Dead In Sin

Transcript

GR 142
07/06/1975
Dead In Sin
Ephesians 2:1-3
Gil Rugh

Ephesians Chapter 2; and we come in some ways to a very difficult portion this morning, because it is very difficult for us as proud human beings to see ourselves as God presents us in the world. Verses 1, 2, and 3 of Ephesians 2, which are the verses we are going to focus our attention upon this morning. To now present a very pretty or promising picture of mankind. What is said in these three verses is true of every person, and it is true of us as believers, as well as unbelievers.

The difference is that the condition of the believer has undergone a change. The condition of the unbeliever has not yet been change. But we are presenting the condition that’s was characteristic of you and I, before faith in Jesus Christ. This portion ties to what he has just talked about the portion we looked at last week, presenting the power of God, God’s power displayed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and this same power, that power which is operating in the life of everyone who is a believer.

In verse 19, Paul talked about the surpassing greatness of his power toward us, who believe and then the presentation of Jesus Christ. Now to understand something of the power of God and the work that he has done, you have to understand something of your condition before God. Now Paul did not begin with presenting our condition as unregenerate man or sinfulness in writing to the Ephesians, because by and large they are already Christians.

In the book of Romans, he developed more logically our position has lost and then developed the work that God had done for us. But in Chapter 1 he has presented God’s work, but here to present something of God’s powerfully demonstrated. He tells us what we were before God went to work in our life. Chapter 2 is rather abrupt in its beginning. In the King James we have a new # quicken through word it. But you do not pick that verb to quicken or make alive, until you get down into verse 5.

So we really start here without any verb, and we pick it up in verse 5 that is the idea. We were made alive, but that’s not where Paul puts the stress right now. He puts the stress with being dead. And you being dead, and he goes onto develop that. And then in verse 5 to reiterate, even when we word it, he made us alive together. But we start out with what we were in the development of our condition. And there was a statement of that condition in verse 1, a very short and simple verse.

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins or literally. And you being dead, a present participle denoting our present condition, as it is presented here. We were in the process of death, in a state of death perhaps. Being dead in trespasses and sins, now obviously he is not writing to people who were physically dead, because he will talk in a moment about walking in verse 2 in which you formally walk. So here are dead people, who are physically alive and functioning. But they are functioning in a condition or state of being dead.

So rather than talking about physical death now, we are talking about spiritual death. Remember in the Bible, death is a state of separation. When you are physically dead, you as a person are separated from your body. He is writing to those who are spiritually dead or where spiritually dead, writing about those who were spiritually dead. They were in a state of separation from God. And of course the third kind of death in the Bible is eternal death, eternal separation from God in hell.

So here you who I have been talking about, you who have believe. There was a time when your condition was instead of life, it was death. And you were dead in trespasses and sins. And this is what brings about death. This is why they were dead, because of trespasses and sins end in a plural as we have here, trespasses and sins. There is not great distinction drawn between these two words. They are almost synonyms.

Trespass, meaning a full step or a miss step, you trespass you go beyond something. We have signs of no trespassing. You cannot go beyond. Well trespassing is going beyond, what God has established, violating Gods law. Sin we usually defined as a missing of the mark and a failure to meet the standard that we should. So we are going to draw distinction one would be more actively transgressing, the other would simply be a failure, to not achieve or meet the standard set for us.

But basically both words carry the same idea of transgressing against God or failure to be what God says, we ought to be, and because of trespasses and sins, we were dead. Now this means that every single person is dead at one time or another. We all start in this condition because all have sin and come sure to the glory of God. They fail of God standard of perfection. So everyone in this auditorium is either presently in a state of death or you were at one time. But there is no one here, who misses that.

I was never so bad that I was spiritually dead, because there is no one here who has been perfect. Everyone here has created committed trespasses against the God has sinned against the God. How do I know, God said it, all have sin. In Romans Chapter 3, so you were dead. This is a statement of their condition, dead in sin. And you know what here the word “your” your trespasses in sins, becomes personal. You were dead and your trespasses in sins. I wasn’t dead and yours I was dead in mine.

It was my own guilt, my own responsibility, my own transgression, my own sins. We live in a day and we like to blame others for our problems. I pointed out very clearly in our children I believe, Gregory came in yesterday, we had a bought him a new toy. Kevin Edgier got one and so Gregory had to get one. You know it's keeping up with Edgier’s already. But he brought it and then they had a little part on it, and he had broken it already. I say, Gregory how did that happen, he says well, Scott kept talking to me and talking to me and made me break it.

Now I couldn’t get the connection of Scott’s continual talking and Gregory’s breaking his toy. But what was it, trying to find someone else to put the blame on. He did this and he is responsible. And what Paul says, here is no. You were dead in your trespasses and sins. Yes, but I wouldn’t have done it if so and so didn’t do that. No, and you wouldn’t have done it if you weren’t sinner. No matter how grows that other person is, if you weren’t a sinner you wouldn’t sin.

So it's not their sin to make you sin, you sin because you are sinner. And Paul stresses that here, at your trespasses and your sins, and somehow we never grow up in this spiritual area of trying to find someone else. I am not the husband I should be, because my wife does this. I am not the wife I should be, because my husband is this has nothing to do with reality. We are responsible our trespasses and our sins, as a result of them we are spiritually dead in a state of separation from God.

Now being dead, being separated from God. Three things he draws to our attention here. First the standard to which they conformed when they were in a state of death. And the standard was the world standard in which you formally walked according to the course of this world. So they were walking according to the course of this world. And you know in your trespasses and sins in which you formally walked.

So it's not just an isolated active sin here, an isolated transgression or trespass over here, but it is a state of living in trespasses and sins. It's in which you formally walk, denoting your habitual lifestyle. The pattern of your life was lived in trespasses and sins. You say, no I never was so bad, but you are measuring yourself against someone else. God says, you have to make yourself against me, because all of sin in comes short of my glory.

And thus as sinners we were in a state of continual existence in rebellion and disharmony with God. You were walking according to the course of this world in your trespasses and your sins. According to the course of this world or you have it in the margin, the age of this world. Then of course gives the idea here, the pattern that the world set down. This age, this period of time, this cosmos that governs this period of time, this world system and world order. And my life was patterned and conformed to the age and the world in which I live.

And going with that were the trespasses and sins, because this age governed by this world system is in conflict and disharmony with God. So in my trespasses and sins I walked according to the course of this world. My life was patterned according to the world and its value and its system. And we still find that. We find people who think they are good enough. But what do they say, I am measuring myself according to this world standards.

If I measure myself according to Gods standards, I would find out I am not good enough. I would find out I am this sinner then God says I am, I say, no. My point of reference, my standard is the world. And the world says, it's not so bad. And so I am being conformed to the world. And this again is very personal, you note in verse 2 in which you formally walk according to the course of this world.

This was our pattern. As right into those who are now believers, but it was our pattern at one time. But if you have not yet become a believer, this is your pattern right now. You say I don’t believe it; all you are saying is, your point of reference is not God it's the world. And you are satisfied conformed to the world. But reality does not change.

Alright they were conformed to the world, this was the standard to which they conformed. Now it gets a little heavier here, because it doesn’t stop. And you realized something of the terrible condition you were in before you became a believer, because you were walking not only according to the course of this world, but according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, not only, where we conform to the world standard, but we find ourselves submitting to another spirit, and ultimately to the devil.

So the spirit to whom we submitted is none other than the devil, because we were walking not only according to the course of this world, but who is the God of this world. We are walking according to the prince of the power of the air, the ruler of the authority of the air. Here we have a personal being now brought in, not only was I being conformed to a system, but I was submitting myself to an individual, a person, who is a ruler and a prince, who has authority over the air.

And I take out the air here is not primarily the air that we breath, but talking about the atmospheric heavens, the heavenlies. As we’ve had many Ephesians, because when we get over into Chapter 6 of Ephesians, we are going to find out that we are wrestling not against flesh and blood, but against prince authorities and powers, against spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies.

And so bringing out that he is the prince of the power of the air there are something that he is not just an earthly person. But we are dealing now with a spiritual person. So what we are going to find out here very clearly is that no one is his own man, because either you are now subject for the Lord Jesus Christ or you are now subject to the God of this world, who in reference to this world could be called the lord Satan, because he function as the God of this world.

There is no such thing as a person who has functioning totally independent, because before our salvation we walk. And you know what here we had our continuous existence, walking our habitual pattern of life was according to the prince of the power of the air. You thought you were doing what you wanted to do. I thought I was doing what I wanted to do.

You know the worst thing about becoming a Christian was losing our independence, which you never had any, because before Jesus Christ became Lord of your life, the devil was Lord of your life. Before you walked according to God’s plan for your life, you walked according to the devil’s plan for your life. And there is not a person in this room. There is not a person in the world, who is walking according to his own plan were his life.

You are either walking according to God’s purpose or plan or you are walking according to the devil’s purpose and plan. And everyone who was not yet a believer is walking according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. And I think as we have it here in the New American Standard give us the idea of the spirit that is now working in the sons of the disobedience. And the spirit here connects almost as parallel with power.

He is the prince of the power of the air is also the prince of the spirit. Now the spirit here does not were refer primarily to the devil. The devil is the prince of the spirit. In other words, he is the ruler of the spirit that is now working sons of disobedience. And here we are talking about the spirit in the sense of that evil power, which energizes and operates in every unbeliever.

We talk about the spirit of the age. We are talking about the same type of thing, that motivating force in every unbeliever. The spirit that is controlling and motivating him, which spirit is under the control of the prince of the power of the air it helps explain something of the gross wickedness and wilderness of sinners. As we are going to see in a moment, this does not mean that every sinner is obviously as wild as every other sinner.

I mean we get the idea that at the devil, is not blind he doesn’t exist. There are variations in his programs for individual. He does not do the same thing with every person. Obviously, we see some people who are living in obvious sin. Let’s say, well of course the devil is working in their life, and there the devil obviously controlling them. But he is just as much in control of the religious person, who is doing all the good that he can.

It just the devil chooses to you them in a different way within his system to accomplish his purposes. And that will come out in a moment. So your notes of the spirit that is now working. Again here we have a present participle, it is the spirit who is now working, presently working. This spirit is under the control of the devil. The prince of the power of the air is now working in the sons of disobedience.

The sons of disobedience an expression, children of disobedience, sons of disobedience of a character of life; in other words, as we often talk about a child manifest the character of his parent. The children of God are to manifest the character of God. When you are talking the sons or children of disobedience, you are talking about those whose life is characterized by disobedience.

So their sons of disobedience the standpoint this is the quality and character of their life. They are disobedient. Look over in Chapter 5 verse 6, the same expression in Ephesians 5, 6. Let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. So here we have this group of people, whose life has being conformed to the world, who are subject to the prince of the power of the air that God of this world, the devil and the spirit under his control is working in their life and they are disobedient.

Now what it is the reference of the disobedience, there has to something you must obey if you are going to be disobedient to it. Obviously, they are disobedient to God and his word his truth, because anyone operating under the control and in the sphere of the devil cannot be operating in obedience to the world of God. The sphere then of obedience or the reference point for obedience of disobedience is God’s word.

And in reference to God, they are totally disobedient. So I think the unregenerate man never does anything, anything, and anything to ever please God. His character is disobedience as far as God is concerned. He never does anything, well the ultimate goal of the glory and honor of God. So whatever he does, whether looks good to us or bad as a chart of disobedience, he is functioning and there is a reference point with the devil. And he is in disobedience to God.

That does not mean that everyone is just bad in his action as he could be, because obviously the devil has a place in his plan where so called moral religious people, because anything that keeps people away from the true and living God is in accord with the devils plan. And of going to church and having them singing hymns will give them a sense of satisfaction and pride, but not bring them to the true and living God fine. Let’s have them go to church and sing hymns will bring them to God. And that’s what his concern is.

So they are sons of disobedience, and you must see them in light of what God says. You must see yourself in light of what God says. This is what you were before God that his work in your life. This is what you are, if you have not yet believed in him. They know, there is not a difference in quality here some of us are better than others.

There is only a difference and that some have believed and some have not believed. But this is true of every person. This is what we were before God did his working his life. If you believed in Jesus Christ, you get some appreciation of the great power of God that’s operative. The persons that he had to deal with, not much to work with, wasn’t. I think that God got to bargain when he got you, and he really got a mess.

But look what you did with it, one who was conformed to the world under the authority and power of the devil. Look over in First Peter 114 for his expression from the other side. First Peter 1, page 355 of the New American Standard Bible going toward the back of your New Testament. Get the book of Hebrews; James, First Peter, Chapter 1 verse 14. Here we have the other expression is that the children of disobedience, as obedient children or you have it in your margin literally, children of obedience.

Do not be conformed to the formal lusts and your ignorance. Here are the difference now, instead of children’s of disobedience, we have children of obedience. Those who have become believers and now are the children of God, whose life is characterized by the character of God, and obedience and submissive to his will. So he’d be out of character for them to be conformed for their formal lusts what they were before, as they were sons of disobedience and living in accord with the world.

Alright back to Ephesians Chapter 2. Second area, then what did they submitted to the devil, this is the spirit to whom they submitted. And if you do not believe in a person or devil, that’s your problem that does not change reality. He is still the one who dominates and controls your life as an unbeliever. People say, I think that’s lot of hokey, I don’t believe it, that doesn’t change reality. How you are going to know if there is such a spirit being with such power as the devil. Only someone who has knowledge of the spirit world can tell you, and that one has to be God, because I can't rely on anyone else, because if I go other than to God to find out the truth, I will have to go to someone who is under the control of the spirit to tell me.

And anyone under control of this one who’s very character is a liar, naturally cannot be relied upon. So I must go to God and his truth to find out, is there a personal devil who is operative in the world in controlling and motivating men, God says, yes there is. That becomes very personally important to every individual, because either you are or you were under his authority and control.

Alright the third area, that’s Paul touches on here is the spirit which they lived, the standard which they conformed the world, the spirit to whom they submitted was the devil and the sphere in which they lived is the flesh. Verse 3, among them, you know how Paul connects this in verse 1; it ended in your trespasses and sins in which you formally walked. Verse 2 ended in the sons of disobedience. Verse 3 begins, among them we two all formally lived.

Among them, the sons of disobedience, we two all formally lived. And you have to underline “we all” because there are no exceptions here. There is not a person who did not live among the sons of disobedience, whose life was not characterized at disobedient in a state of rebellion against God. We all formally lived. Now you know there has been a change here, we formally lived here. This is not to be our present pattern. As it was in verse 2, we formally walked, we formally lived.

There has been change in the life of one who has become a believer in Jesus Christ. There’s to be an obvious change in his life, because now he is one whose life is characterized by obedience and submissiveness to God, whereas before it was characterized by disobedience to God submissiveness to the devil. We all formally lived and you note here, our lives, it was lived. The sphere of our existence lived in the lusts of our flesh.

So where did you live before Jesus Christ changed your life, you lived in the lust of the flesh. That was the sphere in which your existence was, you lived there, and you dwelt there. Your habitual pattern of life was in the lusts of the flesh, the desires and drive of the flesh. Word lust here is not always used in a bad sense in the New Testament. But the context determines and here obviously it is in the lust or drives of the flesh.

The flesh referring to what a man is apart from the work of God in his life. The flesh, that’s in the New Testament used, as what you are apart from Gods work in your lives. Now even when God does a work in your lives the flesh is still present. But He also has made you a new man, so the flesh would refer to the old man as used elsewhere. The lust or desires of the flesh; and the flesh has desires and then incidentally they wouldn’t have to always be bad, but as they are submitted to the devil.

And in our state of disobedience, they are always perverted and they used contrary to what God intense. And then different people, different ones are a problem; we have the sex drive not bad in and of itself. God had made men to have a sexual relationship and in the proper context it is fine. The marriage is the writer of Hebrews wrote, the bed is undefiled, fine. So what happened, it’s perverted, and every other drive, the hunger drive, fine. But what happen, he get perverted and so on.

But here the lust of our flesh and you know indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And that here we again have a present active participle, translated here “indulging” or doing literally, doing the desires of the flesh and you note here, again the emphasis on what was my habitual lifestyle and pattern. I was habitually doing the desires of the flesh.

I was never doing the desires of the spirit. And I was not doing the desires of the new man under the control of the spirit, because there was no new man. All I was with the natural man. Paul, talks about in First Corinthians 2, the flesh and I spent my entire existence doing and living under the lust and indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind.

Anything of the desires and lust of the flesh usually, I think it something grows, immorality and murder and stealing these things. But you know they can take any form at all. Again we have remember, this power the devil the prince of the power the air controlling the spirit that is working in men, the sons of disobedience who are following the drive to their flesh. And they drive then desires of the flesh can take various forms.

Look over in Corinthians Chapter 3. And here we see how Paul uses the term flesh. What man can do apart from God, and even his best efforts end up to be unsatisfactory and really in rebellion against God. Verse 4, although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh I far more or you want to just talk about what a man can do apart from God work Paul says, I got as much reason to be proud as anyone.

What did he do, then he goes on he was proud of his religious heritage. He was proud of his patriotism. I mean he was a Jew and he had gone through all the proper rights of being a Jew. So patriotic and religious pride, Paul says that characterize the flesh. The best efforts that I did what were they are most outstanding religious efforts; also you got to care chop them up to the flesh.

And there is nothing to be proud of, because of if you read further down in this Chapter Paul is going to say, I put them on the donkey and worthless, why. I mean here he is outstanding religious man, doing his best in all of the detail of his religious life. But you know the problem that was the best the flesh could do. And the best flesh can do is being in a state of rebellion against God, whether it's in sexual and immorality or whether it's in going church on Sunday.

Paul says, I was doing it in the flesh, and I was proud of what I was. You talk to an unbeliever about Ephesians Chapter 2 and said, you know you are dead and your trespasses in sins. He knows that you are under the control of the prince of the power of the air and they are offended, why. I am as good as you are. What you think Indian hills is the only church in Lincoln. I go to church what’s wrong with you.

Nothing wrong with me, what’s wrong with you? The problem is man is proud even of his religious attainment. I am proud of our church. I am proud of what I do. I am proud of what I don’t do. And all it is the energies of the flesh. Some people have not yet trusted Christ, although they have sat under word week after week, why they are too proud. They are convinced. They are alright. If that’s what you need, fine, it's not what I need.

What are they, they are in a state of disobedience or rebellion against God, because God has said you need this and they are saying I don’t need that. That is a state of rebellion and disobedience to God. When I tell my son, you need to do this and he says, I don’t need to do that then there is a conflict. He is in a state of disobedience and rebellion and that’s where we are, God says this is your condition you say no it isn’t. Then that just demonstrates that you are in a state of rebellion and resistance as regard to him.

Look over in Galatians 5, the Galatians is the book just before Ephesians, usually they Chapter we think of when we think of the works of the flesh is Galatians Chapter 5 verse 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. We will pick up with verse 19 Galatians 5. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident which are immorality, impurity, sensuality idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outburst of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like this and those who do these will not have quite of Gods kingdom.

So you note the list here that includes things that we would say, oh yes that’s terrible. But you know as soon as you begin to lose your focal point as the word of God, you have lost any point of reference. As soon as we say well strife isn’t so bad, jealousy everyone is jealous that’s human nature. We are going to get that in a moment, that’s right, it’s human nature. The human nature is in a state of rebellion and resistance against God.

But as soon as you begin to take this list and say, what jealousy isn’t as bad as immorality, and everybody’s get angry, I mean who doesn’t lose his temper. So obviously that’s not as bad. And we’ve all had disputes. So of course that isn’t as bad. But immorality we agree on, without the truth of God as your focal point in standard how do you know.

Some of you saw a program on television the other night. Well they had a hooker’s convention, and just happened at the television on after the news, and that came on and I had to listen. Why I had listened, I am not sure. But the futility of it, well at point of reference of what is right and wrong, here we people with audiences of a thousands and thousands of people sitting in front of it, telling us that immorality is right, is this just another variation of normal.

And stop producing guilt feeling by saying its wrong. They did have a lady come on, who try to say that it was wrong. But you got the feeling of the pitiful condition she was in, because she had no basis to say that it was wrong expect she didn’t like it. And without an objective standard of truth who says that immorality is immoral. So pretty soon the whole list base into personal preference. Jealousy isn’t so bad and neither as immorality it depends on your definition.

We live in then; we have come to the relative situation. Only God can tell us whether it is right and wrong. And he has and he is pointed out with the flesh manifest itself. So it doesn’t surprise me that people go on this line that I want to manifest the flesh and that must be alright. Well they had no reference point, but the flesh.

So they think it's alright I want to do it. It is a drive I have. So could it be wrong, but if I had to drive to shoot them while they were talking that would be wrong wouldn’t it. Who said, I have to drive, I should fulfill it. Well wait a minute, that’s wrong. But immorality is not hurting anyone. That was the line we are following, what they were following, who says that’s not hurting anyone, God says that sin is destructive and ruins the person.

But they didn’t know that, they could know. It's like a person who says that you can take rat poison but it doesn’t hurt, it won’t bother you. Well who says, I read the box and it says it will, so I don’t do it. And I read the word of God, it says it will, so I don’t do it, because that is manifestation of the flesh, isn’t that wonderful that God has showed us in the world and given us a standard of right and wrong and then placed his spirit within us to conform us to the standard of right, which is his own character.

Alright and you go back Ephesians Chapter 2. I know you shouldn’t know watch the hooker’s convention. Back to Ephesians Chapter 2, indulging the desire to the flesh and of the mind, you see the total perversion that is taken place. The man who was functioning in the flesh even his mind is distorted, because it functions under the control of the spirit that is under the control of the devil.

And so you are not only indulging the desires of the flesh, but of the mind. So I cannot even rely upon my mind and my intellect as an unregenerate person. That’s Paul wrote, why Roman Chapter 12 verses 1 and 2, I beseech you therefore, brethren that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which you reasonable service, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transform how by the making new of your mind, because the mind has to be made no as well, because in the unregenerate person his mind is not a good focal point.

It is not a good point of reference, because it is just as corrupt as the entire rest of him. So that the best of the unsaved mind comes up with is still more disobedience and rebellion against God. What is the unregenerate man done with his scientific knowledge and mind; come up with the science so called that is in conflict with the truth of God. This manifest that it’s mine does not even reliable, because it always carries into disobedience against God.

This is the sphere in which he lives. He can never do anything outside this sphere, disobedience, rebellion, sin he lives in this sphere and he never leaves it, unless he places his faith in Jesus Christ. It’s hard for us to see men is that they pray, that ruin, that hopeless but that’s where you were, that’s where I was, totally hopeless and worthless apart from what God to do for us.

Alright indulging the desire to the flesh and of the mind, and whereby nature the children of wrath even as the rest. Taken that concluding statement as a conclusion and another statement of our condition; he started up by speaking our condition, dead in sin, he closes by stating our condition doing the wrath, whereby nature the children of wrath. This is what we were and it was our continuous condition in that state we were in the past, we were by nature.

And I take that refers to what our natural condition was. When we talk about its human nature to do this as we referred to earlier, that is exactly right. It is human nature to do the wrong thing. So we excused ourselves and our actions by saying, well it’s just human nature. My child does something and I say, well its human nature, that’s right. But you keep in mind that human nature is depraved. It is distorted. It is twisted and it is in a state of rebellion and disharmony with God.

So we were by nature, this is by our very character, children of wrath. So earlier we were sons of disobedience, you know what sons of disobedience are they are children of wrath. And just a sons of disobedience meant that their life was characterized by disobedience. So, children of wrath mean those whose life is characterized by wrath and/or doomed to wrath, because the wrath of God is reveled from heaven against all unrighteousness.

As Romans Chapter 1 verse 18 tells us, God’s wrath is reviewed against all unrighteousness. So we were unrighteous, obviously from verses 1, 2, and 3. So we were by nature children of wrath. So we need to carry that over. When you are in sin, when you are conformed to the world and to the domination of the devil, you are a child of wrath. One who is doomed do experience the eternal wrath of God.

The wrath has not yet been poured out in its fullness. Although, it's manifested in various ways as Romans Chapter 1 makes clear. When God gave man over, the wrath of God manifest itself and just the deteriorating quality of life among the sinner, that is but life is it at downward trend. You see their ultimate outcome of alcoholism. You see the wrath of God displayed, when man is given up to pursue his sin.

You see all then a conclusion of a drug oriented life, of a sexually immoral life. You see the wrath of God being displayed, but as full outpouring will come in a future time. When the wrath of God is poured out and men are sentenced to the second death or revelation of Chapter 20. Those who are spiritually dead verse 1 and die in a state of spiritual death will experience the full wrath of God and then sentenced to hell eternal separation from God.

And they and we were by nature children of God, as the rest. Don’t get the idea you are better than someone else. Paul says we are the just like the rest, children of wrath. Then why I am not under wrath, the grace of God. He is going to develop in verses following that we will be looking at next week. All that I am right now is a result of God’s grace. I can identify if your heir is an unbeliever and your condition, because that’s what I was. Praise God I am not any longer, not because of what I have, but because of what he has done.

He has made me a new person. He is taking out of that old realm and put me in a new one, in his son Jesus Christ. Like. That gives you some inkling of the great power that is operative in the life of a believer. He takes a person in this mess, as described in the first 3 verses, who else but God could do anything with him, and he has I am no longer conformed to the world. I am no longer submitted to the devil. I am no longer living in the flesh.

Now I am conformed to Jesus Christ. I am submissive to him. And I am conformed to him. And I live in him in the heavenlies, all has to do was with God has done in my life. The only question you have to ask yourself is, where am I, am I in an, or am I a where, am you right now. In verses 1, 2, 3 is this your present state, you say I don’t think so, no it couldn’t me I am not that bad. You will see my beautiful family, my faithfulness and on and on and on, no.

Have you ever believed in Jesus Christ, have you ever come to the point in your life where you realized you were a sinner, because God says you are, realized the Jesus Christ die for you on that basis and that basis alone you placed your faith in him as personal savior. You say, I can't remember a time, don’t think it's happened. Then God says, this is your description in the first three verses.

If you have placed your faith in him, you can praise him. This is what you were, now what you are any longer, but what you were, and you can praise him for something of the greatness of his power that has taken one in such condition and made him one from God can declare righteous, fully acceptable without blame before the presence of this holiness.

Let’s pray together. Father we are thankful for the greatness of your power or its surpassing greatness, who could takes us. But we are so involved and in messed and ruined in our sin, God cleanse us, forgive us, God establish us in your righteousness or we are thankful for the true freedom that we had in Jesus Christ. We will pray for any who are here who have not yet experienced this freedom. But even right they might place their faith in Jesus Christ. That they might know what it is to be truly free to enjoy your presence, to live in the heavenly in Christ. We pray in His name Amen.