4. “Can We Really Believe in Total Depravity?” (Romans 3, Part 1)

Of the many things the Christian faith teaches, what it teaches about human sin has to be one of the most challenging things for modern people to stomach. How can we really believe what we just confessed a few minutes ago from the Heidelberg Catechism? Isn’t it grossly inaccurate to speak this way?  Isn’t it just wrong in what we see and experience in the world?  

Let’s say you’re here this morning and you’re someone who has not yet become a Christian, you’ve not been born again by the Spirit of God to new life in Jesus. How can what we just confessed be true?  Sure you make mistakes, who doesn’t?  But to say you can’t do any good?  That’s ridiculous.  OR you’re here this morning and you are a Christian, and when you think about your friends from school or people in your neighborhood or people you work with who are not believers in Jesus, and yet you’ve seen them do good things… This doesn’t make any sense. Sure, there are really bad people and evil people out there, the Adolf Hitlers and evil dictators, human traffickers and people who abuse children, but there’s also a lot of people who work hard to put their kids through school, who give to charity, who strive to make the world better. Can you really say, “apart from being born again” we can do no good and are inclined toward all evil, like the catechism says? Is the catechism right? More importantly is Paul right where he says in v. 10 “no one is righteous… no one does good…not even one”?  

Now to be clear, the Christian doctrine of sin and specifically, total depravity, does not teach that people are as bad as they could be.  It does not teach that people are constantly doing the very worst evil imaginable, all the time. Let’s not misunderstand what we’re talking about. But it does teach that the depravity or corruption of sin is total, in that it affects every part of us.  To use the language of the catechism, sin has “poisoned” our nature and because of this corruption we are unable to do any good apart from being born again by the Spirit of God.     But even clarifying the meaning of Total Depravity – Can we really believe that?    

Three things this morning as we consider this question and this text:

• How can this be true? That is, how can we make sense of what the Bible says?  

• What this doctrine reveals about us. 

• Why we must believe it.

How can this be true?  How can we make sense of this teaching, especially as we think about life in this world?  

I want you to imagine a family.  Let’s say a family like mine- a husband, a wife, and a few kids.  And now I want you to imagine that the husband has become embittered to his wife.  He finds himself frustrated and angry at her.  He finds that he’s deeply annoyed with her.  And for a variety of reasons he is going to just sort of cut her out. He’s not going to divorce her, but he’s going to cut her out emotionally, relationally, and just co-exist.  For whatever reason he won’t bring himself to actually relate to her and move toward her. Rather, he operates in the family almost like mom just doesn’t exist.  Now this man does all sorts of things to try and love his kids.  He helps them with their homework.  He takes them to soccer practice.  He teaches them about forgiveness and love, what’s good and right, and what’s not.  He takes them on vacation, though all these we could say have a bit of awkwardness to them because on vacation, mom is there, but there’s a deadness in the relationship that the kids can feel, even though they don’t understand why it feels so yucky. This man, this husband in the scenario, does some things that in a sense we could call good.  But yet if we stepped back and saw the bigger picture, what’s happening in this family is not good, and I think most of us would be concerned about kids growing up in a family system like this. It would not be hard to image how the kids as they grow up might begin to resent and find issues with their dad and even some of the “good” things he was teaching him, like about love, and forgiveness, and right and wrong, because he’s living out a life of bitterness and a lack of love toward their mother every day.  Even the “good” is deeply marred and tainted by the relational dysfunction of how Dad just pretends that mom doesn’t exist.   

The Bible says that we all were created to be in a close, imitate, loving relationship with God.  We were made to trust him, love him, and do all things as creatures who relate to him.  It is actually an incredibly weak comparison to the example I just gave.  If this God exists and if we all know this God by virtue of living in his world and being made in his image, then everything we do and every part of our lives are to be pursued or enjoyed through him and unto him. Our families, our friends, what we do for our work and careers, how we treat other people made in God’s image.  Everything!  We are to love because God is love and we were made to reflect him.  We are to live lives of true goodness and righteousness, because God is good and righteous.  When people apart from being born again and knowing God through Jesus, love others, or help the poor, or give themselves for their kids , if you zoom in, yes those are good things.  And yes, God would rather people do that then hurt, kill, and abuse, but zoom out and see the person and what they are doing and see what they are doing with God. It is like the Father teaching his kids about forgiveness, while living the contradiction of hating his wife, only so much worse!!! 

Because when we do these “good” things apart from God, not acknowledging him, not doing it through him and unto him, we do them as if we’re not dependent on God, as if these things can be true with God or without God.  

Again the analogy breaks down because the relationship between a husband and wife is not foundational to this man.  His being and existence is not defined by and does not flow from the relationship with his wife.  His essence and existence is not dependent upon his wife.  But this is exactly the kind of relationship the Bible says we have with God.  To be created in God’s image means we are dependent upon God.  We are made to reflect him and our being and existence is dependent and derived from him. We can certainly see all sorts of people in the world doing good things.  We can and should be very thankful to God that for all sorts of reasons the bent and poisoned nature of humanity does not express itself constantly in the worst possible ways.   

But when you consider how we are meant to relate to God in all things, even the good that people do, as it is done in a way that fails to acknowledge God, and thank him, and trust him, and love him, and do it unto him – those “good things” actually demonstrate and show our bent and poisoned nature.  Far from being evidence against what the Bible teaches, it reveals the truth of what the Bible says.  

What (does) this doctrine reveal about us?

Scripture is God’s revelation to us. In the Bible, God tells us things about ourselves, about Him, about this world, all sorts of things that we couldn’t just figure out on our own.  We all know that we mess up, that we make mistakes, that we hurt other people.  There is not a self-conscious person, a truly aware of themselves kind of person, that doesn’t regret things they did, or said, or thought, or regret not doing things they knew were right and they failed to do it. We see and experience the tip of the iceberg.  But God in his word shows us what’s really underneath the surface.  He exposes what’s truly going on.  And he does this, not because he’s mean. He doesn’t do it because he hates us.  He doesn’t do it because he wants to wipe our noses in our mess and shame us.  He reveals what’s really going on in us, because he loves us.  

It is sad to me that sometimes the biblical teaching about sin has been used by Christians or pastors as a weapon. What’s communicated is, “you are so worthless, look at how much of a failure you are…” That would be like a doctor coming into your room pointing at the x-ray and saying, “look at that broken arm, you idiot…” pulling out your MRI “ look at that cancer. You failure…” If you were with us last week for Romans 1 the worst thing God could do to you is hand you over to your sin and what you are saying you want in sin, life without God. He is the divine physician.  If he wanted to judge and condemn us, he doesn’t need to reveal anything to us about our sin.  He could just let us go on in blind ignorance of our real condition. If God is exposing our sin, if he is pulling back the curtain on the extent and depth of our situation, it is not to shame us, and rub our noses in our mess, but make utterly clear why we  must embrace Jesus, why we a savior, why we need forgiveness, and to be made right with God, why we need the divine physician. What Paul is trying to make utterly clear in this passage – EVERYONE is under the power of sin.  V. 9 says, “we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin”. You see – God is showing us – Sin is more than sinful actions, sinful deeds, it is a corrupting power we are under.  

In verses 10 – 18, Paul quotes a string of passages from the Old Testament, to make his case.   These quotations are largely taken from the book of Psalms and Isaiah.  What’s interesting is that in their original context they depict what is true of the “wicked,” the bad guys.  Paul quotes from texts that would have been understood to make a “them” and “us” distinction,  that is what the wicked are like, that is what the unrighteous are like. They are like that, we are different.  But Paul takes these quotations and uses them to say – when you dig down deep – all of us fit the category of “unrighteous” and “wicked”. Jews and Gentiles alike have been corrupted by sin.  You may have God’s law.  You may come from the most religious of families and backgrounds, but don’t think for a minute that that somehow excludes you from the problem and corruption of sin. The corruption of sin is universal.  It affects everyone. 

“None is righteous, no, not one;

11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.

12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

no one does good,not even one.”

The extent of this corruption is total – it affects every part of us. In chapter 1 Paul has already written about how sin affects and corrupts the mind. Our thinking is affected, we are not as rational as we think we are. Sin corrupts our desires. They become twisted, bent away from what is truly good.  The compass of our hearts is wildly off base apart from Christ. In Chapter 2,  Paul writes about how even among God’s people in their religious life, you can see the corrupting power of sin.  They have God’s law and boast in it, but they don’t actually live it out. The corruption and bentness is seen in how we live.  In chapters 1 and 2 Paul has given various examples of this.  Here in verses 13-17 he zeros in on how the corruption of sin can be seen in our speech and in our proclivity toward violence.  

13 “Their throat is an open grave;

they use their tongues to deceive.”

“The venom of asps is under their lips.”

14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

You think about our Speech and the things we say about other people. We don’t have to teach people to do this, we see it in little children. When my daughter comes home and tells a story of how someone intentionally excluded her or some other kid from playing with the popular group at recess; When you think about your life and the people you love, can you think of things you’ve said to hurt because you were angry or inconvenienced, or you told a lie or a half truth to protect yourself and scapegoat someone else?

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

16 in their paths are ruin and misery,

17 and the way of peace they have not known.”

Think of this history of wars and conflicts among various people groups, nations, cultures, races 

1. 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

We do these things and we don’t fear God. We’ve cut him out from the picture, we’ve turned away, we’ve deemed him irrelevant. He concludes in verses 19-20 with a courtroom image, where humanity, all of us, are guilty before God.  These things are true.  And we stand before God, accountable, and there’s nothing we can say to deflect or defend ourselves.  We are guilty and we can’t make it right. God is exposing us, he’s revealing the true depth and extent of our problem.

Why we must believe this

We must believe what God tells us about our sin to understand the gospel – to understand the amazing good news about Jesus. We need someone to set us free.  We don’t need moral improvement, or education, we don’t need to just make some better choices or change a habit here or there.  Apart from Jesus, you and I are slaves of sin.  We are stuck.  We are captives; And yet we are not victims. We willingly participate and contribute to the evil and darkness of sin.  We need a savior.  We need a righteousness that we could never produce, make, or contribute to.  We need a deliverer, a liberator, a king who can defeat this power. We need the king who has broken into this world of sin and death and evil, bent away from God. We need the king who came and who through his death and resurrection defeated the power of sin and death.  The king who makes us right with God, through whom we can be declared “righteous.”  We need a king who will not only put us right with God so that we are no longer guilty and condemned, but a king who can renew us into the image of God so that what is bent and corrupt in us is being remade, and healed, and renewed. We need this King, Jesus Christ, through whom we can come and offer our whole selves to God.

That’s the gospel, the message, Paul has been proclaiming in Romans.  It makes no sense if we don’t see and embrace what is our real problem. You must believe what the Bible says about sin to understand the gospel. AND You must believe what the Bible says about sin to respond to the gospel as we are meant to. Where Paul is going with all this is chapter 12 where he will say – “I urge you, through God’s mercies, to present your body as a living sacrifice”, to offer your whole self to God, to give yourself to God.  

The British Pastor – Martin Lloyd Jones, from the mid-20th century illustrated the point this way:  Imagine a bill collector comes to your home while you’re out some day.  Your neighbor comes over and talks to the bill collector and decides to pay the debt for you.  How do you respond?  Well, says Lloyd Jones, if you simply forgot to pay the electric bill one month, you thank them for their kind gesture and getting you out of the annoyance of having your electricity turned off.  

But what if it was an agent from the government, and in truth you owed millions and millions of dollars in improperly filed taxes and penalties, a debt so big you would never be able to pay it off?  How would you respond to someone who paid that debt?  

If you want bland, impotent, or sentimental religion, then I guess  believe whatever you would like about sin.  But if you long for real power to change and transform your life, if you want confidence and hope and assurance and joy, then you have to believe what the Scriptures teach about sin. Remember, we only see part of our sin.  Like an iceberg, we can see what’s above the surface.  We can see we sometimes do things that are selfish, unloving, hurtful.  But God’s revelation, the Scriptures, lay bare and expose the depth of our problem and the severity of our condition. If you take seriously what God reveals about your sin, you’ll find in the gospel the love of God in such potency and power that you will forever be changed, transformed, lifted up, and filled with joy.  

This week I’ve been thinking about John 4, a pretty well known, famous passage where  Jesus comes and talks with a Samaritan woman at a well. Jesus comes to this woman; she’s got the wrong religion, she doesn’t believe the right things about God, she’s sexually immoral, she’s had multiple husbands and is living with a man who’s not her husband.  And Jesus tells her, “the Father is seeking worshipers”. That’s amazing. You see, we don’t seek God.  In our sin, we don’t want God.  But for some reason, some incredible reason, God wants us, God seeks us, God loves us, God pursues us.  

It is because of the Father’s love for you he sent his Son into the world. Because of Son’s love for you he gave his body to die our death that by his death and resurrection God’s kingdom of peace, and love, and righteousness would break into this world of sin and death and break into your life.  It is because of the love of the Father and the Son that they send God the Holy Spirit to make those who are dead and stuck in sin alive by the message of the gospel, the Spirit who remains with us and testifies to us that we belong to God as his beloved children, the Spirit who enables us to worship the Father in truth. The love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has drawn you and called you and made it possible for you to give yourself and your life to God. You now get to give yourself to God. You get to serve and worship God, in whose service is perfect freedom.  This is the gospel. This is the powerful gospel of God’s grace that sustained the church in Rome nearly 2000 years ago.  When you imagine say, 150 people, trying to live out together offering their whole selves to Jesus in worship and mission in a place like Rome, when you consider the challenges of just daily life and relational challenges that happen in any church, but especially a multicultural church with Jews and Gentiles like the church in Rome, when you consider what it would take to help a people like this live differently, serving king Jesus and living for him rather than living for the Roman Emperor and the roman way of life, what else could give that power other than this powerful gospel of God’s grace?  

And when we consider today-  What would you and I need to offer ourselves to God?  In our world there is so much competing for our time, our resources, our attention – what would you and I need to move us and convince us to give our whole selves to God – to offer our whole lives?  It is this gospel, this good news that though our sin goes deep, God’s grace abounds through our king, Jesus Christ.