Where You Were When Christ Found You

Ephesians 2:1–3 NKJV

1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

As we come into chapter 2 we should remember that chapter division were added much later.

The flow of though here is continuing from the end of chapter 1 particularly Paul’s explanation of the exceeding greatness of God’s power toward us who believe which his prayer is that we would know.

This power Paul says is “according to” or relates to or you could say it’s that same power which God worked inn Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand. And it’s the same power which God made Christ ruler and King over all. Christ who is the head of the church which is the body and fulness of Christ who has been given all power and authority in heaven and on earth.

So the question is, why is the power that God used to raise Christ from the dead and seat Him in heavenly places the same power he exercises toward us.

Paul begins to answer this question in chapter 2. In order to do this he must remind us of condition when God began to exercise this power toward us.

When we understand our condition before Christ apprehended us then we get a better understanding of the greatness of the miracle required for our salvation.

The first thing that Paul points out is that we were dead.

Ephesians 2:1 NKJV

1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

You Were Dead

In my Bible “He made alive” is italicised which indicate that they are words which are not translated directly from the Greek but rather they are added by the translators to promote the flow of the text in english. In this case the translators seems to have put these words in because it indicates the direction that Paul is going here. however they are not there in the Greek, it just says And you who were dead. This is reflected in many other translations. I only mention this because I think it’s important to recognise that Paul’s focus in these first three verses in our prior condition. A condition which is first and foremost dead.

The condition before God works in us His exceeding great power is so totally hopeless that we are unaware that we are without hope. Someone who is dead knows nothing, they are unconscious. And so were we unconscious to spiritual realities, unconscious to our sinful condition and our need for a Savior.

Psalm 53:2–3 NKJV

2 God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. 3 Every one of them has turned aside; They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.

It is imposable for anyone to find God because no one seeks God. God did not find one person who sought Him. Why is it that no one seeks God? Because our condition is that we are spiritually dead. A person has no more ability to come to Christ than a dead person has of pulling themselves out of the grave.

See where Paul is going with this is that if we were dead when Christ came to us then salvation must be a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Paul says that we were dead in our trespasses and sins. They were both the cause of our death and the evidence of that death. Trespass referring to our breaking of God laws either willingly or ignorantly, and sins which literally means to miss the mark, which has the sense of falling short of God’s glory. We were originally created by God to be in the image of God. To be a perfect image of His glory, His righteousness, His holiness. So what ever we do that does not reflect God’s glory is sin and what every we fail to do that we should do to reflect God’s glory is sin.

As those who were spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins we had no other way but to walk according to the course of this world.

Ephesians 2:2 NKJV

2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

The world is on a set course which is leading to destruction. Some may say “well that’s a pessimistic way of looking at the world”. Well perhaps, but I optimism about the course that this world is on. Why? Because, as Paul says, the course of this world is according to the prince of the power of the air which is Satan. Satan is at the helm and the course is set for destruction. Satan is called many things in the Bible. The prince of this world, the god of this world, and here, the prince of the power of the air.

And he works in the sons of disobedience. So Satan, who has set the course of this world, works in the children of disobedience so that they will walk accordingly. So that explains why there is such a majority of people in unity going the wrong way.

So then that raises the question that if we are no longer children of disobedience then should we still be walking according to the course of this world? Shouldn’t we be going upstream? It is deeply concerning to me just how comfortable the church has become with the world.

John said those who want to be friends with the world make themselves the enemies of God.

So Paul says that we were dead. Next he says that our condition before God called us is that we were...

Among The Children of Disobedience

Ephesians 2:2–3 NKJV

2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

The sons of disobedience have such a predisposition to disobedience, particularly to God, that it is at a DNA level.

And Paul says among whom also we all once conducted ourselves.

So not only you Gentiles but also we Jews.

Genesis 5:1–3 NKJV

1 This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created. 3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

So as children of Adam we are born in his image and we have inherited a predisposition to disobedience to God.

So we are dead spiritually and we have a natural inclination to walk according the the course that Satan has set as well as a natural inclination to disobey God.

So what was our conduct? in the lust of the flesh, Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.

Being dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to the the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air, children of disobedience living according to the lust of our flesh, makes us..

By Nature the Children of Wrath

As children of disobedience we are by nature children of wrath. That is the wrath of God is what we are suited to. It’s what we deserved, what we had earned through sin, trespasses, children of disobedience self serving lust.

This is the fallen state. It is where that vast majority of the world is right now. and this is where each and every one of us have been. But why would Paul tell us all this?

In order to understand the greatness of the power of God in our salvation we must first understand just how lost we were.

Luke 7:36–48 NKJV

36 Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. 37 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, 38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.” 40 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” So he said, “Teacher, say it.” 41 “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” 44 Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45 You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. 47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” 48 Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Did Simon have less sin to be forgiven than the women. No, he just thought that he did. Because he did not understand the magnitude of his sinful condition he could never appreciate the great power and the amazing grace, and the everlasting love of God.

The one who realises what a truly hopeless state that they were in prior to God saving them will know that it was all God’s grace because there was nothing in them to cause them to pursue God, rather it was God that pursued them. A dead person was raised to life. A soul fitted by nature to wrath receieved instead forgiveness, adoption, inheritance, and all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.