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Pardon for the Greatest of Sinners by Jonathan Edwards

January 7, 2010 by ADMIN

“For thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity; for it is great.” Psalm 25:11

It is evident by some passages in this psalm, that when it was penned, it was a time of affliction and danger with David. This appears particularly by the 15th and following verses: “Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net,” etc. His distress makes him think of his sins, and leads him to confess them, and to cry to God for pardon, as is suitable in a time of affliction. See verse 7—”Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions;” and verse 18—”Look upon mine affliction, and my pain, and forgive all my sins.”

Observe what arguments he makes use of in pleading for pardon.

  1. He pleads for pardon for God’s name’s sake.

    2. He has no expectation of pardon for the sake of any righteousness or worthiness of his for any good deeds he had done, or any compensation he had made for his sins; though if man’s righteousness could be a just plea, David would have had as much to plead as most. But he begs that God would do it for his own name’s sake, for his own glory, for the glory of his own free grace, and for the honor of his own covenant-faithfulness.

  2. He pleads the greatness of his sins as an argument for mercy.

He not only doth not plead his own righteousness, or the smallness of his sins. He not only doth not say, Pardon mine iniquity, for I have done much good to counterbalance it; or, Pardon mine iniquity, for it is small, and thou hast no great reason to be angry with me; mine iniquity is not so great, that thou hast any just cause to remember it against me; mine offence is not such but that thou mayest well enough overlook it. But on the contrary he says, Pardon mine iniquity, for it is great; he pleads the greatness of his sin, and not the smallness of it; he enforces his prayer with this consideration, that his sins are very heinous.

But how could he make this a plea for pardon? I answer, Because the greater his iniquity was, the more need he had of pardon. It is as much as if he had said, Pardon mine iniquity, for it is so great that I cannot bear the punishment; my sin is so great that I am in necessity of pardon; my case will be exceedingly miserable, unless thou be pleased to pardon me. He makes use of the greatness of his sin, to enforce his plea for pardon, as a man would make use of the greatness of calamity in begging for relief. When a beggar begs for bread, he will plead the greatness of his poverty and necessity. When a man in distress cries for pity, what more suitable plea can be urged than the extremity of his case?—And God allows such a plea as this: for he is moved to mercy towards us by nothing in us but the miserableness of our case. He doth not pity sinners because they are worthy, but because they need his pity.

DOCTRINE

If we truly come to God for mercy, the greatness of our sin will be no impediment to pardon—If it were an impediment, David would never have used it as a plea for pardon, as we find he does in the text.

The following things are needful in order that we truly come to God for mercy:

I. That we should see our misery, and be sensible of our need of mercy. They who are not sensible of their misery cannot truly look to God for mercy; for it is the very notion of divine mercy, that it is the goodness and grace of God to the miserable. Without misery in the object, there can be no exercise of mercy. To suppose mercy without supposing misery, or pity without calamity, is a contradiction. Therefore men cannot look upon themselves as proper objects of mercy, unless they first know themselves to be miserable; and so, unless this be the case, it is impossible that they should come to God for mercy.

They must be sensible that they are the children of wrath; that the law is against them, and that they are exposed to the curse of it: that the wrath of God abides on them; and that he is angry with them every day while they are under the guilt of sin —They must be sensible that it is a very dreadful thing to be the object of the wrath of God; that it is a very awful thing to have him for their enemy; and that they cannot bear his wrath. They must he sensible that the guilt of sin makes them miserable creatures, whatever temporal enjoyments they have; that they can be no other than miserable, undone creatures, so long as God is angry with them; that they are without strength, and must perish, and that eternally, unless God help them. They must see that their case is utterly desperate, for any thing that anyone else can do for them; that they hang over the pit of eternal misery; and that they must necessarily drop into it, if God have not mercy on them.

II. They must be sensible that they are not worthy that God should have mercy on them.

They who truly come to God for mercy, come as beggars, and not as creditors: they come for mere mercy, for sovereign grace, and not for any thing that is due. Therefore, they must see that the misery under which they lie is justly brought upon them, and that the wrath to which they are exposed is justly threatened against them; and that they have deserved that God should be their enemy, and should continue to be their enemy. They must be sensible that it would be just with God to do as he has threatened in his holy law, viz. make them the objects of his wrath and curse in hell to all eternity. They who come to God for mercy in a right manner are not disposed to find fault with his severity; but they come in a sense of their own utter unworthiness, as with ropes about their necks, and lying in the dust at the foot of mercy.

III. They must come to God for mercy in and through Jesus Christ alone.

All their hope of mercy must be from the consideration of what he is, what he has done, and what he has suffered; and that there is no other name given under heaven, among men, whereby we can be saved, but that of Christ; that he is the Son of God, and the Savior of the world; that his blood cleanses from all sin, and that he is so worthy, that all sinners who are in him may well be pardoned and accepted. It is impossible that any should come to God for mercy, and at the same time have no hope of mercy. Their coming to God for it, implies that they have some hope of obtaining, otherwise they would not think it worth the while to come. But they that come in a right manner have all their hope through Christ, or from the consideration of his redemption, and the sufficiency of it. If persons thus come to God for mercy, the greatness of their sins will be no impediment to pardon. Let their sins be ever so many, and great, and aggravated, it will not make God in the least degree more backward to pardon them.

This may be made evident by the following considerations:

1. The mercy of God is as sufficient for the pardon of the greatest sins, as for the least; and that because his mercy is infinite. That which is infinite, is as much above what is great, as it is above what is small. Thus God being infinitely great, he is as much above kings as he is above beggars; he is as much above the highest angel, as he is above the meanest worm. One finite measure doth not come any nearer to the extent of what is infinite than another. So the mercy of God, being infinite, must be as sufficient for the pardon of all sin, as of one. If one of the least sins is not beyond the mercy of God, so neither are the greatest, or ten thousand of them. However, it must be acknowledged, that this alone doth not prove the doctrine. For though the mercy of God may be as sufficient for the pardon of great sins as others; yet there may be other obstacles, besides the want of mercy. The mercy of God may be sufficient, and yet the other attributes may oppose the dispensation of mercy in these cases. Therefore I observe,

2. That the satisfaction of Christ is as sufficient for the removal of the greatest guilt, as the least—1 John 1:7: “The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin;” and Acts 13:39: “By him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.” All the sins of those who truly come to God for mercy, let them be what they will, are satisfied for, if God be true who tells us so; and if they be satisfied for, surely it is not incredible, that God should be ready to pardon them. So that Christ having fully satisfied for all sin, or having wrought out a satisfaction that is sufficient for all, it is now no way inconsistent with the glory of the divine attributes to pardon the greatest sins of those who in a right manner come unto him for it.

God may now pardon the greatest sinners without any prejudice to the honor of his holiness. The holiness of God will not suffer him to give the least countenance to sin, but inclines him to give proper testimonies of his hatred of it. But Christ having satisfied for sin, God can now love the sinner, and give no countenance at all to sin, however great a sinner he may have been. It was a sufficient testimony of God’s abhorrence of sin that he poured out his wrath on his own dear Son, when he took the guilt of it upon himself. Nothing can more show God’s abhorrence of sin than this. If all mankind had been eternally damned, it would not have been so great a testimony of it.

God may, through Christ, pardon the greatest sinner without any prejudice to the honor of his majesty. The honor of the divine majesty indeed requires satisfaction; but the sufferings of Christ fully repair the injury. Let the contempt be ever so great, yet if so honorable a person as Christ undertakes to be a Mediator for the offender, and suffers so much for him, it fully repairs the injury done to the Majesty of heaven and earth. The sufferings of Christ fully satisfy justice. The justice of God, as the supreme Governor and Judge of the world, requires the punishment of sin. The supreme Judge must judge the world according to a rule of justice.

God doth not show mercy as a judge, but as a sovereign; therefore his exercise of mercy as a sovereign, and his justice as a judge, must be made consistent one with another; and this is done by the sufferings of Christ, in which sin is punished fully, and justice answered. Romans 3:25, 26: “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” The law is no impediment in the way of the pardon of the greatest sin, if men do but truly come to God for mercy: for Christ hath fulfilled the law, he hath borne the curse of it, in his sufferings—Galatians 3:13: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”

3. Christ will not refuse to save the greatest sinners, who in a right manner come to God for mercy; for this is his work. It is his business to be a Savior of sinners; it is the work upon which he came into the world; and therefore he will not object to it. He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, Matthew 9:13. Sin is the very evil which he came into the world to remedy: therefore he will not object to any man that he is very sinful. The more sinful he is, the more need of Christ. The sinfulness of man was the reason of Christ’s coming into the world; this is the very misery from which he came to deliver men. The more they have of it, the more need they have of being delivered; “They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick,” Matthew 9:12. The physician will not make it an objection against healing a man who applies to him that he stands in great need of his help. If a physician of compassion comes among the sick and wounded, surely he will not refuse to heal those that stand in most need of healing, if he be able to heal them.

4. Herein doth the glory of grace by the redemption of Christ much consist, viz. in its sufficiency for the pardon of the greatest sinners. The whole contrivance of the way of salvation is for this end, to glorify the free grace of God. God had it on his heart from all eternity to glorify this attribute; and therefore it is, that the device of saving sinners by Christ was conceived. The greatness of divine grace appears very much in this, that God by Christ saves the greatest offenders. The greater the guilt of any sinner is, the more glorious and wonderful is the grace manifested in his pardon—Romans 5:20: “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” The apostle, when telling how great a sinner he had been, takes notice of the abounding of grace in his pardon, of which his great guilt was the occasion—1 Tim. 1:13: “Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious. But I obtained mercy; and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant, with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.”

The Redeemer is glorified, in that he proves sufficient to redeem those who are exceeding sinful, in that his blood proves sufficient to wash away the greatest guilt, in that he is able to save men to the uttermost, and in that he redeems even from the greatest misery. It is the honor of Christ to save the greatest sinners, when they come to him, as it is the honor of a physician that he cures the most desperate diseases or wounds. Therefore, no doubt, Christ will be willing to save the greatest sinners, if they come to him; for he will not be backward to glorify himself, and to commend the value and virtue of his own blood. Seeing he hath so laid out himself to redeem sinners, he will not be unwilling to show, that he is able to redeem to the uttermost.

5. Pardon is as much offered and promised to the greatest sinners as any, if they will come aright to God for mercy. The invitations of the gospel are always in universal terms: as, “Ho, every one that thirsteth; Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden; and, Whosoever will, let him come.” And the voice of Wisdom is to men in general—Proverbs 8:4: “Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men.” Not to moral men, or religious men, but to you, O men. So Christ promises, John 6:37: “He that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.” This is the direction of Christ to his apostles, after his resurrection—Mark 16:15, 16: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature: he that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved.” Which is agreeable to what the apostle saith, that “the gospel was preached to every creature which is under heaven,” Col. 1:23.

APPLICATION

The proper use of this subject is, to encourage sinners whose consciences are burdened with a sense of guilt, immediately to go to God through Christ for mercy. If you go in the manner we have described, the arms of mercy are open to embrace you. You need not be at all the more fearful of coming because of your sins, let them be ever so black. If you had as much guilt lying on each of your souls as all the wicked men in the world, and all the damned souls in hell; yet if you come to God for mercy, sensible of your own vileness, and seeking pardon only through the free mercy of God in Christ, you would not need to be afraid; the greatness of your sins would be no impediment to your pardon. Therefore, if your souls be burdened, and you are distressed for fear of hell, you need not bear that burden and distress any longer. If you are but willing, you may freely come and unload yourselves, and cast all your burdens on Christ, and rest in him.

But here I shall speak to some OBJECTIONS which some awakened sinners may be ready to make against what I now exhort them to.

I. Some may be ready to object, I have spent my youth and all the best of my life in sin, and I am afraid God will not accept of me, when I offer him only mine old age. To this I would answer, Hath God said anywhere, that he will not accept of old sinners who come to him? God hath often made offers and promises in universal terms; and is there any such exception put in? Doth Christ say, All that thirst, let them come to me and drink, except old sinners? Come to me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, except old sinners and I will give you rest? He that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out, if he be not an old sinner? Did you ever read any such exception anywhere in the Bible? And why should you give way to exceptions which you make out of your own heads, or rather which the devil puts into your heads, and which have no foundation in the word of God? Indeed it is more rare that old sinners are willing to come, than others; but if they do come, they are as readily accepted as any whatever.

2. When God accepts of young persons, it is not for the sake of the service which they are like to do him afterwards, or because youth is better worth accepting than old age. You seem entirely to mistake the matter, in thinking that God will not accept of you because you are old; as though he readily accepted of persons in their youth, because their youth is better worth his acceptance. It is only for the sake of Jesus Christ, that God is willing to accept of any.

You say, your life is almost spent, and you are afraid that the best time for serving God is past; and that therefore God will not now accept of you; as if it were for the sake of the service which persons are like to do him, after they are converted, that he accepts of them. But a self-righteous spirit is at the bottom of such objections. Men cannot get off from the notion, that it is for some goodness or service of their own, either done or expected to be done, that God accepts of persons, and receives them into favor. Indeed they who deny God their youth, the best part of their lives, and spend it in the service of Satan, dreadfully sin and provoke God; and he very often leaves them to hardness of heart when they are grown old. But if they are willing to accept of Christ when old, he is as ready to receive them as any others; for in that matter God hath respect only to Christ and his worthiness.

II. But, says one, I fear I have committed sins that are peculiar to reprobates. I have sinned against light, and strong convictions of conscience; I have sinned presumptuously; and have so resisted the strivings of the Spirit of God, that I am afraid I have committed such sins as none of God’s elect ever commit. I cannot think that God will ever leave one whom he intends to save, to go on and commit sins against so much light and conviction, and with such horrid presumption. Others may say, I have had risings of heart against God; blasphemous thoughts, a spiteful and malicious spirit; and have abused mercy and the strivings of the Spirit, trampled upon the Savior, and my sins are such as are peculiar to those who are reprobated to eternal damnation. To all this I would answer,

1. There is no sin peculiar to reprobates but the sin against the Holy Ghost. Do you read of any other in the word of God? And if you do not read of any there, what ground have you to think any such thing? What other rule have we, by which to judge of such matters, but the divine word? If we venture to go beyond that, we shall be miserably in the dark. When we pretend to go further in our determinations than the word of God, Satan takes us up, and leads us. It seems to you that such sins are peculiar to the reprobate and such as God never forgives. But what reason can you give for it, if you have no word of God to reveal it? Is it because you cannot see how the mercy of God is sufficient to pardon, or the blood of Christ to cleanse from such presumptuous sins? If so, it is because you never yet saw how great the mercy of God is; you never saw the sufficiency of the blood of Christ, and you know not how far the virtue of it extends. Some elect persons have been guilty of all manner of sins, except the sin against the Holy Ghost; and unless you have been guilty of this, you have not been guilty of any that are peculiar to reprobates.

2. Men may be less likely to believe, for sins which they have committed, and not the less readily pardoned when they do believe. It must be acknowledged that some sinners are in more danger of hell than others. Though all are in great danger, some are less likely to be saved. Some are less likely ever to be converted and to come to Christ: but all who do come to him are alike readily accepted; and there is as much encouragement for one man to come to Christ as another. Such sins as you mention are indeed exceeding heinous and provoking to God, and do in an especial manner bring the soul into danger of damnation, and into danger of being given to final hardness of heart; and God more commonly gives men up to the judgment of final hardness for such sins, than for others. Yet they are not peculiar to reprobates; there is but one sin that is so, viz. that against the Holy Ghost. And notwithstanding the sins which you have committed, if you can find it in your hearts to come to Christ, and close with him, you will be accepted not at all the less readily because you have committed such sins.

Though God doth more rarely cause some sorts of sinners to come to Christ than others, it is not because his mercy or the redemption of Christ is not as sufficient for them as others, but because in wisdom he sees fit so to dispense his grace, for a restraint upon the wickedness of men; and because it is his will to give converting grace in the use of means, among which this is one, viz. to lead a moral and religious life, and agreeable to our light, and the convictions of our consciences. But when once any sinner is willing to come to Christ, mercy is as ready for him as for any. There is no consideration at all had of his sins; let him have been ever so sinful, his sins are not remembered; God doth not upbraid him with them.

III. But had I not better stay till I shall have made myself better, before I presume to come to Christ. I have been, and see myself to be very wicked now; but am in hopes of mending myself, and rendering myself at least not so wicked: then I shall have more courage to come to God for mercy. In answer to this,

1. Consider how unreasonably you act. You are striving to set up yourselves for your own saviors; you are striving to get something of your own, on the account of which you may the more readily be accepted. So that by this it appears that you do not seek to be accepted only on Christ’s account. And is not this to rob Christ of the glory of being your only Savior? Yet this is the way in which you are hoping to make Christ willing to save you.

2. You can never come to Christ at all, unless you first see that he will not accept of you the more readily for any thing that you can do. You must first see, that it is utterly in vain for you to try to make yourselves better on any such account. You must see that you can never make yourselves any more worthy, or less unworthy, by any thing which you can perform.

3. If ever you truly come to Christ, you must see that there is enough in him for your pardon, though you be no better than you are. If you see not the sufficiency of Christ to pardon you, without any righteousness of your own to recommend you, you never will come so as to be accepted of him. The way to be accepted is to come—not on any such encouragement, that now you have made yourselves better, and more worthy, or not so unworthy, but—on the mere encouragement of Christ’s worthiness, and God’s mercy.

4. If ever you truly come to Christ, you must come to him to make you better. You must come as a patient comes to his physician, with his diseases or wounds to be cured. Spread all your wickedness before him, and do not plead your goodness; but plead your badness, and your necessity on that account: and say, as the psalmist in the text, not Pardon mine iniquity, for it is not so great as it was, but, “Pardon mine iniquity, for it is Great.”

From The Works of Jonathan Edwards, II: 110-113.

Copyright Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

Posted in Jonathan Edwards |

Objects of His Choice Mercy by Stephen Charnock

January 7, 2010 by ADMIN

Why God chooses the greatest sinners to be objects of His greatest mercy.

His Mercy Is Magnified in Such Choices

There is a disposition in the greatest sinners, more than in moral or superstitious men, to see their need: because they have not any self-righteousness to boast of. Man’s blameless outward carriage and freedom from the common sins of the times and places wherein they live, many times proves a snare of death to them, and makes them more cold and faint towards Christ: because they possess themselves with imaginations that Christ cannot but look upon them, though they never so much as set their faces toward him. And because they are not drenched in such villainies as others are, their consciences sit quiet under this moral carriage, and gall them not by any self-reflections. Therefore when the threatenings of the law are denounced against such sins, these men wipe their mouths, and bless God with the Pharisee, that they are not sinners of such a scarlet dye, and that they do such and such duties, and so go on without seeing a necessity of the new birth. By this means the strength of sin is more compacted and condensed in them.

Self-Righteousness and Morality May Keep A Man from Christ.

Superstitious and formal men are hardly seduced to their right wits: partly because of a defect in reason from whence, those extravagances arise, and partly because of these false habits and spirit of error possessing their faculties, they are incapable of more noble impressions. Besides, they are more tenacious of the opinions they have sucked in, which have command over their souls. Such misguided zeal fortifies men against proposals of grace, and fastens them in a more obstinate inflexibleness to any converting motions. This self-righteous temper is like an external heat in the body, which produces a persistent fever, and is not easily perceived till it be incurable. And naturally it is a harder matter to part with self-righteousness than to part with gross sins; for that is more deeply rooted upon the stock of self-love, a principle which departs not from us without our very nature. It has more arguments to plead for it; it has a natural conscience, as a patron for it. Whereas a great sinner stands speechless at reproofs, an outward law-keeper has the strong reinforcement of natural conscience within his own breast. It was not the gross sins of the Jews against the light of nature, [but] the idol of their own righteousness that was the block to hinder them from submitting to the righteousness of God (Romans 10:8).

Christ came to his own, and his own received him not (John 1:11). Those who seem to their heads in heaven by some kind of resemblance to God in moral righteousness, being undefiled with the common pollutions of the world—these received him not. Thus even publicans and harlots started ahead of them, and ran before them, to catch hold of the offers of grace. “Publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of heaven before you” (Matthew 21:31). Just as travellers that have loitered away their time in an alehouse, being sensible how the darkness of the night creeps upon them, spur on, and outstrip those that were many miles on their way, and get to their stage before them. So these publicans and harlots which were at a great distance from heaven, arrived there before those who, like the young man [the rich young ruler], were not far off from it.

Great Sinners Are Most Easily Convinced of Their Need.

Great sinners are most easily convinced of the notorious wickedness of their lives. And reflecting upon themselves because of their horrid crimes against the light of nature, are more inclinable to endeavour an escape from the devil’s slavery, and are frightened and shaken by their consciences into a compliance with the doctrine of redemption. Whereas those that do by nature the things contained in the law, are so much a law to themselves, that it is difficult to persuade them of the necessity of conforming to another law, and to part with this self-law in regard to justification. As metals of the noblest substance are hardest to be polished; so men of the most noble, natural, and moral endowments are with more difficulty argued into a state of Christianity than those of more drossy modes of living. Cassianus speaks very peremptorily in this case: “often have we seen the cold and carnal warmed into a spiritual fervour; the dainty and the brutish—never.”

Man’s Sin Nature Makes Mercy Necessary

The insufficiency of nature to such a work as conversion shows that men may not fall down and idolize their own wit and power. A change from acts of sin to moral duties may be done by a natural strength and the power of natural conscience. For the very same motives which led to sin, as education, interest, profit, may, upon a change of circumstances, guide men to an outward morality; but a change to the contrary grace is supernatural.

Two things are certain in nature.

  1. Natural inclinations never change, but by some superior virtue.

    2. A loadstone will not cease to draw iron, while that attractive quality remains in it. The wolf can never love the lamb, nor the lamb the wolf. Everything must act suitably to its nature. Water cannot but moisten; fire cannot but burn. So likewise the corrupt nature of man being possessed with an invincible contrariety and enmity to God, will never suffer him to comply with God. And the inclinations of a sinner to sin, being more strengthened by the frequency of sinful acts, have as great a power over him and as natural to him as any qualities are to natural agents. And being stronger than any sympathies in the world, [this nature] cannot, by a man’s own power, or the power of any other nature equal to it, be turned into a contrary channel.

  2. Nothing can act beyond its own principle and nature.

Nothing in the world can raise itself to a higher rank of being than that which nature has placed it in. A spark cannot make itself a star, though it mount a little up to heaven; nor a plant endue itself with sense, nor a beast adorn itself with reason; nor a man make himself an angel. Thorns cannot bring forth grapes, nor thistles produce figs because such fruits are above the nature of those plants. So neither can our corrupt nature bring forth grace, which is a fruit above it. Effectus non excedit virtutem suae causae [the effect cannot exceed the power of its cause]. [Since] grace is more excellent than nature, therefore it cannot be the fruit of nature. It is Christ’s conclusion: “How can you, being evil, speak good things?” (Matthew 12:33, 34). Not so much as the buds and blossoms of words, much less the fruit of actions. They can no more change their natures, than a viper can do away with his poison.

Now though this I have said be true, yet there is nothing which man does in the world that has more effect than a self-sufficiency and an independence from any other power but his own. This attitude is as much riveted in his nature, as any other false principle whatsoever. For man does derive it from his first parents, as the prime legacy bequeathed to his nature: for it was the first thing uncovered in man at his fall—that he would be as God, independent from him. Now God, to cross this principle, allows his elect, like Lazarus, to lie in the grave till they stink, that there may be no excuse to ascribe their resurrection to their own power. If a putrefied rotten carcass should be brought to life, it could never be thought that it inspired itself with that active principle. God lets men run on so far in sin, that they do unman themselves, that he may proclaim to all the world, that we are unable to do anything of ourselves towards our recovery, without a superior principle.

Consider the following evidence:

  1. Man’s subjection under sin.

He is “sold under sin,” (Rom. 7:14), and brought “into captivity to the law of sin,” (Rom. 7:23). [He speaks of the] “Law of sin”— that sin seems to have a legal authority over him; and man is not only a slave to one sin, but many, (Titus 3:3), “serving divers lusts.” Now when a man is sold under the power of a thousand lusts, every one of which has an absolute tyranny over him, and rules him as a sovereign by a law. When a man is thus bound by a thousand laws, a thousand cords and fetters, and carried whither his lords please, against the dictates of his own conscience and force of natural light; can any man imagine that his own power can rescue him from the strength of these masters that claim such a right to him, and keep such a force upon him, and have so often baffled his own strength, when he attempted to turn against them?

2. Man’s affection toward sins.

He does not only serve them, but he serves them, and every one of them, with delight and pleasure (Titus 3:3). They were all pleasures, as well as lusts; friends as well as lords. Will any man leave his sensual delights and such sins that please and flatter his flesh? Will a man ever endeavour to run away from those lords whom he serves with affection, having as much delight in being bound a slave to these lusts, as the devil has in binding him? Therefore when you see a man cast away his pleasures, deprive himself of those comfortable things to which his soul was once knit, and walk in paths contrary to corrupt nature, you may search for the cause anywhere, rather than in nature itself. No piece of dirty, muddy clay can form itself into a neat and handsome vessel; no plain piece of timber can fit itself for the building, much less a crooked one. Nor a man that is born blind, give himself sight.

Excerpted and edited from Stephen Charnock, “The Chief of Sinners Saved.”

Copyright Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

Posted in Stephen Charnock |

Total Depravity by Asahel Nettleton

January 7, 2010 by ADMIN

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth; and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart, was only evil continually. Genesis 6:5

The object of this discourse will be to illustrate and establish the doctrine of Total Depravity.

The doctrine does not imply that all men are equally wicked. There are evidently degrees of wickedness. It shall be more tolerable for the inhabitants of Sodom, than for those who reject the gospel. The servant that knew his Lord’s will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes; but he who knew not his Lord’s will and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. In hell all will be totally depraved, and yet all will not be equally bad.

This doctrine does not imply that men are as bad as they can be. “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse.” And all the finally impenitent will wax worse and worse forever. The longer sinners suffer in hell, the more will they deserve to continue there.

This doctrine does not imply that men are not free moral agents. They possess all the faculties that are essential to moral agency-reason, judgment, memory, will, and affections. If they were not free moral agents, they could not be the subjects of moral depravity. To say, therefore, that total depravity is inconsistent with free agency is absurd. If it is, there can be no such thing as sin or blame in the Universe. For if total depravity annihilates free agency, then partial depravity destroys it in some degree.

This doctrine does not imply that men are destitute of conscience. The question is sometimes asked, “is there not something in man that tells him what is right and what is wrong?” Undoubtedly there is. If man had not a conscience, he could not be a sinner. But it is one thing to know our duty, and another to love it, and to do it. The more clearly a person sees his duty, the greater is his guilt if he does not perform it. Conscience will exist in hell. It is the worm that never dies. And who doubts that the lost spirits in hell are totally depraved?

But positively, by the doctrine of Total Depravity, it is meant, that all men, by nature, are destitute of love to G6d, and consequently wholly sinful—or to adopt the language of the text, that every imagination of the thoughts of their heart, is only evil continually.

The truth of this doctrine appears….

1. From direct passages of scripture. The text is decisive. The language is very striking. Suppose it were affirmed of Gabriel that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only holy continually. Could any one doubt that this language was intended to affirm that Gabriel was perfectly holy?

2. From the doctrine of regeneration. Men must be born again—they must pass from death to life. “You hath he quickened, who were dead.” If the heart were not entirely depraved, this change would not be necessary.

3. From the distinction which the scriptures make between the saint and the sinner. “Every one that loveth, is born of God.” This declaration implies that all unrenewed men are destitute of love to God, and of course totally depraved.

Should the sinner say, “there certainly is some goodness in myself;” I would answer that your testimony cannot be admitted. Suppose that it does not seem to you that you are totally depraved. You may be blinded by self-flattery. Your character may appear very differently to the omniscient God. “That which is highly esteemed among men, is abomination in the sight of God. Mark the words of the text—”And God saw that the wickedness of men was great.”

4. From the experience of every Christian. Look back, my brethren, to the time when you were under conviction of sin. Were you not brought to see that there was no good thing in you? Did not God treat you as if you were totally depraved, by refusing to bear and answer your prayers? Did you not find that you were not only destitute of love to God, but that your hearts were enmity against him? And when you began to love God, were you not conscious that you had never loved him before?

If this doctrine is true, conviction and conversion are necessary; and when persons begin to love God, it will be all new. And so we find it in revivals. So it was with Paul. “I know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.”

Thus, the experience of Christians perfectly harmonizes with this doctrine. But if the doctrine were not true, the young convert might say, I have indeed experienced a great change, but it is nothing new. I always felt so. I always loved God

5. From the experience of every sinner. When Adam had sinned, he was afraid, and hid himself from the presence of the Lord. So children when they first learn that God is present are afraid, and disposed to hide themselves. This shows that they are totally depraved. If there were any love to God in their hearts, they would be pleased with the idea of God’s presence. They would love to pray to him, and to converse about him.

Let me appeal to the experience of impenitent sinners. Do you love to pray? Do you love to meditate and converse on the subject of religion? Why is it that all the motives that are presented to your minds are insufficient to induce you to comply with the terms of the gospel? Why do you not repent? Do you say, you cannot? Then certainly you are totally depraved. If you had the least love to God, you could not help repenting. Think against whom you have sinned. What a heart must that be that can feel no contrition for sin committed against such a glorious being. Think of the love of Christ in dying for your sins, and in offering you salvation without money and without price. Surely if this is not sufficient to melt your hearts, they must be harder than adamant.

Think of the threatenings of eternal death. If you can venture on in sin in view of these threatenings, how amazingly obdurate must be your hearts.

Perhaps some one will say, “if these things are so, it will do no good for me to attempt the service of God, and I will do nothing.” To such a one, let me say, you express the very feeling of a totally depraved heart. If you had any love to God, you would not stop to inquire whether it would do you any good to serve him. You would delight in his service, and esteem it a privilege to serve him

If any of you, my hearers, do not believe that you are totally depraved, let me put your feelings to the test. You know that it will be your duty to enter into your closets to pray this night. If you love God, you will esteem it a privilege to do so. If you find your hearts opposed to this duty, and neglect it, or attempt it with great reluctance, you will know tomorrow, that you possess just such hearts as have been described.

Copyright Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

Posted in Asahel Nettleton |

The Ramifications of the Fall by A. W. Pink

January 7, 2010 by ADMIN

I. The Condition of the Heart

A Hardened Heart

The heart is the center of our moral being, out of which flow the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23; cf. Matthew 12:35). The nature of the heart is at once indicated by its being designated a stony heart” (Ezekiel 11:19). The heart of the regenerate is also likened to “rock” (Jeremiah 23:29), and to “adamant stone” (Zechariah 7:12), which is harder than flint. Those far from righteousness are called “stouthearted” (Isaiah 46:12); and in Isaiah 48:4 God says, “Thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass.” This hardness is often ascribed to the neck (“stiff-necked”); a figure of man’s obstinacy taken from refractory oxen which will not accept the yoke.

An Absence of Spiritual Sensibility

This hardness evidences itself by a complete absence of spiritual sensibility, so that the heart is unmoved by God’s goodness, has no awe of His authority and majesty, no fear of His anger and vengeance. A presentation of the joys of heaven or the horrors of hell makes no impression on it. As the prophet of old lamented, they “put far away the evil day” (Amos 6:3), dismissing it from their thoughts as an unwelcome subject. They have no sense of guilt, no consciousness of having offended their Maker, no alarming realization of His impending wrath, but are at ease in their sins. Far from sin being a burden to them, it is their element and delight.

Untouched by Spiritual Warnings

Hardness of heart is the perverseness and obstinacy of fallen man’s nature, which makes him resolve to continue in sin no matter what be the consequences thereof. It renders him unwilling to be rebuked for his folly, and makes him refuse to be reclaimed from it, whatever methods are used in order thereunto. The Prophet Ezekiel mentioned this hardness of heart in his day, referring to those who had been forewarned by earlier judgments, and were at that very time under the most solemn rebuke of Providence. God had to say of them, “They will not hearken unto Me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted” (Ezekiel 3:7). The most touching entreaties and winsome reasoning will not move the unregenerate to accept what is absolutely necessary for their present peace and final joy. “They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely” (Psalm 58:4,5; cf. Acts 7:57).

The hearts of the regenerate are docile and pliable, easily bent to God’s will, but the hearts of the wicked are wedded to their lusts and impervious to all appeal. There is such unyielding disposition against heavenly things that they do not respond to the most alarming threatenings and thunderings. They will neither be convinced by the most cogent arguments nor won by the most tempting inducements. They are so addicted to self-pleasing that they cannot be persuaded to take Christ’s yoke on them. Zechariah 7:11,12 states: “But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent.” They are less susceptible to receive any impressions of holiness than granite is to be engraved by the tool of the artificer. They scorn control and refuse to be admonished. They are “a stubborn and rebellious generation” (Psalm 78:8), being subject to neither the law nor the gospel. The doctrines of repentance, self-denial, and walking with God can find no entrance into their hearts.

II. Disordered Affections

The Scope of Affections

Writers disagree as to the scope of the affections. It is a moot point both theologically and psychologically whether the desires are included in the affections. In the broadest meaning, the affections may be said to be the sensitive faculty of the soul. As the understanding discerns and judges things, so the affections allure and dispose the soul to or against the objects contemplated. By the affections the soul becomes pleased or displeased with what is known by the bodily senses or contemplated by the mind, and thus it is moved to approve or reject. As distinguished from both the understanding and the affections, the will executes the final decision of the mind or the strongest desire of the affections, carrying it into action. Since the affections pertain to the sensitive side of the soul, we are more conscious of their stirrings than we are of the actions of our minds or wills. We shall employ the term in its widest latitude, including the desires, for what the appetites are to the body, the affections are to the soul.

Man’s Desires Changed

Thomas Goodwin likened the desire nature to the stomach. It is an empty void, fitted to receive from without, longing for a satisfying object. Its universal language is, “Who will show us any good?” (Psalm 4:6). Now God Himself is man’s chief good, the only One who can afford him real, lasting and full satisfaction. At the beginning He created him in His own likeness, that as the needle touched by the lodestone ever moves northward, so the soul touched with the divine image should turn the understanding, affections and will to Himself. He also placed the soul in a material body and in this world, fitting each for the other, providing everything necessary for and suited to each part of man’s complex being. The desire nature carries the soul’s impressions to the creature, originally intended as a means of enjoying God in and by them. The wonders of God’s handiwork were meant to be admired, but chiefly as displaying His wisdom. Food was to be eaten and enjoyed, but in order to deepen gratitude for the goodness of the Giver and to supply strength to serve Him. But when man apostatized, his understanding, affections and will were divorced from God, and the exercise of them became directed only by self-love.

[Our fallen parents] sought their happiness not in communion with their Maker, but in fellowship with the creature. Like their children ever since, they loved and served the creature more than the Creator. The result was disastrous: they became separated from the Holy One. That was at once evidenced by their attempt to hide from Him. Had their delight been in God as their chief good, the desire for concealment could not have possessed them. As it was with Adam and Eve, so it has been with all their descendants. Many a proverb expresses that general truth. “The stream cannot rise higher than the fountain.” “Men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles.” “Like begets like.” The parent stock of the human may must send forth scions [offspring] of its own nature. The hearts and lives of all the unregenerate say to the Almighty, “Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways” (Job 21:14).

Ignoring the One Who Satisfies

The natural center of unfallen man’s soul for both its rest and delight was the One who gave him being. Therefore David said, “Return unto thy rest, O my soul” (Psalm 116:7). But sin has caused men to “draw back” from Him, “departing from the living God” (Hebrews 10:38; 3:12). God was not only to be the delightful portion of the one whom He had made in His image, but also the ultimate end of all man’s motives and actions as he aimed to glorify and please Him in all things. But man forsook “the fountain of living waters” (Jeremiah 2:13), the infinite and perpetual spring of comfort and joy. And now the inclinations and lusts of man’s nature are wholly removed from God, anything and everything being more agreeable to him than He who is the sum of all excellence. Man makes the things of time and sense his chief good and the pleasing of himself his supreme end. That is why his affections are termed “ungodly lusts” (Jude 18)—they turn man away from God. Man has no relish for His holiness, no desire for fellowship with Him, no wish to retain Him in his thoughts.

Seeking Satisfaction in Broken Cisterns

But what has just been pointed out (the aversion of our affections from God) is only the negative phase. The positive is the conversion of the affections to other things. Thus God charged Israel, “My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” nor give them any satisfaction (Jeremiah 2:13). All the concern of the natural man is how to live at ease; not how to honor and enjoy God. He observes “lying vanities” and forsakes his own mercy (Jonah 2:8). All his expectations are disappointments, empty vanities. Man is deceived by a vain prospect, and the outcome is vexation of Spirit, because of frustration. As the love of God shed abroad in the hearts of the redeemed does not seek its own good (1 Corinthians 13:5), so self-love does nothing but that: ‘They all look to their own way, every one for his gain” (Isaiah 56:11).

Not only are the desires of the unregenerate turned away from God to the creature, they are greedy and excessive. Thus we read of “inordinate affections” (Colossians 3:5), which indicate both excess and irregularity, a spirit of gluttony and unmitigated craving for things contrary to God, a “lust after evil things”(1 Corinthians 10:6). We see here two sins: intemperance and “pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:12). The body is esteemed above the soul, for all the efforts of the natural man are directed to making provision to fulfill the lusts of the flesh; his immortal spirit is little thought of and still less cared for. When things go well for him, he says, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry” (Luke 12:19). His thoughts do not rise to a higher and future life, He is more concerned with the clothing and adorning of the outward man than with the cultivation of a meek and quiet spirit, which is of great value in the sight of God (1 Peter 3:4). Earth is preferred before heaven, things of time before eternity. Though death and the grave may put an end to all he has here much sooner than he imagines, yet his heart is so set on his possessions that he will not be diverted from them.

The Affections, rather than Reason Now Rules

Thus it is that the affections, which at the beginning were the servants of reason, now occupy the throne. That which is the glory of human nature—elevating it above the beasts of the field—is turned here and there by the rude rabble of our passions. God placed in man an instinct for happiness, so that he could find it in Himself; but now that instinct gropes in the dust and snatches at every vanity. The counsels and contrivances of the mind are engaged in the accomplishment of man’s carnal desires. Not only have his affections no relish for spiritual things, but they are strongly prejudiced against them, for they run counter to the gratifying of his corrupt nature. His desires are set on more wealth, more worldly honor and power, more fleshly merriment; and because the gospel contains no promise of such things, it is despised. Because it inculcates holiness, mortifying of the flesh, separation from the world, resisting the devil, the gospel is most unwelcome to him. To turn the affections away from those material and temporal things that they have made their chief good, and to turn them to unseen spiritual and eternal things, alienates the carnal mind against the gospel. It offers nothing attractive to the natural man in place of those idols on which his heart centers. To renounce his own righteousness and be dependent on that of another is equally distasteful to his pride.

The affections are alienated from and opposed to not only the holy requirements of the gospel, but also its mystery. That mystery is what the Scriptures term the hidden wisdom of God, which the natural man not only fails to admire and adore, but regards with contempt. He looks on all of its declarations as empty and unintelligible notions. This prejudice has prevailed among the wise and learned of this world in all ages. The wisdom of God seems foolishness to all that are puffed up by pride in their own intelligence, and what seems foolishness to them is despised and scorned. That which is related to faith rather than reason is unpalatable. Not to trust in their own understanding but in the Lord is most difficult for those of towering intellect. To set aside their own ideas, forsake their thoughts (Isaiah 55:7) and become as “little children,” and to be told they shall never enter the kingdom of heaven unless they do all this, is most abhorrent to them. Part of man’s depravity consists in his readiness to embrace anti-God prejudices and to tenaciously adhere to them, with total lack of power to extricate himself from them.

Man Now Regulated by His Senses

The disordered state of the affections is seen in the fact that the actions of the natural man are regulated far more by his senses than by his reason. His conduct consists principally in responding to the clamoring of his desires rather than to the dictates of reason. The tendencies of children swiftly turn to any corrupting diversion, but are slow to respond to any improving exercise. They can scarcely be restrained from the one; they have to be compelled to do the other. That the affections are turned away from God is made clear every time His will crosses our desires. This disease appears too in the objects on which the different affections are placed. Instead of love being set on God, it is centered on the world and on idols. Instead of hatred being directed against sin, it is opposed to holiness. Instead of joy finding its delight in spiritual things, it wastes itself on things that soon pall. Instead of fear being actuated by the displeasure of the Lord, it dreads more the frowns of our fellowmen. If there is grief, it is for the thwarting of our pleasures and hopes, rather than over our waywardness. If there is pity, it is exercised on self rather than on the sufferings of others.

Sin is found in the Affections of the Heart

The very first stirring of our lusts is itself evil. The passions or lusts are those natural and unrestrained motives of the creature for the advancement of its nature, inclining to those things which promote its good, and avoiding those that are harmful. They are to the soul what wings are to the bird and sails to the ship. Desire, always in pursuit of satisfaction, must be regulated by right reason. But reason has been dethroned and man’s passions and inclinations are lawless; therefore their earliest stirrings after forbidden objects are essentially evil. This was, as Matthew 5 shows, denied by the rabbis, who restricted sin to open and outward transgression. But our Lord declared that unwarrantable anger against another was incipient murder, that to look on a woman with lust was a breach of the seventh commandment, that impure thoughts and wanton imaginations were nothing less than adultery. Hence Scripture speaks of “deceitful lusts” (Ephesians 4:22), “foolish and hurtful lusts” (1 Tim 6:9), “worldly lusts” (Titus 2:12), “fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” (1 Pet 2:11), “ungodly lusts” (Jude 18).

The Sinfulness of Such Desires

In Romans 7:7, the term is actually rendered sin: “I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, ‘Thou shalt not covet.’” Here, then, sin and lust are used interchangeably: any inward nonconformity to the law is sinful. Paul was made aware of that fact when the commandment was applied to him in power—as the sun shining on refuse draws forth its stench. Men may deny that the very desire for forbidden objects is culpable, but Scripture affirms that even imaginations are the evil buds of wickedness, for they are contrary to that rectitude of heart that the law requires. Note how that terrible list of things which Christ enumerated as issuing from the heart of fallen man is headed with “evil thoughts” (Matthew 15:19).

Affections As the “First Stirrings” of Sinful Nature

“For when we were in the flesh [i.e., while Christians were in their unregenerate state], the motions of sins [literally, the affections of sin, or the beginnings of our passions] which were [aggravated] by the law, did work in our members [the faculties of the soul as well as of the body] to bring forth fruit unto death” (Romans 7:5). Those “affections of sin” are the filthy streams that issue from the polluted fountain of our hearts. They are the first stirrings of our fallen nature, which precede the overt acts of transgression. They are the unlawful movements of our desire prior to the studied and deliberate thoughts of the mind after sin. “But sin [indwelling corruption], taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence” or “evil lustings” (Romans 7:8). Note that word “wrought in me”—there was a polluted disposition or evil propensity at work, distinct from the deeds that it produced. Indwelling sin is a powerful principle, constantly exercising a bad influence, stimulating unholy affections, stirring to avarice, enmity, malice and countless other evils.

Temptation Allures our Fallen Nature

The poplar idea that now pervades is that nothing is sin except an open and outward transgression. Such a concept falls far short of the searching and humbling teaching of Holy Writ. It affirms that the source of all temptation lies within fallen man himself. The depravity of his own heart induces him to listen to the devil or be influenced by the profligacy of others. If this were not so, no external solicitations to wrongdoing would have any force, for there would be nothing within man for them to excite, nothing to which those solicitations correspond or over which they could exert any power. An evil example would be rejected with abhorrence if we were pure within. There must be an unsatisfied lust to which temptation from without appeals. Where there is no desire for food, a well-spread table does not allure. If there is no love of acquisition, gold cannot attract the heart. In every instance, the force of temptation lies in some propensity of our fallen nature.

James 1:14-15 traces the origin of all our sinning: “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished bringeth forth death.” Those words show that sin encroaches on the spirit by degrees; they describe the several stages before it is consummated in the outward act. They reveal that the procreating cause of all sin lies in the lusts of every man’s soul; he has within himself both the food and fuel for it.

Our Lusts (Desires) Are the Root of Our Sin

Goodwin noted: “You can never come to see how deeply and how abominably corrupt creatures you are, until God opens your eyes to see your lusts.” The old man is “corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Ephesians 4:22). Lust is both the womb and the root of all wickedness on earth. The apostle to God’s people spoke of “having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). “The corruption,” that wasting destroying blight which is on all mankind “which is in the world,” is like poison in the cup, like dry rot in wood, like an epidemic in the air-inherent, ineradicable. It taints every part of man’s being, physical, mental and moral; it affects all his relations of life, whether in the family, society or the state.

Our Lusts Draw Us Away into Sin

“Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust.” When men are tempted they usually try to place the onus on God, the devil, or their fellowmen; actually the blame rests entirely on them. First, their affections are removed from what is good and they are incited to wrongful conduct by their corrupt indignations, attracted to the bait which Satan or the world dangles before them. “Lust” here signifies a yearning for, or longing to obtain something. And it is so strong that it draws the soul after a forbidden object. The Greek word for “drawn away” means forcibly impelled. The impetuous violence of the desire that covets some sensual or worldly thing demands gratification. This is nothing but a hankering after what God has not granted, rising from discontent with our present condition or position. Even though that longing is a fleeting and involuntary one, perhaps against our best judgment, nevertheless it is sinful and, when allowed, produces yet deeper guilt. “It bringeth forth sin” by a decree of the will. What was previously contemplated is now actually perpetuated. “And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death”: We pay its wages and reap what was planted, damnation being the ultimate outcome. This is the progress of sin within us, and these are its degrees of enormity.

III. Corrupted Conscience

Even the Conscience Was Affected

If there is one faculty of man’s soul that might be thought to have retained the original image of God on it, it is surely the conscience. Such a view has indeed been widely held. Not a few of the most renowned philosophers and monilists have contended that conscience is nothing less than the divine voice itself speaking in the innermost part of our being. Without minimizing the great importance and value of this internal monitor, either in its office or in its operations, it must be emphatically decreed that such theorists err that even this faculty has not escaped from the common ruin of our entire beings. This is evident from the plain teaching of God’s Word. Scripture speaks of a “weak conscience” (I Corinthians 8:12), of men “having their conscience seared with a hot iron” (I Tim 4:2). It says that their “conscience is defiled” (Titus 1:15), that they have “an evil conscience” (Hebrews. 10:22). Let us examine the point more closely.

The Conscience is Hindered

Conscience is only able to work according to the light it has; and since the natural man cannot discern spiritual things (1 Corinthians. 2:14), it is useless in respect to them. How feeble is its light! It is more like the glimmer of a candle than the rays of the sun—merely sufficient to make the darkness visible. Owing to the darkened condition of the understanding, the conscience is fearfully ignorant. When it does discover that which is adverse, it indicates it feebly and ineffectually. Instead of directing the senses, it mostly confuses. How true this is in the case of the uncivilized. Conscience gives them a sense of guilt and then puts them to practicing the most abominable and often inhuman rites. It has induced them to invent and propagate the most impious misrepresentations of Deity. As a salve to their conscience, they often make the very objects of their worship the precedents and patrons of their favorite vices. The fact is that conscience is so sadly defective that it is unable to perform its duty until God enlightens, awakens, and renews it.

The Conscience is Defective

Its operations are equally faulty. Not only is conscience defective in vision but its voice is very weak. How strongly it ought to upbraid us for our shocking ingratitude to our great Benefactor! How loudly it should remonstrate against the stupid neglect of our spiritual interests and eternal welfare. Yet it does neither the one nor the other. Though it offers some checks on outward and gross sins, it makes no resistance to the subtler secret workings of indwelling corruption. If it prompts to the performance of duty, it ignores the most important and spiritual part of that duty. It may be uneasy if we fail to spend the usual amount of time each day in private prayer, but it is little concerned about our reverence, humility, faith and fervor in prayer. Those in Malachi’s day were guilty of offering God defective sacrifices, yet the conscience never troubled them about it (Malachi 1:7-8). Conscience may be scrupulous in carrying out the precepts of men or our personal inclinations, yet utterly neglect those things which the Lord has commanded; like the Pharisees who would not eat food while their hands remained ceremonially unwashed, yet disregarded what God had commanded (Mark 7:6-9).

The Conscience is Partial

Conscience is woefully partial disregarding favorite sins and excusing those that most besiege us. All such attempts to excuse our faults are founded on ignorance of God, of ourselves, of our duty. Otherwise conscience would bring in the verdict of guilty. Conscience often joins with our lusts to encourage a wicked deed. Saul’s conscience told him not to offer sacrifice till Samuel came, yet to please the people and prevent them from deserting him he did so. And when that servant of God reproved him, the king tried to justify his offense by saying that the Philistines were gathered together against Israel, and that he dared not attack them before calling on God: “I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering” (1 Samuel 13:8-12). Conscience will strain to find some consideration with which to appease itself and approve of the evil act. Even when rebuking certain sins, it will find motives and discover inducements to them. Thus, when Herod was about to commit the dastardly murder of John the Baptist, which was against his convictions, his conscience came to his aid and urged him forward by impressing on him that he must not violate the oath which he had taken before others (Mark 6:26).

Conscience often ignores great sins while condoning lesser ones, as Saul was hard upon the Israelites for a breach of the ceremonial law (1 Samuel 14:33) but made no scruple of killing eighty-five of the Lord’s priests. Conscience will even devise arguments that favor the most outrageous acts. Thus it is not only like a corrupt lawyer pleading an evil cause, but also like a corrupt judge justifying the wicked. Those who clamored for the crucifixion of Christ did so under the pretext of its being orderly and necessary: “We have a law and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God” (John 19:7). Little wonder that the Lord says of men that they “call evil good, and good evil … put darkness for light and light for darkness” (Isaiah 5:20). Conscience never moves the natural man to perform duties out of gratitude and thankfulness to God. It never convicts him of the heavy guilt of Adam’s offense that is lying upon his soul, nor of lack of faith in Christ. It allows sinners to sleep in peace in their awful unbelief. But theirs is not a sound and solid peace, for there is no ground for it; rather it is the false security of ignorance. Says God of them, “They consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness” (Hosea 7:2).

The Conscience is not Effectual

The accusations of conscience are ineffectual, for they produce no good fruit, yielding neither meekness, humility nor genuine repentance, but rather a dread of God as a harsh Judge or hatred of Him as an inexorable enemy. Not only are its accusations ineffectual, but often they are quite erroneous. Because of the darkness upon the understanding, the moral perception of the natural man greatly errs. As Thomas Boston said of the corrupt conscience, “So it is often found like a mad and furious horse, which violently runs down himself, his rider, and all that come in his way.” A fearful example of that appears in our Lord’s prediction in John 16:2 which received repeated fulfillment in the Acts: “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” In like manner, Saul of Tarsus after his conversion acknowledged: “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth” (Acts 26:9). The unrenewed conscience is a most unreliable guide.

Even when the conscience of the unregenerate is awakened by the immediate hand of God and is struck with deep and painful conviction of sin, far from its moving the soul to seek the mercy of God through the Mediator, it fills him with futility and dismay. Formerly this man may have gone to great pains to stifle the accusations of his inward judge, but now he cannot. Instead, conscience rages and roars, putting the whole man in dreadful consternation, as he is terrified by a sense of the wrath of a holy God and the fiery indignation which shall devour His adversaries. This fills him with such horror and despair that instead of turning to the Lord he tries to flee from Him. Thus it was in the case of Judas who, when he was made to realize the awful gravity of his vile deed, went out and hanged himself. That the guilt of sin within the natural man causes him to turn from rather than to Christ was demonstrated by the Pharisees in John 8:9. They, “being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one.

IV. Disabled Will

The Will is a “servant” to the mind and affections

The will is not the lord but the servant of the other faculties executing the strongest conviction of the mind or the most imperious command of our lusts, for there can be but one dominating influence in the will at one and the same time. Originally the excellence of man’s will consisted in following the guidance of right reason and submitting to the influence of proper authority. But in Eden man’s will rejected the former and rebelled against the latter, and in consequence of the fall his will has ever since been under the control of an understanding which prefers darkness to light and of affections which crave evil rather than good. Thus the fleeting pleasures of sense and the puny interests of time excite our wishes, while the lasting delights of godliness and the riches of immortality receive little or no attention. The will of the natural man is biased by his corruption, for his inclinations gravitate in the opposite direction from his duty; therefore he is in complete bondage to sin, impelled by his lusts. The unregenerate are not merely unwilling to seek after holiness; they inveterately hate it.

The Will is in Rebellion against God

Since the will turned traitor to God and entered the service of Satan, it has been completely paralyzed toward good. Said the Savior, “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him” (John 6:44). And why is it that man cannot come to Christ by his own natural powers? Not only because has he no inclination to do so, but the Savior repels him; His yoke is unwelcome, His scepter repulsive. If such is the case, then how can man be said to act voluntarily? Because he freely chooses the evil, and that because “the soul of the wicked desireth evil” (Proverbs 21:10), always carrying out that desire except when prevented by divine restraint. The will of man is uniformly rebellious against God. When Providence thwarts his desires, instead of bowing in humble resignation, he frets with disquietude and acts like a wild bull in a net. Only the Son can make him “free” (John 8:36). For “where His Spirit is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17).

Here, then, are the ramifications of human depravity. The fall has blinded man’s mind, hardened his heart, disordered his affections, corrupted his conscience, disabled his will, so that there is “no soundness” in him (Isaiah 1:6), “no good thing” in him (Romans 7: 18).

Taken from A. W. Pink, The Doctrine of Human Depravity.

Copyright Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

Posted in A. W. Pink |

Dead—In Sins and Trespasses by Jim Ehrhard

January 7, 2010 by ADMIN

“And you He made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as were the others.”

Ephesians 2:1-3

No other chapter in the Bible describes our salvation as completely as does Ephesians 2. In this chapter, Paul reminds us what we have been saved from (vv. 1-3), how we have been saved (vv. 4-9), and why we have been saved (vv. 10-22). It is important to remember that Paul is not speaking here to non-believers but to Christians. His words serve as a constant reminder to all believers that salvation is completely a work of God. There is nothing in us that would make us choose Him. Indeed, Paul emphasizes that we are unable to make such a choice.

It is essential that we understand this doctrine of total depravity. To lessen our sinfulness is to lessen God’s glory in providing salvation. To suggest that we have an ability to choose God is to make man a partner with God in justification—something the Scriptures do not permit.

This doctrine is all essential to understanding salvation. Our understanding of it not only affects our view of salvation, but also every aspect of the Christian life. D. Martin Lloyd-Jones once stated the same: “I am convinced that our failure to properly understand all God has done in salvation greatly affects our lives as believers in every way.”

How so? Consider three examples. First, our understanding of our sinfulness affects our service for the Lord. Those who recognize the greatness of the debt from which God has released them stand continually ready to do whatever He desires. Those who see their sin as less are often tempted to question why God does not do more for them since they have served Him so much or so long. Consider, for example, the comparison that Jesus makes between Simon the Pharisee and the sinful woman in Luke 7:36-50. Jesus makes it clear to Simon that the woman loves Him more because she was forgiven more (vs. 47). Those who recognize the depths of their sin have a deeper love for the Lord than those who do not recognize how much Jesus has forgiven them.

In the passage at hand, Paul provides for us a three-fold description of the sinner. We might summarize and analyze his description with three words—we were dead, disobedient, and doomed. Let’s look at each.

Dead

In verse 1, Paul provides his description of our condition spiritually. This description differs radically from the way most evangelicals today describe man. Rather than speaking of man as sick or dying, Paul bluntly asserts that man in sin is “dead.” It is essential that we understand man’s condition properly—a wrong diagnosis of the problem only results in inadequate cures. The common diagnosis today of man as sick or dying fails acknowledge the seriousness, indeed the hopelessness, of man’ condition apart from a sovereign work of God. To minimize the seriousness of our situation is to minimize the glory of God in salvation.

Consider for a moment the common description of salvation—Man is sick even unto death. There is only one medicine that will cure the man if he would but take it. The medicine is in the bottle; it will cure him forever. But…all depends on the man. Will he take the medicine and live or will he fail to take it and die? Such is the man-centered approach to evangelism. A better illustration is that the man has died. The disease has taken his life-breath away. All hope is lost. Then, into the room of the dead man, walks Jesus. With one touch, the man is restored to life! Here the focus is on what Jesus has done, not on what man has done.

Likewise, consider another commonly used illustration—a man is drowning in the ocean. He is going down for the “third time.” At just that moment, a boat arrives and a life preserver is tossed to the drowning man. He can be saved…if only he would reach out and take hold of the preserver. Again, notice who is ultimately responsible for salvation—it is the man who makes the decision that determines his salvation. Instead, consider a more biblical illustration—the body of a man is washed up onto the shore. People rush to his side, but quickly they realize that he is dead. A few futile attempts are made to revive him, but all are in vain—he is dead; nothing more can be done for him. Then a man named Jesus comes walking down the beach. He walks over to the man, takes his hand, and says, “Arise.” To the amazement of all around, the man rises. Again, the focus is on Jesus and what He has done.

But why have I taken so long to describe these pictures? Because these two illustrations sound so right, but they do not provide a biblical picture of man’s predicament. People without Christ are not just lost and in need of someone to show them the right direction, confused and in need of understand, or unhappy and in need of cheering. If so, then education and persuasion would be sufficient. But if man is truly dead in sins and trespasses, then only a work of God can bring him back to life. This is why salvation must be of God alone—man can do nothing to earn his salvation, not even to “assist” God or even cooperate with Him. Dead men cannot do anything for themselves! Only once we understand how seriously desperate man’s condition is will we recognize how much salvation is a work of God alone.

But what does it mean for man to be dead? When we speak of man as dead spiritually, we are referring to his inability to respond to spiritual things. Just as a physically dead man does not respond to physical stimuli, so a spiritually dead man does not respond to spiritual stimuli. This is why the things of God do not move the natural man—he is spiritually dead. He does not need instruction, persuasion, or even a good example to follow. He needs life which God alone can give.

Finally, we must recognize that although all are dead spiritually, all are “not in the same state of decay.” Some are outwardly more sinful than others. In short, some corpses stink more than others, but they are all dead. Thus it is with man. He is not sick or drowning and in need of help. He is dead in sins and trespasses and in need of life. That is why the apostle reminds us, “But God…even while we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (Eph. 2:4-5). He has raised us. He has given us life. He has saved us. To God alone be the glory for the salvation He has given us!

Disobedient

While the word “dead” describes man’s condition, the word “disobedience” describes the evidences and effects of that condition. Three words in particular describe that condition.

First, Paul uses the word “trespasses” in verses one and five. This word indicates the illegal crossing of a boundary. It also contains the idea of going down a forbidden path or even the wrong road. Thus, Proverbs 14:12 reminds us: “There is a way that seems right to man, but the end thereof is death.” One evidence of man’s spiritual death is that he travels down the wrong road—he chooses the broad way that leads unto destruction rather than the narrow way that leads unto life. Not only this, but he continually crosses the boundary line of God’s law.

Second, the apostle also speaks of “sins” as evidence of man’s spiritual death. The word “sins” indicates a “missing the mark.” What is that mark? Romans 3:23 tells us, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” God’s glory, his perfections, and His holiness are that mark. Most men do not consider themselves sinners because they change the “mark” and lower the crossbar to the standards of men rather than measuring themselves by the standards of God. Compared to other men, they consider their moral lifestyle to be quite good. But compared to the measure of God’s holiness, they completely miss the mark. They fall far short of God’s righteous standard.

Third, in verse 3, Paul speaks of conducting ourselves according to the “lusts and desires” of the flesh. Another evidence of man’s spiritual death is that his God-given desires are out of control rather than under the control of God. There is nothing sinful about desires for food, sleep, or even sexual relations—provided the under the control of our Creator and within the bounds of His law. For example, a desire for food is not sinful, but gluttony is. Neither is the desire for sleep—but sloth and laziness are. Thus we see that our desires are out of control and are according to the desires of the flesh rather than according to what pleases God.

Additionally, these two words remind us that sin is not merely the outward act, but also the inward “lusting.” Thus, Jesus reminds us in Matthew 5 that lustful and murderous thoughts are judged as sinful just as are the actual deeds. The Evidence of our sinfulness is not only in our actions but also in the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Many who do not consider themselves as “sinners” because they live basically moral lives have failed to consider that God’s definition of sin extends to the heart attitude. The evidence of our spiritual deadness is found, not only in what we do, but also in our lusts and desires that are clearly contrary to the will of God.

Doomed

“Dead in trespasses and sins” shows us what our condition is. Our “disobedience” provides the evidence that we are indeed dead spiritually. The word “doomed” indicates our destiny apart from the work of God in salvation. Paul calls us “by nature, children of wrath.” By this, he emphasizes the hopeless condition into which each of us is born. Unless God in His mercy intervenes, we are all doomed to an eternal hell.

Most today want to avoid the idea of God’s wrath. Yet the Bible is replete with references to the wrath of God. In the Old Testament, God’s wrath is mentioned over 600 times. It continues to be a dominant theme in the New Testament. Through Christ, we are “saved from the wrath to come.” In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked that “this cup” would pass from Him. The cup that He referred to was the cup of God’s wrath spoken of in the Old Testament. Jesus knew that, on the cross, He would drink that cup that was rightly deserved by all mankind.

We must be especially careful here. Today many attempt to place the focus on God’s love and ignore God’s wrath. But whenever we “waterdown” the reality of the wrath of God, we “waterdown” the love of God. God’s love is greatly magnified when we see the greatness of the wrath from which He has saved us. Salvation is deliverance from that wrath. Jesus, on the cross, satisfied the wrath of God and drank the cup completely for us. But apart from that deliverance, we remain in spiritual death, living according to the disobedient desires of our flesh, doomed under the wrath of God which will one day be poured out upon us.

What God Did

“But God….” Verse 4 begins Paul’s emphasis on a God-centered, rather than a man-centered salvation. What God did made the difference, not what man does! He made us alive; He raised us up; He caused us to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And He did so, not because of anything in us, but because of His “great love wherein He loved us,” because He is “rich in mercy,” because He wanted to show “the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness in Christ Jesus” for all ages. Salvation is a work of God alone who alone deserves to be praised.

To have an adequate view of salvation, we must understand our condition—we must realize the hopelessness and impossibility of our doing anything to save ourselves. We were dead—He made us alive!

Yet this does not rule out any call for repentance. The same apostle who wrote Ephesians told the Athenians that God “commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). We must do the same. But we must remember that, when people respond to Christ, they cannot claim any credit for their new life—dead men cannot bring themselves back to life…. But God can!

Jesus’ healing of the man with the withered hand forms an interesting parallel to salvation. Jesus says to him, “Stretch forth thine hand.” But he can’t—but he must—and, as he does, his hand is made whole. Such is the mystery of salvation and evangelism—we must call dead men to repent. They can’t—they must—and, as they do, they are made whole. Perhaps the best illustration is Lazarus dead in the tomb. Jesus calls, “Lazarus, come forth.” He can’t—he must—he does. Could Lazarus claim any credit for coming forth? Would he tell listeners years later that he heard Jesus and his choice to get up and walk out made the difference? Never—throughout all eternity, he would proclaim, “He did it all, all to Him I owe, Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”

Copyright Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

Posted in Jim Ehrhard |

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