The Damning Nature of a Natural Condition

A man in his natural state is depicted in scripture as utterly depraved with a bent toward sin. Job speaks of the natural man this way, that he drinks iniquity like water. A man in his natural condition is dead in trespasses and sin, and he is blind and in darkness.

George Whitefield, the great British evangelist, was preaching to a vast multitude in the open air in Moorfields, England, and Whitefield was describing man in his natural estate, and he made the remark that man was nothing more than half-devil and half-beast. And while he spoke, one of his hearers, a man, climbed a tree and exposed himself. After a gasp from the crowd, Whitefield lifted his arm and pointed to the man and declared, See here the living example of my illustration.

Men by nature, friends, are in darkness, as Romans 1.21 states. They become vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts are darkened. The hearts of men in their natural state are very much depraved, as Titus 1.15 tells us.

Their mind and conscience are defiled. Man in his natural condition stands in direct opposition to God and His law. Romans 8.7 declares, The natural mind is enmity to God.

It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. I want to set before us today, friends, two aspects of a natural condition, and when I say natural condition, that's the condition a man born into this world with a corrupt nature bent on sin and enmity to God. I want to list these two aspects, and then elaborate upon each head, because I fear there are a multitude of baptized church members still in their unsaved natural condition, and of whom Proverbs 30.12 says of them, There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet are not cleansed from their filthiness, meaning they have not received forgiveness of sin, for they have never been washed in the blood and born from above through regeneration.

Regeneration is a supernatural act of grace that God performs upon the heart, taking the heart of stone and making it a heart of flesh through the new birth. I preach this sermon to you, my dear hearers, as a warning that those who die in a state of nature will surely be damned in eternity and imprisoned in hell forever. Some of you sleep upon pillows of conformity and compromise with the world, and are yet in a natural state.

The Apostle John declares, If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. I fear there are many seminary graduates who stand in pulpits across this land who are yet in a natural condition. There are many church officers and workers who, though they serve the church in some capacity, are yet in a natural condition.

They rest upon the false foundation of an empty religious profession. You need to be awake until you are lost and ruined condition and the dangers that surround you in that natural state. These two aspects describe the peril of a natural condition.

They are meant to alarm you and warn you of your great danger of dying in your sins and being cast into devil's hell. If I could walk you over to that very brink of hell right now and lift the lid off that bottomless pit, the cries and shrieks of the damned would keep you awake to-night. Let's look at these two alarming aspects now.

1. The dangerous nature of a natural condition. 2. The damning nature of a natural condition. Let's examine point number one.

The dangerous nature of a natural condition. An unconverted person lives in constant danger, for he lives in opposition to the holiness of God. He has transgressed God's law and is under the condemnation of a holy God who must punish sin.

The sinning, sin of the law, must be carried out, and a man, a woman, in a natural condition is in grave danger of suddenly being removed from this earth and cast into hell's torments. His lost condition makes his position before God perilous and dangerous. At any time, he or she can be removed by sudden death and die in their natural state and be cast into perdition and its flames.

The dangerous nature of a natural condition should awaken and alarm every person to the perilous position of their natural state. The danger of a natural condition exists because of the strictness and severity of the law of God. God requires perfection to get into his holy heaven, and no man is perfect.

Every mother's son will one day be held up against the strict law of God, and if you stand there in your own merits, you will fail that test. So how many good Baptists die in their natural state and fill hell yearly because they were never regenerated individuals? The dangerous nature of a natural condition should alarm any sinner yet outside of Christ. I know my sinner, and I need a substitute for sin in the person of Jesus Christ.

I must stand in the merits of another if I am to escape the strictness and severity of God's law. A man in his state of nature must be awakened to his lost condition, apart from God, and under the reigning power of sin and corruption. They must be brought to see their abominable hearts and amnesty to Christ, and hatred of all things holy.

Their hearts are like the hearts of devils. George Whitefield's description of man in his natural state is that of a half-devil and half-beast. A man in this state is utterly void of spiritual life.

He is dead in sin, wretched and miserable, blind and naked. That in this condition it is gravely dangerous to stand out against God. They are in danger of being left of God to a deluded spirit with a false confidence, and on the verge of being snatched away out of this world by sudden death.

Ecclesiastes 9.12 warns against the danger of a person in a natural condition for man also knoweth not his time, as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, so are the sons of man snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them. Thus man, in his natural state, walks upon a slippery, darkened path. The prophet Jeremiah describes their danger.

Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness. They shall be driven on, and fall therein, for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the Lord. 2. The damning nature of a natural condition.

That a person, apart from Christ, is under the condemnation of a just judge, who will carry out the sentence of his broken law, is a fact stated in Scripture. God declares, The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The damned in hell cry out in agony, at this very moment, Who can dwell in everlasting burnings? He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still.

So declares Revelation. The church member, who has never experienced regeneration, is pure in his own eyes, yet not cleansed from their filthiness. They lack pardon for sin, and God stands in opposition against them, in judgment declaring, For I shall not clear the guilty.

The damning nature of a natural condition is seen in the very words of Christ Jesus, spoken to those individuals who miss Christ and miss salvation. Matthew 7, 21-23, solemnly declares, Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have we cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? Let me pause here, friends, to say, religious service won't save you, friend.

Your church membership won't save you either. Your profession of Christ won't save you, because it may be a false profession from a deceived heart. You can serve your church faithfully for twenty years, and still go to hell.

If you miss Christ, then, you are yet in a natural condition, even if you are the chairman of the deacons. Listen to what Christ has to say to the person in their natural state, and then I will profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

The damning nature of a natural condition is clearly evidenced by the Word of God, and by the God of the Word. Listen, friends, when God converts a man, he gives him a new heart, and puts a new spirit within him. He is then a new creature.

If you're safe, friend, it's because God saved you. He is the one who gives saving faith, and he is the one that performs a supernatural act of grace upon the heart. The Spirit of God, through regeneration, impacts in the individual, and imparts unto him a disposition of holiness through the new birth.

There must be holy principles before holy actions. There must be life before there are life acts. George Whitefield was an unconverted church member who belonged to John Wesley's Holy Club at Oxford.

He fasted. He spent nights in prayer. He visited widows and those in prison, and gave alms.

He denied himself in a devout life of religion, but he was still in a natural condition. It wasn't until his good friend Charles Wesley loaned him a book by the Scotsman Henry Schugle that Whitefield underwent a change. The name of the book mirrored what took place in young George Whitefield's life, and pointed him to Christ for salvation.

The name of the book was Whitefield's experience, the life of God in the soul of man. He experienced regeneration upon the heart through the new birth. George Whitefield canvassed two continents with that message, ye must be born again, and revival broke out wherever Whitefield went.

How about you, friend? Are you truly born again? Have you had an experiential work of grace upon your heart? Are you in a vital union with the living Lord? You must be born again, or you will surely die in your natural condition and be damned forever in a devil's hell. Repent before it's too late. Let us pray.