◄ What Does Ephesians 2:3 Mean? ►

We are blessed to know that we have been saved by grace through faith in Christ. We have been born again into the heavenly family of God, as part of a new and better creation with a perfect Federal Head - we are members of the New Man, Christ Jesus. But we should never forget everything we used to be before we were redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. 

We should never forget that we were unregenerate people who followed the ways of the world. We were children of darkness, in subjection to the ruler of the powers of the air - the satanic god of this age. We were sons of disobedience, subjected to the spirit of the age, and we entered this world in a ruinous state - stained by sin and at enmity with God.

We were born in sin which means that we came into this world with a sin nature; condemned to spiritual death and eternally separated from our God and Creator. Adam's disobedience and failure to obey God's will, dictated the fate of the entire human race - and if God had not purposed to redeem mankind through the sacrifice of His only begotten Son - every one of us would have remained eternally damned and separated forever from our Heavenly Father.

Before our conversion, we were all slaves of Satan and prey to our sin nature. We too were the sons of disobedience and lived a carnal lifestyle. We indulged in our fallen, fleshly appetites and lusted after the gratification of our fleshly self. We may not like to consider this to be a portrait of our pre-salvation state... but the Word of God confirms it to be so: "For there are none that are good, not even one," for we were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest of the human race.

Before salvation, we were dead in our trespasses and corrupted by sins. As children of wrath, along with the rest of humanity, we automatically indulged in the desires of the flesh and the lust of the mind. We walked in accordance to the course of this world and lived according to the prince of the power of the air - and it is this same evil spirit that continues to work in the unredeemed, sons of disobedience.

But God, being rich in mercy, purposed in His heart to save all who would believe in Him. And because of the great love with which He loved us, He sent Jesus to be the propitiation for our sin: "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Praise His holy name.

Some consider it unfair that one man was the cause of humanity's fall and eternal condemnation. But have you considered that it was only by God's amazing grace that he permitted one fallen man to dictate the destiny of all humanity so that ONE PERFECT MAN - the Man Christ Jesus - could determine the redemption of ALL - for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

If God had so designed His plan of redemption that Adam paid the price for his own sin alone and we paid the debt for all our sin - NO-ONE could ever be saved. BUT, because sin entered the world by one man's sin, God could offer His gracious plan of redemption to ALL through the perfect life of ONE MAN - our Saviour Jesus Christ.

How blessed we are to know that our Heavenly Father so greatly loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son - the Son of His love Who was in the bosom of His Father from eternity past so that everyone who trusts in Him will not perish, but may have the Life of Ages.

It is by FAITH in Him that we are saved, not of works lest anyone should boast.

Heavenly Father, how I praise and thank You for Your goodness and grace toward me. I pray that I may never forget the amazing grace that I received, in that while I was yet a sinner, fulfilling the desires of my mind and flesh, Christ died for me. Thank You that You have not judged me according to my own sin, for I would not stand the scrutiny of Your perfect righteousness, but Christ was judged in my place and punished for my sin. Just as He was identified with all my sin, so I am identified with His perfect righteousness, through time and into eternity, simply by trusting in Him. I pray that may I live the rest of my life, with a grateful heart of thanksgiving and praise. In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN.