Alive in Christ
Notes
Transcript
Introduction: Talk about Christian and his pack of sin.
In 1678 a man named John Bunyan wrote a christian allegory called The Pilgrim’s Progress from this World, to that which is to come.
The main character - Graceless, who later becomes Christian. Graceless begins the story with a heavy burden on his back which he is unaware of until a character named evangelist tells him about it. It’s a burden that grows heavier as he goes along until he decides he has to find a way to remove it. Later in the book we find out the burden is a lifetime of sin and pain. Sin and pain that he had no way of preventing and has no way of removing by himself.
It turns out that Graceless is every man. Each and everyone of us starts out as Graceless. We carry a burden around with us right up to the day we die, unless, we find the way to remove it.
Today’s passage tells us about this burden and the problem it causes, but it also tells us what can be done about it.
In fact this passage tells us three things:
Why saving is necessary (vs 1-3)
2. What saving does (vs 4-7)
3. How saving works (vs 8-10)
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Transitional Sentence: It turns out that even though we all start out as Graceless, God can change all of us to Christian. That is the scandalous power of Grace.
Why saving is necessary (vs 1-3)
a. Dead Spiritually
You are Dead in trespasses and sins - A trespass is an offense against man and sins are an offense against God.
Romans 5:12 says:
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—
This verse points back to the beginning and the garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. God sent them out of the garden and separated Himself from mankind. That is the sin of the one man that entered into the world and so death entered into the world. Adam and Eve didn’t die physically, they died spiritually. The spirit of God was removed from them when they were sent out of the garden.
Now, just as then, your sins separate you from God. Have any of you managed not to sin? Without the spirit of God you are pretty helpless against it. Quite often you sin and don’t even know it. So, you are spiritually dead, what does that look like?
b. You Walk in disobedience
This world will cause you to sin. (Pull lists from pack)
Without God and in a spiritually dead condition you walk in disobedience. You follow the ways of this world. That is, you live according to a non-Christian value system. This value system is managed by Satan (the prince of the power of the air). Unfortunately most non-Christians, or those spiritually dead, would probably deny that Satan is managing their value system. They probably wouldn’t even acknowledged that Satan as real. Nevertheless, Satan, will place things in front of you that you find attractive and will pursue as though they were your idea. The spirit who works in those who are disobedient is probably not Satan, the prince of the power of the air, but is probably some other evil spirit doing Satan’s bidding. Satan and his followers encourage you to have ungodly values, attitudes, and actions.
If you have read the book, The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis you would have a idea about how this works. The book is a collection of conversations between a junior evil spirit and a senior evil spirit. The conversations are about what actions would be best used against a new Christian to keep him from growing or being effective in his walk with Christ.
What are some of the things an evil spirit might place in front of you?
c. The desires of the flesh (children of wrath)
Well, the desires of the flesh are the greatest weapons of the enemy. This is the stuff you need saving from, your own desires.
Ephesians 2:3 says:
3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
This is the big problem. The lusts of your flesh, immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amount to idolatry. These are some of those lusts of the flesh and mind that you cause you to be a child of wrath. So many of God’s laws are broken simply because you want what you want. Your body in a spiritually dead state has nothing controlling it. It just wants what it wants. Its these lusts that cause you to sin and its the sin that causes you to be a child of wrath and its the wrath of God that you need saving from.
But what is wrath?
Wrath is extreme anger. Have you ever been so angry that this happened?
(Inside out anger clip)
I’m sure God doesn’t react that way, nobody would be here, poof - instantaneous human combustion. But that’s what wrath can look like for people.
Since, most sins are an indulgence of the flesh and mind in some way, greed, lust, sexual gratification the wrath of God will come on you in one of two ways. The first you may receive the natural cause-effect consequences of violating God’s laws. Galatians 6:7 tells us that we reap what we sow.
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.
One possible example, if you are sexually immoral, you may contract a sexually transmitted disease. If you are violent or angry, you may receive the hatred and resistance of those around you. Another way God may bring his wrath on you is by direct divine judgment. Such instances would be difficult to prove, but examples of such judgment can be found in the Bible Acts 5:5 says:
5 And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it.
and 1 Corinthians 11:30 says:
30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.
The second way the wrath of God is coming is not in this life but will certainly come after death. Hebrews 9:27 says:
27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,
For the non-Christian, this should be a terrifying thing but is has to be acknowledge as true to even mean anything, and Second Peter 3:7 says:
7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
The first three verses of the passage today paints a pretty hopeless picture for the non-Christian.
2. What saving does (vs 4-7)
BUT GOD! Here we have a wonderful phrase. But is a conjunction which introduces a new thought that is contrasting with what was previously said. However, it is also indicates the impossibility of anything else happening. So, when but God is used here it is indicating the fact that this is the only way to overcome the prince of the power of the air. But God is the only way to be saved from God’s wrath.
According to our passage two things happen when you are saved.
a. Alive Spiritually
The first of the two things is the you become spiritually alive together with Christ. Even though you are still in the same physical body you are not the same. Romans 8:10 says:
10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
So the body doesn’t really matter, it’s the new living spirit inside of you that matters. It’s the Holy Spirit which now dwells in you that makes all the difference. With the aid of the Holy Spirit you are now able to resist all the stuff that those evil spirits dangle in front of you. This new Spirit changes you from being a child of wrath to being a child of the King. You are no longer destined to be judged as all the other non-Christians but are destined to receive an inheritance of eternal life.
b. Seated in a throne
The second of the two things is that you will be seated with Christ Jesus in the heavenly places. Do you remember where Christ Jesus sat down after He ascended into heaven - the right hand of God the Father. That means that you are also in the throne room with Jesus. You are there, you have a place in the kingdom of God. You are important. No matter what your life is like now, your life with Christ Jesus will not be like this one. I say again, You are important. How will you be important? You will share with Christ in His rule as king. You will be seated on a throne Revelation 3:21 says:
21 ‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
In fact, you already exercise power with Christ over the powers of this dark age. You can live a life that reflects Christ, not Satan. You are no longer dead in your trespasses and sin. You are alive in Christ, sharing His power and authority, representing Him in this great battle with Satan where victory is assured through the resurrection of Christ Jesus.
The question is - Do you use that power or not?
So, how does this saving work?
3. How saving works (vs 8-10)
a. Grace by faith
Do you remember what I said the name of the main character in The Pilgrim’s Progress was? .......
He begins the story with the name Graceless, meaning that he had not received the grace of God. He was graceless because he was still dead in his trespasses and sins. Graceless had only one thing that he head to do, but he had to find out what that one thing was, before he could do it. He had to search for the truth, just as each of you have, or need to do.
So what is grace?
*grace — goodwill freely disseminated by God or someone else; especially to the benefit of the recipient regardless of the benefit accrued to the disseminator.
*grace — an act of kindness and compassion freely given.
So by these definitions grace is something that is freely given to someone who doesn’t deserve it and can’t in anyway pay for it or make restitution to earn it. This is certainly what you all need, especially when you are dead in your trespasses and sins.
(A gift from God - open a gift box and pull out a get out of jail free card)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
The idea of grace is very important. Paul mentions it three times in these 10 verses. It’s amazing, the idea of God freely bestowing this compassion and favor on a bunch of despicable sinners. The crazy thing is that it is a gift, freely given to all. However, there is a catch, there is something you must do. John 3:36 says:
36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
So, you have to believe in Jesus as the Son of God and accept Him as Lord and Savior. Without that the gift cannot be opened. Which means if you accept this gift you can’t keep being you. You can’t keep on being a child of wrath. You have to give up your old life and accept the one that God will give you. If you don’t that’s your choice but you will still be a child of wrath if you go your own way; if you use your free will and continue to walk in disobedience.
b. Not by works (you can’t earn it)
Verse nine says that this grace you will receive is not a matter of you working for it. You can’t work for it because then it would n’t be a gift. That removes any cause for you to boast. You see some people really enjoy working. Some people have a great capacity for work and others not so much. So how much would be enough? What kind of price can you put on eternal life?
One of the problems is that there are a lot of people who just can’t wrap their head around the fact that something in life can be free. Are you one of them? How many of you were raised being told that you have to earn a living. You have to work for everything you get... According to Booker T. Washington: “Nothing ever comes to one that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.”
I was once told “Nothing in life is free.” Talk about opening up a spiritual discussion.
So you work to keep your home, food on the table, a car in the garage and some extra cash to go the beach once in a while. Your work and time is payed for by your employer. So this eternal life we receive from God has to be paid for right. You have to work for all of it.
Spiritually your work is the good things you do. But if you are constantly sinning how can your good works even balance the scale? Fortunately it doesn’t work that way. This gift truly is free. Accept the gift, open the box, believe in Christ Jesus and stop being a child of wrath.
c. End results - a new creature in Christ
So what is an end result of accepting this gift and opening the box?
2 Corinthians 5:17 says:
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
That’s right, a new you is created. That heart of stone that you had will be surgically removed by the hand of God and He will put a new heart of flesh in there. He will put His own spirit in you. That spirit will be the promise, that spirit will be the proof that you are a new creature.
2:10. As a new creation you will be God’s workmanship. “Workmanship” In the Greek the word is poiema. The word which gives us our English word poem. This isn’t just the result of effort or labor. It’s a result of artistic skill and craftsmanship. Just like a good poem. God doesn’t just slap us together from a box full of used parts or miscellaneous words. He puts us together lovingly and with great care.
If you earned your salvation by your own good work you wouldn’t be a work of God. You would be a work of You. You are a work of art created in Christ Jesus and you were created to do good works. These good works were determined by God for you to do before you were ever born. Remember Ephesians 1:4
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love
It says He chose you in Him before the foundation of the world. God prepared a series of good works for you to complete and He will bring them about in His time while you walk by faith in Him. This doesn’t mean that you do good works for God. It means that God does good works through you, as you are faithful and obedient to Him. God is at work join Him in faith to the praise of His glory.
Exit: To wrap this up, you are or were spiritually dead and the object of God’s wrath. There was nothing you could do about it. You couldn’t buy your way out and you couldn’t work hard enough or long enough to earn salvation. But God, because of His great love for you, extended mercy to you and allowed you to be delivered from His wrath by grace, through faith. God accomplished this without your help. It is the power of His grace that saves you, not your works.
If you haven’t opened the box that contains God’s precious gift of grace and removed the load of sin from your back than now is the time. Now is the time to accept God’s Amazing Grace.
Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.
Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.
Now is the hour of salvation, now is the hour to first believe.
Pray!
