GRBC Unto God be glory in the Church

"As cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a foreign country" Prov. 25:25

"In Him you also trusted, after you heard the Word of Truth, the gospel of your salvation" Eph. 1:13 a

N    Natural Man

Natural Man: Our dreadful natural condition as mere human beings without Christ Jesus is summed up in several Bible descriptions. This may not seem like good news at first, but it is essential that every person sees himself in the light of Scripture.

(1) The natural man is blind and deaf to the things of God. Jesus spoke of this condition when He explained why He spoke Truth through parables rather than in plain terms for everyone to understand-- "seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing they may hear and not understand," Mark 4:12. Clearly, He shows the dreadful natural condition of man as being both blind and deaf to any saving knowledge of God.

(2) The natural man is unteachable pertaining to the things of God according to I Cor. 2:14-- "the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit--because they are spiritually discerned." Being natural, or merely human, means to be in an existence without the Spirit of God. This is a dreadful condition since one can only know the things of God by being enlightened by the Spirit of God. The Bible is a mystery which is constantly misunderstood and misrepresented by those without the Spirit of God.

(3) The natural man is chained to the things of this world and is bound by his own fleshly inclinations. This is why the Bible instructs believers to witness to the lost "In meekness--instructing--those who oppose themselves--who are taken captive by him (the devil) at his will," II Tim. 2:25-26. Humans without Jesus Christ are slaves to sin, self, and Satan.

(4) The natural man is sinful by nature, "shapen in iniquity in sin did my mother conceive me," Psalm 51:5; and sinful by practice, "--every imagination of the thoughts of his head--evil continually," Gen. 6:5. People do not become sinners when they start sinning; they sin because they are born sinners. The sin nature is innate at birth and sin is as natural as breathing. This is a dreadful thing since the wages of sin is eternal death and separation from God, Rom. 6:23.

(5) The natural man is dead spiritually, "and you hath He quickened who were DEAD--," Eph 2:1. Also Rom. 5:12. There is no other Biblical description so potent as this one for revealing man’s natural state without God, One only has to picture a cemetery where people long dead and buried are oblivious to life. No amount of pleading for them to see, or words spoken for them to hear, or instructions for them to obey will have any effect upon them. They are DEAD! And so it is with the natural man born in sin and sinning daily while on a path of destruction, living only for self and Satan. They are oblivious to their dreadful condition and status with God. They are--"dead in trespasses and sins--walking according to the course of this world--the sons of disobedience--fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind--by nature the children of wrath--," Eph. 2:1-3

Elected of God: Our helpless condition requires an act of God to rescue us or we perish. Could we be more helpless to save ourselves than being blind, deaf, unteachable, bound, chained, sinful by nature and practice, and dead to God? Jeremiah asked the question "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?" Jer. 13:23. Not only are we incapable of changing our natural condition, but because we are dead we have no desire to do so. Jeremiah reveals the natural love for sin that is innate within us when he adds this proposition-- "then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil?" Jer. 13:23. It is as impossible for the lost, natural man to change his condition and status before God as it is impossible for a man to change the color of his skin or for the animal to change its natural traits.

(1) Because of man’s natural state God must love us and choose us despite ourselves if we will be saved--"We love Him because He first loved us," I John 4:19. There is no natural love for God. If one loves Him, it is because God has taken the initiative to love us first and plant His love in our hearts. There is actually a natural hatred for God, Rom. 8:7. That being the case, Jesus says—"you did not choose me, but I chose you--I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you," John 15:16-19. The natural man will never choose God or the things of God, Rom. 3:10-18. Such spiritual inability and natural enmity on our part requires that God choose us for salvation. Blind, deaf, sinful, dead, haters of God have no hope except that God commends His love toward us despite ourselves, Rom. 5:6-11, The Bible teaches that God chose His people "before the foundation of the world," Eph. 1:4. His people are "chosen by God--a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation," I Pet. 2:9. Paul wrote to another church and assured them that "--God from the beginning chose you for salvation--," II Thess. 2:13. Our only hope lies within God’s electing grace. Without it we shall be forever lost in willful, fleshly rebellion against God, Jer. 17:9; Eccl. 9:3.

(2) The teaching of God’s choosing people for salvation is synonymous with the Doctrine of Election, "--unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake whom He chose, He shortened the days," Mk. 13:20. Here Jesus equates the elect and those chosen. They are one and the same. Tragically, the doctrine of election is a much neglected one, even a maligned doctrine in our prideful flesh-centered culture. Most preachers today avoid this subject, being afraid to offend those who want to give themselves some level of credit for being saved. The vast majority of professing Christians believe they are saved because they have chosen or "decided for" God. But no such thing will be allowed by Scripture. In his letter to the Romans, Paul’s inspired pen crushes all human pride by stating emphatically that our salvation is God’s choosing, not our own; " -- the children (Jacob & Esau) not yet being born -- that the purpose of God according to election might stand -- it was said to her (Rebecca) Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated," Rom 9:11-13. As he had written to the Ephesians (1:4) that this choosing took place in eternity past, now he states that our salvation has nothing to do with our good deeds or lack thereof. Not even the so called good deed of "deciding for Christ." Israel could not obtain favor with God by doing the right things "but the elect have obtained it," Rom. 11:7. They have obtained it because a Sovereign God has set His electing love upon them and "at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace," Rom 11:5. In all generations until the end of time it will be the same, "Many are called but few are chosen," Matthew 20:16. God saves and maintains His Church forever, "and the Lord added to the Church daily those who were being saved," Acts 2:47; Eph. 3:21.

(3) Salvation cannot be obtained by man except that it comes to him with God as its source and origin, "so then it is not of him who wills or of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy," Rom. 9:16. Two things are excluded, only one thing is included. Man’s will and man’s works are excluded from having any role in his salvation. Only God’s mercy and grace is the origin and source of it, Rom. 9:18; Eph 2:8. John sets the stage for the gospel by stating at the onset that God’s people are those spiritually "born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:13. Anyone who sets out to interpret the "salvation passages" of that Gospel without understanding this foundational verse will be misled and mislead others. We do not receive Christ by our will to become born again. We receive Christ because we are born again, John 1:11-13; John 3:3,5. Salvation is of the Lord! (Jo. 2:9)

Willing Participant: Our personal participation in grace requires a transformation of the will. Human pride bristles at the teaching of man’s total spiritual inability to cooperate with God for his salvation. Our fleshly egos are relentless to find ways in which we can share the glory with God. But those who extol the human will as a major force in helping God save us are ignorant of Holy Scripture.

(1) The natural man is in bondage to his depraved human will. Eph. 2:2-3 paints a picture of the slavery that accompanies our natural state. Paul reminds believers of what it was like to be a human absent the intervening grace of God. "You once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air -- conducting ourselves in the lusts of our flesh--by nature the children of wrath." In other places he writes of the slavery and bondage of the human will to sin, Satan and self. Rom. 6:17,19,20,22. A sinner can no more will himself to be a saint than an ape can will itself to be a human. While we have perfect freedom to will as natural humans we cannot will ourselves to do or be anything but naturally human. This is the natural order of things. "The carnal mind (fleshly mind) is enmity against God--it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be" Rom. 8:7, 8. It is just not within the human being to will beyond and outside of what it is by nature.

(2) We must be made willing to love the things of God. This requires the miracle of the new birth. Miracles defy the natural order. And that is exactly what takes place when people turn from their love of the world and self to a love for God. We are by fleshly nature the enemies of God. We become new creatures with a new nature and new will by an act of God’s free grace, "And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live," Deut. 30:6 "A new heart also I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh--and l will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them," Ezekiel 36:26-27. The natural man wills only the things that please himself. When God miraculously makes him a new creature he wills the things that please God. Resident within every born again believer is this ability to please God. But until God, apart from ourselves, changes our heart, and thereby changes our will, we can do nothing to please Him, let alone save ourselves. Rom. 8:8. Evidence of a new heart and a Spirit-given will always accompanies conversion. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure," Phil 2:12-13. "Therefore brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure--," II Peter 1:10. Truly born again believers passionately seek to please the One who has rescued them from spiritual death and everlasting destruction.

Sovereign Grace: Our salvation is wholly of the Sovereign God who freely bestows His saving grace. Eph. 1:3-14. This is the "gospel of your salvation," Eph. 1:13. Paul’s intention in these verses is to show that we are recipients of a salvation which flows from God to us without any human mediation. If we are saved we can only declare that God saved us. God has done these things; we have done nothing to merit or cause it.

(2) The Father chose us before the world began, vv. 3-4.

(3) He predestined us to be adopted as His sons, v. 5

(4) He accepted us (not our accepting Him) on the basis of His Son’s mediatorial work, v. 6

(5) The Son redeemed us by His blood, v. 7a

(6) The Father forgives our sins, v. 7b.

(7) The Spirit has opened our blinded eyes to these truths, vv. 8-10a.

(8) God promises and provides a spiritual inheritance for us, vv. 10-12.

(9) The Holy Spirit has sealed our soul for eternity, vv. 13-14

All of these things are said to be done for only one reason, "to the praise of the glory of His grace," v.6, and only God can do these things. We are by nature spiritually impotent. What then can we do? We can trust and believe, v.13. Such trust and belief does not stir God to do these things for us. (vv. 3-14). Trust and belief are the responses of a spiritually born heart crying out in gratitude "Abba, Father," Gal. 4:6.

If you have been blessed by God to see that this is the "gospel of your salvation" then "trust and believe." You will be "sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory," Eph. 1:13-14.

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Grace Reformed Baptist Church
Tel: 228-868-1060
E-mail: psharpless@comcast.net

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Last modified: 12/02/07