We Have Received a New Position (1)


	We Have Received a New Position (1) Introduction - Our Position Before We Were Born Again When we were born again we received a change in our position. The Bible tells us that God "delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love" (Col. 1:13). Before we were saved we were in one place, the authority of darkness. After we were saved we were in another place, the kingdom of the Son of His love. By being born again we have been transferred from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God. This means that our position has changed. In order to fully appreciate our new position we must examine the position we have left behind. We will look at eight different aspects of the negative position we were in before we were born again. 1. In Darkness Before we were born again, we were in darkness. We couldn't see anything clearly. We were blind to the things of God, and even to the purpose of our own human life. We didn't knew whether God truly existed. We didn't know that we needed a Savior. Our human life was empty and meaningless. This shows that we were in darkness. But Colossians 1:13 tells us that by being born again we were "delivered out of the authority of darkness." When the Lord Jesus appeared to the apostle Paul and commissioned him to preach the gospel, the Lord sent him to the Gentiles to "open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God" (Acts 26:18). Furthermore, 1 Peter 2:9 tells us that the Lord has "called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." These are wonderful verses, but they show us that before we were born again our position was just darkness. 2. Under the Authority of Satan Before we were born again, we were under the authority of Satan, God's enemy. According to the Bible, Satan has a kingdom on this earth: "And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?" (Matt. 12:26). Unless people are born again, they are in Satan's kingdom and are under his authority. That is why Paul was commissioned by the Lord to turn people from "the authority of Satan to God" (Acts 26:18). Of course, people like to think that they belong to themselves and are under their own authority. They believe that they can live their own life on their own terms. But according to the Bible no one is under his own authority. Everyone is in either the kingdom of Satan or the kingdom of God. Everyone is under either the authority of Satan or the authority of God. If you are born again, you have entered God's kingdom and have been brought under God's authority. But if you are not born again, then you are under Satan's authority. You may think that you are your own master, but actually you are in Satan's kingdom. This is true no matter who you are, where you live, or what you do. Every human being who does not receive the Lord Jesus is under the authority and control of Satan. This was our position before we were born again. 3. In Sin Before we were born again, we were in sin. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). This is true of every human being. "Even as it is written, 'There is none righteous, not even one'" (Rom. 3:10). In our former position we had no feeling about the many things we did which were unrighteous. We offended God all the time, but did not know it. We not only committed sin, but we were dwelling and abiding in sin. Our entire life was in sin. This was our former position before being born again. 4. In Death The Bible tells us that before we were born again, we were in death. Sin and death are closely related. "Therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin, death; and thus death passed on to all men because all have sinned…" (Rom. 5:12). Because we were in sin, we were also in death. The best way to describe being "in death" is to say that we did not have any feeling. In particular, our human spirit was dead. That is why Ephesians 2:1 says, "And you, though dead in your offenses and sins…." We may have been very busy in our human life, doing many things, but we had no feeling towards God in our human spirit. From His point of view we were like a walking corpse. We didn't know where we came from or where we were going. God seemed far away from us. Perhaps not until after we were born again did we realize, "All of my life I was actually dead. I have been alive all these years, but I was abiding in death. I had no feeling towards God at all until now." This shows that before we were born again, we were in death. 5. Under God's Judgment Before we were born again we were under God's judgment. "Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may fall under the judgment of God" (Rom. 3:19). The reason God gave the law in the Old Testament was for all the world to fall under His judgment. Because God gave the law, man could know his true condition. By giving the law God was saying to mankind, "It matters to me what you do! I have not created human beings to be so sinful and so fallen!" Many people may not think it matters whether or not they are in God's kingdom, but it matters to Him. God gave the law to expose people's sinful and unrighteous condition and bring them under His judgment. Before we were born again we were also under His judgment. 6. Condemned Not only were we under God's judgment, but we were condemned. To be condemned is both to be found guilty and to be completely disapproved. For us, God's judgment was "unto condemnation" (Rom. 5:16). "He who believes into Him [the Son] is not condemned; but he who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed into the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18). Before we were born again, our position was one of condemnation. 7. Slaves to Uncleanness and Lawlessness The Bible tells us that we were slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness. "I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness unto lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness unto sanctification" (Rom. 6:19). Before we knew the Lord, we were just slaves. That was our position. What were we enslaved to? We were slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness. We had no way to free ourselves. We probably tried many times. We often made up our minds to change. There were things about us that we knew were wrong, and we decided, "I'm not going to do this any more." Yet there was a power within us that enslaved us to those unclean things. We may have known what was right in our minds, but in ourselves we had no ability to change. We were slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness. This was our hopeless position before we were born again. 8. Children of Wrath and Sons of Disobedience Finally, before we were born again we were children of wrath and sons of disobedience. "In which you once walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, of the spirit which is now operating in the sons of disobedience; among whom we also all conducted ourselves once in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest" (Eph. 2:2-3). Who were we before we were born again? We were just children of wrath and sons of disobedience. This was our nature and position by birth. Even when we were young, we had a propensity towards disobedience. We were disobedient to our parents, and disobedient to our teachers. Then when we grew up, we were disobedient to God Himself. Before we believed in the Lord we probably reacted every time someone talked about Jesus. We could talk about philosophy and religion in a general way, but if someone said, "You need to believe in Jesus," we would say, "Don't talk to me about that!" John 3:36 says, "He who believes into the Son has eternal life; but he who disobeys the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him." Because we were disobedient to the Son, we were also under God's wrath. We Have Been Transferred into a New Position Formerly we were poor, hopeless sinners in a miserable and desperate position. But now we have nothing to do with where we were before. God has transferred us into an entirely new position. Now that we are born again, we are no longer in darkness. We are no longer under the authority of Satan. We are no longer in sin, and we are no longer in death. We are no longer under God's judgment, and we are no longer condemned. We are no longer slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness, and we are no longer children of wrath and sons of disobedience. Now we have nothing to do with where we were before. We have been completely transferred out of our former position by being born again! To purchase the book Born Again