Sermon Tone Analysis

A Spiritual Emancipation Proclamation - Part 1

LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

A Spiritual Emancipation Proclamation

Part One

December 3, 2017

Dr. David S. Steele

Intro

A. Chains.

Backbreaking work.

Long hours.

Sweat.

Toil.

Agony.

This is the language that Israel was familiar with in the early chapters of Exodus as were

held captive by Pharoah.

1.

The Pharaoh was a brutal taskmaster.

“So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field.

In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.”

(, ESV)

B. The bondage of Israel is a sort of portrait of every human being born into this world.

1.

We have considered this bondage in recent days and have learned that sinners are totally depraved.

We have learned a bit about the devastating

effects of sin and have been struck with the hideous nature of sin.

and have been struck with the hideous nature of sin.

2. Each sinner faces:

a. Spiritual death ().

b.

Spiritual blindess ().

c.

Spiritual inability ().

d.

Spiritual alienation ().

e. Spiritual deafness ().

f.

Spiritual slavery and bondage ().

3. “Everyone who practices sin,” says Jesus is a slave to sin” ().

4. Apart from grace, sinners are foolish, disobedient, led astray, corrupted by malice and envy, and are slaves to various passions and pleasures (See

).

C. So Israel had a desperate need.

Israel needed to be emancipated.

Israel needed to be set free!

And so imagine what ran through Moses’ mind when

he heard these words from God:

“Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.”

(, ESV)

D. Like Israel, the greatest need of every person, then, is emancipation.

—

We need to be set free!

E. The title of the message is A Spiritual Emancipation Proclamation

F. Raising Need - Two Kinds of People

1.

Some of you need to experience spiritual freedom (Non-believers)

a.

When I describe the bondage of slavery, you understand exactly what I’m talking about.

b.

You are cut off from God.

You are cut off from people.

There is a disconnect and you know it.

c. Sin has you by the throat.

Simply put you do not have the ability to please God, love God, or worship God.

And it’s tearing you up inside.

d.

So today is the day of reckoning.

It’s a day where you exchange your orange jump suit for the robe of Christ’s righteousness!

e.

Today is the day to receive forgiveness for every past, present, and future sin.

f.

Today is the day when you will experience spiritual freedom.

2. Some of you need to appropriate your spiritual freedom (Christians)

You need to stop, listen, and learn.

a.

You need to stop living like a slave to sin.

b.

You need to listen to what the Word of God says about you.

c.

You need to learn about your new position in Christ.

Illus: When President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, it paved the way for the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States on December 6, 1865.

Imagine the morning when you are set free after years of abuse on a plantation.

The slave owner takes the chains off your hands and feet.

You change into a pair of clean clothes.

And you begin your walk of freedom.

On that first day, you are captivated by your new life.

For the first time, you don’t have a slave master barking into your ear.

For the first time, you don’t have to endure beatings when your work is not productive enough.

For the first time, you can utter the words, “I am a free man or woman!”

At the end of the day, you make your way back to the slave-master’s plantation.

You check into your tight, stinky quarters.

And you change back into your slave clothes.

Worst yet, you subject yourself to the tyranny of the slave-master.

That’s precisely what Christians do who have been set free from sin when they go back to their old way of living.

G.

Text - [1]

1. Prayer

H.

When we gaze upon the words of Ephesians chapter 1, we are witnesses of a letter that Paul writes to the Christ-followers at the church of Ephesus.

In the first two verses, we are witnesses of the divine favor that Paul celebrates and commends them with.

It is important to understand that we are not only witnesses of the celebration of divine favor; we are participants as well!

We are in Christ!

We are not merely bystanders in the bleachers who are watching “the game.”

We are participants in this drama!

I.

The apostle begins to unpack the spiritual blessings that belong to every follower of Jesus Christ in verses 3-6.

In these verses, we learn about five