Steven Lawson invites us to take seriously the doctrine of total depravity, so that we may have a greater love for the Savior and a greater appreciation for our great salvation. Through the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John, Lawson shows that the sinful man is in a terrible spiritual condition of ignorance, hatred, rebellion, and deafness.
The doctrines of grace are fundamental truths that exalt God’s grace in our lives. Each doctrine says in his own voice: God saves sinners. The shape? The Father, the Son, and the Spirit work to save sinners. The five points of the doctrines of grace are:
- The importance of knowing the spiritual state of man is that if we think that man is only spiritually ill.
- Then God’s saving grace will not be properly exalted; But if we believe that man is radically dead in sin and that he can do nothing to contribute to his salvation.
- Then we will contemplate the greatness of God’s salvation.
The testimony of Scripture is that every human being who was born in this world was born lost in sin, with a sinful nature and a bad inclination for sin. That is why God must be the one to seek and save the sinner. None who seek God? No sinner seeks God, God is the one who seeks the sinner.
Let’s look at four characteristics of sinful man: ignorance, hatred, rebellion, and spiritual deafness.
The first characteristic of man’s radical depravity is that he is in a state of spiritual ignorance.
Light shines in darkness, and darkness has not prevailed against [understood, the original allows this meaning too]. [?] The Word was in the world, the world was made by him, but the world did not know him. (John 1: 5. 10).
The Lord Jesus is the light that comes into the world, but the world has not understood it; the creator of the world came into the world, but the world did not know him; made it clear that this was the way, really. and life, resurrection, and life, but the world did not understand it, because it is under the plague called sin. To what extent can they be so blind that they do not see the light of the world?
who were not born of blood, nor of will of flesh, nor of will of man, but of God (John 1:13).
It is not by human effort, nor by ethnic characteristics, that someone is born again, if someone is saved, it is only by the will of God that activates the will of a man who died in sin.
To this Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that he that is not born again cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).
A sinner must first be born again to see, understand, and discern the kingdom of God; you can’t do that in the state you’re in; although man is allowed to see the kingdom or come unto Christ, he cannot do such things.
But if our gospel is still covered, it is for those who are lost that it is covered, in which the god of this century has blinded the understanding of the unbelievers, so that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, which is the image of God (2 Cor 4:3. 4), is not visible.
The natural man cannot understand the things of God, because the gospel is covered for them, because the devil blinded him.
However, man is not only ignorant. It is not only a matter of intellect, but also of heart, because man hates light.
The judgment is this: light has come into the world, and men have loved darkness more than light; because his deeds were bad. Because he who practices evil hates light and does not reach light, so that his works are not discussed. (John 3:19-20)
Anyone who does evil (and the Bible says they are all natural men) hates light and loves darkness. The heart of the human problem is therefore the problem of the human heart. The problem is in the heart!
Another characteristic of man’s radical depravity is his spiritual rebellion against God.
Therefore, everyone who believes in the Son has eternal life; He who rebels against the Son will not see life, but The wrath of God remains upon him (John 3:36).
The gospel is not a suggestion or an option. The gospel is a commandment, it is a divine imperative. Jesus preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is near. “Obey or disobey. Therefore, any form of disbelief is a spiritual rebellion against God and His Christ.
In truth, I truly tell you, the time has come and the time has come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear him will live (John 5:25).
This verse not only refers to the final resurrection, because time also “arrived”. This text speaks of the new spiritual birth of those who hear the voice of the Son of God. For this reason, Jesus emphasizes that whoever hears the Voice of the Son is the dead.
A doctor must always arrive at the correct diagnosis if he wants to give the correct treatment. In the world, there are three diagnoses for those outside of Christ:
No one can come to me if it is not brought by the Father who sent me; and I’ll resurrect you on the last day. (John 6:44)
It is the overwhelming truth that if the Father does not drag (bringing” has this meaning in the original) to someone to Christ, no one will come. Human beings cannot come unto Christ without divine intervention.
Jesus answered, “Truly, I tell you that all who commit sin are slaves to sin” (John 8:34).
Every sinner, who lives deliberately under sin, is under the terrible lordship of sin to do what his master commands.
You are the devil, who is your father, and you want to satisfy his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and never settled into the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he talks about what he is, it belongs to him, because he is a liar and a father of lies (John 8:44).
Jesus looked into the eyes of the religious of that time and said: your father is the devil, there are only two families on earth, the children of God and the children of the devil, unless God gives birth to someone new and thus becomes part of the divine family, every human being is the son of the devil, practices the works of his father and walks according to the prince of the power of the air (Eph 2 , 2)
Another characteristic is that the disbeliever can even hear the preacher’s voice, but he cannot hear God’s voice unless God carries the preached truth from ear to ear.
What’s the reason you don’t understand my language?It is because you cannot hear my word (John 8:43).
He who is of God hears the words of God; therefore, do not listen to me, for thou art not of God (John 8:47).
Those who are not of God do not listen to Christ and cannot hear His words.
It is a testament to the radical depravity of man. Doesn’t that mean that every man is as bad as possible, but that every human being is tainted by sin? Mind, heart and will are enslaved by sin, doing the will of Satan.
This truth of total depravity, of total inability to accept Christ, is not difficult to understand, it is difficult to swallow!This is because it hurts our precious pride of free will and leaves us in the condition of lost sinners who are totally dependent on God.
However, the importance of paying attention to this doctrine is that if we do not understand the bad news, we will not rejoice in the good news. The glory of God’s grace shines brighter under the dark fabric of our depravity. our spiritual misery was, we can see the great salvation we receive in Christ Jesus.