Eph 2:1-3 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once 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, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
This is our 5th sermon understanding the 3 verses of Eph 2:1-3. If I read some of your minds: “Pastor, why are you spending so much time on these 3 verses?” Because if you don’t understand these verses properly, you will not properly understand anything in the whole Bible. This is the truth of man’s total depravity. The truth is that we were dead, not sick. These 3 verses are so foundational to the entire Bible; if you don’t get it right, you will have a wrong understanding of sin, grace, salvation, and Christ’s work, and even a twisted idea about the Christian life. Most of the lack of joy, peace, and worship in our lives is because we have not understood this truth.
The great historical fight among Christians is on these 3 verses, whether it is the Augustinian-Pelagian fight, the Calvinism and Arminian fight; the fight of the Reformation was for this. Today, we fight with 90% of Christianity, whether RC, Pente, Brethren, or traditional CSI, because they reject the truth of these 3 verses. All fighting and raging against doctrines of grace, sovereign grace, and free will are largely because people have not understood these 3 verses; 90% of Christianity argues man is sick, not dead.
To go to the right place, we have to start at the right place. Slightly deviate from this truth, and the trajectory will take you completely to the wrong place. This is the foundation to build all proper understanding of truth and church unity; we will not take anyone into our membership if they don’t understand this; if someone doesn’t agree to this truth, they will not agree to anything we say later on. Unless each of you gets this deeply into your mind, you will go around and around in your life; never grasping God’s truth for years.
Today’s self-help and positive prosperity gospel says God so loves you, He will bless you, wants to kiss you… maybe nice to hear, but it finally leaves you empty. Yes, this Bible truth of depravity, yes, initially it makes us sad and takes us down, but only this truth will raise us to such a glorious height after that, nothing else will do. So hang on, this is my final message on these 3 verses. It is an undeniable fact: unless we feel a great depth of our sinfulness, we will never know how high the greatness of our salvation is.
We have been looking at the depth of human depravity in 3 verses. We used 5 steps – WORST. Will you allow me to review again for 5 minutes and firmly fix these 3 verses in your mind for one last time?
W – Wholly Dead. We were not sick in the hospital where Jesus healed us; no, we were in the mortuary, the grave. In the hospital, we can do something, take some good treatments, exercise, change, make some good resolutions, seek God; but what can you do dead in a mortuary? Hopeless. Horror; at least the physically dead are neutral, sleeping, not doing anything; but we were active in the opposite direction to life; dead in sins and transgression; dead to God’s knowledge, alive in ignorance; dead to obedience, alive to disobedience; dead to faith, alive to unbelief; dead to righteousness, alive to unrighteousness; alive to selfishness, dead to the glory of God. The genealogy of all our forefathers; like our Lord said, lived as dead burying their dead. Even as decent traditional Christians, living a decent life, we were like Pharisees, like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
We were so bad. If something good has to happen to us, God not only has to forgive us, but God has to create something new that was not there… that is why verse 10 also says: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.” Regeneration was a tremendous miracle like creation or resurrection; something created out of nothing, out of the dead.
Next letter O – Only Worldly. We walked in the course of the world. The vain, fleeting pleasures of this world were enough for us. For years, morning and night, the vanity world was all god and heaven. God, Christ, heaven, Church—it was all dead boring. Not realizing this is the city of destruction, soon to be destroyed; the course river of this world is dragging us to a sea of fire. With no sense of eternity, we will soon die, but this 60-70 years of life was all eternity to us. Like the Mayfly has a one-day life; it spends its one day of life doing only two things: eating and reproducing. It cannot think of anything else; just one day of life is heaven for it. Blinded by the god of this world, we lived like that. Talk about the world, money, movies, whole body and soul very alive; but God, eternity, what happens after death; heaven—dead boring. “Kalyana samiyl Sadam” (Wedding food rice)—enough… only worldly.
R – Roped by Satan, the prince of the power of the air. The air is where we live between earth and sky; the whole atmosphere. Its influence… there is a power that controls the air. It is the power of all demonic, deceiving, lying spirits controlling this atmosphere, filling the whole atmosphere of the world with lies against God’s word. Satan is the prince of that power of the air. The whole inhabited world is under this prince. He not only works externally in the atmosphere but internally, the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience. The Prince has easy access to their minds, hearts, and wills because all ability to resist him in faith is dead in sin. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says the god of this age blinds them to the gospel; using their dead state, only worldly, the atmosphere, working inside; keeping them from seeing anything glorious in the gospel of Christ. Some of you who come to church hear God’s word for years, but nothing happens to you; you know why? Satan works around the clock very actively in your life to prevent the Word of God from having any effect on your heart, so he takes away the seed as soon as it is sown, or if you try to remember anything, he puts pressures on worldly worries and the deceitfulness of riches to choke the word, so you never get saved and bear fruit. You continue wholly dead, only worldly, roped by him.
Last week we saw S – Slaves to Lust. We lived with no higher motive than the gratification of the lusts of the flesh, and even the mind that God gave us to not live like animals is so corrupt now; instead of stopping and making us think, the mind has become the dragging engine of our lusts. It goes in the front, giving us all fantasy imaginations of the pleasures of sins, dragging us to fulfill all lusts of the flesh. These lusts are so dangerous; they twist the way we perceive reality; evil becomes good and good becomes evil. A twisted perspective keeps us in a deceptive dream world; it destroys our soul; hardens our heart; sears your conscience so you do not feel the terrible damage happening to the soul. It makes us hate God and takes us far from Him. Finally, these deceiving lusts promise Satisfaction but Deliver Emptiness. They make our whole life a life of chasing the wind; or makes us dig deeper and deeper, promising more satisfaction, but we don’t realize until too late it made us dig our own grave, to take us to hell. That is the review of 4 weeks. Thanks for your patient hearing of the review.
Now, today, we come to the final step. Totally under wrath.
Verse 3 end: “…were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”
Let us understand it under 4 headings.
- Wrath Meaning.
- Relationship with wrath.
- Universality of wrath.
- Native of wrath.
If you understand “W”, you have to run from this wrath. W-RUN is our acronym. W – wrath. R – Relationship. U – Universality. N – Native.
First; Meaning of wrath. Oxford says extreme anger; maximum expression of anger. See, we can be displeased, upset, angry, and then we reach a stage where the maximum expression of anger is wrath; uncontrollable anger. Here, the word doesn’t mean human wrath. It is talking about the wrath of God.
What precisely is the wrath of God? We should not assume human sinful wrath and project it on God; that He is uncontrollably, unjustly angry at us. God is just and also His wrath will be just. One said the wrath of God is the settled opposition of His holiness to all sin. The wrath of God is not like human anger, an outburst when someone steps on my already wounded toe. It is not an emotional outburst; it is a judicial necessity.
God’s holiness is one of His primary attributes. If God is holy and just, He has to be very angry with sin. The more holy He is, the more angry He will be against sin. Because He is perfectly, infinitely holy, His anger against sin is infinite. God’s attributes are not passive, but aggressive and active. Just like God loves someone, His love actively goes out and does something in love. In the same way, holiness is not passive; if someone sins against His law and holiness, His holiness makes Him react in violent opposition – that reaction is the wrath of God. Every sin against His holiness kindles the wrath of God.
In other words, we can say the wrath of God is Holiness in Action. Scripture says God is a consuming fire. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Why? Because God is eternal, so His wrath is eternal; as He is infinite, so His wrath is infinite.
But in this age of grace, God is very patient and has never displayed His final full wrath yet. If God is just, His wrath should be poured out for every sin. But we don’t see that now. The Bible says we must not be deceived by the silence of the heavens. We currently live in a deceptive calm—a storm is being prepared; now it is a temporary period of restraint—but do not mistake God’s patience for His powerlessness.
Romans 2:4: “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”
Right now, the full, unadulterated fury of a Holy God is being stored up. Imagine a massive, invisible dam holding back an ocean of fire. Every act of sin is the sinner adding one pot of wrath into the dam; the more you don’t repent, the more weight, more pressure, and more terror builds behind that wall.
It says “treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” He has fixed a day to burst open and show His full wrath. At that time, wrath will not trickle; it will be an overwhelming, inescapable flood, sweeping you away for all eternity.
Revelation 6:16–17: “For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” and men will cry for the mountains to fall on them to hide them from “the wrath of the Lamb.”
Revelation 14:10: “they shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone… 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night.”
What terrible words.
The Bible uses more terrible words to show His wrath that we cannot grasp: “unquenchable fire,” “the worms that eat them do not die,” “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Its Duration: “Eternal,” No rest. Intensity: “Full strength,” so gnashing of teeth. Indicates both extreme, unbearable pain.
So, “There is a Day of Wrath approaching where every known, secret sin will be met with the full measure of divine wrath of God.” Every sin is an infinite debt against an infinite Glory. If God fails to collect that debt through His wrath, He would become a liar. If He fails to pour His wrath on every sin, He would cease to be a holy God; He would be committing ‘character suicide.’ The light of His holiness will go out forever. Not one angel can worship Him as holy; all their eternal worship songs “Holy, Holy, Holy” will be a lie; He would be tearing off His own crown, dismantling His throne, and murdering His own character. But He has sworn by His own Name that He is Holy. He will pour out His wrath for every sin.
Oh, okay… Pastor, who will believe all this? Knowing that, to convince mankind He always gives samples of His wrath, both in scripture and history. Throughout Biblical history, God has provided “samples” or “trailers; previews” of His coming wrath as a warning to humanity that sin has a cost. The Bible has constant demonstrations of the wrath of God, the pure and holy anger of God actively going forth against sin.
What is the banishment of Adam and Eve from the Garden but an act of pure and holy wrath? What was the inundation of the old world with water? The drowning, the destruction of every man, woman, child, pregnant woman, baby, old person, and beast and living thing except Noah and his family. What is it but a monument of His active wrath going forth to consume rebel sinners who dare to defy His holy laws with impunity? What is the consuming of Sodom and Gomorrah but the outgoing of His wrath? What are the plagues upon Egypt but His wrath upon that wicked nation? What is the drowning of the Egyptian army but a manifestation of wrath? What is the fire consuming Nadab and Abihu but the manifestation of wrath? The swallowing up of Dathan, Abiram, and the company, a manifestation of wrath? What is the history of Israel with its captivities, its destruction? A history of divine wrath. These are Manifest samples of God’s Wrath. Oh, if you don’t believe the Bible, look through history: plagues, the bubonic plague, earthquakes, even in our last 20 years… Tsunami, earthquakes, the recent Covid… if you don’t believe and repent, He will send more.
Oh; okay… it will come at last, let us see… He has still not manifested His wrath; no fire came from heaven on my head; I will continue in sin. If you as a sinner think you are so wise, how wise must be the wrath of God. There is not only manifest wrath but abandonment wrath.
Romans 1:18: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven …against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” Ungodliness is sin against the first tablet; unrighteousness against the second tablet… how is wrath revealed?
Verse 21: “because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools.”
Verse 24: “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts.”
Verse 26: “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions.”
Verse 28: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting.”
What is the result? Verse 29: “being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; …., haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful.” Amazing. Verse 32: “who, knowing the righteous judgment of God…” Their conscience tells them terrible wrath is coming… but they will continue to practice them… and join those who practice them.
“Wrath of Abandonment” (Romans 1) is actually a precursor to the “Final Wrath.” If you can do all your sinful heart wants, and nothing happens, you are prepared for the final wrath. It is a sample of what Hell is: a place where God’s restraining grace is completely absent. Romans 1 wrath is a warning that if we insist on our own heart’s lusts and our own way, God will eventually let us have it—forever. God allows some to go on in this life to sin without control; they can fill the cup of His wrath, and once full, He throws them in hell, so He can pour His maximum wrath on them. He will use them as vessels of wrath and reveal the height of His wrath to all creatures by torturing them for all eternity and glorify His wrath. It is terrible to speak about this more.
So I submit to brothers and sisters, this is a very brief, terrible doctrine of God’s wrath.
Next, if you understand 1% of the wrath of God, you will do everything to RUN from it. W-RUN. We have seen wrath.
Second, R – Relationship with wrath.
When we were wholly dead, only worldly, roped by Satan, slaves to lust, did God pity us? Loved us? Is He neutral? Does He smile with a smile of indulgence? What was our position before God in that condition? Verse 3 says we were children of wrath. What an expression. When we hear wrath, we should run. What does it mean to be children of wrath?
How closely related were we to wrath? We were so intimate with the wrath; there cannot be a closer human bond than between a child and mother, right? Our mother was wrath. We were conceived in wrath, raised by wrath; lived, moved, and had our being in wrath; and wrath will be our eternal portion and inheritance forever. To be a “child of” something in Hebrew thought means the thing we were destined for. One thing we will inherit forever. In Luke 20:36, Jesus spoke of true believers as children of the resurrection. Destined for resurrection. As children of wrath, we were destined to experience the maximum wrath of the living holy God for all eternity. When wholly dead, God gave us up to walk only worldly, to be roped by Satan to do his will, slaves to lust, fulfilling all the lusts of the flesh; why? Because God allowed us to fill the cup of our wrath so He can pour maximum wrath on us in hell; we had an inseparable connection and bond with wrath. Our rightful inheritance for eternity is to drink God’s maximum wrath.
We have seen WRUN. W – meaning of wrath. R – relationship of wrath.
Thirdly, notice the Universality of wrath.
Ah, the worst sinners may be in that category, but I am a decent person, a traditional Christian, coming to church from birth. Notice the Verse 3 end: “…were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”
What is the scope of this condition? Is this just true of harlots, murderers, drunkards, thieves? No, Paul says, including himself as a self-righteous, religious, morally upright Jew: “We were children of wrath even as the rest.” Paul highlights the absolute universality of sin.
You can go anywhere, any place, any religion, anywhere from the dark jungles of Africa to the developed countries of America or Japan; they may be different colors, have different hair, different eyes; how much diversity? It is all superficial outward differences. If you see with a spiritual laser light; go deep into every man and woman in the world… and what they really are in God’s eyes: even as the rest, children of wrath. It applies to religious Jews, idolatrous Gentiles, Ephesians, Tamilians, Kannadigas, North Indians, South Indians, East, and West also. Outside, they may be delightful to be with. Very intellectual, brilliant. They may be kind, they may be generous, build our hospitals and feed the hungry, do all the good they can; yet they are children of wrath because they are dead in sin, not born again; all those acts do not come from faith in God, with the motive to glorify God. For whatsoever is not from faith is sin (Romans 14:23). Created in the image of God and fallen from that glory, in God’s eyes, all of us are children of wrath. We have the same mother. That’s precisely where you are and I am.
We have seen WRUN. W – meaning of wrath. R – relationship of wrath. U – Universality of wrath.
Lastly, the Native of wrath.
This answers a profound question. How in the world did we get that way? How did all humanity become children of wrath? What’s the Native (origin) of this condition?
Look at the text Paul says in Verse 3 end: “were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”
The word “by nature” means habitual by birth. We say he lies naturally. She sings naturally; no training needed. Meaning it comes easy to him. The word “by nature” simply means that which is inherent in our constitution and that from birth. Galatians 2:15: Paul speaks of those who are Jews by nature, that is by birth. From the moment we have any being, by nature, by existence… we only made God wrathful… all we did, all we said, all the days of our life we only made God angry continuously at us… we are liable to and exposed to the wrath of God. We were continually, from the moment we were constituted, we were children of wrath by nature.
David said, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.” The moment I was formed in my mother’s womb I was a sinner by nature.
And why were we born as children of wrath? Romans 5:12 to 21 gives the answer. “Wherefore, as by one man’s sin entered into the world, and death by sin, for that all sinned.” We all sinned in Adam.
God in sovereign pleasure created mankind in a relationship of a federal head. He chose to deal with all of humanity in Adam. We had an organic living relationship to Adam, and his first sin became the sin of the human race. It is sin that brings God’s wrath. The wrath of God is upon us not just because we have sinned, but because we have sinned by nature. By nature, we’re children of sin, so by nature we’re children of wrath. Sin runs in the genealogy, it runs in our spiritual genes; It is part of our sinful nature. We are by nature sinners. Totally under wrath.
So Wrath: RUN. W – meaning of wrath, so terrible. R – relationship of wrath, so close, we were children. U – Universality of wrath, we were just like all the rest in the world, no difference. N – Native of wrath, by nature.
We have completed 5 steps of depravity: WORST. Wholly dead, only worldly, roped by Satan, slaves to lust, and totally under wrath.
Do you begin to see how utterly horrible our condition was? Do you see why WORST is the right word to use to describe our condition; it cannot get worse than this?
I know the world doesn’t believe this, and the majority of Christianity doesn’t believe this for 2 reasons. One, this is the most humbling truth; most unflattering to human nature. Another sign of our depravity is that every human heart affected by the WORST disease of depravity will never allow the heart to see this condition.
Secondly, only the revelation of God in salvation can reveal this truth to a man. If there is going to be any salvation at all, there must be a divine revelation to a man. God must reveal these things to us or we perish. We can’t find them out from television or education or the mobile phone. The Holy Spirit using the Word of God should open our spiritual eyes to see this. And once God opens our eyes then we can see confirmations of it in virtually all history, daily newspapers, and everywhere. Whether you believe or no, anyone believes or no; It is the testimony of God’s word, and it is true. This is the way God sees the world—Wholly dead, only worldly, roped by Satan, slaves to lust, totally under wrath. This is the foundational teaching of scripture called Total Depravity.
Application: The WWW of Total Depravity
Many people avoid this teaching, saying it is very negative and sad, but I want to show you three important benefits of the doctrine of Total Depravity and the “WORST” of Ephesians 2 as our application. Worship, Wisdom, and Weapon: the WWW. Just as you use the “World Wide Web” to get information easily, without believing and grasping the Bible’s truth regarding Total Depravity, you will never learn true worship, never have true wisdom, and never have a true weapon against your spiritual enemies and false teaching.
1. Worship
You cannot worship God acceptably without believing in Total Depravity. After Paul explains the depth of depravity in the first three verses, you will see that in verse 4 he starts off with: “But God…” What are the words that pour out? Rich in mercy, grace, and power! He quickened us! By grace, you are saved! It is as though he almost runs out of words to say. When you have been brought—existentially, personally, and through inward experience—to the truth of Ephesians 2:1-3, that is when true worship begins. The truth of Total Depravity is the “dark backdrop” that makes the diamond of God’s grace shine with a brilliance we otherwise could not see.
Worship should be filled with wonder. Think of the wonder of what we studied today: a God who is extremely wrathful at every sin and is never satisfied unless He pours out His wrath. Before Him, we were children of wrath. We were just like the rest. If we were like everyone else—even the worst murderer or rapist—with nothing different in us, why then did God save us? There cannot be any reason found in us, right? We were just like the rest. That is the wonder.
And the second wonder is that, by nature, we only did what made God angry. How can He hate our sin so much that He pours out His wrath, yet love us so much while we are objects of His wrath? Extreme hate for our sin, yet extreme love for us… it is a wonder! What happened to the infinite dam of wrath that we accumulated while being in that “WORST” condition? There is only one answer.
Do you know the greatest climactic display of God’s wrath? The climactic event in history that is the most graphic display of the wrath of God is not Hell; it is Calvary. The Cross of Christ is the clearest and greatest revelation of God’s wrath. You cannot understand anything from the Cross if you don’t understand the wrath of God against sin as part of God’s character. Without that, the Cross is, at best, an unsolvable enigma, and at worst, a cruel and sadistic abuse of the Son of God by His own Father.
Think of the Son of God. What made the mighty Son of God kneel and swallow in the Garden of Gethsemane? What pressed Him to the ground in an agony that caused sweat drops like drops of blood to be forced from His holy pores? He cried out repeatedly, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” The Father presented the cup—the cup full of wrath for your sin and my sin—the cup which Jesus must drain on behalf of His people. The only way He could drain it was to bear the wrath of His Father unmixed with mercy. Just seeing that made Him sweat drops of blood. He pleaded with the Father to see if He could escape the Cross for which He came.
Behold Him upon the Cross. His disciples forsook Him and fled. The Sanhedrin punched, slapped, and spat upon Him. Roman soldiers scourged Him until His body was a flow of skin, flesh, and blood. The chief priests and the apostate Jews mocked Him. He bore all that without a single complaint about His own physical agony. He was alone on the Cross, without one word of complaint.
But when the Father shrouded the heavens in blackness—in that mysterious interaction within the triune Godhead—the Father who loved His only beloved Son for all eternity looked upon Him as the sin-bearer. The Father’s holy heart burned with righteous indignation against His Son—not in His person, for He loved Him, but in His position as the representative of His people. If God would ever have adjusted or left out any of His wrath for any sin, He should have done it then. If He would have pitied or adjusted His justice, He would have done it then. But Scripture says, “He spared not His own Son.” It says, “It pleased the Lord to bruise Him.” The Lord was pleased to crush Him! How can a God who loved His Son be pleased to bruise Him? Because He is so infinitely a God of wrath, and the sacrificial work of His Son satisfied that wrath.
This is the only answer to the wonder: how could God love us when we were, by nature, doing only those things that made Him angry? What happened to all the wrath meant for our sins? Oh, who can grasp this wonder and not fall prostrate in worship? This God of wrath, who hated our sin with all His being, took all the wrath meant for us and poured it on His own beloved, holy Son until He cried out in unbearable pain, “My God, my God, why hast Thou abandoned Me?” He satisfied His wrath so that He could give us new life, forgive us, and change us from being children of wrath into children of God. The Cross is the greatest display of wrath. It is the wonder of wonders: the wrath of God revealed in the most vivid display of the love of God. Whoever understands this—how can he not fall prostrate in wonder and worship God?
We cannot worship God properly without grasping this Total Depravity. All worship without this is nothing but the worship of a Pharisee, thanking God that we are better than others. If we don’t believe we are totally depraved, then, regardless of how much we talk about grace, we secretly believe God saved us because He saw something “good” in us. We think He loved us when we were unbelievers. No! He hated our sin with all His being; we were children of wrath by nature. That is where the wonder starts: how could He hate our sin so much, yet love us enough to give His Son?
When we think we are basically “good” people, worship becomes a performance ritual. That is the worship of most churches, and we often fall into that trap ourselves. Today, if you listen to many songs, it is all about how much we love God. It is self-centered—the curse of today’s churches. When you grasp this truth, we stop singing about how much we love God and start singing about how miraculously He loved us when we were unlovable. Total Depravity fills us with the wonder needed for worship; there was nothing in us to attract God. This truth alone allows us to rise up to worship, realizing God’s love is free, sovereign, and not based even on a milli-drop of who we were.
Worship is not a performance but a heartfelt response to being pulled from the grave—pulled out of the “WORST” pit. You don’t sing because it’s a duty; you pour out your whole soul to God in gratitude. When we see what a horrible condition we were in, it makes us see what a great salvation God has given. That is what inspired me to write:
“He raised us to life—He raised our souls to life! We were dead in our trespasses, But He, who is rich in mercy, raised us to life!”
I have listened to this many times, and every time, tears flow. I was singing “Amazing Grace,” thinking, “How sweet the sound that saved a—what? A half-wretch?” No, a wretch like me! I used that tune and wrote a song on Ephesians 2: “Through all our sins and trespasses, we walked among the dead; no way to love or know our God, no hope within us found.” So, firstly, you cannot truly worship God without believing in Total Depravity. Without it, worship is just a ritual performance.
2. Wisdom
Secondly, you cannot live with wisdom in the world without believing in Total Depravity. This truth will not only help you understand the Bible accurately, but it will help you understand what is going on in the world and in your family. It gives much wisdom and patience in dealing with unbelievers and in parenting.
Do you know the world is fully confused and scared to death? People ask, “What is going on? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why are there still wars?” Look at the stories in the Epstein files. How can humans do such things? We hear of hundreds of people missing in Delhi, their organs taken. People enter houses, use pepper spray, and kidnap children. Oh, how tension and fear can fill us!
A person who denies depravity is constantly shocked and confused by evil. Without believing in Total Depravity, a person acts unwisely and emotionally in many areas. However, a person who understands depravity realizes that the world is exactly what the Bible says it is. Yes, this world is “WORST,” and if I am going to be protected, it is not because men are good, but because of the restraining power of a sovereign God. When we see the world through the glass of Total Depravity, it removes fear and makes us pity those “dead bodies.” It drives you to share the Gospel with urgency.
Without believing in Total Depravity, people sometimes get angry with God or lose their faith. I know believers who keep asking, “Brother, why does God permit wars and earthquakes that crush so many so-called innocent people?” Think about it: when the Tsunami came, hundreds of thousands, including children, died. How will you answer? You either have to become an atheist or curse a cruel God. Both are wrong answers. God exists, and He is a good God.
The right answer is Total Depravity, which says people are not “innocent” or “good.” When wars ravage homes, it is not a cruel God attacking innocent people; it is judgment upon sinners liable to divine wrath. This is a world full of rebel sinners who are in the “WORST” condition. The amazement is not that there are some famines or wars. If you take the doctrine of sin seriously, you would say, “Oh God, how could You do anything other than bring a flood every third generation and start over?” How can God be so patient?
Think of the millions in this nation today who defy God’s law, full of idolatry and political injustices. We sinners ourselves can hardly bear to look at it—how then can a just God bear it? They trample underfoot every law of purity. What should amaze me is not that an earthquake comes here or there, but that God does not split the nation and swallow it all, or make the Indian and Arabian Oceans rise up to cover our country.
Why do people sin and commit fraud, yet have so much wealth? Total Depravity shows that God has given them up to the lusts of their hearts to sin as much as they want so they can fill their cup of wrath. This doctrine gives us the wisdom to deal with unbelievers with patience and gives us wisdom in parenting—to understand the struggles of our children and pray for them, instead of just grumbling and oppressing them with our standards.
3. Weapon
Finally, this truth is a weapon against your enemies: Satan, the world, and the flesh—and a weapon against all false teaching.
A Weapon Against Satan: Satan’s primary tactic is legalism, guilt, and shame. He wants you to believe that your standing with God is based on your performance. Total Depravity shuts the Accuser’s mouth. When Satan whispers, “Look at how much you’ve failed,” you can respond: “I already know I am a total wreck; that is why I am hidden in Christ.” You cannot be blackmailed by your sins if you have already admitted you are “dead in trespasses.”
A Weapon Against the World: It keeps you from being surprised by the darkness in the world and helps you resist the allurements of riches. The world is constantly selling a “New Heaven and New Earth” through glamour and entertainment. It promises happiness. They say, “See how rich we are… there is no God’s wrath… we are enjoying life.” But when you know the truth of Total Depravity, you know they are already under judgment. God is allowing them to fill their cup. Knowing this, you don’t look to the world for happiness.
A Weapon Against Sin: Our own “indwelling sin” loves to pretend it isn’t there. It thrives on pride and the belief that “I’m not that bad.” Total Depravity is a mirror that shows every part of us—intellect, emotions, and will—is affected by sin, making us more vigilant. It kills self-confidence. When you stop trusting your own heart, you are forced to trust the Holy Spirit.
A Weapon Against False Teaching: This truth stands as a fortress. All false teaching starts with a subtle denial of this truth. For example, the denial of Christ’s deity starts with the reasoning that man is not wholly dead. If man is not dead, he doesn’t need a divine Savior. If man can be saved on his own, why would you need an infinitely worthy sacrifice?
Then came the heresy of Pelagianism, which argued that you have a free will and can be saved 100% by yourself. Nobody accepted that, so Semi-Pelagianism came, saying, “Depravity is only half.” But if you aren’t totally dead, you have a “spark” of life left, meaning you can contribute to your own salvation. This robs God of His glory. Salvation is no longer 100% His work.
Take any false teaching: Sacramentalism puts salvation in the hands of priests; Decisionism says you don’t need a “New Birth,” you just need to raise your hand; Universalism argues that because people are “basically good,” God’s wrath is unfair and everyone goes to heaven. Today, the twisted Prosperity Gospel is ignorant of Total Depravity, claiming your greatest problem is “lack” (poverty or low self-esteem) rather than sin. They even claim humans are “little gods.”
All these concocted theologies—Pietism, Legalism, Moralism, Mysticism, Liberalism—are efforts to put makeup on a dead body. But it is still a dead body. The glory of the Gospel can only be seen when you begin with the reality of Total Depravity. Only when you grasp the “WORST” condition of verses 1-3 can you truly praise God for the mercy of verse 4. Otherwise, Christianity is twisted into “praise me 50% and praise God 50%.”
I know we are a very small group. We are not popular; our churches don’t draw big crowds by exalting man. But we want to proclaim God’s truth. Here we stand: man is dead, and salvation is by grace alone through faith in Christ alone. Denying this truth is the womb for all false teaching.
Conclusion
WWW—This truth helps us truly worship, live with true wisdom, and provides a weapon against our enemies.
RUN—Run from the wrath! If you don’t believe in Christ today, the Bible says the wrath of God abides on you. My one message to you is: Run! You ask where to run? To only one place: to the Cross, where God’s wrath was poured out on His own Son. Unless, by faith, you experience the Cross, the wrath of God is coming for you. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.