WEBVTT 00:00:01.360 --> 00:00:05.759 I'll read for us Ephesians 2, verses 1 through 3. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:36.079 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:48.240 You can see our sermon title this morning is Total Depravity, and Total Depravity is a theological expression that describes the three verses we just read. 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:55.759 You could define total depravity this way: man is very, very, very bad. 00:00:56.719 --> 00:00:59.920 And God is very, very, very mad. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:04.959 You get those two together and you have the idea of total depravity. 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:07.760 People are more sinful than they think. 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:15.599 Listen, you will never, ever commit a mistake in thinking too highly of your sin. 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:18.079 We never make too much of our sin. 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:20.799 We never take our sin too seriously. 00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:22.480 It's always the opposite, in fact. 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:28.159 We often ascribe things to our own righteousness that are, in fact, owing to our own sin. 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:34.159 We often attribute good motives to us when in fact it is evil motives that are at work. 00:01:34.319 --> 00:01:39.519 We are never guilty of thinking too much about our sin. 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:42.959 This is what we find in Ephesians 2. 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:48.640 In fact, we are described in Ephesians 2 as being dead in sins and trespasses. 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:56.079 This is a noteworthy description here of our sin, especially as you see how it's contrasted with the kind of language Paul used in Ephesians 1. 00:01:56.239 --> 00:02:04.079 Ephesians 1 is all about the glorious nature of the gospel, the Trinitarian counsel in heaven between the Father, Son, and Spirit. 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:17.120 Ephesians 1 is filled with this eternal, beautiful language, this overstatement about how much God loves us and we're his beloved and he chose us and he's lavished on us and he's displayed his riches on us. 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:25.039 It's all this incredibly beautiful language that's used all the way up into the eternity right now. 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:47.120 What a contrast in chapter two that doesn't use language like beloved in these few verses, doesn't use language like redemption and guarantee and inheritance, but instead uses language like dead and trespasses and disobedience and wrath and lusts and passions and desires and cravings. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:48.719 That's this section here. 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:53.199 And so it really is jarring how you encounter this turn of phrase here from Paul. 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:57.599 Again, at the end of chapter one, Paul has elevated us as high as we can go. 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:01.439 Chapter 1, verse 22, all things are under the feet of Christ. 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:07.840 And God gave Christ his head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:24.479 And so there's this image of Christ at the right hand of the Father with his feet on top of the world, reigning over the world, and he fills us with his Holy Spirit, with all of these heavenly treasures, and it's just there's such exalted language that you feel like you get in a car crash when you hit chapter 2, verse 1. 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:28.240 Oh, how beautiful this is, except for you. 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:32.560 You were dead in your sins and trespasses. 00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:39.680 This is the doctrine of depravity, a doctrine that is seldom talked about outside of the church. 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:42.479 Most non-Christians don't understand depravity. 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:45.919 They have worldviews that are incompatible with depravity. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:52.719 The humanist, for example, says that mankind, though imperfect, is able to achieve great moral goodness. 00:03:53.759 --> 00:04:02.080 The self-righteous person declares that by his own effort and his own work he can understand what goodness is and in fact exhibit it in his life. 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:09.840 The naturalist or the evolutionist would deny a difference between good and evil, so any kind of inherent distinction between the two. 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:23.360 And so you have a naturalist that says that there is no such thing as good and evil, a humanist that says that, yeah, you're imperfect, but you can do it, and the self-righteous that says, I in fact do it myself. 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:29.360 And in contrast, the Bible confronts you with a view of depravity that is very different. 00:04:29.519 --> 00:04:39.839 The Bible tells the humanist that there is no self-righteousness that will come from Adam's fountain, that any virtue you think you have is not, in fact, from you. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:41.360 You've been drinking the wrong fountain. 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:44.800 Everyone who descends from Adam is, in fact, a sinner. 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:52.720 To the self-righteous person, the Bible says that you're not capable, you lack the capacity of moral goodness because of your depravity. 00:04:53.920 --> 00:04:59.519 And to the naturalist or the evolutionist, the Bible simply says there is a distinction between good and evil. 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:02.639 The problem is you're on the wrong side of that distinction. 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:09.920 And so the Bible is alone in worldviews and how it describes depravity, how it describes sin. 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:14.000 It wants to make you aware of the reality of your fallen state. 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:17.439 And so this is kind of a bad news sermon. 00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:20.560 We get to the good news next week. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:22.079 This week, bad news. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:24.399 So don't die on me this week, okay? 00:05:24.879 --> 00:05:26.240 Hold on one more week. 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:28.399 Let me give you an outline this morning. 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:31.120 The anatomy of a spiritual zombie. 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:35.600 And I chose that phrase, zombie, spiritual zombie, carefully. 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:38.319 And over some protestations. 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:46.000 Zombie is a word that describes somebody who is dead and yet walking around. 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:46.959 We have an English word for that. 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:48.480 One of the reasons you need to love English. 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:49.759 We have a word for that. 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:53.120 A person who is dead and yet still walks. 00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:58.240 And that's the image we find in Ephesians chapter 2 of a person in their sin. 00:05:58.399 --> 00:06:02.079 Though dead, we have movement to us. 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:07.360 The spiritual zombie, the person apart from Christ, is dead but walking. 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:12.560 And so for this entire outline as we go through it this morning, I'm talking about the person absent faith in Christ. 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:16.079 I'm talking about a person before they were a Christian. 00:06:16.319 --> 00:06:21.360 I am talking about all of you, because Paul is using the second person plural here. 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:23.680 You all were dead in your sins and trespasses. 00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:27.040 But if you're in Christ, he's talking about your previous state. 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:31.199 He's talking about before you encountered Christ, this is what you were like. 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:36.399 Now, even in our Christian relationship, depravity is still a reality. 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:38.399 We are still depraved. 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:43.360 But the distinction is that for the Christian, we are not mastered by sin. 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:47.120 But for the non-Christian, they are mastered by sin. 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:48.480 They're described as dead in sin. 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:50.800 Whereas the Christian is alive to Christ. 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:55.519 The Christian still sins, and depravity still touches every part of our body. 00:06:55.680 --> 00:06:57.920 In that sense, depravity is still total in our life. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:02.720 It's touching every element of our life, every capacity we have. 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:08.639 But for the non-Christian, is specifically what this outline in the Ephesians 2, 1 through 3, is addressing. 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:10.399 They're dead in their sins. 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:13.279 And dead is not hyperbolic language. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:20.720 Paul is taking the concept of spiritual death from the Lord Himself, from God Himself back in Genesis. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:28.000 In Genesis, God created the earth good and sinless, but it was not good for Adam to be alone. 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:30.480 So he created Eve from Adam's rib. 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:33.519 He made a helpmate for Adam. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:41.920 And together, Adam and Eve were given the charge to be fruitful, to bear children, to multiply, and to subdue the earth. 00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:48.399 They were supposed to reign as little gods, have little authority, little sovereignty, little dominions on the earth. 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:50.720 That's the charge given to Adam and Eve. 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:53.279 And this is exactly what the devil saw. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:55.120 And the devil wanted that for himself. 00:07:55.279 --> 00:07:58.560 The devil wanted to rule the earth, not Adam, not Eve. 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:06.720 Nevertheless, when God made Adam and Eve and established them and gave them their charge, he declared that now it was not just good, it was very good. 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:10.959 They were to be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth, and all was well. 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:20.000 The only charge he gave them, other than the command to be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth, was to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:21.839 They were not to eat from that tree. 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:27.360 Because the day they ate from it, they would surely die. 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:34.320 Now they did eat from the tree, of course, because Satan did take aim at their marriage. 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:36.000 Satan wanted control of the earth. 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:38.480 He wanted to have dominion on the earth. 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:43.120 He did not want Adam and Eve to have it, and so he targets the relationship that God designed. 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:46.879 The relationship that went from making the earth good to very good, namely marriage. 00:08:47.039 --> 00:09:01.039 So he goes after Eve, not necessarily because women are more easily deceived than men, but particularly in the area that Adam was supposed to be exercising leadership and headship, supposed to be protecting his wife. 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:03.679 She was supposed to be submissive to him. 00:09:03.759 --> 00:09:07.120 And so the devil targets that relationship and goes after Eve. 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:09.279 And Eve does indeed sin. 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:12.480 She sins by doubting God's kindness and his benevolence. 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:14.559 She sins by changing God's word. 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:18.639 She tells the devil that God, in fact, said not to touch the tree. 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:26.480 When God said no such thing, she started to change the word of God and to doubt that God's word was for her good, and she believed the devil. 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:31.840 When the devil said, If you eat it, you will know the difference between good and evil, and you will be like God. 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:36.320 It's a lie package in truth, isn't it? 00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:39.440 The lie is that you will be like God. 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:43.679 The reality is that you'll be dead in sins and trespasses. 00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:46.159 The reality is that you will know the difference between good and evil. 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:49.440 You'll be dead to the good and alive to the evil. 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:58.960 And so Eve rebelled against God and ate the fruit and gave some to her husband who was with her. 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:00.639 So also deceived. 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:02.639 Eve was not alone deceived. 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:05.200 Adam was right there, front row seat to this. 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:09.200 He should have been on the ice, and instead he was watching from behind the glass. 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:11.440 And he too sinned. 00:10:12.559 --> 00:10:20.559 And this plunges the human race into sin, a life of sin, the wages of sin is death, and so Adam and Eve will not live forever. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:30.799 But the promise God gave wasn't that the day they ate from the sin, it would start a physical process of death that ultimately, 900 years later, would result in them physically dying. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:31.840 That was not the promise. 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:35.279 He said, the day you eat, you shall die. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:37.440 And in fact, that is what happened. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:39.679 The day they ate the fruit, they did die. 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:43.840 It's not talking about physical death, it's talking about spiritual death. 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:52.480 Spiritual death will eventually produce physical death, but in Adam and Eve, initially they encountered the wages of sin through their own spiritual death. 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:54.240 What does spiritual death look like? 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:57.120 Well, you get a picture of it with Adam and Eve, don't you? 00:10:57.279 --> 00:11:00.799 As soon as they ate from the fruit, they went and hid from God. 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:05.600 How bad must your theology be to try hiding from God? 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:09.600 It's like Jonah-level bad theology right there. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:14.559 Before they had a rich and vibrant relationship with God. 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:16.639 They used to walk with God in the garden. 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:18.320 They communicated with him. 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:19.200 They talked with him. 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:22.240 They had a real personal relationship with God. 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:26.559 Once they sinned and they experienced spiritual death, that relationship ended. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:28.879 They began hiding. 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:30.559 They were ashamed. 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:33.840 God called and they ignored. 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:36.960 God asked questions, not to learn information. 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:38.879 God, of course, knew the answer to the questions. 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:41.200 You know, did you listen to the snake? 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:42.960 God knew what happened. 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:44.080 Where are you? 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:45.360 Are you hiding from me? 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:46.480 Did you eat the fruit? 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:49.200 Those kind of questions, which of course God knows the answer to. 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:53.360 He's exposing the deadness they now experience. 00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:55.519 They were spiritually dead. 00:11:57.200 --> 00:12:02.399 Now after that, every human being born is born in a state of spiritual death. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:04.159 Death produces death. 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:05.840 Like produces like. 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:12.720 Dogs produce more dogs, cats produce more cats, sinners produce more sinners. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:17.279 And so Adam and Eve's children will be born spiritually dead. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:20.000 And you encounter this all through the book of Genesis. 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:21.440 Cain will murder Abel. 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:24.480 Lemech becomes a murderer in Genesis chapter 4. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:37.840 Idolatry spreads throughout the world in Genesis 4, all the way to Genesis 6, so much so that by Genesis 6, God looks at mankind and declares Genesis 6, verse 5, Yahweh saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth. 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:40.240 Well, how great was it, God? 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:46.000 That every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, God says. 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:48.480 Just look at this is what we mean by total depravity. 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:50.559 Look at how total that language is. 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:52.799 Look at how comprehensive that language is. 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:59.919 That every, not most, but every intent of his heart. 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:03.919 In fact, it's intention of the thoughts of his heart. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:06.639 You see how detached that language is? 00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:11.840 Every, not just action that you do, but every intention behind every action. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:17.279 Every intention, not just intention, but every heart attitude behind your intention. 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:27.759 And not just every heart attitude behind your intention, but every thought of your heart behind your intention that produces every action is only evil continually. 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:30.080 Not mostly evil. 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:35.519 Not 99.9% evil, only evil, the scripture says. 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:40.960 And not only evil a much of the time, only evil continually. 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:43.840 And so God says, I won't contend with mankind forever. 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:48.960 Their days will be 120 years, which means from 120 years from Genesis 6.5 until the flood. 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:12.000 Infant Baptists often connect the act of infant baptism to the covenant seen in the washing of the waters of the flood, and there are some similarities. 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:16.720 Neither the water of infant baptism nor the waters of the flood can take away human sin. 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:18.080 They're ineffectual. 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:23.120 The Lord washed the whole earth, and yet sin remained in the human heart. 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:35.360 Jeremiah 17, verse 9 describes the attitude of the post-flood heart. 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:38.240 The heart is deceitful above all things, God says. 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:39.679 It's desperately sick. 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:40.960 Who can understand it? 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:44.480 Above every creature in the world, the heart is more deceitful. 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:47.200 No one can understand it. 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:57.120 This leads you to the New Testament, where the language Paul uses in the book of Romans, for example, he describes people as being of the flesh, meaning fallen. 00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:00.879 Doing what we don't understand, Paul says in Romans 7. 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:08.639 And here he's talking about, as a believer, Paul's describing this is true of Christians, that we often live in the flesh, that we often do what we don't understand. 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:15.440 He says Romans 7, verse 18, nothing good dwells within me that is in my flesh, he said, looking at his fallen state. 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:19.360 Because even though a person comes to Christ, their fallen state remains. 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:25.200 Their spirit and soul is regenerate, but they still carry around this flesh, this body of death that is depraved. 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:31.279 So Paul can end Romans 7 by saying, Wretched man that I am, who can deliver me from this body of sin and death? 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:37.759 This is the concept of spiritual death. 00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:42.399 We are, Ephesians 2, verse 1, dead in trespasses and sins. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:44.480 The day they ate of the fruit, they died. 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:51.840 Spiritual death means a depraved and wicked heart that colors every component of our life, only evil continually. 00:15:54.639 --> 00:16:03.200 Some people misunderstand the doctrine of total depravity and think that it describes or it means that people don't have free will or that they don't make choices. 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:06.480 But the truth is, you do make choices. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:07.440 You do have a will. 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:08.960 It's just your will isn't free. 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:11.120 I mean, what does that mean to be free? 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:13.600 You can't fly like a bird. 00:16:14.080 --> 00:16:16.000 Doesn't mean you don't have free will. 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:20.720 You can't be righteous because it's not in your nature to be righteous. 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:23.039 That doesn't mean you don't have free will. 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:28.000 Free will is the capacity to make choices, the capacity to choose things. 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:30.399 And you certainly have that capacity. 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:31.600 That's the problem. 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:35.600 If you didn't have will, if you didn't have volition, your sin wouldn't be moral. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:37.519 Your sin wouldn't be on you. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:43.519 If you were just a robot programmed, you came out of the box broken, then I mean, you can't get mad at a robot. 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:44.960 He's doing what he's programmed to do. 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:50.559 You do have volition, you do make choices, and you make wicked, sinful choices. 00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:57.919 This is especially a problem for the person apart from Christ. 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:03.440 You know, the Bible teaches that all people at all times choose according to their greatest desire. 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:09.759 This is one of those weird overlaps between Christian theology or Christian anthropology and secular philosophy. 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:12.160 Even secular philosophers recognize that. 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:22.880 This is Nietzsche in the opening part of Beyond Good and Evil says that all people at all times choose according to their greatest will, even the greatest desire, even the person who contemplates suicide. 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:26.720 People are always choosing according to their greatest desire. 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:32.960 The problem is that our desires are fallen, they're corrupted, they want twisted things. 00:17:37.519 --> 00:17:43.599 The person who's apart from Christ has no capacity for righteousness because they don't desire Christ. 00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:46.000 That's what total depravity means. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:55.039 The person apart from Christ lacks the capacity for moral virtue because they lack a love for Christ. 00:17:56.400 --> 00:18:08.240 Jesus says it this way in John chapter 3 that the light shines into the darkness, but those who are in the darkness run from the light and hide from the light because they do not want their evil deeds exposed. 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:12.400 They hate the light, and so they love the darkness. 00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:14.720 That's what depravity means. 00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:23.759 Even when a person's conscience constrains them from sin, they're tempted to sin and they don't do it because their conscience convicts them of it and they don't want to act in that sin. 00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:35.839 Perhaps they refrain from evil because of self-righteous motives, or a desire to be a good person and to do good, or the desire to be rewarded in this world, or get a promotion, or be thought well of by their family, or even to think well of themselves. 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:40.480 That kind of thinking and logic has more in common with Adam than Christ. 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:46.400 As a side note, this is why sanctification is possible for believers. 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:52.079 True righteousness is possible for believers because we have a new nature, namely we love Christ. 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:54.720 And so, as believers, you can pursue sanctification. 00:18:54.880 --> 00:18:59.920 For believers, you can be alive in your spirit because your heart loves Christ. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:07.359 And so there is this reservoir of moral virtue in a believer because you want to be like Christ. 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:12.720 But for the person apart from Christ, it's right to call them spiritually dead. 00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:16.319 Because they don't have the desire to be like Christ. 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:20.799 They have no reservoir from which to draw virtuous actions. 00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:30.000 Theologically, this means that there is nothing in a person who's apart from Christ that can compel them to make the first move towards God. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:33.279 The non-Christian cannot initiate his own salvation. 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:35.200 He cannot work his way towards God. 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:38.480 He can't be the first cause and aiming toward salvation. 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:42.319 He can't initiate and achieve salvation on his own. 00:19:42.559 --> 00:19:45.519 There's nothing in him that would drive him to do that. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:48.079 That's what total depravity means. 00:19:48.240 --> 00:20:00.400 That mankind is held in bondage to sin, resting under the curse of sin, living by wrong principles rooted in sin, and thus wholly able to, unable to love God or do anything to merit salvation. 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:06.160 The Bible calls us sinners, and more particularly it calls us dead sinners. 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:10.960 And again, we often think that dead is an overstatement, but it is not an overstatement. 00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:15.440 When it comes to our salvation, we sometimes think that we could make a little move towards God. 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:21.119 We could, you know, or God even looked down the tunnel of time and saw that we would make a move towards him, so then he chose us to make that move. 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:26.319 No, there's nothing in us that would initiate our salvation. 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:34.240 Everyone who sins, John 8, verse 34 says, is a slave to sin. 00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:38.319 We are in bondage to sin. 00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:41.200 And yet we're walking, it says in verse 2. 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:43.200 We're moving around, we're doing things. 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:45.039 We're dead, but we're doing things. 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:50.799 And because here dead means you're dead morally, you're dead spiritually, it doesn't mean you're dead physically. 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:52.240 You still have movement in life. 00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:55.119 You're still doing things, you're still making choices. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:20:58.799 The problem is that the choices come from sin. 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:04.319 The problem is that we always choose according to our greatest desire. 00:21:04.559 --> 00:21:08.880 And the person who's apart from Christ, their greatest desire is going to be sin. 00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:16.960 Secondly, the anatomy of a spiritual zombie, a spiritual zombie is dead but walking, and secondly, following, not fighting. 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:21.440 We followed, verse 2 says, the course of this world. 00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:27.759 The person who is dead in sins and trespasses is still moving, they're still walking, but they're not walking anywhere original. 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:31.519 They're walking a path that has already been marked, it's already been cleared out for them. 00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:36.640 The person who's walking in their sin might think they're being novel and creative in their sin. 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:39.920 Oh no, they're following a path that is already well tread. 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:44.559 It's been marked out by the devil, it has been marked out through centuries and millennia. 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:47.359 Every human who has lived before has walked that same path. 00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:49.599 It's well lit in everything. 00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:53.440 There's no creativity in that sense when it comes to sin. 00:21:53.599 --> 00:21:57.519 You're on a path, you're on a course, is the language in verse 2, of this world. 00:21:57.680 --> 00:21:59.039 Everyone in the world is on the same path. 00:21:59.200 --> 00:21:59.759 Jesus calls it. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.440 A wide path. 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:04.000 There's nothing novel in the sinner. 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:07.519 He's on the course of the whole world. 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:10.240 And who is he following? 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:11.680 You can't blame Adam. 00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:13.200 You can't blame Eve. 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:15.599 Although they did sin and lead us into sin. 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:16.559 No, you're following. 00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:18.640 When you're sinning, you're not only following Adam and Eve. 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:22.640 When you're sinning, you're on the course, you're following the path marked out by the devil himself. 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:25.200 That's verse 2, the prince of the power of the air. 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:27.039 And this language is all over Ephesians. 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:30.559 Ephesians often talks about more about principalities. 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:35.440 That there's this divine counsel in the Trinity and eternity past in Ephesians 1. 00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:39.359 And so in Ephesians 6, we're putting on the weapons of our warfare. 00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:43.759 We don't fight flesh and blood, but we fight principalities and rulers. 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:46.319 That's who Paul's concerned about here. 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:53.279 It is a war between the love of Christ and the leadership of the devil in the world. 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:59.200 And the person who is dead in their sins and trespasses is stuck serving the prince of the power of the air. 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:01.200 He is the king of this world in that sense. 00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:02.960 The devil is the ruler of this world. 00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:07.759 He caused Adam and Eve to sin, and he now has dominion over people's hearts. 00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:11.359 As he's reigning over this world. 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:18.319 And so the person who's dead in their sins and trespasses is following his lead. 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:24.079 Martin Luther said it this way: every human being is a horse, and there are no riderless horses. 00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:28.160 You are either being ridden by the Lord or ridden by the devil. 00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:36.319 Every human heart is under the control or the sway of his rider, and it is, there's two riders, Jesus or the devil himself. 00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:42.559 And Paul here in Ephesians 2 says that the person apart from Christ is being directed, ridden, steered by the devil. 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:45.039 Even the non-Christian who says, I don't believe in the devil. 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:46.160 I don't believe in spiritual things. 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:48.000 I don't believe in spiritual realities. 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:52.960 They're following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of this air. 00:23:54.960 --> 00:23:57.519 And the devil is active as he leads us. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:23:59.200 This is not a passive activity. 00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:01.920 He's active leading us, and so we're active in sinning. 00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:04.240 Notice the contrast in Ephesians 1. 00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:09.920 The Christian has his heart sealed by the Holy Spirit, who's a guarantee of our salvation. 00:24:10.160 --> 00:24:13.920 The Holy Spirit who works inside of us to conform us to the image of Christ. 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:15.920 What a contrast with the end of verse 2. 00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:21.359 The non-Christian is sealed by the Spirit who's now at work in the sons of disobedience. 00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:25.119 Every human heart has a spirit working on that human heart. 00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:26.559 For the Christian, it's the Holy Spirit. 00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:34.400 For the non-Christian, it's the Spirit of the devil, the spirit of the Antichrist, who is at work in the sons of disobedience. 00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:36.960 There's only two fathers in the human race. 00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:40.240 You're either under your father Adam or your father Jesus. 00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:44.720 Everyone who's under Adam is born into sins and trespasses, born spiritually dead. 00:24:44.880 --> 00:24:48.240 That's why it's described here at the end of verse 2, the sons of disobedience. 00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:50.000 We're all sons of Adam. 00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:55.359 When you come to faith in Christ, you become a son of Christ. 00:24:55.599 --> 00:24:57.440 He becomes your new head. 00:24:58.480 --> 00:25:03.519 But for those who are dead in their sins and trespasses, they're following the course of the Prince of the Power of the Air. 00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:10.240 It's the spirit of the devil at work in them, and he's at work in all of the hearts of the sons of disobedience. 00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:15.279 This is the full impact of total depravity. 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:20.559 Total depravity, some people get confused by the phrase total. 00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:27.759 Total doesn't mean that everything you do is as wicked as it could possibly be. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:29.599 That's not what total depravity means. 00:25:29.680 --> 00:25:32.319 It doesn't mean that everybody is equally wicked. 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:35.680 Not all of you are axe murderers, for example. 00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:42.240 What total depravity means is that the seed of every wickedness is in every one of you. 00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:47.440 Just because you're not an axe murderer doesn't mean the seed of being an axe murderer isn't in you. 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:52.720 Just because you're not an adulterer doesn't mean the seed of adultery is not in you. 00:25:53.359 --> 00:25:57.920 Just because you're not a thief doesn't mean that the seed of theft is not in you. 00:25:58.720 --> 00:26:08.960 The seed of every form of hatred and murder, every form of sexual lust and immorality, every form of greed or avarice is in every human heart. 00:26:11.599 --> 00:26:15.359 And it's not just in your heart, but it touches, listen carefully. 00:26:15.599 --> 00:26:19.039 It touches every part of your life. 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:20.319 That's the word total. 00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:25.920 The word total and total depravity means it touches completely everything about you. 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:29.519 It touches your will. 00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:33.680 It touches your intellect, what you think about. 00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:37.039 It touches your desires, what you want. 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:38.640 It touches your passions. 00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:41.680 It touches your dreams about your future. 00:26:42.319 --> 00:26:55.599 It touches your motivations, your emotions, your reasoning, your objectives, your self-image, your conscience. 00:26:57.839 --> 00:27:01.920 If there is a human capacity, it is marred by sin. 00:27:02.079 --> 00:27:07.119 That's the word total, that everything about you is corrupted by sin. 00:27:09.440 --> 00:27:12.160 That's what Paul's describing in verse 3. 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:19.839 We once lived, speaking of believers, once lived like this, and so now we're back to describing non-believers in the passions of our flesh. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:26.720 The word passions is it means the lust for sex or for food or for sleep or for power or for money. 00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:29.839 Those passions that are from the flesh. 00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:35.920 Carrying out the longings, desires of the body and of the mind. 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:39.680 Some of them you say, oh, there's just a physical desire. 00:27:39.839 --> 00:27:43.519 Some of them, no, they're made by the factory in your mind. 00:27:43.680 --> 00:27:49.920 They're producing these desires, these lusts, these appetites, and they're sinful. 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:58.240 Beyond that, by your mind it says, and in your own nature. 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:03.039 So just think about the totality of your sin then. 00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:07.920 The person who desires something, that desire is marred by sin. 00:28:09.200 --> 00:28:10.960 Your self-image is marred by sin. 00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:12.240 You don't think of yourself rightly. 00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:13.200 You don't. 00:28:13.839 --> 00:28:19.279 You don't think of yourself rightly because you think of yourself too highly and sin taints what you see. 00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:21.519 Your conscience is marred by sin. 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:26.799 Your conscience convicts you when it shouldn't and is silent when it should speak. 00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:32.640 Your emotions, we don't know how to feel the right things at the right times. 00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:35.519 That's because of sin. 00:28:37.759 --> 00:28:42.079 Our dreams, our desires, what we want to do in life is marred by sin. 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:51.039 Again, this doesn't mean that everybody is equally bad, but it does mean that there's different constraints on your sin. 00:28:51.200 --> 00:28:54.319 Those constraints are either external or they're fallen. 00:28:55.759 --> 00:29:06.240 Again, to use the axe murderer analogy, just because you're not an axe murderer, do you understand that the reason you're not is not something virtuous in you? 00:29:07.680 --> 00:29:13.519 What constrains you from living out your sinful desires and lusts is external to you. 00:29:13.680 --> 00:29:15.279 You don't want to go to jail. 00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:19.039 You don't want your family to think less of you. 00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:21.359 You don't want to ruin your life. 00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:23.839 You know, why do you pay your taxes? 00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:27.519 Is it because you're feeling charitable and want the government to have your money? 00:29:29.519 --> 00:29:30.960 Oh, why do you pay your taxes? 00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:34.799 Well, you pay your taxes because you don't want to go to jail. 00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:37.200 You know? 00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:40.960 You like your house and the government will take it if you don't pay your taxes. 00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:45.680 Why don't you steal things? 00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:47.839 Maybe you don't want to go to jail. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:52.000 Maybe you don't want to get shot by your neighbor when you try to burglar him. 00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:56.240 Maybe you are self-righteous and you want to be known as a good person. 00:29:56.319 --> 00:29:58.880 You don't want to set a good example for your family. 00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:03.039 And as much as the thing is external to you, it doesn't speak of your virtue. 00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:06.799 And as much as what restrains you is internal, it's fallen in sin also. 00:30:08.240 --> 00:30:10.319 That's the concept of total depravity. 00:30:10.480 --> 00:30:14.240 Everything, everything is marred by sin. 00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:20.000 Let me give you an analogy that I think will help you understand what I'm saying. 00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:28.720 I want you to imagine a fictional kingdom on an island ruled by a benevolent king and his council of knights. 00:30:28.960 --> 00:30:33.200 Like King Arthur and the Round Knights of the Round Table style is what I'm talking about here. 00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:35.920 So benevolent king rules his kingdom. 00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:53.039 And this king loves justice and loves mercy and chivalry, and he teaches his knights what chivalry is and how to protect the weak and the vulnerable and the poor and how to be chivalrous, how to help old women with bags of groceries cross streams. 00:30:54.079 --> 00:30:57.359 There's a purse snatcher, the knights chase him down and arrest him. 00:30:57.440 --> 00:31:00.559 And so the whole island is a benevolent kingdom. 00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:10.480