8. This is another character of the sleeper here spoken to. He abides in death, tho’ he knows it not. He is dead unto God, _dead in trespasses and sins_. For, _to be carnally minded is death_. Even as it is written, _by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin: and so death passed upon all men_, not only temporal death, but likewise spiritual and eternal. _In that day that thou eatest_ (said God to _Adam_) _Thou shalt surely die_. Not bodily (unless as he then became mortal) but spiritually: thou shalt lose the life of thy soul: thou shalt die to God; shalt be separated from him, thy essential life and happiness.
9. Thus first was dissolved the vital union of our soul with God: insomuch that _in the midst of |natural| life, we are |now| in |spiritual| death_. And herein we remain till the second _Adam_ becomes a quickening spirit to us, till he raises the dead, the dead in sin, in pleasure, riches, or honours. But before any dead soul can live, he _hears_ (hearkens to) _the voice of the Son of God_: He is made sensible of his lost estate, and receives the sentence of death in himself. He knows himself to be _dead while he liveth_, dead to God, and all the things of God: having no more power to perform the actions of a living Christian, than a dead body to perform the functions of a living man.
10. And most certain it is, that one dead in sin, has not _senses exercised to discern |spiritual| good and evil. Having eyes, he sees not, he hath ears and hears not._ He doth not _taste and see that the Lord is gracious_. He _hath not seen God at any time_, nor _heard his voice_, nor _handled the word of life_. In vain is the name of Jesus _like ointment poured forth_, and _all his garments smell of myrrh, aloes and cassia_. The soul that sleepeth in death hath no perception of any objects of this kind. His heart is _past feeling_, and understandeth none of these things.
* 11. And hence having no spiritual senses, no inlets of spiritual knowledge, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; nay, he is so far from receiving them, that whatsoever is spiritually discerned is mere foolishness unto him. He is not content with being utterly ignorant of spiritual things, but he denies the very existence of them. And spiritual sensation itself is to him, the foolishness of folly. _How_, saith he, _can these things be_? How can any man _know_, that he is alive to God? Even as you know, that your body is now alive. Faith is the life of the soul: and if ye have this life abiding in you, ye want no marks to evidence it _to yourself_, but that ἔλεγχος Πνεύματος, that divine consciousness, that _witness of_ God, which is more and greater than ten thousand human witnesses.
12. If he doth not now bear witness with thy spirit, that thou art a child of God, O that he might convince thee, thou poor unawakened sinner, by his demonstration and power, that thou art a child of the devil! O that as I prophesy, there might now be _a noise and a shaking_, and may _the bones come together, bone to his bone_. Then _come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live_! And do not ye harden your hearts, and resist the Holy Ghost, who even now is come to _convince_ you _of sin, because you believe not on the name of the only begotten Son of God_.
II.) 1. * Wherefore, _Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead_. God calleth thee now by my mouth; and bids thee know thyself, thou fallen spirit, thy true state and only concern below. _What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise! Call upon thy God, if so be thy God will think upon thee, that thou perish not._ A mighty tempest is stirred up round about thee, and thou art sinking into the depths of perdition, the gulph of God’s judgments. If thou wouldst escape them, cast thyself into them. _Judge thyself_, and thou shalt _not be judged of the Lord_.
2. Awake, awake! Stand up this moment, lest thou _drink at the Lord’s hand the cup of his fury_. Stir up thyself _to lay hold on the Lord, the Lord thy righteousness, mighty to save! Shake thyself from the dust._ At least, let the earthquake of God’s threatnings shake thee. Awake and cry out with the trembling ♦gaoler, _What must I do to be saved?_ And never rest, till thou believest on the Lord Jesus, with a faith which is his gift, by the operation of his spirit.