07/04/2025
"TOTAL DEPRAVITY"
Texts:
Romans 3:9–18, Ephesians 2:1–5, Jeremiah 17:9
Introduction:
Let me ask you a question that might seem simple at first: Are people basically good? Most people would say yes. We believe in human potential, kindness, the power of education and progress. But Scripture paints a different picture not to crush us, but to open our eyes to our need for grace.
Today, we’re diving into a doctrine called Total Depravity. It’s the first of the five points of Calvinism or the Doctrines of Grace, but more importantly, it’s biblical. It tells us that sin isn’t just something we do it’s something that’s infected who we are.
1.)THE DEFINITION OF TOTAL DEPRAVITY?
Total depravity doesn’t mean people are as evil as they could possibly be. That’s utter depravity. What we mean by total is this: "every part of us has been affected by sin" — our minds, our hearts, our wills, our bodies.
Romans 3:10–12 says it plainly:
“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside..."
This means our sin problem isn’t skin-deep. It goes all the way to the core.
2.)THE EVIDENCE OF TOTAL DEPRAVITY
What the Bible says:
A.) The Mind Is Darkened
Eph. 4: 18
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
We don’t think rightly about God. Our reasoning is twisted by sin.
B.) The Heart Is Deceitful
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
We don’t just do wrong things — we love wrong things. Our affections are out of order.
C.) The Will Is in Bo***ge
Romans 6
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
describes us as slaves to sin before Christ sets us free. Left to ourselves, we don’t have the power to choose God. We’re not spiritually neutral — we’re spiritually dead.
D.) Even Our Best Works Fall Short
Isaiah 64:6
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
That’s humbling. Even when we try to be good, it's still tainted with pride, selfish motives, and impurity.
3.)THE IMPLICATIONS OF TOTAL DEPRAVITY
This doctrine destroys every hope of self-salvation.
We cannot earn our way to God.
We cannot just decide to become holy.
We cannot truly seek God unless He first seeks us.
Romans 3:11
There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
That’s clear. God must act first.
4.)THE SOLUTION FOR TOTAL DEPRAVITY
Ephesians 2:
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
The passage gives us the turning point:
“You were dead in your transgressions and sins… But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us… made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved.”
“But God.” That changes everything.
He doesn’t wait for us to make the first move. He steps in when we are helpless, hopeless, spiritually lifeless — and gives us life.
That’s grace. That’s salvation.
APPLICATIONS:
So what should this lead us to?
1. Humility
We bring nothing to the table except our sin. Salvation is 100% grace. That kills pride. It kills self-righteousness.
2. Gratitude and Worship
When you realize how lost you were, you worship deeper. You don’t sing casually anymore. You worship with tears, with awe, with fire.
3. Evangelism with Prayer
Total depravity means people don’t just need information — they need regeneration. So we preach the gospel boldly, but we also pray fervently: “Lord, open their eyes. Breathe life into dry bones.”
CONCLUSION:
Total depravity shows us how far we’ve fallen. But it also magnifies the greatness of grace.
You weren’t just a little lost. You were dead. But God — rich in mercy — made you alive in Christ.
So, are people basically good? The Bible says no. But here’s the greater truth: God is eternally good, and His grace is greater than our sin.
Let’s live, pray, and worship like people who’ve been raised from the dead.
Amen.
