Good morning and welcome in today. Today we’re going to take a look at some scripture from Ephesians 2:1 which says,….
…..And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.
The word quicken means to revive or to make alive. It’s to bring something to life or to a former condition. Because of our sinful condition, each of us abide in a state of death. Certainly, people are walking around the earth today, doing all kinds of things. They look alive, but they are actually abiding in a state of death.
For example, in Luke 9:60 Jesus said…
….let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
He’s speaking about Spiritually dead people, burying their physically dead relatives. All of us have come short of the glory of God and are equally sinners on this earth. Jesus is the life and without him we abide in death. Each of us has a backpack that we carry that is filled up with rocks. They are the rocks of sin. Sin leads to death but the Lord Jesus Christ wants to take that backpack from us and to revive us from our sinful condition.
Romans 5:12 says….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:
Unrepentant sin will eventually lead to eternal death.
John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Someday, God is going to punish sin. This is why we need to come to the Lord Jesus Christ, and get forgiven for our past misdeeds. God cares for us and wants to forgive us. We simply need to come forward and believe in Him and confess our misdeeds. The archaic definition for quicken means to revive or resuscitate as from death or an inanimate state. Each of us are dead in our own trespasses and sins, but the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth to give us life through His grace.
James 1:15 teaches,… and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
The Lord wants to save us from our sinful condition. He shed his blood at the cross so that we could have life through His grace. It’s a process of being reborn. Quicken means to make alive.
Psalms 119 88 Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.
Psalms 80:18 So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.
Psalms 119:156 Great are thy tender mercies, O LORD: quicken me according to thy judgments.
In each of these verses, the psalmists are asking God to make them alive again, and to renew them.
Think about Jesus who brought Lazarus back from the grave after he had died. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Each of us needs to undergo a death to our sinful lives and start over again in Christ. It’s a rebirth through baptism when we become born again. Jesus explains this principle of the Christian faith to Nicodemus in John 3:1-7
There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Take note that the Lord teaches him that you must be born again. The word “must” means it’s very important and is necessary for something to happen in order to inherit eternal life. One “must” be born again.
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
When people are buried in the earth, they are buried in the ground and covered. When we are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, we are baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We are completely submerged underneath the water. It’s a water grave, where we die to the old person that we once were. When we rise up out of the water, we begin a brand new life with the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptism is required to inherit eternal life, and it’s the very beginning of the Christian walk with God.
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Remission is the cancellation of a debt, charge or a penalty. When we are baptized, Christ washes our sins away, and gives us the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 22:16 And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
To have forgiveness with God, we have to come forward and get baptized. Think about when you have dirty clothes, where do you eventually go? You have to go wash them or go to a laundromat so they are clean. God wants to cleanse us of our entire past, and to do this we need to take a step into that water grave and put to death that old sinner inside of each of us.
The Lord commanded His disciples in Matthew 28:19-20….
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
Colossians 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
Remember, when Jesus died at the cross and was buried, he was risen from the grave. God wants us to be raised from the graves of our own sinful condition, and it begins with baptism,
Acts 8:38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
Acts 10:47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
Acts 2:41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
So in our main study verse, it says,..
“ And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.”
That quickening begins with baptism.
When you come forth for baptism, it is an act whereby you show God that you believe in Him. You are taking a step towards him in faith, which He will reward with forgiveness. People who truly believed in Jesus Christ and his healing ability went out to see him. In that act of faith, they were healed of whatever disease they had. Even in the church, when people are sick and not feeling good, they can make an act of faith and come forward to be anointed with oil. In that simple act of faith, they were not only healed, but got forgiven for their sins at the same time.
I want you to remember today that God wants to forgive us. He doesn’t want anybody to perish. What is required is that we come forward to Him in faith, and turn away from your sinful living. The Lord Jesus has met us halfway to deliver us from our sinful condition. We need to meet him the rest of the way and it all begins by taking a few steps into….
…… The Water Grave.
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.♥️
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 