Kosin, Fred: Eph 2:1-4 ~ Bible Study

Again, Jenny and I would like to express our special thanks for the fellowship that we have enjoyed over the past month. I can tell you we look forward to our time in, uh, in Raleigh at Faith Bible Fellowship. It's always a source of challenge as well as encouragement. The Olympic scores, um, have been fairly good this time, and we appreciate the encouragement to help us going, keep, keep us going, and to strengthen our resolve to, uh, continue to serve the Lord where he provides the opportunity. And, uh, one of the aspects of our ministry is the uncertainty of responsibilities, and it continues to be the case. We ali- arrive in London on the morning of the, uh, next Tuesday with no schedule as to where we're going to be or what we're going to do for the whole month. And so, uh, again, I can only ask you to intercede on our behalf, um, when you can think ahead and know exactly what you're going to speak on months ahead of time. Your mind can be going over it. You can be open to the Spirit of God teach you and, um, lead and guide. But when you land in a country, and probably as we get off the plane, somebody will hand us a schedule of meetings. Could be one a month, could be, uh, two or three a day. We have no idea. And, um, I know the scripture says, let everything be done decently and in order, but I don't have responsibility for that part. And so you might pray that we would be sensitive to the Spirit of God in choosing ministry, uh, that we are familiar with, not knowing the needs of people, not knowing, uh, what it is the Lord would have us say. And, uh, again, we trust the Lord to give us something that is fresh, but it has to come from a reservoir that we have been, uh, pumping into by the grace of God over the last few years. So we ask you to pray not only this week, but particularly in the coming months, when God brings us to your mind, that you would, uh, remember us. Jenny will no doubt have ministry to ladies, both individually and collectively, and we will as well. You might pray for David and Nancy Pavey. David and Nancy Pavey, when I were in the Bible school together, and, uh, he has now moved from France to the UK, to London. We expect to, uh, have, uh, three or four days with him. Uh, it was interesting because we went into the Lord's work in nineteen sixty six and tried to kick him into the Lord's work too, but he wanted a strong, visible net under him before he stepped out on the tightrope of, um, serving the Lord. And a couple of years later, he did. They moved to France and served there faithfully and, um, uh, fruitfully, and then moved from there to, uh, to London, where they have been serving for the last few years. But God has blessed them with two sons, both of whom are serving the Lord, uh, in France. And we thank God again for a family where they have devoted themselves to, uh, to the Lord, to honor the Lord with their lives and their d- their, their priorities and their goals. And so you might pray for David and Nancy Pavey. Uh, his ministry is with international teams and provides some pastoral care for their, uh, young people and also some training. So we would very much appreciate your intercession for them as they continue to serve the Lord. The blue paper of this morning has now become a white paper, and I know that a white paper is more important than a blue paper, but um, we are faced with the problem of Y two K. and um, the newspaper, um, continually, almost every issue of a newspaper, magazines deal with this subject, but I have s- not seen a great deal of res- of um, um, uh, articles on the subject from a biblical standpoint. From a Christian standpoint, yes, but not from a biblical standpoint. So there are, uh, Dr. Pankoch made about twenty copies. I think there are probably a dozen left there. They're available to you to enjoy and to, to read, and I trust that it will help you through, um, the next coming months to approach the situation, uh, in a biblical way, and I hope that you will, uh, take the opportunity over the course of the next three months, um, to share the gospel in the light of Y two K. I think it is a thrilling opportunity on a day-to-day basis to ask people, what are you doing to prepare for Y two K? And, uh, you can get all kinds of stories. And from there, what are you doing to prepare for the coming of the Lord? What are you doing to prepare for death? And, uh, death is more certain than Y two K, I can tell you, at least the problems. So I would urge you to use this opportunity to, uh, address the issue in the lives of people that you meet, your neighbors, your friends. It's a spontaneous, natural, unoffensive question. What do you think about Y two K? And then when they give you their answer, you should have a biblical answer. You should have a biblical and spiritual response, which should include the gospel, so you can, uh, do the missionary work in the light of this wonderful opportunity that God has given us. A world that is filled with fear, laying aside an enormous amount of things for what we, uh, are not sure of. But there is, uh, obviously from the scripture, something that is very sure, that is death is the point a man wants to die, and after this, the judgment, we need to take a positive attitude, a positive aspect toward this problem, and turn it into an evangelistic outreach. We have finished our study in First Peter. This evening, I want you to turn to Ephesians chapter two. In our study this evening, I want to look primarily at one of the three enemies that God has allowed to be loose in our world. There are many people who second guess God and try to suggest, well, if they were God, this is what they would do. And one of the things that we come across in man's solution to the problem of the Christian life is to remove the opposition. But it is not God's intention to remove the opposition that we face as believers. It is allowed by God. It is designed by God for our good and for our strengthening. And so it's important again this evening that we look at the enemies that God has allowed to meet us on our road from earth to glory. Paul addresses this subject in Ephesians chapter two, and you. Now, when he says you, he is referring to believers. He's talking to those who have made a decision to believe the gospel and to be born again, and he looks back at their life, but he is reminding them at the beginning of this chapter that they have been made alive, and you has he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, where in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation or our behavior in time 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. Not a pretty picture, but true. Shall we pray together? Our loving God and Father, we thank you for giving us the armor that is adequate for victory over these enemies. We thank you that you have given to us in your word a clear description of the Christian life and the conflict that is a part of following your beloved son. We come this evening to acknowledge our failure. We look back at our lives, even as believers, and confess our defeat in many areas of our thought life, our areas of our behavior, our conduct, our attitude toward each other. And Father, we come again, as we've been reminded in prayer, that you forgive us through the precious blood of Christ, and you give us another opportunity, and we thank you for that. We thank you for Peter and for the fact that you picked him up again, sent him on his own two feet, and gave him responsibility that was fulfilled in the writing of First and Second Peter. We thank you for taking Paul and for using him in our lives as the author of these epistles. And we look back at the lives of many of your chosen people, of David, of Samson, and of Jacob, of Elijah, and many others, and realize that though they stumbled, though they fell, you still chose to use them. We thank you for your amazing grace that gives us the same hope that though we stumble, though we fall, you will pick us up again. Our Father, we commit ourselves to you again this evening, thanking you for your word, reminding ourselves again that you have given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of your beloved Son. We commit ourselves to your word and thank you again for meeting with us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. It is easy for new believers to think that the moment they trust Christ as their savior, there is no further conflict. It is sad that the gospel often fails to present the idea that we are on a battlefield, we are engaging an enemy, we are part of the army, and the Lord Jesus Christ is commander in chief. There are many who trust Christ and think from then on there will be no problems. And when they meet an enemy in their Christian life and stumble and fall, they never get up again. The glory is not in never falling, but rising each time you fall. Those on the heights are not the ones who never erred nor went astray. No, those who stand where first comes dawn are those who stumbled but went on. And it is God's instruction to us that we do fall, we do fail. It's not God's desire, it's not his intention that we fall, but we do. And we must remind ourselves it is for us to rise again. In these verses, Paul identifies the three enemies that we have talked about. A world above, a world around, and a world within. A battle above, a battle around, and a battle within. All of us as believers, even if you do not know Christ and you have never believed the gospel, Paul is saying that we are faced with those three enemies. Before we were quickened, before we were made alive, while we were still dead in trespasses and sins, we walked according to the world around us. We were serving the prince of the power of the air above us. And thirdly, we were also behaving in harmony with the flesh within us. Three enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil. The battle above because of the prince of the power of the air. We looked at that in First Peter, and Peter remind us that we are to be sober and be vigilant because our adversary, the devil, walks about seeking whom he may devour. We also looked at the world, the world around us, which wants to press us into its mold. Romans chapter twelve, verses one and two: Be not conformed to this world. Phillips translates it, don't let the world press you into its mold. And I dare say, even as we face Y two K, it is the world and its philosophies and its ideas, its principles, its guidelines, and its goals that has influenced the world, influenced the church to accept their guidelines and their ideas and to press us into their mold so that we respond in exactly the same way that the world responds. What difference is there between the way the behave- believer behaves in the midst of an unexpected crisis and the way the world approaches that same unknown crisis? Thirdly, the flesh. And the flesh is within us. I have said on several occasions, the Christian church normally blames the devil. It's the devil's fault. Look what the devil has done. And the reason we find it convenient to b- blame the devil is because the devil is out there someplace, and I'm not responsible for what the devil does. If we were honest, we would come back to the flesh and say, yes, I am responsible. It's my fault how I think. It's my fault why I desire those things. It's my fault why I am satisfied with things rather than with the promises of God. You see, Peter, uh, Paul says here, the desires of the flesh and of the mind. It's not just sexual, it's not just immoral that has to do with the flesh. It is a mental mi- it is a mindset that is established by the thinking processes influenced by a godless and wicked world. And it is that element which is around us. So the battle above is to surrender to the prince of the power of the air. The battle without is to secure the power and property of our society. For us in the Christian community, as believers in Jesus Christ who trust in God, it is not for us to secure the power or the property of our society. Our security is not in things, but in God. It is not in a storage room filled with enough food, as this little article says, for two years, for fifteen people. That is not our security. The security of the believer is in Christ, and if we are faced with the same crisis that the world is faced with, and we behave exactly the same way, what difference is there? What hypocrisy for us to gather together for Y two K enough food for ourselves, and when somebody comes to the door on the first of February, we stick our AK seventy forty whatever, seventy forty seven at them and say, get out of here, this is my food. Two months ago, we were sharing the gospel with them. It's a contradiction. Oh, says somebody, I'm storing to serve, to to to share with my neighbors. Somebody told me that just a few days ago. That's a nice way around it, I dare say. The question is whether or not we will give rather than share. Share means you have part and I have part, but to give means you have it all and I have none. Did Christ give or did he share? And so we have the desire of the world to secure the power and property of society, and then the flesh, that is to enjoy the personal pleasures for yourself. You are the most important person in the world. What you do, what you think is to satisfy with your mind, your emotions, and your will. You satisfy the desires of the flesh and of the mind. It can be something very benign, such as, oh dear, bear- dare I say it, such as overeating. Oh dear, it's a good thing it's my last Sunday. The desires of the flesh and of the mind. We can go off to college or university, and the desires of the mind can be satisfied by godless infidels who have their PhDs in the philosophies of this world. And the believer must be very, very careful that the desires of the mind are not satisfied through those professors. So we have three enemies. They are illustrated a number of times in the Old Testament and in the New. But let us remind ourselves, first of all, that the world, the flesh, and the devil are apo- are opposed to the Father, the Holy Spirit, and Christ. The threefold enemy are over against the Trinity. When we think of that, we see the Father and the world in First John chapter two, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Now, what's the world? It is satisfaction in the power and possessions of our society. Love not the world. Now, I know we use that phrase in a indiscriminate way. Oh, I love this house. I know that's not what you mean. Or I love this dress. Or I love this, and I know that's not what we mean, but it's a phrase that comes out of our lips and is, well, it's inconsistent with what the scripture says. But it is the Father and the Father's world, which is on the other side of death, that is put over against our world. His is an eternal world. This is a world which is temporal. Our temporal world is produced and is, uh, the product of money. The Father's world is produced and is a product of grace by faith. And you and I have a choice. We can find satisfaction in possessions. We can look at our house, we can look at our car, we can look what we have learned, and we are satisfied and say, wow, have we arrived or what? And so the Father and the world are in opposition to each other, and the flesh and the Holy Spirit are in opposition to each other. You'll find that in Galatians chapter five verse eighteen, nineteen, and twenty. The flesh lusts, or the flesh desires or hungers against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And the one is contrary to the other. And then he goes on to say, the work of the flesh, works of the flesh are these. And he gives the description of the outworking of the flesh from within us. Adultery, fornication, immorality, and all the way down, some stuff not too bad, actually. And then there is the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. Nowhere do we have such a clear evidence of the antagonism between the flesh and the Holy Spirit of God. And then thirdly, you have the devil and Christ. We're reminded in our Sunday school class, I think it was last week, of the number of times in which Satan tried to undermine and destroy the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We were reminded it took place at his birth when Herod tried to kill all of the babies. We find again the Lord Jesus opposed by Satan at the temptation and at other times. But if we go backward, we will find that there were a number of occasions when Satan attempted to destroy the divine line or the, the, the chosen line and tried to bring down the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ. So much so that when the one little boy named Joash, at the age of seven I think it is, he was the single individual on the face of the earth who, if he had been killed, it would have destroyed the genealogical line through which the Lord Jesus Christ was going to come. Jezebel, I think it was, or Athaliah, I can't remember which of those ladies, but one of them tried to destroy and was the tool of Satan to destroy the line through which Jesus Christ was going to come. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and then Judah, and through the line of Judah, through the kings, and this one boy existed. And we find over and over again Satan trying to destroy Christ. And so again, we find the Lord Jesus Christ getting victory over Satan through death, destroying him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Where else do we understand this? We understand it in Matthew chapter seven, verses twenty four through twenty seven. Here the Lord Jesus Christ gave his illustration at the end of his Sermon on the Mount, and he said, the wise builder and the foolish builder. The wise man built his house upon a rock, the foolish man built his house upon the sand. Then, says the Lord Jesus Christ, the wind came, the storm came, and the fl- flood came, and the three enemies of the house picture for us perfectly the three enemies of your life. The rain descended, the winds blew, and the flood rose. Exactly the same three enemies. So both for the man whose house is built on the rock and the man whose house is built on the sand, the same rain, the same wind, and the same flood. The rain that comes down from above, graphic picture of the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the wind that blows against the house. Again, a picture of the world pressing it in on every side, and the flood that comes up within, so quiet, so unexpected, so slow, and yet so overpowering, so that it destroys the whole house. The world, the wind, the devil, the rain, the flesh, the flood, and they are all opposed to us. When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, they were faced with three enemies. The first enemy they faced was Egypt. They were enslaved to Egypt, to the Egyptians. In Exodus chapter fourteen and verse thirteen, we are reminded that these children of Israel lived in a land, and they were slaves. The New Testament says that we too were slaves of this world, and that we walked according to the course of this world. That is exactly where Israel was. When they came out of Egypt, it was the destruction of Pharaoh in chapter ten and verse twenty nine, again of Exodus. Egypt is a picture of this world and slavery to that world. Pharaoh is a picture of Sat- of um, of Satan. And there is Pharaoh, the prince of Egypt, the king of Egypt, in the same way that Satan is the god of this world, the prince of the powers of that society. The victory that was given to the children of Israel over the Egyptians and over Pharaoh was going through the Red Sea. It was by death and by faith in that walking through the Red Sea that gave them deliverance. The third enemy they faced was Amalek. And Amalek in, uh, Exodus chapter seventeen in verse eighteen, those ominous words, then came Amalek. So clear and so picturesque of the same experience that you and I face. We trust Christ as our savior. We put the blood on the doorpost and on the lintel in Egypt. We are saved by the blood of the lamb. We come out, we see the world and say goodbye to the world. We say goodbye to the prince of the power of the air, and we think we are free, and we're faced with no problems. We've sung a song of joy and victory. Then comes Amalek. And we say, wow, where did this come from? Well, we haven't got time to go the story of Amalek, but it says, then came Amalek. And what is Amalek a picture of? It's a picture of the flesh. God says of the Egyptians, you will never see them again. God says of Pharaoh, you will never see Pharaoh again. But what does God say about Amalek? God says of Amalek, I will have war with Amalek forever, for every generation, or forever. Isn't that interesting? I will have war with Amalek, and it's from one generation to the other. Full and complete victory over Pharaoh, full and complete victory over Egypt, but Pharaoh is gonna follow me, I mean, Amalek is gonna follow me every place I go. Isn't that instructive to us? Because when we come to the New Testament, we realize again that there is victory. This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. There is victory for us over the, uh, over the world. There is victory for us over Satan. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. But is there victory for the flesh? Hm. Not complete and final victory. We are faced with the flesh every day of our life, and we must learn to realize that enemy is there. So Egypt, a picture of the world, of of the world. Pharaoh, a picture of the devil, and Amalek, a picture of the flesh. When David came against Goliath, he first of all had to defeat two other enemies. And as David left the sheep in the wilderness as a seventeen-year-old boy, he came to where his brother Eliab and the other brothers were fighting against the Philistines. And Eliab was the first one that he had to meet. Eliab says to this little boy, what are you doing here? Why don't you go home and take care of the sheep? And Eliab is a picture to us of the world. And he had to get victory over Eliab before ever he met Goliath. How did he get victory over Eliab? Ten smooth words. Is there not a cause? Five smooth words that David gave to Eliab. Is there not a cause, says David? There is, and the cause is between light and darkness, between the Philistines and the nation of Israel. There is the battle. What have I now done? Five smooth words. Is there not a cause? Five smooth words. And he was able to get by Eliab. The second person he met was Saul. And Saul is for us a picture of, um, of the flesh. What does Saul do? He says, here, take my armor. Here is Saul, head and shoulders above everyone in Israel. Here's David, a seventeen-year-old boy. Can you imagine David with, uh, Saul's armor on, looking halfway about where the armor would separate at maybe his navel or his chest? And David says, I cannot go because I haven't proved it. The flesh, says David, I must put it off. It doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Saul. And David got victory over Saul. The third enemy he faced was then Goliath. He had defeated Sa- Eliab with smooth words. He had defeated Saul by saying, I haven't tested that armor, and he defeats Goliath with one smooth stone. He did for Goliath what Christ did for Satan. And Goliath, that walking arsenal, that tower of brass wandering back and forth in the valley, is a symbol to us of Satan, the prince of the power of the Philistines. David chose five stones. Why? Because Goliath had four brothers. And if you study it, you'll find carefully that David and his army defeated all five of them. If Goliath had been defeated, and Goliath's brother shows up right behind him, David said, I've got a stone for you too. And a stone for your brother and your brother, and they could have all been defeated on that particular occasion. You'll have to read second Samuel chapter twenty three. Goliath. And what did David do? David gave a stone, and God empowered it, and it entered into his head, and Goliath fell down, and David comes and takes out Goliath's sword and cuts off Goliath's head with his own sword. What does that mean? It means what Hebrews says. Through death, he destroyed him, Goliath. He destroyed him that had the power of death, that is the sword of Goliath, with his own sword. Through death, destroyed him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them. Who's them? The children of Israel. Deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetimes subject to bondage. Over and over again, the children of Israel were in bondage to the Philip- to the Philippines, yes, to the Philistines. But the destruction, the death of Goliath set them free, and for a long time, the Philistines were no longer a threat. You have animals, you have the bear, which is a picture to us of the world. You have the spider, which is a picture of the flesh, and you have the lion, which is a picture of the devil. What are the em- aims and goals? For the world, it is delusion. For the flesh, it is desire. For the devil, it is deception. The only time Satan tells the truth is when he's talking to God. And you must realize that when he speaks to God in the presence, uh, about Job, he is telling the truth. So what is the ultimate aim and the goal? For the world, it is self-preservation. Think of it. Self-preservation. Think of that word in the light of Y two K. Self-preservation. For the flesh, it's self-satisfaction. For the devil, it's self-sufficiency. Self-sufficiency leads to independence, independence leads to pride, and pride is the downfall of Satan himself. For us as believers, is there victory? There is. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James chapter four and verse seven. And for the world, refuse the influences of the world. I have to say no. I read the magazine, and it says you must own my po- property. You must own this, uh, this possession, and I say no. I listen to the television, and it says you must buy my product, and I say no. It is to refuse the influence of the, of the world. And for the devil, I mean for the flesh, run. Run. There is no other. Flee youthful lusts. It doesn't say stand against the wiles of the flesh. It's the wiles of the devil. There is only one course to turn around like Joseph did and run. Now, what is the character of the flesh? When we think of the flesh, we have a number of terms in the New Testament which refer to the flesh. We have the sin nature in Romans five twelve, as by one man, sin, that is the sin nature. He's called the old man in Romans chapter six. He's called the old nature, that wicked child within. He's called the flesh in Romans chapter seven and verse five. Now there's confusion about the word flesh, because we think of the flesh as being the body, and there are hungers that the body has. You have them, and I have them, at least three times a day, and maybe in between as well. There are the desires of the flesh that have to do with my body. Some of them are good, all of them are good within the context that God has designed. There is the body that is a temple of the Holy Spirit. It is God's dwelling place. It is a house that God has made, and he's going to remake it after the glories of his own beloved son. In Romans chapter thirteen, it speaks of I, that is, I, my ego, my flesh. And Paul says, of that in me, it is in my flesh dwells no good thing. It is also called the spiritual person. Now, the contest of the flesh, it's a war of worlds. We must realize that the war within is a war that every other believer experiences. It is a war that is transcultural, translanguage, trans-skin color. It is a war that every believer faces, and we must realize it's no different in your life than it is in mine. It is the spiritual against the physical in John chapter three. It is light against darkness, again in John chapter three. It is a war of words. Satisfaction or sacrifice. The world says, satisfy your hungers. Word of God says, sacrifice. It is a war of wills. I choose. I cannot blame anybody else. I can't blame the television. I can't blame the magazine. I can't blame the newspaper. I can't blame my mother. I can't blame my friends. I can't blame peer pressure. I am responsible. And this is where it becomes so difficult. I must face the flesh and say I have control of it. I choose to think. I choose to feel. I choose to decide, and I am responsible for those. It's a war of wills, and it's a war of how I walk. Galatians chapter five again, it is a choice to walk in satisfaction to myself, or a choice to walk according to the Spirit. Now, the conflict with the flesh has many manifestations. It's desires, self-satisfaction for power, for position, for prominence, for praise, for pleasure, for prestige, and a few other in that row of P's. The flesh manifests itself in deviations in the homosexual community, in the gay community, in the lesbian community, in sodomy, in beastality, and all of these perversions of the flesh which show itself up in our society, in our world, and the world would have us understand, I was born that way, and nothing I can do about it. The scripture diametrically and dramatically declares that it is the desires of the flesh, and it is inconsistent with the life of an unbeliever, and more so of the believer. The demands of the flesh result in enslavement. Samson is the example. He could tear a lion, but he could not deal with his lusts. He could destroy the Philistines, but he couldn't deal with his passions. He could con- could control his hands, but he couldn't control his habits. It is the flesh, and Samson fell. Its delights are temporary, as we see in Moses. Its deception produces enjoyment for a time, as we see in David. It's degradation, it becomes a filthiness of the flesh and of the mind, as we see in David a number of times. Clean water does not flow through dirty pipes, and the flesh is one of the pipes which produces that filthy water that flows through our life. Love cannot come through a fountain of lust. Joy cannot flow out of a well of jealousy. Peace cannot flow in a river of personal pleasure. The conduct of the flesh is seen in Samson. The flesh will always take you farther than you want to go. The flesh will always keep you longer than you want to stay. The flesh will always cost you more than you want to pay. The flesh will always sell you more than you want to buy. The flesh will always store more than you want to keep. The flesh will always produce more than you want to reap. We could spend some time on those six points. How do we control the flesh? First of all, your thoughts. Your thought life and my thought life is the first door through which the flesh finds a foothold. That's why Paul says here, they are the desires or the lusts of the flesh, the desires of the flesh and of the mind. What you think is what you are. And so the choice of thoughts, Proverbs chapter twenty three and verse seven. A choice of attitudes, James chapter four verses one through five. You're gonna choose your attitude. Good, bad, indifferent, whatever. Positive, negative, you will choose those. A choice of actions, Romans chapter thirteen and verse fourteen. Again, you and I are responsible for the actions. We live in a society, not guilty because of whatever, my mother, my father, my position in life, my poverty, wrong education, wrong school, wrong side of the tracks. Everything is everybody else's fault. God says it is your responsibility. You will have to bear that responsibility before God as an unbeliever at the great white throne judgment.