"Under New Management"
Ephesians 2:1-10
Third, We WERE Objects of Wrath 2:3b and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Colossians 3:5-6 says: "Therefore consider the members of your earthly body dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience."
If we view God’s wrath, or judgment, in light of our own court system then we can be comforted by the fact that when we stand before God, we will have at our disposal an attorney to defend our case. All that will be required of us is to grace the court with our presence and let our attorney speak for us. We will never be required to take the stand and never have to answer directly to the charges against us.
Regardless of how strong our desire to fool ourselves into a sense of false security, we would be wise to consider the message that Paul is conveying. He paints a very grim picture for those who do not know Jesus Christ. Paul said that we lived in sin, we identified with Satan, and therefore we were spiritually dead and deserving of God’s wrath.
If we do not know Jesus Christ as our personal savior, if we are still living under the old management, there is very little reason for hope. But Paul does not leave us without hope. In reality, the hopelessness of life without Christ elevates even higher the hope we have in Him.
There is a common phrase used in the Billy Graham School Seminary. Before you get a man saved, you have to get him lost. In our world today the message of salvation through Jesus Christ is not readily received. Why? Most people are in a state of denial. After all, some would say, I have nothing from which I have to be saved.
But that argument certainly does not stand up when put to the biblical test. The Bible says very clearly that if you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, you have plenty from which you need to be saved. Paul says you need to be saved from death, from the power of sin, from the wrath of God. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, Reflect on your Past. Paul says THAT’S WHERE YOU WERE! Then, celebrate your present. Celebrate, because you have been saved from spiritual death. Celebrate, because you have been saved from the power of Satan. Celebrate, because you have been saved from the wrath of God.
Continuing tomorrow.