I See Dead People
You are Richer than You Think • Sermon • Submitted
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· 12 viewsCIT: Paul described Christians as those who were spiritually dead but brought to life by God in Christ. Prop: Christians are those who were spiritually dead, but brought to life by God in Christ.
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Like many of you, when I was a child, I enjoyed going to my grandmother’s house to spend the night. It was especially fun when my cousins were spending the night with me. What was really interesting was that my grandmother lived next to a cemetery, a graveyard. We use to dare each other at midnight to run through the graveyard at midnight and then run back to the house. We actually did it from time to time. You never saw kids runs so fast and so deathly afraid.
There is something about graveyards that give us the willys, especially at night. It’s because it is full of dead people. I’ve met people that don’t like going to hospitals because people die there, or funerals because dead people are there.
The reason I mention that is because as Paul moves from a section describing what Christians have in Christ to who Christians are in Christ, he mentions mentions who Christians were before Christ. He describes what we were before Christ as “dead.”
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
I. Everyone without Christ are spiritually dead.
I. Everyone without Christ are spiritually dead.
We tend to think that Christ has come to make bad people good. But what Paul explains here is that mankind’s main problem is not that he is bad or immoral. But our main problem is that humans are born spiritually dead.
What does it mean to be spiritually dead? It means that we are separated from God. This goes all the way back way back original sin in the garden of Eden, were Adam and Eve first brought sin into the world.
God had given them the entire garden to enjoy and care for. They would be his image bearers on the earth. God would dwell in the garden with them. They could enjoy all the trees in the garden. But, he gave them one tree that they were not to eat from, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Here’s what God said about that eating from that tree.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
They did eat of that tree. They did not physically die immediatly. They did eventually physically die because of their sin. But something did happen immediately. They were immediately kicked out of the garden. They were immediately cast out of the presence of God.
24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
Adam and Eve were now walking dead people. There’s a television show called the “Walking Dead.” I’m not saying that Adam and Eve were Zombies. But their new identity was dead and separated from God.
The Bible says that all of their children have the same identity. We have the same identity as a Father. My father was a Rushing. His father was Rushing. So was his father. That goes back a long way as I understand it. My father was also a sinner. His father was one too. And his father. That too goes back even a longer way, all the way back to Adam. Outside of Christ, all of humanity are walking around spiritually dead and separated from God.
The Apostle Paul said it like this:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Rom
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
A number of years ago I watched a movie that illustrated this point perfectly. The movie’s title was “The Sixth Sense.” Bruce Willis’ character in the movie was named Malcolm who was a child psychologist. Malcolm met a boy named Cole who was having a lot of trouble. Here is a clip where Cole is finally ready to tell Malcolm what his problem is.
Show “I see dead people clip.
Dead people. They are walking around, but they don’t know they are dead. They are everywhere.
Paul is saying that is a pretty good description of the spiritual state of humanity. Dead people. They are walking around everywhere, but they don’t know they are dead.
If a person is just born one time naturally. They are dead. If they have never been born again in Christ, they are dead. That’s most of humanity.
Paul tells believers that is who they were. That is who everyone who isn’t living by faith in Jesus Christ is, spiritually dead and separated from God.
What are the implications of people being spiritually dead.
A. They have no ability to change their condition.
A. They have no ability to change their condition.
The metaphor of “deadness” communicates complete inability to respond to spiritual things.
Dead people don’t respond to anything. There is a cemetery across the street. If we were to go out there and offer them a Coke, are their going to be any takers? If someone gets up out that grave takes us up on it, someone else is going to have to pastor Mount Gilead, because I’m probably going to have a heart attack and join the rest of them.
But I don’t have to worry about that because no one is getting up. They can’t get up. They can’t dance. They can’t eat. They can’t do anything because their dead.
Paul is using this metaphor to describe people’s spiritual condition toward things of God. Our sin nature has caused us to have no desire for the things of God. But people do have a desire for the things of the world. That produces disobedience.
Ever since Adam and Eve’s disobedience, people have been living in disobedience.
Paul wants us to understand why people sin and are rebellious to God. It’s because they are dead. Badness is a symptom of deadness.
Our sin nature has caused us to
B. They live in active disobedience.
B. They live in active disobedience.
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—
Sin has killed us and it keeps on killing us. Paul says that we are born in sin and “sinner” is our identity. Therefore, guess how people live? Sinning.
Paul gives us some influencers of sin:
1. The Devil influences sinning. (v. 2)
1. The Devil influences sinning. (v. 2)
“Following the course of this world.” The world is an evil system that is trying to get us to conform to its way instead of God’s ways.
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
“following the prince of the power of the air,” (v.2) That prince is the devil. He is the “spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.” The human race is described here as the “sons of disobedience.”
Life Principle: People who are born in sin, live in sin.
Life Principle: People who are born in sin, live in sin.
They are influence by the devil who is the Father of lies (). They follow is leadership because that is what they desire. They do what they want to do.
2. The flesh influences sinning. (v. 3)
2. The flesh influences sinning. (v. 3)
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.
Eph
When Paul talks about the flesh here, he means our fallen nature, the sinful desires that we were born with. Our sin nature wants to disobey God. It wants to overeat. It wants to say bad words, and think bad thoughts and do all kinds of other things that I’m not going to bring up because you already know them and children are in here.
+People often want to blame the Devil for their sin. “The Devil made me do it.” I would guess that most of time the Devil didn’t even have to get involved with it. Your fleshly sin nature had it covered.
By the way, we shouldn’t be suprised that sinners sin. It’s who they are. A dog barks, why? He’s a dog. A cat meow’s because it’s a cat. A sinner sins because its who they are. Their desires are naturally sinful.
Theologians call this issue depravity. But it doesn’t mean that an unsaved person only does evil. Or, that they are incapable of doing good things. They still love their mother and can do things that would be considered good. But we should expect that too, after all, they were created in the image of God.
What we mean by that is that they are incapable of doing anything that would earn their salvation or bring them to a standard of holiness that God requires. Spiritually they can not please God. They best they have to offer would be seen as filthy rags to God.
III. They face eternal punishment for their disobedience.
III. They face eternal punishment for their 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.
It shouldn’t surprise us that “sons of disobedience” are “by nature children of wrath.” (v.3) That means that those who live in disobedience to God will one day face the judgment of God.
Because we are born in sin, and thus live in sin, condemnation is our default position.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Did you notice that phrase, “like the rest of mankind?” People get upset when you bring up that all of humanity is in trouble with God. Paul paints a terrible picture of the deadness and sinfulness of humanity. It seems hopeless.
But the next two words are the most precious words in all of Scripture. “But God...” But God did something when we were dead and could do nothing to save ourselves, God sent us a Savior! Man can not save himself from his sin, but God can. And he has sent Christ to do it.
People say, “That is too exclusive!” The only way to be made right with God is Jesus. They say, that is too exclusive. What about the Buddhist or the Hindus or the Muslims? And I say, Jesus died to save everyone of them who would put faith in him to save them. He’s not exclusive at all. He’ll save anyone who will believe on him for salvation.
God is a good God and Jesus is God’s answer to our deadness. He sent Jesus to live a perfect life in our place. And then to die in our place. Three days later he rose again and now gives his eternal life to anyone who would turn to him by faith. Jesus is the answer to our deadness. He has come that we might have life and bring us back to him. So that by faith in him we can be made right with God.
We will talk more about “But God next week.” But for now, would you respond to his his working today? I would love before we leave this place to know that their are no more dead people to be seen in here. Would you respond to his working this morning?