https://www.facebook.com/sing.f.lau/posts/2709800539701
A man inquired, "What is the state of a man before
regeneration?"
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You want the simple, glaring truth?
You may not like it. The truth shatters
lies.
Eph
2:1 ¶ And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2
Wherein 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:
3
Among 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.
4 ¶
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye
are saved...
First, the question presupposed the man to be an elect of God, since only the elect is regenerated.
1. He is dead in trespasses and sins. This
deadness does not consist in inactivity. In fact, he is full of activities but
they are all activities of death! In this deadness, he is utterly incapable of
any activities that bring himself to God. Instead, he is actively in enmity
against God and separated from God.
2. He walks according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air. He is under the power
and influence of the spirit that works in him. (so much for the imagined 'free
will' of this captive under Satan's power!)
3. He is a child of disobedience... a rebel,
in enmity against God. (so much for the fable that man in his native state can
believe Christ and get eternal life!)
4. He lives in the lusts of his flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. That's his native state.
(so much for the fiction that such a man will believe in order to have eternal
life!"
5. He is by nature a child of wrath; the just
and righteous wrath of God upon him.
BUT... BUT... BUT... BUT... BUT... this
disjunctive is one of the best in the Scriptures!
Without grace... a man will happily remain in
his NATIVE states of sin and death, happily serving sin! He is completely
helpless, dead in trespasses and sins, captives under the power and influence
of the strong man, and in enmity and rebellion against God.
While in such helpless condition, God freely
and sovereignly - i.e. by grace, quickened him who was dead in sins.
In quickening him, God VITALLY unite him to
Christ and gave him the eternal life that Christ has secured for His people.
This is 'by grace ye are saved'! With the quickening that man is saved... yes
S. A. V. E. D. - as saved as could be... i.e. perfectly and completely fit for
eternal glory. Faith, his act of believing, is completely excluded; faith was
an impossibility with a man dead in trespasses and sin; it is only possible
as an effect and consequence of having BEEN SAVED FREELY BY GRACE. (So, beware
of twisting and perverting "faith" in verse 8!)
God saves and saves by His free and
sovereign grace. He quickens the dead, and this enables a man to believe. God
does not give faith to a man dead in trespasses and sins, and expects him to
believe, in order to be regenerated! That's a fable!
The simple and plain truth is, "Even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye
are saved."
Those SAVED by God's free grace are called by
the ministry of the word to work out their own salvation with fear and
trembling... through their obedience to the will of their FATHER.
The salvation that God freely and sovereignly
bestows upon the elect dead in trespasses and sins and which enables them to
work out their own salvation, and the salvation that God's children are
summoned to work out for themselves are different and distinct salvation.
The biblical distinction is the essence of
sound theology.
