Dead in Sin

Two Amazing Words

The greatest news in history can be summed up in 2 words...But God.

They represent God’s intervention into our broken, lost, and hopeless world to start a new and better story.

The central message of the Bible rest in the "but God".

And as we will see as we dive deep into the first 9 verses of Ephesians 2 these next 6 weeks,

Your peace, hope, past and future, and the purpose and significance of your life rests in the "but God".

The Book of Ephesians is a letter from Paul, who had one of the most incredible “But God” moments recorded in the bible.

Paul is first introduced in Acts 8 and, at the time, goes by the name Saul,

He is going from town to town around Jerusalem on a mission to destroy this new group of Jewish heretics claiming that the Messiah (the promised savior of the world) had come.

Paul/Saul was a zealous, well-educated Jewish Pharisee who was outraged by the idea that someone would claim to be the Messiah and His followers would go about saying He had died and rose again.

In Acts 9, while on his way to squash a group of Christians in Damascus, Paul sees a flash of light and hears the voice of Jesus say “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

Paul had a plan for his life. He thought he knew his purpose. He had plans, dreams, and hopes.

But God...God had a better plan, and he revealed to Paul that who he was before that day on the road to Damascus was a dead, lost, hopeless slave in need of a rescuer. But God...

30 years later, while in prison in Rome, Paul writes these words to a group of churches in the ancient city of Ephesus:

Ephesians 2:1–9 CSB

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6 He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—9 not from works, so that no one can boast.

Today we are going to zoom in on verse 1.

Ephesians 2:1 CSB

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins

You might notice the verse 3 verses speak in the past tense.

Paul is writing this letter to Christians, people who have already trusted in Jesus and given their lives to Him.

He is describing who they were BC (before Christ), in order to show how amazing what God has done in Christ really is.

And in these 9 words, he says A LOT.

What does it mean to be “Dead in your trespasses and sins”?

There are two potential groups listening today.

Either those whom were or those who are currently in the position Paul describes.

So 3 things that either Were true of you, or still remains true of you right now.

You were/are:

1) Far FURTHER than you realize.

You were/are far further from God that you realize/d.

Growing up in the south, in the buckle of the bible belt, there is such a familiarity with the concepts of God, Jesus, the Gospel, and salvation.

So much so that most people live with a sense that they are not that far from God.

Even if they might not go to church very often, don’t know all that much about God, and there life doesn’t really match up to the life He calls us to live, they still aren’t that far from Him.

Maybe even close enough to Him that He might just let us in if we catch Him on a good day.

I think that is true of many of us to are believers in Jesus.

Especially if you came to Jesus at a young age and have, for the most part, followed Him since.

We know the concept of sin, that God loved us even while we were sinners, and that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sin that we could be forgiven and redeemed.

But I think it is easy to think of our “pre-Jesus” selves as not that far from Him.

But Paul wants us to understand what was/is actually true of us apart from Christ.

The word “Dead” is the Greek word “Nekros” which is used throughout the bible to refer to a corpse.

It isn’t that we were/are “unawake” in regard to our relationship with God, no, Paul says we were DEAD, lifeless…a corpse apart from Christ.

Obviously Paul doesn’t mean you don't walk, talk, speak, feel, or reason.

He is talking about our spiritual side, not our physical.

Later in Ephesians Paul says:

Ephesians 4:17–18 ESV

17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

This is a description of the deadness in 2:1. Notice the descriptors:

“Futile in mind” meaning useless and empty pursuits in life.

“Darkened in their understanding” meaning they do not comprehend the truth about the world they live in or the God who made them.

“Alienated because of ignorance and hard-heartedness” they do not and cannot see because their hearts are hard toward the things of God.

Their whole personality is incapable of appreciating what God offers.

Paul wants us to understand that apart from faith in Jesus we aren’t within reach of God, we are unimaginably far.

We are DEAD, darkened in our understanding and hardened in our hearts.

2) Far WORSE than you care to admit.

What makes someone dead, according to Paul, is their trespasses and sins.

Trespasses- going against God's specific commands (walking over the line)

Sins- general condition of our hearts that chooses to worship man made things rather than god. Rm 1

They both express the failure to live as God designed, according to the way He created us and calls us to live.

I think many people believe we live our lives on a continuum between good and bad.

That everyone starts their lives in a neutral position, neither good nor bad, but in the middle.

And then we do things that move us either into the good or into the bad.

In a sense then, we aren’t all together evil, but have the potential to live a good enough life to be considered a decently acceptable persons.

That is not the case according to scripture.

Listen to Paul in Romans 8:5-9

Romans 8:5–8 CSB

5 For those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit. 6 Now the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

This is far bigger than doing bad things, those who are apart from Christ live “according to the flesh”

They have their minds set (fixed on) the things of the flesh (or the things that are not of God, which defines trespasses and sins).

It is who they are, not what they do.

And such a mindset is death and it is a mindset that is HOSTILE to God because it does not submit to Him.

Your actions, attitudes, motivations, plans, priorities, and purposes are hostile to God, apart from Christ.

You are a rebel, committed to you own way and refusing to submit your life to God and to serve Him rather than yourself.

That's what it means to be dead, spiritually lifeless without Jesus.

So all your efforts to be good, to accomplish things, to be the best, to make a name, to fix yourself or the world, to live a good life… whatever it is you are chasing… are stained and corrupted by the sinful condition of your heart and mind that leaves you dead and hopeless.

And yet...

3) Far more HOPELESS than you can comprehend.

Dead people are unable to make themselves alive again.

In John 3, a religious man, much like Paul, came to Jesus at night to try and figure out if He was someone worth following.

Nicodemus lived under the belief that through strict obedience and devout adherence to the religious rituals of the Jewish faith he could earn his right to heaven.

So he comes to Jesus, at night, to ask Him if He could affirm that what he was doing and what he believed would be enough to get him to heaven.

Jesus’s answer was far from what Nicodemus expected to hear, and far from what he was even able to comprehend at the time.

“You must be born again” means "Nicodemus, you were born broken and without any ability or hope in yourself to fix your brokenness."

His only hope was to realize he was dead.

It was only then that the opportunity for life would be possible.

See, if he could save himself, if he was just bad and needed to be a better person, or do a few more good things, then why would he need God?

If you are dead, your only hope is a divine intervention..."but God"

Jesus is pointing back to Ezekiel 37 1-14, when God brought the prophet Ezekiel to a valley full of dry, dead bones.

God tells Ezekiel to speak over the dry bones. To prophesy that God will breath on them and flesh and tendons will grow and cover the bones and life will enter back into what was just a moment before dead.

And when Ezekiel began to speak, he says he began to hear a rattling as the bone began to come together.

There was no hope in a pile of bones to ever, in their own power, come back to life.

BUT GOD!!

This is why "but God" is so important, so incredible!

Until we understand our plight, we are unable to appreciate God's grace.

Imagine Paul writing this letter 30 years after meeting Jesus on that road to Damascus.

God stepped into his world and breathed life into what was dead.

Three Implications and Applications

1) Are you still dead?

2) Do you live like someone who was once dead, but is now alive?

3) Do you know who you are sharing with?

You are sharing with dead people, some of whom believe they are alive.