pollution, or total inability to understand, to love righteousness or to want to change is man's natural spiritual condition. He does not want to do any of these things. This is why the Scriptuires use other images to describe man's condition. We are spiritually dead, not half dead, not a flickering life, not a little heart beat, not dead but not brain dead. We are spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins. We are blind. The God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving that they may not see. We are blind and bound by the God of this world and we are unwilling to change. We are hostile to God, we are the enemies of God. Romans 5 says we are all like Lazarus, lying in the tomb, waiting for our master to give life first to our dead souls so we can hear His calling voice and respond.

Total Depravity requires a sovereign, supernatural work of grace in the heart of man. It requires the implantation of the gifts of repentance and faith or else we would all die in our sins. No one would seek God.

Now, there are many objections to the doctrine of Total Depravity. The first one is this, quoting from Packer where he presents this objection: "If a man cannot do good, it would be unjust to punish him as evil. Furthermore, if a sinner cannot repent, it would be foolish to command all men everywhere to repent. God is not foolish and He has commanded repentance therefore, men are able to repent."

Do you follow this line of argument? Because God invites men to come and commands men to repent then they must have the ability. This is why everyone quotes John 3:16 when you talk about election. That whosoever will may come-but the question is, "Who will come?" It does not imply that man has the ability within himself to come. It is strictly an invitation. In fact, it is more a statement. "That for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son", that literally, "all those believing ones in Him will not perish but have everlasting life". This objection that God's command implies ability in man does not follow any more than God's command to be perfect means man is able to be perfect.

The inability in man is not God's fault, it is man's choice. It is a moral origin, it is a willful choice to sin and bear the effects of sin. Adam knew what he was doing. This inability is self imposed. Therefore God is not unfair to call men to repent even if they cannot repent; it is not God's fault, it is theirs and any call to repentance, any choosing to reveal Himself to man in such a dark state and a rebellious state, any kind of call to repentance and belief is a gracious act of God to the undeserving. That objection does not follow.

A second objection that is often voiced against the doctrine of Total Depravity is that man has a free will so he must have ability. But again that does not follow any more than a bird with a broken wing may fly. He is free to fly but he is unable. The question of whether or not man's will is free depends upon your starting point. It is right to say that man has a will and that will has a certain freedom. Man is free to choose, he says, what he prefers and desires. God never forces men to act against their will. He may choose to change men's minds but he will not coerce a human being into thoughts, words or actions. God may renew their will but never coerces it. Men choose their words and deeds from their nature.

Now, Dr. Boyce had this quote to explain the relationship of the corruption of man to the freedom of the will. Here is what he says, "This corruption does not destroy the freedom of the will. This is the ground upon which men are held responsible by God and by human law and conscience. The condition of man is indeed such that he cannot, not sin, but this is due to his nature which loves sin and hates holiness and which prefers self to God. When man sins he does so of his own choice freely without compulsion. So freedom of the will does not imply ability to choose. Man's will is free in a certain way, yet bound.

A third objection comes from the Arminians who sometimes speak of a gracious ability. Perhaps you have heard it; that there is a gracious ability that God gives. They believe that God imparts a common, often used term, prevenient grace, which is not what it means at all, but that God imparts a common grace to all men making their wills neutral, overcoming, as it were, the effects of original sin which enables them to have a neutral will, able to turn to God and to believe if they wish to. But this means that one man chooses God and another rejects Him, even though both men have the same amount of help from God. Calvinist charge that this makes faith an ability, an act of man, a work which makes one man better than another.

Let us go with the Gospel and beg men, "You have the sense to believe if you only would." How awful, yet how often this is just the case. How demeaning of the grace of God. Calvinists charge that this makes faith an act of man, of the will of man, a work which makes one man better than the other. If you say this to those who hold this position, they will quickly deny it and say that is not true. We believe in God's grace that saves and that faith is not a work of man, it is only the empty hand which reaches forth and takes the grace of God. They would deny that this is a work. The oxymoron is that they do not deny works salvation, they only diminish the work. Less work does not leave any place for sovereign grace.

Dr. Tom Nettles in his book, By His Grace and For His Glory, responded to such a denial in this argument by saying, "But in reality such a denial does not at all escape the dilemma. If belief arises from the unregenerate heart, and distinguishes one man from another while all have the same natural or bestowed ability, capacity, then the exercising of that capacity must be better than not exercising it. If it is better, it arises from a capacity of the unregenerate; then the believer has contributed to his own salvation. If it is not better, then it is either worse or the same. If worse, it should only condemn more severely. If the same, then there is no difference between belief and unbelief. All unbelievers should be saved as well as believers. (This is the stand of the "universalist", and such a view is condemned even by the Arminians.) The only escape from this is to acknowledge that faith, like righteousness, is a gift of God and is bestowed graciously by Him. All sinful humanity is in the same condition therefore, only distinguishing an effectual grace causes one to differ from another." Besides that good argument of our brother, we might add Ephesians. 2:8, "For by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves, including faith, it is a gift of God" God grants repentance to Israel, God grants repentance to the Gentiles. It is given to you not only to believe but to suffer for His name's sake. This objection does no stand.

The final objection is often implied. It is really not an objection. It is an unbelieving cavil. It is a slander against the God of heaven when one is trying to discuss Total Depravity with one who will not and does not believe in it. You often hear statements to this effect, "Well, if God knew Adam would sin and bring this curse on all of us, why did He go ahead and make him? And if He didn't know, why didn't he stop him? And if he couldn't stop him, why did he let him live and pass on the curse of sin and death and pain to all men, to me. In other words, if this is true, isn't there something wrong with a God who still allows sin and pain to enter and stay in this universe? Why didn't He just kill Adam and save us all this sin and misery? If Total Depravity is true, it is unfair of God to let it continue.

The answer to that question is Biblical. Romans 9:21 says, "For does not the potter have a right over the clay to make from the same one vessel for honorable use and another for common use. What if God though willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, what if God endured with much patience, vessels of wrath prepared for destruction and He did so in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy which He prepared beforehand for glory. Even us whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles." The answer to the question of why God allowed Adam to make His own sinful choice and represent all mankind and pass on the guilt, the condemnation, the totally depraved sinful nature. The answer to that question of why God allowed it, is that God would show mercy, that God would show love and grace to many descendants of Adam, a multitude no man can number from every tongue and tribe and race and nation. Would you rob them of eternal life by wrongly blaming God for sin and its results? Would you accuse God of evil because He would let sinners live in this world in order that He might shower His love upon a great multitude of sons and daughters? God could have killed Adam. He could have spared you, and others, the sins toward you and others sins toward you and your sins toward others. But if He did, you would never have lived to see this day and know the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the grace that is found in the Son of God and the cleansing and the mercy and the forgiveness of sins. Would you belittle God because He chooses to change human hearts and make them new creatures who hate sin and love righteousness? Would you belittle God because He has more mercy than you do? Foolish and idle cavil that slanders the nature of God because Adam and all his posterity chose to live with their own heart instead of God's, to live their own way instead of God's, to be their own gods. Such a sin deserves the wrath of God. It is a miracle that any of us live one day. We breathe off the mercy of God.

The tragedy of the entire matter is that we are not discussing JUST precepts. If that was all, the remedy would be easy. However, the precepts of the Bible are living precepts. Error begets suffering and condemnation. Thus we do not thank God for our good fortune, our good sense, our luck; we thank Him for His Sovereign Grace.

Total Depravity. The wickedness of man's heart. To turn against such a gracious God who offers so much, is a terrible thought. But I thank God that there are some implications to the doctrine of Total Depravity that are quite encouraging.

The first one is this: If Total Depravity is true, then no one deserves the mercy of God, only His wrath. If you keep thinking that you are not that bad, not that evil, not that rebellious against the Lord then you are like those whom Jeremiah spoke of who did not know their own hearts. "The heart is deceitful above all things. Who can understand it?" If you for a moment had a glimpse of what truly is in your heart and how much God has restrained you from going the natural ways that are within you, you would fall down in praise and in worship at this moment. That is why Job found it necessary to repent when he came to the same conclusion. If you do not think you are that bad, you need to fall down before the feet of the living God and plead for mercy, ask Him to open your eyes and to bring His holy law to search out the wickedness of your heart till you see the preciousness of such a great Savior and yearn to be delivered from the wrath you richly deserve. You need to fall down before Jesus Christ. He did not come to bring the righteous, only sinners, to repentance.

The second implication of Total Depravity is that, Total Depravity means, if it is true, that it is only by God's grace that any of us can know Him. Total Depravity, the deadness of man's heart, the darkness, the ignorance, the spiritual inability, requires the necessity of divine election, effectual calling, regeneration and the gifts of repentance and faith. There is no doctrine that believes in Total Depravity that can find a way of escape from it other than the absolute sovereign work of God in a human's heart. If you do not know Jesus Christ, if your own heart is dead it seems and you do not know your condition, I call you to fall where you are and cry out God to open your eyes to see; like He did to that woman on the banks of a river, who Paul preached to and the scripture recorded this wonderful work of God in her heart for us all to read. It says, "The Lord opened her heart to understand, to believe, to respond to the things spoken by Paul." You fall where you are and Christ will get to you. No man can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

The third implication. Total Depravity ought to make any of us, who name the name of Jesus Christ, humble, not haughty, toward all other men converted or unconverted. "For what do you have," said Paul, "that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?" One of the effects of an understanding of the Doctrines of Grace as a whole which begins with Total Depravity is, that it makes the heart of a man, or a woman, who has received such grace, humble toward others. They know where the light came from. They don't pray ridiculous prayers like, "God, I thank you we had the good sense to believe in you." They live daily in remembrance of Jesus Christ and God's supernatural, undeserved, unconditional grace that has come to their hearts, and they are continually humbled by it. When they are tempted to think haughtily toward this brother who does not understand what we understand, or toward this unbeliever who is hardened toward the Gospel instead of reacting with pride and arrogance and bitterness and haughtiness, in their hearts they say, "Thank you dear God for your mercies, will you not have mercy upon them, for there is no difference."

Total Depravity ought to make you thankful toward God in worship and service. Thankful that God has not allowed men in this world to go their own way, that there are not a thousand George Hanards running around, thankful that he did not immediately bring the curse of your imaginations upon you when you brought them into your mind, thankful of His mercy, thankful that He has not destroyed this world, thankful for His patience, not wishing that any should perish but that all should came to the knowledge of the truth, and lets this world continue until every one of Christ's ordained sheep, for whose soul He spilled His blood, will be brought in on the last day - that none will perish. It ought to make us thankful that He saves any. Our worship ought to be filled with humility and thanksgiving to God.

Total Depravity ought to make you bold to confront men on their sinful condition. Through the law comes the knowledge of sin. If you take the law out of the Gospel, you have no gospel left. Men who are born in sin need to understand their spiritual condition so that they will follow the remedy in Christ. A doctor who does not tell his patient of the tumor, will not get them under the knife. We will not enable men to see by the application of this word of God, the law of God to their hearts by the Holy Spirit, we will not enable them to see their spiritual condition and the remedy in Christ who bore the curse of the law on the tree for us, unless we preach boldly their sinful condition and the Law of God. They are in danger and they need help. But it also ought to make us bold because even the hardest of hearts can be broken by the hammer of God's grace.

If God does the saving, and He is the only one who can change a totally depraved heart, then you don't have to change it. If God does the saving, all you have to do is the preaching, and we can be bold with that. He can make Goliath fall with one small rock from a small child. One of the Lord's warriers of many years is Ernie Reisinger (Pastor, North Pompano Baptist Church, Pompano Beach, Florida and prolific author of many books). His old saying, something we need so much is, "God can draw straight lines with crooked sticks." The doctrine of Total Depravity gives hope to every Gospel preacher and witness.

Total Depravity ought to make you patient and persevering with people who cannot understand without God's help. This includes a life of prayer to God for their souls, not bowing down to them saying, "Will you not have the good sense to believe in Jesus", but bowing down to God and saying, "0 God, will You not open their hearts. You are the God who has said light shall shine out of darkness. You are the God who has shown in our hearts to see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Will You not glorify Yourself? Will You not bring honor to Yourself? Will You not have mercy upon these men as You have done with me? Will You not save them 0 Lord?" It ought to make us men and women of prayer to believe in Total Depravity, for there is no hope unless God shines the light in their hearts. It might be well to mention here the tremendous danger which has permeated the churches of today in the form of psychology. While it can be used as a good diognostic tool, (Peter did so without knowing it in Acts 8:23 as he confronted Simon) it is useless as a method of healing. Only God's Grace can enter the heart of man to the extent of making a real change.

We ought not to give up upon them because of this truth. Say, "Well I've witnessed enough. Let me wash my hands and walk away." If you will study the history of our great missionaries like Carey, and Judson, and Elliot, and Patton and others, you will see that the thing that kept them there amidst years of the lack of any kind of response was the confidence of knowing that God in His time saves sinners, and it is only our job to be stewards of the grace of God, to bring the message of truth, to be faithful in our labors and not give up on the hardness of men's hearts. Only God opens their hearts. This ought to affect our evangelism, our message, and our method. Faith and repentance have to be gifts of God. Walter Chantry (Man's Will - Free Yet Bound) said, "Man's will is not his hope." Any gospel preaching that relies upon an act of the human will for the conversion of sinners has missed its mark. Any sinner who supposes that his will has the strength to do any good accompanying salvation is greatly deluded and far from the Kingdom unless God does something. No hope of saving change can come. We cannot make the tree good, only God can. We do not have to resort to manipulation, we do not have to water down the Gospel to make it palatable, we do not have to defend it, we have only to proclaim it. And proclaim it faithfully, and to wait upon the Lord of glory who saves whom He will. What great encouragements the doctrine of Total Depravity should bring to our hearts as we trust in the power of a sovereign God to save.

Total Depravity is a foundational doctrine. In God's plan of salvation, if you err here, it will be seen in how you preach the law, and how you preach the Gospel, and how you direct sinners to Christ, and how you pray, and how you live, and how you worship. Total Depravity leads inevitably to Unconditional Election, Particular Redemption, Effectual Calling, Irresistible Grace, and the Perseverance of the Saints.

What does Total Depravity teach. "Tis not that I did choose Thee, for Lord that could not be; this heart would still refuse Thee, hadst Thou not chosen me. Thou from my sins have saved me; for Thy rich grace I thirst; this knowing if I love Thee, Thou MUST have loved me first."

Let us give thanks for the grace of God in the light of such a terrible condition.

Dios Le Bendiga,

Jim Lawless, sinley1@juno.com