The Gospel...Man's Sinfulness Part 1

The gospel...it starts with God and His holiness.  We cannot stand in the presence of His holiness.  We are sinful. He is not.  We are, by nature, inherently sinful because of the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve.  As the Apostle Paul said to the Romans:

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned...  (Romans 5:12 NASB)

Or this:

So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men...  (Romans 5:18 NASB)

Or this:

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God  (Romans 3:23 NASB)

Or this from David:

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.  (Psalm 51:5 NASB)

Those are just 4 Scriptures, taken from 2 books of the Bible, that testify to the sinfulness of man's nature.  But what is the extent of this sinful nature?  Is man just kinda sinful?  Is he just kinda bad?  Is he partially bad?  Or is he totally bad?  Did Adam's fall leave man merely wounded?  Or did Adam's fall leave man dead? 

We laid the foundation of the gospel in the last couple of posts.  That is, the gospel begins with God and His holiness.  The gospel then moves to man....and his sinfulness before a holy God.  It cannot jump immediately to Jesus dying on a cross for sinners.  That makes no sense to someone who has no concept of sin and how that applies to him.  Not only do we need a right understanding of God and His holiness but we also need a right understanding of man and his sinfulness if we are going to understand how beautiful the gospel really is.  And that is where we are going....looking at the Doctrines of Grace through the lens of the TULIP.  And today we look at the T.....Total Depravity.

The first thing that needs to be done is state what total depravity does NOT mean.  It does not mean that man is as bad and wicked as he could be.  Some people are obviously more wicked and mean than others.  This doctrine also does not mean that an unsaved person cannot do good things.  Jesus Himself said this:

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!  (Matthew 7:11 NASB)

Even a rank pagan, a hater of God, can work at the food pantry.  He can volunteer at the Boys club.  He can do a lot of nice, good things.  But, because of his corrupt nature, they are done for selfish reasons.  It'll make him feel good about himself and to impress people. These things are not done out of a heart that is wanting to bring glory to Christ.  It is to bring glory to himself.  It is so he can say, "Look at what I've done.  Aren't I great?"

What this doctrine of total depravity does teach is that, because of the sin of Adam, man's entire nature is corrupted.  His will has been corrupted, held in bondage to sin.  He cannot choose any spiritual good.  He cannot do any spiritual good.  Because of the fall, man's heart is in complete and total rebellion against God.  He does not like God nor can he.  He does not like or understand spiritual truth nor can he. He hates God and is hostile toward Him.  In his wickedness, he suppresses the truth about God and creates an idol of his own making:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.  For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.  (Romans 1:18-23 NASB)

In response:

Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.  For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.  (Romans 1:24-25 NASB)

God gave men up.  He turned men loose.  And men loved it:

and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.  (Romans 1:32 NASB)

I'm going to finish this post out with Scripture...no commentary, just Scripture.  This is by no means an exhaustive list concerning this subject but it gets the point across:

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  (Genesis 6:5 NASB)

the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth  (Genesis 8:21 NASB)

The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?  (Jeremiah 17:9 NASB)

For in Your sight no man living is righteous  (Psalm 143:2 NASB)

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, [i]envy, slander, pride and foolishness.  All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”  (Mark 7:21-23 NASB)

To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.  They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.  (Titus 1:15-16 NASB)

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 2:3 NASB)

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins  (Ephesians 2:1 NASB)

The wicked are estranged from the womb;
These who speak lies go astray from birth.  (Psalm 58:3 NASB)

This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.  For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  (John 3:19-20 NASB)

That is the testimony of the Holy Spirit, through Paul to the Romans and others, of the nature and heart of men.  Men are evil and wicked.  They hate God and want nothing to do with Him.  That is a problem seeing as man has been commanded by Jesus to:

"repent and believe in the gospel.”  (Mark 1:15 NASB)

Men are doomed.  Plain and simple.  What're they to do?  

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