SNT - 738
January 5, 1975
Alive To Christ

Take your Bibles tonight, please, and turn to Ephesians, the first chapter. I noticed this week that others nationally gave their predictions for the year 1975. Tonight I would like to share with you God’s predictions for all eternity. And that specifically for God’s sons and daughters who are dearly beloved in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 1:17 - The text reads “...may give unto you the spirit plus, that is to say, wisdom and revelation in the acknowledgement of him.”

Ephesians 1:18 - is for this reason: understanding - that you may know 1) what is the hope of his calling, 2) what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and 3) what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe. Now, at this point (in verse 19) there begins a parenthesis. The parenthesis goes all the way to the end of the chapter. Then, in 2:1, the “And you” is outside of the parenthesis. The text would read “Even you.” Then a parenthesis. And this one terminates after the word “sins” in verse 5. Then at the end of the verse you have another parenthesis which is in King James already. This is singularly significant and very remarkable. What I am going to teach you tonight, I knew 12 years ago and then forgot about it. It just never crystallized within me again until I was in New York. I had been working on it because we are doing Ephesians with the Corps this year, and I was trying to find again the documentation that at one time I had. And about two or three weeks ago I found it, and I prepared it and shared it with our wonderful people in Albany. It is simply electrifying.

In these verses, 17, 18 and 19, there are some great truths that I want to set and show you and then we will put this whole thing together in a wonderful way that will really bless you.

There are three things that you are to know - 1) the hope of his calling which deals with the return of Christ, 2) the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and 3) what is the exceeding greatness of his power, which is greatness plus of his power, to usward who believe. (Then go to 2:1.) “Even you” (go to verse 5) “quickened together with Christ.” That is the whole context.

Now, the reason that this is so significant is because all of us thought that Ephesians 2:1 read “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in-trespasses and sins.” We teach our people from the integrity of the Word that the Word interprets itself in the verse, in the context or where it has been used before, and every word has to be understood in the light of the verse and so forth. This whole thing deals with the church. It ends up in verse 23 of chapter 1 talking about the church “which is his body, the fullness of him who filleth all in all.” This high calling of the church is indicated in that verse, and it goes right on with “Even you.” “Hath he quickened” is in italics in the King James.

That is not accurate. That is not enough. It has to be “quickened us together with Christ.” You see, “hath he quickened” without Christ would be useless. I wouldn’t want to live that way. From the context here, this verse (2:1) is dealing with our standing by grace and not our state by nature. Most of us thought this was our state by nature - dead in trespasses and sins. In context, it isn’t dealing with that. I will show you why after a bit. This is dealing with our standing of grace and not with our state by nature because the state by nature is given in the last part of verse 3, “...were by nature the children of wrath.” The body of the church is not children of wrath. Therefore, verse 1 of chapter 2 is our standing of grace and not our state by nature.

First of all in this verse that I want to now get into the depth of and show you the magnificence and greatness of, there is no word “in” in “who were dead in trespasses and sins.” The Greek word is en. Yet in King James here, we have it. And inserting the word “in” they would automatically have to go to the past tense of the verb “were.” This section here is in the dative case. The dative case is the giving case. I would say to you, “Give me your Bible.” That puts it in the dative case. What I am really saying is, “Give to me your Bible.” This verse should read “...dead to (not “in”).” When you are born again of God’s spirit, you are dead to trespasses and sins. Before you are born again, you are by nature the children of wrath. Then you are dead in it. But when you are born again you are no longer dead in it, you are made alive in him. Therefore, you are dead to it. And the accuracy of that is absolutely phenomenal in this verse.

Romans 6:2 - “...dead to sin.” It is the same usage - dative case.

Romans 6:10 - “...he died unto (to) sin.”

Romans 6:11 - “...dead indeed unto (to) sin.”

Galatians 2:19 - “...dead to the law.” In the dative case it is “to” or “at,” not “in.”

I Peter 2:24 - “...dead to sins.” There is a lot of difference in being dead to sins and being dead in them.

So in Ephesians 2:1 you read “Even you, who (the usage of “in” made it absolutely necessary for the translators to use the word “were,” but the word that is used here is ontas, and that is the present participle of the verb eimi which is “being”) being dead to trespasses and sins.” The members of the church of the one body not only died to sin, which is the root cause, but to the fruit of it which is sins. Whenever the Bible uses the word “sin” it is always referring to the root cause. When it uses “sins” it is the fruit of the cause. We died to sin, the root. The word “trespasses” means “a falling away from truth when we should have stood uprightly” and “sins” is the fruit which would literally mean “failing to hit the mark, either by omission or commission of our walk.”

Ephesians 2:2 - Remember, we are dealing with the parenthesis now. “Wherein in time past (before you were born again) ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh (the spirit at work) in the children of disobedience.” But you are not a child of disobedience, you are a child of God. But before you became a child of God, you were a child of disobedience. There is a tremendous contrast in the walk of one born again of God’s spirit who has renewed his mind and the walk of one not born again of God’s spirit. Look at this contrast in verse 2 where it says “according to this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” In verse 10 we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, not to walk according to the prince of the power of the air, the world, the spirit that now worketh, but according to good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. That is a tremendous contrast.

Ephesians 4:1 - The walk of the believer is to walk worthy of the vocation.

Ephesians 4:17; 5:2 - The walk in love is in contrast with the one that we did previously when we were children of disobedience. We are to walk in the light as he is the light when we are born again. We are to put on the mind of Christ. We are to walk the Word.

Ephesians 5:8, 15 - To those of us who believe who are born again of God’s spirit, we are children of light, children of God. It is God in Christ in you, the hope of glory at work within you to will and to do his good pleasure.

II Thessalonians 2:10, 11 - According to this, those who fail to receive the love of the truth become deluded and will believe a lie.

The prince of the power of the air in Ephesians 2:2 is simply a figure meaning one of gloom and darkness. The believer, born again of God’s spirit, is with Christ in heaven’s holiest when he is born again.

Ephesians 2:19 - “...fellow citizens with the saints.” Remember the word hagion in the Foundational class meaning “holy”? That is the word that is used here for “saints”, only it is ton hagion. The best translation I know that could possibly be given with it, is “heaven’s holiest”; “…fellow citizens with heaven’s holiest.” There are a lot of other things in heaven, but nobody is above the born again believer in Christ. He is in heaven’s holiest. That is the meaning also in verse 18 of chapter 1 “...the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints (ton hagion - heaven’s holiest).” Looking back to our state from which we have been delivered and looking up to our standing position in Christ certainly makes us walk humbly and lovingly because it is all of God’s grace, not of works lest any man should boast.

Ephesians 2:3 - We belonged to Satan until we were saved because we were by nature, by natural birth (body and soul without God and without Christ), children of wrath even as others.

Then comes that great 4th verse. This “But” sets in contrast what the adversary did to us with what God did. Even dead to sin is not the goal, it always refers to being alive to Christ. The alive to Christ is the goal. We are dead to sin because we are alive in Christ.

Romans 6:1-8 - The goal is alive to Christ. You are alive in him.

Romans 6:10, 11 - You have to reckon yourself dead. The adversary will never want you to do it because he will keep reminding you how sinful you have been and how sinful you still are. But you have to reckon it dead because God said it is dead and alive to God.

Romans 6:12-18

Ephesians 2:4 - “But God, who is (“who is” is being) rich in mercy.” We have today what we call mercy hospitals. The reason he had to be rich in mercy is because of the wretchedness of man. Man is forlorn, man is in his misery. The reason I bring this up is because the word “mercy” and the word “wretchedness” have the same root. “Mercy” is the word eleos, and “wretched” is the word eleeinos. It is his mercy to the miserable, mercy to the forlorn, mercy to those who are to be pitied “God being rich in mercy (and that is why it is grace) for his great love wherewith God loved us.” God loved us. This is true in verse 5; “Even when we were dead in sins” God still loved us. Then we heard the Word and believed the Word; and even you, then, were quickened together with Christ (by grace ye are saved). “By grace you have been saved” is the text.

Ephesians 1:7 - is talking about the redemption through blood, the remission of sins according to the riches of his grace. Every time you read “the riches of his grace” in the Word, it will always refer to redemption. Whenever you read “the riches of the glory of his inheritance in heaven’s holiest,” like in verse 18, it will always refer to the inheritance. “The riches of his grace” relates to the redemption; the “riches of the glory” relates to the inheritance every place in the Word. The riches of God’s grace in his mercy to us originates not in our misery and us being forlorn that we are to be pitied. Nor does this come to us because we have a covenant with God like Israel had. But our sonship, our standing is for his great love wherewith he loved us. That is the key.

“By grace you have been saved” in verse 5 is again the perfect passive participle form, grammatically. Salvation is not a process. It is an accomplished work and reality in the past tense with present effects.

Ephesians 2:6 - “Hath raised” is real interesting because the word “raised” should be translated “roused” or “awakened.” It is a different word that is used than the one that talks about the resurrection because the church will never be resurrected. Israel will be resurrected and all unbelievers will be resurrected. Biblically, to be resurrected, everybody has to be dead, and the church will never come to the place where everybody will be dead, for some will still be alive and remain until his coming. That is why the resurrection in the Word never refers to the church of the body to which you and I belong. And that is why the word that is used here is not the word that is used to stand up. It is the word “awakened.” The great significance of this may dawn on us later, I don’t know, but to Israel and the unbelievers there is not going to be an awakening period. When the trumpet sounds they are going to pop straight up - out - stand. That is the word anastasis. But that is not the way the believer works. Before you stand up in the morning, what do you do? Wake up, and that is the word that is used here. God is going to take the church and wake us up with a little old soft alarm clock that has music playing or something. Isn’t that beautiful that the Greek text would use that word? But when you see it there in English, you would relate this word to other words like in Corinthians, and you don’t see that great truth. The truth is that he has awakened us, roused us up together and made us sit. He didn’t ask us, he made us. He said “SIT DOWN.” If we would just magnify what we have in Christ and what Christ is in us in our walk. That is the only way we can magnify it - in our walk. All people read is your life and mine. They watch how you smile and how you act and how you treat people. So let them see what a Christian looks like. Some of them will probably die, and old Digger will get them because they are so acclimatized to being negative and your being so positive scares them to death.

The word “sit” means when something is completely complete. This word has a two-fold significance. The Greek word is sugkathizō which is transliterated into our English word “cathedral” and a cathedral, denominationally speaking, is the seat of the bishop. Wherever there is a cathedral, there is a bishop. The cathedral has in it the chair or the seat of the bishop. It means that that is his place of rest, his seat, it belongs to him, but that seat carries authority and power with it. God made us sit in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. It is our seat. We are at rest, but we have authority sitting in that chair - Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Ephesians 2:7 - is the purpose. “…He might shew (exhibit).” Why do you have an exhibit? Because you want to show your materials. That is the word that is used here. “…He might exhibit the exceeding riches of his grace.” When somebody sees you, they will say that you are the exceeding riches of his grace, and that is right-on. In his exhibit, I am not the important thing, but the important thing when he exhibits me will be that everybody will know the riches of his grace in his kindness toward me in Christ Jesus. The word “kindness” is that same word that is used in a family where a father is kind to his children. It deals with the family. He is going to show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness to his family. It is the word that is used regarding a home, and a family lives in it.

This whole section terminates with verse 7. This finishes up what I call chapter 1. And in the process of this understanding of this chapter, I learned some very significant things. I have learned that 1) I was crucified with Christ, 2) I was dead with Christ, 3) I was buried with Christ, 4) I was quickened with Christ, 5) I was raised with Christ and 6) I ascended with him and I am seated with Christ. And I learned one more thing.

Galatians 2:20 - “I am (was) crucified with Christ.” When Christ was crucified, you were crucified with him.

Romans 6:3 - When he died, we died with him.

Romans 6:4 - “…buried with him by baptism into death.”

Romans 6:5 - When he was raised, we were raised with him. Because we were “planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also... resurrection.” In order to have a resurrection, everybody has to be dead. Jesus Christ is everybody at that moment. There is nobody else who has ever been resurrected. He is the only one who has ever been resurrected. Even when the Bible talks about raising people from the dead, it was not a resurrection because they died again. In a resurrection, Biblically speaking, there is no longer death. And all the believers of the future (after the day of Pentecost and on to the return of Christ) died with Christ when he died and when he arose (and it is called a resurrection) we already rose with him. That is why we are seated.

Romans 6:8

So when you put this all together, it is really significant that Ephesians says that he hath raised us up together and made us sit together in Christ Jesus. So you and I were crucified with Christ, we died with Christ, we were buried with Christ, we were quickened with Christ, we were raised up with Christ, and we are seated with Christ. Those are six things to the body of the church, and there is yet one great one that is in Colossians. There are only seven in the Bible, and only seven that you will ever experience.

Colossians 3:1-4 - “...then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” The word there is “manifest in glory”. So we not only died with Christ and all those other things, but we are manifested with Christ in glory. What a fantastic thing the church of the body is. Those seven things are for every believer. That is why we are not saved by works but by grace; even you, quickened in Christ Jesus. Before, we were children, naturally, of the adversary. But we got a new father when we confessed with our mouth the Lord Jesus because the spiritual is greater than the natural man. The man of body and soul lives for 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 years or 120 or 966. But that on the inside is eternal life. That is spirit. And the greater is more important than the lesser. So in Christ we have all of this by his mercy and grace wherewith he loved us.