“YOU WERE DEAD!”

 Ephesians 2:1-3                     (ESV)

“[1] And “YOU WERE DEAD” in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, FOLLOWING THE COURSE OF THIS WORLD, following the prince of the power of the air, THE SPIRIT THAT IS NOW AT WORK IN THE SONS OF DISOBEDIENCE—[3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

NONE of us are BORN perfect!  Even my precious grandchildren were BORN INTO SIN.  JESUS says to Nicodemus in John 3:7 “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You MUST be born again”!  We do not have the ability to live a life perfect enough to satisfy our sin debt, IT AIN’T HAPPENING!

In John 4:24 JESUS says “GOD IS SPIRIT, and those who worship HIM must worship in SPIRIT and TRUTH.” We MUST have the SPIRIT OF GOD living in our lives, not only for eternal life, but to get through this life with purpose.  The Apostle Paul wrote in the passage of Scripture above that “YOU WERE DEAD”, not that people needed to die physically, but they needed to die to their selfish, carnal desires and STOP FOLLOWING THE COURSE OF THIS WORLD!  

Giving up the THINGS OF THIS WORLD does not mean that we are to live with no earthly comforts.  It does mean that we HAVE TO WALK BY FAITH though and totally rely on GOD ALMIGHTY to fulfill our needs.  Psalm 24:1 says “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein”.  When we start trying to “be comfortable” in “this world”, our sights become clouded by “the enemy”!  2 Corinthians 4:4 says “In their case the god of THIS WORLD has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to KEEP THEM FROM SEEING THE LIGHT of the gospel of the glory of CHRIST, WHO IS THE IMAGE OF GOD.

THE SPIRIT THAT IS NOW AT WORK IN THE SONS OF DISOBEDIENCE is sneaky and deceptive.  “YOUR ADVERSARY THE DEVIL prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” according to 1 Peter 5:8!  Even Peter himself was susceptible to “being deceived”!  In Matthew 16:23 JESUS had to admonish him when HE told Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to ME. For you are not setting your mind on the things of GOD, but on the things of man.”

I often use the analogy that my “old nature has been crucified with CHRIST, but I walk around trying to give the dead man CPR!”  “YOU WERE DEAD” is something that I must realize when “the enemy” begins to infiltrate my mind and my thoughts.