When man fell into sin and died the death of separation from God, he also fell under the wrath of God (John 3:36; Romans 5:9; Romans 9:22; Ephesians 2:3; I Thessalonians 1:10). This wrath of God is a terrible thing and those who have to endure it will be in torments forever in hell (Mark 9:44). This terrible penalty is a result of sin, which is rebellion against God. If a person dies in his sins, he will have to endure this terrible wrath (John 8:21,24). This shows how very terrible the fall into sin in the garden of Eden really was. The only hope anyone has of escaping this terrible penalty is in the lord Jesus Christ.

When man is in this condition of being dead in sin, he is completely dead to the things of God. He is not just sick — he is completely dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1,5). While in this condition, a man may have physical life but be completely dead as far as understanding spiritual things are concerned. He can eat, sleep, go to church, even read the Bible — but he can’t really know, love, or appreciate the things of God. He can hear and understand a sermon but he can’t really understand it in its deepest sense (John 8:43,47). He simply cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God because he does not have the Spirit of God in Him (I Corinthians 2:9-14).

A natural man, dead in sins, may be very religious and may do many good works, but he doesn’t do them for the right reason. The Pharisees were very religious but many of them were not God’s children (John 8:13-24). A true spiritually alive child of God will serve God from the heart because he loves Him. A dead sinner may outwardly serve God, but he cannot serve Him from the heart, for his heart is dead toward God.

A dead sinner can’t save himself; he can’t even help save himself; he can’t even meet God halfway; he can’t even cooperate with God in his salvation.

Questions

1. Can a man dead in sins “accept Jesus Christ” as his personal Saviour? Why or why not?

5. Why would a dead sinner give a lot of money to the church or to some other Christian cause?