Total Depravity

"I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else." C.H. Spurgeon

I agree with Spurgeon. Accordingly, my first doctrinal post will be on the T of TULIP, Total Depravity, also known as Total Inability. TULIP stands for:

T – Total Depravity

U – Unconditional Election

L – Limited Atonement

I – Irresistible Grace

P – Preservation of the Saints

I heard a sermon recently where the listeners were encouraged to “accept Jesus”. One of the reasons given was so that they could feel “inspired” during the next week. Do we need to “try Jesus” so we can feel inspired, loved, and have better self-esteem?

It’s not popular to talk about sin, but there is no way someone will understand the good news until they know how bad the bad news is. So stay with me, this is going to get dark.

PVBC is a church where sin is preached against more than some others. This does make people uncomfortable, and offends many. I do not believe that they go far enough, however. “Decisions” are emphasized a lot, implying that we just need to try harder, quit sinning, do devotions, read our Bibles, attend church, and then we’ll be okay. Jesus’ work on the cross is preached, but the focus on decisions, praying prayers, and the emotional appeals bother me.

Most of the churches that I know of in the area are simply soft on sin. In my experience, it is rarely mentioned, and if it is, it is always in the context of someone else with no real personal conviction. People feel comfortable attending some churches regularly even while living common law because no one dares to say a word about their sin.

We talk a lot about God’s love, and rightly so, but I think we have forgotten about God’s holiness and His justice. In fact, He is inflexibly holy and inflexibly just. He says the soul that sins will die in Ezekiel 18:20. He is God after all. We are His creation, and He has the right to require what He wants from us. And He requires perfect holiness. NOTHING unholy can be in His presence. So why do we have churches preaching messages like “Why You Don’t Deserve to go to Hell” when the Bible is crystal clear that we do?

Then there are other churches that acknowledge that we are sinners, but seem to say that if we are seeking God with all of our hearts, and if we do our absolute best, surely God is merciful and will know we are trying to please Him. He will be happy that we tried and, like a good parent, He will accept out best efforts, right? No. Remember, God is God. Why should He settle for anything less than perfection?

We don’t have the ability to do the right thing. We really are slaves to sin that need to be set free. Eph. 2 says we were DEAD in sins, and we are by nature children of WRATH. But God loves the sinner and just hates the sin, right? No, Psalm 5:5 says God hates all WORKERS of iniquity.

Now consider this:

Romans 3:10-18 says:

3:10  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

3:11  There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

3:12  They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

3:13  Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

3:14  Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

3:15  Their feet are swift to shed blood:

3:16  Destruction and misery are in their ways:

3:17  And the way of peace have they not known:

3:18  There is no fear of God before their eyes.

1 Cor. 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

John 6:44, 65 No one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws them

Rom. 8:7 (NASB, check the KJV if you like) - the mind set on the flesh is hostile [not neutral] toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so

Told you it would get dark…

I’m not saying that we can’t do relative good (ie. Mother Theresa), or that we’re as bad as we can be all the time. But we are sinners. We fall short of God’s glory. We miss the target.

So how does a holy God save people when we are by nature His enemies? Well, He can NOT simply overlook the sins of His people or He would cease to be just. So He provided the substitute. He executed justice on His Son, who suffered in our place (Isa. 53). Jesus was “marred more than any man” (Isa. 52:14) because of our sins (not so we could avoid the sniffles if we have enough faith, btw). As a side note, I once heard a preacher say that Jesus only FELT like He was forsaken when He said “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” I believe the Father really poured out His righteous wrath against the sins of His people there.

Jesus also lived the perfect life, fulfilling the whole law and providing PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS for us (Matt 5:17-20). There is nothing left for us to do to earn God’s favour. Faith is not a work. God does it ALL so He gets the praise. Yes we must put our trust in Jesus and His finished work, but even our faith is a gift according to Phil. 1:29, Eph. 2:8-9, and Acts 16:14.

So this has been a very brief look at Total Depravity, or Total Inability. My next post should be much less depressing!