THE PHYSICAN’S REPORT - Man is in a state of total spiritual inability. Every faculty is completely ruined and unable to function spiritually:

 

Man cannot see.

 

2 Corinthians 4:3-4  And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Man cannot understand.

 

1 Corinthians 2:14-15 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. Romans 3:11 there is no one who understands.

 

Man cannot believe.

 

John 12:37-39 Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For this reason they could not believe…

 

Man cannot receive.

 

John 14:15-17 If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you.

 

Man cannot please.

 

Romans 8:7-8 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

 

Man cannot come.

 

John 6:44, 65 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day… He went on to say, This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him. 

 

Romans 3:11-12 There is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless.

 

THE CORONER’S REPORT - Death has actually taken place. There is no evidence of spiritual life. The whole of man’s being has been affected by sin.

 

The Mind

 

Romans 8:5-7 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.

 

The Heart

 

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitfully wicked above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

 

The Will

 

2 Timothy 2:25-26 Those who oppose the truth must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. 

 

John 5:40 Jesus said: You will not come to Me that you might have life.

 

THE AUTOPSY REPORT - Sin has so affected every part of                                               man’s being that he is in a state of spiritual death.

 

Man is dead, (not sick) only God can raise him to life. 

 

Ephesians 2:1-6  As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.

Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.

 

Man is dead, (not dying) only Christ has the power to give him life.

 

John 5:21-25   For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

 

John 10:27-28 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life…

 

THE FINAL VERDICT - Man is DEAD. He needs LIFE. His only hope is the life giving power of the Holy Spirit of God. This cure is known as the “New Birth.” It is a sovereign operation of God that gives blind eyes sight, makes deaf ears hear, breaks shackled wills and opens hearts to believe.

 

Ezekiel 36:26-27 - I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you… And I will cause you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my commands.

 

Luke 24:45 - Then He (the Lord) opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.

 

John 1:12-13 - Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or of the will of man, but born of God.

 

John 6:63 - The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

 

Acts 16:14 - The Lord opened the heart of Lydia to respond to Paul's message.

 

Ephesians 2:4-6 - But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.

 

Colossians 2:13-14 - When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.

 

1 Peter 1:3 - Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy He has caused us to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

 

1 John 5:20 - We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true. And we are in Him who is true--even in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

 

ESTABLISH THE FOLLOWING THREE POINTS AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THIS TEACHING:

 

1. Every man MUST obey and please God. Yes, he is totally responsible to do both, and is righteously condemned for not doing so.

 

2. No man CAN or WILL obey and please God. Yes, the supreme desire of his life is to please himself.

 

3. Man, not God is responsible for the INABILITY. God created man with the ability to obey, but man LOST it when he “chose” to sin and fell.

 

SOME PRACTICAL QUESTIONS TO APPLY TO OURSELVES:

 

1. Is man’s need only that of some benefits, or is man’s need that of power and ability?

   Is it only gospel facts and an opportunity to “accept” them that man needs, or is it a new mind, heart, and will that will enable him to turn from his sin and want to accept God’s gift?

 

2. Do we help men by hiding their real need?  Should we not tell men what God must do in them as well as for them so that they will be encouraged to seek Him for both the benefits and the power to receive them?

 

3. How do you pray for those who are lost? Don’t you pray: “Lord open their eyes to see their sin and their need for Christ and His forgiveness and righteousness; Lord open their ears that they might hear the gospel; Lord open their heart that they might believe and repent, receiving you as Lord and Savior of their soul.

We actually acknowledge with our prayers that which we find so hard to believe with our heart and mind, that men are spiritually dead unable to see, unable to hear, unable to believe, totally helpless and hopeless unless God sovereignly does something.