Published: October 5, 2014 | Speaker: Chuck Hartman | Series: The Five Points of Calvinism - Part 5
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of the first point of the five points of Calvinism the T for total depravity and
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this morning I wanted to begin by discussing what it does not mean before we discuss what it does mean let's
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discuss what it does not mean Arthur Custance writes total depravity is not intended to signify that unregenerate
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man is wholly evil in everything he does but rather that nothing he does is ever wholly good so the title total depravity
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does make it sound like man is is in all ways as bad as he could possibly be and
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I think we know that that's that's not the case it does not mean man is not totally evil in all that he does
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but nothing that he does is ever totally good or wholly good and if we think about works if we think about things
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that people do or have done we might take issue with with this statement in fact if we think about things that we have done we might actually deceive
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ourselves into believing that we've actually done something that was wholly good but where does the wickedness lie in even our best acts pride and where is
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where is pride where is the source of pride it's not in what we do it's in the heart right and that's really the issue here it's not what man does on the
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outside and I think Jesus makes this point numerous times in his diatribes against the Pharisees that outward they are whitewashed sepulchers or that they
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clean the outside of the cup and the saucer but inside is all manner of uncleanness the the issue is the heart
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the motives of what we do and in order for what we do to be good in the sight of God those motives have to be entirely and wholly pure which means they have to
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be entirely and wholly for the glory of God and to no other purpose than his glory well that is something that fallen
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man is incapable of doing now there are degrees of that inability that manifests themselves in the life of man but the
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first thing that we we point out is that that man is not totally evil in all the does I want to give you some scriptures romans 14 verse 23 go ahead and write it
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down I know what it says I'll go ahead and and just say it Romans 14 verse 23 Paul says that everything apart from
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faith is sin anything that we do that is a part and not infused with the faith and trust in God and not done for the
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glory of God is sin so what we're dealing with here is is and all of these discussions that they're not easily
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dissect a bull in two parts we can't it's not like taking apart a typewriter all of us boys did that or men did that when we were boys mine was an adding machine and I don't think the owner
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wanted to take it apart but you could take these things apart and you can lay out the pieces and you can analyze each gear and each lever and each wheel separately we're talking about things
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that pertain to God Christ man and they're all kind of inter woven and these doctrines even though we talk about them in under separate headings
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and you read about them under separate chapters in systematic theologies they're all interrelated so not only are we talking about the doctrine of man
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here so we have the doctrine of man in this heading but we also have doctrine of sin
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and the only way at least in my opinion and in my studies the only way that you can come up with anything good in is if you have a deficient understanding
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of sin in other words you have to grade man on the curve you have to lower the bar for him to get over it does that make sense when we understand what the
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scripture says about sin proverbs another reference but I don't use it as a primary reference because of the disagreement in translation but
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proverbs 21 verse 4 the King James the New King James says that even the
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plowing of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord well there nothing wrong with plowing right I mean that's what you do that's what farmers do you don't
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plow you don't plan if you don't plant you know reap but everything that we do when we are out of Christ when we are in our sin nature only under the wrath of
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God where we abide everything we do is an abomination to the Lord whose eyes are too wholly even to look upon sin
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okay does that make sense Jonathan Edwards use the the example of a pencil line drawn on a piece of paper
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and he said in light of the holiness of God the difference between the best of us and the worst of us is like the
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distance between the top of that line in the bottom of it now a pencil line is a lot thinner than than a pen line but it has width right if you got a magnifying
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glass to look at it you can see that there is a bottom edge and a top edge and Edwards opinion was that's the difference between the best of us and the worst of us in light of the holiness of God but we don't live in that light
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very often do we we live in the light of our own site and we're tempted to think well I'm not that bad I'm not as bad as that person but in the eyes of God we
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are all four all have come short of the glory of God the language is so total that that it's
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hard for us to escape the condition of man but why is it the man isn't as bad as he could be what is it that prevents
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us from being as bad as we could be okay
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well that that's a very good answer we have conscience Paul speaks in Romans 2 about the conscience of the
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uncircumcised of the Gentile and he says that that conscience is a law to that man and that conscience either convicts
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him or acquits him that God has left into us a vestige of the imago day in the sense that we know right from wrong but this conscience I would go on to say
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his it abides under the fear of judgment
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it's not just what society says is right or wrong that's not what guides mankind unfortunately it does guide those whose consciences have been seared conscience
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can be ignored long enough within an individual that it no longer speaks and it is called a seared conscience a dead conscience but even that person is not
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always as bad as he could possibly be there's still a residual fear of judgment from society if not from God so one reason that we're not as
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bad as we could be is because of the fear of judgment from God and from man another reason that we are not as bad as
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we could be is something called common grace God sending the rain on the just and the unjust bringing the seasons and
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the sunlight that God through his common grace that he gives to all mankind also restrains man now this this is more on a
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large picture and it comes from acts 17 let me give you the verse verses on these references Romans chapter 2
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verses 14 through 16 and Acts chapter 17 Paul speaking on Mars Hill and he's talking about God's sovereign governance of the world starting in verse 26 well
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really verse 26 will be enough for this reference although there are others he says that he made from one every nation of mankind to live on all the face of
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the earth having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitations now this this may not seem to apply to common grace
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restraining the wickedness of man but what does man do when he is unrestrained what donations do when they have unrestrained power well they usually
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commit great acts of wickedness against their fellow man do they not so this this act of God in determining the boundaries and the times of all nations
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all empires is an act of common grace actually the the Exile of Adam from the
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garden and the placing of the cherubim there to guard the entrance to the Tree of Life was an act of grace that man might not eat of the tree of life and
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live in his sin forever so God's common grace in restraining man's sin is evident at the very beginning of man's
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history and sin so I would give thanks to God that man isn't as bad as he could
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I was afraid somebody would ask that question second Thessalonians that which restrains the lawlessness or the lawless
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one is restraining until now Paul says and when it is removed well then was that second Thessalonians or first Thessalonians anybody none of
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the references I'd like to 2:7 know I'm in first Thessalonians the wonder I can't find it okay for the mystery of
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lawlessness is already at work only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way and then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his
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mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of his coming I'm not sure what that means and I'm not sure anybody in all of the commentaries that I've
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read knows what that means that that's a that is an example of God's grace whatever is being restrained and whoever
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is being restrained in Paul's mind in this passage is being restrained I believe being restrained by God I think that the answers that have been given
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both by reformed theologians and dispensational theologians have incredible gaping holes theologically there are untenable answers obviously we
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don't have time to go into those answers but yes it is an example of the restraint that God's Holy Spirit has put upon the wickedness of man the lawlessness of man what does God say
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about man what is his diagnosis of man well his diagnosis and we need to keep this in mind the intense
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of man's heart our only evil always what
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do you make of that can you say Sam well
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this is what God this is God's diagnosis of man prior to the flood but also right after the flood he says something very
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similar in Genesis chapter 9 chapter 6 in Chapter 9 so before and after now we're told that Noah was a righteous man and who walked with God we're also told
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that his sons were not uniformly as righteous as their father particularly him but the usage of this diagnosis both
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before and after the flood he's very important because it shows that the flood itself did not bring about the change in man's nature the flood wasn't
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in does that make sense the nature that man inherited from Adam passed through the flood in the person of Noah and his
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sons right so that right before God wipes out almost the entire human race he says this and right after doing that
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and about to start a new human race from the seed of Noah he says basically the same thing when he promises that he will not destroy the earth again by water he
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acknowledges that while I got rid it was a it it cleaned the slate as it were it didn't change the heart of fallen man
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but what what can an Arminian do with a passage like this you can't even make the distinction between unregenerate and a Regeneron
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because of what comes between those two and that is regeneration right you can't say oh this is talking about unregenerate man well okay that's fine
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how does this unregenerate man whose thoughts and intentions are only evil always how did he get to be regenerate
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where his thoughts and intentions are no longer always evil always there only evil often say that three times fast
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yeah I don't know I don't know how an Arminian can deal with this passage it is it is a passage where the negatives
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are piled up right
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no I don't think it does apply to regenerate man but that's because of what we read in 2nd Corinthians 5 and in Romans 8 Genesis 9 and while I'll go
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there and get the actual reference I'm sorry Genesis 6 6 6 5 thank you Genesis 6:5 how was it 8 8 21 thank you
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so before and after the flood but as for regeneration Paul's tells us in second Corinthians 5 that we have become a new creation and I think Paul's teaching and
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this this really gets into Pauline theology which I hope to do a little bit on Sunday evenings we're we're brand new in Christ we are the righteousness of
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God in Christ so there is a you know I don't think that this statement can be made of a regenerate person okay is that fair enough no no I'm saying that making
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that distinction doesn't help because it doesn't answer the question how did a man whose heart is only he will always get to be regenerate choo-choos how did
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he ever come to choose Christ how did he ever come to turn to God for salvation because clearly that kind of a choice that kind of an exercise is not evil
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right and the intent of the heart that would cause a man to choose God in Christ is not an evil intention is it no
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so that's really the question that the Calvinist has for the Armenian where did you find this germ of belief this spark
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of faith this smoldering ember in man where did you find it I don't find it what I find is a fire long-dead okay and
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the burning that goes on in man's heart is not toward God it's towards the lusts of the flesh of the eyes and the pride of life
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yes and many many people do that they bring they treat God as if he were just as such a one as we are the scripture actually God says that you think of me as altogether one like you and we do
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then the the example that were given of Samuel at Jesse's house getting them getting ready to anoint the next king of Israel he you know he looks at the sons as they come by and they're big
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strapping strong men and he's sanding the old surely this is the one what does God tell him no man looks at the outward but God looks upon the heart we know the
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passage in Jeremiah the heart is desperately wicked who can know it but 17:9 thank you don't you go anywhere
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79 but 1710 is usually not quoted and I think that's unfortunate 79 the heart is more deceitful than all else it is desperately sick who can understand it verse 10 I the LORD search the heart I
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test the mind even to give to each man according to his ways verse 10 is where it's at there is one who knows the heart
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and it's not even ourselves it's God and when he weighs the heart it's found lacking Sam
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yeah that's a good point let me put that up here up here Wesleyan ISM I don't remember where I am but I'll just do it this way Wesleyan ISM talk that common grace was
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given through the cross for every man
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that every man has been given the common grace the offer of salvation and we're
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going to get into that when we talk about limited or definite atonement and that is the of the five points that is the most offensive you've if you've
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heard of four point Calvinists it's that L that they don't like their two hips they don't like the L but when we talk about this let's let's go ahead and grant Wesley his premise that God has
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given universally the opportunity to believe to every man that still doesn't answer the question what is it in man
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fallen man unregenerate man that can possibly respond to that offer wait
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where do we find in man this ability to believe it's not so much that we argue that God's grace in Christ is sufficient
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to save all men the precious blood of the Lord is sufficient to save all men if that were God's intention okay that
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we'll get into the point of irresistible grace we'll talk about that is it all kind of flows together and it's very difficult to talk about one point without going over into the others but in this case
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under the T the question is and n remains where does one find in
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unregenerate man the ability to believe
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where do we find in man in unregenerate man the will to repent and believe to me
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when they say in the free will it's like the evolutionist that says that life came from outer space well that just further removes the question it doesn't
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answer it right let's say life came from some meteor that crashed into Earth millions and billions of years ago well where did that life come from you're not
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answering the question you're just giving it further away and that's all they're doing here we say okay he but he willed to believe that that he was free will was exercised when he read or heard
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the gospel and realized that he was a sinner and Christ was a savior and he needed to repent and believe and so he did but where did that come from
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where in man can you find the will to believe nowhere Romans 3 and which I
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think for Christians is well really for anybody but from the New Testament Romans 3 is the class passage dealing with Christian anthropology and Paul doesn't give man a
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whole lot of credit for ability starting in verse 10 as it is written there is none righteous not even one there is
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none who understand there is none who seeks for God now if the church today were truly
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biblical seeker-sensitive churches would be empty because there are none who seek after God okay they have all turned
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aside together they have become useless there is none who does good there is not even one then he goes into the anatomy of wickedness their throat is an open
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grave with their tongues they keep deceiving the poison of ASPs is under their lips whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness their feet are Swift to shed blood destruction and
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misery are in their paths and the paths of peace have they not known there is no fear of God in their eyes now you say oh
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that's just talking about the Jews no verse 15 because he's actually in this passage comparing Jews and Greeks and he starts out by saying they are all
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together shut up under sin and I think that means two things it means they are locked up under sin they are shut up and that they ought to shut up because
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they're under sin that their own protestations of their innocence are vain verse 19 now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are
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under the law that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God every mouth be closed
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what the Arminian is doing whether he realizes it or not and many of them don't realize it but he is protesting god's diagnosis
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god's diagnosis of his own heart he say you know what God I'm not as bad as you say I am because I can choose to believe in Jesus
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well now you're you're using different terminology but you're you're no longer in the Arminian camp you're in the Reformed camp whenever you say that becomes from that faith that God gives
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us that's a reformed statement not an Arminian one common grace is net is not usually used in terms of God giving us
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the ability to believe that's usually what is special grace Neal
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right and this same is true of Esau yeah what does it say about
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even if my good works yeah even my good works is believing and that's what the Arminian said Jesus says what is the work of God that you believe on Him whom he has sent that is a true answer but that doesn't
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mean we are able to that is the right answer you must believe on Jesus Christ that that is true that is the gospel that is evangelism in a nutshell okay but I
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don't think evangelism is John 3:16 evangelism is John 5:35 it's not for God so loved the world that he sent His only begotten Son begotten Son it's you must be born again that's the
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gospel okay that John 3:16 is merely the divine motivation for making the gospel possible for God so loved the world the
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Arminian says I don't like your diagnosis of God that's not my god yeah
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that's what you hear and that's what I read from Dave hunt that the ultimate issue with God is that he is love God is love the are the Calvinist responds and
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said I don't like your diagnosis of man
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I don't have a problem with God being a God of love that's very scriptural and really if you read the systematic theology written by an Arminian when you're reading through the theology
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section you'll read that God is omnipotent he's omnipresent he's omniscient he's holy he's love you read all of the attributes of God and it's all good stuff that's not what we differ
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it's right here your man is in biblical does that make sense
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yes God is ultimately holy which the Puritans defined as the sum of all perfections I don't remember who said
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that but that that is an excellent definition I think of of holiness but when we when we think about God in His essence and it's very hard for us to
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think that way because God is infinite and eternal than our and we are finite and temporal but when we talk about God being just God being merciful gracious
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loving all-knowing all-powerful those are called attributes I'm not sure holiness is properly called an attribute because it is really the sum of all
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god is love yeah we're raised from an early age in the modern church to misunderstand God from our Sunday School lessons and I've
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often talked about this but you know the the story of Noah's Ark the pictures are always of smiling animals with their heads you know there's always the
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smiling elephant of course there's always got to be two giraffes because that gives the picture balance what would be a more accurate picture
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thousands of men clawing on the outside of the Ark trying to get in later followed by corpses bumping up against the ark that's the pig we don't want to show that to our children though do we
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that's that that's the picture that that narrative tells us Sam
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I agree that I don't know that there have ever been many in God's people in the in the outward Assembly of God's people who have had the attitude of the Bereans to search the Scriptures to see
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that these things are so that's something that we've always tried to inculcate it fellowship Bible Church which frankly I believe is one of the reasons why we're a small church most
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most churches that do try to search the word are going to be small that was also true under the Old Covenant among the synagogue communities so and I don't
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want that ever to lead to pride because that's there's no good there and that that leads to Pharisee ISM but we need to think through these things they are
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very difficult but it but they they do come down and I'm going to close with this they do come down to some extent to just common sense and experience the
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council that condemned Pelagius and his teaching asked him to give them an example of any man who from within himself was ever was
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ever able to live a holy life other than Jesus Christ and blade gia says I don't know of any Herbert Butterfield is a fairly well-known historian among
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history nuts history nuts British historian we create tragedy after tragedy for ourselves by a lazy unexamined doctrine of man which is
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current amongst us in which the study of history does not support now that's twentieths early 20th century British writer let's go back to 1st
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century BC Roman writer Cicero who said simply man is a disaster really well
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when you look at history in the church as well as outside the church under the Old Covenant core the New Covenant what does history tell us about men what does
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our own experience dunks it tells us that man is desperately wicked and that the thoughts and intentions of his heart are only evil always let us pray