My last mark of the carnal state is that it makes a man unfit for receiving spiritual truths.  That is what the apostle writes to the Corinthians:  “I could not preach to you as unto spiritual; you are not fit for spiritual truth after being Christians so long; you can not yet bear it; I have to feed you with milk.”  I am afraid that in the church of the nineteenth century we often make a terrible mistake.  We have a congregation in which the majority are carnal men.  We give these men spiritual teaching, and they admire it, understand it, and rejoice in such ministry; yet their lives are not practically affected.  They work for Christ in a certain way, but we can scarce recognize the true sanctification of the Spirit; we dare not say they are spiritual men, full of the Holy Spirit.

Now, let us recognize this with regard to ourselves.  A man may become very earnest, may take in all the teaching he hears; he may be able to discern, for discernment is a gift; he may say, “That man helps me in this line, and that man in another direction, and a third man is remarkable for another gift;” yet, all the time, the carnal life may be living strongly in him, and when he gets into trouble with some friend, or Christian worker, or worldly man, the carnal root is bearing its terrible fruit, and the spiritual food has failed to enter his heart.  Beware of that.  Mark the Corinthians and learn of them.  Paul did not say to them, “You can not bear the truth as I would speak it to you,” because they were ignorant or a stupid people.  The Corinthians prided themselves on their wisdom, and sought it above everything, and Paul said:  “I thank God that you are enriched in utterance, in knowledge, and in wisdom; nevertheless, you are yet carnal, your life is not holy; your life is not sanctified unto the humility of the life of the Lamb of God, you can not yet take in real spiritual truth.”

We find the carnal state not only at Corinth, but throughout the Christian world to-day.  Many Christians are asking, “What is the reason there is so much feebleness in the Church?” We can not ask this question too earnestly, and I trust that God Himself will so impress it upon our hearts that we shall say to Him, “It must be changed.  Have mercy upon us.”  But, ah! that prayer and that change can not come until we have begun to see that there is a carnal root ruling in believers; they are living more after the flesh than the Spirit; they are yet carnal Christians.

There is a passage “from carnal to spiritual.”  Did Paul find any spiritual believers?  Undoubtedly he did.  Just read the 6th chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians!  That was a church where strife, and bitterness, and envy were terrible.  But the apostle says in the first verse:  “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness.”  There we see that the marks of the spiritual man are that he will be a meek man; and that he will have power, and love to help and restore those that are fallen.  The carnal man can not do that.  If there is a true spiritual life that can be lived, the great question is:  Is the way open, and how can I enter into the spiritual state?  Here, again, I have four short answers.