Ephesians 2:1-10 - Easter—Resurrection

HAPPY EASTER!

Turn to your neighbor say the first best thing: “He is Risen”

Turn to the other, who you were trying to avoid and say the second best thing: “You look like you lost weight.”

All around the world, billions of Christians are gathering together with a focus on the death and resurrection of our Savior!

There are stories that people tell that you think “I’ve heard this a million times.”

There are stories that you think, “I could listen to this a million times.”

Anytime Randy starts telling a story, he has my complete attention.

Sometimes, I’ll listen to him retell a story and it’s as if I had never heard it before!

Every year, most people who don’t attend church will come to Christmas or Easter because someone invited them.

If that’s you, I’m so glad you’re here. Welcome to Graceland.

Those two days, we talk about the same things.

Christmas - Jesus is born in a manger

Easter - Jesus is risen from the grave.

If you only come those two days, there’s a pretty big gap! (What happened to the baby?!)

Why do we come to church on Easter? What brings you in today? What are we doing here?

Because we know that…

Big Idea: The Empty Tomb Changes Everything

Today we are going to look at what Jesus’s death and resurrection really means for us.

It’s more than just a once-a-year story like ____

This is a life-changing reality that impacts every single one of us.

So we get together to celebrate the empty tomb of Jesus, but why was Jesus in the tomb to begin with?

Why did Jesus die on the cross?

Stand to read

Ephesians 2:1–3 ESV

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Leader: This is God’s Word

Everyone: Thanks be to God

Jesus died on the cross because of sin.

Paul addresses us like a doctor giving us our spiritual diagnosis.

Paul’s summary diagnosis is

“You were dead in your sins and trespasses” (v. 1)

Not a physical death, but our condition is that we are born spiritually dead to God.

Spiritually lifeless.

We may have religions that we practice, try to be good people, and believe in a higher being—but we are spiritually dead to the true and living God.

Last summer, my wife Hilary was 26 weeks pregnant and we were at church camp.

It was the morning of our last full day, and she woke me up telling me, “Something doesn’t feel right. We need to go to the hospital.”

We go to the hospital I’m thinking, they’re just going to tell me my wife is pregnant and can’t hold her pee.

Until the doctor comes in and gives Hilary the prognosis “You’ll be in the hospital until you give birth.”

That was the last thing I wanted him to tell us. “You’re not okay.”

What do we do with Silas? What does this mean? Is Eden going to be okay?

Had he not told us that, something really bad could have happened to our little girl.

Symptoms (vv. 2-3)

We chased after the world.

We were indifferent to the things of God.

We followed Satan’s path.

We worshipped ourselves.

We were “by nature, children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (v. 3)

We have tendency to compare ourselves

“At least I’m not like that guy”

“I don’t deserve this.”

That only works if we are in a competition with one another.

If we were to take the rest of humanity out of the world, and it was only left between you and the Lord—You still have the same spiritual condition—dead in sin.

On Judgement day, it will only be you and the Lord.

Just because you don’t sin like someone else does not negate the fact that you’re guilty.

There will be no comparison on judgement day because we were all dead in sin, like the rest of mankind.

What this shows us,

We are broken people.

Every part of our lives are tainted with sin.

We have all willfully participated in active war against God.

Some of you by rejecting God’s authority in your life and trying to convince yourself that He doesn’t exist.

Some of you have sinned against Him because you have worshipped yourself by pursuing your own pleasure.

There’s nothing we can do to undo our sin.

Regardless of how, you and I are both guilty are deserve judgement.

Why? Because God is holy and perfect, and He has been offended.

Our littlest sin is not harmless because it violate God’s holiness.

He cannot let it go, or else He would be guilty through acceptance.

Sin must be punished.

We are guilty. We owe the debt.

There’s no hope in us because we are dead in our sins.

Our “righteousness” isn’t good enough.

It would take eternity for us to pay it back.

We are broken and cannot fix ourselves deserving hell forever.

Transition

But there’s a hinge in this passage—Paul gives us a turn in verse 4.

By pointing to our absolutely helplessness, Paul celebrates God’s sacrificial and sovereign grace.

Ephesians 2:4–7 ESV

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, 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 coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

This is God’s divine grace.

We sometimes behave as if God was obligated to save us.

He was under absolutely no obligations whatsoever.

We didn’t deserve for Him to move toward us.

But God acts according to His character, not according to what we deserve.

He is rich in mercy

When we receive mercy, it means that we don’t receive what we deserve.

We didn’t get what was coming to us.

He has an abundance of love.

The word “great” means remarkable amount.

God acted before we were “good.”

He acted in love toward us while we were in active rebellion against Him.

Gospel Presentation

God, in His mercy, took care of your guilt by His grace.

He sent His Son to endure your guilt.

God’s holiness demanded that blood be shed for sins

Jesus laid down His life for you to be forgiven.

Jesus died on the cross so that when you trust in His death

When God looks at you, you are not dirty with the filth of your sin.

He sees the sacrifice of Christ.

Jesus paid my sin debt to God.

He stood in my place for my sin.

Say: Jesus in my place for my sin

Then God raised Jesus from the dead, demonstrating His love and victory over death forever!

Paul celebrates this because when Jesus came out of the grave, He brought salvation for all who would trust in Him with Him!

At one point, we were all dead in our sins and trespasses.

But when God raised, God made us alive together with Jesus through faith in Him!

What Paul shows us here,

Jesus overcomes our past (Our brokenness)

“You don’t know me preacher.”

Some of you joked about coming here today because “the church might burn down” or you might be struck by lightning.

That is not an accurate picture of how God is toward us.

Some of you feel as though God could never forgive you because of what you’ve done.

You’re petrified that God has had enough of you because you just can’t get your act together.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is that Jesus laid down His life for us while we were still sinners.

You don’t come to Jesus when you clean yourself up—It’s the blood of Jesus that cleans you!

Not self-righteousness, not your good works. It’s only Jesus’s death on the cross and His resurrection that saves you.

Notice how it’s not you who overcomes the past—It’s Jesus’s death on the cross that brings your from death to life!

Transition

You are not saved because of what you’ve done—You are saved because of what Jesus has done.

Growing up, we went to Uncle Ken/Aunt Riti’s house every weekend.

They live down this loooong gravel driveway that winds and goes down hill.

My dad would let me “drive” on his lap from the top of the hill.

Allthewhile I’m so focused on not driving us off a cliff, my dad had his thumb on the bottom of the wheel, where I couldn’t see it.

When I thought I had control, he was really steering the wheel.

So how can I be saved?

God does the work.

Ephesians 2:8–10 ESV

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not 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, that we should walk in them.

Nothing about our salvation points to how awesome we are (we’re not).

It all points to how amazing God is and how He has given us new life!

He made us alive together with Jesus (v. 5)

Through Jesus’s death and resurrection, God made us alive spiritually with Christ!

We are like light bulbs plugged into a light socket!

Without Jesus resurrection, we have no life!

He raised us up and seated us with Jesus (v. 6)

Because of what Jesus did, we can be accepted into heaven!

We share in Jesus’s victory because of Jesus’s sacrifice!

He gave us the grace to have faith.

Faith is a gift of God (v. 8)

Say Faith is God’s gift to me

It’s not earned or deserved—it’s a gift. It’s all because of what Jesus did.

What do you do with gifts? You receive it!

When we repent from our sins and trust in Jesus, we receive God’s gift of God and He gives us eternal life in Christ.

He gives us a new life now, where we can life to the glory of God.

Church,

God’s grace gives us new and abundant life. (You can have new life)

If you’re not a Christian, you can have a new story, starting today.

You don’t have to go back to the old way of living.

You can not just have a fresh start—You can have a real start.

All you have to do is turn to Jesus, who died for your sins and follow Him.

All you need to do is take a step.

Here at Graceland, everyone has a next step.

Take the Next Step

Write down the name of someone you’re going to pray for to receive the good news.

Let go of the past that Jesus has overcome.

Follow Jesus!

Invitation to Repent, Receive, and Respond.

I want to offer some time to respond.

 Some of you need to respond to the call of the sermon and some of you simply need prayer. The alter is open for both of you.

But there are also some of you that need call out to Jesus to be saved. I’m talking to you right now. What do I mean by saved?

Let's start with good news. There is a God that has created everything, even you. And He is good.

There’s some bad news. After he created us, we sinned against him. Meaning that we turned our back on the God that created us. Romans 3:23 is clear that “all have sinned and fallen short the glory of God.” You are a sinner. And that sin has caused death to come into the world. It has caused us to be at enemies of God. Our sin has given us one destination, a literal Hell.

But, there’s some really great news. God did not leave us in our sin. Instead, he sent Jesus (His only Son) to step out of heaven, live a perfect life, and then be killed on a cross. To take the death we deserve because of our sins. Then God defeated death by raising Jesus to life again.

So what does that mean for you?

Some of you have been running from God. Some of you have been saying no to God all your life. Some of you have been playing church, but don’t know Jesus.

Romans 10: 9 …if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

The Bible is clear, there is a line in the sand. And you are on one side or another. And that line is publicly and privately repenting of your sins and placing your faith in Jesus Christ as savior.

Now is the time, let's take that first big step together.

Prayer

There is no specific prayer or phrase that gets you into heaven. But if you want to follow Jesus, here are the words as simple as I can make it:

“Jesus, I want you. I don’t want this world; I just want you. I don’t know what all that means, but I know I need you. I am a sinner, please forgive me and let me enter your kingdom. I place my life and faith in you.”

After Prayer

If you faithfully prayed that prayer, welcome to the kingdom of God! (Amen and Cheer)

Now’s the bold part. If you raised your hand, we want to celebrate with you even more. Faith is not just a prayer, it is movement. There is a theology of movement, it shows we are all in. We want to be a people who put our faith in action. It’s not just lip-service.  

If you are making a profession of faith, I want to invite you to come forward, so that we are able to pray with you and celebrate with you

I know that makes you uncomfortable, but We are making a statement loud and clear that Jesus is Lord and that you commit to following him. That deserves boldness.

While we all are singing, come down, let’s pray together, and celebrate what the Lord has done in your life. As you come forward, you are going to hear the church celebrate with you!

I’m going to pray and then give you a time to respond.