Our world belongs to God! For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. All men, being naturally children of disobedience, are also by nature children of wrath: God is angry with the wicked every day. He hath "quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us up together." The increase of immorality, the increase of pornography, the acceptance of abortion, and homosexuality, and these other trends that we see, Satan is behind them orchestrating as he is leading the world to hell. But if you had been quickened by the Holy Spirit fifty minutes, this would have been the first fact in the front rank of all fact, God is, and he is my Father, and I am his child. For we were by nature, that is, we were doing what comes naturally to the fallen man. He does so by conscience, the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking within us; he does so by giving to men the wisdom and the commandments of his book; he does so through the advice of good and godly men. Paul closes this passage with a great exposition of that paradox which always lies at the heart of his view of the gospel. By Gods grace, Christ not only died to bear the penalty of human sin, but he rose to glorious life in the heavenly world so that repentant sinners can have a glorious new life in him (4-7).This salvation is entirely Gods work. And I worship Him in Spirit and in truth.And so He has made us alive, alive spiritually, for by grace are we saved. Delivered on Sabbath Morning, April 12, 1857, by the REV. There are indeed some missionary churches who would have all their congregations worship with the one liturgy used in the churches at home. We confess to you that we resist this work in us. We were once strangers to each other and strangers to God. Paul could not forget, because it was a fact of history, that the Jews were uniquely the instrument in God's hand. What does that mean? "Among whom we all had our manner of living, or our lifestyles in times past." And when a man is born into the kingdom of God, he has to learn everything; and consequently, if he is wise, he questions older and wiser believers about this and about that. Its way more than we can possibly get our heads around. The contrast is with Adam, who had a knowledge that was suited to his own place and relationship. Paul speaks of the condition of the Gentiles before Christ came. No, no. young man, thou hast not yet gone so far as the open profligate and desperately profane, take heed, thou art dead! Many a man's life is embittered because he feels that he has never had what his talents and his work deserve; but in the sight of God no man deserves anything but condemnation. No one is precisely the same after he has sinned. in your case, if you are saved, you will have to join with even the worst in saying, "I have been quickened by divine grace, or else I had never lived." Reader 2 I cant remember a time when I felt alien here. One of the tragedies of the nineteenth century was the career of Oscar Wilde. This literally means a slip or a fall. And in the morning if it is wet and the ground is dry, then I will know that it is you." Not so the young man; he is put on the bier; no man will touch him any more, or else he will be utterly defiled. P: Lord, open our hearts and let us share your Good News. The tendency has always been when we send missionaries abroad to produce people who wear English clothes and speak the English language. There might be many advantages about that kind of discourse. Such an one must have only got the lower end of the line, and not the full truth in its own native purity and freshness from God. This declaration does not mean he is not a son, only that he does not consider himself worthy of such a position. The things that Paul has to say about you, so that they tried to sort of cushion the whole blow by giving you a peak ahead at what he is going to say about you. Next comes the case of the young man brought out of his grave; he is more than dead, he has begun to be corrupt, the signs of decay are upon his face, and they are carrying him to his tomb; yet though there are more manifestations of death about him, he is no more dead than the other. The boogieman will get you, you know." And that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. I thought I was going to die. Thus the great basis of all our walk is, that the old man has been judged in Jesus, and the new man we have already put on; but, moreover, the Holy Ghost is given, and we are sealed by Him. If you have been raised from the dead, after you had been buried in Norwood Cemetery, I would warrant you that you would not go there to-night to sleep. Need I say that this is altogether above human comprehension? That would cease, for God is a Spirit, they that worship Him worship Him in Spirit and in truth. "Unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end." That is not the result of some great effort on my part. That is, when you see a person walking you make an assumption he is going someplace and he has a purpose in mind. Ephesians 2:5- :. This is an of the former statements, that is, an exposition accompanied by an illustration. But the saints, now being made the objects of these heavenly counsels of God, have a wisdom and prudence of their own, quite peculiar to the new creation in Christ, and its proper relations: God puts no limits to it. The sinner chooses to live in contempt of any law or higher authority that would supersede his own will. That means that we all need help. Blessed be God! For the first time in his life Little Billee has taken part in a drunken debauch and has himself been drunk. He began this section of the epistle by explaining the purpose of our calling (i.e., the glory of God, Ephesians 1:3-14). The stone is rolled before him. Well, dear friends, if we have been quickened, we have been quickened from above. "[1] (1Timothy 5:6; Revelation 3:1). DEATH is often used by all writers, and in all nations, to express a state of extreme misery. Any task that you may have around here, I just would like to spend a day with you, Dad, doing whatever you'd like for me to do." Bible Gateway Plus makes it simple. "Trespasses" literally means to "fall beside," and "sins" literally means "a failing to hit the mark" (Thayer 485, 30). Life is usually capable of pleasure, but the new life is capable of the highest conceivable pleasure. earth that looks fertile enough to bring forth life with but one living tear? He says that those who were far off have been brought near. Paul uses the word xenos ( G3581) for foreigner. Hence we are said to be "light in the Lord," and we need to shake off the things of death that encumber the light, and hinder it. I trust you will understand what I wish to convey that the death is the same in all cases; but the manifestations of it is different; and that the life must come from God, and from God alone. Man merely needs teaching. That girl, dead in the room, upon her bed, had little about her that could show her death. Jesus is never called a child in the sense in which I am now speaking He has His own relationship to the Father eternally. Such seems to have been the measure of Adam's wisdom and prudence. It is not in treaties and leagues to produce peace. These verses continue the theme of redemption (Ephesians 1:7). Of course. This last was of all-importance to the saints, and the rather as that power had already been put forth. That which was easy to him becomes a bed of thorns. Once more, we are told, "He hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." for you, that you should lack the root of the matter. Israel had always had the radiant hope in God which burned clearly and inextinguishably even in her darkest and most terrible days; but in his heart the Gentile knew only despair, before Christ came to give him hope. Nor is there full Christian service, except in proportion as it is according to this pattern and in this power. That is, we can't earn it. He had a brilliant mind, and won the highest academic honours; he was a scintillating writer, and won the highest rewards in literature; he had all the charm in the world and was a man whose instinct it was to be kind; yet he fell to temptation and came to prison and disgrace. There are all kinds of architecture; but the building is a unity because through it all it has been used for the worship of God and for meeting with Jesus Christ. And God said Gideon, "The men that are with you are too many, because I know the heart of this people. . But there is yet more. I have been joined back together with God through the Spirit. Everything else in Ephesians 2:1-7 is of subordinate importance. It is not the impartation of Godhead: none can be so foolish as to think of such a thing. He could condescend. This discussion has two parts: vv. But up to this the saints are contemplated as such. You can refer to the answers below. "You" refers to Gentiles (2:11). And the Lord said, "Gideon." Ah! Thus nature is the subject of verse 4, as relationship is of verse 5. He means far more than sexual sins. He loves the loved one so much that the love of his sins is broken. See Matthew 12:24; Matthew 12:26. thou art dead! "Oh!" Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. I mention this, because it is a striking proof that an error imported into Scripture leads even right-minded men into sad evil. Scripturally-based resources for worship planners and leaders. Is there not good reason for saying that the church is but a consequence? P: Gods light has come to us! It is not the source of the blessing (Ephesians 1:1-23); nor the place into which we are now brought as being made one with Christ (Ephesians 2:1-22); nor the objects to whom we are bearing testimony. There are merchants whose names stand high and fair. But the connection is important. And he never recovered the full use of that most precious faculty, the boon of youth and happy childhood, and which he had once possessed, without knowing it, in such singular and exceptional completeness. Walls of prejudice still exist and barriers of racism still hold people back from reaching their true potential. Yet this is one of the results of our possessing the new life; and I will say this, the sharpest pang of spiritual life is better than the highest joy of carnal life. Now he takes this canvas in which he has painted all of this charcoal slate black, and he begins to splash on it some brilliant colors. ", Meanwhile, before a blow is struck at man's failure in the presence of righteousness, or at his apostasy from grace, that blessed Saviour, the only begotten Son in the bosom of the Father, the Son of man who is in heaven, went down to the very uttermost, and (having exhausted the powers of evil, and blotted out all that could rise against the objects of God's grace,) was raised and seated by God in heaven. Before their regeneration, believers were spiritually dead, separated from God, and unable to have fellowship with Him (cf. And strangers from the covenants of promise. To us it is more to be born of the very nature of God, than to be sons adopted into the family of God. In Christ we belong in the family, adopted. As much dead as the worst of men, although your death is not so apparent. Ye were formerly lost; but now God, by his grace, has rescued you from destruction. And here we must observe, that, in laboring to give an impressive view of both of these parts, the apostle makes a break in the style by () a transposition. Men may put up their barriers; churches may keep their Communion tables for their own members. What does it matter about times, persons, or circumstances, if the Spirit abide to enable us, according to Scripture, diligently to keep His own unity? The design of the apostle in this and some following verses, is to show the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and to set forth the sad estate and condition of man by nature, and to magnify the riches of the grace of God, and represent the exceeding greatness of his power in conversion: the phrase. Is He not satisfied with giving us a nature like His own? The grace of Jesus Christ rekindles the ideals which repeated failing to sin has extinguished. 2:13-18 But as things now are, because of what Christ Jesus has done, you who were once far off have been brought near, at the price of the blood of Christ. God therefore has not been pleased in the heights of divine truth to repeat words in the same way as His grace leads Him to do when He is helping the babes. Thus far the apostle has described the misery of a natural state in Ephesians 2:1-3, which we shall find him pursuing again in some following ones. In truth it is His grace to the full, and for heaven (not earth), though given to us to know here before we get there; "for by grace are ye saved." (AP), 19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers,(AQ) but fellow citizens(AR) with Gods people and also members of his household,(AS) 20built(AT) on the foundation(AU) of the apostles and prophets,(AV) with Christ Jesus himself(AW) as the chief cornerstone. But in Ephesians we are in presence of a new creation in Christ, where claim is out of the question. The ancient world was full of barriers. 8. Some who are strong swimmers may swim for a mile or two before they go under. One said to me, when joining the church, "Either I am a new creature, or else the world is altogether altered from what it was. Thanks to those of you who took time to answer questions and offer comments about how your congregation navigated worship during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Paul uses an even more vivid picture. I have heard that when a man is nearly drowned, while he lies under the power of death, he feels little or nothing, perhaps has even pleasurable dreams; but when, in the process of restoring him, they have rubbed him till the blood begins to flow, and the life begins to revive a little, he is conscious of pricking and great pain. Good works can never earn salvation; but there is something radically wrong if salvation does not produce good works. I do. He then expounded the means whereby we appreciate our calling (i.e., knowledge given by the Holy Spirit through Gods revelation, Ephesians 1:15-23). Here with those who are our sisters and brothers. Sometimes he feels merry, and can sing hymns; at another time, he can do nothing else but sigh and cry, though he scarcely knows wherefore. Alas! We know ourselves chosen, adopted as children of God. Whatever was the current fad, here I am, flowing with it, you know. Reality is hopeless. You did he make alive Beare pointed out that the various pronouns "you" (Ephesians 2:1,2), "we all" (Ephesians 2:3), and "us we" (Ephesians 2:4), "refer to the distinction between Jews and Gentiles only to nullify it. * To us, to be called children of God is more intimate than to be styled His sons; but it would derogate from the Lord. In Romans, in 1st and 2nd Corinthians, and in Galatians righteousness was largely used. Although about to show us what the church is in its heavenly blessing, that is, in its highest associations, he always begins with the individual. In any Christless society there can be nothing but middle walls of partition. Most wholesome blessedness! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Paul can never have too much of Christ. All other combats are outside the calling of a Christian. Heres a contemporary call to worship inspired by Ephesians 2: 19-22. the One who names each of us as a beloved child. WebThanksgiving and praise are called forth in response to a gracious God. Wherever that prevails there is a privation of all spiritual life. The unconverted man lives in God's world, sees God's works, hears God's Word, goes up to God's house on God's day, and yet he does not know that there is any God. That judgment had fallen on Him necessarily and unsparingly; but in the face of everything calculated to hinder, God's power broke up the last stronghold of the enemy. There is some perplexity in the language; but, if we attend carefully to what the apostle says about those two parts, the meaning is clear. trespasses and sins -- The Greek words used here, paraptma and hamartia, describe the evil that controls and characterizes human life apart from God. At bottom, all the wanderings from the faith at the present day amount to this, salvation by works instead of salvation by grace. The Marks Of The Christless Life ( Ephesians 2:1-3 Continued). How did Christ destroy them? It comes to us with pain; it gives us many surprises; and it suggests a large number of questions. I would say, "Okay, start out in the back yard, that weed patch back there. Why, sometimes we can pray, and prevail, and come off conquerors; and at another time, we can only bow at the throne, and groan out, "Lord, help me; I cannot pray; the springs seem to be all sealed." The evil spirit has been driven out, and he no more works in us. They want to be saved by their own morality, and all sorts of things that they put instead of salvation by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever could contribute to it, whatever fell in according to it, everything that God Himself could do to bind us up with Christ, sharing with us all that is glorious in Christ His own Son, even to His holy nature and relationship with the Father, as far as this could be conferred on a creature, is no more than God had in His heart yea, is what God has given us now, and will display in heavenly Places ere long. Have we reached the goal of efficiency and skill that our gifts might have enabled us to reach? Oh! That is living prayer. "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living," and, unless we are made alive unto him, he cannot be our God either here or hereafter. When the Psalmist sang: "I will extol thee, my God and king" ( Psalms 145:1) he meant it literally. "You hath he quickened." Brilliant colors flashed across this black background. That is a perfectly possible translation; but the word Christos ( G5547) is not primarily a proper name although it has become one. The apostle concludes his prayer with an ascription of glory to Him in the Church unto all generations of the age of the ages, able to do far above all we ask or think according to His power which works in us. The subject of this sentence is God (Ephesians 2:4). Date Service Readings Ephesians 3:1-12 Matthew 2:1-12 Read all. ~ survey response Previous year: 2021-2022 | Next year: 2023-2024. You remember that our Saviour raised three dead persons; I do not find that during his lifetime he caused more than three resurrections. I remember the first week of that new life, and how, on the second Sabbath, I went to the place where I had heard the gospel to my soul's salvation, thinking that I would attend there. We confess our dreaming to you, and ask for your dreams of how the world could be; release creativity in us, free our imaginations. But it gets up again, and so it learns to walk. 12. What has God done? The church is but a consequence; and we bless God for this, and bless Him also that we know the church is but the complement of Christ. Let this, then, be held as a fixed principle, that the union of our soul with God is the true and only life; and that out of Christ we are altogether dead, because sin, the cause of death, reigns in us. Who that knows what man is, and God, as Christ has made both known, would dare to rest in any one person or thing which did not find its brightest form in Christ Himself? (ii) The Gentiles had no hope of a Messiah. See, it is always Christ, his flesh, his blood, his life. See the result of that difference. we are reluctant to speak the truth to each other for fear of offending. The miserable condition of the Ephesians by nature is here in part described. If you haven't previously submitted something but would like to, you can find my email address by clicking on my name in the "About Me" section below. It is a revelation of God that comes in at the time when the Jews have, at least temporarily, lost their place altogether. Is it so? Here are some indexes that might be helpful: INDEXES: For a complete list of all the indexes on this blog, click here. Or secret places of the heart's own love. Those who were once "dead in sins" are now alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:1-10); and those who were once "aliens and strangers separated from God" are now members of God's family (Ephesians 2:11-22). (Note also Romans 5:12; Romans 5:21; James 1:15; James 5:20; Romans 7:5; Romans 7:10; Romans 7:13; Romans 7:24; John 5:24.). Verse Ephesians 2:1. It involved the keeping of the law. "I see you've changed your house," he said to her. We little think of the experiments that children have to go through before they arrive even at the use of their eyes. The flesh is anything in us which gives sin its chance; it is human nature without God. It was God's gift to you. He will bring him in everywhere. (119) Classical writers employ the same metaphor, to denote not spiritual death, with which they were unacquainted, but the absence of moral principle, or utter ignorance of right and wrong. And there may be a marathoner in the group that will get within a mile of the shore before he goes under. Besides, it is not merely that the body will immediately respond to the call of the Lord Jesus, but even now the very same power Acts wrought toward us in making us Christians which "wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." for you; alas! Our state and course are such as deserve wrath, and would end in eternal wrath, if divine grace did not interpose. I dare not come downstairs without speaking to him. It can never rise above its human source. 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