Doctrines of Grace - Total Depravity

Order of Service

• Bible Study — Doctrines of Grace: Total Depravity
• Prayer Requests
• Closing Prayer

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Sermon Title: Doctrines of Grace — Total Depravity

Scripture: Romans 3:9-20

I. Definition of Total Depravity

A. Total depravity means sin's effects on man are both pervasive and complete

1. Every faculty of man — will, emotions, mind — is under the dominion of sin
2. "Complete" means there is no inner spark or residual light man can use to save himself
3. Key texts: John 3:3, Ephesians 2:1-4

B. Total depravity is NOT utter depravity

1. Utter depravity would mean every person is as wicked as they could possibly be — this is not the Reformed claim
2. God's restraining grace is visible daily; unbelievers do externally good deeds (Luke 11:13, Romans 2:14-15)
3. However, no deed done outside of grace is ever done for the glory of God — Romans 14:23: whatever is not from faith is sin
4. The standard: Westminster Shorter Catechism Q.1 — "to glorify God and enjoy him forever" — is never the motive of the unregenerate heart

II. Original Sin

A. Sin representative — Romans 5:12-21

1. Through one man (Adam) sin and death entered the world and spread to all
2. The word "one" is the drumbeat of the passage: one man's trespass = condemnation for all; one man's righteousness = justification for all
3. Adam's sin is imputed and reckoned to every person's account — we sinned in Adam as our representative
4. Hosea 6:7 — "like Adam they transgressed the covenant," confirming a law-covenant (the covenant of works) existed in the garden
5. Romans 5:13 — sin was counted before the Mosaic law, confirming a pre-Mosaic law in the garden

B. Sin nature — Psalm 51:5

1. David confesses he was conceived and brought forth in iniquity — the sin nature precedes birth
2. Context: meditating on the sin with Bathsheba drives David not merely to seek absolution for one act but to contemplate the corrupt nature at his very core
3. Jeremiah 17:9 — "the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it?" — the depth of depravity is incomprehensible
4. Adam's sin nature is transmitted to all his posterity through ordinary generation (Westminster Confession of Faith)

III. Actual Sins

A. From the sin nature flow actual sins

1. "We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners"
2. Romans 3:9-20 — the fullest single-passage summary of total depravity
   • v. 9 — all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin
   • v. 10 — will and actions: none is righteous, no not one
   • v. 11 — the mind: no one understands
   • v. 12 — behavior: no one does good
   • vv. 13–14 — speech: throat an open grave, tongues deceitful, lips full of cursing
   • vv. 15–17 — temper and conduct: feet swift to shed blood, paths of ruin, no peace
   • v. 18 — the root: there is no fear of God before their eyes
3. The law's purpose (Romans 3:19-20): to stop every mouth and make the whole world accountable to God

B. The law is not a sum game — James 2:10-11

1. Breaking one point of the law makes one guilty of all of it
2. Every transgression is disobedience to the one God who gave the entire law
3. Every sin recapitulates what Adam did: obeying the voice of the creature over the voice of God
4. The tenth commandment (coveting) encapsulates all the commandments by addressing the internal heart