Total Depravity and Salvation: To God, or Man Be the Glory?

A proper understanding of sin is a prerequisite to good theology, and it is my belief that the doctrine of total depravity delivers that proper understanding. It is the necessary foundation upon which to build a proper Christian worldview.

Total depravity asserts that man’s fall in the Garden had devastating implications for humanity (i.e., man’s nature was polluted and fellowship with God was broken). It proposes that man is now born into sin, lost, at enmity with God, and incapable of returning to God until God alone acts in a saving way.

There are profound implications regarding this doctrine that are especially crucial in relation to salvation. A Christian’s belief regarding total depravity could wholly shape his evangelistic methodology and outlook. 

If, as the proponents of total depravity (i.e., me) claim, man does not have the ability to come to God in his own strength, then the church should obviously avoid tactics, programs, presentations, and methods that attempt to solicit or woo the sinner into accepting Christ. The focus of the church should be directed towards faithfully presenting the gospel message and making disciples, all the while realizing that God will save whomever he wishes. Any effort to manipulate the sinner (e.g., high pressure altar calls) would therefore be deemed inappropriate.

In contrast, if total depravity is a false premise and man does have within himself a spark that can be fanned into a flame for Christ through preaching and evangelism, if “unsaved persons can hear, understand the gospel, and believe it to be regenerated,” (Gieseler) - apart from the work of God -  then any strategy that could potentially awaken one’s desire to be born-again should be implemented. "Dust those tracts off boys, and clip on those ties because we are going soul-winning!"

As you can see, adherence or dismissal of this doctrine will greatly influence a church’s mission statement.

At the end of the day, the question to ask is, who is responsible for salvation - God or man? 

Can we really play a part in saving someone or even ourselves?

I contend that Scripture reveals to us a God who alone can awaken those who are spiritually dead; he is solely responsible for saving whomever he wishes. Our methods then, if not accompanied by the Holy Spirit of God, are futile.

Therefore, one is not regenerated by revival meeting, altar call, slick presentation, cool pastor in torn jeans, or door-to-door soul-winners, but by the Spirit says the Lord.

This does not mean we should abandon evangelism (see Matt 28), but rather, we should understand where the credit for salvation should be directed - Soli Deo Gloria.

A.W. Tozer: Humility

 

Some time ago we heard a short address by a young preacher during which he quoted the following, "If you are too big for a little place, you are too little for a big place."

It is an odd rule of the kingdom of God that when we try to get big, we always get smaller by the moment. God is jealous of His glory and will not allow anyone to share it with Him. The effort to appear great will bring the displeasure of God upon us and effectively prevent us from achieving the greatness after which we pant.

Humility pleases God wherever it is found, and the humble person will have God for his or her friend and helper always. Only the humble are completely sane, for they are the only ones who see clearly their own size and limitations. Egotists see things out of focus. To themselves they are large and God is correspondingly small, and that is a kind of moral insanity. 

-This World: Playground or Battleground?, 34. By A.W Tozer. HT: Randy Alcorn

Salvation

I was reading my church's doctrinal statement today (I had some free time), and I felt that their explanation of salvation was fantastic.

Salvation is freely given when individuals, through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, receive the gift of faith, repent of their sins, and believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord...

...Salvation is not given because of human initiative, status, or works. Nor is it granted because of God’s foreknowledge of future decisions a person might make. Rather, salvation comes to people solely because of God’s initiative and unmerited favor. Everyone whom He calls to salvation willingly believes in Christ as Savior and Lord. -Bethel Church

It is of utmost importance that we realize that salvation begins with God. We are in no way responsible for saving ourselves. To God alone be the glory.

A certain degree of humility is in order in the way we hold our theology. We will also want to bear in mind the limitations of our own perspective, and recognize the need for correction when those limitations are distorting our understanding. -Millard Erickson

A Meditation on Sin

Tim Challies writes:

Sin. I can’t live with it, but am just not able to live without it. I know that I’ve been freed from sin, freed from the power of sin, and yet I still sin. Scripture tells me not to let sin reign, it tells me that if I am truly a child of God I will not go on sinning (Romans 6:12, 1 John 3:9). And still I sin. Even in those times that I focus my efforts on one particular sin I find that I am unable to stop, unable to put it entirely to death. My mind can’t do it; my will can’t do it. It may not reign as sovereign, but it continues to exist as a trial and a steady temptation...

Read the rest here.

"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible" -Thomas Aquinas

Never Offer the Benefits of the Gospel Without the Benefactor Himself

Sinclair Ferguson writes:

There is a center to the Bible and its message of grace. It is found in Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected. Grace, therefore, must be preached in a way that is centered and focused on Jesus Christ Himself. We must never offer the benefits of the gospel without the Benefactor Himself. For many preachers, however, it is much easier to deal with the pragmatic things, to answer “how to” questions, and even to expose and denounce sin than it is to give an adequate explanation of the source of the forgiveness, acceptance, and power we need.

It is a disheartening fact that evangelical Christians, who write vast numbers of Christian books, preach abundant sermons, sponsor numerous conferences and seminars, and broadcast myriad TV and radio programs actually write few books, preach few sermons, sponsor few conferences or seminars, and devote few programs to the theme of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We give our best and most creative energies to teaching God’s people almost everything except the person and work of our Lord and Savior. This should cause us considerable alarm, for there is reason to fear that our failure here has reached epidemic proportions.

We need to return to a true preaching to the heart, rooted in the principle of grace and focused on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then people will not say about our ministry merely, “He was an expository preacher,” or “That was practical,” or even “He cut open our consciences.” Instead, they will say: “He preached Christ to me, and his preaching was directed to my conscience. It was evident that he gave the best of his intellectual skills and the warmth of his compassion to thinking about, living for, and proclaiming his beloved Savior, Jesus Christ.” This is what will reach the heart! And when you have experienced such preaching, or seen its fruit, you will know what true preaching is. And you will agree that its fruit lasts for all eternity.

 HT: Z

Grace May Be Free For Us, But The Cost Was Great For Him.

You were bought with a price. (I Cor 6:20)

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. (I Peter 2:24)

But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

John Piper: The Whole Glory of Christ

One Minute Apologist: Intolerance

This is excellent!

One Minute Apologist: Relativism

Tim Keller: The Cross and Forgiveness

"The Cross is not simply a lovely example of sacrificial love. Throwing your life away needlessly is not admirable — it is wrong."

"Jesus’ death was only a good example if it was more than an example, if it was something absolutely necessary to rescue us. And it was. Why did Jesus have to die in order to forgive us? There was a debt to be paid — God himself paid it. There was a penalty to be born — God himself bore it. Forgiveness is always a form of costly suffering."

Theology in Three Minutes: What is the Gospel?

HT: Credo House

Propaganda - G.O.S.P.E.L.

HT: D. Ford

R.C. Sproul: The Total Sovereignty of God

What Once Appeared Boring, Now Is Beautiful.

Last night I was finishing up a book that explored Jonathon Edwards’ view of true Christianity, and I was moved by this particular passage. The editors sum up Edwards' belief regarding a change that takes place when a sinner is regenerated.

When a person believes the gospel message, the things of Christianity, of the Bible, and of church that once seemed so ordinary compared to really interesting things – whether celebrities, or sports, or movies, or whatever else – now possess a glory greatly distinguishing them from all that is earthly and temporal.

The person seized by the Spirit cannot see Christianity any longer in earthly terms. Like a butterfly that emerges from a cocoon, the converted sinner sees Christianity and its doctrines as a thing of beauty.

Everything changes at this point for the redeemed person.

Life overflows with goodness and beauty. The existence that once had no center – or that had a destructive one – now revolves around the person of Jesus Christ, whose work suddenly leaps off every page of the Bible and pours into every corner of life.

-Owen Strachan and Doug Sweeney, Essential Edwards: True Christianity (Moody Publishers, 2010)

John Piper: What is the Gospel?

"A Spike-Torn Hand Twitched"

I found this at at blog called chosenforgrace.com. It is an excerpt from Russell Moore's new book entitled Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ. 

It is fantastic. I urge you to carefully read it, dwell on it, and let your mind take you back 2,000 years...

Part of the curse Jesus would bear for us on Golgotha was the taunting and testing by God’s enemies. As he drowned in his own blood, the spectators yelled words quite similar to those of Satan in the desert: “Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe” (Mark 15:32). But he didn’t jump down. He didn’t ascend to the skies. He just writhed there. And, after it all, the bloated corpse of Jesus hit the ground as he was pulled off the stake, spattering warm blood and water on the faces of the crowd.

That night the religious leaders probably read Deuteronomy 21 to their families, warning them about the curse of God on those who are “hanged on a tree.” Fathers probably told their sons, “Watch out that you don’t ever wind up like him.” Those Roman soldiers probably went home and washed the blood of Jesus from under their fingernails and played with their children in front of the fire before dozing off. This was just one more insurrectionist they had pulled off a cross, one in a line of them dotting the roadside. And this one (what was his name? Joshua?) was just decaying meat now, no threat to the empire at all.

That corpse of Jesus just lay there in the silences of that cave. By all appearances it had been tested and tried, and found wanting. If you’d been there to pull open his bruised eyelids, matted together with mottled blood, you would have looked into blank holes. If you’d lifted his arm, you would have felt no resistance. You would have heard only the thud as it hit the table when you let it go. You might have walked away from that morbid scene muttering to yourself, “The wages of sin is death.”

But sometime before dawn on a Sunday morning, a spike-torn hand twitched. A blood-crusted eyelid opened. The breath of God came blowing into that cave, and a new creation flashed into reality….

~Russell Moore, Tempted and Tried (Crossway, 2011)

One of the Best Gospel Presentations You Will Ever Hear...

This sunday, my pastor preached a fantastic message called "The Molecular Gospel." 

I have listened to hundreds of sermons throughout my life, but this particular message will go down as one of my favorites.

No topic is more relevant, timeless, or important than the gospel. It is the message that separates Christianity from all other religions.

Most religions teach that we can earn our way to heaven. They claim that we gain God's favor through religious rituals or deeds. That, frankly, is quite a heavy load to carry. I am in trouble if my entry into heaven rests upon my goodness. 

The gospel, however, alleviates that burden. It teaches that Christ pays our way for us - what an amazing message! Our chains are gone, we have been set free!

This is the good news. 

We can passionately debate Calvinism / Arminianism, Covenant Theology / Dispensationalism, Infant Baptism  / Believers Baptism (and I do); however, the gospel is where the line in the sand must be drawn. You are either with us or against us.

The gospel is a hill that we must be willing to die upon.

We mustn't pollute it, distort it, or add to it. It is not negotiable. Just because modern society is uncomfortable with it does not mean that it should be altered.

It is, and always has been, by grace alone, through faith alone, so that God alone receives the glory. 

Take 40 minutes and enjoy the refreshing simplicity of the the good news here.

Holiness of God

Joy is not necessarily the absence of suffering, it is the presence of God.      -Sam Storms

Does God Only Help Those Who Help Themselves?

That has certainly been a popular expression for years, and I have heard it used many times throughout my life.

However, the question needs to be asked, is the phrase biblical?

Well, actually, the idea that “God helps those who help themselves” is found nowhere in Scripture. The expression originated with the ancient Greeks.

In fact, the Bible teaches the exact opposite: God helps the helpless.

You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked (helpless), following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom 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. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:1-5)

While his sheep were yet sinners, at odds with him, lost, and right in their own eyes; he rescued them. He helped the helpless. Thank God he did.

Theology in Three Minutes: What is the Gospel?

HT: Credo House

Grace

The harvest of the sin I've sown
He reaped at Calvary
Then sowed a field of His own
And willed it all to me

-Roger Bennett

Theology in Three Minutes: Why Use A Commentary?

Matt Chandler: Jesus Wants the Rose

Charles Spurgeon on Grace

"Grace does not choose a man and leave him as he is."

"This is how grace works; it enters the soul, penetrates the heart, saturates the conscience, abides in the memory, affect the affections, gives understanding to the understanding, and imparts real life to the heart, which is the seat of life."