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Living In Grace

A Christ inspired work dealing with American Christian Culture in the New Century.

Friday, April 15, 2011

The dead and the living

 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 
 Ephesians 2:1


These doors lead down a hallway for those hospital patients recovering from their stay in the critical care wing and they had doctors, nurses, and therapists to attend to and care for their needs.  They had various maladies and were in differing states of wellness, but they all had one thing in common: they were alive.  Once they passed from this life to the next they were ushered out and into the place of the dead apart from those still alive.  

Those not in Christ have everything  in common with the latter and nothing in common with the former.  While the patients can and often are nursed back to health the dead are beyond hope and treatment.  Such are sinners apart from the grace of God, dead in there sins and trespasses, without hope in this world or the world to come.


Romans 3:11
THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD


Colossians 2:13
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh


Dead men neither receive medical care nor do they respond to outside stimuli.  Dead men cannot and do not repent.  They are deaf, dumb, and totally incapable of pleasing a Holy God. The lost cannot seek after God apart from Him and their morality is a vain attempt appear alive and holy.


Ephesians 2:5
even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ ( by grace you have been saved)


Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God


It is by God's amazing grace that we have been saved and brought to life.  This dead and wretched flesh that once dominated and enslaved us is brought to life by faith through the free gift of grace that is from God.



Romans 6:6
knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin




Our old selves, the old person that we were, has been crucified with Christ so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. That old nature, the carnal man, is dead and buried with no power over us.

Romans 6:16
Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?


James 1:14-16

 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.
 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. 

Why do we sin? Because want to and find pleasure in it for a season.  Our own lusts and desires carry us away far from the One who bought us.  It is inside us....it is a cancer that has metastasized to every organ and member of our being and when we give ourselves over to it death is the result.  Physical death.  The end of our lives upon this earth and all that entails.  Are we living daily for and submitting to Christ's Lordship with the resulting righteousness or are we giving in to sin with the resultant death?


John 14:15
" If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.


John 14:21
" He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.
"

Do you love Him?  Are you keeping His commandments not in an effort to earn salvation but out of a heartfelt love for the One who has redeemed you?  Is Jesus both Lord and Savior?


1 John 1:9-10

 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

We as believers are not perfect and sin is so ingrained within us, it so permeates the flesh we live in, that until His return or our death we will deal with its effects upon our lives, but He has promised to be faithful to forgive us when we confess.  Not only forgive but to cleanse us from all the unrighteousness that has accumulated and clings to us in this world.


Have you been saved by Grace?  Are you living for Him, by Him, through Him, and for His glory?  Is he your Lord and do you love His commands?



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2 Comments:

Anonymous Mark@3-foldCord said...

Lots of powerful verses to chew on there my friend. Without the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ we are truly dead indeed. The more I learned about the Lord, the more I wanted to be obedient to Him and His commands. Not because I desired good outcomes...but because of what HE did for me. The Lord desires the best for us in this life, and HE showed us how to achieve it.

Blessings in Jesus Christ,
Mark

April 16, 2011 at 1:21 AM  
Anonymous lwstapleton said...

Exactly. We become more obedient when we realize whose we are and what He has done for us.

April 16, 2011 at 2:48 AM  

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