Angelic Conflict part 256: The Carrier of the kingdom of God – Eph 2:1-10; 3:14-21; 5:6-16;Title: Angelic Conflict part 256: The Carrier of the kingdom of God – Eph 2:1-10; 3:14-21; 5:6-16; 1Co 2:9-10; Rom 8:10-25.
Our souls were once under the control of the strong man.
Eph 2:1 And you were dead [spiritually] in your trespasses and sins,
Of course, this means spiritually dead; that is, he is unable to understand and appreciate spiritual things. He possesses no spiritual life, and he can do nothing of himself to please God. Just as a person physically dead does not respond to physical stimuli, so a person spiritually dead is unable to respond to spiritual things. A corpse does not hear the conversation going on in the funeral parlor. He has no appetite for food or drink; he feels no pain; he is dead. Just so with the inner man of the unsaved person. His spiritual faculties do not exist, and they cannot exist until God gives him life through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
spiritual death - separation from God. The wages of sin is death. It applies to the unsaved moral man or immoral man.
The unbeliever is not sick, he is dead. Christ displayed His power over death physically, but the unbeliever doesn't need resuscitation, rather he needs resurrection, which we all received spiritually the moment we believed in Christ. We are seated with Him in the heavens, verse 6.
Eph 2:2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
The world system is built for conformity. Man must conform to it if he is to succeed in it. But since the system is broken and evil no one ever succeeds in it.
Eph 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh [sin nature], indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature [fall] children of wrath, even as the rest.
So in verse two we have the world and satan with his kingdom of darkness and in verse three we have the flesh.
The believer's three enemies: satan and the KOD, the world system, and the old sin nature.
A sinner behaves as a sinner because it is his nature. This does not justify sin, but by nature, our OSN behaves badly, whether in human strength or weakness, or moral or immoral degeneracy.
The leopard cannot change his spots, and neither can an unbeliever make himself righteous. All of us are born fallen, dead spiritually, and separate from God and we need outside help. Only God can make us righteous and holy and that was accomplished through the work of His Son on Calvary.
Everything leading up to Calvary was an ultimate display of His power and then on the cross, the world saw the ultimate display of His love.
Before the cross the kingdom of God was embodied in Christ. At the cross the kingdom of God was given to men through faith and without cost.
Christ plundered the strong man and set us (captives) free. What a difference two words make! "But God..."
In His mercy, He does not give us what we do deserve; and in His grace He gives us what we do not deserve.
Eph 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
Spiritual resurrection - being alive together with Christ in position while on earth and living in that life while walking in the devil's world.
The NT has much to say about living in time in your spiritual resurrection and not in the sleep or death that the world is under.
Eph 3:14 For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father,
For what reason does Paul have such a heart for other people?
There was a day when Paul met the Lord. All of us who have positive volition have had this day.
Act 9:1 Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,
Act 9:2 and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Act 9:3 And it came about that as he journeyed, he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;
Act 9:4 and he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"
Act 9:5 And he said, "Who art Thou, Lord?" And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,
Act 9:6 but rise, and enter the city, and it shall be told you what you must do. "
Act 9:7 And the men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one.
Act 9:8 And Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus.
Act 9:9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
Act 9:10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Behold, here am I, Lord."
Act 9:11 And the Lord said to him, "Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying,
Act 9:12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight. "
Act 9:13 But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Thy saints at Jerusalem;
Act 9:14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon Thy name."
Act 9:15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;
Act 9:16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake. "
Act 9:17 And Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
Act 9:18 And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he arose and was baptized;
Act 9:19 and he took food and was strengthened.
Paul has a free will like the rest of us. He could have rejected the Lord, but after this he did not. Paul took his position in Christ through his own faith and was not only strengthened with natural food but with spiritual food. He set out to administer the gospel immediately, but he needed help. He went back home to preach the gospel and he wasn't very well received. And then God sent Barnabas to him in order to bring him to Antioch.
Think about it. What is the most important commodity on this earth? Is it stuff or is it people? Can stuff be changed or can people be changed?
God uses His Spirit in regeneration to enter us into union with Christ and He uses doctrine, circumstances, and people in order to help us on the Way.
Again: Spiritual resurrection - being alive together with Christ in position while on earth and living in that life while walking in the devil's world.
The NT has much to say about living in time in your spiritual resurrection and not in the sleep or death that the world is under.
Ephesians is a concise field manual for the spiritual life of the CA believer. Why does Paul bow his knees before the Father?
Eph 3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles —
Eph 3:2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you;
Eph 3:3 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.
Eph 3:4 And by referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
Eph 3:5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;
Col 1:25-27 that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
What is Christ in me? It is the embodiment of all that He is in ever CA believer. Many do not take advantage of it, but that does not nullify the very fact that all the power that He is, all the truth that He is, all the kingdom of God has been given to all men through His cross and that all who believe are recipients of the benefits of it. We must have the courage to resist conformity to the world system and to exploit this grace.
Rom 8:37-39 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Eph 3:6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,
Eph 3:7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.
Eph 3:8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,
Eph 3:9 and to bring to light what is the administration [dispensation] of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things;
Eph 3:10 in order that the manifold [multifaceted] wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.
Eph 3:11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose [crushing of the KOD] which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Eph 3:12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.
Eph 3:13 Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf [in prison], for they are your glory.
Eph 3:14 For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father,
Eph 3:15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,
Eph 3:16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man;
Eph 3:17 so that Christ may dwell [be at home] in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
Eph 3:18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
Eph 3:19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
Eph 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think [life beyond dreams], according to the power that works within us,
Eph 3:21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
Beyond all that we ask or think is the life beyond dreams, meaning life in Christ, hid with Him in heavenly places.
Col 3:3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
1Co 2:9 just as it is written, "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him [life beyond imagination]."
1Co 2:10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
Eph 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Eph 5:7 Therefore do not be partakers with them;
Eph 5:8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light
Eph 5:9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
Eph 5:10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
Eph 5:11 And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;
Eph 5:12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.
Eph 5:13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.
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