2019-12-12 | Ephesians 2:1-7 | Children of Disobedience
Alright well we’re there in Ephesians is Chapter 2. And on Wednesday nights, it’s our Bible study night of course, and we are studying through the book of Ephesians. I like Wednesday nights because we get to go just verse by verse, chapter by chapter. And there’s no rush. We really can take our time and really break down some of these passages and learn from them. If you remember last week, we ended Ephesians chapter one. We took a couple of weeks to be in Ephesians 1. We’ll probably take several weeks to be in Ephesians 2. And with books like these, there’s so much in it. We just kind of take subject by subject as the Apostle Paul is breaking them down. And what we’re going to learn about tonight in the first seven verses of this chapter, we learn about three different families that you either are a part of. You’re definitely part of one and you may be a part of another one. And I want you to notice this and I think it’ll make sense as we look at it.
Look at Ephesians 2:1 “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;” And of course this is a famous verse and we’re going to come back to that here in a minute. I want you to notice verse 2 “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” I want you to notice the next several words “in the children of disobedience:”. And like I said, we’ll look at three families tonight. And the first family is what I refer to as the family of Adam or what we would call the family of mankind. And you are born into the family of human beings of course at your birth. You were born a human and the Bible calls this family the children of disobedience. And I’d like you to notice that there’s a description for the family of Adam. There are several descriptions and I’m going to show you a couple of them. And one is that we are called the children of disobedience. This is not the only place that we hear that. We learn this title or learn this name in fact later in Ephesians.
Look at Ephesians 5:6. The Bible says this “6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God”. And I want you to notice it says “upon the children of disobedience.”. So when we see this phrase “the children of disobedience”, we’re talking about the family of Adam, the descendants of Adam. And the fact that we are the descendants of Adam. And I want you to notice in these passages how there’s something emphasized about the children of disobedience, and it is the wrath of God. Because in Ephesians 5:6 “6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things” And I want you to notice the “cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.”. Notice Colossians 3:6 “6 For which things’ sake” Just notice the emphasis “the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: “.
So we have this family and we see that they’re referred to as the children of disobedience. Now why is that or why would that be a name given to human beings, to those of us that are in the family of Adam, to those of us that are the descendants of Adam, to those of us who are in the family of mankind? And here’s what’s interesting. The Bible tells us about Adam and Eve, and of course you’re familiar with the story of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis, how they disobeyed God. The Bible tells us that Eve was deceived. It tells us this in several different ways. 1st Timothy tells us she was deceived. Other passages tell us she was beguiled. The serpent beguiled her, meaning he tricked her. But the Bible does not tell us that Adam was deceived. The Bible tells us that Adam was disobedient.
Romans 5:19, I’ll give you an example. The Bible says this “19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”. Now I want you to understand that the difference between Adam and Eve, and the reason that throughout the Bible the person who takes the blame for allowing sin into the world is Adam, even though it was Eve who ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and gave it to her husband. The difference is other than the fact that of course Adam was a leader is the fact that Eve was beguiled, she was tricked, she was deceived into doing it. On the other hand, Adam was disobedient. Adam chose to sin knowing full well what he was doing. And because of that, he takes the blame. And the Bible tells us “19 For as by one man’s disobedience” Referring to Adam. “many were made sinners,” Referring to all of us. Then we are told that we are the descendants of Adam. And we’re called the children of disobedience because we were brought into this world as sinners, we were born sinners. We were born with the sin nature of Adam in regards to his disobedience.
But we’re not only called the children of disobedience. It also has a different name. Go back to Ephesians if you would and I’ll show it to you. And if you remember, we saw in Ephesians 5 and we also saw in Colossians 3 the emphasis upon the wrath of God, right. The wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. This is what Colossians 3:6 said “the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience” This is what Ephesians 5:6 said. In Ephesians 2:3 the Bible says this “3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past”. Now he says we all had our conversation in time past in the family of the children of disobedience, because you’re born into the family of the children’s disobedience by nature. When you were born, you were born into the family of the children of disobedience or the family of Adam.
Notice verse three. “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” Notice these words “by nature” Naturally without you doing anything. Notice the words “the children of wrath, even as others.”. So, notice the family of Adam, human beings. Mankind is referred to in the Bible as the children of disobedience. Why? Because we’re descendants of Adam. Because wherefore as by one-man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. Because of his disobedience, we are the children of disobedience. But we’re also referred to as the children of Wrath. Why is that? Well, go to the book of John if you would. I’ll show you one passage on this.
John 3:36 “36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life:”. And the Son is the Lord Jesus Christ of course. If you believe on the Son, you “hath”. “Hath” is an archaic word that means have or possess, present tense. You have everlasting life. But notice what the Bible says “and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”. Now why is that? Because of the fact that you’re born a sinner, you’re born into the family of Adam, you’re born as children of disobedience, a child of disobedience. And you’re also the children of Wrath. Or I should say, we are the children of wrath because the wrath of God abideth on all unsaved people. Human beings are all condemned to hell. We have a song in the hymn book where it refers to us as the children of hell and that’s a biblical term, because we’re the children of Wrath. And wrath of course as hell is the wrath of God, we are the children of disobedience. So when you’re born into this family called the family of Adam or the family of mankind, the Bible refers to it or refers to us as the children of disobedience and as the children of Wrath because of disobedience that we are under the wrath of God.
Now I gave you some descriptions of the family of Adam. Let me give you what the Bible teaches here as the depiction of the children of Adam. Notice how they are depicted or how I should say we before our salvation were depicted in the Bible. Ephesians 2:2 “2 Wherein”. Paul is speaking to the church at Ephesus. He’s speaking to believers. And he says this “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world”. And here’s what he’s saying. People that are the children of disobedience, people that are the children of Wrath are just normal unregenerate, unsaved, unbelieving, no spirit of life in them, spiritually dead. You were dead in your trespasses and sins. These people, the Bible says they walk according to the course of this world. Meaning there is a course set up for them and they’re just walking down that course. They’re just walking in the path of the world. “according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:”. We’re going to come back to that.
Notice verse 3 “3 Among whom also” Notice what Paul says “we all” Because everyone was here at some point. Everybody was born a sinner. If you’re saved, you got saved. You weren’t born saved. You say, “I was born a Baptist”. That’s great but you weren’t born saved. You got saved because you’re a sinner. And he says “3 Among whom also we all had our conversation”. Now in our King James Bible, this word conversation is an older word, it means conduct or behavior. It’s referring to a manner of life. He says we all had our conversation, our conduct, our behavior, our manner of life. Notice “in times past”. And listen to this, this is what the world’s about, this is what worldly people are about, this is what unsaved people just naturally all on their own, this is what their lives are about. Notice “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.”. And this is a consistent teaching throughout the Bible. The fact that all the world has to offer is the lust of the flesh and the fulfilling desires of the flesh. I want to show you just a consistency okay. Here’s what Paul is saying and here’s what he’s telling us in these first three verses. He says you now are quickened. He said you were dead in trespasses and sins. We’re going to come back to that but he says you were the children of Wrath; you were the children of disobedience. And here’s what the children of disobedience do, their conduct is according to the course of this world, it’s according to what this world has to offer. And he says in the last of our flesh, fulfilling the desires.
Look at 1 John 2:15. “15 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.”. Notice what the Bible says in verse 16. “16 For all that is in the world,”. And this is all the world has to offer. “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”. And here’s what Paul is telling us, he’s telling us the world only offers is this “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life”. And look, if you live your life outside of God, that’s all there is. If you live your life outside of the fact that there is a God that created you with a plan, with a purpose, that God has things for you, he has blessings for you, he has plans, that he’s predestinated you for. Paul is teaching us in the book of Ephesians, he says without. That you’re just walking this life, just fulfilling the desires of your flesh, the desires of your mind. And here’s the point, the point is this, the world can’t stop sinning if they wanted to. Now you and I, we struggle with sin because of the fact that we’ve got the flesh and the Spirit. But the world, unsaved people, they don’t have the Spirit. They just have the flesh. And the flesh just by nature, just naturally is 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. Because all the world has to offer is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
Now go back to Ephesians chapter 2. I want you to notice that not only are we all or is everybody just by nature born into this family of Adam, they’re the children of disobedience, they’re the children of Wrath, and then by nature they just walk down the course of this world, and by nature they are just fulfilling the lust of their flesh, and the lust of their eyes, and the pride of life. But I want you to notice that they are just by nature, just by the fact that they’re born human beings, they are also, their conduct is according to the Prince of this world. It’s not only according to the course of this world but is it is according to the Prince of this world. And of course the Prince of this world is none other than the devil himself. Ephesians 2:2 “2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world,”. But then he says this, he says unsaved people, and I want you to understand this, unsaved people are not just these devil worshipping, have an agenda to serve Lucifer. Now there is a family like that and we’re going to talk about them tonight. But understand, people, they’re not like that. But here’s what you need to understand, they are either unknowingly, unwillingly, unwittingly, whatever, they are under the influence of Satan because of the fact that they are just walking according to the course of this world.
And really, that’s what makes a huge difference between those of us that are trying to follow the Bible and those of us that are not. It is that God has called us to come out from among them and be separate. God has called us to live a peculiar life. God has called us to live a separated, different life than the world. Because the world, they’re just doing whatever the world is doing, whatever’s on TV, whatever is on Facebook, whatever is on YouTube, whatever music, whatever. They just do whatever the course of this world tells them. But here’s the problem with that, it is that the course of the world is set according to the Prince of the power of the air. See, the one who is running this world is the Prince of the power of the air, Satan. “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:”. So it is Satan who is setting the agenda for the entire world. It is Satan who is setting the course for the entire world. And unsaved people, they’re just born the children of Wrath. They’re born the children disobedience. And they just get on this path where they just kind of walk down and they dress like everyone and think like everyone and talk like everyone and they just flow down the river of the course of the world. And the one setting that course is the devil. And I want you to notice the Bible refers to him here as the Prince of the power of the air.
Go to Ephesians 6. I want you to say that the word Prince is simply a word meaning leader or the one who is in charge. Ephesians 6:11 “11 Put on the whole armour of God,”. This is not the children of Wrath. These are believers. They are commanded to put on the whole armor of God. You say why? “that ye may be able to stand against the wiles” Notice “of the devil.”. Well why would I want to stand against the wiles of the devil? “12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”. And here’s the truth, that this world is controlled by the devil and by his demons, by his devils. And people always want to talk about conspiracies. And if that’s your thing, that’s fine. I don’t really care. But people are all about the Illuminati or the Masons or whatever. You say do you believe in all that? Here’s what I believe. I believe the devil’s controlling them. Whether there’s an Illuminati? I’m sure there is. Whether there are Masons. I’m sure they are.
But you know what, Trump, he’s being controlled by the devil too. Because the Prince of the power of the air is the one that controls the course of this world. You say, who’s controlling the governments of this world? The devil. And as you study the Bible, you’ll find that often the Prince of this land or the Prince of that land and there’ll be another spiritual Prince that is actually controlling that one. Why? Because there are principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world. And look, this world is controlled right now by Satan, because God allows it. God gives free course and allows people to do whatever they’re going to do. Of course one day God is going to put the devil in the lake of fire, and in the bottomless pit and then put him in the lake of fire and take control of this world. But for now the Bible is clear that the devil is in charge of this world. Let me give you another example. Go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4.
2 Corinthians 4:4, the Bible says this, “4 In whom the god” I want you to notice the lowercase g on god. Our translators, the King James Translators decided to do this. Why? It’s not the true God. “In whom the god” Lowercase g. “of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,”. The children of disobedience, the children of wrath. Those who are by nature the children of wrath. The Bible says “hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,” And I just want you to remember this “lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”. And here we’re told that the devil is the lowercase g, god of this world. And he has blinded the minds of them which believe not. Why? Because he is in control of this world. And because he’s in control of the world, he sets the agenda, he sets the course. And those that are born by nature into the family of the children of Wrath or children of disobedience, they just get on that course and they just fulfill the agenda of the Devil.
Go to Matthew 4. Let me show you this even further. There’s a reason why at the temptation of Christ that the devil offered the kingdoms of this world to Jesus. The reason is because the devil is in control of the kingdoms of this world. Matthew 4:8 “8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;”. And again we’re going to jump into the midst of this story where Jesus is being tempted by the devil. Matthew 4:8 “8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;”. So, notice he shows him all the kingdoms of the world. And of course I believe this was miraculous, the fact that he’s able to show him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them in this moment. Verse 9 “9 And saith unto him,” So this is the Devil saying to Jesus “All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.”. And of course Jesus refuses to and Jesus rebukes him using the word of God. But here’s the point, the fact that the devil could offer all the kingdoms of the world to Jesus because of the fact that he’s the god of this world, he’s the Prince of the power of the air, he is the principality and he is the powers, he is the ruler of the darkness of this world and he sets the agenda for this world.
So look, when the world is telling you that it’s okay to fornicate, it’s okay to shack up before you’re married, lgbtq, that’s normal, that’s great, let’s have them everywhere. Look, when the world is telling you things, just realize that’s coming from the devil, it’s coming from Satan. You say, are unsaved people all these devil worshipers? No, they’re just unsaved, they’re just the children of Wrath, they’re the children disobedience, and they’re just ignorant on the course of this world that is being said by the Prince of the power of the air, the devil himself.
So we begin tonight by looking at this family, the family of Adam. But I’d like you to go back to Ephesians 2 if you would. And I’d like to show you a second family. Not only do we have the family of Adam or the family of mankind, which is the children of wrath or the children of disobedience, but I’d like you to notice also the family of God. And there is a differentiation between the family of God and the family by nature under the wrath of God or the wrath or disobedience. Notice Ephesians 2:1. Paul says this “And you hath he quickened,”. The word quickened is an old word and it means to make alive or give life. “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;”. And I’m not going to get too much into this in this sermon, but when we are born into this world as babies, we are born with a spirit. Our spirit is what communicates with God. It is what gives us access to God. But when we get to the place where we understand and we’re able to discern between good and evil, when we can understand the law. Paul said that the commandment brought death. And when human beings get to the point where they can understand the law, they can understand that they are sinners, the Bible says your spirit dies. That’s why you need to be saved because the part of you that connects to God, the part of you that speaks to God, is your spirit. You’re born a human being and you’re born in the image of God and in the likeness of God.
I’m giving you a lot of things to consider tonight. But we serve a God that is three persons that are one God. And in a way that is like how we are not three persons but we are three. We are one person that is created in three parts. You’ve got your body and you’ve got your soul and you got your spirit. And your body of course is the physical aspect of you. Your soul is who you are. It’s what makes you and it’s how you connect and how you’re able to understand with other human beings. And then you’ve got your spirit. That’s how we connect to God. That’s why, and by the way when the law revives your spirit dies. That’s why the natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God, because there is no spirit, their spirit is dead. But at the moment of salvation, the Bible says that God quickens your spirit. He makes your spirit alive. And that’s why Paul said you who were dead in trespasses and sins.
Look at verse 4 “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;)”. By the way, this is why the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature”. You say what’s the new creature? Well you had a spirit that was quickened you had a spirit that was made alive. By the way, this is why Jesus called salvation being born again. Why? Because there’s actually new life in you when you got saved. A spirit was quickened, was made alive. There was a new man. That’s why the Bible calls him the new man. The new man versus the old man. The spirit versus the flesh. All these things are referring to the fact that when you got saved, you were made a new person. You were dead in sins but he hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved.
In John 5:24 “24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”. Why? Because you were born and I was born a child of Wrath, under the wrath of God, dead in our trespasses and sins. And for those of us that believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says that we were quickened and we were made alive. We’re created a new creature. There is a new creature inside of us. And you know, let me just go ahead and throw this out there. And I don’t have time to develop this because we’re running out of time already.
But let me say this, if you understand the fact that you were born a sinner, that you’ve got your flesh that’s a sinner, and at salvation there was a new man, a new creature created in you, and it’s the spiritual man, that will help you understand all of the writings in 1st, 2nd and 3rd John. People get so confused when they read first, second, and third John. And they’re like “The Bible says that we are sinless after we’re saved”. The Bible is teaching that inside of you there are two people. There’s the old man. There’s a new man. There’s the flesh. There’s the spirit. This is talked about throughout all of Romans 7 and all throughout the Bible. The teaching is this, your spiritual man never sins. He doesn’t sin. He’s born of God. The Bible says he partook in the divine nature of God. He was begotten by God. The new man doesn’t sin. The old man, when you say that’s your old man, the old man is not going to inherit the kingdom of God. The old man, who is lying and fornicating and getting drunk, that guy is not going to heaven. Here’s the thing, that guy’s not going to heaven. When you die, your flesh dies. That flesh is not going to heaven. Your soul goes to heaven. Your spirit goes to heaven. You say what about the resurrection? You get a new flesh. This corruptible puts on incorruption and this mortal puts on immortality.
And look, that’s why John says you don’t sin, the new man doesn’t sin. The children of God don’t sin. It’s not sinless perfection. You sin but the new man inside of you doesn’t sin. And that’s why in Christianity, in our faith, there’s this battle between the old man and the new man. Some people ask me, they say, I have a desire to serve God but I also have a desire to fulfill the lust of the flesh, am I even saved? And I’d always tell them, that proves you’re saved. Because let me explain something to you, worldly people, they don’t have that struggle. The children of Wrath, the children disobedience, they just get on the course of this world, they just fulfill the lust of the flesh, they just fulfill the lust of their mind. They don’t give it a second thought. There’s no inner battle between the spiritual and the old man. He just does whatever. He doesn’t care. By the way, it is the spirit, it is a spiritual man when you’re in church and the Word of God is being preached. Or when you go to the red-hot preaching conference and you’ve got all these great preachers just ripping your face off and you’re just loving it. Who’s loving it? It is the spiritual man. You get unsaved people in here and they’re like, what is this? Why is that guy yelling? Why is he so mad? I don’t even understand what he’s saying. It’s the spiritual man that connects your spirit, that connects with the Word of God, with God and with the Holy Spirit. You were dead in your trespasses and sins and you hath he quickened who were dead and you were made a new creature.
And by the way, this is our security. When your spirit is alive, that transaction is done. We are secure in Christ. You say well what about the redemption of the purchased possession. That’s the body, that’s what we’re still waiting on. The fact that this body has to die. This body is what we’re still waiting on for redemption. And this body one day will be redeemed as well, of course at the rapture. But I want you to notice that not only do we see our salvation in Christ, we see our security. Ephesians 2:6 “6 And hath raised us up together,”. Notice the word “hath” there, present tense. It means a state that currently exists. “and made us sit together”. Now let me ask something, have we been raised up together yet with Christ? No we haven’t. “and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:”. Now are we actually sitting in heavenly places right now? No we’re not.
“7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”. You say well why does the Bible state this as if it’s already happened? And here’s why. Because when God makes a promise, you can take it to the bank. It’s as good as done. In fact the Bible says that God speaks of those things, he speaks of those things as they’ve already been done. He knows the end from the beginning. And God here, he’s saying look, it’s as good as done. You’re already sitting in heavenly places. And by the way, in Christ Jesus, that’s the only way you get in. It has nothing to do with you. It’s nothing to do with your works. It has nothing to do with your repenting of your sins. It has everything to do with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice Ephesians chapter 5. We have the family of Adam, right. What are they? The children of Wrath, the children of disobedience. What do they do? They just get on the course of this world. They just fulfill the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the mind. They’re not bad people. They just have nothing else to look for but their desires, but their job and money and cars and clothes and music and whatever. They’re just doing whatever. And they don’t even necessarily realize that the person setting that agenda is the Prince of the power of the air. But then you have the family of God. And we were dead in our trespasses and sins but we have been quickened. We were born again and we were born into the family of God. But notice how the Bible refers to us or how the Bible refers to us. Ephesians 5:8 “8 For ye were sometimes darkness,” Notice how he’s saying that you used to be darkness. “but now are ye light in the Lord:”. Didn’t Jesus say that ye are the light of the earth. Notice what it says “walk as children of light:”. Throughout the Bible, see you’ve got the children of darkness but then on the other end you’ve got the children of light.
Go to 1 Thessalonians 5:5. Notice what the Bible says “5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.”. So notice, we’re called the children of light. We’re called the children of the day. Go to Luke 16. He gave this parable about how this unjust steward was smarter than those of us that are saved and then he says look, sometimes you can learn something from the world; not in regards to value or obviously getting on their agenda. But he’s saying look, sometimes the world, they work harder at the stupid things they’re following than we do at the things that actually matter. McDonald’s has done a better job at reaching the world with their product than we’ve done with reaching the world with the gospel. And Jesus is saying, sometimes you can look at the world and get some ideas about effectiveness and efficiency and urgency.
Luke 16:8 “8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.”. And again, I just want you to notice there’s the children of this world and then there’s the children of light. There’s the children of Wrath and disobedience and then there’s the children of light. Go to John chapter 12:36. The Bible says this “36 While ye have light,”. Remember Jesus is the light. Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. He says “While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.”. How do you become a child of light? By believing in the light. Who’s the light? The Lord Jesus Christ. “These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.”.
So to Acts 26. So you have the children of wrath, the children of disobedience, the children of this world. The natural unsaved man, he’s dead in his trespasses and sins. And then you have the children of light. You say, how did you become the child of light? By believing in the light. By coming to the light. This is why the Bible says when it comes to soul winning, this is why the Bible says in Acts 26:18, this is what Paul said. “18 To open their eyes,”. When we’re preaching the gospel to people, what are we doing? What are we trying to do? “To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light,”. You say well what does that mean? Here’s what it means. “From the power of Satan unto God.” Because when they’re in darkness, they’re under the power of Satan, they’re on the course of this world which is set by the Prince of the power of the air.
“that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”
And here we have Paul saying, when you get somebody saved or when you attempt to get somebody saved, you’re trying to get their eyes open and turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to the power of God. You say why? Because there are two families. There’s the family of Adam which we’re all born into. By nature we’re naturally born sinners, we’re born disobedient, we’re born in the wrath of God. Did you ever notice that you don’t have to teach a kid to be disobedient? You don’t have to teach a kid to lie. You don’t have to teach a kid to have a bad attitude. You got to teach them to not lie. You got to teach them to obey. You got to teach them to have a good attitude. But just by nature, they’re just the child of wrath. There’s a child of disobedience but then when you get saved, ye that were dead in trespasses and sins, now you’re quickened, you’re made alive, you’re made a new creature, you’re born again, there’s a new man, now you’re in the family of God. And the Bible calls them the children of light.
But I’d like you to notice that there’s a third family. So we have the children of Adam, we have the children of God, right. But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God. Paul says now are we called the children of God. Then in 1st John 3:10, I want you to notice what John wrote. 1 John 3:10 “10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil:”. So Adam has children, we’re all it. Then God has his children, those who believe on Jesus Christ for salvation. But then the Bible says that there are also the children of the devil. “whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”. And again, that’s speaking about the spiritual man.
Go to John 8:44. We’re just looking at several verses and then we’ll make an application and finish up. The Bible said and what Jesus said, and by the way he’s saying this to religious people. You know that some of the hardest people to get saved are religious people. Sometimes it’s just easier to get just an unsaved guy saved and unsaved lady. Just a normal person doing whatever the world tells me to do. Just kind of on that course. But here we’ve got these religious people and these Pharisees. Notice what Jesus said in John 8:44 “44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”. But I want you to notice that Jesus looked at these people, he said ye are of your father the devil. Why? Because the devil has children as well.
Go to Matthew 13:36. The Bible says this “36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.”. So Jesus gave this parable of the tares of the field and then the disciples are saying, can you explain that to us? So he’s about to explain it to them. Verse 37 “37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;”. So, in the parable, the person sowing the seed was Jesus, the son of man. “38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.”. And notice, here Jesus tells us there are children of the kingdom, children of light, the children of God, and then there are children of the wicked one or the children of the devil. In the Old Testament they are referred to as the children of Belial. Let’s look at that really quickly and we’ll finish up.
Deuteronomy 13:13. And I’ll just show you two passages. There’s lots of passages we could look at. Belial or Beelzebub or Baal, these are all Old Testament names that basically are just referring to Satan. And I won’t take the time to develop that but the proof for that is that Jesus was accused by the Pharisees of not casting out Devils by the power of the Spirit but by casting out by the power of Beelzebub. And Jesus said, you’re saying I’m filled with Satan. So Satan in the Old Testament, you’ve got all these false gods but Beelzebub, Baal, Belial, that’s Satan. Because by the way, all these false gods are just Devils. The Hindus worship all these false religions. They’re just worshipping Devils. An elephant with all these hands. It’s just Devils.
Deuteronomy 13:13 “13 Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;”. So, notice, the children of Belial are trying to get people to come and serve other gods. Go to Judges 20:13. The Bible says this “13 Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death,”. Now if you remember, the children of Belial in Judges 20, these people are the sodomites, are the Psychopath reprobates that were trying to rape a man in Judges 19 and who killed his concubine and forced her and had their way with them. Judges 19, that’s a horrific story. In Judges 20, we’re told that was the children of Belial that did that which are in Gibeah. That we may put them to death. And by the way, that’s what God caused, for the children of Belial to be put to death and to put away evil from Israel. “But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel.”.
So, there’s three families, every human being is born into the family of Adam; a family of mankind. And they are the children of Wrath and they are the children disobedience. They’re under the wrath of God. They’ve inherited the sin nature of Adam and they just get on the course of this world. And they’re just mindless tools of the Devil. And all of us were unsaved. Just the devil sets the agenda and we just go down that road. And if those people die, they go to hell. You say why? They’re under the wrath of God. Remember, the children of wrath. But if someone preaches the gospel to them, and opens their eyes, and turns them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to the power of life, if they believe on Jesus, they hear the word, and they believe on Jesus, they’re passed from death unto life, and they’re quickened and they’re made alive. Then they have a new man. They’re born again. Now they’re children of light. Now they’re the children of God.
And you say well why did God give us these families? Well we can often, and when we go soul-winning we often will use the illustration of a birth physically as a child to illustrate some characteristics of the child of God. You’re born into your family and nothing’s going to undo that. Your mom and your dad will be mom and dad forever. No matter what. They’re always going to be your mom and your dad. You can’t change your DNA. You could stop having a relationship with them. You could never talk to them but they’re going to be your mom. And guess what, when you get born into the family of God, God is your Father, period. He never stops being your Father. You say, well what if I go back to the world and what if I walk in the flesh? Then you know what, you have a Heavenly Father who’s going to correct you, who’s going to chasten you, just like physically we might correct our children. When my children are disobedient, do I discipline them or do I throw them out of the family? I discipline them. I discipline them because I love them. I don’t just throw them out of the family. “Oh you didn’t make your bed? You’re out of family”. But yet many people think that’s what God is like. No, when you got born into the family of God, you will always be a child of God. Nothing will change that.
But you know what? In the same way, when people become a child of the devil, when they become a child of Belial, when they become the children of the wicked one, this is what the Bible calls a reprobate, nothing will change that. So we have eternal security, yeah. But what they have is eternal damnation. Once the devil is their father, nothing will change it. You say are all unsaved people in the family of Satan? No. But some people cross that line. You say well how do you get born into the family of devil? Well remember, how did you get born into the family of God? How did you become a child of light? You believe the light and you became a child of light. Well guess what Romans teaches? When you reject the light, when you reject the truth, when you choose not to believe and you do that long enough and long enough and long enough and choose not to receive it, then guess what? The light rejects you and your conscience is seared.
I don’t understand how people refuse to believe in the reprobate doctrine when the Bible illustrates this in a hundred different ways. Your conscience is seared. You’re given over to a reprobate mind. You’re a child of the devil. You’re a child of the wicked one. Once you’re a child of the devil, you can never come back. You can never come back. You’re rejected. You say well what about can a child of God become a child of the devil? Look, a child of God cannot become a child of the devil and a child of devil cannot become a child of God, period. I don’t care how many prayers Jeffrey Dahmer prayed in that cell. He was a child of devil. And he could never become a child of God. That’s what the Bible teaches.
So, there’s these three families. We’re all born into the family of Adam and we’re trying to get as many people into the family of God as we can. But you know what, the devil is trying to get as many people into his family. This is why he sets this agenda to try to get as many people that are just born by nature the children of Wrath to try to get them down the path of becoming a reprobate, a child of the devil. So, you say what do we do? Here’s what we do. We go out into the highways and hedges and we try to turn as many people from darkness to light as we can. We try to take people from the power of Satan unto the power of God so that they became can become a child of God.
Let’s pray.