Walking in this “newness of life,” is an exercise in living God’s way of life; it is a practicing of walking in eternal life. What God wants us to understand now is that spiritually, this selfsame power that raised Jesus Christ is working in us who believe, and is doing this wonderful work in us. We have become residences of a new spiritual realm in Christ, but our human nature is of the old physical realm of sin. We exercise our will in a new direction. It is a very simple answer, and that is, that Christ was resurrected. We become dead to the world by virtue of His death; we become alive unto God by virtue of His resurrection. By being raised with Christ, we are ‘alive to God.’ We are in tune with the Sovereign Father, and have been awakened to something infinite and absolute. Spirit, that is the part of us that brings us into the Holy of Holies, brings us into the immediate presence of God - that's where real worship happens, in our spirit. It is not an intellectual view, nor a superstitious view; it is a faithful and reverent view. Some will joyfully give those praises because of the salvation they have received, while some will give those praises as conquered enemies headed for eternal punishment for their rejection of God. We have a new mind that shows itself in these ways. In verses 1-3 (which is a single sentence in the original Greek) the apostle Paul expresses the contrast between being spiritually alive or dead. We must all admit, as we read the first seven verses of this chapter, that most of our troubles are due to the fact that we are guilty of a double failure; on the one hand, we fail to realize the depth of sin, and on the other hand, we fail to realize the greatness, the stature, and the glory of our salvation. Subscribe to Our E-Newsletter. Paul accents this grace in contrast to the pre-conversion hopelessness analyzed in verses 1-3. It wipes the slate clean of our past sins. Of course, they all point to the Jesus and what He has done for us. Our priorities and goals change. It saves us from the death penalty. Ephesians 2:4-7 is also a single sentence in the original Greek. It is true in the sense that before we become Christians we are ‘dead in trespasses and sins,’ but as Christians that is no longer true of us. But at the end of third day He arose, and He was raised from the dead. 1. This is because we are no longer an Adamic man. Our greatest desire now is not for more pleasure and momentary satisfaction on earth; it is for righteousness, for true holiness; it is for an intimate relationship with God. That is the purpose of what we are keeping and doing this week. We are not yet raised in a literal resurrection of the dead, but in a spiritual sense, by a change of mind and heart, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Bereans "received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so" (Acts 17:10-11). But He came out from that state and place of death. Not all of life is a battle. He says that a woman, as long as her husband is alive, is bound by that husband, and that she cannot marry another without being an adulteress. We realize that there is a spirit within us, and it makes us conscious of the fact that we belong to another realm, and we begin to live more and more in that, and less and less in the other. This is absolutely vital, because the first thing that it leads to is regeneration. What would it be like if God looked down on us and viewed us as spiritually dead? Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. That statement alone should be enough to show the fallacy of the “once saved, always saved” false doctrine. "WORTHY OF PRAISE" First Corinthians 16.15-18. When a person is ‘in Christ’ he has a new nature, and this new nature cries out for God. When we repent and turn from the wrong ways of this world, begin to resist it, and turn to Him through faith in Christ as our personal Savior, He puts within us His divine nature. But we are no longer there. We are no longer under law, but under grace. Each day we must give ourselves anew to God. I John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. When we praise and worship the Lord in the midst of our pain and suffering, we will experience freedom from our bondages of fear, doubt, depression, and deliverance from demonic oppression. Romans 7:2-4 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. The Christian is no longer hostile against God. Psalm 146:1-10. We are fundamentally and essentially different, but in what respects? sermon: Are You Alive to God? We are still tempted by desires to sin and must not let those desires gain control. An Old Testament example of this is David’s prayer of repentance when Nathan the prophet went to David after he had gone in to Bathsheba. The Sovereign God of the universe, and His Son our Savior, desire fellowship with the saints. We are reminded of it by our daily eating of unleavened bread during these seven days. And the greatest desire of the true Christian is to draw nearer to God. Before we ever awoke this morning, God was being exalted in Europe and Africa. B. Duty is good; I don't want to discourage duty. 4. Everything about our life should change. He no longer has the feeling that God is some terrible cruel tyrant set against us, waiting to crush us and destroy us. Description: What would it be like if God looked down on us and viewed us as spiritually dead? If you point out Scripture to them that corrects what they say, they will always default to their tradition rather than to the inspired written Word of God. It is an essential change. It is also the nature of humility. Consequently, we are under the wrath of God, subject to lusts, and under the control and dominion of sin and of Satan, exactly as Adam was. Click here after starting sermon audio to bring up PowerPoint slides and visual aides which go along with the sermon. Hosanna in the highest. God’s relentless command that we see him as glorious and praise him is a command that we settle for nothing less than the completion of our joy in him. We were all in Adam, we are lineal descendants from Adam, and we were all in him. But even that is not enough, if we do not have genuine concern and compassion for those who are outside the church. He is ‘alive to God.’ We have an entirely new attitude towards God. Those things would bring him near to God and the thought of it repulses him—but not so with the Christian. C. Short . Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? As long as we walk in the spirit, leaving the realm of sin, the sacrifice of Christ is in force. INTRODUCTION:. We are completely opposite of the world. If that were your condition you most likely would not care, unless God was beginning to call you out of that condition. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. But how do we know that God was satisfied with that offering? That was his hope, that was his anticipation, that was his desire, and this is what he wanted with all of his being. We no longer walk in trespasses and sins as we used to do. Psalm 42:1-2 As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. And the same exact thing can be said about the Christian. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Praise is God's Command to us. We no longer want to know what kind of thrill we will get out of something, at least not in the same way as the world does, or what kind of pleasure it will bring us; but rather, does it impinge on our relationship with God and with Jesus Christ? You are my Helper, and You are the One Who surrounds me with Your unfailing love. We have left behind the grave-clothes. He was no longer dead, but He was alive. We are walking in newness of life. It is not only time; it is not only material; it is eternity, it is spiritual, it is everlasting. There are certain negatives that are of tremendous importance that are no longer true of us. This change is a process, and originates not with man, but with God through the Holy Spirit. It removes that which separated us from God, and reconciles us to God. Christ tells us that we will be blessed and satisfied if our desires are for doing what is right. The soul, therefore, will express worship to God. And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. It is that striving, enduring, and persevering that helps us to develop, that is with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, holy righteous character. Christ was dead in the grave for three nights and three days. Amen. He wants to get away from God. The soul, of course, should be affected by our spirits when they are in touch with God, when they're in fellowship with God. Remember, eternity is not only an infinite period of time; it is a quality of life. It is because we do not always realize the depth of the pit out of which we have been brought by the grace of God, that we do not thank God as we should. The Word of God has the power to build us up, make us into proper servants so that when the King comes back, we can go to meet Him unashamed because we will be proper servants of His. John 8:12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. His unfailing love continues forever, and His faithfulness continues to each generation.’, ‘O Lord, You are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for Your help.’. Romans 6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. We are no longer in that realm; our position is an entirely new one. Sometimes we give because of a sense of duty. So David pleaded with God to renew in him an established righteous spirit. We are raised from the dead, because sin makes us spiritually dead to God, and so this is what makes us alive to God. Only God has eternal life inherent within Himself. 2. While you are alive you can praise the Lord. We know that is not true, and we know that we are not perfect. Another thing that is obvious is that we are interested in the Bible in a way in which we were not before. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious … No condemnation! The death of Christ paid the penalty of sin in our stead. Our whole position, our whole status, and standing are absolutely different. That does not mean, of course, that we no longer have to keep God’s law. Unlike the unconverted person, we find that we increasingly meditate on it. We are sharing the life of Christ, and we therefore become like Christ. Sometimes we just relax on our beds and rejoice in the good life of being a child of God, and an object of His delight. The Christian sees that this is a temporary life, a life in time, with a limited amount of time. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. The law executed its full punishment in full measure upon Jesus Christ, and if we are in Him the law has no further demands upon us in that sense. This… Our will is now focused on conforming to the will of our God and Father, and Jesus Christ. As Christians, we are no longer in Adam, but we are in Christ. It is a change from death to life. Among the highest choirs of angels in heaven—the cherubim and the seraphim—their principal duty in heaven is to simply praise the Eternal Triune God for all eternity… Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. His blood alone, if He had not risen from the dead could never save us. They are beings of lust. But that is no longer true of us. They give us insight into … But as Christians, we have come out of it. We still live in this present evil world, and it still exerts a pull as well. We have been called out and brought out; we are in this new life with God and Christ. We are reminded of how hard it is to find, get rid of, and avoid sin in our lives as we try to deal with leavening before and during the Days of Unleavened Bread. The phrase translated “well pleasing,” in verse 9, not only means to be well pleasing; but it also means to be acceptable, or approved, or worthy. But for those who have responded positively to God’s call, have been baptized, and have received God’s Holy Spirit, “you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.”. We have a new standard of values; we assess things in an entirely different way. I was once told by a lady named Bea Shirk, who was one of the most effective first grade teachers I have ever had the experience to pastor, that praise is the stuff that really makes people go. But we have died with Christ, and when we died with Christ the old man died also. Alive to God sends out Daily Thoughts of encouragement via e-mail to inspire believers in their walk of faith with God. Once the first slide appears you can follow along with the message and use the arrow keys to advance the slides. We no longer have enmity against God. Before, we belonged to the realm of sin, to the dominion of sin, and we were under the power of sin. And that is the thing that is true of the Christian—our citizenship is in heaven. The original Greek word ‘palingenesia’ is used by classical Greek writers with reference to the changes produced by the return of spring. Our human nature remains; it still exerts a pull. ‘The Christian’, by definition, is no longer dead spiritually. We are united to Christ. We look at everything in a different way, and have an entirely new standard of values, because we have this renewed mind in Christ. Daily Bible Verse: Psalm 86:5 (NLT) He is a living Savior, not a dead one. What an amazing status that we have in the church; it is just breathtaking. The apostle Paul says it again in Ephesians 4. Now our sins have been forgiven. ‘Delivered up because of our offenses, and raised because of our justification’!So we are no longer under the wrath of God. We are no longer the slaves of sin; we have been taken right out of that. Human beings, as sons and daughters of Adam, enter the world spiritually dead. That is what Paul is dealing with here, with the Ephesian Christians. When we begin the process of conversion—when we have repented, and turned from the world’s false ways and have received God’s Holy Spirit—our human nature does not flee from us. He looks at us as being in Christ. Death is to him the most terrible enemy. But those of us who are ‘in Christ’ have been brought right out of that realm of sin. They went through the symbolic burial in the Red Sea, as they passed through on the last day of Unleavened Bread. What is the old man? Psalm 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but You? Toggle navigation. Only God has eternal life to give. May you be inspired, motivated and encouraged by each Daily … We are being saved by grace, not by anything we have done. We no longer try to run away and hide behind the trees, as Adam did, avoiding God at all costs. We are lifted up into an entirely new ‘thought realm.’ And we judge everything now in the light of it. Browse these sermons to find fresh ideas. We must bear in mind constantly as we deal with this teaching that Paul is working out a comparison here. The world (including mainstream Christianity) puts more value on humanly-devised tradition than it does on the inspired written Word of God. We have a new mind, and it desires spiritual knowledge. Ephesians 2:4-7 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. A. The Israelites no longer served Egypt. II Corinthians 5:9-10 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. Even as we dwell here on earth we have the anticipation of that glory, and are admitted to exalted honors, as if we sit in heavenly places, by virtue of Christ dwelling in us, and we in Him. Let us now look at the positive side. Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. What a change! It may take 1-5 minutes to open.] Have you seen the daylily flower? As to the nature of the change, it consists of the implanting of a new principle or priority in the heart; the impartation of spiritual life to those who are by nature "dead in trespasses and sins.". The brethren, the children of God, the Family of God, the people who desire in these things, are the people we love and whose presence we long for. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. We can look at this ‘raising up together,’ mentioned in Ephesians 2:6, first of all in a negative manner. We were complete slaves before. There is something that everyone has if he is alive. For he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive.” 39 Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, You have spoken well!”… In verse 5, regeneration signifies the change of heart that is elsewhere spoken of as a passing from death to life; becoming a new creature in Christ Jesus; being born from above; a renewal of the mind, and a life giving of the spirit. Of course, we are the same personality that we were before, and yet we know that we are individually reclassified as a new man, a different man or woman. Often, we are content to think of our salvation merely in terms of the forgiveness of sins. What were we? It’s easy to see the first aim in the words of verse 3 where Peter explicitly praises God “who has caused us to be born again.” We can set this off in two statements: God … We have to battle against these three, in order to grow in grace and knowledge. Sermon Title: “THANKING/PRAISING GOD IN THE MIDST OF CRISIS! (Part Eleven). Adam failed, and we all fail just like him. Spurgeon cuts straight to the point of praise by answering three questions: why we should praise God, what we should praise God for, and how should we praise God.

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