I find it interesting that the doctrine of man's radical corruption (aka total depravity), the doctrine that is foundational to the other doctrines of grace, was the last piece of the puzzle for me. Because I didn't initially have systematic teaching on the doctrines, there was a time between my understanding of the Holy Spirit's effectual call (choosing) of some to salvation and why it must be so. Once one understands man's total depravity, the remainder of the doctrines of grace logically fall into place.
Man's total depravity doesn't mean that man is as wicked as he possibly could be, as in utterly depraved. Even quintessential bad guy Adolf Hitler was not as evil as he could have been. Total depravity means that sin penetrates to the very core of our being; every part of us is tainted by sin...not just our body and soul, but also our mind, emotions, and will. Ever since the first transgression of Adam and Eve, man commits sin because he is born a sinner; that is our nature. Scripture teaches that "There is none righteous, no, not one. (Romans 3:10)" R. C. Sproul explains, "We are not considered unrighteous because the dross of sin is mixed together with our goodness. The indictment against us is more radical: in our corrupt humanity we never do a single good thing...Fallen sinners can refrain from stealing and perform acts of charity, but these deeds are not deemed good in an ultimate sense. When God evaluates the actions of people, he considers not only the outward deeds in and of themselves, but also the motives behind these acts. The supreme motive required of everything we do is the love of God. A deed that outwardly conforms to God's law but proceeds from a heart alienated from God is not deemed by God a good deed. The whole action, including the inclinations of the doer's heart, is brought under the scrutiny of God and found wanting."
Apart from being regenerated by the Holy Spirit, every man is spiritually dead in his trespasses and sins and is by nature a child of God's wrath (from Ephesians 2). From R. C. Sproul: "To be dead in sin is to be in a state of moral and spiritual bondage. By nature we are slaves to sin. This does not mean that the fall has destroyed or eradicated the human will. Fallen man still has all the faculties to make choices. We still have a mind and a will. The problem is not that we cannot make choices. Natural men make choices all the time. The problem is that, in our fallen condition, we make sinful choices. We make these choices freely. We sin precisely because we want to sin, and we are capable of choosing exactly what we want to choose." But we do not want to choose, nor can we choose, to convert ourselves to become followers of Christ, because, as spiritually dead men, we have absolutely no desire for the righteousness of God. Our salvation must be of the Lord!
Quotes by R. C. Sproul taken from Grace Unknown, Chapter 6
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