As I converse with unbelievers and try to talk to them about the Lord Jesus and about the salvation from the wrath of God that He offers, I consistently find that people in our culture have scant awareness of sin and have no consciousness of their own personal guilt before our holy God. The primary reason for this, in my opinion, is that the Bible, the word of God, has been methodically and systematically driven out of our American culture such that most people in our culture have never read the Bible. In earlier times in our history, the Bible was respected by most and revered by many. The people knew what the Bible said, at least in general if not in specific, and there was a national agreement on right and wrong; if the Bible condemned it, then it was wrong. Obviously, this is not so now, and we have a lawless nation that delights in wickedness and is ignorant of God’s coming judgment on our sin.

And so, we have become a people who are ignorant of how lost we are. The apostle Paul addresses this point directly in the second chapter of Ephesians. This epistle is written to those who are now in the church, but who, prior to the arrival of evangelists proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, were entirely pagan and were desperately lost. In Ephesians 2:12, Paul enumerates the lostness of these people when they did not believe the gospel.

“Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in this world.”

First, they were “separated from Christ.” “Separated from Christ” means separated from all that Christ offers. They had no peace with God, indeed, no relationship with God because they were separated from the only Mediator. They had no redemption, because they were separated from the Redeemer. They had no salvation, because they were separated from the Savior. These people who were outside of Christ were ignorant of the terrifying judgment that awaited them because of their unrepentant, unforgiven sin.

Second, these people were “excluded from the commonwealth of Israel.” Israel was the nation that God had chosen to be His people and there were definite privileges to being part of national Israel. “First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God” (Romans 3:2). Israel had received the Law and the word of God and were aware of Yahweh and of what He demanded from them. They had received the earthly temple and they had the sacrificial system and the priests and the Davidic kingdom. Israel was a people that had been set apart to serve and worship the one true God, Yahweh. By contrast, those who were excluded from Israel were a scattered group of godless nations who had no divine Law and who did not know Yahweh. Outside of Israel, there was no knowledge of the Lord’s holy laws and thus no knowledge of their violation of those laws. They were excluded from God’s people and this added to their lostness.

Thirdly, these people were “strangers to the covenants of promise.” The word of God had given to God’s people various promises by covenant. Hearing and understanding these promises would give God’s people great confidence in the face of threat and tremendous courage in the face of fear.  The LORD had made these astonishing promises and what God has promised, He is able also to perform (Romans 4:21). Prior to trusting in Christ and before being brought into the church and being taught the word of God, these people had been strangers to the covenants of promise. They were in darkness, with no awareness of any of God’s promises.

Fourth, people that are outside of Christ were “without hope and without God in this world.” Paul declares that these Ephesian church members had been without hope. Some may naively argue that unbelievers have hope even though it may not be the Christian hope. I must disagree with this. Biblical hope is not a baseless wish that all the stars will align and somehow all things will turn out well. This hope is the world’s kind of hope, a vague wish based on chance and good luck. Biblical hope, by contrast, it a rock-solid certainty that what God has promised in His word will occur, but that it has just not happened yet. This biblical hope is waiting for the inevitable to come into being. Unbelievers have no basis for their “hope.” It is a mere wish that their dreams would come true, which is no hope at all. So, prior to their faith in Christ, these people were lost without hope.

Paul also adds that they were “without God in this world.” It is possible that these people worshiped false gods before they came to Christ, but these gods are nothing. They have mouths but they cannot speak (Psalm 115:6). They are scarecrows in cucumber fields. They can do no harm and they can do no good (Jeremiah 10:5). The more frightening reality is that, by worshiping false gods, they incur the fierce wrath of the one true God. Outside of Christ, they had been without God in this world.

As you read this description of four-fold lostness, realize that all people are in this state prior to coming to faith in Christ Jesus. Although Paul is here directly addressing this church of Gentile believers, he is indirectly addressing all believers of all times and everywhere. As all believers were once “children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3), so they are here described as “without hope and without God in this world.”

APPLICATIONS/THOUGHTS ON THIS TRUTH:

• When we realize that we who now believe in Jesus were once lost in at least these ways, we are led to praise and worship the Lord who exercised His great power to save us. “Blessed be our God and Father . . .” It is good to “remember how we were at that time” (2:12a) and praise the Lord for bringing us to faith in Christ.
• As we share our faith and consider how we can evangelize others, it is sobering to remember that all unsaved people, regardless of external appearances and no matter their moral uprightness, are equally lost in at least these four ways. If the person we are speaking to does not know Christ as personal Savior, they are “without hope and without God in this world.” This truth should give us a sense of urgency to persuade them to come to faith in Christ (2 Cor. 5:11).
• As we share our faith with others, desiring that they would come to Christ, we can be confident that the same gospel that made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with Him (2:5-6) has the power to raise anyone up with Christ. No matter how lost a person is, we know that “the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). So, we proclaim the gospel with confident urgency.

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Jeremiah is one of my personal heroes in the Bible. He was just a youth when the LORD called him to his lifelong task of prophesying to disobedient Judah and he fulfilled that task, despite constant opposition. Jeremiah was given the command to declare the LORD’s judgments against Judah because they had forsaken the Lord. They had made offerings to other gods and had worshiped the works of their own hands (1:16) and the LORD’s patience had run out. Now the LORD had appointed Jeremiah to recite to Judah all their evils and to announce the coming disasters. As we read the prophecy of Jeremiah, it seems that the prophet almost stood alone against the people and against the king. Friends were few. His was a solitary assignment of harsh prophecies of disaster and Jeremiah faithfully discharged his duties for more than forty years against constant and often angry opposition. He was a man to be admired and emulated.

What I want to look at in this article is the calling of the prophet and see what we can learn from this episode. As we examine this, I think that we will see several points that will give us reason to be encouraged.

“Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying . . .” (1:4)

This is how Jeremiah begins the description of the LORD’s calling on his life. We may think, “Well, Jeremiah may have heard the word of the LORD, but I know I never have. These things don’t happen anymore.” But let’s think about that.

Was the LORD’s call NECESSARILY audible? No, I don’t think so. The LORD is able to communicate with His people in many ways, not just through audible words. The LORD could have spoken to Jeremiah in his spirit.

Was the call audible? Don’t know. Maybe. The point is, the LORD communicated to Jeremiah and Jeremiah was sure that it was the LORD who was talking, and he knew what the LORD was saying. And we, too, can have this same experience.

Note what is said in verse 5:

• Jeremiah was formed by the LORD in his mother’s womb (universal);
• The LORD knew Jeremiah before he was conceived (universal, esp. believers)
• The LORD consecrated the prophet before he was born (universal)
• Jeremiah was appointed as a prophet to the nations (unique).

What can we learn from this calling of Jeremiah that we can apply to our own walk with the LORD?

• As the LORD formed Jeremiah in his mother’s womb, so all believers can likewise be confident that the LORD has left nothing to chance in our lives. The LORD Himself has formed you and has made you exactly as you are. Therefore, we should accept ourselves as we are, because it is the LORD who has formed us. (NOTE: The same Hebrew word used in Jeremiah 1:5 is used in Genesis 2:7, when the LORD forms the man out of the ground. It is also this same word that is used in Isaiah 49:5 to describe the forming of the Incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ, as He was being formed for His earthly ministry. As the LORD carefully and lovingly formed Adam and formed the Lord Jesus, the Second Adam, so the LORD has lovingly formed you.)
• As the LORD knew Jeremiah before he was conceived, so the LORD knew you before you were conceived. While your physical existence began at your conception, the Bible teaches that the LORD has always known you and, if you are a follower of Jesus, the Lord of this universe chose you to be His special possession before He formed tou in the womb. You have always been the object of His love, so be encouraged!
• As the LORD consecrated Jeremiah and set him apart for a specific purpose, so the LORD has brought you to salvation and consecrated you for a specific purpose. Each member of God’s people has been chosen and consecrated for a unique role, a unique task. The Lord fits us together in His body as each member fulfills his own role (Ephesians 4:16, Romans 12:6). The key is to discern how God has created you, and where and how He wants to use you for His glory. Our joy is greatest when we are fulfilling the role for which God consecrated us.

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If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness;

In the land of uprightness, he deals corruptly and

does not see the majesty of the LORD. – Isaiah 26:10 (ESV)

In this verse, Isaiah speaks to the condition of all the unsaved of all ages; they are blind and deaf to the work of God in their lives. This is true of all those whose eyes have not been opened to see the glory and the beauty and the holiness of God (2 Cor. 4:4) and so these all remain under the Lord’s judgment and condemnation. Trapped in their spiritual blindness, these “do not learn righteousness,” but instead they continue to “deal corruptly.” They cannot “see the majesty of the LORD,“ even though God has made it evident to them (Romans 1:19).

“All of them have turned aside; together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one (Romans 3:12).”

So, all the unsaved are blind and deaf to God’s involvement in their lives. They do not see Him because they CANNOT see Him. And so a consequence of this is that “If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness,” but still “deals corruptly.”

For example, Pharaoh was shown favor nine times as he rejected one opportunity for true repentance after another. Nine plagues came upon him, and nine times the LORD did not destroy him for his arrogance and his blasphemy, but instead showed him favor by removing the plague. But Pharaoh would not bow the knee to YHWH, so YHWH destroyed all the first-born of Egypt.

Herod was shown favor in that he actually got to meet the Son of God in person. Despite this act of grace, Herod continued in his corrupt ways and he was eventually eaten by worms (Acts 12:23).

But ordinary men and women do this every day as well. I had a conversation with a co-worker about 15 years ago. He told me about the time he was at a home-owners’ association meeting and began to feel hot and light-headed. He had gotten up just to stretch his legs and the next thing he remembered was opening his eyes in the hospital with emergency room doctors staring at him with hopeful eyes. His heart had stopped, and they put the paddles to his chest twice before his heart started beating again. And the man that was talking to me was a walking heart attack. He smoked and lived on peanuts and Coca-Cola and was probably 50 Lbs overweight. “Don,” I said, “do you know the Lord?” I shared the gospel with him and urged him to consider his eternity, but he was not interested. Two years later he was dead. Favor had been shown to him by giving him several years of life after his heart attack, but he did not learn righteousness.

There was another co-worker that I knew who worked in the plant. He was proud and angry and immoral and lived for things that were exciting. Then he was in a horrible motorcycle wreck where 80% of his body was burned. He spent almost a year in the burn unit, and the first four months he hovered between life and death. But against all odds he survived and is alive today. He has been shown almost miraculous favor, and yet he has not learned righteousness. He continues to live without regard to the Lord.

I have shared Christ with another co-worker who is from an atheistic culture. He has listened to me politely, but he has not indicated a serious interest. A couple of weeks ago, he was cut off by a reckless driver on the interstate. His car ended up spinning at 65MPH and crashing into the concrete median. He was knocked unconscious and he cut his head, but otherwise he was unhurt. What I heard as God showing him great favor by sparing his life he saw as just a lucky turn of events. For now, he has not learned righteousness, but perhaps the Lord will yet open his heart.

“If favor is shown to the wicked, he (still) does not learn righteousness.” Since this is a true statement, what do we do? We preach Christ and Him crucified. Knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men to come to faith. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and so we proclaim Christ and trust that the Lord will save some.

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