3rd. Augustinian.-Which was adopted by all the original Protestant Churches, Lutheran and Reformed. (a.) Man is by nature so entirely depraved in his moral nature as to be totally unable to do any thing spiritually good, or in any degree to begin or dispose himself thereto. (b.) That even under the exciting and suasory influences of divine grace the will of man is totally unable to act aright in co-operation with grace, until after the will itself is by the energy of grace radically and permanently renewed. (c.) Even after the renewal of the will it ever continues dependent upon divine grace, to prompt, direct, and enable it in the performance of every good work.
We should take more time and consider the massive ramifications of (a.) above. I hope to have shown that this is biblical and is the historical teaching of Reformed people. This is not just a wild idea that a few had in history, but it is the dominant thought among the Reformed. We cannot be Reformed without these teachings. If anyone denies these teachings, that person is not a Reformed person no matter their words. This teaching on depravity is at the heart of what the Gospel teaches is salvation from sin. This is a necessary teaching that is at the very heart and is one of the foundations of Reformed and biblical teaching. How would it change our preaching if we knew and taught that man is so depraved that he is totally unable to do any thing spiritually good, or in any degree to begin or dispose himself thereto? How should and would it change our evangelism if we really believed these things as true and a necessary truth or background for the Gospel? These are the two questions that I will deal with in this blog and the next. Today we will look at the difference this should make in preaching.
The question again: How would it change our preaching if we knew and taught that man is so depraved that he is totally unable to do any thing spiritually good, or in any degree to begin or dispose himself thereto? The first thing it should change is what we preach about man. We would not preach on the value of man and his worth. Instead, we would preach about the inability of man and of his need of grace. We must always hold out grace as God being motivated by God Himself rather than anything in man. When men esteem themselves and value themselves, they tend to think of those things as reasons why God would show them mercy and grace. Instead of telling people that they can do things to please God, they should hear that they cannot please God and that they need grace in order to do so. Believers and unbelievers alike need to hear that they cannot please God in and of themselves. They need to hear that God does not meet them part of the way there, but that they need grace to be disposed toward God at all. God does not need or want any help from human beings to do things for Him that He cannot do, but instead human beings need to be humble in order that God would work through them instead of them doing it themselves. Galatians 2:20 shows us how it is the life of Christ in us that moves to obedience rather than the life of self.
It would change the way we preach by how we inform people of what they need to do. We would recognize and teach them that their outward works are no sign of grace at all. We would desire for them to do certain things, but we would recognize that they can be very deceived by their outward behavior as the Pharisees were. In giving application to our sermons we would be careful not to give people things they can do in their own strength without stating the truth of the whole situation because that would deceive people. This would be one way that we would go around crying peace, peace when in fact there was no peace for these people with God. We must remember that no one is disposed from him or herself to do spiritual actions. The change, then, would be utterly enormous. Instead of pleading with people and giving instructions on how to do things, we would tell them that they first needed to pray and seek God for grace in order to do what they need to do by His strength and grace.
The Gospel is also for believers and it must be preached to them as well. Believers need to know that they must repent by grace and believe by grace too. We would preach the Law differently. We would preach repentance and faith differently. The Law is not to be preached in order for people to keep it, but it is to be preached so that people see that they cannot keep it in their own strength. They must see that they cannot keep it apart from grace. Indeed faith is beyond the power of the unbeliever to exercise, but it is also beyond the self-strength of the believer as well. The believer must have faith but faith is what receives grace in order to carry out the demands of God. The object of faith must be there for there to be faith and the believer must have grace in order to love and trust Christ. Boiled down, the believer must constantly be reminded of his or her own inability in order that true obedience would come from faith in grace alone which works in the believer for true obedience. Without the life of Christ working in the soul there is no true obedience. Yet until a person has seen his own inability and utter helplessness in the spiritual realm, s/he will do external actions and think they are spiritual. That is being deceived.
Preaching must take into account those that hear and of their ability to do the commands of Scripture. We do that when we speak to young children and to those in nursing homes. We speak differently when we speak to those of different intellectual capacities. If we are going to be faithful to Scripture, we must learn to preach in a way that is consistent with the spiritual capacities of human beings as well. If we do not tell them that they cannot do the commands of Scripture and need the grace of God to do so, they will become like the Pharisees and water the commands down to their abilities and capacities. That is one thing that is going on in America today. We have some really nice people who are very concerned about being gracious and so have departed from the truth. This has led to external creeds of Reformed theology and to the practices of the Pharisees. This has led to a truncated Gospel and a truncated and self-willed form of sanctification. It is vital that we get back to the teachings of the glory of God, but it is also vital that we see, believe, and then do what we do in light of the biblical teaching on the depravity of man. If not, we will do nothing but further the kingdom of the Pharisees and of darkness.
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