Sin’s Effects on Human Nature

We are studying the nature and identity of man, after the fall.

Until we understand the nature of fallen man, we would never

 see our need for Christ and
 know what God has saved us from through Jesus

Today, we are continuing with the Biblical teaching called; “The Doctrines of
Grace” …as set forth by the Reformed Theologians.

This Doctrine of Grace can be remembered by the acronym:

T – Total Depravity
U – Unconditional Election
L – Limited Atonement
I – Irresistible Grace
P – Perseverance of the Saints

Because the name “total depravity” can cause people to have wrong ideas about
what is meant, some people prefer to use terms like:
 “total inability,”
 “righteous incapability,”
 “radical corruption” or even
 “moral inability.”

We are going to work through a portion of an article by Travis Carden.

In this article, we will answer the questions:

1. Is man basically good or basically evil?
2. Are people good deep down?
3. Are all men basically evil, are there no exceptions?
4. Is every faculty of a person depraved?
5. Are babies born pure?

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Then I want to set forth 8 questions that will, clarify the benefits to the person
who embraces the Doctrine of Total Depravity.
Answering these 8 questions honesty will show the power this doctrine of total
depravity has on a human being.

1. Is man basically good or basically evil?

 Job 15:14-16
What is man, that he can be pure?
Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?
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Behold, God puts no trust in his holy ones,
and the heavens are not pure in his sight;
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how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
a man who drinks injustice like water!
ESV

 Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death
through sin, and so death spread to all men[a] because all sinned—
ESV

 Eccl 9:3
This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens
to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is
in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
ESV

Conclusion: man is basically evil, and the knowledge of this truth is enough
to humble man. Humility is in fact the result of this doctrine…

2. Are people good deep down?

 Mark 7:21-23
For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual
immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness,
deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things
come from within, and they defile a person.”
ESV

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3. Are all men basically evil? Are there no exceptions?
 Psalm 143:2
Enter not into judgment with your servant,
for no one living is righteous before you.
ESV
 Romans 11:32
For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
ESV

 Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
ESV

 2 Chronicles 6:36
“…there is no one who does not sin…”

 Isaiah 53:6
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
ESV

 Micah 7:2-4a
The godly has perished from the earth,
and there is no one upright among mankind;
they all lie in wait for blood,
and each hunts the other with a net.
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Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well;
the prince and the judge ask for a bribe,
and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;
thus they weave it together.
4
The best of them is like a brier,
the most upright of them a thorn hedge.
ESV

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  Romans 3:9-12
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What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have
already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is
written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
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no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
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All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
ESV

 Psalm 14:2-3
The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
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They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
ESV

4. Are men totally depraved? Is every faculty of the person corrupted?

 Fallen man’s eyes have been corrupted by sin and CANNOT see the light
of the Gospel.

2 Cor 4:3-4
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their
case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them
from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
ESV

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John 12:37-40
Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in
him, 38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
“Lord, who has believed what he heard from us,
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
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Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,
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“He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their heart,
lest they see with their eyes,
and understand with their heart, and turn,
and I would heal them.”
ESV

 Fallen man’s ears are deaf to the truth

Jer 6:10
To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,
they cannot listen;
behold, the word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.
ESV

 Fallen man’s mind has become unable to submit to God

1 Cor 2:14
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they
are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are
spiritually discerned.
ESV

Rom 8:7-8
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to
God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
ESV

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  Fallen man’s heart has become a stone and cannot respond to a morally
perfect and holy God

Jer 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
ESV
c.f. Deuteronomy 29:2-4; Psalm 10:4, 36:1-2, 58:4-5, 94:11; Proverbs 10:20; Ecclesiastes 8:11; Ezekiel
11:19, 36:26; Matthew 13:14; Mark 7:21-23; Romans 8:7; Ephesians 4:17-18, 23

 2 Timothy 2:25-26 - God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the
truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being
captured by him to do his will.
c.f. Isaiah 42:6-7; Psalm 51:12; John 8:31-32,36; 2 Corinthians 3:17

5. Affections/Desires (Perverted)
 Romans 1:24-27 - Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the
dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for
a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!
Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged
natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural
relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing
shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
 Ephesians 2:3 - we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out
the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath,
like the rest of mankind.

 Proverbs 21:10 - The soul of the wicked desires evil

 John 3:19 - And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world,
and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works
were evil.

 John 8:44 - “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.”
c.f. Genesis 3:16; Psalm 4:2, 52:3-4 140:8; Proverbs 10:23; 2 Timothy 3:2-4; 2 Peter 2:13

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 6. Are men at least born pure?
 Psalm 51:5 - Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my
mother conceive me.
 Genesis 8:21 - the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the
ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his
youth.”
 Psalm 58:3 - The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from
birth, speaking lies.
 John 3:6 - “That which is born of the flesh is flesh”
c.f. Proverbs 22:15

7. Can man then do anything to please God?

 Proverbs 15:9 - The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord
 Proverbs 15:8 - The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord (c.f. Proverbs 21:27)
 Proverbs 28:9 - If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an
abomination.
 Isaiah 64:6 - We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a
polluted garment.
 Hebrews 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please [God]
 Romans 8:7-8 - Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
c.f. Psalm 50:16; Proverbs 21:4; Isaiah 1:10-15; Amos 5:21-24

8. Can men of themselves accept God’s gift of salvation? Do men choose

God or come to Him on their own?
 John 3:27 - John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless
it is given him from heaven.”
 John 14:16-17 - “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another
Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world
cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.”
 John 1:12-13 - But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he
gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor
of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
 John 6:44,65 - “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me
draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” And he said, “This is why
I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the
Father.”
 Romans 9:16 - So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on
God, who has mercy.

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  1 Corinthians 1:30 - And because of him you are in Christ Jesus
 Philippians 2:13 - for it is God who works in you, both to will and to
work for his good pleasure.

c.f. Jonah 2:9; Zephaniah 3:9; John 15:16; 1 Corinthians 15:10; Philippians 1:6;
James 1:18

9. Who supplies faith/belief/repentance?

 Acts 16:14 - One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of
Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord
opened her heart to pay attention [respond] to what was said by Paul.
 1 Corinthians 3:6 - I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
 Acts 5:31 - “God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give
repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”
 Acts 11:18 - When they heard these things they fell silent. And they
glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted
repentance that leads to life.”
 Philippians 1:29 - For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ
you should… believe in him
 Acts 18:27 - When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace
had believed
 Ephesians 2:8-9 - For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this
[faith] is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so
that no one may boast.
 Romans 12:3 - For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you
not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with
sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has
assigned.
 2 Timothy 2:24-25 - And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but
kind to everyone, [etc.]… God may perhaps grant them repentance leading
to a knowledge of the truth
 1 Corinthians 12:3 - no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.
 2 Peter 1:3 - His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life
and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory
and excellence
 Romans 11:36 - For from him and through him and to him are all things.

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  1 Corinthians 4:7 - For who sees anything different in you? What do you
have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if
you did not receive it?
 John 3:6, 6:63 - “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is
born of the Spirit is spirit. It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at
all.”
c.f. 1 Chronicles 29:14; John 5:44; Acts 3:16; Romans 1:8, 12:3; Galatians 5:22;
Ephesians 6:23; 2 Thessalonians 3:2

10.Then what becomes of our boasting?

 Romans 3:27 - It is excluded.
c.f. 1 Corinthians 1:28-29, 4:7; Ephesians 2:9-9

Benefits of the Doctrine of Total Depravity

1. Who is most defective?

The fallen person who is broken and knows that he is?
The fallen person who is broken and does NOT know that he is?

2. Who is most deceived?

The corrupted person who knows that he is?
The corrupted person who has no idea to the level of his own corruption, but
believes he is acceptable, good and deserving?

3. Who has the greatest probability of reaching to God for help?

The person who is utterly corrupted and knows that he is?
The person who is utterly corrupted and does NOT know that he is?

4. Who has eyes that see their great need for a Savior in Jesus?
The person who is depraved and knows that he is?
The person who is depraved but does NOT know that he is?

5. Who is free from pretense?

The person who, agrees with Scriptural perspective of his total depravity and
therefore embraces his need for salvation from sin…repenting from his sin?

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The person who disagrees with the fact that he is depraved and now needs to
prove his own goodness…instead of repent from it?

6. Who is first to give God glory for any and every good thing in his life?
The person who knows he is depraved and deserves nothing good, but deserves
only hell?
The person who rejects the doctrine of depravity, claiming that there IS good
within him…and therefore believes he deserves at least something good in return
for his own goodness?

7. Who is most humble?

The person who stands before God with nothing to offer?
The person who believes that they have intrinsic value…enough intrinsic value
that would cause God to die on the cross in order to gain that value?

8. Who is most grateful?

The person who knows that their only contribution to their salvation was their sin
that made salvation necessary?
The person who believed there was something so good and valuable and special
and wonderful and lovely about them…that God decided to save them?

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