It is told that when Pericles, the greatest of the Athenians, was walking forward to address the Athenian assembly, he used to say to himself: "Pericles, remember that you are an Athenian and that you talk to Athenians." As the good Spirit works that which is good in obedient souls, so this evil spirit works that which is evil in wicked men; and he now works, not only heretofore, but even since the world has been blessed with the light of the glorious gospel. And ah! (v) It is the life which follows what the King James Version calls the desires of our flesh. So with the sinner in regard to the spiritual and eternal world. Observed, 1. This cheek might mantle with a blush to tell the deeds of darkness which some of the ungodly of this world habitually practise. Hath quickened us together with Christ. "But now". Do you think that when you finally come and say, "Father, I do realize You have been good to me, You have done so much for me. God had a dwelling-place of old in Israel; but it was a house made with hands, however magnifical, that followed the tabernacle of witness in the desert, in both of which the Shechinah, or visible sign of His glory, deigned to dwell. His glory is the first object of our being. And I was fearful that God was going to suddenly start making me do all of these distasteful things that I said I would never do.What if my son should come to me, and say, "Dad, I have been thinking, I really had a good life, you have always provided a roof over my head, you have always provided food on the table, I always had clothes to wear. You are looking : call to worship ephesians 2. But this young woman's death is in her chamber. He may shed abroad the love of God therein; but He is rather said to dwell in us, making the body God's temple. "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." Shall we turn in our Bibles now to Ephesians, the second chapter.Paul is going to talk about someone tonightvery interesting. WebA CALL TO WORSHIP From the Shadows to Reality! Come, let me just press this matter home. What a mystic union there is between the believer and his Lord! This salvation is Gods gift. The English translators did not know what to make of the apostle, and so they changed it to "high places," which was an unwarrantable liberty, and gives the most perverse meaning. Nor does it settle any question as to their ability or power while in that state. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved), and raised us up together." We all benefit from your creativity and generosity. 1. What I want to hint at is this: when a man is far gone into sin, Christ does this for him he breaks off his evil habits. Jesus Christ must quicken the one as well as the other, and bring them all to know and love his name. We are his workmanship say some of the translations of Ephesians 2:10. "He hath quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us up together." Worship is exactly what Satan has always desired. And God is going to lay some heavy, heavy trip on us just because we submitted ourselves to His will. There is, indeed, life, and energy, and motion. There is the whole Trinity in that one verse, Christ, the Spirit, the Father. the One who would calm our fears with peace and hope. Revealed to all the apostles and prophets of the New Testament, to one as much as another, it never seems to have taken such a hold of the others as of Paul. The apostle has turned over a new leaf in the book of our history: "but now." Brilliant colors flashed across this black background. Plato said that the barbarians are "our enemies by nature. It is not at all put as a question of command according to the law; but "God had before prepared," as a part of His wonderful scheme, "that we should walk in them." That is what God says about us, you may come closer than others, but we have all come short of the glory of God. I would be so pleased that he is wanting to do something to please me. Timeweb - , , . This discussion has two parts: vv. N461919. what Paul does in this passage is to paint a vivid contrast between what man is by nature and what he can become by grace." The epistle to the Ephesians truly understood will help none so to do. During Lent Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. For if God, He is as such not less truly God than the Father; for there can be no difference as to Godhead. I thought, "Yes; I know all about that; that is my case." When all things that are shall be like old ocean's foam, which dissolves into the wave that bears it, and is gone for ever; we shall live, and we shall live in Christ, and with Christ, glorified for ever. Had He brought the Gentiles into the place that Israel once occupied? He merely now touches on the principle, as he had before let us see not merely God's counsels from before the foundation of the world, but the manner and means of their application through Christ our Lord to us in time. That they do not appear in the original Greek text in this place. So he came and preached peace to you who were afar off, and peace to them who were near, because, through him, we both have the right of entry into the presence of the Father, for we come in the one Spirit. And yet and now comes a blessed interposition yet this last case may be saved as well as the first, and as easily too. You cannot pray a single prayer aright without Father, Son and Holy Ghost. And God, having these counsels before Him from everlasting, deigns to have a people, not only capable of enjoying Him as having the very same nature as His own, without which they could not enjoy glory; but, besides, if He has us in His presence, He would have us in the highest relationship into which grace could bring us. But it is not said that we are love. All other combats are outside the calling of a Christian. And as to his wife, he instantly understands, though he had been in a deep sleep while she was being formed. I say "requisite," simply in view of Christ's love towards the church. This is the point. Altogether differently here "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" has blessed us where Christ is on high. We begin then to make a great many attempts at things which we never attempted before. Praise to the Father of Lord Jesus Christ! my brother, alas! In the lives of so many there is a kind of tragic process. Need I say that this is altogether above human comprehension? 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. As usual the apostle salutes the saints with the best wishes for their blessing. In Corinthians we have this, and properly in its place. But if we are to walk thus, let us not forget the prayer for the state of our hearts which precedes these exhortations. This engineer was soundly converted. For example, the Matthew and Luke accounts of the Lord's Prayer use the words interchangeably; and, as Blaikie said, "The distinction cannot be carried out in all other passages. To the Stoics history was cyclic. They have run the full ten yards, it is still empty. (i) We saw that sin kills innocence. When did God start loving you? You are princes of the blood imperial. Consequently here it is not an energy already put forth, but he pleads that Christ might dwell by faith in their hearts. conceived before the foundation of the universe. ". In this first part, Paul writes about humanitys reconciliation with God. then, I grieve to say it, ye are dead! Now, this morning, I trust I shall not be tedious; I shall endeavour to make the subject as interesting as possible, and also endeavour to be brief. In every Greek city there were xenoi ( G3581) and their life was not easy. Knowledge of standing and a, state answering to Christ's love, are the basis of a walk worthy of our calling. The essence of the world's standard is that it sets self in the centre, the essence of the Christian standard is that it sets Christ and others in the centre. "My soul followeth hard after thee; thy right hand upholdeth me.". Not so the young man; he is put on the bier; no man will touch him any more, or else he will be utterly defiled. We desire to see his kingdom come as he does, and we pray for his will to be done on earth, even as it is in heaven. Call to Worship from Ephesians 2: We are saved by Gods grace. What has God done? But I dare say I have some characters that are illustrations of that case too. But now they had consummated their rebellion by refusing the Christ of God. You can refer to the answers below. It will not be the experience of walking with the saints. Now you become sentient to his frown, his smile, his threat, or his promise. To those who have not, I daresay it will seem as an idle tale. Sort of concluding, you might as well bomb out and stay drunk, there is nothing else, too much pain to try to face reality.Sort of the philosophy that a lot of people have taken today. And Gideon was in a cave as he was threshing the wheat to hide from the Midianites, and the angel of the Lord came to him and said, "Gideon, go and deliver the children of Israel from the oppression of the Midianites." The barrier between Jew and Gentile was absolute. In the next verse we have that which has been justly designated the unity of profession, where all things may come in to mar. and unless the Spirit quicken thee, thou shalt be cast into the valley of Gehenna, to be the food of that worm which never dieth, but eateth souls throughout eternity. the spring in your step to go where youre sent. And what is the first lesson of the truth as it is in Jesus? We know ourselves loved, but we balk at the cost. In this passage he shows how terrible the Christless life was for Gentile and for Jew alike. [Note: Simpson, p. Even though trained by godly parents, though well instructed in the gospel scheme, though saturated with the piety that surrounded us, we were dead, as dead as the harlot of the street, as dead as the thief in the jail. Remember that at that time you had no hope of a Messiah; you were aliens from the society of Israel, and strangers from the covenants on which the promises were based; you had no hope; you were in the world without God. so that nothing could make walls between people. See how Paul keeps harping on that one string. He that has the divine life is lifted up into the infinities; he gets to hear that which cannot be heard, and see that which cannot be seen, for "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. The very structure of the chapter, as has been noticed, is a sort of confirmation of this. Ah, the last stage of death, the last stage of corruption, oh, how hideous; but the last stage of sin, hideous far more! They believed that it went on for three thousand years; then came a conflagration in which the whole universe was consumed in flames; then the whole process began all over again, and the same events and the same people exactly repeated themselves. And if I would deliver the Midianites into the hands of the 32,000, they would go around glorying in themselves. The effect of a great love is always a cleansing thing. Hold on to your thumb. I have been born again by the Spirit of God through Jesus Christ. He goes farther, and says, "Be filled with the Spirit." I am having fun. For if we are in Christ, we have a vantage ground which makes all things clear. The design of the apostle in this and some following verses, is to show the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and to set forth the sad estate and condition of man by nature, and to magnify the riches of the grace of God, and represent the exceeding greatness of his power in conversion: the phrase. We all benefit from your creativity and generosity. I pray you that are instructed, and have become fathers, never laugh at babes in grace, if they ask you the most absurd questions. Remake us, Lord, again into your image, for we choose to imitate you. We little think of the experiments that children have to go through before they arrive even at the use of their eyes. I would want to make it a great day.Now, do you think that our Father is any different? It is told that in the congregation in Edinburgh to which George Matheson came there was an old woman who lived in a cellar in filthy conditions. It kills innocence; sin may be forgiven but its effect remains. For the Lord is a gracious god, whose mercy is everlasting; and whose faithfulness endures to all generations. For we have been brought together by the redeeming love of Jesus. Nostrums and palliatives aggravate rather than allay the disease. [Note: Wiersbe, 2:18.]. The only thing which can restore his relationship to her is an act of free forgiveness on her part. The three main verbs are "made alive" (Ephesians 2:5), "raised up" (Ephesians 2:6), and "seated" (Ephesians 2:6). who were dead in trespasses and sins; not only dead in Adam, in whom they sinned, being their federal head and representative; and in a legal sense, the sentence of condemnation and death having passed upon them; but in a moral sense, through original sin, and their own actual transgressions: which death lies in a separation from God, Father, Son, and Spirit, such are without God, and are alienated from the life of God, and they are without Christ, who is the author and giver of life, and they are sensual, not having the Spirit, who is the spirit of life; and in a deformation of the image of God, such are dead as to their understandings, wills, and affections, with respect to spiritual things, and as to their capacity to do any thing that is spiritually good; and in a loss of original righteousness; and in a privation of the sense of sin and misery; and in a servitude to sin, Satan, and the world: hence it appears, that man must be in himself unacceptable to God, infectious and hurtful to his fellow creatures, and incapable of helping himself: so it was usual with the Jews to call a wicked and ignorant man, a dead man; they say i, "there is no death like that of those that transgress the words of the law, who are called, , "dead men", and therefore the Scripture says, "turn and live".
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