[Biblemat] A> Once...

[Steven C. Harper]

From: TRUTH & REASON, a bulletin of the Glendale church of Christ, Glendale, AZ. 
Editor: Steven Harper 
December 30, 2007

Once.

 

Every Christian must, at some point, look back on the previous life [before he or she obeyed Christ's word and became His disciple] and admit that it is not the life to which they can - or even want to - return. Hopefully, everyone who has ever obeyed the gospel realized that, as they were, they were lost, "having no hope and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12). It is the realization "there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12) that moves us to obey Jesus Christ and to not remain in our sins, and to not follow after any other religion. When we realize that, outside of Christ, we are lost and that salvation comes through Him alone, we should see the past life for what it truly was that we might not ever have a desire to return to it.

    Jesus spoke of those who might seek to return to the ways of the world when He said, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62). But the matter of salvation is more than just knowing Christ alone is Savior; it is also realizing the state of those outside of Christ is one far inferior to that in Christ and that it is completely undesirable to those of spiritual minds. Every once in awhile, it is good to be reminded of who we once were that we do not desire that life again; every once in awhile, we need to remind ourselves of who we once were and take stock of who we are now to make sure we have been truly converted. If we see no difference between who we were and who we are now, surely we must admit something is terribly wrong.

    For the next few minutes, I want to point to a few ways those outside of Christ are described, just so we may not forget what has been done for us and who we should be now - in Christ. As you read over these things, examine yourselves (2 Cor. 13:5) and see if a change has been made, but also remind yourself of the great things God has done for you!

    Once: Disobedient to God. (Rom. 11:30) When Paul wrote the Roman brethren, he reminded the Gentile brethren that it was through the disobedience of the Israelites that the gospel came to them and further reminded them that they, too, were once disobedient to God; in other words, none had a right to brag about their spiritual condition as if it was something that had 'earned' them salvation. As we read these words, let us be reminded that we, too, were in that condition before we obeyed the gospel; all who willfully remain outside of Christ are still considered disobedient.

    Earlier, though, Paul told them he was thankful "that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed" (6:17). Though these brethren were once disobedient, now they could be counted among the obedient ones. Though this seems like a 'small' distinction, the difference is enormous in God's sight.

    Those who have obeyed are those who can now rightly call Jesus Savior (Heb. 5:9), and those who obey are the ones who have escaped the indignation and wrath of God (Rom. 2:8; 2 Thess. 1:8). The same cannot be said of those outside of Christ!

    Once: Darkness. (Eph. 5:8). The sad part about this - especially for many who remain in this condition - is that they do not realize it! The wise writer said long ago, "The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble" (Prov. 4:19). Though those outside of Christ do not realize it, they are stumbling [spiritually speaking] and they don't know why! Blinded by their own spiritual condition, they cannot find their way to walk the straight spiritual path; it is not until they see the Light that this can change, though. Sadly, some remain in their darkness because they have an aversion to the Light. Jesus Himself said, "people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed" (John 3:19, 20).

    Again, this may sound like a 'small' distinction, but it is not so small in God's sight. We are told, "If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:6, 7). The difference is, either we are in sin or we are in Christ, but it cannot be both. Should we choose to continue walking in darkness, we cannot have fellowship with God! Those in Christ can say, however, "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Col. 1:13, 14). With this in mind, let us never forget that though we once were darkness, now we are children of light. Let us walk as such.

    Once: Afar Off. (Eph. 2:13). In the context of this passage, Paul was reminding the Gentile brethren of their previous condition and the blessings they now had in Christ; it was to those now in Christ he could say, "You who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." That sounds nice, but what does it mean? They were "brought near" to what or to whom?

    First, let us recall that Paul was speaking to the Gentile brethren who, before Christ came, were separated from God's covenant where He had promised them blessings. As Gentiles, they did not have those blessings, but more than that, outside of Christ (v. 12) they were far from the spiritual blessings God had established to be available to all who had obeyed (cf. Eph. 1:3). Paul was not speaking merely of the condition of all Gentiles before Christ came, but the then-current condition of any Gentile who was outside of Christ - the same condition of any man today who is outside of Christ.

    When we understand that those outside of Christ are called "the ungodly" (Rom. 5:6), "sinners" (v. 8), and "enemies" of God (v. 10), surely we can see why we were "far" from God! While we walked in sin and were disobedient to His will, we pursued the desires of the flesh and, thus, could not be pleasing to God (cf. Rom. 8:7, 8). God would have no part with those who so walked, and until we changed direction, we would be simply getting farther and farther from Him.

    And the 'distance' was necessarily set in place by our own sins. God once reminded the Israelites, "your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear" (Isa. 59:2). That 'distance' was necessary because God has no part with sin and is completely pure and those who desire to approach Him must also be pure. Today, through Christ's sacrifice, this has been made possible (2 Cor. 5:21), but we must obey in order to be called "righteous" or pure and that is the only way we may be brought near to Him; we could not cleanse ourselves of sin - and all of us were guilty. Let us be thankful for the powerful and precious blood of Jesus Christ, that allowed this to be so!

     Wherever you are spiritually, I hope you will consider these few things as a measure of your own standing before God and Christ. Let us examine ourselves now to see that we are no longer disobedient, no longer in darkness, and no longer far from God. Though these things may be who we were "once", it cannot be true of us today who are in Christ. Once we were disobedient but now we have obeyed; once we were darkness, but now we are children of light; once we were afar off, but Christ's blood has now brought us near. We cannot be who we once were.       -- Steven Harper
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