The English folk of the previous century knew that Winston Churchill was NOT a great lover of his political rival, Clement Atlee, and seldom had anything good to say about him. Because of this, his friends were very surprised one day when Churchill said, "Clement Atlee is a very humble man." However, lest you understand this as a compliment, after a pause he added with his characteristic twinkle, "Of course, he has a lot to be humble about!"

This morning as I speak to you, I say with sincere love my friends, "We all have much to be humble about!" The scripture passage read this morning makes this fact very clear. We find this in a number of descriptions of humankind that we will consider this morning.

I. Dead

First of all, Paul tells us we have much to be humble about because, apart from Christ, we were DEAD in our trespasses and sins. That does not sound like an admirable quality to brag about. Of course Paul is talking about being spiritually, not physically dead. This is a description of one who has not spiritual life, and of himself or herself, can do nothing to please God. Such a person is unresponsive to spiritual things as is a corpse is physically unresponsive in a funeral home. A corpse does not hear the conversations of mourners, has no thirst, appetite for food, and feels no pain.

Stuart Briscoe wrote:

"To be physically alive is to be alert to the physical environment and to be spiritually alive means to be aware of the spiritual. Paul was telling the Ephesians that while they were very much alive to their goddess Diana, the games in the stadium, and the financial concerns they had when the trade for the silver statues of Diana began to decline, they had no interest in the Lord, no consciousness of His importance, no relationship with Him whatsoever. They were dead to God, while very much alive to Ephesus. It is easy to see the resemblance of a similar condition today."

Warren Wiersbe said: "The unbeliever is not sick; he is dead! He does not need resuscitation; he needs resurrection. All lost sinners are dead, and the only difference between one sinner and another is the state of decay. ... one corpse cannot be more dead than another! This means that our world is one vast graveyard, filled with people who are dead while they live."

II. Deluded

A second characteristic to be humble about is that of being deluded. I think that is a way to describe what Paul wrote about in verse two. To delude means to convince that something false is true; deceive; cheat. The prince of the power of the air is hard at work to delude humankind into thinking that God's instructions to us were not meant to be obeyed. This is the course of the world system prevalent in Ephesus and in central Iowa today. Peer pressure, living one's life according what everybody else is doing may not necessarily please God. It seems that many people are more governed by contemporary standards than God's eternal truths. This seems to be what is going on in society today. To make matters worse, some claiming to be Christians are deluded. Realize that the Devil is behind this.

III. Disobedient

This delusion started at the beginning of human history in the beautiful Garden of Eden. Not long after human life was created came spiritual death, delusion, and of course disobedience. God had said that when man ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would die. The deluding devil said, "You surely shall not die! For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Man and woman were deluded. They believed the lie, disobeyed God, and experienced spiritual death.

Since the first recorded act of disobedience, humankind has lived in disobedience to God. Our disobedience includes our failing to do what God requires and our insisting on doing that which God has forbidden us to do. This too is much to be humble about.

IV. Dominated

Along with this comes another characteristic to be humble about. Humankind is dominated by the prince of this world. This spirit is working in the sons and daughters of disobedience.

Evil domination is obviously in operation over those living in sin, but can have a devastating influence on Christians too, if we give the devil an opportunity. We all have a fallen nature that wants to dominate our body and our mind and cause us to disobey God. An evangelist once announced that he would be speaking on the topic, "Why Your Dog Does What It Does." You might guess that many dog lovers gathered to hear him. Of course, what he had to say was obvious, but often overlooked: "A dog behaves like a dog because he has a dog's nature." Have you ever thought about how radically a dog's behavior would change if you could somehow transplant the nature of a cat into the dog? We human beings have a fallen human nature that is under evil domination; another reason for humility.

V. Doomed

We could say more, but finally, as a result of these other characteristics of being dead, deluded, disobedient, and dominated, we are doomed. We are in the words of Paul, "Children of wrath." We are deserving of condemnation and punishment. The sentence for such characteristics is eternal separation from God in hell.

Conclusion:

Clement Atlee had much to be humble about and so did Winston Churchill. But they are not the only ones who have much to be humble about. That is descriptive of every member of the human race.

There is, however, wonderful news for those who will admit that they have much to be humble about, and confess their sins to God. Then God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love for us will raise us from spiritual death to spiritual life with Him. This is not something in which we should boast of ourselves. We are deserving of death. By God's grace, we are offered life through faith in Jesus Christ.

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