Have you ever sat in church having just listened to the sermon, and thought to yourself, “I sure am glad that my children heard that”, or maybe even, “I’m so glad pastor so and so hit on that because such and such needed to hear that”? This should leave us embarrassed and grieved. What a great disservice to God, to hear the message of His word preached and not faithfully place ourselves within its diagnosis, but rather in a prideful manner, think it applied to someone else. We shamefully think to ourselves, “I’m glad that person was in attendance today and got the much-needed diagnosis they needed.” It’s a grievous thing to think of, but why do we find a level of comfort in pointing to those people who appear worse sinners than we are? Well, truth be told, we stubbornly hold to a possibility that we are actually more righteous than the word of God describes us to be. So, what is the diagnosis God’s word gives us pertaining to self? “Then Yahweh saw that the evil of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5) I know I could wish that this verse was speaking of some era or class of super sinful mankind. However, it is the mirror which is meant for all of us to look at and see our condition. I’m referring here to the doctrine of man’s depravity or as we may know it, “total depravity”. Total depravity is a phrase that often is misinterpreted, many view this as meaning we are as sinful as can be, but this could not be further from the truth. God in his grace toward believers and unbelievers alike, keeps us from being as sinful as we could be. Yes, even the seemingly worst of historical mankind, as sinful as they were, could have engaged in much worse if not for God’s grace.
Total depravity describes the encompassing nature of our depravity, it means that sin permeates every aspect of our being. Again, this is not to say we are as sinful as we can be, but rather there isn’t a single aspect of our being that isn’t tainted in this depravity. We’ve been damaged by sin in all our faculties; whether physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, motivationally, or socially; all has been affected. Never has there been anyone who is only partially ravaged by this depravity, but all of us are totally depraved. The only one who has ever existed apart from total depravity is the Lord Jesus Christ. “For to this you have been called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps, WHO DID NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; who being reviled, was not reviling in return; while suffering, He was uttering no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.” (1 Peter 2:21-23) If I’m being honest, there are times where I want to believe instead that I’m deprived and not depraved, or that if I am depraved, that it isn’t total, that it doesn’t permeate everything about me. That is why I can find myself tempted to lie about my past, seeking to fabricate it, or in a sense, self-atone the revision of it, so I don’t seem near as bad. It is also why I am tempted to seek to justify that which I’ve said or done. When confronted by someone else over a wrong, I am just as easily tempted to turn the tables and seek to make sure they know that I’m not the only sinner in the room. However, when tempted like this, we need to, more importantly, I need to, remind myself of the gospel of grace. There is no good and no need to try and recall and count the good things done, in order to counter-balance the wrongs. “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we boast in hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:1-2)
You may be wondering, “how did I become totally depraved, what kind of judgment are you passing on to me”? Well, let me begin with first saying that our original parents, Adam and Eve, were created in a state of innocence, being without sin and having the ability to obey God. The woman being deceived, ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She then gave to her husband, and he ate willingly, knowing the consequences, and having been warned by God that in the day he did eat of it, he would surely die. They suffered spiritual death that day, and through which they would suffer physical death at a later time. This the tempering of God’s justice with mercy. The Greek translation of the word “thanatos” which was what was told them would happen in the day they ate of this; they did not experience the fullness of this word immediately. Though they spiritually died that day, they would be allowed to live another day. However, death was inevitable, as the wages of sin is death, and God who is thrice holy and just must mete out His justice, and has commanded that the soul that sins shall surely die. Through Adam’s sin, because he was our federal head (or for a more simplistic understanding, he was the representative for all mankind as he was the first created of mankind), we all inherit the sin nature. We are all born spiritually dead, separated from God, at enmity with God, hating God and the things of God. We know nothing but sin and are held in bondage to it, we are blinded to our spiritual state, estranged from God, and without hope in this life of ever being reconciled to God through any means of our doing. This sin nature or depravity that resides within, permeates every aspect of our being as described earlier. “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5) Such is the state of all born into this world, we are born into sin. From the moment of conception we inherit the sin nature. We therefore sin because we are sinners, we do not become sinners through sin. This depravity introduces itself at birth, and we see it in the fact that we do not have to teach our children to sin, they don’t have to watch this to learn it, but they are born with it, and therefore they sin from birth. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:8,10)
It is of dire necessity that we recognize this doctrine as truth, because it gives us a proper evaluation of ourselves. In all honesty, the holiness of God, His moral law, and now this doctrine on man’s depravity should leave us shook, broken, and undone like Isaiah upon His vision. He didn’t say “Wow! How marvelous!” No, he most likely fell on his face as he recognized his utter depravity, being completely undone by being in the presence of this thrice holy God. Such should be our reaction to these truths, we can’t help but fall apart, realizing we have no reason for God to show us mercy or grace, that instead we all are deserving of death, and after that the judgment unto eternal condemnation in the very real place we know as hell. We shouldn’t be measuring ourselves compared to others, for God does not judge as man. We show our ignorance of who God truly is if we think we will be judged in comparison to others. Rather we are judged according to His word, according to His holy and righteous standard, and we best believe He will see to it justice will be meted out. Either this justice will be meted out in your being condemned to an eternal perpetual death in hell, or it will have fallen upon Christ. What are you trusting in? Is it your works and your own supposed self-righteousness? Are you foolishly clinging to the hope that you won’t be judged according to His word, but rather upon the comparison of you and others? Let me warn you, if you find your faith in anything but Christ alone, you are already damned. We have been called to repentance, a turning from sin, and unto Christ Jesus. If we are unwilling to part with sin, we have no fellowship with our Lord. There cannot be a serving two masters, you either a slave to sin, or a slave to grace through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me be of some encouragement though, not to just give you this doom and gloom message. Jesus Christ the Son of God took on flesh, coming as a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, born of a virgin and without sin. He lived a live without sin, completely and perfectly obedient and submissive to the Father. He came to be your Propitiation, your Redeemer, your Savior. Our sins were imputed to Him while He hung on a cross suffering the death that we have earned. In this imputation of our sins onto Him, His perfect righteousness was imputed to us. He was forsaken by the Father as is the ultimate judgment of God, having suffered the wrath of God in your stead He died as the atoning Sacrifice of God for man. He was buried in a tomb, where He did not remain, but three days later He was resurrected, conquering sin, death, and the grave. He ascended to the right hand of the throne of God where He now sits ruling and reigning as the conquering King of kings and Lord of lords, He resides there to make intercession for you, and is your Mediator between you and God. He not only has atoned for your sins, He has reconciled you unto the Father, justified you, redeemed you, and has adopted you into the family of God. There are no greater truths and promises than these. However, none of this can be received apart from faith. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) Cry out to God in confession of your sins, with an earnestness in seeking to forsake them, turning from self and unto Christ. He bids you to come, to forsake all, pick up your cross and follow Him. So this day fall upon your knees and plead with God to give you the faith necessary unto salvation, that He would delight and be glorified in saving you from yourself, from all your sins. That He would be pleased to give you a new heart, cause you to be born-again to a living faith, indwelt by His Spirit, and empowered to walk in His ways, no longer seeking to fulfill your own will and selfish desires. There are no sins too great or too many that God’s arm is too short to save you from; we have a far greater Savior than the greatness of our sins. “Behold, the hand of Yahweh is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear.” (Isaiah 59:1) “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3) “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.” (Isaiah 45:22)