So, what does that tell us about the natural man?
It tells us that they can't learn the word of God.
You know, the guy who spends 20 years in a cemetery or a seminary, you know, but he's
not saved, he can memorize and learn the Bible all he wants, he's not going to be able to
learn it.
Now, obviously, they can learn the historical facts or the sequence of order of certain
things, just the basic outline of when things take place in the Bible, but as far as the
deep things of God, they can't understand those things because they're natural, the
Bible says.
And here, the apostle Paul places these individuals into two categories, he talks about the natural
man and the spiritual man, and this morning, I want to go through the characteristics of
each one.
Now, let's talk about the natural man first.
What is or who is the natural man?
Well, the natural man can be defined basically as the unsaved individual, okay?
This person is unregenerated.
Now, why does the Bible refer to him as the natural man?
Well, because of the fact that he lives and behaves in accordance to the only nature that
he possesses, which is the human nature, okay?
He's the natural man because of the fact that he just lives according to the courts of this
world, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, you know, he does
what he knows best, which is the old man, okay?
Human nature.
This is why the Bible tells us, and you had the quickened who were dead in trespasses
and sin, wherein in time past he walked according to the courts of this world, according to
the prince of power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom we also had our conversation in time past, wherein, the Bible says, you know,
we fulfill the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we're by what?
Nature, the children of wrath, even as others.
So naturally, when we're not saved, we sin, we do wrong, we just live a natural life,
a carnal life, okay?
That's what that's referring to, and in fact, in 1 Corinthians 15, which is the famous passage
of the resurrection, the Bible tells us that when we die, it is sown in corruption, it
is raised in incorruption, it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory, it is sown in weakness,
and it is raised in power.
It is sown a natural body, the Bible says, and it is raised a spiritual body.
You see, a natural person is basically without the supernatural, right?
The supernatural is when a human being gets saved, they have the spirit of God living
within them, and their spiritual composition is completely changed and modified, right?
It's altered eternally forever, they become supernatural in the eyes of God, okay?
You know, they're no longer just earthly, they have become a spiritual person because
of the fact that the new man now exists.