It's Not a Change in Status

Ephesians 2:1-7 ESV

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

Okay, so what’s this saying? It is saying that if by God’s grace we have been saved, in truth, what it says in the first half of this should now describe our lives. We should be people of God who once (past) were dead in sins, who once walked (in conduct, in practice, in behaviors) in sin, who once followed the course (way, path) of Satan, who once lived in disobedience against our Lord, and who once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desire of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath.

This should no longer describe our lives. Now we should be living the opposite of that, though it doesn’t spell it out for us in this section of Scripture, but it is definitely implied, and it is spelled out for us in other Scriptures, definitely in Ephesians 4:17-32 and in Romans 6:1-23. So, if we are really saved by God’s grace, in truth, now we should be following the path God has for us to travel, and now we should be walking in holiness and in righteousness and in obedience to our Lord, and no longer in sin.

Therefore, when it says here that even when we were dead in our sins that God made us alive together with Christ, for by grace we have been saved, this is not saying that we are just changed from one status to another. We aren’t merely transferred from the status of unsaved to the status of saved. It means our hearts, our minds, and our souls have been changed by God, and so our attitudes, and our words, and our behaviors have also been changed so that we don’t live like we did before.

Yes, it is only by God’s grace through God-given faith in Jesus Christ that any of us are saved from our sins and on our way to heaven. We can do absolutely nothing in our flesh to earn or to deserve our own salvation. But when he saves us from our sins, he delivers us out of our slavery (bondage, addiction) to sin so we will now be slaves of God and of his righteousness. And then he empowers us to live godly, upright, and self-controlled lives for his glory and honor in obedience to our Lord.

So many people are reading the second half of these verses and they are deciding they have just changed status from unsaved to saved but that it doesn’t require them to repent of (turn from, forsake) their sins, nor to walk in obedience to our Lord, nor to live godly and upright and morally pure and honest and faithful lives in the power of God, for the glory of God. And they assume they are now seated with Christ in the heavenly places and now heaven is their eternal destiny. But that is not true!

And so we need to go back and read the first half of this which tells us what our lives should look like now. We should be people who in our past, not in our present, once lived in sin and in disobedience to the Lord and in the ways of Satan and of the flesh and who carried out our fleshly desires, in practice. Now we should live the opposite of that in walks of holiness and righteousness and obedience to our Lord in holy living. For Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to God and to his righteousness.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Video Talk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VagINqgAuAM 

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Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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