21 States of Man without God
(First in series)
In today’s message we are going to start a series on the state or conditions of man without God. In this series we will cover 21 states each of us may have been in or are currently in right now. And in looking at these conditions that we find ourselves in we will need to reflect very carefully upon what it is that we desire most in our lives: to live temporally in this world, which means we are spending more time working on the worldly things and little to no time on the spiritual things. Those spiritual things include reading the Bible, spending time in prayer with God, finding time to worship God, and spending time in service to God through a church and fellowship with other Christian believers. In so doing, we are led to understand and accept the gift of salvation through Christ Jesus, living an eternal life in heaven. While being worldly leads us away from God to live a life of eternity in the lake of fire. And in so looking at our condition we should realize that we do need to turn to the One True and Living God to save us from ourselves.
1. Alienation
a. This is the state of being withdrawn or isolated from the God that loves you, by way of our indifference or disaffection.
b. It is a willful act on our part to purposefully turn away from God. Because God has never pushed us away, but we decide to walk away.
c. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. ~Ephesians 4:17-19
d. In this passage the apostle Paul is speaking to the church in Ephesus, asking them to stop being as others are, walking in ways that seem right to themselves, but in fact are contrary to God. That by their very acts are trying to hide from the true knowledge of God and using the sins of the world as a cloak for their decision to turn away from God’s love.
e. Although this passage was written some 2000 years ago, it still speaks of our condition today. We too try to hide from God by rationalizing our sinful actions into something that seems right for us and using sinful society as the reinforcement for what we do in our walk from God.
f. Don’t be fooled when society tells you that God doesn’t exist, or if He exists, He is not concerned with you. Turn back to the Lord and receive the everlasting life He wants for you.
g. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ~Romans 5:8
h. So, let us turn from the state of alienation and turn to the state of grace. God so loved us that He gave His only Son for our sins. Don’t alienate yourself from the God of love.
2. Blindness
a. This is the state of willfully ignoring the truth of the Word of God, a state by which we cover our physical and spiritual eyes with the things of the world. And the Bible speaks of this blindness and tells us that Satan, through our willing participation causes us to not see the salvation that Jesus came to give us.
b. But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.” These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him. ~John 12:37-41
c. And again in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 we read:
i. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
d. We see here that Jesus stands ready to heal us of our sinful nature, but we refuse by turning away from the light and stare into darkness. The light is indeed bright, but it is necessary for us to see, to see the sinful state that we are in.
e. Satan’s sole job is to steal, kill, and destroy.
i. He wants to steal your joy.
ii. He wants to kill your spirit that was created in the image of God.
iii. He wants to destroy your path into eternal life in heaven.
f. The captain of the Titanic refused to believe the ship was in trouble till water was ankle deep in the mail room. Only then was it apparent the multi-layered hull had been pierced and the unsinkable ship was going to sink. Ships that could have arrived before the great ocean liner went down weren't summoned until it was too late.
i. I am not giving Satan credit for this event, but I am using it here to show how we at times blind our eyes, minds, and hearts to the truths that surround us. This captain could have reduced the number of lost lives if he but opened his eyes to the trouble he was in.
g. So, let us open our eyes, bathing them in the light of the Word of God. Regain your spiritual sight with the healing power of Christ Jesus.
3. Carnality or fleshly minded
a. This is the state where our own desires override the Spirit, desiring that which is of this world more than the treasures that is in heaven; and again, this is a willful condition where we make the decision to give in to the flesh. In Romans 8:6, 13 Paul speaks of this condition:
i. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.---For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
b. Man, in the state of being ruled by the flesh runs the risk of being separated from God; which is the true meaning of death in these passages. In our passage Paul warns us that if we are not more in tune with our spirit, we will certainly find our way into the pits of hell.
c. To combat the flesh, we need to get closer to God, by way of His Word, prayer, and fasting. We need to feed our spirit more than we feed our flesh. We need to bathe ourselves in the things of God, allowing our spirit to rise to greater levels than our flesh.
i. “The story is told of Handley Page, a pioneer in aviation, who once landed in an isolated area during his travels. Unknown to him, a rat got aboard the plane there. On the next leg of the flight, Page heard the sickening sound of gnawing. Suspecting it was a rodent, his heart began to pound as he visualized the serious damage that could be done to the fragile mechanisms that controlled his plane and the difficultly of repair because of the lack of skilled labor and materials in the area. What could he do? He remembered that a rat cannot survive at high altitudes, so he pulled back on the stick. The airplane climbed higher and higher until Page found it difficult to breathe. He listened intently and finally sighed with relief. The gnawing had stopped. When he arrived at his destination, he found the rat lying dead behind the cockpit! Oftentimes we, God’s children, are plagued by sin that gnaws at our life simply because we are living at too low a spiritual level. To see sin defeated in our lives requires that we move up – away from the world – to a higher level where the things of this world cannot survive.”
d. By keeping your mind stayed on Jesus you can overcome the desires of the flesh. Through prayer you can ask of the Father to take away those desires that want to keep you from being the person of God that He wants you to be.
e. Don’t let the sins of the world steal your joy. Don’t let the carnal mind drag you down.
4. Corruptness
a. This is a state of man where our minds have become corrupt by the desires of the world. A state of mind that is far from God. In 1 Timothy 6:3-5 Paul admonishes the young pastor to be wary of people with corrupt minds:
i. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.
ii. In this passage Paul is speaking of people who are perverse, willfully determined or disposed to go opposite to what is expected or desired; to be contrary.
iii. Mans’ natural state is to be contrary to the will of God. For Romans 3:10-12 tells us:
1. As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”
b. In our corrupt state we willfully go against God’s desire for us, working our hardest to be contrary to all that the Father wants for us.
c. We were created in the image of God and because of the introduction of sin we have become tarnished and corrupt. But we can be washed clean by the blood of Jesus. God sent His only begotten son to die for us so that our corrupt mind, body, and soul could be repaired and brought back inline with God’s desires for us.
1. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. ~2 Corinthians 5:17
d. We need to look to the healing power of Jesus to correct the corruptness of our minds. We need to change our way of thinking and realize that we cannot fix the problems of our lives by sheer will power alone. We need to come to the reality that the only one that can fix the corruption is Lord Jesus. Look to Him. He can change the corruptible to the incorruptible. Come to Jesus and allow Him to fix that which was corrupted by sin, being restored and shining brightly once again.
