The Way We Were
Truth For Life Daily Program
Alistair Begg
4.8 • 4.7K Ratings
🗓️ 22 February 2025
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Why did Paul find it necessary to remind his readers what they were like before becoming believers? Hear the answer on Truth For Life as Alistair Begg explains why it’s essential to reflect on your life before you can truly move forward in faith.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Well, Welcome to Truth for Life weekend, where today Alastur Begg begins a series in the book of Ephesians, |
| 0:30.6 | chapter 2, where the Apostle Paul reminded his readers what they were like before they became followers of Jesus. |
| 0:37.8 | As we listen, we'll find out why it's essential to reflect back on our lives before we can |
| 0:42.5 | truly move forward in faith. |
| 0:50.1 | The verses to which I should like to draw your attention are verses 1, 2 and 3 of Ephesians 2. |
| 0:58.3 | Paul is reminding the Ephesians of the way in which they used to walk. |
| 1:04.0 | It was true of them, if they'd come from a Gentile background, or if they had come from a Jewish background, |
| 1:10.2 | all of us, you will notice in verse |
| 1:12.1 | three, all of us once lived in this way. This is true of the totality of mankind. I say to you again, |
| 1:23.8 | this is an uncomfortable section, because it provides us with a grave, comprehensive, |
| 1:32.7 | divine diagnosis of the way we were. If you are in Christ, if you are not in Christ, then it provides you with a diagnosis of the way you are, which will be even more uncomfortable to think about. |
| 1:54.3 | Two observations, I think, are important. |
| 1:56.5 | Incidentally, if you want a headache for a study, let's just call it the way we were. |
| 2:00.1 | Two observations, I think, are important. Number one, you will not acknowledge this divine diagnosis unless God opens your eyes to see the truth of it. The only way you understand this diagnosis and bow before it is on account of the fact that you |
| 2:19.8 | have been rescued by Christ, that you have been brought to an awareness of your need of Jesus, |
| 2:28.2 | that you have understood something of what it means when Paul says in Romans chapter 5 that we have sinned in |
| 2:38.1 | Adam, in and with him, and that as a result we are both guilty and we are dead. |
| 2:47.5 | I just think about that statement for a moment. You go back into the workday place and say, |
| 2:52.6 | what is the true condition of man? Why is man the way he is? Why is our world the way it is? |
| 2:59.1 | Why if we just take our morning newspaper and lay it out after all of this time? What's the |
| 3:05.4 | problem with this? Well, the human condition is such that it cannot be |
| 3:09.9 | fixed by legislation. It cannot be fixed by education. It cannot be fixed by indoctrination. |
... |
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