A Map of Man's Miserable Estate by Nature.......

Posted : 24 Jun, 2011 04:13 PM

By: Christopher Love





I will show you the eight particular properties of a man without

Christ.



1. Every man without Jesus Christ is a base man.

2. He is a bondman.

3. He is a beggarly man.

4. He is a blind man.

5. He is a deformed man.

6. He is a disconsolate man.

7. He is a dead man; and

8. He is a damned man.



These are the eight properties of a man without Jesus Christ. First,

every man without Jesus Christ is a base man. Though you are born of

the blood of nobles, and though you are of the offspring of princes,

yet if you have not the royal blood of Jesus Christ running in your

veins, you are a base man.



In Daniel 11:21 and Psalm 15:4, you read of vile persons. Such is

every man without Christ, and he must be so, because it is only

Christ who can take off that baseness wherein every one is by

nature. In Isaiah 43:4, God says, Since thou wast precious in Mine

eyes, thou becamest honorable. And, in I Peter 2:7, Unto you who

believe, Christ is precious. It is Jesus Christ who puts a diamond

of honorand glory upon men. They are all base men who are out of

Jesus Christ, and that in these three respects:



1. They come from a base origin.

2. They commit base actions; and

3. They aim at base ends.



Every man who is out of Christ comes from a base origin. He does not

have his origin from the Spirit, but from the flesh. He does not

proceed from God who is the Father of lights, but from the devil who

is the prince of darkness.



He is base because he commits base actions. All the actions and

services of a Christ-less man, at best, are but as filthy rags and

dead works. A man, in his unconverted state, is the slave and drudge

of the devil, a worker of wickedness, still fulfilling the desires

of the flesh and of the mind, being given over to vile affections.



He is a base man who is without Christ because he aims at base ends

in whatever he does, and that two ways. (1) In this world he aims at

base ends in his hearing, reading, praying, and profession of

religion. He minds himself and his own ends in all that he does. (2)

All his actions tend to base ends in another world. As the actions

of a man in Christ tend to salvation, so the actions of a Christ-

less man tend to damnation.







Second, a man without Christ is not only a base man, but a bondman.

This Christ tells you in John 8:36, If the Son shall make you free,

then are you free indeed, intimating that if you do not have an

interest in Christ to free you from the slavery of sin and Satan,

you are slaves indeed. This bondage and slavery, likewise, consists

in three particulars: 1. they are slaves to sin; 2. to the devil,

and 3. to the law.



1. Every Christ-less man is a slave to sin. In John 8:34, Jesus

says, Verily I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant

of sin, and in 2 Peter 2:19, While they promise them liberty, they

themselves are servants of corruption, for of whom a man is

overcome, of the same he is brought into bondage. Every man, by

nature, is a slave to his lusts, a slave to sin, and to the

creatures. God made man over all the creatures, but man has made

himself servant to all the creatures.



2. He is not only in bondage and slavery to sin, but to the devil,

too. The last two verses of 2 Timothy 2 say, in meekness instructing

those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them

repentance, to the acknowledging of the truth, that they may recover

themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by

him at his will.



3. He is in bondage to the law, that is, he does nothing in

obedience to the law; and this is the great misery of a man without

Christ. He is bound to keep the whole law of God. There is a very

strange expression in Revelation 18:13. Saint John tells there that

all those who did worship the beast shall cry, 'Woe and alas,' for

Babylon is fallen, and shall cry for the slaves and souls of men.

All wicked men are slaves to antichrist, to sin and to the law, and

this is the great misery of an unregenerate man

Post Reply