But when Christ makes the new creation, they will say no more that God made the heaven and the earth, but they will say in higher strains, "He made these new-born men and women. Men by nature are all dead. In every Greek city there were xenoi ( G3581) and their life was not easy. I would say, "Okay, start out in the back yard, that weed patch back there. I didn't think anybody would miss the one. That is, all our strength is to lean on another, even the Lord. It can never rise above its human source. Reader 1 In his own flesh Jesus broke down the hostility between us. The Holy Ghost thus takes a corresponding part. The first is nature; the second is relationship. "For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation [administration or stewardship] of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery (as I wrote afore in few words; whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ); which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed." Now, the text tells us that, though we were dead, yet Christ has come, and by his Spirit he has raised us out of the grave. There is a certain murderous power in sin. And you have got the wrong address. If we stain a garment or a carpet, we may send it to be cleaned, but it is never again quite the same. in the lust of our flesh, as we were fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; as we were by nature the children of wrath, even as the others ( Ephesians 2:3 ). He went up after all the working of evil had been really defeated and destroyed in the sight of God. Holy Scripture is not complimentary to unrenewed human nature. It is a divine spark, a light from the great central Sun of light, the great Father of Lights. Come, let us worship God. When the elder called at this old woman's cellar with the cards, he found that she had gone. There we have tongues, miracles, etc. P: I will fasten the belt of truth about my waist. 11Therefore, remember that formerly(X) you who are Gentiles by birth and called uncircumcised by those who call themselves the circumcision (which is done in the body by human hands)(Y) 12remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners(Z) to the covenants of the promise,(AA) without hope(AB) and without God in the world. We want your renewing of us, but often it hurts. And they don't know the joy that we have in the presence of the Lord as we worship Him and as we sing unto Him our love and our praises and our thanksgiving. It was Jesus; and Jesus stood in what was altogether peculiar in a relationship that was perfectly according to God's counsels; but more than that, according to a relationship that was peculiar to His own person. What the paradox was to me in the sphere of thought, perversity became to me in the sphere of passion. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, but he never forgot the unique place of the Jews in the design and the revelation of God. I thought, "Yes; I know all about that; that is my case." Oh! That is, when you see a person walking you make an assumption he is going someplace and he has a purpose in mind. In point of fact, from his conversion right through, the revelation of the mystery was involved. Take heed; thou wilt go further still; there is no stopping in sin. The moment the apostle comes to inward relationship, he leaves the universality of phrase and speaks only of the saints of God "in you all." These are the two former points. The practical outcome of all this, that some of you do not know anything at all about it. 110 and 2:1122. They had a distinguished place before the Son became man. You that now commune with God at the mercy-seat, you that are now his favoured children, and have received power to become the sons of God, you were once heirs of wrath: "By nature the children of wrath, even as others." My dear friends, you who are quickened, let me advise you to take care of the devil; he will be sure to be after you. Neither in that blessed state in Christ, nor in the wretched condition mentioned here, is there any such thing as "being dead to sin" in the sense of exemption from the temptations to sin. We cannot describe it; no man can describe his first birth; it remains a mystery. It involved the keeping of the law. Others who are novices at swimming may swim a few feet and then go down. But no matter how hard we may try to hit the mark, none of us have really hit the mark that God has required for man. Evidently it was just a little bit to heavy. he asked the engineer. "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;" not that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, but "rooted," etc., that ye "may be able to comprehend with all saints." That means throughout the endless ages to come you are going to be dwelling with God in His eternal kingdom as God is revealing unto you the exceeding richness of His mercy and of His kindness towards you through Christ Jesus.The psalmist said, "As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high is God's mercies towards those who fear Him." Unquestionably the Spirit of God does evermore dwell in the Christian, though I am not aware that He is ever said to dwell in our hearts. We cannot earn God's love; but we can and must show how grateful we are for it, by seeking with our whole hearts to live the kind of life which will bring joy to God's heart. Oh! He has forgiven you in Christ; and you are called to do the same. There is nothing mysterious about this. Well, at least you are interested in the subject. For "if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." There are plenty who err in that second direction nowadays. The world's motive is profit. Christianity demands service, but the world cannot understand the missionary for instance, who goes away to some foreign land to teach in a school or heal in a hospital for a quarter of the salary he or she might obtain at home in some secular service. [3] Alfred Barry, Ellicott's Commentary on the Holy Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), Vol. Let the earth be glad! But now they had consummated their rebellion by refusing the Christ of God. He is equal to all, and, would have us count on His presence and power answering to the name of Christ. The believer may take possession of what his Representative is holding on his behalf. He gave us life when we were born; but he has given us now a higher life, which could not be found anywhere else. He dwelleth, perhaps, in some back slum of a dirty lane; he knoweth not where to go. 3. k Ib. Ah! Now we are Christians; and this decides the character of the duties we have to pay, or of the good works which He has before prepared that we should walk in them; for "we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus" for this very purpose. Here are some indexes that might be helpful: INDEXES: For a complete list of all the indexes on this blog, click here. Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; Remember what you were. Oh how good it is to have God's forgiveness. Such rebels do not deserve Gods love, but God loves them nevertheless. Such is the measure, if measure it can be called, of the grace wherein we stand. His love does not depend upon what we are; it flows from his own heart. And I was fearful of yielding my life to God. They would put a hoop on a pole, and each man would take his quiver of arrows and shoot his arrows through the hoop one at a time. But for this the most careful provision is laid on us. Here are some indexes that might be helpful. When young people are converted who have not yet acquired evil habits; when they are saved before they become obnoxious in the eyes of the world, the command is, " Give them meat ." The Jews believed that God had approached their nation with a special offer. Do you remember when the new life came into you? Angels are not adequate judges of what pertains to us; they may be witnesses, but not judges. Judging what I am, I confess that all my blessing is in the Saviour, who did not merely come to bless me as a living man in the world, but died and is risen again; and 1, confessing Him who is thus dead and risen, have part in His death. Take heed, I beseech you, ye fairest, youngest, most upright, and most honest; when the dead are separated from the living, unless ye be regenerated, ye must go with the dead; though ye be never so fair and goodly, ye must be cast away, unless you live. He made for them, and in them, new heavens and a new earth.". I would want to make it a great day.Now, do you think that our Father is any different? Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" 5. And now, in Him who is dead and risen, the Christian has put completely off the old man, is being renewed in the spirit of his mind, and has put on the new man, which according to God is created in righteousness and holiness of truth. I thought I was going to die. This he did so that in the age to come the surpassing riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus might be demonstrated. Carefully remember this. And then comes the case of Lazarus. " But Satan has so lied to people about God, about the nature of God, that it has caused people to oftentimes fear submitting their lives to God.Now, when I was a child growing up in church, so many times I would hear people say, "You be careful what you say you are not going to do, because that is exactly what God is going to make you do. Yes, life is a strange thing; and if you have the life of God in your soul, you will undergo many changes, and not always be what you want to be. That is, we were living by the lower nature, the animal nature, living after the lust of our flesh, and the lust of our minds. This discussion has two parts: vv. "Rejoice, O my soul, in thy youth; soon shall other men be in life, "No mortal is happy of all on whom the sun looks down. But this was not enough. We have not earned salvation nor could we have earned it. And if she would say, "No, son, you can't." God had something more to teach those who are the natural denizens of heaven. "Among whom also we all," etc., for he does not let slip the Jews, but turns round on their estate, equally lifeless as the Gentiles. we are reluctant to speak the truth to each other for fear of offending. Paul uses two illuminating pictures. Accelerating into traffic, I looked up and saw a billboard with 6 words, 2 sentences, 1 sign of an imploding culture in two foot high letters. He might have put us in any degree of relationship He pleased. So many of you have begun to form habits that are evil; you know that already the screw of the devil is tightening on your finger. But in Ephesians the aim is of a much more absolute and direct character. Once a thing becomes a habit it is not far from being a necessity. He would have something more. Those that pick it up in their hands and drink out of the hands, then with these will I deliver the Midianites into the hands of Israel." I have some in my congregation that I look upon with fear. To those who want to reject Christ, the message is true; there is no escape. . According to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: He makes them to be his forge. What has God done? "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." "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect" ( Matthew 5:48 ). Sinners cannot save themselves. "The riches of the glory of his inheritance" embrace, of course, that vast scene of creation which is to be put under the glorified saints. 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