Without God in the World

Is He My God?

I like to attempt to play golf from time to time. I have the necessary equipment. Golf bag, golf balls, golf shoes. All things golf. I’ve even taken the time to watch some videos in hopes of improving my skills. Some of the videos have had some pretty famous golfers like Tiger Woods, Rory McIroy, and Scottie Sheffler. How awesome would it be to say, I don’t just know about golf or I haven’t just watched some videos from some incredible golfers, but Scottie Sheffler is MY golf coach!!! He’s showing me how to stand and how to hold the golf club and how to do the correct take away and how to follow through. He moved my arms and hands in the perfect position to putt accurately. He’s not just a coach I know about or I have seen, but he is My golf coach!

You see, it’s not enough to know God is a personal God who knows us and wants to be known. It’s not enough to know God is powerful, ruling over all and able to touch every area of life. It’s not enough to know God’s personality—what God is like—how he chooses to operate and to interact with us. We must ask the question—is he my God? Until we dig into that question and discover the answer the past three studies are just words on a page. Do I personally know him? Have I acknowledged his rule in my life? Have I interacted with his love, grace, faithfulness and truth? We must bring all of this down to a level playing field and ask–Is he the God of my life?

Life Without God

My goal in these next few moments is to paint as bleak a picture as possible. I want to give you a clear picture of what life without God looks like.

Eph 2:12 (ESV) remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Eph 2:1-3 (ESV) And you were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— [3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

• Separated from Christ
  • Isa 59:1-2 (ESV) Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; [2] but 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.
  • Apart from Christ—We were meant to have relationship with, to be one with the LORD who created us. But instead our sin has made a separation between us and God that we have no ability to fix. We are separated from his life, his love, his wisdom, his peace, his joy, his hope.
• Alienated from the commonwealth of Israel (a non-participant with the community, citizenship of God’s people)
• Strangers to the covenants of (the) promise—we are foreigners to, not associated with the binding contract the Lord has made that leads to the fulfillment of all his promises.
• Having no hope—no hope of any kind. (the world has no hope to offer us)
• Without God in the world—Vincent’s Word Studies described this phrase as meaning “God-forsaken.” “In the world” applies to both phrases. Essentially, we have no hope in the world and we live in a world that has “forsaken-God.”.
• Dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked—(There may be physical life within us, but without Christ, we are spiritually dead, dwelling in our trespasses and sins) (this describes our pattern of life, how we lived)
• Trespasses speaks of man as a rebel, sins speaks of man as a failure. “Before God we are both rebels and failures.” (Stott)
• Following the course of this world (living according to the world’s view)
• Following the prince of the power of the air (ask yourself what is guiding the spirit of this world, the thoughts, the feelings, the attitudes, the actions)
• Sons of disobedience (my parent is disobedience)
• Living in the passions of our flesh (dwelling in whatever passions our bodies desire)
• Carrying out the desires of the body and the mind (controlled by the desires of our bodies and minds)
• Children of wrath (born to wrath) (Wrath is upon us from the very first)
  • Jhn 3:36 (ESV) Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Life with God

My goal in these final moments together is to show you what absolute hope and life with God looks like.

Eph 2:13 (ESV) But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Eph 2:19 (ESV) So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizenswith the saints and members of the household of God,

Eph 2:4-5 (ESV) But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, [5] even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

But now…

• In Christ Jesus—(Not separated from but “in Christ”) Not two, but one. (Union with Jesus. Union with our Creator. Union with our Savior. Union with our LORD)
• You who once were far off have been brought near—we were separated by our sin, but now we have been brought near to Christ. What a beautiful picture! How did God accomplish this incredible feat of doing away with the separation between us?
• By the blood of Christ—Jesus’ work on the cross atoned for our trespasses and sins. They have been covered. They are gone and since they are gone we are no longer separated but are brought near! Jesus gave his life. It was worth it to him to willingly sacrifice himself on a cross in order to destroy the separation between us and to bring us near!
• No longer strangers—we are no longer foreigners to the covenants of the promise. We have full knowledge of and are a part of the covenants. We can now shout out, “All the promises of God find their YES in Jesus!” (2 Cor. 1:20)
• No longer aliens—we are no longer non-participants. We are full participants with the people of God.
• Fellow citizens with the saints—we have had full citizenship granted to us. We didn’t have to take a test. We were given citizenship through the authority of the King.
• Members of the household of God—we belong to the family of God. Every one of us, adopted sons and daughters by a father who loved us. We were orphans with no hope and without a father in this world. Or so we thought. But God accomplished everything through Christ and made us family with him.
• (because of God’s mercy and great love) made alive together with Christ—we were spiritually dead but now we live. As Christ lives we live. The same resurrection power that brought Jesus to life physically has brought us out of spiritual death and made us truly alive! We are complete in Christ—fully alive.
• Saved by grace—not by any works that we could ever accomplish, but simply and solely saved by grace.

Rom 8:35-39 (ESV) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? [36] As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” [37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We were separated from Christ, with no hope and without God in our world. Now, there is no one that can separate us from the love of Christ. We have hope. We not only have God in our world, but he is our world.

On June 8, 1991 everything changed in my life. For 2 ½ years I spent time getting to know Terri. I had learned some of her likes and her dislikes. I knew some of her hopes and dreams. I knew some of her story, some of the things that brought her heartache and pain. I learned about her personality—why she does the things she does. For 2 ½ years I knew about her. But on June 8, 1991 everything changed because on June 8, 1991 she made a covenant with me to become my wife. And now for almost 34 years she has covenanted to do life with me. She has shown me things about life and about myself that I never knew. What made the difference? She made a covenant with me. She’s not just someone I know about. She’s my wife.

You can know God is a personal God, a powerful God, with an incredible personality. But do you know him in personal relationship? Can you say he’s the God of my life?

How do I respond this morning?

The Sinner’s Plea

Psa 79:9 (ESV) Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake!

The God of My Life

Psa 42:8 (ESV) By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.