Sermon Tone Analysis

Why Do We Need a Savior

 

*Ephesians 2:1*

*July 1, 2007*

* *

A retired minister tells this story:

As a young minister, I was asked by a funeral director to hold a Grave-side service for a homeless man, with no family or friends.

The funeral was to be held at a cemetery way back in the country, And this man would be the first to be laid to rest there.

As I was not familiar with the backwoods area, I became lost; and being A typical man did not stop for directions.

I finally arrived an hour late.

I saw the backhoe and the crew, who was eating lunch, but the hearse was nowhere in sight.

I apologized to the workers for my tardiness, and stepped to the side of the open grave, where I saw the vault lid already in place.

I assured the workers I would not hold them up for long, but this was the proper thing to do.

The workers gathered around, still eating their lunch.

I poured out my heart and soul.

As I preached the workers began to say "Amen," "Praise the Lord," and "Glory"!

I preached, and I preached, like I'd never preached before: From Genesis all the way to Revelations.

I closed the lengthy service with a prayer and walked to my car.

As I was opening the door and taking off my coat, I overheard one of the workers Saying to another,

 

"I ain't never seen anything like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years."

Shows you the error of jumping to conclusions doesn’t it?

Well, on to more serious pursuits; we’re continuing our study of Ephesians.

Two weeks ago you received, in your bulletin, further study material on the book of Ephesians.

It was intended to give you a deeper understanding of what we’ve been covering the last month or so.

Did you find it helpful?

Did you do it?

Would you like more?

Let’s read today’s Scripture passage.

Please turn in your Bible to Ephesians chapter 2 and we’ll read verse 1, I’m reading from the New English Translation: /“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,” /

So, there are two reasons why we should remember our great need for a Savior.

The first reason is that the more keenly we feel our need for a Savior, the more precious will be the coming of the Savior.

Picture two people in a car out for a drive along Highway 40.

The rider knows that there is a time bomb in the trunk and that any second might blow the car to pieces.

The driver doesn't believe there is one, and thinks that his rider is insane.

The RCMP have been alerted that the car is indeed loaded with a bomb that will soon go off.

They begin their search and pursuit.

The rider suddenly sees the RCMP car far in the distance to the rear racing toward the car.

His heart leaps with hope for possible rescue!

If you are the rider who knows that there is a bomb in the trunk, the flashing red lights in the distance are very precious, and the closer they get, the more precious they become.

But if you are the driver and you don't think that there is a bomb in the trunk, the flashing red lights are a threat.

I think that the most loving thing I can do for you this morning is to help you remember and feel your need for a Savior, so that as he approaches, your heart will leap for joy.

The second reason for remembering our great need for a Savior is that the Word of God commands us to.

Ephesians 2:1–10 describes how God saved us by grace through faith when there was a time bomb of sin ticking in our soul.

Turn there now and we’ll read it: /“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 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.

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./

That’s the bad news as we heard about a couple of weeks ago; but, remember, there is good news.

Let’s read on:/ \\ But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, \\ so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

\\ For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

/

 Verse 11 commands, /"Therefore remember!"/

Remember what?

Verse 12 tells us: /“remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

"/ But the key word, practically speaking, is "Remember!"

Paul really believes that even after the RCMP have caught your car and saved you, you shouldn't forget that awful chase.

You shouldn't forget what it would have been like if they had not pursued you.

You should remember what you were and would have become without a Savior.

Part of our ongoing devotional life should be the obedience of Ephesians 2:12—Remember!

Remember!

Remember that once we were cut off from Christ, without any citizen-rights to heaven; no promises applied to us; we had no hope and no part in God.

We are commanded, "Remember this! Bring it to mind again and again".

And surely the reason is so that it will have a vigorous and lively role in causing us to love Jesus Christ, our Savior.

It is a simple psychological fact: unless we feel a great need for a Savior, we do not feel that he is a great Savior.

The first reason we need a Savior is that without a Savior we are all dead in our trespasses and sins.

Paul says this twice in the text.

In verse 1 (literally): "You being dead in your trespasses and sins . . .

" Verse 5: "Even when we were dead in our trespasses . . .

"

If you were to ask most people why sin is a problem, and why we need a Savior from it, they would say that sin makes us guilty before God and brings us under condemnation; and so we need a Savior who can forgive our sins and take away our punishment.

And that is absolutely right.

But that is not the point of Ephesians 2:1 and 5.

That is not all we need.

The reason we need a Savior is not just that we are in the doghouse with God and need to be forgiven for offending his glory.

We need a Savior because we are in the morgue.

In the doghouse you might whimper.

You might say you are sorry.

You might make some good resolutions.

You might decide to cast yourself on the mercy of God.

But what can you do if you are in the morgue?

*What Does "Dead in Trespasses and Sins" Mean? *

If this means what it looks like it means, we didn't need just any ordinary Savior, we needed a great Savior.

What does Paul mean when he says that we were dead in our trespasses and sins?

Let's look at the context first.

There is a phrase in verse 3 that shows the seriousness of deadness.

At the end it says, \\ /“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."/

In other words the things we have done to bring the wrath of God upon us we have done by nature.

We need a Savior not just because we have sinned, but because we have sinned by nature.

We are by nature sinners.

Remember, that sin nature began with Adam, the first sinner in God’s eyes.

We have Adam’s nature.

It has been passed on as a congenital defect from generation to generation.

At the end of verse 2 it says that we are /"sons of disobedience."

/Which is another way of saying that disobedience is in our spiritual genes.

Rebellion runs in the human family.

It is part of our sinful nature.

Now what does that have to do with being dead?

It sounds like we were very much alive and active in our rebellion and disobedience.

Indeed we were.

But in being alive to disobedience, we were dead to obedience.

In being alive to rebellion, we were dead to submission.

In being alive to unbelief, we were dead to faith.

We had no living spiritual nature to incline us to do anything for the glory of God and in reliance on his power.

And lacking that spiritual nature, we were dead: dead to righteousness, dead to holiness, dead to obedience, dead to faith.

Spiritually speaking I was dead.