Not an Insult but a Necessity, friends...

The doctrine of the total depravity of all men is not revealed to insult us. It is the diagnosis of a terrible disease we all have by nature – the terrible disease of sin. Because of self-righteousness and pride, the natural (unregenerate, unbelieving) man sees it as an insult to his self-proclaimed dignity and goodness, but he does not know the real depths of his own depravity and the seriousness of sin as it rules and mars his whole life and being. Total depravity does not mean that we are all as bad as we could be in the eyes of men. 

Thank God for His restraining power to keep us from going the full depths of our fallen, sinful natures on earth before men. But when it comes to God’s judgment and the reality of total depravity, it means:
 

(1) We have no righteousness of our own. Man lost what righteousness he had when Adam fell and brought us all, the whole human race, into a state of sin, depravity, and death (Romans 5:12 & Romans 3:10).
 

(2) We cannot work out righteousness by our best efforts to keep the law and obey God. Righteousness cannot be attained by our works (Romans 3:19-20; Ephesians 2:8-9).
 

(3) Because we all fell in Adam, we are born spiritually dead with no desires for the things of the glory of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not know, desire, or seek after righteousness God’s way in the Gospel of His free and sovereign grace through the Lord Jesus Christ (see Romans 3:11-12).
 

This is revealed to God’s people by the Holy Spirit in the new birth as He convicts us of sin, righteousness, and judgment, showing us our need of Christ through the grace of God and His righteousness alone for our complete salvation and justification before God. This is when the Holy Spirit imparts life to a dead sinner and gives that sinner a desire to seek and cling to Christ for all salvation.  

—preacher Bill Parker of Eager Avenue Grace church, located in Albany, Georgia USA

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