Heart of Flesh (@HeartOfFlesh)

⚔️ 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐃, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 · · · Ephesians 2 is one long sentence with a hinge in the middle of it. Everything depends on who is doing the verbs. ❝ And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked ❞ (v.1-2) Paul is not describing a body on a slab. He is describing a man in full motion, with appetite and agency, ❝ following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind ❞ (v.2-3). 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞. 𝐎𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐝. So the problem was never that the sinner cannot move. It is that he moves the only direction his nature permits, and he loves the direction he is moving. · · · Which is exactly what verse 3 says out loud. ❝ 𝘽𝙮 𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙝, 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙. ❞ Not by circumstance. Not by choice. 𝐁𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞. The diagnosis sits underneath behavior, in the constitution. You can change conduct and leave nature precisely where you found it. That is why the promise was never "decide better," but ❝ I will remove the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh ❞ (Ezekiel 36:26). · · · Now watch the cure, because 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞. Paul does not say God closed a distance, offered assistance, or repaired a relationship already in progress. He says God ❝ made us alive together with Christ ❞ (v.5) and ❝ raised us up ❞ (v.6). And he has already named the power he means: what God ❝ worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead ❞ (1:19-20). Read verses 1 through 9 and mark every saving verb. ▸ 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 ▸ 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 ▸ 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 ▸ 𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 One subject on all of them. The dead are the object of every single one. The only thing the sinner contributes to the paragraph is the trespasses he had to be rescued from. And the whole sentence turns on two words in verse 4. Not "but they realized." Not "but they finally decided." 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐆𝐎𝐃. · · · 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞. 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. · · · And if you love Christ this morning, that is the proof of it. You did not sit up on the table. You were raised, and a new heart finally wants what a dead one never wanted. What God raises, He keeps (John 10:28). Post Tenebras Lux ✝️