Depraved Apart from the Spirit
Of course if men are only partly depraved (which is really the
belief today of the vast majority of preachers and their hearers,
never having been experimentally taught by God their own
depravity),
if deep down in their hearts all men really love God, if
they are so good-natured as to be easily persuaded to become
Christians, then there is no need for the Holy Spirit to put forth His
Almighty power and do for them what they are altogether incapable
of doing for themselves. And again: if “being saved” consists
merely in believing I am a lost sinner and on my way to Hell, and
by simply believing that God loves me, that Christ died for me, and
that He will save me now on the one condition that I “accept Him as
my personal Savior” and “rest upon His finished work,” then no
supernatural operations of the Holy Spirit are required to induce and
enable me to fulfill that condition—self-interest moves me to, and a
decision of my will is all that is require
But if, on the other hand, all men hate God (Joh 15:23, 25), and
have minds which are “enmity against Him” (Rom 8:7), so that
“there is none that seeketh after God” (Rom 3:11), preferring and
determining to follow their own inclinations and pleasures; if
instead of being disposed unto that which is good, “the heart of the
sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (Ecc 8:11); and if when
the overtures of God’s mercy are made known to them and they are
freely invited to avail themselves of the same, they “all with one
consent begin to make excuse” (Luk 14:18)—
then it is very evident
that the invincible power and transforming operations of the Spirit
are indispensably required if the heart of a sinner is thoroughly
changed, so that rebellion gives place to submission, and hatred to
love. This is why Christ said, “No man can come to Me, except the
Father (by the Spirit) which hath sent Me draw him” (Joh 6:44).
Again—if the Lord Jesus Christ came here to uphold and enforce
the high claims of God, rather than to lower or set them aside; if He
declared that “strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth
unto Life, and few there be that find it,” rather than pointing to a
smooth and broad road which anyone would find it easy to tread; if
the salvation which He has provided is a deliverance from sin and
self-pleasing, from worldliness and indulging the lusts of the flesh
(Gal 5:24, 6:14; Col 2:20), and the bestowing of a nature which
desires and determines to live for God’s glory and please Him in all
the details of our present lives—then it is clear beyond dispute that
none but the Spirit of God can impart a genuine desire for such a
salvation.
And if instead of “accepting Christ” and “resting upon
His finished work” be the sole condition of salvation,He demands
that the sinner throw down the weapons of his defiance, abandon
every idol, unreservedly surrender himself and his life, and receive
Him as His only Lord and Master, then nothing but a miracle of
grace can enable any captive of Satan’s to meet such
requirements.
Objections to Depravity Proved False
Against what has been said above it may be objected that no
such hatred of God as we have affirmed exists in the hearts of the
great majority of our fellow-creatures—that while there may be a
few degenerates, who have sold themselves to the Devil and are
thoroughly hardened in sin, yet the remainder of mankind are
friendly disposed to God, as is evident by the countless millions
who have some form or other of religion.
To such an objector we 5
reply, The fact is, dear friend, that those to whom you refer are
almost entirely ignorant of the God of Scripture: they have heard
that He loves everybody, is benevolently inclined toward all His
creatures, and is so easy-going that in return for their religious
performances will wink at their sins. Of course, they have no hatred
for such a “god” as this!
But tell them something of the character of
the true God: that He hates “all the workers of iniquity” (Psa 5:5),
that He is inexorably just and ineffably holy, that He is an
uncontrollable Sovereign, who “hath mercy on whom He will have
mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth” (Rom 9:18), and their
enmity against Him will soon be manifested—an enmity which
none but the Holy Spirit can overcome.
