You Are Not Sick--but Dead!
The sermon emphasizes that sin is a deadly disease that none can cure but God, and that man is powerless to change his own heart or nature, but can be saved by God's great love and mercy.
Thomas Brooks emphasizes the dire spiritual condition of humanity, asserting that we are not merely sick due to sin, but spiritually dead in our transgressions. He explains that this deadness renders us incapable of any good, and only God, the physician of souls, can bring us to life through His grace. Brooks highlights that our nature is so corrupted that we cannot even think or act righteously without divine intervention. He reassures us that through God's immense love and mercy, we can be made alive with Christ, showcasing the transformative power of grace. Ultimately, it is God alone who can revive the spiritually dead and grant them new life in Christ.
Text
"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." Ephesians 2:1-3
Sin is the plague of the heart--and there is no plague so deadly as the plague of the heart. Oh, this is a disease which none can cure, but he who is the physician of souls. As to spiritual realities, an unsanctified person is not half-dead--but he is stark dead!
You are as well able to make a world, to command the winds, and to raise the dead--as you are able to cleanse your own hearts, or change your own natures, or sanctify your own souls. You have no power to perform any supernatural act--such as to believe or love God, or repent, or to change your own heart, or to sanctify or make yourself holy. You are dead in trespasses and sins, and have lost all your spiritual senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, and feeling. It is certain that your nature is so corrupted that you can not think a good thought, nor speak a good word, nor do a good work. You are not sick--but dead! Dead God-wards, and Christ-wards, and heaven-wards, and holiness-wards!
Since the creation of the world, no dead man ever made himself alive. It is God alone, who can quicken the dead.
"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, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:4-7
Sermon Outline
- The Plague of the Heart
- The Condition of the Unsanctified
- The Powerlessness of Man
- The Only Hope
- God alone can quicken the dead
- God's great love and mercy
- Salvation by grace
Key Quotes
“Sin is the plague of the heart--and there is no plague so deadly as the plague of the heart.” — Thomas Brooks
“You are as well able to make a world, to command the winds, and to raise the dead--as you are able to cleanse your own hearts, or change your own natures, or sanctify your own souls.” — Thomas Brooks
“You are dead in trespasses and sins, and have lost all your spiritual senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, and feeling.” — Thomas Brooks
Application Points
- Recognize the true nature of sin as a deadly disease that requires God's intervention for cure.
- Acknowledge the powerlessness of man to change his own heart or nature, and rely on God's salvation by grace.
- Trust in God's great love and mercy for salvation and spiritual transformation.