“yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow”

How does he bring that change about? To really understand this you almost literally have to read between the lives. What happens between verses 3 & 4? It is the cross of Christ. The first three verses set the black cloth of our nature out for us to see. But on top of that blackness lays the gems of the love of God and the mercy of God. I mean to really get a handle on what Paul is talking about you have to go back and read the end of chapter one again. Verse 19 – he’s talking about the incomparably great power that is available for us who believe. (this is what’s available for us) How great is that power? It is immeasurably great. It raised Christ from the dead – and seated him at his right hand. Do you see what is going here? Jesus died on a cross, came to life, was raised from the dead, has ascended to the right hand of God the Father where he is now seated far above all principalities and powers and every named that is named - but not only that – You and I are made alive with Christ. We are raised up with Christ. We are seated with Christ in heavenly places. What has happened to Christ has happened to you and has happened to me. He went from death to life. We go from death to life. He was raised up – we’re raised up. He was seated in the heavenly realms. So are we. Here is the question – are you aware of the exalted position that you occupy as a child of God? You came in this morning and tried to determine where you were going to sit down. God has already seated you in the heavenlies.

The world did its worst to him and he rose victorious. When the world does it’s worse to you, you can still be victorious. God’s answer to the needs that Paul has just outlined for us

The greatest need of a dead person is what? To be made alive. – Ill of cyronics. Companies that will take your money and deep freeze you in liquid nitrogen and keep you until sometime in the future when mankind’s science hopefully will advance to the point of bringing you back to life and heal whatever disease you may be carrying. Cryonics is not God’s answer for the problem of death. I’m glad I’m part of God’s chosen and not the devil’s frozen. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s answer to the death problem. It’s God’s only answer to the problem of death. Both spiritual and physical death were conquered by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The greatest need of a depraved person is what? To be set free. Life on this planet is a battle against the world, the flesh and the devil. Paul outlines this by the way in the previous verses. “You followed the ways of the world.” “the ruler of the kingdom of the air” and “the cravings of our sinful nature” (note the footnote – the flesh” In Christ the bondage to sin has been broken. Jesus. In Christ we can be victoriously over sin, He who died substitutionally for us and who rose from the dead victorious over sin and death and Satan and hell, lives in all who repent and receive Him. Greater is He Who is in us, than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4) and therefore we, too, triumph over sin and over Satan and over our own flesh, in Him. Does this mean we never fall? Of course not. But it means that God’s grace picks us up, dusts us off, and sends us on our way rejoicing in ongoing forgiveness, and then that same grace enables us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions in the future, and to live lives of self-control.