The Condition and Position of Man

I'll take your Bible this morning turn with me to the book of Ephesians Ephesians chapter 2 we're going to be in the first couple of verses of Ephesians chapter 2 at the beginning of the message But we will move over to various passages as we are in another topical message this morning And again my instruction to you is don't get caught up in trying to turn to all of the passages that we will refer to Listen jot them down go back and study them on your own and it's necessary for us to move around in various scriptures to be able to Address the subject that is at hand this morning Now I went back and I looked at some of my notes and my calendaring and we started our series in John on March The first March the first you know the title of the series Christ the Son of God believe and live Now we have had a few interruptions, but we've been mostly on this continuing continuous journey through the gospel of John Now when we reach chapter 2 I really felt the need to deviate.

I want to repeat that I've repeated that multiple times I really felt in my heart a great need to deviate from John and Like I said last week chapter 3 deals with some of the most important teaching in the Word of God chapter 3 contains Teaching on how man might be right right made right with God You know the story of Nicodemus where Jesus tells him you must be born again But also that most famous passage in chapter 3 verse 16 for God so love the world now all of this is good news Is it not we like good news?

This is good news from the scripture But before we get into the good news, I'm afraid we must look at some bad news I'm sorry, but the Bible does contain a lot of bad news now I don't say that in an apologetic manner a lot of people are offended by bad news We talked about that Wednesday night in our Bible study time Bad news comes with the good news and we must take the whole counsel of the Word of God now What is the bad news?

The bad news is the truth the truth about man And we are titling I'm titling these four messages that we're going to be in in this interruption The condition in the position of man that is the bad news and last week We looked at the origin and the journey of man now in a brief synopsis. What did we see man? Originated from God God created man all these other Theories and ideas are just lies right out of the darkest corner of the pits of hell God Created man, but we saw that man is on a journey and that journey is man has been falling thanks to the nature of Adam which was passed down to all of humanity and man's personal responsibility Man is on a journey and that journey is down down down If you didn't hear last week's message I encourage you to get that because all four of these messages go together to prepare us for chapter 3 And so what do we see the condition of man and we started with the origin in the journey of man?

Now last week we established the fact that there are two opinions two testimonies about man These come out of chapter 2 the end of chapter 2 verses 23 through 25 This is man's testimony about man, and then we have God's testimony about man I've never seen that before but as I've been in prayer and we got into the end of that chapter It just really came to the surface Jesus would not and could not trust man's opinion of man And so what we see in those verses man has an opinion of himself man seeks to to define himself describes himself and understand himself and articulate that Opinion of himself, but yet we know that God has a testimony and opinion of man That's the bad news and that's what we are looking at Now today it seems like we've lost sight of what the Bible says about man There are a lot who only want the good news Concerning man and this view has caused many people to see man incorrectly In other words men want only the good news so they ignore the bad news so therefore they have an incorrect attitude or understanding of man and see man's testimony concerning man has not only affected how man sees himself But it has affected the gospel message too I Gave us a quotation by a Famous Christian at our Southern Baptist Convention David Platt.

He is the president of the International Mission Board I refer to a book that he's written is called radical. It's a good book I've not read it lots of my friends have I think it's a good book I could recommend it as a matter of fact It's probably one I need to go back and read But I in some of my reading a couple of weeks ago.

I ran across this quotation and it really hit me So I grabbed it, but I'm gonna add to it from what we looked at Wednesday David Platt says the modern gospel says God loves you and as a wonderful plan for your life Therefore follow these steps and you can be saved Meanwhile the biblical gospel says you're an enemy of God dead in your sin and in your present state of rebellion You're not even able to see that you need life much less to cause yourself to come to life Now this picks up where we left off Wednesday Therefore you are radically dependent on God to do something in your life that you could never do The former sells books and draws crowds the latter save souls and which is more important You see David Platt is accurate in saying we must take yes the good news But before we get the good news, we must have the bad news and that is the point of these four messages the true testimony about man from God the truth about man the Condition and the position of man the origin and the journey of man and we're continuing in This small four-week journey, but what do we see here?

Man has been trying to testify about man for ages and today He's doing it in such a manner where it even affects the gospel testimony And that is why it is important for us to see what the Bible says about man So this morning we're really going to pick up right where we left off last Sunday morning And we're going to be with this same thing seeing what the Bible says about man Now the title of the message this morning is the condition and the position of man The condition and the position of man we will look at three truths from the scripture We will start in and out in Ephesians and then we'll journey through other places Old Testament and new and we see that There is in man spiritual death spiritual inability and spiritual slavery spiritual death spiritual inability and spiritual slavery now, let's look at the passage in Ephesians chapter 2 just a couple of verses verses 1 & 2 listen to what Paul says to the Ephesian church and You were these are born-again Christians So he differentiates between how they are now and what they were like then What does he say and you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formally walked according to the course of this world?

According to the prince of the power of the air of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience And that a wonderful testimony Paul says you used to live like this this used to describe you, but you're different But what I want you to see is number one there is within man spiritual death Spiritual death now when Adam fell not only was he affected physically, but he was affected spiritually Originally Adam was not created to die that because of sin ultimately he did not physically but spiritually he died immediately Now eventually Adam did die, but he did in he did enjoy if I can use that word spiritual death Immediately he was alienated from God because of his sin He had fallen from his proper place that right relationship with God he had become now listen Morally corrupt from the inside out.

He was spiritually dead prior to the fall He was spiritually alive and now after the fall he is spiritually dead And we learn from Romans 5 verse 12 that Adam passed this death to all mankind This is imputed death. This is a death that is hereditary and this is what Bible theologians call original sin Now I want to break these verses down to help us understand this original sin this spiritual death that is within all mankind First notice that man is dead in his nature Man is dead in his nature go back to verse 1 in this Ephesians passage and you were dead in your trespasses and sin in which you formally walked according to the course of this world Now at first glance at verse 1 we see mostly actions We see this word in and I want you to take note of that and you were dead in all of the Translations that are before us have this word in this indicates now listen close the sphere in which the sinner Resides if we're not careful, we will look just at the actions and you were dead in your what?

Trespasses in your sins your actions your rebellious actions But what the wording does it shows us that man? Resides in a sphere he resides in a place and what does that say? they are in a place man is in a place of trespasses and sin and See this is why they sin this is why they live the life of transgressions This is a result of now listen their true nature We notice the actions but Paul helps us see they are in that sphere So therefore that is what they do this is their nature man is corrupt in his nature For he resides in this sphere of rebellion and sin.

He is acting according to his nature The second thing I want us to see that man is dead in a dead world Man is dead and he is in a dead world and you were dead There's that word in this sphere of transpasses and sins in which you formally walked according to the course of This world now this this word world it refers to the world system Which which is dominated by fallen mankind?

This is the world system that is anti-god anti-bible anti-man Get that this is the world system that is anti-god Bible Christianity and man all that is good in all that is from God Now we have to be careful here because this word world in the New Testament can apply to many different things First of all it can reply to the physical world That's not what's taking place here. Well, that's not what Paul is talking about.

It can also refer to the world of humanity What is John 3 16 say for God so loved the world that is the world of humanity But this word world can refer to the fallen world of humanity the world system that is dominated by Satan and the powers of darkness and Humanity is caught up in this world system. That is exactly what Paul is talking about. This is the fallen system of the world of humanity and see man is dead in his condition and he is dead in a dead world The third thing I want you to see Is that man is dead with a deadly leader go back to the verse and you were dead in? This fear of trespasses and sins.

That's why you do what you do This is your nature in which you formally walked according to the to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air of The spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience all that language in chapter in verse 2 Talks about none other than Satan himself Satan himself who is cast out of heaven because of pride. He is the prince of this world He is the one who leads mankind into this book disobedience. Did we not see that in Genesis 3?

God created the whole world perfect Adam and Eve are perfect They have a perfect world a perfect home a perfect job and a perfect relationship with God But the serpent came and what did the serpent do the serpent? deceived Adam and Eve into disobedience and this prince of the world This prince of the air is the one who leads and has been leading all mankind into Disobedience and the verse says that they are sons of disobedience and you see What is in mankind Man is dead in his nature.

He is dead in a dead world and he is dead with a deadly leader We must see this in these verses man is dead in his nature and he resides in a sphere of sin and rebellion In his world this world this world system is anti God anti Bible anti man And it has one leader and he leads all mankind into disobedience and this is man's condition It's not just that he needs Jesus.

I Give you a little story to illustrate this I've used use this in different ways and different times Some of you get a kick out of this but this week we got two new pets Our girls have been on us for a cat You know if you live in the country and you got a cat they keep mice away. Do they not they're always good to have around But we didn't just get one kitten we got two But you know what I've noticed in those kittens is those kittens are always true to their nature.

Are they not? kittens do what kittens do But we also have in our yard a dog That dog's not too happy about our new additions to the family We're trying to integrate them that might be a task in and of itself But you know I set back yesterday And I just observed the behavior of the kittens the behavior of the dog and you know we can laugh and we can talk and we Can describe but but what does that illustrate for us?

Those animals are just being true to their nature a cat does what a cat does because he is true to his nature a Dog does what a dog does because he is true to his nature see animals that are in the creation They do what they do because they are true to their nature You know birds fly cows move You can just go down the list why they are true to the nature and you cannot break that you cannot take an animal and make that animal behave Opposite or outside of their nature because what an animal will always be true to his nature You can take a pig and you can clean him and wash him up But as soon as he can he goes right back to the wall.

It doesn't not that is their nature and See what we must see in this is that man is true to his nature and not only is he true to his nature He is in dead in his nature. He is dead in a dead world, and he is dead with a dead leader That's why children disobey their parents That's why teenagers who grow up and they do not know the Lord rebel and they go their way if they're acting according to their Nature that's why Isis is trafficking in human beings for in speakable purposes because they are true to their nature That's why people fight for the right to abort and murder babies because they are true to the nature mankind does what mankind does because they are true to their nature and They have a home in which to do these things and they have a leader in which to do these things for you see That is spiritual death.

It's more than just man needs a Savior They are dead in their nature. They live in a dead world and they have a dead leader So what do we see there that is in man? There is spiritual death. Let's move on. Let's see number two That that is in man. There is spiritual inability There is spiritual inability now with this is where we will move on the various scriptures I want you to jot them down if you're unfamiliar with them, especially But because of man's spiritual condition Man is what Bible theologians called the prayed you might run across this word Depraved or you might hear the phrase to the privacy of man man is simply spiritually dead He is spiritually depraved if you describe man and say he is spiritually dead That's accurate if you say he is spiritually depraved that is accurate and because of this condition Man is in a terrible predicament Man cannot seek God man cannot obey God and man cannot love God why because he is dead This is his nature man is dead and this is his nature his nature is to rebel against God it is not to seek God but to seek pleasure and rebellion against God and Listen to this left alone man will only be true to his nature and he is unable to change that nature And the only way he can be changed is if some outside agency intervenes He is spiritually unable Let's let's look at some verses this is an incomplete list But we need to see this this inability that man has first dead men can't love God Dead men cannot love God Romans chapter 5 verse 10 tells us this for a while.

We were enemies We were reconciled to God through the death of his son. What is Paul saying when I was lost I was an enemy of God, but yet I was reconciled to God. I was made right to God and with God What is Paul saying? I was an enemy and what do we see dead men are enemies of God? You must get that dead men can't love God because Paul says that dead men are enemies of God and Those things oppose one another The second thing we need to see is that dead men can't know God Dead men they cannot know God listen to first Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 But a natural man or an unspiritual man some translations use different words That's a lost man this natural or unspiritual man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God For they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually Examined what do we see here Paul is saying that dead men cannot know God they cannot accept the spiritual things of God They are foolishness to him because they are spiritually discerned What is Paul saying the things of God and knowing God and the knowledge of God are spiritually discerned So a dead man cannot discern those things therefore a dead man can't know God The third thing we need to see is that dead men can't please God Dead men they cannot please God Romans chapter 8 verses 6 through 7 for the mind Set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace because the mind set on the flesh is hostile towards God the King James reads Emmett he means the same thing and notice what the verse is saying dead men cannot please God Because they are living in enmity towards God.

They are living a hostile life towards God How can a man that is hostile towards God? Please God he can't The fourth thing is dead man can't seek God Dead men can't seek God Romans chapter 3 verse 11 There is none who understands there is none who seeks God John chapter 6 verse 44 No one can come to me. Jesus says unless the father who sent me Draws him now notice what John says John states a fact that no one can come to him Except by an outside agency and that is God now Paul simply states exactly What the gospel of John says but yet John is quoting Psalm verse 14 chapter 14 and what do we see? dead men cannot seek God The fifth thing is dead men can't reform their lives Dead men cannot reform their lives We'll go to the the book of Job for these verses Job chapter 2 verse 22 although you wash yourself with lie and use much So the stain of your iniquity is before me declares the Lord What is God saying you might clean up the outside?

But I still see the inside in chapter 13 verse verse 23 Job says can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? No Man can try to reform himself, but the inside man can never be reformed dead men cannot reform themselves We must see that man can't seek God We must see that man can't love God can't know God can't please God can't seek God and cannot reform themselves He never has and he never will when he is left alone. He cannot love God He cannot know God he cannot obey God he cannot seek God and he can clean up on the outside But man is unable This is spiritual inability because of his nature and his condition.

He is depraved Most of you in this room have probably never heard Of a little group of Indians that live in Ecuador called the Wa'adani people They were made famous in the 1950s and when I go on with the story You'll probably some of you will probably say oh I've heard of these people Because they killed five American missionaries that were trying to reach them as a matter of fact.

It was in 1956 Jim Elliott probably the most famous behind him would have been Nate Saint And then it was a few other men Pete Fleming Roger you Darien and Ed McCulley They were missionaries trying to reach this unreached Wa'adani people the Wa'adani people even today lived in the Amazon area right near the Peruvian and Ecuadorian borders and They were unreached and untouched for centuries.

They were so isolated even up to the 1950s that their own neighbors did not even know what they called themselves The Quechua Indians called them the Aucas and in the Quechua language the word Auca meant naked savage Now why did they call him that because they walked around naked and they killed any outsider they had any contact with Their language after it's been studied was found to be unlike any language surrounding the tribe but what do you see as The missionaries came and missionaries were able to come in and anthropologists were able to come in and study them You see that they were a very religious people And we see if you study them that the law of God was written on their hearts They had a concept of marriage They believed that stealing was wrong except for maybe from your enemy They had a concept of a higher being they had a concept of a heaven and a hell although it was warped They practiced their religion well, but listen through the centuries left in and of themselves They were unable to come to God they were unable they were dead they were depraved and See God now listen close had to go to them because they were unable even in their unreached state and We must see this fact in the modern church today.

We are reforming men instead of trusting in Regeneration and it is because we fail to realize the true condition of man you can outwardly reform a man, but he will always be true to his nature a Pig always goes back to his wallet a dog always returns to his vomit And in my years of ministry it just came to me one day as I saw it so many churches Taking young people and training them and pouring Bible knowledge into them but ignoring Regeneration what you do is you educate people and you change them from the outside and not the inside and See education without salvation always leads to damn nation You're just as damned if you know the Bible is those Indians who had never heard the name of Jesus Because of no regeneration, but see what I want us to see is we must see man's true recognition and they are unable to do anything about who they are what they do and what they will become unless an outside agency intervenes the third thing I want us to see that That is in man, and that is spiritual slavery spiritual Slavery now we have learned that man is dead and man is unable to change his plight And now we will see that man is in bondage Bondage is a little more palatable than the word slavery is it not and see man is hostile towards God He is rebellion.

He is in rebellion against God But remember man is born this way because Adam's sin was imputed the nature of sin was imputed It was given and remember last week I talked about the fact from Romans 5 verse 12 that man is guilty because of Adam's sin and because of his own actions and he is double damned and See since man has fallen in nature Then he is in bondage to sin and he is even in bondage to Satan himself Because he has given himself over to that sin and to that death man is in spiritual slavery I Want to give you a few verses that illustrate and teach us this?

It'll help us understand the reality of this the dark and brutal reality of it first I want you to see that men are children of Satan Men are children of Satan John chapter 8 verse 44 Jesus says you are you are of your father the devil and you want to do the desires of your father What is he doing? He's talking to the religious leaders first John chapter 3 verse 10 by this the children of God and the children Or the devil are obvious anyone who does not practice Cytosis is not of God nor the one who does not love his brother. What do we see?

John in the gospel of John and first John is saying that there are those their father is the devil There are those there are children of the devil and what we must see is that lost humanity are truly children of Satan Men are not children of God because of their rebellion. Yes, they are created by God But remember man has left his rightful place because of his own rebellion and the rebellion of Adam and what we must see is that lost humanity are children of the devil Also, I want you to see second Man or men are blinded by Satan Men are blinded by Satan second Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4 In whose case the God little gee the God of this world has blinded the minds of the Unbelieving that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is in the image of God Notice that there is a God little gee of this world that we live in and he has blinded the minds now Why is he blinded the minds of individuals people lost humanity?

So they will not see the gospel and what we see is men are blinded By Satan every man woman boy or girl who is outside of Christ is blind Third I want us to see that men are held captive by Satan second Timothy 2 verse 26 and they may come to their senses and escape this is people who were converted and Escaped from the snare of the devil having been held captive by him to do his will notice some specifics notice some words Apoll uses this word snare This is a picture of an animal who has been caught in a trap and what is Paul saying?

Man has been caught by the trap of the enemy and then also notice that they have been held captive And what Paul is saying is they've been caught in the trap and they are held captive by Satan But then all this notice also they are held captive by him to do his will and that is the captivity of Satan Satan has mankind in his captivity and in his control. They've been trapped.

They're held captive to do his will and then fourth Men are in Satan's Dominion Men are in Satan's Dominion acts 26 verse 18 To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light This is true conversion and from the dominion of Satan to God in order that they may receive forgiveness of Sins I want you to see that man when they are alive on this earth and without Christ They are within the Dominion the domain of Satan Him self now, this is not an exhaustive list But all of these verses help us to see that man is held captive in Satan's Dominion They are in the trap of Satan.

They are held in captivity Man is in the slavery man is in slavery to the God of this world, but this is not an innocent captivity Let me say that again. This is not an innocent captivity Man is a willing participant within this Dominion of darkness because what does Romans 5 said 12 say? Yes Sin has been imputed by Satan, but man is responsible for his own actions Man is a willing participant within this Dominion of darkness What is verse 12 or the end of verse 12 of Romans chapter 5 say death spread to all men? because all sinned You see the responsibility here, and we must make note of that And see we are understanding these truths and these truths are a must we must see That man is enslaved See do you see why I chose the word journey last week?

See man is on a journey man has been journeying From being created by God to the sin to sin to falling from his proper place all the way down to Slavery man is in bondage to Satan and his domain he is and he always will be Remember the Waddonnie people of Ecuador They were enslaved by their gods Really the God of this world the God of this world had whispered in their ancestors ears to worship these strange things And to pervert the law of God that was written with all in well on their heart and Although they had the law of God written on their hearts their sinfulness They in their sinfulness they chose to ignore that law and the testimony of nature They were living true to their nature as slaves How was that?

After the missionaries successfully came in now listen to how sinful they were Anthropologists came in as well to study the untouched unsoiled people group and They discovered that the homicide rate was six out of adult men were killed by their own people They had no written history and they were able to piece together history verbal history And they determined that they had been in this cycle of killing for over five generations And they determined that six out of ten adult men were killed by their own people viciously Brutally why?

Because they are dead Because they were slaves to Satan and although they had the law of God written on their hearts it had been perverted by their own nature and they refused to adhere to the law of God written on their heart and look to the creation around them and What were they? slaves to their own nature to their own God little God Satan and All they did was live in that domain But you know, it's easier for us to look at people's like this murderers and say what they are But what about the people living around us?

See in our culture, what do we do we clean man up we shine his shoes put nice clothes on him teach him the right language But what did Jesus say to those religious leaders? He said you are white washed tombs What was he saying? You're dead And they even knew the Word of God Outwardly they lived impeccable lives and that's what's going on so much in the life of the church today It's not being changed from the inside out. It's not a new nature because what's happened is we've moved away Just casually from what the Bible says about man. It's not palatable. It's not nice We think it will not draw crowds.

It might hurt someone's feelings, but that is God's way and God's way is to accurately Describe who and what man is see what have we looked at the condition and the position of man Look at his position and look at his condition and look at his position before God It's not just that man has said a few dirty words, oh no He has a new God in his name Satan and he lives in the other domain The one that is anti God anti Bible anti man anti everything right?

That's his position See we are really starting to understand man's plight Man was created by God, but he embarked on a sinful rebellious journey again I use that word purposefully It is a downward spiral a downward journey and look where it is taking him. Yes. He is falling He is falling but it is far worse than you might think man is dead man is unable to do anything about it But it is worse than you might think man is even a slave He is chained to the leg of Satan and for his plans and purposes But praise God for an outside agency Praise God that forever ago God determined that he would sin his son Praise God that the living Lord Jesus came that all of humanity would not have to live chained to the devil But my questions for you as we begin to close or this Do you accurately Properly understand who you are outside of Christ.

I Don't mean to be ugly but Your mama might have taught you that you were a good little boy and a good little girl, but that's not true You might feel real good about your accomplishments Plans what you've done to quote-unquote serve God But none of that matters What did Job say can a leopard change his spots? Can the Ethiopian change the color of the skin listen man cannot change who man is unless?

God does a miracle and see what I want you to see there are some of you here You've never been converted the Bible way and although you might look right talk right and act right you must see Truly now listen your condition in your position and just how far man has fallen But you know there are some of us here today. We've been bought off the slave block I Live my life on the slave block chain to Satan Chained to his domain and his dominion and his power Living life from me and my pleasures I thought I was the captain of my life, but the whole time I couldn't hear it There were the sounds and the clankings of chains.

I was chained to my master But the Lord Jesus came to break those bounds and he rescued me and Those of us who are of the redeemed we know what it's like to be redeemed from a place of Slavery and sin death and rebellion and darkness and blindness and so on and so on So what do we see this morning? The condition the position of man. This is what the Bible says about man It's what the Bible says Let's pray I Would like you to simply in your heart ask you to ask God to help you to Receive what's been said this morning