Total Depravity

Romans 3:9 - 10, 18 “What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; (10.) As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: (18.) There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

In our study on the Sovereignty of God we now come to the first letter of T.U.L.I.P. which is the “T” and it stands for “Total Depravity”. Please understand these are short articles and I can only cover these subjects in short order, therefore I will leave much unsaid. In most places of worship the thinking is not about a Sovereign God, it is about a sovereign man in total control of his own salvation and in total control of deciding to be saved or not, however this thinking is NOT scriptural in any fashion and contradicts what the scripture has concluded and that is; man is incapable of making that choice in fact the scripture has concluded that mankind and that is all mankind will choose sin over God and that is because we are all “… both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin…” that is we are slaves to sin and “Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” John 8:34 the word “servant” means slave in which we cannot escape because we do not want to escape. The natural heart will never desire anything but sin and to remain in sin. The bottom line is that the natural man enjoys sin because it is his nature to enjoy it. We were conceived in iniquity “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Psalms 51:5” we came from our mothers wombs speaking lies “The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.” Psalms 58:3 This is all of mankind and its roots go back to our natural father Adam, it is because of his sin and because we are all a product of him that we are born sinners and will remain sinners as long as we live. Adam had no desire to see or be with God after he sinned, he hid himself from God and we too hide ourselves from God from birth. This is our nature to rebel against God rather than to worship a Holy God. This is called “Total Depravity”.

While the scriptures conclude that man (because of sin) will never come to God on his own, it has also concluded that there is hope and that hope is in Jesus Christ. He died because of our sins and therefore we can have what Adam lost in the fall and that is holiness once again. But if man does not desire to come to Christ for salvation then someone must force us to come and that someone is the Holy Spirit. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Romans 8:14 The Holy Spirit breaks our will for sin and causes us to flee to Christ for salvation. Mankind will never do this on his own because of his love for sin, let us not forget, God said “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:” because “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

We will conclude with this, I never said that man does not have a desire to worship God nor did I ever say that man did not want to serve God, but what man does want to do is to do it on their own terms and by their own choice and power and that is totally impossible. God said they would seek to worship Him but not in righteousness. Romans 10:2 - 3 “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. (3.) For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” Mankind cannot worship God on his own terms nor will he ever choose on his own to worship God in holiness because it is against his nature to do so. Therefore man is Totally Depraved!