For our Scripture reading this morning, turn with me to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2, as we read together the first ten verses of that chapter. Ephesians 2. And once you have found that, if you would also turn in the back of the Psalter hymnal to page 102, as we find together the third and fourth heads of doctrine of the canons of Dort. We continue with our study of TULIP as it's taken in the order the canons deals with it. Unconditional election, limited atonement, total depravity, irresistible grace, and perseverance or preservation of the saints. And as you can see, total depravity and irresistible grace are considered together as the third and fourth heads of doctrine are put together. And as I did in the first service, I should have encouraged you before to pick up the Canons of Dort when we began this series to read them. At least read along as we consider them. To become familiar with them once again. We talk a lot about Arminianism and trying to give some explanation to what Arminianism is, what it means. And there's a section at the end of each head of doctrine considered a rejection of errors. We reject the things that are taught and explained in that section, rejection of errors, things that Arminianism teaches. This morning we consider total depravity. And I was reminded, preaching this sermon in the first service, that this is not an easy one to preach. It's not easy to stand before God's people and feel like I'm browbeating God's people with total depravity. It certainly is a deep doctrine, and it's not one that seems to build one's self-esteem too quickly. It doesn't seem too comforting. But I hope and pray that by the end of the sermon you will be comforted in the role that our understanding of total depravity takes in our lives. Ephesians chapter 2 beginning at verse 1 as we give our attention to the reading of the Word of God. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful natures and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. Then turning to page 102 and 103 in the back of the Psalter hymnal, Articles 2, 3, and 4 from the third head of doctrine dealing with total depravity. Beginning with Article 2, Man after the fall begat children in his own likeness. A corrupt stock produced a corrupt offspring. Hence all the posterity of Adam, Christ only accepted, have derived corruption from their original parent. Not by imitation, as the Pelagians of old asserted, but by the propagation of a vicious nature in consequence of the just judgment of God. Therefore all men are conceived in sin and are by nature children of wrath, incapable of saving good, prone to evil, dead in sin, and in bondage thereto. And without the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit, they are neither able nor willing to return to God, to reform the depravity of their nature, or to dispose themselves to reformation. There remain, however, in man since the fall, the glimmerings of natural light, whereby he retains some knowledge of God, of natural things, and of the difference between good and evil, and shows some regard for virtue and for good outward behavior. But so far is this light of nature from being sufficient to bring him to a saving knowledge of God and to true conversion that he is incapable of using it aright, even in things natural and civil. Nay, further, this light, such as it is, man in various ways renders wholly polluted and hinders in unrighteousness by doing which he becomes inexcusable before God. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, called to be saints. I emphasize that. Called to be saints. Now that's a wonderful title, isn't it? To be considered a saint. Now sometimes it's true that we refer to certain individuals as being saints or saintly, and we say it somewhat tongue-in-cheek because by that what we mean is that they are near perfect, or at least they think they are near perfect. But other than that, when we think of a saint, we think of one who is kind and gentle and giving and caring and sincere. The very opposite of one who is selfish and greedy and dishonest and insincere and any other negative thing we can think of. But now, who are the saints? Who are they? Are saints those who are near perfect or were near perfect? Those who were of such high character and integrity? That after they die, then they are worthy to be considered or canonized as a saint? Who are the saints? Well, if you're familiar with the greetings of Paul's letters, he makes it clear that saints are believers. Saints are those in this life who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, whether young in the faith or whether mature in the faith. Saints are believers. Those who have been bought with a price. the price of the blood of Christ. Congregation saints are not perfect people, but saints are those who are being perfected by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. And therefore, it's a good thing to be called a saint. In fact, it's something that sometimes we even feel special about. But at the risk of letting the air out of our sails, we need to be reminded at the very outset, as believers, We wear the title saints, not the least bit, because of ourselves. For as the Bible teaches, we are totally depraved. Each and every one of us. We can accept the Bible's deep doctrines when it comes to unconditional election and limited atonement. We will accept those. That God is the one who elects from before the foundation of the world, according to His own good pleasure, a people for Himself, chosen to be saved, and that Jesus Christ atones for the sins of those whom God has elected. We can accept those, but then to go on to the T of tulip, total depravity, and be told that we are totally useless and totally worthless and totally helpless, that's a little bit more difficult for our pride to swallow. That's hard to hear. We become a bit offended. And then here is where it becomes easier to understand why so many could easily grasp on to the Arminian error concerning free will. Because with free will, man saves face a little bit. Man plays a part. With free will, there's at least a little bit of dignity. But where's the beauty and where's the dignity of total depravity? And is there really any comfort with this particular deep doctrine? Again, as we've already stated in the canons of Dort, the third and fourth heads of doctrine are together. And I hope that that's not hard to understand. Because total depravity and irresistible grace belong together. Because one who is totally depraved needs irresistible grace to pull him out of his depravity. Congregation, we cannot possibly understand the doctrine of salvation with its glorious nature unless we understand the doctrine of man according to Scripture. We cannot truly understand how wonderful salvation is until we first understand man's need for God's salvation. Therefore, your understanding of God's saving work is every bit determined by how you understand man's condition. Think of it this way. When a doctor has the wrong idea, the wrong view about a particular disease, then without question, he will also have the wrong idea about the cure or the treatment needed to take care of that disease. And when one's idea about human corruption is wrong, then that one's idea about the grand antidote or the cure needed for that corruption will also be wrong. If sinful man is simply wounded or sick, he will not need the same kind of redemption that a dead man needs. I'm sure we have some medical personnel. I know we have nurses in our congregation. Maybe some of you are EMTs, I'm not sure. But the medical profession would tell you that it does not take the same kind of treatment to work to resuscitate someone whose pulse is weak and whose breathing is shallow as it does to bring new life to a dead person. Congregation, as we consider this deep doctrine of the Bible called total depravity, I preach to you this Word of God, The depths of depravity reveal the glorious height of salvation. The depths of depravity gives God's people a better understanding of the glorious height of salvation. And let's consider these three things together. First of all, the corrupt inheritance. Secondly, the total inability. And then third, the fallen intellect. Now first of all, what do we mean by total depravity? Well, to be depraved means to be marked by corruption and sin. Depravity is sinfulness and corruption. And one who is totally depraved, therefore, is one who is completely sinful through and through. Genesis 6 verse 5 describes this somewhat. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And as we read together in Ephesians 2, Paul describes total depravity as being dead in transgressions and sins. And we know that one who is dead has no hope of change other than further decay. And an illustration that I shared in the first service is this, that if I took this glass of water, boys and girls, if I took this very glass of water and I put one drop of deadly poison in this glass and I stirred it up real good and I handed it to you, would you take a drink? Just like earlier, the kids are going, no, good. No. You'd say, no way. You're nuts. Get that out of my face. Why? Because that one drop of deadly poison made the whole content, made all of the water in the glass poisonous. And again, when one is dead, the whole body is dead. That first sin of Adam and Eve ruined everything about them. No part of man's nature remains uncorrupted or unaffected by sin so that all of his affections, including his thoughts, words, motives, desires, and all of his actions, he is a slave to sin. Article 1 says that in the place of man's once free will, he became involved in blindness of mind, horrible darkness, vanity, and perverseness of judgment became wicked, rebellious, and obdurate in heart and will and impure in his affections. That's the drastic change from perfection. Now, the Arminian teaching is that when man fell into sin, he did not become totally depraved. He became somewhat messed up, but he only became partially depraved. And this teaching says that man is not in a state of total spiritual helplessness. The sinner still has a free will. And his eternal destiny depends upon how he uses that free will. With his free will, you see then, he is able to choose to believe. He decides to have faith. And only after he decides to believe, only after he decides to have faith, then the Holy Spirit regenerates him or grants new birth to him. Now, boys and girls, that's what regeneration means. It means to be born again, spiritually born again, from being dead to sin to being alive in Christ. Regeneration. But you see what this means here then with that particular teaching is that the sinner, not God, but the sinner determines, makes the decision if he is saved, as we've also mentioned over the past couple of weeks. But I trust, as we will clearly see from Scripture, this teaching is heresy. The Bible teaches total depravity. 1 John 1, verse 8 says, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. And why can no one say that they are sinless? Because of our corrupt inheritance. Article 2 says, Man, after the fall, begat children in his own likeness. A corrupt stock produced a corrupt offspring. We know that there's such a thing as a family resemblance. Many of the children here indeed look like their parents, and there's no mistake that these children belong with this set of parents. I was struck by the fact that at the 4th of July picnic that some of you were at, some people even had the nerve to say that as I was running around with a super soaker in my arm with a big smile on my face that I looked like my four-year-old. And I'm not quite sure how to take that. But we know that there's a family resemblance. But congregation, all of Adam's children bear the family resemblance. All share in his common corruption and hereditary depravity that it is all except for Jesus Christ. We could say that when the first man sinned, that sin completely changed the clothes of man, of humankind forever. His whole countenance and everything about him was changed from inside out. His nature became sinful and therefore all who came from him again, except for our Savior, would share that same sinful nature. That original sin, that sinful nature which is enough to condemn a person to hell forever, even apart from any actual sins, is there from the moment of conception. David says in Psalm 51, verse 5, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Article 2 calls this sinful nature a vicious nature. That's a good description. That's what it is. Before sin, you see, man was good and perfect. And as an image bearer of God, he was able to live in unbroken communion with his Creator. But after sin entered man, he is rebellious against God and unable and unwilling to live in that communion with his Creator. A communion that he was created to enjoy. And Paul makes it clear to us in Romans 5 or 12 of just how many were affected by Adam's sin. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men. Because all sin. It's pretty clear. Every single human being. And do you know what, boys and girls? This includes tiny little babies. Some have a hard time with this. Again, our congregation throughout the last couple of months have been blessed with some newborn babies. But as David says, these babies are sinful. From the very first moment, they begin to grow inside their mothers. And we often look at these newborn babies and we might even say, oh, look how sweet and innocent they are. The parents might think, we're crazy. You should have been at my house at 3 o'clock in the morning when this baby was screaming its head off. But long before Jacob Arminius, the father of Arminianism, was even born, there was another man named Pelagius, the father of Pelagianism. And Pelagius believed and taught that children are not born with original sin. They are not born with a sin nature. He taught that Adam and Eve's sin did not pass on to their children and then on to their children's children. He taught that children are innocent until they learn to sin from their parents or from others. In other words, children aren't born sinners. Instead, they grow up to be sinners because they see everyone else sinning and then they copy them. Children learn to sin by imitating others. But as I trust you understand, as we've already seen, this is totally contrary to the teaching of Scripture. Every child is born with the same original sin his parents were born with. It's in our genes, isn't it? Ever since Adam and Eve, not one of us was born without sin. Job says it well when he says, who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? And he gives the answer, no one. This is our corrupt inheritance. Now beloved, we know what an inheritance is. We think of an inheritance as a good thing. Parents leave their children the land and the money and the possessions that they have acquired in this life, that they've accumulated. But you see, mankind didn't inherit money or riches or reward from our first parents. We inherited a sinful nature. We inherited eternal damnation. Not much of a gift, is it? In the second place then, what is the result of sin in our lives? Article 3 points out the total inability. Therefore, all men are conceived in sin and are by nature children of wrath incapable of saving good, prone to evil, dead in sin, and in bondage thereto. And without the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit, they are neither able nor willing to return to God to reform the depravity of their nature or to dispose themselves to reformation. You see, this is strong language, but again, it is the truth of Scriptures. In that article, we read about David's words being conceived in sin. we hear Paul's words that by nature we are children of wrath and we are dead in sin. Yet in spite of all that, sometimes we still like to think that we are good in and of ourselves. But as the Bible says in Jeremiah 17, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. And the hard truth of Scripture is that there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The truth is, the hard truth is that not one of us can do any spiritual good. Now for a moment, let's make a distinction between total depravity and absolute depravity. There is a difference. Absolute depravity means that one is actually as evil as he can be all the time. Absolutely as evil as he can be all the time. And we can say that by the grace of God, no human being is absolutely depraved. Some, we might say, seem to have come close. Nero, Hitler, Saddam Hussein. But even the most wicked of men have some human good. And I stress, human good in them. Even as Paul says in Romans 2, verse 14, For when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves. God does restrain the working of sin in the life of man on earth. Yet this so-called good is not spiritual good. It is not good in relation to God. It is not the good fruit of salvation. Beloved, total depravity is not absolute depravity. But, total depravity means that man is as bad off as he can be. Think of that glass of water again. with that poison mixed in. Every ounce of that water is laced with poison. It is stained. In the same way, with a totally depraved sinner, every part of him, physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, psychologically, every single part is permeated, infiltrated, infested, infected with sin. There's nothing he can do to help himself. Jeremiah says, can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard change his spots? And the answer, of course, is no. Man is totally unable to do any spiritual good or seek salvation. Why? Well, again, I believe that we can get no clearer than Paul himself, dead in transgressions and sins. And the writer of Ecclesiastes says, truly the hearts of men are full of evil. Madness is in their hearts while they live and after that they go to the dead. It's no secret that a dead man can't walk, talk, eat, tie his shoes, put on his shirt, anything of that nature. The illustration that I learned some time back was that if you take a $100 bill and wave it in front of the closed eyes of a dead man in a coffin, what will he do? Absolutely nothing. One who is dead can't do anything. One who is dead in transgressions and sins cannot choose for God. Beloved, faith does not come before regeneration. But Jesus made it clear that the unregenerate man doesn't want to choose for God either. He says in John 5, but you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. Why is that? Why is man unwilling? Jesus said in John 3, and this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Everything about the natural man is rebellion against God. He's loyal to the God of darkness. His will is not free, not even slightly as the Arminian would say. His will is bound to sin and Satan. Paul says in 2 Timothy 2, verses 25 and 26, if God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they may know the truth and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by Him to do His will. Man does not have a free will when it comes to sin. That is, when it comes to not sinning. Those who say that unregenerate man is able not to sin are dead wrong. The only freedom of the will that we have is freedom to follow that which is consistent with our nature. And apart from Jesus Christ, that is only evil continually. Apart from Jesus Christ, we are only free to sin. We know that even for the believer, the spiritual good that we do by the grace of God through the working of the Holy Spirit still bears our human mark as Scripture teaches us that even our best works are as filthy rags stained with sin and worthy of hell. But by the grace of God, we stand on the blood of Jesus Christ. His blood alone, which is able to remove that stain. Congregation, sin has rendered natural man totally unable to do any spiritual good. He is in bondage to sin. He cannot turn to God. He cannot repent and believe. But again, you see, he doesn't want to. If given the choice, he would say no. His will is directed toward evil and therefore he is totally unwilling to do anything to save himself. As article 3 says once again, man is totally unable and unwilling to return to God, to reform the depravity of his nature, or to dispose himself to reformation. And this is because man also bears in the third place a fallen intellect. Article 4, reflecting the teaching of Scripture, begins by saying that even after the fall, man retains the glimmerings of natural light. That fits with Romans 1, where Paul also speaks of general revelation that leaves man without an excuse when it comes to knowing that there is a God. We know that man is still able, in part, to think and reason and believe in something. The image of God was severely messed up in man, but not lost completely. But the Arminian, Arminianism takes this then and teaches that this tiny bit of ability to think and reason, frosted over with the glimmerings of natural light, that this is sufficient for one to come to a saving knowledge of God. But as Article 4 also correctly says, But so far is this light of nature from being sufficient to bring him to a saving knowledge of God and to true conversion, that he is incapable of using it aright, even in things natural and civil. Beloved, that article continues that man even pollutes this natural light and only does that which is inexcusable before God. Man can only distort the truth and he cannot profit from the light of nature that is available to him, as Paul says, he suppresses the truth in unrighteousness. He cannot discern the truth. God and His truth doesn't make sense to the totally depraved sinner. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. Beloved, the unregenerate man, totally depraved, is spiritually dead, and is wholly, completely incapable of thinking, perceiving, and doing anything pleasing to God. He is only free to do the will of Satan because that's what he desires. And as Romans 6 points out, man only chooses according to his desires. Total depravity, beloved. That's the deadly disease. What's the remedy? Jesus says it simply and beautifully in John 3, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Paul in Ephesians 2 makes it clear where this new birth comes from, and he also makes clear where the proper order is, beginning at verse 4. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this not from yourselves. It is the gift of God. Not by works so that no one can boast. Only God can give new life or birth so that the sinner can see, is able to see and enter the kingdom of God, as Jesus told Nicodemus. Only God can take a dead sinner and make him alive in Christ, make him a new creation, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5. And when God, through His Spirit, does give one new life, that life is eternal. Even as Peter says, we are born again not of corruptible or perishable seed, but of incorruptible or imperishable seed through the Word of God which lives and abides forever. You remember the episode where Jesus stood at the tomb of the grave of His friend Lazarus, and He said, Lazarus, come forth! Lazarus, come forth! Boys and girls, what needed to happen before Lazarus could walk out of that grave? He had to have new life. Just as the leopard cannot change his spots, the totally depraved man cannot give himself new life. Only God has the means, and indeed is the means to save sinners. Jesus said, No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. Apart from the saving recreation of God by the Spirit, The sinner cannot save himself any more than a dead man can make himself walk or a deaf man make himself hear, a blind man to see, or even any more than a slave can make himself free. So I ask you again, is there comfort with the deep doctrine of total depravity? Well, yes, there is. You see, it's only when we realize and believe the depths of our depravity by the grace of God, Only when we understand that there is nothing in us worth saving, nothing with which we could repay our debt to God, only then are we led to see the beauty of His grace, His irresistible grace, that He saved me even when I was kicking and screaming because I didn't want to be saved. When we understand the depths of our depravity, then Christ sacrificed for such a worm as I to lift me to the glorious height of salvation is truly humbling. Beloved, to understand the depths of our depravity, to be humbled because of our sin and misery, also then to know the glorious height of salvation is evidence of being born again. That's the comfort of total depravity. If you truly understand your condition, That's evidence that you are a child of God. That the Holy Spirit has begun that good work in you and it will be completed under the day of Christ Jesus. For those who believe we have been lifted out of the miry clay, our feet have been stood firm on the rock of Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit, through His sanctifying power, takes away the pollution of sin more and more. But those who will not believe and instead enjoy the depths of their depravity, they will remain in their bondage and sorrow for eternity. Beloved, rejoice you who are saints for Jesus' sake. Rejoice you who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus has redeemed you from eternal death and gives you eternal life and you shall never perish as He says and neither shall anyone snatch you out of His hand. What a wonderful promise for those who are totally depraved. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, again, as we bow before You in the morning hour of this day at the close of this sermon, we confess, Lord, that to be told so many negative things about ourselves apart from Jesus Christ is a hard thing to consider. It's a hard thing to grasp. But yet, Father, You have given to us an understanding of our true nature in and of ourselves. We are humbled by that. And as well, You have filled Your people with Your Spirit. That we might also be raised to the glorious heights in the knowledge of that salvation so full, so rich and so free, so undeserved. And may that be our joy. May we live from day to day with the joy of the Lord as our strength, as those redeemed from sin, death, Satan, and the grave. And may we live from day to day with a glorious sparkle in our eye, a glorious tone in our voice, recognizing, allowing all with whom we come in contact to see that indeed by God's grace we are redeemed children of the Most High God. We thank You for Your blessings. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your Holy Spirit who strengthens our faith. In the name of Jesus we pray these things. Amen. Thank you.