“Dead or Alive?” What Does That Mean, in the Bible?

Dead or Alive

Ephesians 2:1-7, 8-10

Introduction:

In the old days, they tell us, in the old west, a reward poster might be distributed, stating that a particular desperado was out and about, location unknown. He was judged to be so dangerous that a bounty was placed on him: a cash prize was offered for his capture..

They didn’t particularly care how he was captured, and the reward was payable for his capture or killing. They would pay the reward for his body as surely as if he were brought in alive. The trial had already occurred. He was already guilty of capital crimes. The law required his death, and they weren’t particular about how he died. So, the poster said, “Wanted: Dead or Alive….” Fortunately, times have changed. We don’t really do that anymore, today.

But the fact remains that those are the only possibilities for each of us, as well. We are either dead or we are alive. There is no gray area in between.

**We Were All Dead (Ephesians 2:1-3 (read it))**

¹And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; ²Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: ³Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

God says that we all were dead in sins. How did we get there? 1^st Corinthians 15:22 states that “in Adam, all died”. Notice that in the Corinthian passage, it is a past tense fact of something that happened…we died (past tense) in Adam.

**We All Have Been Made Alive (Ephesians 2:4-7)**

⁴But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, ⁵Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) ⁶And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: ⁷That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

In the Ephesian passage it is a past state of being: we “were dead” in trespasses and sins. This points to a change at some point. It does not say you “are dead”, but you “were” dead. Something has changed. The phrase “…you hath He quickened…” tells us what changed. The old English word “Quickened” means “made alive.” He has made us alive, who once were dead in trespasses and sins.

Positional Truth

We have talked in the past about the differences between positional and conditional truth. This passage is a key text regarding those concepts, because it clearly states that our position has changed, for those of us who have trusted in Christ as our blood sacrifice for sin. We were dead in sin, in Adam. But now we have been made alive in Christ, and are, now and forever, alive in Him.

God says we once were dead, and we now are alive. There are no qualifiers added. God simply states that to be the case. He does go on to elaborate on just how dead, and alienated from God we really were. He says (v. 2) we “walked in (trespasses and sins) according to the course of this world”…we went along with the whole world of sin, as a general life direction. And “according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” We went along with Satan, in his rebellion and pride.

All of Us?

Yes…we all had our way of life among the children of disobedience. Jesus wasn’t overstating his case in John 8:44 when he told the Pharisees that they were of their father the Devil, and that they would do as he did.

That was our old heritage, too! We acted like him, because we were effectively spawned by him. When Adam was persuaded to sin, Satan corrupted not only Adam but all his progeny. Jesus said that Satan was a “murderer from the beginning.” So, who did Satan kill, and when?

He killed all of us, when he caused Adam and Eve to die, spiritually. We all died in Adam. When we read 1^st Corinthians 15:22 “…in Adam all died; but, in Christ shall all be made alive.” (Where did we die? In Adam! )That is a location…a position. And that is where we all started out. We were born there. We were by nature (by birth) the children of wrath (v.3).

“But God…!”

This is what makes the difference in life… “But God…!” I was lost, but God saved me. They were blind, but God healed their blindness. We were dead in sins (yes, all of us!) but God, who is rich in mercy….

“Rich in Mercy:” That has to be one of the richest ways one can be rich. Is God rich in possessions? Sure! He owns the universe! He owns every atom of every element. God owns the material universe and the immaterial—all the spirits and souls are His as well…He made them. We aren’t even sure what a soul or a spirit is, nor the difference between them. But God knows!

When Did It Happen?

“But God, who is rich in Mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us: (remember that it was his love that took Jesus to the cross. Our sins may have driven the thorns, the nails, and the spear, but his Love, the agapé love, is what made him a willing target.) Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us (made us alive) together with Christ (by grace ye are saved). I have emphasized the words “were” and “are”…why? The tenses are vitally important here. We were dead in sins…past tense. We are saved by Grace.

This comes across as present tense in English, but in Greek, it is actually past participle, so “…have been saved” would be how we would say it. However, the old English is accurate as well, in that it correctly carries the flavor of “it’s a done deal”. We might say, “Well, I have been sick with the flu, too, but I am not today!” But, Salvation is not a temporary thing.

Jesus became the author of eternal salvation, according to Hebrews 5:9; and, more to the point, Hebrews 9:12 states that “…he obtained eternal redemption for us.” We have been eternally bought back out of the marketplace of sin, to be eternally set free. (But God…!)

**All Alive…Together with Christ**

But God …for His great Love, wherewith He loved us, (“Herein is Love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us.”) Even when we were dead… hath quickened us together with Christ. He has “made us alive”, together with Christ. He has raised us up together (with Christ,) and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. (Where? In heavenly places, In Christ!) All of this is true simply because you are born again. None of it has anything to do with your behavior or subsequent service. In fact, it all happened the moment you placed your trust in Him as your Savior. It has nothing to do with works.

And what is God’s purpose in doing so? He says it was so “That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”

We are to be “eternal trophies” of His Grace. We are already seated in Heaven with Jesus, according to this passage, and we will be with Him forever! God says so!

Now, What?

What do I do about the position in which I find myself?

⁸For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast. ¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

In verses 8-10, we see what is supposed to happen: we have been saved (and are saved) by Grace, through Faith. That salvation was the gift of God…we did not earn it! But the new creation, our new self that was created the moment we were born again, was created unto Good Works. We are His workmanship; (His new creation, it says elsewhere) and our purpose is to bring glory to God through good works. In fact, it says that He has already prepared those good works for us to do. All we have to do is walk in them.

Our New Job

He gave a special assignment to the whole church: He made us ambassadors of His Grace to the lost world around us. But He prepares a specific path of good works for the individual believer, as well. And all we have to do is walk in them, by faith. Colossians 2:6 says, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.” How did you receive Him? By Faith! And that is how we walk in Christ as well: by faith, daily seeking His will and submitting ourselves to His hand.

You were dead in sin, but you have been born again, and you are now alive in Christ. Please learn to seek His face in prayer, and then allow Him to lead you.

Lord Jesus, teach us to rest in You, and not to be tormented by our frustrations and fears. We are confident of your Love for us. Teach us to rest in your Grace.

November 15, 2015November 15, 2015

“Federal Headship” Results

Federal Headship: The Result

Romans 6:1-10

Introduction:

We talked briefly about the doctrine of Federal Headship in the past, but since this passage is so heavily involved with that particular doctrine, it seemed good to spend more time with it today. If you remember anything of the previous teaching, you will remember that when Adam sinned, we sinned with him…in him. His fall into sin was accounted as our fall into sin. We have very consistently proven the truth of that historical fact, in that all of us continue in sin, to varying degrees. Adam exercised his authority to make a decision on behalf of the whole human race. He became the head of the entire fallen race of Man. We had no real choice, though it is evident that we would have made exactly the same choice as Adam did.

But the other side of the Federal Headship concept is that of Jesus being the head of a new Man. Jesus exercised His authority to make a decision for all of humanity as well. But in this particular case we are given a choice: we can stay in Adam, where we were born, or we can be transferred into Christ via a new birth. Today, the text is speaking to those who have already made the conscious choice to trust in Jesus’ blood sacrifice, and who have been born again as a member of that new Man of whom Jesus is the Head.

We are conscious, too, that Grace came to answer Man’s sin. Paul first poses the question,

6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
²God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Should we sin more, to get more grace? Absolutely not! It is unfitting for us to remain in sin, as that is no longer where we live! We are dead to sin. This is the opening statement of fact, and upon its truth and exactitude hangs all the rest of the argument.

How can Paul say that we are dead to sin? I certainly don’t feel dead! On the other hand, I don’t think I would have said that I felt “dead to God” before I was a believer. I felt pretty alive, and wouldn’t have even understood the concept of being “dead to God.”

Think back, though: when Adam fell into sin, he died spiritually the moment he ate the fruit of the tree he had been warned against eating. He was separated from fellowship with God. Of course, 930 years later, his spirit was separated from his body, as well, which we call physical death. But right that moment, his spirit was separated from God. Had God not intervened with Grace, and restored fellowship, Adam would have been lost… permanently separated from God. In the same manner, as an unregenerate man, I was separated from God…dead to God. Had I died in that state I would have been lost. That is the simple truth.

But now, being joined to God through Jesus’ sacrifice and by God’s Grace, I am “separated” from sin as a principle…In God’s sight, I have been separated from my old sin nature, as He gave me a new nature in the new birth. It is possible for God to fellowship with me, and it is possible for me to love Him…because I have a new nature.

As far as God is concerned, the old sin-nature is dead. He does not propose to patch it up, correct all its ills, or restore fellowship to it. If we look ahead to Romans 8:7, we can see that the old sin nature is antagonistic toward God, and cannot be made subject to Him…. God says it can’t be done. So, the only way he can redeem a fallen human is to offer them a new birth. The old sin nature had to be set aside. I have not lost my old sin nature, but I am “separate” from it. God wants fellowship with the new me; He does not seek to change the old me; but rather to let it starve as He feeds the new me.

So, how did I die to sin, then?

Baptized into Death

³Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

The baptism to which Paul refers, here, is not water baptism. There is no water in this passage. Water baptism is only an object lesson—a picture, or a demonstration— of something real that has already happened. Water baptism (in the New Testament) is reserved for believers, because it is meant to announce that the baptism of the Holy Spirit has already occurred…that the believer has been placed into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit. (1^st Corinthians 12:13)

So, Water Baptism announces what has already happened: I have been separated from my old sin nature, because Jesus’ death is reckoned as my death: I died with him, just as I died in Adam, and was lost, I have been crucified with Christ, and my sins have been dealt with at the Cross. I am separated from my old sin nature through that death. When did it happen? The moment I trusted His completed work at the Cross as being sufficient payment for my sins; at that moment, the Holy Spirit placed me into the Body of Christ, though I was completely unaware of it.

But there is more! Paul says that death with Christ is not the only thing I gained there. I also gained eternal life!

Baptized into Life.

⁴Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
⁵For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

Just as I was fully identified with Adam in his sin and his spiritual death, and, in fact, was born that way, I am now fully identified with Jesus in his death, burial and resurrection, to the extent that God expects me to start living in that reality….because I have been re-born that way. In short, He says that because I have already been re-born a literal child of God, I am to begin acting that way. And his reasoning is very clear: he says that I am dead to sin—separated from it. I have a moment by moment choice to make as to which nature (old or new) will be manifest and prominent in my daily life. I am to “walk in the newness of life.” As I mature in my Christian life, that walk will become more consistent.

When I started Bible school, one of the staff members had two children living there in the school, who I assumed were much older than they really were. The older girl seemed to be in her early twenties, but occasionally acted like a 16-year-old. Her younger brother seemed to be perhaps ten or twelve, but occasionally acted like a five-year-old. I found this very irritating and off-putting until I found that she actually was 16 and he actually was five, but just very large for his age, and both usually seemed fairly mature. But both kids occasionally just acted their age!

Sometimes Christians are under the control of the Holy Spirit, and we are very impressed with the grace in their lives. Occasionally they “act their age”, so to speak, and are behaving like “natural” men. That does not make them a hypocrite—it proves that they have two natures, just like you! We need the constant control and guiding of the Holy Spirit in our lives to have any sort of consistent walk with Him.

The next phrase (verse 5) assures me that since I have been buried with him (in him—this is what Federal Headship implies), then I shall be (future tense) also in the likeness of His resurrection. From the moment I was born again…from the moment I believed the Gospel, and received Christ as my savior, I have been guaranteed a resurrection, to be with him and like Him forever!

In fact, over in Ephesians 2:6, he states that God has already “raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ.” There’s that location clause again. This is positional truth. The only conditions are the ones laid down by Jesus himself: (John 5:24) “He that heareth my words and believeth on Him who sent me…” Those who have heard the Gospel and believed it—placed their full trust in the completed work of Jesus at the Cross, are placed in Christ, and they are safe in Him forever. The identification is so complete that God views it as already done. He will never again see me as a lost sinner, because my old self is separated from me—dead—and the new person (created at the new birth, whether I knew it or not) is free forever from the curse of the Law. What an amazing change! My old position, in Adam, left me absolutely doomed. My new position, in Christ, leaves me absolutely blessed, and fully accepted by God.

What should the Result be?

⁶Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
⁷For he that is dead is freed from sin.

If I know that I am dead to sin, and dead to the Law, what should the result be? I should begin to place my trust in that fact, and not give in to the desires of sin any more. This is not just self-control; it’s recognition that those desires are no longer “mine”—they are the desires of my old sin nature, and, though it still exists within me, it is an “enemy within the gates”, so to speak. I have to be conscious that it is there, recognize its movements and leanings, and defend my heart against them. Fortunately, I am not alone in this battle. I am indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and He is faithful to warn me, and guide me, so that I can see what to avoid.

Is it easy? Absolutely not…in fact, without the constant empowering and enabling of the Holy Spirit, it is utterly impossible. Unbelievers, through self-control, can appear to be good persons, and do good things, and avoid bad things, etc., but their actions are still controlled by their old sin nature (which, as an unbeliever, is the only one they have.) So, the scripture says, even their “righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6); and so are mine, if I try to “do good things” in my own fleshly power and motives. This is true of the whole human race. I have nothing to offer God except my new nature, and the work the Holy Spirit can do through me. As an unbeliever, even my thoughts and prayers were corrupted by who I was as a sinner. The only prayer of an unbeliever that God commits Himself to answer is the one that confesses Him as Savior, and places faith in His Grace.

⁸Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
⁹Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
¹⁰For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

God has given us a guarantee that we will live with Him eternally; He asks us to start living in that reality today—now. He says that since Jesus can never die again, and can never be tested again, and has once-for-all paid the price for sin, we should take heart from that fact and step forward into the liberty he offers us as well. We can be free from the ravages of sin in our lives!

We do not have to be torn apart by fear, jealousy, pride, anger, and lust. We can be free from the destructive, conflicting desires of our old nature, because we are part of a new creation…we have been separated from our old nature to the extent that we no longer have to obey it. I can freely tell you that though this is completely true, I certainly have not mastered this concept.

Next time we will discuss how that is supposed to work.

Father, lead us into the truth of your Word. Enable us to walk in the newness of life!