Ephesians 2 Part 1 (6-26-05)

Ephesians 2 Part 1
Bible Study Time 6-29-05

In Ephesians, Chapter 1, the Apostle Paul details the spiritual blessings that God has bestowed upon us. We were chosen before the foundation of the world, and we were predestined to be adopted as the Sons of God. Because we have redemption through His blood and forgiveness for sins, we stand before God as holy and without blame. Therefore, we are accepted in Jesus Christ, the beloved One.

What a contrast as we move into Chapter 2 and see Paul’s description of what we were before we met the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 1 says:

Eph 2:1 (NKJ)
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

We used to be dead in our trespasses and sins, but now we have been made alive in Jesus Christ. In Chapter 1, Paul prayed that the saints of Ephesus would be able to understand the power that God exercised when He raised Christ up from the dead. Now he says that God has exercised that same power to bring us from death into life.

Paul had already laid the groundwork for this discussion in his letter to the Romans. In Romans 5, Paul explained that sin came into the world through one man. Of coarse, that one man was Adam, who is the father of us all in a natural sense. As a result of Adam’s sin, all of us inherited the sin nature. Each person, from Adam to the present time, has been born with a propensity to sin because of that inherited sin nature.

As cute and as innocent as little babies are, you can’t help but adore them and be thankful to God for them. But there has never been a baby born yet who entered into this world saying, "Pardon me. I didn’t mean to put you to so much trouble."

No, babies let you know pretty quickly that they expect you to drop everything to take care of them. When they’re hungry, they don’t say, "Go ahead and take care of whatever your doing, but if you get a chance, I sure would appreciate a bottle of milk." Babies are born with a natural instinct that says, "I am the center of the universe and all activities should revolve around me."

Well, that’s OK for babies, but it speaks volumes about our nature. When those tendencies, when those attitudes, continue in our hearts as we get older, we see the devastating effects in our homes, in our schools, and in our communities. Adults who don’t deal effectively with the sin nature will find themselves locked in the grips of the works of the flesh. In Galatians 5, Paul declares:

Gal 5:19-21 (NKJ)
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like;

In these works of the flesh the basic selfishness with which we are born is clearly seen under intense magnification. The Lord Jesus said that we could fulfill all of the law of God if we could just learn to love one another. Paul reiterated this same thought when he said:

Gal 5:14 (NKJ)
14 . . . all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

However, the sad news is that we do not possess within ourselves the capacity to love our neighbors. Our sin nature takes us in the opposite direction. It takes us where we do not even want to go. Paul said in Romans 7, "For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice."

One of the saddest and most interesting aspects of the sin nature is that it will lead us in directions that defy sound logic. In years past, we have seen national politicians essentially assured of victory who were willing to risk it all to break into the opposing headquarters to increase their odds of victory. This defies sound logic. We have seen individuals worth millions of dollars who risk it all to trade a stock based on insider information. The old nature has the capacity to tear down the fabric of good sound logic.

When the Lord Jesus came to the earth from the glory of heaven, he was born not as a child of Adam but as the Son of God. He was not afflicted with the sin nature. When He was driven by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness and tempted by the devil, He did not succumb to the illogical demands of the devil.

The devil demanded that the Lord turn a stone into bread, but Jesus knew instinctively that His relationship with God was more important than food for his human body. He had been with the Father. He knew the glory of heaven. Even if He starved to death, He would never sacrifice the glory of heaven for a taste of bread.

The devil offered the Lord Jesus the kingdoms of this world if Jesus would bow down and worship him, but the Lord Jesus knew the power of God, and that any authority which the devil had over the kingdoms of this world would be short lived. He also knew that the glory of the Father would last forever. Without the help of the sin nature, the devil could not destroy the sound logic of the Spirit of God.

When the devil demanded that the Lord Jesus should cast Himself off of the highest point of temple to see if the angels would come to His rescue, the Lord Jesus knew better than to test the Father. God is not One who allows Himself to be tested by man. God is the God of all creation, and He accepts those who come to Him by faith. The Lord Jesus Christ is our supreme example of One whose faith never failed or even faltered. He had no sin nature to confuse His mind or alter the devotion of His heart.

We as humans, on the other hand, must find a way to escape the clutches of the sin nature if we are to find peace with God and victory over sin. As long as we live under the domination of the sin nature, Paul says we are walking dead men with no spiritual life.

This was our condition before we met the Lord Jesus Christ. We were dead in trespasses and sins. We walked according to the course of this world and according to the prince of the power of the air. We were driven to fulfill the desires of the flesh, and we were motivated by our hatred for others, just like everyone else.

Paul alludes to the power and authority of the devil when he speaks of the prince of the power of the air. Indeed, the one who dared to tempt the Lord Jesus is still very active today. The devil has less authority now than He did in Jesus’ day in that according to Colossians 2, when Christ died upon the cross, He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public spectacle of them as He triumphed over them.

However, the devil still works in the children of disobedience, and Paul says that we were once under His sway as we went about fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. But in Ephesians 2 and verse 4 we read:

Eph 2:4-5 (NKJ)
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

Only in Jesus Christ do we find the wherewithal to really escape the grip of the sin nature. Good parents train their children to keep the selfishness of the sin nature under control, and fortunately most people are able to avoid the most extreme works of the flesh. But that sort of "self control" is often motivated by strong social restraints which promise dire consequences to those who yield to the outward manifestations of the sin nature.

Once I was talking to a man about spiritual things, and he made the statement to me that the only purpose for churches is to help keep people under control. This seems to be a view that is shared by many people. This gentleman seemed to think that he really did not need church as long as he was able to exercise good self control.

When Martin Luther began to preach the beautiful truths of the book of Romans, that people are saved by grace through faith and not by good works, the organized church persecuted Luther saying that his theology would be the ruin of decent society.

Well, it certainly is true the people who are trying to manage and reform the sin nature will need every bit of help they can get. They will need tremendous social pressure to put a guard around the sin nature. But even those who are able to control the outward deeds of the flesh still have the selfish motivations of the sin nature. Every good deed will still be characterized by their own selfish desires.

The other day, I was talking to a minister friend of mine who told me about a time when he was called to do a funeral service. Shortly after that, he got a call from the pastor of the deceased, and that pastor was very upset because he had not been called first when the arrangements for the funeral were being made.

Situations like that can be very disappointing because they illustrate how often people dedicate their lives to do good things, but they have never really been set free from the destructive forces of the sin nature.

God’s solution for the sin nature was not to reform it or control it. His solution was to nail it to the cross of Calvary. We were dead in trespasses and sins, but God made us alive. He brought us out of the realm of death and into the realm of life in Jesus Christ.

Just like God brought the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt and into the promised land, He has brought us out of the realm of darkness and into the realm of His glorious light. Colossians 1 says:

Col 1:13-14 (NKJ)
13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 2 says:

Col 2:13-14 (NKJ)
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Colossians 2 also makes it very clear that our deliverance was accomplished by the work which God accomplished for us in the spiritual realm. Verse 11 says that in Christ, we were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by the circumcision of Christ.

Of coarse, the circumcision of Christ refers to His physical death. The prophet Daniel used a similar expression when he predicted that the Messiah would be cut off after 69 weeks. Christ came to earth in a body of flesh and that body of flesh was cut off from the land of the living. But notice that Christ’s circumcision was accomplished by the hand of God. Jesus said in John 10:

John 10:15, 18 (NKJ)
15 "As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
18 "No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."

We were separated from the sin nature by the circumcision of Christ, and no human hand was allowed to touch this sacred ceremony. This was a circumcision made without hands.

Verse 12 goes on to say that we were buried with Christ in baptism, and we were raised with Christ through faith in the working of God who raised Christ from the dead. Again, this is a sacred spiritual baptism which is accomplished by the working of God.

Human religion should be careful about trying to put a human hand upon the ceremony which God has determined that He will perform. In Exodus 20:25, God told the children of Israel:

Exod 20:25 (NKJ)
25 '. . . if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it.

In this same way, our baptism into the death, burial and resurrection of Christ is something that God has determined that He will do. Let us not profane this sacred ceremony with human hands.

It was the indescribable power of God which raised Christ from the dead, and it is that same power which baptizes us into the death, burial and resurrection of Christ to transfer us from the realm of death into the realm of eternal life.

Well, I trust God will bless you today as you worship Him. I have enjoyed studying with you this morning, and I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.

Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com

Church links:
http://www.peacechurch_ok.org/
http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/
http://gracebiblechurch_fw.com/