Before And After Life
These verses from the beginning of Ephesians chapter two remind me of my university days. As a student in University, I had a holiday job, and, believe it or not, it was in a hospital. Because I had some knowledge of Chemistry, I was transferred to the Laboratory. And they said, 'Right, we're going to train you in Pathology, and in Biology and in preparing specimens.' It included post-mortems. So I had to go to the mortuary and watch the mortuary-keeper as he conducted post-mortems. And then he said, 'Jack,' (I was known as Jack, because my middle name is Jacob), 'in a couple of days, it's your turn!' Can you imagine how I felt! Well, I had to come clean. I told them, 'Really, this isn't my line; I want to be in Chemistry, not in Biology.' So they sent me back to transferring patients to the operating ward and back again. I breathed a sigh of relief, and so did my fiancee! I had to tell Judith. She breathed a sigh of relief as well.
But I noticed in the post-mortems as they examined those people, those dead bodies, there was no cry of pain; there was no response at all, because when a person is dead, there is no more feeling; there is no more response. And what Shaul is saying here is that's exactly what we are like in our natural condition. We are utterly unresponsive spiritually. You speak to someone who is unsaved; who is not a Believer. It goes over their heads; it doesn't make sense to them. You can talk until you are blue in the face, but until GOD opens their heart, you might as well be a person from Mars talking to them. It doesn't make any sense at all. They can't figure out what you are saying. I have had this experience over and over again. You are talking to a wall. Your words are wasted on the air. 'Now,' says Shaul, 'that's how you were before He made you alive.' As spiritually dead as one who is physically dead; and there is no hope of change; no hope of improvement, apart from the supernatural, miraculous power of GOD! GOD says to His people in Isaiah, Chapter 59, verses 1 and 2: He speaks about trespasses and sins; And, here we have the symptoms of the disease; the trespasses, the way people act. The LORD YESHUA said, But sins refer to the evil principle governing the actions. Contrasting conditions are being brought out in these verses. You could write a title, 'Before and After'. He says, That reminds me of another story about a doctor. He was the terror of the hospital because he was brilliant, and everybody had to jump to it. He was so fast, and the nurses would say, 'Oh, oh, here he comes' and then they would all get into a panic except for this Christian nurse. And he wanted to know what was the difference? 'Nurse, what's your secret?' She told him that Yeshua was her Secret, and that was the first step to him becoming a Believer. And now what about you? Where do you find yourself? Before or after life? |