13 Things a Lost Person Cannot Do
by
Curtis A. Pugh
That the lost sinner must
cast himself wholly on the mercy and grace of God must be obvious to
those who read and believe
the Scriptures. But the Bible knows nothing of such foolish man-made
ideas as "praying the
sinner's prayer", or "making a decision for Christ", or
"inviting Jesus into your
heart" or "going
forward to receive Christ." No New Testament preacher ever used such terms
or
tactics! To tell
spiritually dead sinners that there is something they can do to bring about
their
salvation is damnable
heresy for by its false hope sinners are taught to trust in what they have done
rather in Christ who has
done all.
Consider these thirteen
spiritual things an unsaved person cannot do:
1. HE CANNOT THINK
AS GOD DOES:
"For my thoughts are
not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the
heavens are higher than
the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than
your thoughts."
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
2. HE CANNOT UNDERSTAND
GOD:
". . . thou
thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself . . ." (Psalm
50:21) "Canst thou by
searching find out God?
Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven;
what canst thou do? Deeper
than hell; what canst thou know?" (Job 11:7-8)
3. HE CANNOT SEE
SPIRITUAL THINGS:
"Jesus answered and
said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again he
cannot see the
4. HE CANNOT
KNOW HIS OWN HEART:
"The heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
(Jeremiah 17:9)
5. HE CANNOT
PROPERLY DIRECT HIS OWN PATHS:
"O LORD, I know that
the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his
steps." (Jeremiah
10:23) "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof
are
the ways of death."
(Proverbs 14:12)
6. HE CANNOT
FREE HIMSELF FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW:
"For as many as are
of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is every
one
that continueth not in all
things which are written in the book of the law to do them." (Galatians
3:10).
7. HE CANNOT
RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT:
"Even the Spirit of
truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not . . ."
(John
8. HE CANNOT
HEAR (receive & understand) GOD'S WORDS:
"He that is of God
heareth God's words; ye therefore hear them not because ye are not of
God."
(John 8:47) "But the
natural (unsaved) man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him:
neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned."
(1Corinthians
9. HE CANNOT
BIRTH HIMSELF INTO THE FAMILY OF GOD:
"Which were born, not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God."
(John
1:13) "For he saith
to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I will
have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that
runneth, but of God that
sheweth mercy." (Romans 9:15-16)
10. HE CANNOT
PRODUCE REPENTANCE AND FAITH IN CHRIST:
"For by grace are ye
saved through faith; and that (faith) not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of
works, lest any man should
boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) ". . . for all men have not faith." (2
Thessalonians 3:2)
"For unto you it is given . . . to believe on him . . ." (Philippians
peradventure will give
them repentance . . ." (2 Timothy
precious faith with us . .
." (2 Peter 1:1)
11. HE CANNOT
COME TO CHRIST:
"No man can come to
me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him . . . Therefore said I unto
you, that no man can come
unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father." (John 6:44, 65)
12. HE CANNOT
BELIEVE ON CHRIST:
"But ye believe not,
because ye are not of my sheep as I said unto you." (John 10:26)
13. HE CANNOT
PLEASE GOD:
"For they that are
after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the
Spirit the
things of the Spirit. . .
. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the
flesh, but in the Spirit,
if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the
Spirit
of Christ, he is none of
his." (Romans 8:5, 8, 9)
SO THEN, MANKIND IS SHUT
UP TO THE FACT OF HIS OWN
TOTAL INABILITY TO DO
ANYTHING ABOUT HIS LOST
CONDITION.
In the light of these
things which a spiritually dead (lost) sinner cannot do, how then do we account
for the command of God to
all men to repent? The Bible does state that God ". . . now commandeth
all men everywhere to
repent" (Acts
says they are to believe
on Christ? Would God command and instruct men to do that which they
cannot do?
We answer an emphatic
"Yes!" Our proof is the holy Law of God given to Moses on
While there was nothing
wrong with God's Law, no man is able to keep those commandments (1
Timothy 1:8; Romans 8:3).
No man ever kept the Law of God and yet God was right to give it to man
and command its keeping!
By that Law we see ourselves as sinners (Romans
purpose of the Law!While
God requires repentance (the will to turn from sin) and faith (the will to
believe in Christ), no man
is able of himself to do either. Thus, as with the Law, man is forced to see
that there is nothing good
in him and that he cannot repent and believe savingly in Jesus Christ.
Throughout the Bible God's
children recognize their own inability to do anything to save themselves.
In addition to the portions
previously quoted in this tract, consider the following statements:
". . . I know that in
me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with
me; but
how to perform that which
is good I find not." (Romans 7:18)
"Lord, I believe;
help thou mine unbelief." (Mark
". . . I am shut up,
and I cannot come forth." (Psalm 88:8)
"Turn us. O God of
our salvation . . ." (Psalm 85:4)
" . . . Turn thou me,
and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God." (Jeremiah 31:18)
"But we are all as an
unclean thing, and all our riqhteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do
fade
as a leaf; and our
iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth
upon
thy name, that stirreth up
himself to take hold of thee . . ." (Isaiah 64:6, 7)
". . . Salvation is
of the LORD" (Jonah 2:9).
Those who think that they
can properly repent of their own ability and savingly believe of their own
faith fall into error.
They trust in their own ability and not in the saving work of Jesus Christ! Is
not this
true of those who boast of
their past sins and their turning from them? Do they not claim that they did
it themselves? Repeatedly
we hear this in their popular "testimony meetings." Some are willing
to
share the glory and admit
that they had a little help from God, but even this is wicked confidence in
the flesh. And do not some
religionists boast of their faith as if it was some great thing worthy of
reward? Faith (confidence)
in my faith or in my turning to God is not ". . . the faith of God's
elect."
(Titus 1:1)
Paul wrote concerning true
children of God, ". . . We . . . worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in
Christ Jesus, and have no
confidence in the flesh." (Philippians 3:3). To trust in anything done in
the
flesh (human nature and
strength) is to have "confidence in the flesh." To trust in your
prayer, your
baptism, your goodness,
your faith or any experience you may have had is to have confidence in the
flesh and not to trust in
Christ. The faith and confidence of the true believer is in Christ! Those born
of
God trust not in rituals,
sacraments, good works, their own repentance or their faith in Christ, but
rather in Christ alone!
"Examine yourselves,
whether ye be in the faith . . ." (2 Corinthians 13:5). Are you trusting
in your
faith or are you trusting
in Christ? What is the object of your faith? Do you really see that all your
"righteousnesses are
as filthy rags"? (Isaiah 64:6). Have you seen that you deserve Hell? Are
you
willing to take your place
as a sinner and if God sends you to Hell will you say He is just, fair, and
righteous to do so? Or do
you think yourself unworthy of eternal punishment?
Consider these words from
the old English Baptist Gadsby Hymnal.
O beware of trust
ill-grounded;
'Tis but fancied faith at
most,
To be cured, and not be
wounded:
To be saved before you're
lost.
Have you never been
wounded by the Word of God so that your sins have been laid bare? Have you
never been lost--that is,
have you seen yourself as hopelessly lost and a Hell-deserving sinner? How
can you think yourself
saved if you have never been lost? Jesus said, ". . . I came not to call
the
righteous, but sinners to
repentance" (Mark
this tract have shown that
you are helpless to do anything about your terrible lost condition!
Salvation is free and
comes, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
his mercy he saved us . .
." (Titus 3:5). Look to Jesus Christ, who has done all things necessary
and
possible, "for he
shall save his people from their sins" (Matthew
May God give you grace to
see yourself as He does, and may He give you the twin gifts of ". . .
repentance toward God and
faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts
of them who draw back unto
perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul" (Hebrews