with the Lord, separated from God. It’s because of an event which took place in the garden of Eden. Look at Romans 5:12-21 to see the picture and learn how that Adam’s posterity have all, without exception, been sin ners. The human race is under the sentence of spiritual death because of the disobedience of the first man, as well as all of us who have followed. When Adam sinned, he catapulted the whole human race into spiritual judg ment and death. A trespass is a deviation from tru th ; it’s a violation of the law, a misdeed. Sin means to miss the mark. Adam and Eve died spiritually as soon as they disobeyed the Word of God. Immediately they were separated from Him. They im pulsively hid themselves. Th e i r bodies began the process of decay, ultimately resulting in old age and physical death. Every man and wom an born into the world since that day has gone down the same path. Not every man has sinned to the same extent. There are degrees of sinful ness, to be sure. But, regardless of the kind of sin and the wickedness of it in the eyes of society, the sinner is still spiritually dead. The penalty still stands: “Death, without God, having no hope.” Sin not only separates God and the sinner, it also separates one man from another (Eph. 2:11, 12). In the days of New Testament Chris tianity, Israel had occupied a special favor with God, having been chosen as a nation by Him. The nation was married to the Lord (Jer. 3:14). Out of this blessing, the Jews de veloped a Pharisaical attitude toward the Gentiles. Their prejudices were sometimes overwhelming. Paul points out that when Jew and Gentile alike receive Christ, at that moment the middle wall of partition between those nationalities is broken down. The ethnic differences are done away. You and I are one in Christ. We own Him to be our personal Saviour from sin.
Ephesus of the unbeliever’s dark, distressing past. Death is essentially separation. It does not mean cessa tion of life or even annihilation. Physical death is the separation of the soul and spirit from the body. Spiritual death is the separation of the soul, spirit, and body from God and from spiritual life. A human corpse, while it may be seen, is abso lutely unresponsive to loved ones. The individual who may lie before you in the casket is physically dead. Paul uses the same analogy. If an individual doesn’t know Jesus Christ as his own personal Saviour, he is spiritually dead. He is unresponsive to the direction of God. He who thus persists in his unbelief one day must stand before the God of the universe to give an account of his life. Eter nal death, the final tragic act of the three, means separated from God throughout all eternity. A person may argue about it all he wants, saying it’s not going to be so, but the Bible gives the final, authorita tive word. He will have to give an answer for his unbelief toward Jesus Christ. How many there are today who live as though the Lord doesn’t even exist. What a tragic mistake this is! God does exist whether one believes it or not. To be spiritually dead means that a person is completely unresponsive to God now. He is not energized or controlled by the Spirit but rather by his own sinful nature. He wants to do as he pleases without the consent of God. The fact is, the unbeliever, no matter how moral, upright, sin cere, sensitive and mentally alert he may be, is still at war with God. Not until one capitulates to the Lord, receiving Jesus Christ as personal Saviour, does life really begin. Someone may ask, “How did this unfortunate situation develop? How can one be dead in trespasses and sins even though he’s alive in every other respect?” Scripture clearly re veals that we were born at enmity 30
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker