We will now give man, the depraved sinner, a complete and thorough spiritual examination. We will use the Bible to test man spiritually the same as medicine and science test a man physically. We will look at all of man’s faculties exactly as they are each described in the Bible. We are not concerned with how man looks at himself. We will not consult philosophy, psychology, medicine, sociology or popular sentiment. What does the Word of God say about the spiritual condition of man? We will use the following procedure:
1. The Physician’s Report: After “Doctor” Bible carefully examines each faculty of man, the conclusion will be irrefutable. “The patient is totally unable to respond to any spiritual stimulus in any of his faculties. He is blind, deaf, dumb, has no pulse, can’t breathe, mind totally gone, etc. Not one spiritual organ is functioning.”
2. The Coroner’s Report: The coroner administers every known test and cannot find any evidence of life. “There is absolutely no question, the man is spiritually dead.”
3. The Autopsy Report: The dead sinner is opened up, and each part of his being is examined. The autopsy report establishes that the man died because of the cancer of sin. “Every part of his being was infected and ruined by sin. Not one part was left untouched and uncontaminated. He was totally depraved by sin.”
I. The Physician’s Report
“Doctor” Bible is going to examine seven individual faculties of the sinner. In each case, the result will show total inability. Here are seven things that God says a sinner cannot do. It is essential that we see that the Holy Spirit uses the word cannot in all seven instances. To say, “Well, the sinner really can do these things if he only wants to” is to not only misunderstand the Bible; it is to flat out contradict it! As we shall see later, man’s “will not,” or his refusal to repent and believe the gospel, is the direct effect of the “cannot” of total depravity. More about this in a moment.
First, the man is totally blind.
A lost man cannot see! “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). The see means to realize, or to experience, or to appreciate. Christ is saying that man does not have the spiritual ability to even desire the kingdom of God until he is first “born again.”
We must understand the relationship between sight and seeing. Once we grasp that, we will understand the relationship between the new birth and faith. Do you get sight by seeing, or do you see because you have sight? Which is the cause, and which is the effect? For instance, does it help a blind man to see if we shine a 1,000 watt bulb in his eyes instead of a 100 watt bulb. I am sure you will say that is a stupid question. We all know that the problem is not the amount of light; the problem is in the man’s eyes. He needs sight before he can see. Of course, we must have light to see, but people who are blind need more than light. They need the gift of sight.
The sinner’s problem is the same. He needs far more than light simply because he is spiritually blind. He is not near-sighted. He does not have defective vision that can be corrected by an act of his will. He needs the gift of sight. Jesus said that a sinner cannot even see the kingdom of God unless he is first born again or regenerated. We agree that man needs the light of the gospel. It is true that no one can see spiritual reality without the light of the gospel. However, the sinner is blind until God gives him the spiritual ability to see in regeneration. The problem is with his spiritual eyes. Every regenerate believer can say a hearty “amen” to these words of Christ: “But blessed are your eyes because they see.…” (Matt. 13:16).
Second, the man is mentally deranged.
He cannot understand a single thing that is spiritual. “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can [emphasis mine] he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). Again we must notice the cause and effect. The word because in this text is very important. The natural, or unregenerate man, cannot understand spiritual things because those things are spiritually discerned, and the lost man does not have the Spirit until he is “born of the Spirit.”
When we trusted Christ because we found Him to be most desirable, it was not our old blind mind that gave us that knowledge. That understanding came from the new nature given to us in regeneration. If we carefully compare 1 Corinthians 1:18–29 with 2 Corinthians 4:4–6, we will see that God’s shining in the darkness at the first creation is the same as his shining into our dark and dead hearts to give us the knowledge of salvation. Can the old heart and depraved, incurable affections ever give us spiritual knowledge and desires? The will cannot choose something that the mind cannot truly understand and the affections truly desire.
Third, the man is stone deaf.
He cannot hear any spiritual truth. This is the verdict of Christ himself. “Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word” (John 8:43). Again we have the same cause and effect relationship. Jesus is more emphatic this time and adds the word even. Why did the Jews not understand our Lord’s words? He said it was because ye cannot. Just as the ability to see is the gift of God, so is the ability to hear. All men are not given that ability (cf. Matt. 13:10–17).
I am sure we have all seen a dog responding to a special dog whistle. No human ear can hear the sound because our ears do not have the ability to hear that kind of pitch. A dog hears easily. So the sinner does not have ears to hear the gospel. He considers it nonsense (cf. 1 Cor. 1:18), but the Christian hears, understands and gladly believes by the grace and power of God.
I remember preaching at a picnic attended by deaf people. The interpreter and I were the only ones who could hear. The park was near the Toronto airport, and a large jet plane came in to land while I was preaching. The noise was so loud that the interpreter could not hear my voice so I stopped speaking and waited for the plane to land. I was facing the airport, and the congregation, because their backs were toward the airport, did not see the plane. Because they were stone deaf, they did not hear the roar. They kept watching the interpreter’s hand and then looking at my lips. They began to look at each other with a look of bewilderment. I pointed up to the sky and as they turned around, they looked up and saw the plane. Having seen the plane, they smiled and nodded their heads in understanding.
My friend, that is the same way it is with an unregenerate sinner. The wrath of God against sin is clearly revealed from heaven and roars with its terrible threats. The gospel bells of promise and joy ring loudly and with clarity. Yet the sinner is totally deaf to both the law and the gospel until God, in regeneration, opens his ears.
Fourth, the man is completely powerless.
He cannot even want to receive spiritual help. A comparison of two verses of Scripture will establish this awful fact. The first verse shows us why a lost sinner cannot receive truth and grace.
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. (John 14:17)
Notice the following in this text:
1. The world cannot receive the Spirit because they cannot see him or know him. They are without spiritual sight and cannot perceive, or know, any spiritual reality.
2. Every Christian has seen (spiritually) and knows (experientially) the ministry of the blessed Holy Spirit. Remember that sight and knowledge were given in regeneration.
The second verse of Scripture is Jude 19. This is the best verse I know of that gives us the essence of man’s total depravity and inability.
These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. (Jude 19)
Notice the following in this verse:
1. The lost man is totally sensual. That does not mean in a sexual sense. It means the sum total of the man’s knowledge and experience is that which comes to him through his physical senses.
2. He does not have the Spirit. The life of God, which is the Holy Spirit of God, left man when he sinned in the garden of Eden. Man’s whole experience is now totally controlled by his fleshly nature and its senses. However, one does not know God through his eyes, ears, mouth, fingers, etc. God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit. Since the unsaved person is “sensual” and does not have either the Spirit or a spiritual nature, he cannot see or experience God until he is first “born of the Spirit.” He can only receive that which he is capable of seeing (John 14:17).
Let me illustrate this truth. Right this very moment, there is probably an airplane flying right through the room where you are sitting. There may also be a large ship, a herd of buffalo, and a line of pretty chorus girls dancing. If you look around, you will see none of those things. If you turn on a TV set and turn the channel changer, you will draw all of those things out of the air and “see” them. All of those TV waves are present even though unseen. God did not build a TV receiver into our heads. In the same way, there is a spiritual world and a real Savior that is just as real as the air we breathe. The unregenerate man does not see, hear, or feel a single evidence of that spiritual reality. The sum total of his potential experience is what he can taste, touch, feel, see, and smell, and God is not known or experienced through the physical senses.
Fifth, the man is a spiritual mute. He is unable to speak.
He cannot even “call on the Lord” until renewed by grace. See 1 Corinthians 12:3, Romans 10:9, 10, and Matthew 16:13–17.
Sixth, the man is unable to move a spiritual muscle.
He cannot even “come to Christ” until he is given spiritual life. The following two verses of Scripture should never be separated. The first one shows the total inability of the sinner apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. The second shows the certainty of repentance and faith in every single instance where the Holy Spirit does effectually call.
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. (John 6:44, 45)
Verse 44 states what no man can do unless God does something first. No man can (has ability to) come to Christ unless the Father deliberately draws that individual by the power of the Spirit. That is human inability.
Verse 45 states what every man is certain to do when the Father does draw him. Everyone, without exception, who “hears” and is “taught by the Father” (the same thing as “draw” in verse 44) “comes (always) to me.” Do you see the clear contrast? No man can—unless, but everyone will—when. Verse 44 is teaching inability, and verse 45 is teaching irresistible grace.
Seventh, the man is incapable of any kind of positive spiritual response.
He can only act out his nature of spiritual death. The indelible mark of the lost man is his hatred of God’s authority, and the mark of a believer is a delight in God’s truth. A lost man can no more give a spiritual response to spiritual truth than a physically dead man could respond to a ham sandwich.
We cannot leave this section until we at least mention another aspect of truth. Even though the above seven things are clear as crystal in Scripture, the following things are also true:
1. Every sinner is invited, commanded, and encouraged by God to do all of the above things which he cannot do.
2. Every sinner is held totally responsible for not doing all of the above things.
3. Every saved man has done all of these seven things and done them all most willingly! See John 15:5 and Philippians 4:13. The first verse shows inability, and the second verse shows the power of grace.
4. God has never commanded a sinner to do anything that the sinner is capable of doing! No, I did not say it wrong or backward. I said exactly what John 15:5 says, “Without me, you can do nothing.” The nothing in that verse really means nothing.
The flesh can produce nothing that profits. Whenever a person does any of the above seven things, he does it only because he has been born of God and given spiritual life or ability.