Total Depravity

Introduction to the Synod of Dort and the Five Points of Calvinism

0:01 In the year 1618, a meeting was held in the Dutch city of Dordrecht. It lasted seven months. It's commonly called the Synod of Dort. It is well known because of a document that was formulated there that has become one of the three major confessions of the Church.

0:23 That document is known as the Canons of Dort.

0:27 It was written to counter various errors and false doctrines which had crept into the Church, primarily through the teachings of one man, Jacob Arminius, a professor at a respected Reformed university.

0:42 Although Jacob Arminius had been dead nearly a decade by the time the Synod of Dort was called to order, his teachings continued to persist and spread amongst the people and were being propagated by his followers, who were called Arminians.

0:59 In opposing the false claims of the Arminians, the Canons of Dort were written, which consist of five major doctrinal statements. We now call them the Five Points of Calvinism.

1:13 In the coming messages of this series, we will be discussing each of these five points of Calvinism, beginning this time with total depravity.

Defining Total Depravity: Meaning and Misconceptions

1:23 Total depravity. Particularly, we will be devoting our thoughts to two things, the meaning of the doctrine and the message of the doctrine, that is, its relevance for us as Christians. Now, what does Calvin say? What does this doctrine mean?

1:37 What is total depravity? Well, it would be hard to improve on the following definition. Quote, All men are conceived in sin, and are by nature children of wrath, incapable of saving good, prone to evil, dead in sin, and in bondage thereto. And without the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit, they are neither able nor willing to return to God to reform the depravity of their nature.

2:07 Or to dispose themselves to reformation. Unquote. That, in a nutshell, is the teaching of total depravity.

2:18 Unfortunately, even among those who have been members of the Church for many years, confusion and misunderstandings surround this doctrine. They have passed a negative light over this teaching and distorted what it really says. It's important that we properly interpret its meaning.

2:36 To do this, we must begin by getting rid of two commonly mistaken notions. First of all, total depravity does not mean that natural man, that is, one who has not been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, does not mean that he is corrupt through and through to the very marrow of his bones. It is not as though he is absolutely depraved. The worst scoundrel possible.

3:04 The vilest sinner imaginable. Always acting in the most horrible way conceivable. Even the worst of people can become worse.

3:14 Total depravity does not mean that natural man is as bad as he could possibly be. God, in his mercy, restrains evil and does not allow it to run rampant, uncontrolled, unbridled. We could be much worse.

3:30 The focus of total depravity is not on how intensive evil is, but how extensive it is. Not on how intensive, but how extensive it is. That means that all things have been touched by the staining effects of sin. Nothing remains unaffected.

3:50 To some degree, not the greatest degree, but to some degree, everything has been polluted by evil.

3:58 Total depravity, therefore, does not mean that we are as bad as we can possibly be, but it does mean that the totality of life has to some degree been touched by evil. Now, a second commonly mistaken notion, and it follows closely in the wake of the first, is that the natural man can do no human good. This is not true. The natural man, the one who is not a Christian, can still do human good.

4:24 Human good. We all know that to be true. We may have unbelieving neighbors, but what wonderful neighbors they are. They're always the first to help out when we run into a problem.

4:35 They're outgoing, friendly. They may even seem to be better than neighbors who call themselves Christians. To be totally depraved does not mean that an individual can do no human good. In the definition we gave earlier, it tells us that such a person is incapable of saving good.

4:55 Saving good. And the two, human good and saving good, are poles apart. Saving good originates with faith in Christ and seeks to glorify the triune God. Human good consists of wholesome behavior, morality, actions, but has absolutely no spiritual value.

5:18 To gain a right understanding of total depravity, therefore, we must be able to do no human good. We must begin by correcting two wrong notions that are often associated with this doctrine. Number one, it is not true that a totally depraved person is as bad as he can possibly be. He could be much worse.

5:36 Number two, it is not true that a totally depraved person can do no human good. He can do all kinds of human good. Things like contribute to charity and help the needy or be of public service. But having cleared up some mistaken concerns, what is the right understanding of total depravity?

The Positive Teaching of Total Depravity: Spiritual Deadness

5:54 What, in a positive way, does this doctrine teach? What is the right understanding of it? It is this, that the unregenerate person, the person who has no living relationship with the Lord, is not able to do any spiritual good. He is spiritually dead.

6:13 Not spiritually weak or spiritually deficient, but spiritually dead. The Apostle Paul gives a very good description of total depravity in his letter to the Apostles. He says, In his letter to the Ephesian converts, in the opening verses of Ephesians, chapter 2, he writes, Quote, As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.

6:54 Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

7:00 Now, until a person is born again of the Holy Spirit, this is what he is like, says Paul. He is dead in his transgression and sins. He is a slave of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, Satan, following evil desires and thoughts. He is a child of wrath.

7:19 That's certainly no pretty picture of what we are like without God, but it's a fact. And throughout Scripture, we find support for this. In the book of Genesis, chapter 6, verse 5, these words are spoken concerning the one who does not trust God. Genesis 6, 5, Every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

7:43 The prophet Jeremiah has this to say in chapter 17, verse 9. Jeremiah, chapter 17, verse 9, The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.

7:56 In turning to the New Testament, Paul writes these words in Romans 8, about the inability of non-Christian to do good. He says, The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

8:15 What a powerful illustration this presents of total depravity. The unbeliever is hostile to God. He does not submit to God's law. He cannot please God.

8:27 Total depravity teaches that the non-Christian is unable to do any spiritual good. He is incapable of saving good.

8:38 Actually, to properly understand this doctrine, we have to go even a step beyond this. Not only is the unbeliever incapable of doing any spiritual good, he doesn't even desire to do any spiritual good. Not only can he not do so, but he doesn't even want to do so. Because of sin, his heart is set against the Lord.

9:00 He doesn't want to have anything to do with God. He wants to go his own way. In John 3.19, this tragic thought is forcibly brought home to us in these words.

9:13 John 3.19 reads, This is the verdict. Light has come into the world, but men love darkness instead of light, because their deeds were evil. Imagine, men love darkness instead of light.

9:26 Who but a photographer in his dark room loves darkness instead of light? Yet it's true. The unbeliever would rather follow his own cravings and desires, evil as they are, than to follow God.

9:42 And so the doctrine of total depravity teaches that an unregenerate person, that is, an unbeliever, is not able, nor does he desire, to do any spiritual good. His back is turned to God. He is dead in sin. There is absolutely nothing he can do to get out of this predicament.

10:01 Someone who is dead can't do anything. He just lies there, motionless, still. That's how the unbeliever is in relation to God. He is dead.

10:12 Only the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit can make him alive. Paul, in the Ephesians passage, makes this very clear. After informing the new converts in Ephesus that once they were dead in sin, he follows this up by saying, But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive, with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions.

10:40 We didn't make ourselves alive, causing our own spiritual resurrection. We were made alive by God, who is filled with love and rich in mercy. We had nothing to do with it. As Paul immediately adds, It is by grace that you've been saved.

10:59 And a few verses later he repeats it again. It is by grace that you have been saved. The doctrine of total depravity, rooted, solidly in the word of God, teaches that by nature we oppose God and are incapable of doing any spiritual good. We are spiritually dead.

11:20 Dead in capital letters. And there is nothing that we can do to get ourselves out of that state. What can someone who is dead do? Only the Holy Spirit, working in our hearts, can make us alive and enable us to do spiritual good.

Total Depravity vs. Arminianism: The Extent of the Fall

11:38 Now how does this position differ, you ask, from that of the Holy Spirit? It can perhaps best be explained by an example. The Arminians compare the unregenerate man to one who falls, say, from a second-story window. He breaks his leg, cracks a few ribs, but is still alive.

11:57 He knows he is hurt badly and needs a doctor. Fortunately, since he is still alive, he can call for help from a passerby or drag himself to a phone and get the medical attention he needs. We, however, would compare the unregenerate man to someone who jumps from the top of a tall building. When he hits the sidewalk, his body is, well, a mass of pulp.

12:21 He is absolutely lifeless. In fact, it is impossible to make out who he is. It is obvious that he cannot call for help. He is dead.

12:30 Not just injured. He is dead. The Arminians insist that when man fell into sin, it was like falling out of a second-story window. He was sharply affected by sin, but he still retained enough spiritual good to search out God and seek his help for salvation.

12:50 The Arminians believe that although Jesus alone can save us from sin, that yet we are able to make a contribution by calling out in faith to God. We can take the initiative in the salvation process by crying for help. We believe that when man fell into sin, it was like falling from a tall building. He became spiritually dead.

13:14 He was neither able nor willing to call for help because he was spiritually lifeless. We believe that there is nothing that we can do to secure our salvation. Even the faith we exercise is a gift that God implants within us. We cannot take the initiative in the salvation process by crying to the Lord for help.

13:38 A spiritually dead person cannot cry out to God. The faith he has, as Paul tells us in Ephesians, Ephesians 2.8, is not from yourselves. It is a gift of God.

13:51 Even the very faith that we have has been given to us by the Lord. The Arminians teach that faith is a good work, which they exercise. We teach that faith is a gift freely given to us. The Arminians teach that in the process of salvation, God contributes the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and man contributes his faith.

14:17 We teach that in the process of salvation, God contributes the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and God also contributes the faith we possess to accept Christ. He gives us Christ, and he gives us faith. Following Paul's line of reasoning in Ephesians, we say, by nature, we are dead in our transgressions and sins. Since we are dead, the only way to become spiritually alive is through the activating work of the Holy Spirit, who makes us alive.

14:50 Even the faith we exercise is not something that stems from us, but it is given us as a gift by the Lord. The Arminian line of reasoning runs like this. We are sick or injured through transgressions and sins, but since we are not dead, we are still able to call out to God for help to make us fully spiritually well. This crying out for help occurs when we exercise our faith.

15:18 Never mind, that Paul writes in Romans 3, quote, there is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. The Arminians still maintain that the unregenerate man can seek God. And so to wrap up the meaning of total depravity, we can say that the unregenerate person, the unbeliever, is incapable of doing any spiritual good.

15:45 He is spiritually dead, not spiritually weak or spiritually sick, but spiritually, dead. Unable in his own strength to respond to the claims of the gospel. Even as a dead person cannot respond or initiate any action, so it is with a spiritually dead person. Only the power of the Holy Spirit working in his heart and giving him faith makes him spiritually alive.

The Relevance of Total Depravity: Man's True Condition

16:14 Now you ask, what is the relevance of this doctrine for everyday living? What is the message of this teaching of total depravity for us today? Or is it a belief that we are not dead? Or is it a belief that stands far removed from the practicalities of our lives?

16:29 The doctrine of total depravity is not irrelevant, meaningless, or remote. It touches on the basic character of who man is and who God is. And that is extremely important. The doctrine of total depravity carries with it these three significant messages.

16:48 First of all, this doctrine, like nothing else, reveals man's true condition. Without the saving power of Jesus Christ, man is spiritually dead. Paul mentions this twice in the Ephesians 2 passage, in the first verse, and again in verse 5. I know this is not easy for us to accept.

17:10 We would like to think that there is something spiritually alive in the unbeliever, something that we can do. But the word says there isn't. That helps explain the tragic conditions of our world. At the root of war, violation of human rights, persecution, racial destruction, disturbances, injustice.

17:30 At the heart of all these lies a rebellion against God. All attempts by man to make the world a better place to live are impossible until the Spirit takes hold of people, brings them to conversion, and leads them to follow His will. The spiritual character of man is that he does not seek after God, but he loves darkness instead of light. This helps explain the increase in crime and immorality and the use of drugs and the general disrespect for authority in our society today.

18:05 Don't be swayed by the notion that some people propagate that man is basically good and that in time we will have a perfect society. It's biblically false. The true condition of man is that he is incapable of spiritual good and his inability to do spiritual good results in a society that is on a downhill slide. Knowing this as Christians, we should not be surprised at the continuing degeneracy that prevails in our world today.

The Relevance of Total Depravity: God's Sovereignty

18:37 Secondly, this doctrine of total depravity reflects the sovereignty of God. He is the sovereign Lord God. Since the unregenerate person is dead in sin, only God, through the working of His Spirit, can do something to change the condition. Only He can make us alive through Christ.

18:58 Even the faith we have is a gift of the Lord. We have no say in our salvation. We do not choose God naturally, but He chooses us. It is all God's doing.

19:13 He is sovereign. As a song we sometimes sing states, "'Tis not that I did choose thee, for, Lord, that could not be. This heart would still refuse thee, hadst thou not chosen me." Nothing that we do contributes to our salvation.

19:33 Our salvation stems entirely from the sovereign will of God.

The Relevance of Total Depravity: The Grace of Christ

19:39 A third significant message that comes through in the doctrine of total depravity is the remarkable grace of Jesus Christ. Not because of anything we did we are saved. Not only did Jesus die for our sins, but God even put it into our hearts to have faith and receive Jesus and be saved. God makes us, who are not able to do any spiritual good, who do not even desire to do any spiritual good, He makes us want to love the Lord God.

20:11 Our very nature is to turn away from the Lord, to oppose Him, to follow after darkness. But in His incomprehensibly wonderful grace, the Lord takes hold of us and makes us His. Irresistibly. By nature we are dead, lifeless, unable to do anything or any way to please God, but God has made us alive in Christ.

20:37 It's not as the Arminians teach that we turn to God and then He saves us. That's putting the cart before the horse. God saves us, then we turn to Him. We cry out to Him.

20:50 How good and wonderful the grace of Jesus Christ is. Before we even have it on our hearts, before we even want to love Jesus, before we even know how to love Him, the Holy Spirit takes hold of us and makes us His children. You see, it's all grace from start to finish. Now, the Arminians robbed the gospel of the magnificence of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

21:17 They claim that we have to make the move toward God before He will listen and make a move toward us. They claim that we have to take the first step and from there God takes over. They say that we have enough spiritual good in us to call to God for help and that then He will save us. God's grace is contingent on our appeal for help.

21:41 But we believe, and this is the thrust of the gospel, we believe that God lays claim on us first and then we respond to His claim. God moves toward us before we make the move toward Him. He has done it all. How can we who are dead respond?

Illustrating God's Grace: The Pardoned Murderer

22:00 Only God can make us alive. What remarkable grace that is. Think of it this way. Think of it this way.

22:06 Think of it this way. Think of it this way. Think of it this way. Think of it this way.

22:07 Think of it this way. Think of it this way. Think of it this way.

22:09 Imagine a young man has been sentenced to die because of a first-degree murder. As he is waiting on death row, he is filled with remorse for his awful deed. He's had a complete change of heart. Never would he consider doing what he once did, taking someone's life in cold blood.

22:26 He has made every attempt to live nothing less than an exemplary life and all the guards sense that a real change is taking place in this young man's life. The young murderer then pleads for clemency The young murderer then pleads for clemency and lo and behold, he is given his freedom. Well, this is certainly a demonstration of grace, isn't it? But now suppose another young man has been sentenced to the electric chair because of an identical crime which he has committed.

22:53 As he is waiting on death row, he feels no pang of guilt whatsoever. He would not hesitate to commit the same crime over again. He is certainly godless. The last thing on his mind is to make any sort of appeal to a judge for his freedom.

23:09 But then one day, the judge comes to him and says, you have been set free. Doesn't that indicate an even greater evidence of grace than in the first case? In the first case, the judge had a reason to set the man free. At least he could point to a change of heart in the young man's life.

23:30 But in the second case, there was no reason at all for setting the man free. Now the Arminians followed the line of reasoning presented in the first case. We believe the second. Man was rebellious and bitter toward God right up to the end.

23:47 He wanted nothing to do with the Lord. And yet God saved him. That, you see, is grace heaped upon grace.

Conclusion: The Profound Message of Total Depravity

23:56 And so total depravity is not a cold, meaningless doctrine. To the contrary, it zeroes in on the very nature of who we are and who God is. The unregenerate person is spiritually lifeless. He can lay absolutely no claim to any element of God.

24:11 He can lay absolutely no claim to any element of God. He can lay absolutely no claim to any element of God. He can lay absolutely no claim to any element of spiritual goodness. In his heart, he opposes God.

24:17 But God, you see, is sovereign. He can change our hearts of stone to hearts of flesh. He can make us who are dead alive in Christ. He can turn our rebellious hearts to responsive hearts.

24:32 And in doing so, we see displayed the incomprehensible grace of Jesus Christ. Why should God be so good as to make us alive we who are dead in sin? How wonderful He is! What a significant message this doctrine of total depravity proclaims to us today.

24:53 To think that we, dead in sin, hostile toward God, disobedient to His will, more ready to follow the ways of darkness than light, should be embraced by God as His own children. That is true grace beyond compare. Let us thank the Lord for His grace. Let us thank the Lord for His grace to us.

25:14 Totally undeserving, God saves us. Let us praise Him for having made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. This is certainly the world's greatest display of grace.