21 States of Man without God

(First in series)

In today’s message we are going to start a series on the state or condition of man without God. In this
series we will cover 21 states each of us may have been in or is currently in right now. And in looking
at these conditions that we find ourselves in we will need to reflect very carefully upon what it is that
we desire most in our lives: to live temporally in this world or to live forever with the Lord in heaven.
And in so looking at our condition we should realize that we do need the One True and Living God to
save us from ourselves.
1. Alienation
a. This is the state of being withdrawn or isolated from a God that loves you, by way of
our indifference or disaffection.
b. It is a will act on our part to purposefully turn away from God.
c. “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk
not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the
understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through
the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto
lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.” Ephesians
4:18
d. In this passage the apostle Paul is speaking to the church in Ephesus, asking them to
stop being as other are, walking in ways that seem right to them. That by their very acts
are trying to hide from the true knowledge of God and using the sins of the world as a
cloak for their decision to turn away from His love.
e. Although this passage was written some 2000 years ago, it still speaks of our condition
today. We too try to hide from God by rationalizing our sinful actions into something
that seems right for us.
f. Don’t be fooled, turn back to the Lord and receive the everlasting life He wants for you.
g. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
 h. So let us turn from the state of alienation and turn to the state of grace. God so loved
you that He gave His only Son for your sins.
2. Blindness
a. This is the state of willfully ignoring the truth of the Word of God, a state by which we
cover our physical and spiritual eyes with the things of the world. And the Bible speaks
of this blindness and tells us that Satan, through our willing participation causes us to
not see the salvation that Jesus came to give us.
b. “He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they
should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and
be converted, and I should heal them.” John 12:40
c. And again in 2 Corinthians 4:4 we read:
i. “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
d. We see here that Jesus stands ready to heal us of our sinful nature, but we refuse by
turning away from the light and stare into darkness. The light is indeed bright, but it is
necessary for us to see, to see the sinful state that we are in.
e. Satan’s sole job is to steal, kill, and destroy.
i. He wants to steal your joy.
ii. He wants to kill your spirit that was created in the image of God.
iii. He wants to destroy your path into eternal life.
f. So let us open our eyes, bathing them in the light of the Word of God. Regain your
spiritual sight with the healing power of Christ Jesus.
3. Carnality or fleshly minded
a. This is the state where our own desires override the spirit, and again is a willful
condition where we make the decision to give in to the flesh. In Romans 8:6, 13 Paul
speaks of this condition:
i. “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually
minded is life and peace. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall
 die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the
body, ye shall live.”
b. Man in the state of being ruled by the flesh runs the risk of being separated from God.
In our passage Paul warns us that if we are not more in tune with our spirit we will
certainly find our way into the pits of hell.
c. To combat the flesh we need to get closer to God, by way of His Word, prayer, and
fasting. We need to feed our spirit more than we feed our flesh. We need to bathe
ourselves in the things of God, allowing our spirit to rise to greater levels than our flesh.
i. “The story is told of Handley Page, a pioneer in aviation, who once landed in an
isolated area during his travels. Unknown to him, a rat got aboard the plane
there. On the next leg of the flight, Page heard the sickening sound of gnawing.
Suspecting it was a rodent, his heart began to pound as he visualized the serious
damage that could be done to the fragile mechanisms that controlled his plane
and the difficultly of repair because of the lack of skilled labor and materials in
the area. What could he do? He remembered that a rat cannot survive at high
altitudes, so he pulled back on the stick. The airplane climbed higher and higher
until Page found it difficult to breathe. He listened intently and finally sighed
with relief. The gnawing had stopped. When he arrived at his destination, he
found the rat lying dead behind the cockpit! Oftentimes we, God’s children, are
plagued by sin that gnaws at our life simply because we are living at too low a
spiritual level. To see sin defeated in our lives requires that we move up – away
from the world – to a higher level where the things of this world cannot
survive.”
d. By keeping your mind stayed on Jesus you can overcome the desires of the flesh.
Through prayer you can ask of the Father to take away those desires that want to keep
you from being the person of God that He wants you to be.
e. Don’t let the sins of the world steal your joy. Don’t let the carnal mind drag you down.
4. Corruptness
a. This is a state of man where our minds have become corrupt by the desire of the world.
A state of mind that is far from God. In 1 Timothy 6:5 Paul admonishes the young
pastor to be wary of people with corrupt minds:
 i. “Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of
the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw
thyself.”
ii. In this passage Paul is speaking of people who are perverse, willfully
determined or disposed to go counter to what is expected or desired; to be
contrary.
iii. Man natural state is to be contrary to the will of God. For Romans 3:10-12 tell
us:
1. “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
There is none that understandeth, there is none that
seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they
are together become unprofitable; there is none that
doeth good, no, not one.”
b. In our corrupt state we willfully go against God’s will, working our hardest to be
contrary to all that the Father wants for us.
c. We were created in the image of God and because of the introduction of sin we have
become tarnished and corrupt. But we can be washed clean by the blood of Jesus. God
sent His only begotten son to die for us so that our corrupt mind, body, and soul could
be repaired and brought back inline with God’s desires for us.
d. We need to look to the healing power of Jesus to correct the corruptness of our minds.
We need to change our way of thinking and realize that we cannot fix the problems of
our lives and the only one that is capable of fixing the corruption is Lord Jesus. Look to
Him. He is able to change the corruptible to the incorruptible. Come to Jesus.
 21 States of Man without God
(Second in series)

In our continuation of our series about the 21 states of man without God we will look at the five D’s of
our condition that cause us to live apart from God. These five D’s are: darkened, dead in sin, deceived,
defiled or filthy, and disobedience. And as I mentioned at the start of this series when we look at these
conditions that we find ourselves in, we will need to reflect very carefully upon what it is that we
desire most in our lives: to live temporally in this world or to live forever with the Lord in heaven. And
in so looking at our condition we should realize that we do need the One True and Living God to save
us from ourselves.
1. Darkened
a. This is the state where our spiritual vision becomes clouded and blurred so that light
cannot come into the soul. And this concept we find in Matthew 6:22-23:
b. “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy
whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole
body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be
darkness, how great is that darkness!”
c. Here is where we get the saying “The eyes are the window to the soul”. In this scripture
Jesus is saying that if the eyes were in good condition, the body would receive plenty of
good light which is used by the brain to form our thoughts and ideas of Christ as our
Lord and Savior. So if your spiritual sight is healthy then so will your view of the One
and True living God be one of reverence through Him. And in having this healthy
spiritual sight your personality will not be darkened.
d. Jesus says in this scripture “if therefore thine eye be single”; He is not saying that if you
had only one eye, but that you have a fixed vision or goal. And that goal being to serve
God and God only. And in this we need to look at the statement made in the book of
James: “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” James 1:8
2. Dead in sin
a. In this sate we are spiritually dead and on our way to hell. But Jesus tells us that we can
escape from this death trap:
b. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not
 come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John
5:24
c. In the previous state of man without God Jesus spoke of the eye, now He speaks of the
ear and how it also needs to take in the fact that Jesus was sent by God for the purpose
of saving those that are dead in sin. Jesus tells us that the Word of God has the power to
resurrect us from our dead state to a living state, and all we have to do is hear the Word
of God and believe what we hear.
3. Deceived
a. This state of man without God goes hand-in-hand with a darkened mind. Because our
vision is cloudy we are more apt to see the wrong thing and believe what we see. And in
so doing we become deceived. Seeing is not always believing! Note previously that
Jesus told us to see as well as hear. And in seeing and hearing we need to verify it by
the Word of God. In the book of Titus Paul writes to the young pastor and reminds him
of this state that we maybe in or once was in, and lays out the qualities or attributes of
this state of man without God:
b. “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient,
deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and
envy, hateful, and hating one another.” Titus 3:3
c. Paul lists these attributes as one of foolishness, disobedience, being deceived, and other
corruptions of the personality.
d. Also in 2 Corinthians 4:1-4 Paul speaks of this deceived state we were in before our
belief in Christ Jesus:
e. “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy,
we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty,
not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully;
but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every
man's conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is
hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
4. Defiled or filthy
a. This is the state of having a defiled or tarnished mindset.
b. “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and
unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is
defiled.” Titus 1:15
c. Again we can see that the state of man without God is one where the mind is corrupt
and nothing that comes into it is used as a pure or constructive thought. The mind and
defiled and everything that comes from it is defiled.
d. The book of Isaiah in 64:6 tells us of this state of filthiness:
i. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our
iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
e. Our defiled mind has taken us away from the truth of God and is causing us to be dead
in our sins. But we can know that through our faith in Christ Jesus we can be cleansed.
We know that by His stripes we are healed and brought from death to life. All we need
to do is see with our eyes, hear with our ears, believe with our heart, and confess with
our mouth that Jesus is Lord and we shall be healed.
f. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans
10:9-10
g. For us today, seeing is reading the Word of God and hearing is by way of the man or
woman of God who has presented the Word of God to you in your hearing.
5. Disobedient
a. This is the state where we decide to just not listen to what God has to say to us. In this
state we turn away from any good advice and act upon our own hearts desires.
b. “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now
 worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all
had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the
children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for
his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are
saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might
shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us
through Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:1-7.
c. We can see how this final D in the state of man without God is the combination of all of
the other D’s spoken of in this message? Disobedience has and always will be the
quickest road to destruction for mankind. The desire to follow your own will, a will that
has no clue of what tomorrow will bring, a will that has limited knowledge of yourself,
let alone the world, a will that is darkened, dead in sins, deceived, defiled and
disobedient, a will apart from God.
d. So let us had a single eye, fixed on the Lord Jesus who is able to fix us. Wake up and
fix your mind on Christ Jesus, the only one that can bring you from death to life.
 21 States of Man without God
(Third in series)

In our continuation of our series about the 21 states of man without God we will look at further states
of our condition of live apart from God. So far we have gone thru an alphabetical list of states of man
without God, and we find ourselves in the E states of man.
1. Enemy of God
a. This is the state where we just in plain opposition to the will of God, longing the world
more than the God that loves us. And the book of James pulls no punches when he
speaks about this state of man being an enemy of God.
b. “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of
the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of
the world is the enemy of God.” James 4:4
c. Scripture tells us that our God is a jealous god and that worship to anything other than
Him is considered adultery. So figure out what it is that means the most to you: God or
everything else.
2. Evil
a. The prophet Jeremiah speaks of this state of man as one residing in the heart, or our
inner being:
b. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who
can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9
c. Only God can know the heart, and Jesus came with a cure for this state of man. IN
Romans chapter 12 the apostle Paul begs the Roman readers to turn from their internal
sinful conditions and look to the mercies of God. And those mercies being the life,
death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus.
d. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this
world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye
may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of
God.” Romans 12:1-2
 e. Make a confession from your mouth that Jesus is Lord and allow Him to start the
change in you so that you can be a part of the internal change of your heart and mind.
3. Foolish
a. In this state we find that we fail to see the truths in life. A state where we try to shortcut
or bypass the responsibilities and commands given to us.
b. “And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them
not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon
the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the
winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the
fall of it.” Matthew 7:26-27
c. Here Jesus gives an example of someone who tries to build a spiritual life on something
other than the firm foundation that Jesus came to be for us. He says that anyone who
does this is foolish and that all they have built up will be a great disaster and will fall
apart.
d. So let us build our hopes upon the solid rock of Christ Jesus. Because all other things
are sinking sand.
4. Hateful
a. This is the state of not wanting to show or feel love for ourselves and others. In this
state we lean not upon God, but to our own selves because of the hate that fills our
heart.
b. “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient,
deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and
envy, hateful, and hating one another.” Titus 3:3
c. I am saddened by this scripture to know that we were at one time so hateful. But thanks
be to Christ Jesus who transformed us into His marvelous light, shining the light upon
the darkness of our heart and illuminating the love that God desires us to show.
5. Hypocritical
a. This is the state where we act as a righteous person in church, but having a heart that is
far from God.
 b. “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of
them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in
heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a
trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in
the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you,
They have their reward.” Matthew 6:1-2.
c. We must truly examine our hearts to see why we are presenting ourselves before the
Lord. Are we doing it for the praise of man? Or are we doing it for the glory of God? In
our worship of the Lord let us not be doubled minded, because we cannot serve God
while we are seeking praise from man. Let the Father reward you openly from the secret
things done from the heart.
d. “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” James 1:8
6. Malicious and Envious
a. This state of man finds its delight in doing hurtful things to others because of the
deceitfulness of our hearts and the envy for what our fellow man has or does. Let us not
look to the things of this world that rust and corrode, but let us look joyfully to the
rewards in heaven that await those that love the Lord. Put away all envy and strife
letting the love of Christ Jesus shine forth in your walk.
b. “A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the
bones.” Proverbs 14:30
7. Proud
a. This is the state of man having a high opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, or
superiority over others. A state of man that places himself above the will of God.
b. “For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is
proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be
brought low:” Isaiah 2:12
c. Having a proud heart from a biblical point of view is very much like idolatry, as it
causes man to believe that he is above God. This state of heart also caused God’s
highest angel, Lucifer, to believe that he could be like God and in so doing caused his
downfall to the earth from heaven.
 d. “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD:
though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.” Proverbs 16:5
e. So let us avoid the proud state of heart and think of ourselves a little lower than we are,
thus avoiding the wrath of God that is reserved for the proud of heart. Christ Jesus
stepped down from his throne to come to earth as a servant to save mankind. So let us
have the same mind of Jesus and come before the Lord in humbleness.
8. Rejecting the truth
a. A state of man that refuses to accept the truth of Christ Jesus; having a desire to believe
anything other than the good news that Jesus is the savior of mankind.
b. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine;
but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers,
having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the
truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4
c. It is amazing the things we find ourselves believing when we want to live a life apart
from God.
i. We end up believing that Christ never died for our sins
ii. We end up believing that there is no hell
iii. We end up believing that the world and man was not created, but evolved from
some unknown event
iv. We end up believing that Satan does not exist
v. We end up believing that demons do not exist
vi. We end up believing that angels do not exist
vii. We end up believing that God does not exist
d. So let us stay grounded in the Word of God because the Bible contains:
i. The mind of God
ii. The state of man
iii. The way of salvation and the happiness of the believers
iv. Light to direct
v. Food to nurture
vi. Comfort to cheer
 21 States of Man without God
(Fourth in series)

As we come to the conclusion of our four part series about the 21 states of man without God, we will
look at the last four of our conditions that cause us to live apart from God. And it is my hope that each
one of us who has listened to the entire series up to now has taken some stock in ourselves and truly
examined our relationship with God. Now we need to look clearly at ourselves because time is
growing shorter and shorter each passing day, as we do not know when Christ is coming back for His
bride, the church. So before He comes back we need to be sure that we will not be like the five foolish
virgins that did not have enough oil in their lamps and were unprepared for the return of Christ.
And the question goes out…do you want eternal life with the Father? If the answer is yes then we will
need to look within ourselves to determine if we possess any of the 21 states of man without God and
make the necessary corrections.
1. Lovers of Self
a. This is the state where everyone does what is right in their own eyes. A state where
selfishness abounds and the person is so full of themselves that there is no room for God
in them or their lives.
b. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For
men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without
natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce,
despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers
of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness,
but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” 2 Timothy 3:1-
5
c. In these scriptures Paul speaks to the young pastor Timothy, giving him a bit of advice
about those of us who hold ourselves higher that anyone or anything else. And notice in
the scripture how Paul leads off with the root cause of our life’s troubles “lovers of their
own selves”. And in so being we become: covetous, thinking that we deserve
everything in life; boasters, trying to let the world know how great we are; proud,
believing we are the greatest thing since buttered bread. And all the way down the line
 until we are acting as if we love God, but we are full of ourselves, so full that there is no
room for Christ in us.
d. For this state of man Jesus has some choice words to say:
i. “If anyone comes to me, and does not hate his own father and
mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes
even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26
ii. “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after
me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow
me.” Matthew 16:24
e. Being a lover of self causes us to fall away from God and we have no part in Christ
Jesus.
2. A slave of sin
a. This state of man without God has us being a servant to sin, being a slave to its
demands:
b. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his
servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of
obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the
servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of
doctrine which was delivered you.” Romans 6:16-17
c. In this state we continually yield to sin as our master and by yielding to sin we walk
down a path to death and further separation from God who loves us. But if we look to
the saving power of Christ Jesus we can be redeemed for the slave market that sin has
us in. Looking to Christ we can have a hope of life eternal united with the Father in
heaven. And gain scripture is clear on our needing to make a decision on where we are
to place our loyalty:
d. “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and
love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.
Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Matthew 6:24
e. Change your state of being separated from God by acknowledge Him as Lord and
master of your life.
3. Unconscious of bondage
a. This is a state of man where we are not even aware that we are serving sin as a master.
b. We are in this state because the god of this world has blinded our eyes to the truth that
we are sinful by nature, and the only way to freedom is by way of Christ Jesus.
c. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They
answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to
any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered
them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the
servant of sin.” John 8:32-34
d. In this passage Jesus is speaking to new believes in Him. And in this we see that the
people are under the belief that they are not under any bondage. Although they are not
under any physical bondage they fail to see or even think about the spiritually side of
things. And in these scriptures is Jesus is warning them as well as us that if we continue
to follow the ways of the world, ignoring the commands of God, we to become
unconscious to that fact of being under sins command.
e. So let us not try to rationalize our sinful condition, finding reason after reason to justify
the things we do that are contrary to God’s Word.
f. Abiding in the Word of Jesus gives us greater knowledge of the truth, the truth that all
men are sinners and only through Christ Jesus can we be set free from its bondage. As
we continue in His word our eyes start to open to our true state of being apart from God,
falling closer and closer to the pit of despair.
g. Believe upon the name of Jesus and change your eternal destination.
4. Unrighteous
a. Here is our state of unrighteousness that keeps us from approaching a holy God. And
the dictionary defines righteousness as a state of being morally upright, without guilt
sin. So, then unrighteousness has us not being morally upright, full of guilt and sin.
b. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of
God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor
adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
c. In these scriptures we find the full definition of unrighteousness: fornication, idolatry,
adultery, homosexuality, prostitution, thievery, greediness, excessive drinking, cheating,
and swindling. These are the states that we find ourselves in when we live apart from
God will for our lives. And in doing these things we set ourselves far from God. But we
know that we can be different, we can change our state of mind…because scripture tells
us that “whosoever believes on Jesus will have everlasting life.” And scripture also tells
us that when we decide to believe upon Him that is able to save us from eternal death
we find that we are changed.
d. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things
are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians
5:17
e. Only through Christ Jesus can our old self pass away and the new self appear.
f. Only through a saving faith in Christ Jesus can we be made whole again.
g. Only through the redemptive power of the blood of Christ can we not fall prey to the
states of man that want to keep us from the love of God.
h. Realize the state that you are in and make the necessary corrections before it is to late.
Come to Jesus, come to Jesus, come to Jesus right now. He can save you from yourself.
Bringing you into the marvelous light of salvation.
i. “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and
receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your
souls.” James 1:21