We will continue thinking through a statement by Andrew Fuller:
“This doctrine, it will be said, must drive sinners to despair. Be it so; it is such despair as I wish to see prevail. Until a sinner despair of any help from himself, he will never fall into the arms of sovereign mercy; but if once we are convinced that there is no help in us, and that this, so far from excusing us, is a proof of the greatest wickedness, we shall then begin to pray as lost sinners; and such prayer, offered in the name of Jesus, will be heard” (Works of Fuller, Volume II, p. 382).
Until man sees that there is no hope in and no help from himself at all, he will never pray as a totally lost sinner. Until then he prays for some help in order to gain assistance for himself rather than being totally in the hands of sovereign mercy. This is huge. If a person never sees that he has no hope in himself, he has not begun to see himself in biblical terms. Does that person really see the Gospel that exalts the grace of God and that is set out to exalt God primarily? Does that person see him or herself as one that is truly dead in sins and trespasses as Ephesians 2:1-3 sets out? Does this person really understand that s/he must be born from above to even see or enter the kingdom? The above statement by Fuller is truly a biblical statement that is informed by many texts.
Do we teach men that they are sinners just to make them lose some faith in themselves? Perhaps we are to teach them about sin so that they can see they need a Savior. But if we never teach them that they are so sinful that they have no hope in themselves, have we shown them their need of a SOVEREIGN SAVIOR from all sin? Can there be a Savior in any real sense other than one that is sovereign? So if we leave men with some hope in themselves of some help, have we really taught them what they really need to know? Jesus taught men that it was impossible for them to be saved of themselves (Luke 19:26) and that men could (“can” or could is a word of ability) not come to Him unless the Father taught and drew them (John 6:44-45). We will not go wrong in teaching what Jesus taught.
Fuller teaches us another biblical truth as well. Until a person is convinced that there is no help in himself he will not see the fullest extent of his sin. It is only when this is recognized that the depths of sin and our personal wickedness will be seen. This is seen in Romans 7:7-9:
“What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.” 8 But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died.” At the point Paul died, did he have any hope in himself at all? Did the publican have any hope in himself when he cried out “‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'” (Luke 18:13).
Scripture teaches us with these verses (and many more) that the soul must be broken from its own strength in order to trust in Christ alone. Man must die to his own strength and power and not just part of it, but all of it in order to rest in Christ alone.
The doctrine of man’s inability is surely seen to be important in evangelism. If we simply tell people to repent and believe without working with them and instructing them of their sin and their inability to do so, we have not properly instructed them. They will trust in something of themselves instead of trusting in Christ and grace alone. The sinner will never rest in the mercy and grace of God alone until s/he has reached the point where s/he despairs of any and all hope in self. Yet the doctrine of inability must never be taught in such a way that men will think that they are not culpable. Instead, the doctrine of inability must be taught were it is seen to actually heighten men’s sin and wickedness before God.
The words that Scripture repeats over and over should teach us that we have no ability, no worth, and no strength of our own. These are the words that Fuller gave us too: “in the name of Jesus.” Perhaps we think that this is some sort of magical incantation or that it is just something we are to repeat after a prayer, but the reality is that these are powerful words when they are uttered from a heart that believes them. To pray, believe and trust in something in the name of Christ means that we trust in His name alone and not our own. We never see Scripture teaching us by example or instruction to pray mostly in the name of Jesus. No, we come to the Father resting entirely on the name of Christ. We come resting entirely in His work on the cross and His righteousness. No one will ever come to Christ based on anything but His name and His name entirely. Surely that teaches us our inability. Surely that also means that if we teach people to go to God only in the name of Christ we must teach them of the inability of self.
God Loves... Himself 
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