Ephesians 2:1-10: "A Life in Christ Versus A Life Without Him"
"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.".
"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.".
Concerning this Life :What can we expect from living a life without Jesus Christ?
Any person who lives their life without Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior can expect the following 4 things to come true:
Before our conversion experience in Jesus Christ, we live a life of separation (death) that came about because of the sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden. The Bible said we were born in sin and shaped in iniquity. The Bible also said the soul that sins shall indeed die. Adam’s sin created a separation from the original relationship that mankind had with God. The truth is, we were created to serve and know God personally, to seek to establish a relationship of worship and praise with Him. After establishing this relationship, we were to work to carry out the will of God in this world as God’s representatives. Without Jesus Christ, our lives are without real hope, real love, real peace, and our eternal home after we depart from this life is eternal separation or alienation from God
2. Without Christ, our lives according to Ephesians 2: 1- 2 is a life that’s dead in trespasses and sin.
This means that the person who has not yielded to Christ and allowed him to be lord over their life lives their life by the standards of this sin filled world. By living in this manner, the person in under the influence of the prince of the power of the air (Satan). The person will have a carnal mind that will not seek to establish a real relationship with the true and living God. The bible calls this mindset a conscience that has been seared with a “hot iron”. With each trespass that person falls further and further away from the grace of God. No matter how good a person tries to live, in the eyes of God, his good is viewed as “filthy rags”. The life of the person can be viewed in the followed manner as being a son of the devil.
3. Without Christ, we can expect a life full of disobedience and rebellion.
An unsaved man lives a life that is full of disobedient behavior. The main problem with displaying this type of deviant behavior is these habits and actions coming from the person reflect a yielding to the lusts of their flesh (desires of the physical body) a satisfying the lust of their eyes and a fulfilling pride of life in their lives as well. When we talk about the lust of the flesh or body, many times we neglect to include evil thoughts and emotional outburst like uncontrolled anger and unbelief in the power and word of God. The center of all disobedience lies in the person’s choice in yielding to the desires of his own will and choosing to neglect and even ignore the will of God. In other words, the person becomes selfish and mostly self -centered. Jesus further illustrates the state of this type of person in Matthew 7: 27. In this parable, Jesus compares this person as a person who built their house ‘s foundation on sand rather than on a rock. Jesus warns that when the hard times of life comes to this type of person, their life (house) will surely crumble under the pressure.
4. Without Christ, we can expect a life always subject to the wrath of God.
The unsaved person already live a life under the wrath of God. According to John 3:18-20, Jesus said the following words: "He that believes in Him (Jesus) is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
In Ephesians 2: 3, we are called the children of wrath because of our sinful nature and the fact that without Christ we are already under the wrath and judgment of God. In our sinful nature, we are constantly acting against the teachings and will of God. We constantly disobey Him, ignore Him, reject His pleas, and refuse to receive Him. We curse Him rather than praise Him. Romans 10: 3 says we being ignorant of God’s righteousness have gone about establishing our own righteousness and have not submitting ourselves to the righteousness of God. The person under the wrath of God must be aware that deception is not an option and that he can’t mock God in any way. It behooves him to know that whatever he plant in the garden of this life will be the same thing he will reap from the garden of this life.
Concerning Our Conversion Experience: 4 Things God does for the Believer after Conversion:
1. God "quickens" us together with Jesus Christ.
The first thing God does for us in the conversion experience is “quicken us” together with Christ. According to verses 4 and 5, this “quickening” took place even while we were still living in sin and shaped in iniquity. God’s love really shows toward us because in quickening us before our salvation, it proves that God’s plan of salvation was already in place before we were even born. It also shows that we were regenerated from a “spiritually” dead state, and now that we are “born again” , we have become “new creations” in Jesus Christ. In the eyes of God, “old things” (our sinful unsaved state) has now passed and all things about our life have become new. There are several things we should always remember about the "quickening experience":
1. Since the believer is said to be “in Christ’, and Jesus is said to be in the “Heavenlies”, it stands to reason that the believer is in the heavenly realm in the sense of his “experience” with Jesus. It means that even though the believer is in his “physical” body, in a spiritual sense, he has been elevated by God as though he is already in heaven. This came about because of our personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and as believers in Christ, the Bible says we now have kinship with Him as "Sons of God".
2. As a believer, our resurrection, salvation and exaltation is an accomplished fact. Because Jesus was raised from the dead and now he now sits at the right hand of God as our intercessor, it is to our advantage that we seek to live our lives the way that spiritually we are supposed to for God. The bible calls this seek those things that are above. We now are to become spiritual minded in Jesus Christ and stop being carnal minded because this puts us at odds with God and causes us to fall out of his favor.
3. Because of our profession of faith in Jesus Christ as our savior and lord, in the eyes of God, we have already been raised up spiritually in to our future state with him. By doing so, God “sees us” in Jesus. We possess the spirit of Jesus Christ in us, as a result, as we live, in reality, we live because the works of God are made manifest in us by the spirit of Christ that now dwell within.
4. Because of our conversion experience, God reveals to and through us His great purpose. God has one great purpose; that is this; God wants the world to see and to experience his kindness and grace through the person of Jesus Christ. God wants the whole world to know of his glory. According to verse 7, God has done so much for us through Jesus Christ, that it would take all of eternity to show all of what he has done. At best, all that you and I will see is a microcosm of all that God has in store for us. The bible says that eyes have not seen, nor has ears heard, nor has it even entered in the hearts of man everything that God will have in store for all who love him. God’s glory extends throughout all eternity. The awesome display of God’s creation in it’s vastness will be shown to man when the end of this age comes to fruition.
Any person who lives their life without Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior can expect the following 4 things to come true:
Before our conversion experience in Jesus Christ, we live a life of separation (death) that came about because of the sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden. The Bible said we were born in sin and shaped in iniquity. The Bible also said the soul that sins shall indeed die. Adam’s sin created a separation from the original relationship that mankind had with God. The truth is, we were created to serve and know God personally, to seek to establish a relationship of worship and praise with Him. After establishing this relationship, we were to work to carry out the will of God in this world as God’s representatives. Without Jesus Christ, our lives are without real hope, real love, real peace, and our eternal home after we depart from this life is eternal separation or alienation from God
2. Without Christ, our lives according to Ephesians 2: 1- 2 is a life that’s dead in trespasses and sin.
This means that the person who has not yielded to Christ and allowed him to be lord over their life lives their life by the standards of this sin filled world. By living in this manner, the person in under the influence of the prince of the power of the air (Satan). The person will have a carnal mind that will not seek to establish a real relationship with the true and living God. The bible calls this mindset a conscience that has been seared with a “hot iron”. With each trespass that person falls further and further away from the grace of God. No matter how good a person tries to live, in the eyes of God, his good is viewed as “filthy rags”. The life of the person can be viewed in the followed manner as being a son of the devil.
3. Without Christ, we can expect a life full of disobedience and rebellion.
An unsaved man lives a life that is full of disobedient behavior. The main problem with displaying this type of deviant behavior is these habits and actions coming from the person reflect a yielding to the lusts of their flesh (desires of the physical body) a satisfying the lust of their eyes and a fulfilling pride of life in their lives as well. When we talk about the lust of the flesh or body, many times we neglect to include evil thoughts and emotional outburst like uncontrolled anger and unbelief in the power and word of God. The center of all disobedience lies in the person’s choice in yielding to the desires of his own will and choosing to neglect and even ignore the will of God. In other words, the person becomes selfish and mostly self -centered. Jesus further illustrates the state of this type of person in Matthew 7: 27. In this parable, Jesus compares this person as a person who built their house ‘s foundation on sand rather than on a rock. Jesus warns that when the hard times of life comes to this type of person, their life (house) will surely crumble under the pressure.
4. Without Christ, we can expect a life always subject to the wrath of God.
The unsaved person already live a life under the wrath of God. According to John 3:18-20, Jesus said the following words: "He that believes in Him (Jesus) is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
In Ephesians 2: 3, we are called the children of wrath because of our sinful nature and the fact that without Christ we are already under the wrath and judgment of God. In our sinful nature, we are constantly acting against the teachings and will of God. We constantly disobey Him, ignore Him, reject His pleas, and refuse to receive Him. We curse Him rather than praise Him. Romans 10: 3 says we being ignorant of God’s righteousness have gone about establishing our own righteousness and have not submitting ourselves to the righteousness of God. The person under the wrath of God must be aware that deception is not an option and that he can’t mock God in any way. It behooves him to know that whatever he plant in the garden of this life will be the same thing he will reap from the garden of this life.
Concerning Our Conversion Experience: 4 Things God does for the Believer after Conversion:
1. God "quickens" us together with Jesus Christ.
The first thing God does for us in the conversion experience is “quicken us” together with Christ. According to verses 4 and 5, this “quickening” took place even while we were still living in sin and shaped in iniquity. God’s love really shows toward us because in quickening us before our salvation, it proves that God’s plan of salvation was already in place before we were even born. It also shows that we were regenerated from a “spiritually” dead state, and now that we are “born again” , we have become “new creations” in Jesus Christ. In the eyes of God, “old things” (our sinful unsaved state) has now passed and all things about our life have become new. There are several things we should always remember about the "quickening experience":
1. Since the believer is said to be “in Christ’, and Jesus is said to be in the “Heavenlies”, it stands to reason that the believer is in the heavenly realm in the sense of his “experience” with Jesus. It means that even though the believer is in his “physical” body, in a spiritual sense, he has been elevated by God as though he is already in heaven. This came about because of our personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and as believers in Christ, the Bible says we now have kinship with Him as "Sons of God".
2. As a believer, our resurrection, salvation and exaltation is an accomplished fact. Because Jesus was raised from the dead and now he now sits at the right hand of God as our intercessor, it is to our advantage that we seek to live our lives the way that spiritually we are supposed to for God. The bible calls this seek those things that are above. We now are to become spiritual minded in Jesus Christ and stop being carnal minded because this puts us at odds with God and causes us to fall out of his favor.
3. Because of our profession of faith in Jesus Christ as our savior and lord, in the eyes of God, we have already been raised up spiritually in to our future state with him. By doing so, God “sees us” in Jesus. We possess the spirit of Jesus Christ in us, as a result, as we live, in reality, we live because the works of God are made manifest in us by the spirit of Christ that now dwell within.
4. Because of our conversion experience, God reveals to and through us His great purpose. God has one great purpose; that is this; God wants the world to see and to experience his kindness and grace through the person of Jesus Christ. God wants the whole world to know of his glory. According to verse 7, God has done so much for us through Jesus Christ, that it would take all of eternity to show all of what he has done. At best, all that you and I will see is a microcosm of all that God has in store for us. The bible says that eyes have not seen, nor has ears heard, nor has it even entered in the hearts of man everything that God will have in store for all who love him. God’s glory extends throughout all eternity. The awesome display of God’s creation in it’s vastness will be shown to man when the end of this age comes to fruition.
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