Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - LOST

LOST

In the book of Ephesians, it states very clearly that all of us were spiritually dead “in trespasses and sins” (2:1) before we were made alive through faith in Christ. This spiritual death occurred in the very early days when man accepted the work of Satan over the direction of God. But, in addition to what is stated in Ephesians, the Bible uses many other ways to describe man’s separation from God. This in turn shows that God does not often say or do things in the same way.

In the book of 2 Corinthians we are told that carnal man is blind to God.

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,

whose minds the god of the age has blinded, who do not believe,

lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, 

who is the image of God, should shine on them. 

(2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

And in the book of Romans man is described this way:

But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, 

yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine 

to which you were delivered. 

(Romans 6:17)

Again in the book of John, those separated from God are referred to on this way:

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, 

and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 

For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come into the light, 

lest his deeds should be exposed. 

(John 3:19-20)

In Mark, those separated from God are spoken of in this way:

When Jesus heard it, He said to them, 

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, 

but those who are sick.” 

(Mark 2:17)

And, Luke refers to such people in an entire chapter in his gospel as being lost and gives three parables to illustrate this. The parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son all in Luke 15.

Not only are people without God lost, but they are also described as being not truly in the world as they should be.

…at that time you were without Christ, 

being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, 

(Ephesians 2:12)

Paul, in Ephesians, also called the lost…

…children of wrath…fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind… 

having no hope and without God in the world. 

(Ephesians 2:3&12)

And he further describes us as being…

 

…delivered from the power of darkness and 

[conveyed] into the kingdom of the Son of His love… 

(Colossians 1:13) 

Now…you are no longer strangers and foreigners, 

but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. 

(Ephesians 2:19)

From being lost, blinded, sick, slaves of sin, and children of wrath to being made alive and conveyed into the kingdom of the Son of His love all through faith in Christ and God’s mercy is something we should all be thinking about.