|
|
|
T.U.L.I.P.
TOTAL HUMAN DEPRAVITY AND
INABILITY
Text: "No man can come to Me except the Father
which hath sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up at the
last day"
(John 6:44).
INTRODUCTION
-
Total Depravity or Human's Inability means
that man in his natural state is incapable of doing anything
or desiring anything pleasing to God. Man's depravity, or
Total Inability to deliver himself from bondage of sin, is
grounded in the fact that his human spirit is dead from birth.
Until he is born again of the Holy Spirit, and given a living
human spirit, man is the slave of Satan who drives man to
fulfill the desires of the flesh which are enmity of God. In
the sight of God the "best hearted man" holds only evil
thoughts because they are oriented to doing human good for the
glory of himself or Satan, but never for the glory of the
Creator.
-
Man is totally depraved in the sense that
everything about his nature is in rebellion against God. Man
is loyal to the god of darkness and loves darkness rather than
The Light. His will is, therefore, not at all "free." It is
bound by the flesh to the prince of darkness grim. Total
Depravity means that man, of his own free will, will never
make a decision for Christ. Unborn children do not see the
light. Dead men do not see the light. Natural unregenerated
men cannot comprehend the things of God. They are the
unborn dead who know only the darkness. They are totally
depraved, wholly incapable of thinking, perceiving, or doing
anything pleasing to God, until God sees fit to give them Life
and understanding. Faith follows the giving of Life.
-
Man is not saved by some mythical act of his
own free will. He is saved by the grace of God who first gives
him life and then instills faith in his heart as a free gift.
Salvation is the gift of God. It is not the work of man. God
has decreed that the works of the flesh shall have no part in
the "so great salvation" which He Himself provides. It is work
through the gift of Life. He regenerated us when we were yet
dead in sins. Faith, too, is His gift. We are saved by means
of faith "which is not of ourselves."
-
The Scriptures teach that man is the slave of
sin (John 8:32-36), that he is spiritually dead, that he loves
darkness than light, and that he can "hear" only the voice of
the devil who is Satan—unless God
gives him ears to hear and eyes to see. Just as Lazarus would
never have heard the voice of Jesus, nor would he have never
come to Jesus, without first being given life of our Lord, so
all men, who are dead in trespasses and sins, must first be
given Life by God before they can come to Christ. Since
dead men cannot will to receive life, but can be raised from
the dead only by the power of God, so the natural man cannot
of his own "free will," to have eternal life.
-
Because of the fall, man is unable of
himself to savingly believe the gospel. The sinner is
dead, blind, and deaf to the things of God; his heart is
deceitful and desperately corrupt. His will is not free, it is
in bondage to his evil nature, therefore, he will not―indeed
he cannot—choose over evil in the
spiritual realm. Consequently, it takes more than the
Spirit's assistance to bring a sinner to Christ it takes
regeneration by which the Spirit makes the sinner alive and
gives him a new nature. Faith is not something man
contributes to salvation but is itself a part of God's gift of
salvation―it is God's gift to the
sinner, not the simmer's gift to God.
-
Coming to Christ is the very first effect of
regeneration. No sooner is the soul quickened than it once
discovers its lost estate, is horrified thereat, looks out for
a refuge, and believing Christ to be a suitable one, flies to
Him and reposes in Him. Where there is not this coming to
Christ, it is certain that there is as yet no quickening:
where there is no quickening, the soul is dead in trespasses
and sins, and being dead it cannot enter into the kingdom of
heaven.
-
Coming to Christ, though described by some
people as being the very easiest thing in all the world is in
our text declared to be a thing utterly and entirely
impossible to any man, unless the Father shall draw him to
Christ. It shall be our business, then, to enlarge upon this
declaration. We doubt not that it will always be offensive to
carnal nature, but nevertheless, the offending human nature is
sometimes the first step towards bringing it to bow itself
before God. And if this be the effect of a painful process, we
can forget the pain and rejoice in the glorious consequence.
I. WHY MAN IS TOTALLY
DEPRAVED?
-
The text says, "No man can
come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him."
John 6:44. Wherein does this inability lie? It does not lie in
any physical defect. If in coming to Christ, moving the body or
walking with the feet should be in any assistance, certainly
man has all physical power to come to Christ in that sense. As
long as a man was alive and had legs, it was easy for him to
walk to the house of God as to the house of Satan. If coming
to Christ includes the utterance of a prayer, man has no
physical defect in that respect, if he be not dumb, he can say
a prayer as easily as he can utter blasphemy. It is as easy
for a man to sing one of the songs of the Missionary Baptist
Church as to sing a profane and libidinous song. There is no
lack of physical power incoming to Christ All that can he
wanted with regard to the bodily strength man most assuredly
has, and any part of salvation which consists in that is
totally and entirely in the power of man without any
assistance from the Spirit of God.
-
Nor, again, does this
inability lie in any mental lack. So far as believing on Christ
is an act of the mind. We are just as able to believe on Christ
as we are able to believe on any body else. We can believe the
statement that Christ makes as well as we can believe the
statement of any other person. There is no deficiency of faculty
in the mind: it is as capable of appreciating as a mere mental
act the guilt of sin, as it is appreciating the guilt of
assassination. It is just as possible for us to exercise the
mental idea of seeking God, as it is to exercise the thought of
ambition. We have all the mental strength and power that can
possibly be needed, so far as mental power is needed in
salvation at all. There is not any of man so ignorant that he
can plead a lack of intellect as an excuse
of rejecting the gospel. The defect, then, does not lie in the
body, or, what we are bound to call, speaking theologically, the
mind. It is not any lack or deficiency there, although it is the
vitiation of the mind, the corruption or the ruin of it, which,
after all, is the very sense of man's inability.
-
Permit us to show you
wherein this inability of man really does lie. It lies deep in
our nature. Through the fall, and through our own sin, the nature
of man has become so debased, and depraved, and corrupt, that it
is impossible for him to come to Christ alone by himself without
the assistance of God the Holy Spirit. Now, the reason why man
cannot come to Christ, is not because he cannot come, so far as
his body or his mere power of mind is concerned, but because his
nature is so corrupt that he has neither the will nor the power
to come to Christ unless drawn by the Holy Spirit.
-
Not only is the human will
obstinate, but the understanding is darkened and blinded by
Satan. Of that we have abundant Scriptural proof. We are not now
making mere assertions, but stating doctrines authoritatively
taught in the Holy Scripture, and known in every conscience of
every Christian man―that the understanding of man is so dark,
that he cannot by any means understand the things of God until
his understanding has been opened. Man is by nature blind
within. I Corinthians 2:14. For as long as that Scripture stands
true, that carnal man cannot receive spiritual things, it must
be true that you have not received them, unless you have been
renewed and made a spiritual man in Christ Jesus. The will,
then, and the understanding, are two great doors, both blocked
against our coming to Christ, and until these are opened by the
sweet influence and work of the Divine Spirit, they must be
closed to anything like coming to Christ.
-
The affection which constitute
a very great part of man, are depraved. Man, as he is, before he
receives the grace of God, loves anything and everything above
spiritual things. Why is it that man is not
found on the Lord's Day, Wednesday Prayer Meetings, Church-wide
Soul Winning Efforts universally flocking to the house of God?
Why are we not constantly found reading our Bibles? How is it
that prayer is a duty universally almost universally neglected?
Why is it that Jesus is so little beloved? Why are even His
professed followers so cold in their affections to Him?
Assuredly, dear brethren, we can trace them to no source than
this, the corruption and vitiation of the affections.
-
We love sin that which we
ought to hate, and we hate spiritual things that which we ought
to love. It is but human nature, fallen human nature, that man
should love this present life better than the life to come. It
is but effect of the fall, that man should love sin better than
righteousness, and the ways of this world better than the ways
of God. And again, we repeat it, until these affections be
renewed, and turn into a fresh channel by the gracious drawings
of the Father, it is not possible for any man to love the Lord
Jesus Christ.
-
When man fell in the
garden, manhood fell entirely; there was not one single pillar
in the temple of manhood that stood erect. It is true,
conscience was not destroyed. The pillar was not shattered, it fell;
and it fell, in one piece, and there it lies along, the
mightiest remnant of God's once perfect work in man. But the
conscience is fallen, we are sure. Look at men. Who among them
is the possessor of a "good conscience toward God," but the
regenerated man? In fact, did conscience over bring a man to
such a self-renunciation that he did totally abhor himself and
all his works and come to Christ? No, conscience, although it is
not dead, is ruined, its power is impaired, it has not that
clearness of eye and that strength of hand, and that thunder of
voice, which it had before the fall: but had ceased to a great
degree, then, beloved brethren, it becomes very necessary for
this very reason, because conscience is depraved, that the Holy
Spirit should step in, to show us our need of a Savior, and draw
us to the Lord Jesus Christ.
-
A false Bible teacher and
an opponent of the doctrine of Total Depravity and Human
Inability says, "It appears to me that you consider that the
reason why men do not come to Christ is that they will not,
rather than they cannot." Yes, true, most true. But allow us to
go a little further. Our text John 6:44 does not say, "No man
will come," but it says, "No man can come." There is in man, not
only unwillingness to be saved but there is a spiritual
powerlessness to come to Christ; and this we will prove to every
Christian at any rate. Beloved brethren, we speak to you who
have already been quickened by the divine grace, does not your
experience teach you that there are times when you have a will
to serve God, and yet have not the power? Have you not sometimes
been obliged to say that you have wished to believe, but you
have had to pray, "Lord help mine unbelief?" Because although
willing enough to receive God's testimony, your own carnal
nature was too strong for you, and you felt you needed
supernatural help. Are you able to go into your room at any hour
you choose, and to fall upon your knees and say, "Now, it is my
will that I should be very earnest in prayer, and that I should
draw near unto God?"
-
We ask, do you find your
power equal to your will? You could say, even at the bar of God
Himself, that you are sure you are not mistaken in your
willingness; you are willing to be wrapt up in devotion, it is
your will that your soul would not wander from a pure
contemplation of the Lord Jesus Christ, but you find that you
cannot do that, even when you are not willing, without the help
of the Holy Spirit. Now, if the quickened child of God finds a
spiritual inability, advanced Christian, after thirty or forty
years finds himself sometimes willing and yet powerless—if such
be his experience,—does it not seem more than likely that the
poor sinner who has not yet believe, should find a need of
strength as well, as a want of will?
-
If a sinner has a strength
to come to Christ, we should like to know why we are to
understand those continual descriptions of the sinner's state
which we meet within God's holy word? Now, a sinner is said to
be dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). Will you affirm
that death implies nothing more than the absence of a will?
Surely a corpse is quite as unable as unwilling. Or again, do
not all men see that there is a distinction between will and
power: might not that corpse be sufficiently quickened to get a
will, and yet to be so powerless that it could not lift as much
as its hand or foot? Have we never seen cases in which persons
have been just sufficiently reanimated to give evidence of
life, and have yet been so near death that they could not have
performed the slightest action? Make a man willing, and he will
be made powerful; for when God gives the will, He does not
tantalize man by giving him to wish for that which he is unable
to do; nevertheless he makes such a division between the will
and the power, that it shall be seen that both things are quite
distinct gifts of the Lord God. "For it is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Read
Philippians 2:13.
II. WHY THE DRAWINGS OF GOD
THE FATHER?
-
Because, "No man can come
to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." Read John
6:44. How then does the Father draw men? By the preaching of the
gospel? Very true, the preaching of the gospel is the instrument
of drawing men, but there must be something more than this. To
whom did Christ address these words? Why, to the people of
Capernaum, where He had often preached, where He had uttered
mournfully and plaintively the woes of the law and the
invitation of the gospel. In that He had done many works and
worked many miracles. In fact, such teachings and such
miraculous attestations had He given to them, that He declared
that Tyre and Sidon would have repented long ago in sack-cloth
and ashes, if they have been blessed with such privileges.
-
Now, if the preaching of
Christ Himself did not avail to enabling these men to come to
Christ, it cannot be possible that all was intended by the
drawing of the Father was simply preaching. No, brethren, you
must note again, He does not say, no man can come except the
minister draw him, but except the Father draw him. Now there is
such a thing as being drawn by the gospel, and drawn by the
minister, without being drawn by God. Clearly it is a divine
drawing that is meant, a sending out of the Third Person, the
Holy Spirit, to induce men to come to Christ. Mark that in the
Father's drawing there is no compulsion whatever; Christ never
compelled any man to come to Him against his will. If a man be
unwilling to be saved, Christ does not save him against his
will.
-
How, then, does the Holy
Spirit draw him? Why, by making him willing. It is true He does
not use "moral suasion;" He knows a nearer method of reaching
the heart. He goes to the secret fountain of the heart, and He
knows how, by some mysterious operation, turn the will in an
opposite direction, so that the man is saved "with full consent
against his will;" that is, against his old will he is saved.
But he is saved by full consent, for he is made willing in the
day of God's power. Psalm 110:3. Do not imagine that any man go
to heaven lacking and struggling all the way against the hand
that draws him. Do not conceive that any man will be plunged in
the bath of a Savior's blood while he is striving to run away
from the Savior. It is quite true that first of all man is
unwilling to be saved. When the Holy Spirit has put His
influence into the heart, the text is fulfilled—"draw me aril I
will run after Thee." Song of Solomon 1:4. We follow on while He
draws us, glad to obey the voice once we had despised But the
gist of the matter lies in the drawing and in the turning of the
will. How is it done no flesh knew; it is one of those mysteries
that is clearly perceived as a fact, but the cause of which no
tongue can tell, and no heart can guess.
-
The apparent way, however,
in which the Holy Spirit operates, we can tell you. The first
thing the Holy Spirit does when He comes into man's heart is
this: He finds him with a very good opinion of himself and there
is nothing which prevents a man coming to Christ like a good
opinion of himself. Why, says man, "I don't want to come to
Christ. I am good and righteous as anybody can desire. I feel I
can walk into heaven on my own rights." The Holy Spirit lays
bare his life, uncovers to him all the blackness and defilement
of that sink of hell, the human heart, and then the man stand
aghast. "I never thought I was like this. Oh, those sins I
thought were little, have swelled out to an immense stature.
What I thought was a molehill has grown into a mountain; it was
but a hyssop on the wall before, but now it has become a cedar
of Lebanon."
III. WHAT'S THE APPLICATION OF
THE DOCTRINE?
-
The nature of the work. It
is drawing, which denotes not a force put upon the will, whereby
of unwilling they are made willing, and a new bias is given to
the soul, by which it inclines to God. This seems to be more
than a moral suasion, for by that it is in the power to draw;
yet it is not to be called a physical impulse, for it lies out
of the road of nature; but He that formed the spirit of man
within him by Ills creating power, and fashions the hearts of
men by His providential influence, knows how to new-mould the
soul, and to alter its bent and temper, and make it comfortable
to himself and his own will, without doing any wrong to its
natural liberty. It is such a drawing as works not only a
compliance, but a cheerful compliance, a complacency: Draw us
and we will run after Thee.
-
The necessity of it. No
man, in this weak and helpless state, can come to Christ without
it. As we cannot do any natural action without the concurrence
of common providence, so we cannot do any action morally good
without the influence of special grace, in which the new man
lives, and moves, and has its being, as much as the mere man has
in the divine providence.
-
The author of it. The
Father who hath sent me. The Father, having sent Christ, will
succeed Him, for He would not send Him on a fruitless errand.
Christ having undertaken to bring souls to glory, God promised
Him, in order thereunto, to bring them to Him, and so to give
Him possession of those to whom He had given Him a right. God,
having by promise given the kingdom of Israel to David, did at
length draw the hearts of the people to Him; so, having sent
Christ to save souls, He sends souls to Him to be saved by Him.
-
The crown and perfection of
this work. "And I will raise him up at the last day." This is
four times mentioned in this discourse, and doubtless it
includes all the intermediate and preparatory workings of divine
grace. When He raises them up at the last day, He will put the
last hand to His undertaking; will bring forth the topstone, and
will do everything that is necessary in order to do it. Let our
expectations be carried out towards a happiness reserved for the
last day, when all the years of time shall be fully completed
and ended.
CONCLUSION
-
This doctrine of Total
Inability, which declares that men are dead in sin, does not
mean that all men are equally bad, nor that any man is as bad as
he could be, nor that any one is entirely destitute of virtue,
nor that human nature is evil in itself, nor that man's spirit
is inactive, and much less does it mean that the body is dead.
What it does mean is that since the fallen man rests under the
curse of sin, that he is actuated by wrong principles, and that
he is wholly unable to love God or to do anything meriting
salvation. His corruption is extensive but not necessarily
intensive.
-
It is in this sense that
man since the fall "is utterly indisposed, disabled, and made
opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil." He
possesses a fixed bias of the will against God, and
instinctively and willingly turns to evil. He is an alien by
birth and a sinner by choice. The inability under which he
labors is not an inability to exercise volition, but an
inability to be willing to exercise holy volition. In matters
pertaining to his salvation, the unregenerated man is not at
liberty to choose between good and evil, but only to choose
between greater and lesser evil, which is not properly free
will. The fact that fallen man still has ability to do certain
acts morally good in themselves does not prove that he can do
acts meriting salvation, for his motives may be wholly wrong.
-
Man is a free agent but he
cannot originate the love of God in his heart. His will is free
in the sense that it is not controlled by any force outside of
himself. As the bird with a broken wing is "free" to fly but not
able, so the natural man is free to come to God but not able.
How can he repent of his sin when he loves it? How can he come
to God when he hates Him? This is the inability of the will
under which man labors. To assume that because man has ability
to love he therefore has ability to love God, is about as wise
as to assume that since water has the ability to flow, it
therefore has the ability to flow uphill; or to reason that
because a man has power to cast himself from the top of a
precipice to the bottom, he therefore has equal power to
transport himself from the bottom to the top.
-
This doctrine of the Total
Inability of man is terribly stem, severe, forbidding. But it
is to be remembered that we are not at liberty to develop a new
doctrine suited to our liking. We must take the facts as we find
them. Such exhibitions of the true state of mankind are, or
course, offensive to unregenerate men generally; and many have
tried to find out a system of doctrines more palatable to the
popular mind. The state of fallen man is such that he readily
listens to any theory which makes him even partly independent of
God; he wishes to be the master of his fate and the captain of
his soul. The lost, ruined, and helpless state of the sinner
needs to be constantly set before him; for until he is brought
to feel it, he will never seek help where alone it is to be
found. Poor man! Truly carnal and sold under sin, not only
without power but without inclination to move toward God; and
what is more awful still, an actual rebel.
|
|
 |
