When we could not come to God nor could we find our way, God came to us. It is, therefore, our duty to exercise ourselves unto godliness—pursuing holiness as a means of bringing glory to our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Recently, in my men’s group, we were reading George Swinnock on the subject of holiness and he writes the following vivid description of the depraved sinner. He writes, “They run as fast as if they feared that hell would be full before they came thither” (The Christian Mans Calling, Vol. 1, Chapter IX, 76). So it seems that unsaved people are so committed to sin that they worry that they might lose a seat in hell.

When it comes to life in general, it doesn’t take a deep dive into theology to see the obvious fact that carnal people are committed to sin. It is the duty and calling of the Christian to pursue God in a lifestyle of consistent holiness, but the unsaved person has a mind and a heart that is fixed in a direction that opposes God.

Consider the passions and pleasures of sin and how the unsaved person has no care for God and no desire to submit to God’s law. He makes it his daily pattern to break God’s law. Why is this the case? Because by nature, he has no ability to see his need for God nor any ability in himself to submit to God. His appetite craves sin and his feet are swift to run away from God.

This is at the heart of the issue of the free-will and sovereignty of God debate. Consider what the Scripture teaches about the issue of man’s depravity.

Man’s Inability to Repent and Believe the Gospel

• John 6:44 and 65– “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
• John 1:12-13– But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Repentance and Faith are Given as Gifts of God

• Ephesians 2:8-9– For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

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