The Christian s Past

Transcription

1 The following sermon was preached at Redemption Baptist Church on Sunday, 28 January We encourage you to look up the Scriptures that are referenced. May the Lord speak to your heart as you study His Word. The Christian s Past Ephesians 2:1-3 For many decades now, in countries all over the world, evolution (and its sister philosophy, humanism) have been taught in public school classrooms. From earliest childhood, little children are taught that humans are nothing but highly evolved animals. We are taught that our thoughts and impulses are guided by nothing more than chemical and neurological processes, over which we have no control. We re all just victims of our genetics and environment is the reasoning of evolutionary humanism. Because people have bought into evolutionary humanism, they have come to believe that life is nothing but a random string of events. To most people, life has no real meaning or purpose, other than self-indulgence. The highest aspiration that most people have is to eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. Really, though, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die has always been man s credo, ever since his Fall into sin in the Garden. Sinful men have always tended to live only for the present. Why? Because men live their lives according to what they see with their eyes, and not by faith in God. Living life by faith in a God whom we cannot see, and committing the future to Him, is a foreign thought to those who have not come to Christ for salvation. Yet, despite man s tendency to live only for the here and now, we still have an incurable obsession with the past, and with the future. Animals don t sit around thinking about the past or the future. Why? Because they operate by God-given instinct. But people, who have free will, do think about their past and their future. People try to make sense of where they have been, and where they are going. People are constantly trying to find direction in their lives; and they will turn anywhere for direction (anywhere, that is, except to the right place). I find it amazing that in this supposedly enlightened age in which we live, tarot cards and spirit mediums are all the rage. People want to make sense of their past, and find hope for their future; but because most people refuse to turn to God s Word for the answers, they turn to all manner of foolishness. H.A. Ironside, (a pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago back in the 20 th century), told of an experience that he once had when he was on a street car in Los Angeles. He was approached by a lady who claimed that she could tell him his past, present, and future by reading his palm (for a small fee, of course). He replied to her, It is really not necessary, because I have had my fortune told already; and I have a little book in my pocket that gives me my past, present, and future. Confused, she said, You have it in a book? He answered, Yes, and it is absolutely infallible. Let me read it to you. He then pulled out his New Testament, and began to read from Ephesians 2. In a few short verses, he showed her his past (that he had once been separated from God because of his sin). He showed her his present (that he was now reconciled to God through Jesus Christ). He also showed her his future (that he has a sure place in heaven with God). It wasn t long before this confused woman literally ran away from him. As she ran she said, I took the wrong man! I took the wrong man! Little did she know that she had crossed paths with the right man a man who believed God s Word; and she should have listened to him. If you want to make sense of your past, and find out what you need to know about your future, you must look to the Word of God. If you have never been saved, then you need this message. You need to know exactly what your past and present are; and you need to know the good news of what your future can be. If you do know Christ as your Saviour, you also need this message. You need to learn even more about what Christ has done for you in the past, and about the glorious future that awaits you.

2 Over these next three weeks, I will be preaching a three-part series of messages about the destiny of God s people. This morning s message is entitled The Christian s Past. Read Ephesians 2:1-3. I. The Christian s previous condition (v. 1) Starting in verse 1, Paul tells us, very plainly, what the past condition of every Christian was. He says, And ye hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Now, what does Paul mean when he says that the Ephesian Christians were dead? Well, throughout the Bible, God defines death as separation, in one sense or another. Death never means annihilation, or ceasing to exist. For example, when a person dies physically, he does not cease to exist, because his spirit continues on. Physical death is simply the separation of the spirit from the body. James 2:26 says that the body without the spirit is dead. At the moment of physical death, the spirit departs from the body, and goes to one of two places either to Heaven, or to Hell. This separation of the spirit from the body is physical death. So, what kind of death is Paul talking about, here? Obviously, he isn t talking about physical death, because these Ephesian Christians were still living and breathing. Their spirits and bodies were still together. In what sense were these living, breathing Ephesians once dead? They were dead to God! Their spirits had been cut off from God. They had had no relationship with God. How did they get into that condition? The answer is: They didn t have to do anything to get into that condition! It was the natural condition into which they were born. Let s go back to the beginning, and see exactly when and where the condition of spiritual death began. Read Genesis 2: God warned Adam that in the day when he would eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would surely die. Did he die physically in that day? No, he didn t (although he did begin to head toward physical death). However, Adam did die spiritually in the day when he sinned. His spirit was cut off from God. That trusting, loving relationship which he had once had with his Creator suddenly ended. Tragically, the sin nature, along with this condition of spiritual death (separation from God), has been handed down to every one of us through our father Adam. We are all born cut off from God. Even more tragically, this condition of spiritual death will eventually end in eternal death eternal separation from God in the Lake of Fire. Read Romans 5:12. Read Revelation 20: Folks, this is extremely serious business: and for that reason, there are a couple facts about spiritual death which every person absolutely must know. First of all, the condition of spiritual death is absolutely hopeless. There is no self-help program that you can follow to get yourself out of the condition of spiritual death. No physically dead person can bring himself back to life: and likewise, no spiritually dead person can bring himself back to spiritual life. You may try ever so hard to be a good person; but no amount of religion or clean living can make you alive to God. In the natural condition in which you were born, you were dead cut off from your Creator. There is not a true, born-again Christian on the face of this earth who can say, Well, I was once in a pretty bad way, spiritually. I was almost spiritually dead. But with Jesus help, and a lot of effort on my part, I came back to health. No, Paul says that these Christians in the church of Ephesus had been

3 dead before they were saved. They weren t sick : they were dead. They had been utterly cut off from God! I have found that when I try to talk with people about their spiritual condition, most folks immediately begin to compare themselves to other people. In countless conversations, I have heard people say things such as this: I think I m O.K. with God. Yeah, I think God will accept me. I m not as bad as most people. After all, I ve never done anything really bad, such as murder. I feel that I ve always been a Christian. However, there s a problem with this reasoning. The problem is that God says, You are dead! Think of that word dead. Physically speaking, how dead do you have to be to be called dead? Let s look at a couple examples from Scripture of people who died, and see what we can learn. Read Mark 5:21-24 and Read John 11: I ask you: In these two examples of physical death, who was more dead Jairus daughter, or Lazarus? Obviously, they were both equally dead! Their spirits had left their bodies. The fact that Jairus s daughter had been dead for less than an hour made no difference. She was just as dead as Lazarus, who had been dead for four days, and was beginning to stink! A person who has just died, whose body is still warm, and who could still be mistaken for being alive, is no less cut off from the land of the living than a person who has been dead for a week, and is now rotting, and filled with worms. A person who has just died is no less dead than a person who has been dead for years, and is now nothing but bones. Likewise, it doesn t matter how spiritually dead you appear to be. People who are moral and cleanliving are just as spiritually dead as are murderers, adulterers, and sodomites. If you think that you ve always been a Christian because you re not as bad as other people are, you are tragically mistaken! God says, You are dead! You are cut off from God! You cannot do any amount of reform or cleanup of your life to make yourself spiritually alive to God again. There is another important fact about spiritual death which I would like to point out: Spiritual death is universal! There are no exceptions. First Corinthians 15:22 says, As in Adam all die. Paul didn t tell these Ephesian Christians, Well, some of you were dead, because you were once really wicked; but some of you were born to Christian parents, so you weren t really dead ; you were merely sick, and needed a little guidance and improvement. No, Paul says that every single one of them had once been dead. By the way, Paul had known these Ephesians for a good ten years. In those ten years, some of these Christians had had children; and many of these children were now born-again Christians, as well. (We know this to be the case, because in Ephesians 6 Paul gave instructions to Christian parents and children.) Yet, these children who were now growing up in Christian homes, and who were now saved, were no different from their parents, who had once been pagan idolaters. Paul says the same thing about the children that he says about the adults. All these Ephesian Christians (regardless of whether they had grown up in a pagan home, or in a Christian home) had once walked according to the course of this world. Paul includes himself in this, too. (Read verse 3 again.) Paul had grown up in a strict Jewish home, and had sat under the teaching of Gamaliel (the most famous Jewish rabbi of the day). Yet, Paul knew that he, too, had once had his conversation (way of living) in the lusts of the flesh. He knew that he had once been a child of wrath, just like everyone else. No one can say, I was born a Christian, because my parents were Christians. We all were born as sinners, separated from God. Read John 1: (Salvation is not of blood. In other words, you aren t born a Christian!)

4 There is one more fact about spiritual death that I would point out: No one can say I m the exception. No one can say, I m not spiritually dead, because I don t really mean to sin. I don t really mean anyone any harm. I just make a mistake now and then. I could take you to many passages of Scripture to prove this point: but I don t need to do so. All the proof we need is right here in Ephesians 2:1. Look carefully at the two words for sin that Paul uses here. First of all, Paul says that the Ephesians had once been dead in sins. This same Greek word for sin (hamartiais) is used in 1 John 3:4; and in this verse, John defines this word sin in this way. He says that sin is the transgression of the law. That word transgression means breaking, or violation. That doesn t sound like a mistake, does it? Sin is not a mistake: it is violation of God s law. That s serious! Why? Because James 2:10 says, For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. Now, many people still would try to excuse themselves by saying, Well, if you don t realise that you re sinning, you re O.K., right? Actually no! You are not O.K., because there is not really any such thing as ignorance. In Romans 2:15, Paul makes it clear that no one is ignorant of God s law, because the law of God is written in our hearts, our conscience also bearing witness. No one (not even the pagans in the darkest jungles) has to be told that it is wrong to lie, to steal, to be cheeky to your parents, or to commit adultery, because God has written these laws in our hearts. That is why Paul uses another word for sin here in Ephesians 2:1. Not only does he use the word sins : he also uses the word trespasses. The word trespass is translated from the word paraptoma; and this word means willful violation of a law. In our English Bible it is translated as trespass, so that we understand that this is a knowing, willful breaking of God s law. When you trespass on someone s land, what are you doing? You are crossing over a line onto someone else s property, when you know full well that you are not permitted to do so. To trespass means to break God s law knowingly, and like it! It means that you see the no trespass sign in God s Word (or in your own conscience), yet you choose to go over the line, anyway. You may feel guilty about your sin. You may feel sorry because of your sin (or, at least, sorry that you suffered consequences). You may not be as wicked as many other people are. However, that doesn t change the fact that you are dead in trespasses and sins, unless and until you are quickened (made alive) by the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only One who can restore a person to spiritual life. Those who have stopped trusting in their own righteousness, and have trusted Christ to save them, are no longer dead in trespasses and sins: they are alive. Remember what Jesus said about Jairus s daughter? He said, The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. Jesus wasn t denying that the girl was physically dead: He was denying that she was spiritually dead. Apparently, this little girl, just like her daddy, had believed on Jesus at some point in her young life. She may have died physically (for the time being); but she was not spiritually dead anymore, because Jesus had brought her from spiritual death to spiritual life. All who believe on Jesus have passed from death unto life. (See John 5:24.) Spiritual death was the past condition of every Christian before he was raised to life by the Lord Jesus Christ. This was my past. This was your past, Christian. Sadly, this is the present condition of every person who has not been saved. Either you are still dead in trespasses and sins, or you have been raised to life. Which are you? (See 1 John 5:12.) II. The Christian s previous walk (v. 2) (Read verse 2 again.) The apostle Paul used a lot of Hebrew expressions in his letters; and the word walk is one of those expressions. Paul used the word walk 32 times in his epistles; and not one time did he use it literally! When Paul uses the word walk, he is always talking about a person s conduct, or way of living.

5 So, how did these Ephesian believers once walk? How had they once lived their lives? Paul says that they had walked according to the course of this world. What is the course of this world, exactly? It is a course of rebellion against God! Now, in past generations in our Western world, religion was much more fashionable than it is today. Today, professing Christianity is largely rejected. Yet, the course of this world has always been basically the same. Whether religion be popular or unpopular, the world is always rejecting the true way of salvation through Christ alone. Now, let s look again at verse 3. (Read verse 3 again.) Paul says that all these believers (including himself) had once lived according to the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Now, perhaps this phrase lusts of the flesh bothers you. Perhaps, in your mind, you are protesting that you are not guilty of the lusts of the flesh. Perhaps you would say, Well, I ve never committed adultery. I m not a porno. I don t go out to the nightclubs and get involved in disgusting sins. I m a basically good person. Should you be trying to justify yourself in this way, Paul won t let you off the hook. You see, Paul also mentions the lust of the mind. Lusts of the mind would include pride, vanity, self-will, covetousness, and, in general, living your life in independence from God. It also includes hidden, inward thoughts or desires, which God views no differently from the actual act. It includes things such as mental lust, which God views no differently from the actual act of adultery. This just isn t one of those uplifting sermons, is it? This is a pretty bleak picture of every one of us! If you know Christ as your Saviour, verse 2 is a sobering reminder of what you were saved from. This was you! This was your way of living before you came to Christ. In fact, you still commit sins of the flesh and the mind, whenever you are not allowing the Spirit to control you. It is only by the saving grace of Jesus that you will not be condemned for these sins. We have nothing to boast of, brethren. If you do not belong to Christ, these verses should make you tremble. This is how God sees you right now! God sees you as walking about in your sin. (The Greek word for walked in verse 2 literally means were walking around. ) The word walking around almost has the idea of strutting. It means to strut around defiantly, with your chest puffed out. It means that you are comfortable with your sin, and even proud of it. Not only are sinners comfortable with their sin, but they get upset when someone points out that they will have to pay for their sins in hell for eternity if they won t repent and believe on Christ. Perhaps you are thinking, Oh, Pastor, I m not so bad. I don t deserve to go to hell. My friend, if you don t think your sin is bad enough to send you to hell, you are calling God a liar! What is your walk? If you have not believed on Jesus Christ and surrendered your heart to Him, God sees you as still walking according to the course of this world. He sees you as fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. III. The Christian s previous master (v. 2) (Read verse 2 again.) In verse 1, Paul says that the Ephesian Christians were once dead to God. In the first part of verse 2, he says that they were once walking (living) a life of continual enslavement to sin. But that s not all. Paul also points out that before they were saved, their master was the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. My friends, there is no sugar-coated way to say this. Those who have not been made alive to God (those who have not been saved) are still under the control and ownership of the prince of the power of the air. That is a sobering truth. Yet, there is a truth that is even more sobering than this. Not only is Satan the spiritual master of lost people: he is also their spiritual father. In John 8:44, Jesus said to those who would not believe on Him, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.

6 Now, Paul doesn t directly identify Satan as the spiritual father of lost people here in Ephesians 2: but he may just as well have done so, because he says that lost people are the children of disobedience. Paul is using another Hebrew figure of speech, here. In Hebrew, the words father and son often indicate a relationship between a person and a person, or between a person and thing, or between a person and quality. In other words, the expression children of disobedience means belonging to disobedience. Just as children belong to parents, so the unsaved belong to disobedience. They have an intimate relationship with disobedience. Disobedience to God is their essential nature and character. People who have not been saved may feel guilty about their sin, because they have a conscience; but they have no true desire to obey God, or to love Him. This expression children of disobedience drives home what Jesus said in John 8:44. Satan was the original disobedient one : so it would only make sense that he would be the spiritual father of all the children of disobedience. Now, this truth goes completely against what the world says. The world says that we are all the children of God ; but the Bible says the exact opposite. We are not all the children of God. Only those who believe on Christ are sons of God. If we were all God s children, then everybody would be seeking to do God s will. If we were all God s children, the world would not be full of war, crime, selfishness, broken families, and broken lives. God s children still have a sin nature; but there is a clear pattern of obedience to God in their lives, because God has given them a new nature. In contrast, unsaved people do the will of their father, Satan. By the way, have you ever noticed that Bible-believing, born-again Christians are often accused of being restrictive and oppressive? And why? Because we dare to say, Thou shalt not do certain things. Yet, the world commands people not to do certain things. They say, Don t go to that born again church service! Don t waste your time praying! Don t read the Bible! Don t hang out with those born-agains! Yeah, those people look joyful and happy; but they re a bunch of cultists! Stay away from them! Why is that attitude not viewed as restrictive? Doesn t the word restrictive mean telling someone else what not to do? You see, your perception of the word restrictive all depends upon who your spiritual father is. If your father be Satan, then you will naturally do Satan s will, without even thinking about it: and you will view God s will as oppressive and restrictive. On the other hand, if your spiritual Father be God, then you will want to do God s will. You will want to stay away from sin, and from the things of the world, because you have been given the holy nature of your heavenly Father. Who is your master? Who is really controlling your life? If you haven t been made alive to God, then you are a child of disobedience, and a child of the devil. IV. The Christian s previous destiny (v. 3) (Read verse 3 again.) Paul has painted a very gloomy picture of the condition of the lost; but now, at the end of verse 3, he completes the picture with these words: he says that we who are saved were once by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Once again, Paul uses a Hebrew term to describe the lost. He says that the lost are children of wrath. He s saying that there is a relationship between a lost person and wrath. Whose wrath is Paul talking about? He s talking about God s wrath. Let s look at one more Scripture before we close. Read John 3:36. (The phrase abideth on him has the idea of hovering over him.) The wrath that Paul is talking about is the wrath of God. He s talking about the ultimate punishment which God, in his wrath against sin, must give to sinners. He s talking about the Lake of Fire! In the Gospels, it is recorded that John the Baptist warned the self-righteous people of his day to Flee from the wrath to come.

7 Judgment is coming, my friends! As we read in Revelation 20, every single work that lost men do will be judged; and their degree of punishment in hell will be according to their works. Of course, a murderer will be judged more severely than someone who didn t commit murder. Yet, the Bible also says that those who have heard the truth preached repeatedly, yet rejected it, will receive worse judgment than the wicked men of Sodom and Gomorrah will receive! The righteous Judge will judge righteously. The God who hates unbelief of His Word just as much as He hates murder will judge rightly. My friend, if you have not come to Christ for salvation, I urge you not to be in the congregation of the wicked on the Judgment Day! If you have not been born again by repenting and putting your complete faith in God s Son, then you are dead in your sin, and are a child of wrath. You have a relationship with hell. As it stands right now, hell is your destiny! Yet, there is good news: Hell doesn t have to remain your destiny! Paul said that the Ephesian Christians were once the children of wrath but not anymore! Jesus Christ changed their destiny when they came to Him on His terms. Conclusion: Next week we will be examining the good news in detail, as we look at what the Christian s present is. We will examine exactly what it is to be born again. However, I do not want to finish this message without telling you how you can escape God s wrath. The Bible says that we are all sinners, and that we all deserve God s wrath. However, God, in His incredible love for us, sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sin. First Peter 2:24 says, Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. Jesus Christ paid the debt of our sin in full on the cross. By doing so, He purchased our salvation. He now offers salvation as a gift; but this gift must be received. It is received by repentance (changing your mind about your sin, and being willing to turn from sin and self to Christ), and faith (simple trust in Christ s sacrifice, and not in your own good works). Ephesians 2:8-9 says, For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. If you have never trusted Christ as your Saviour, I urge you to do so today. Now is the day of salvation. For those of you who are saved, I would ask this: Have you forgotten the awful condition from which Christ saved you? Have you, to some degree, lost the wonder of how Christ translated you from the death to life, and from the power of Satan unto God? Are there some sins of the flesh and lusts of the mind which you have allowed to creep into your life, and to make your love toward God grow cold? If so, I urge you to confess those sins, and draw nearer to Christ today! Submerge yourself in God s Word. Spend time with the Lord in prayer. Yield yourself totally to His control.