04) Life Easter 2026
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
When we turn to the first chapter of the bible we find that the word of God. The truth he has given us starts with creation and life. First, God creates the heavens and the earth. He brings forth out of nothing the great expanse of the universe a makes a place where he will create life. He brings forth light and darkness. He shapes the face of the earth and makes it a place that life will exists.
Of all of the great heavenly expanse we know of one and only once place that has life and life in great variety and complexity.
On the third day God creates the first living things.
10 God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering of the water he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” And it was so. 12 The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 Evening came and then morning: the third day.
On the fourth day he creates the sun and the moon and the fifth and six he continues to create living things. He filled the waters and with living creatures and the sky with birds to fly above the earth. He creates livestock, creeping things and beasts. He finishes with the creation of man.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.
The earth has been filled with all sorts of life. And he has given man dominion over it all and God surveys his creation.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.
This is good he says. And when we turn to the last chapter of Revelation John records what is revealed to him in a vision.
1 Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, 3 and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Right before this John speaks of a new heaven and a new earth that will come.
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. 3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God.
What happened from the it is good. Everything is very good. To a vision of a new heaven and a new earth. God will restore the very good of his creation. He will create again a place like the first. Where...
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away. 5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life.
Life in the beginning and life at the end. But what is in between. Death. The result of the sin of Adam when he transgressed the command of God.
15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
Because of the sin of Adam, all sin and fall short of the glory of God. The Glory of what man was created to be as good and living in fellowship and dwelling with God. Every page in between the first and the last is the truth of the fall of man, the love of God, and the redemption of men.
This whole counsel of God is the good news that God saves sinners. This is the Easter story. That death is through man’s transgression and life is though faith by grace.
Turn with me to the second chapter of Ephesians today.
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. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
This is a passage that every Christian should not just be familiar with but should have deep within our hearts. For in it is tells us who we were, what Jesus did, and now what we are. So we are going to start with what we were.
You Were Dead
You Were Dead
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.
Paul reveals truths about they way that saints were before Jesus. He points out truth that is good for us as Christians to remember as we look to the work of God that we celebrate on Easter.
The first truth he points out is the is our previous state, that we were dead in our trespasses and sins.
We Were Dead
We Were Dead
That all men and women are spiritually dead. Each and every person finds this truth to be true when they see their life in the light of God’s word. Some will dismiss what they see but others will see that they live a life that does not follow the moral laws and commands of God.
When a person starts to read and hear the truth that God sent his own son to be the atoning sacrifice to save then from the condemnation that they have earned through their disobedience, you will find two responses.
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.
There are those that reject it as nothing but foolish crazy talk. Darkened in their understanding, hard hearted, they reject the life giving word.
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.
There are others that will see the word of God as revealing, condemning, saving, and filled with hope. They see themselves described clearly in the scriptures as sinners and transgressors, they see the truth that there is a God and that their sin is against him and see themselves dead in their sin.
23 For the wages of sin is death, ...
The see that Paul’s second truth here is also real.
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.
We Walked According to the Ways of this World
We Walked According to the Ways of this World
The enemy of God the devil fills the world full of lies. He deceives and guides those who walk according to those lies. They carry out the desires of the enemy.
44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
This who we used to follow. The world made sense until God’s world shattered the lies. Every selfish, self-fulfilling, self-centered, self-reliant, self-focused idea, every promise that leads people away from God and toward idols.
16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world.
This all made sense, until it didn’t. It was right until it wasn’t
10 as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one. 13 Their throat is an open grave; they deceive with their tongues. Vipers’ venom is under their lips. 14 Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and wretchedness are in their paths, 17 and the path of peace they have not known. 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Living according to what the world says is right produced a life that carries out our worldly desires.
We Lived in the Flesh
We Lived in the Flesh
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.
The way that we used to live was a life that was hostile to God. A life filled with fleshly desires. We see many list of the results of these fleshly desires.
19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things—as I warned you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Those that have not been credited with the righteousness of God will find that they live a life that practices these things in all that they do. This is the nature of man without God. It is our default state without God working in us and the Holy Spirit giving us new desires. This is what men and women do if they do not have saving faith.
21 Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions.
Children under wrath who have rejected God’s truth.
18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them.
We come to the cross knowing and believing that we were dead in our trespasses and sins, walking according to the Schemes of the enemy, and living out the desires of the flesh in our nature. We come knowing that we come just like everyone else unrighteous, not understanding, not seeking God.
He Made Us Alive
He Made Us Alive
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.
Verse four brings for the motive of God and his unchangeable attributes that did not leave men and women dead. God reveals his great mercy by not pouring out his wrath on us as we deserved but instead does the unimaginable.
We are made alive with Christ
We are made alive with Christ
5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!
Man’s work is evil rebellion. Rejecting the creator, worshiping the creation, following fleshly desires, living in harmony with the world and its lies and empty promises. Showing the deadness of our souls but God extends his mighty hand and makes dead men and women alive. He turns the corrupted into the incorruptible, he heals the sick into the healthy, he makes the broken whole.
And what did he require to do this? Nothing. You are saved by his grace. Saved from the wrath that would come to anyone who does not receive him and believe in his name.
11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, 13 who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.
It is by the will of God that he gives them the right to be children of God. Born of the will of God. What was dead is dead no more. What was perishing will never perish for all eternity. Eternal life has been given to his children never to be taken away.
We have been Raised
We have been Raised
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.
The redeemed child of God has not just been declaimed righteous he has been credited with a righteousness that is not his own but of God. Not only can we stand before the great throne of God and found justified but we have been seated with Jesus in the heavens. Men who by nature reject God, have been changed, cleansed and brought to a place where that have access to the holy God.
4 Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, 7 since a person who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him.
Each person who has saving faith in Jesus and the work of the cross has been united in his death and in his resurrection. This is the promise of Easter. That we who have done nothing but believe have been given the most precious gift of all. Spiritual Life, New life. This body will pass away but our hope is in the saving work of Jesus on the cross. He death, His burial, and his resurrection.
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
When we come to the cross we see an innocent man hanging there. We see a man that has endured much at the hands of sinful men. We see a man that has willingly stood silent.
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him. 4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. 6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 He was taken away because of oppression and judgment, and who considered his fate? For he was cut off from the land of the living; he was struck because of my people’s rebellion. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, but he was with a rich man at his death, because he had done no violence and had not spoken deceitfully. 10 Yet the Lord was pleased to crush him severely. When you make him a guilt offering, he will see his seed, he will prolong his days, and by his hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished. 11 After his anguish, he will see light and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and he will carry their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him the many as a portion, and he will receive the mighty as spoil, because he willingly submitted to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet he bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels.
What a savior we have. What great love he has for us that he would lay down his life for you and me. Oh what great mercy, great grace, What a wonderful gift.
We are Saved by Grace
We are Saved by Grace
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.
It is by God’s unmerited favor and blessing that we are saved. Saved from what? The just punishment for our sins. The punishment that we deserved. The punishment that Jesus payed as a ransom to purchase a people for his own possession. We are saved by Jesus becoming the atoning sacrifice for the removal and forgiveness of our sins.
13 And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses.
This is not from ourselves so that no one can boast. So far the only only actions of man have been against God but here we find that it is the one who has faith.
9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
The one who believes in the work of the cross and the empty tomb. The one who believes that Jesus came to seek and save the lost. That he saves sinner. Salvation is not by works but by faith and the gift is eternal life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is what we hope and believe in. That these promised of God are true and he is faithful. God is doing a work in us as we live in response to what he has done.
For We are His Workmanship
For We are His Workmanship
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
If you are a person who has faith in Jesus’ saving work then now this that God has already done a work in you for you to be where you are at today. He had to open you mind to the truth of his word, he drew you to him, and he did a work in you. We are his workmanship.
Each of us build something with our work. We have those in construction that build buildings, other build cabinets, some create peaceful homes, some care for others, some build children. Each and every day that we are awake we are working at something. Some of it is valuable and some of it is not but we understand what it is to create and build something. To stand back and go well done or show no one.
But we are God’s workmanship created for good works. Which were prepared for us to do.
There are many arguments and false teaching about works and faith and how they relate to salvation. There are many religions out there that require more than faith or belief to be saved. They will require you to attend a certain church, perform certain duties or actions. The jews believed they would be saved by following the Law. But as we just read, salvation is God’s gift by faith - not by works.
There are others that require works to maintain your salvation. But the work has already been done one sacrifice for sin to be removed. Our salvation is not maintained by work either even though there are religions that proclaim that.
So what are works and why do they matter or do they matter? There are those that would challenge a person living in the practice of sin that they are not saved and may even question the person’s salvation. On the other side there are those that say as long as a person confesses Jesus as savior then what they do does not matter.
Let me ask you a question? Is this alive?
Moves, Breaths or uses oxygen, Responds to stimulus, Grows, reproduces, makes waste, needs nutrition.
When something is alive there are certain things that it does that reveals that it is living. That is how we also know something that once was alive is dead.
When we are dead in our trespass there are characteristics that reveal that to be true. And when we are alive in Christ there are characteristics that reveal that as well.
Obedience to scripture
walking in the Spirit
prayer
conviction of sin
sanctification
making disciples
repentance
feeding on Scripture
We are good at faking life at times. We can “clean up” for others and hide the truth. The statement about the church in Sardis is a sobering one.
1 “Write to the angel of the church in Sardis: Thus says the one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works; you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.
We do not want to be a people who have the reputation of life but are dead. We want to be the living. Grafted into the main branch. Not cut off and dead.
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
My point is this..
Conclusion
Conclusion
Jesus has laid down his life for the sheep. He did this of his onw will so that the sheep will have life.
7 Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. 9 I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
When we look to the cross and the empty tomb this year let us remember the blessing of the Lord and the work he is doing in our lives.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 5 You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
God has accomplished what man could not, God has redeemed what man could not, God set forth a plan that man could not even imagine. We were dead, living as friends to the world, walking according to the flesh,
But God has made us alive, Raised us up to sit be with our savior, saved us by grace. He work in us and through us for his Glory.
So how do you respond today?
Benediction
20 Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us—21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
