LESSON SIXTEEN

THE IMPOTENCE OF OUR NATURAL BEING
IN THE THINGS OF GOD

Scripture Reading: Eph. 2:1, 5a; 1 Cor. 2:14; Jer. 17:9; Eph. 4:17-18; Rom. 8:7-8; Matt. 16:24; Rom. 6:6; 7:24; Phil. 3:3

OUTLINE

1. Our spirit having been deadened—Eph. 2:1, 5a.
2. Our soul neither receiving the things of the Spirit of God nor being able to know them—1 Cor. 2:14.
3. Our heart being deceitful above all things and being incurable — Jer. 17:9.
4. Our mind being filled with vanity and darkened in understanding—Eph. 4:17-18a.
5. Our will being hard—Eph. 4:18b.
6. Our flesh being unable to be subject to God and to please God—Rom. 8:7-8.
7. Our self needing to be denied—Matt. 16:24.
8. Our body being of sin and of death—Rom. 6:6; 7:24.
9. Learning to have no trust in our natural being in the things of God—Phil. 3:3.

In this lesson we want to see the impotence of our natural being in the things of God. The impotence is the insufficiency. We may be very sufficient in other things, but we do not have any sufficiency, competence, or power in the things of God.

I. OUR SPIRIT HAVING BEEN DEADENED

The spirit of fallen mankind has been deadened (Eph. 2:1, 5a), so it is useless in the things of God.

II. OUR SOUL NEITHER RECEIVING THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD NOR BEING ABLE TO KNOW THEM

First Corinthians 2:14 says, "But a soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he is not able to know them because they are discerned spiritually." This verse shows that our soul neither receives the things of the Spirit of God nor is it able to know them. A soulish man is a natural man, one who allows his soul (including the mind, the emotion, and the will) to dominate his entire being and who lives by his soul, ignoring his spirit, not using his spirit, and even behaving as if he did not have a spirit (Jude 19). Such a man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, and he is not able to know them. Rather, he rejects them.