According to the Bible, God’s Word, not everyone on earth is a child of God. In fact, it is just the opposite. When people enter the world, they are naturally children of wrath according Ephesians 2:3. Sadly, because of our first parents, Adam and Eve, all people, including you and me have a sinful nature that invites the wrath of a holy and righteous God. You will never have to teach a child what is wrong, they seem to know it already!
Why is God angry? God is angry because of our evil deeds, that is, the way we live our lives which includes the thoughts we think. Ephesians 5 lists out a few of the things God is angry at: filthiness which is indecent behavior and obscenity. The Lord says there should be no foolish talk and crude joking. Even more so, there should be no sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness, that is, desiring something or someone else that you do not have and feel you must have. Ephesians links coveting with idolatry which is one of the most horrific sins a person can commit. At its root, idolatry is loving something or someone more than God which is a terrible sin every person on earth is guilty of doing. This is because we are all lovers and we typically love something or someone more than the Lord who made heaven and earth. Practically, we often get angry or sad when we cannot get our idol. What makes you angry and sad each day when you cannot ‘get it’? Here you will find your idol.
There is a sentence in Ephesians that strikes the reader to the heart after this list of sins is given: “You may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” This is not good because Ephesians teaches that God ardently desires for His children to receive an eternal inheritance with Him in heaven. Ultimately, God does not want the children of wrath to remain under His wrath but under His love.
How do you stop being a child of wrath who has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God and become a child of God who will receive an eternal inheritance? First, you must understand and come to the sobering terms that there is nothing you can do in your own strength to make things right. Sin is an addiction that slowly strangles us and enslaves us. Ephesians 2:1 says the children of wrath are spiritually “dead”. The dead cannot do anything to fix their problems because they have no life in their being and they have no strength. If we cannot stop being evil and just start doing what is right, then how can we become a child of God?
Becoming a child of God is something God does in you when you and I, in our desperate, dead conditions, repent and turn from our evil deeds and cry out to the Lord Jesus Christ to rescue us, to heal us, and to give us life. Salvation is a work of God from start to finish according to Ephesians 1-2 and a ‘gift’ we must receive by faith. Christ, the Son of God, came to earth to do what we could not do, that is, to live a perfect life. He did not walk in impurity and sexual immorality. He did not walk or talk in filthiness but holiness and righteousness. At 33 years old, Jesus died on the cross not as a punishment for His own sin but as a sacrifice for His children’s sins.
Jesus is our loving substitute. Instead of us dying and bearing the wrath of God in a place called hell, Jesus essentially takes our hell and wrath for us. The Bible calls Jesus’ death a propitiation. Propitiation means that wrath is removed by a sacrifice and this is exactly what Jesus’ death accomplished. When Jesus rose from the dead, He was a living reality and testimony to the fact that God’s wrath no longer remains upon those who look to Jesus! Because of the work of Jesus, children of wrath are made into children of God. In fact, all those who look to Jesus and follow Him are not only forgiven of their sin, but they are made legally righteous before God which is something the Bible calls ‘justification’ (Romans 3:28).
Those who follow Jesus are set free from the power of sin and given a special gift that no other religion in the world can offer, that is, God’s Holy Spirit. Just as we cannot fix or save ourselves, we, in our own strength cannot continually live lives that honor God without His continual help. God knows this so He gives each of His children His Spirit. His Spirit lives in the hearts of those who call upon Jesus and He gives them the power to do what is right, that is, to not live in sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness, idolatry and certainly not to live a filthy life full of crude joking. Instead, God’s children who have His spirit live lives of thanksgiving, of service to others, build others up with their conversation, encourage others, and ultimately, do what is right and just for the honor and glory of God. This is called the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5: 22-24).
Are you a child of wrath or a child of God? Today, if you are a child of wrath like I once was, do what I once did and continue to do; call upon Jesus to save you from the wrath of God! When you call upon Jesus in a state of repentance, that is, true godly sorrow for your deeds, and believe that Jesus is God and died for you on the cross, you will be born again (John 3). Though we cannot spiritually birth ourselves, God can birth us when we call upon Jesus. He then transforms us into people who honor and love Him both outwardly and inwardly. What are you waiting for? Why not receive the riches of God’s eternal inheritance in Christ today? Then, join a fellowship of believers (i.e. a church) that teaches God’s Word and fellowships together weekly.
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