Remind Me Again
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Title- Remind Me Again
Passage- Ephesians 2:1-10
Attention- Twenty years ago there was a man in New York, lets call him Mark, who owned a Nokia 3390 cell phone (you can buy one on Ebay now for $11)
At the time his was new…it was valuable…it was important to him
THe chicken is involved but te pig is
Mark was walking across a bridge in New York when a mugger pulled a gun and demanded his cell phone.
Mark said no and the mugger actually shot him in the leg.
At this point I would be begging a mugger to take my phone
But Mark decided he would turn around and hobble away
Fortunately for Mark the mugger had more sense than he did and decided the phone wasn’t worth a murder charge
I think what happened to Mark was that he was so distracted by his love for his cell phone that he lost value for his life
This happens theologically and it happens in our spiritual lives
It happens with our holidays
Introduction-
Easter…the why of Easter
We can get caught up in the distraction of making such a big deal out of what other religions and denominations are doing on Easter Sunday
Or quite honestly I know just saying Easter Sunday some folks just cringed
But if that is what Easter has boiled down to please go back in listen to last weeks sermon
I think if that is what Easter has become the essence of what Easter is has been lost
It isn’t about whether you had your kids picture with a bunny that lays eggs
It’s not about whether you give your kids baskets
It’s not even so much about what you call it
Whatever you call it today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God
We celebrate the freedom from sin
We celebrate that God’s redemptive plan for the ages is unfolding before our eyes
We celebrate today because God is being glorified by each sinner who comes to a saving knowledge of the sacrifice of His son Jesus
We celebrate today because of the importance of the resurrection
Importance of the resurrection
I want us this morning to walk through ephesians 2:1-10 and see the fullnes of what the resurrection does
This passage ought to do two things,
-call sinners to faith in Jesus
-Remind believers of the gift we recieve in Jesus and what that gift ought to produce in us.
Main truth-
After we walk through this passage we should come to two conclusions,
-Paul wants sinners to come to faith in Jesus
-Paul wants temind believers of the gift we receive in Jesus and what that gift ought to produce in us.
You see, God has taken human beings who were once spiritually dead and brought them back to life
Transition #1-
Read verses 1-3
Here in these first three verses we find our deepest problem
Here in these first three verses we find our deepest problem
In these first three verses we see the condition of mankind.
There are the words in italics there about the quickening but they were not a part of the original text and therefore we will not deal with them
I believe that Paul is not interested at this point with the quickening but the declaration of who we were…Paul will get to the quickening in verse 5
He gives 6 statements to describe human beings before the accept Jesus’ sacrifice.
1- Dead in sin…not dead in this life but spiritually dead, able to live and exist in our flesh but in spiritual matters we were unable to do or comprehend those things which pertain to God.
To be alive physically but to the spirit were lifeless
In spiritual matters we, aside from Christ, are unable.
Aside from an airplane or some other device I am unable to fly.
In the same sense…before Christ’s working in my life I was unable to act or respond spiritually.
2- Paul uses a second phrase to help describe our lives before Jesus…We displayed or deadness to Jesus by living in sin.
The two words Paul uses to describe our actions is trespasses and sin
These are two words referring to the same idea…but in different facets
Trespasses literally means what we would thing of today…to go beyond the bounderies
Sins in this verse refers to missing the mark of God’s standard.
They both can mean the same thing but I think here that trespass refers to sinning against others and sin refers to sinning against God
Paul is very good at covering all the bases and he wants to show the comprehensiveness of our sin problem.
Its not just our nature as those dead in sin, not just who we sin against, it is also who we follow.
Paul continues the description of the life of the unsaved with three more descriptors of who we follow
Walked according to the course of this world
According tho the prince of the power of the air
The children of disobedience
These statements are referring to the nature of the unsaved wanting to follow those with the same nature
Like our saying “Birds of a feather flock together”
It’s why they do what they do
Answer this question…why does a dog do what a dog does…because he is a dog
What if we replaced the dogs nature with the nature of a cat? How would he act? Like a cat!!!
We act in the nature that we are and human beings by nature are sinners and will therefore act that way and follow after those with a similar nature
You may not like this reality, you may not think it’s fair…but its still the reality that we are left facing
Our biggest problem in this life is our sin problem
Paul is very thorough…you are a sinner because:
Of who you follow
Because of what you do
And because of our nature
This is the reality that every human being faces, none are exempt from this problem of sin
Paul writes in that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
This sin separates us from God and puts on a path to eternity separated from Him in Hell
You may not like this reality, you may not think it’s fair…but its still the reality that we are left facing
Our biggest problem in this life is our sin problem
Read verses 8-10
This deepest problem of ours begs for a solution and the bible shows us...
What we must do, but that you can’t
What we must do, but that you can’t
In order to change the path we are on…to remedy our sin problem we need to find a way that when we stand before God He sees us as righteous
We need to remove the stain and the guilt of sin
We need to do the impossible
tells us that the way to obtain that righteousness is not by anything we can do, Paul goes on to tell us that there is no work that you can do to remove the guilt and stain of sin.
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:5-7
Galatians 2
But you can’t
But you can’t
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Transition #2-
Read verses 4-5
Paul, and the rest of the Bible, is clearly teaching that we cannot fix our sin problem...
But there is one who did
But there is one who did
Paul doesn’t leave us dead in our trespasses and sins but gives us the solution to the problem we face.
Since we are unable to do anything about the sin that is a part of us and the need to be righteous before God we need someone to work on our behalf
That is the reason we celebrate Easter…we celebrate not a bunny or candy, we celebrate the empty tomb, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead!!!
We couldn’t make ourselves righteous enough to stand before God the Father but Jesus made a way
It was the only way.
We have already seen in this chapter of Ephesians that our works will not make us righteous
tells us that it is the shedding of blood that is what makes one righteous
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
tells us also that the animal sacrifices of the OT were not enough!
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
It needed to be a human being
But as we saw it couldn’t be a sinful human being, it needed to be a sinless human
That could only be accomplished by Jesus, the Son of God
So Jesus came and died and rose again to make a way for us to once again be righteous before God the Father
Once we accept Jesus sacrifice it does two things for us:
1- It frees us from the penalty of sin…we are no longer facing an eternity in hell
2- It begins the restoration of our relationship with the Father
Another point to mention about the restoration of the relationship is that it doesnt take away all our problems and difficulties in life but that part of you that is yearning to be filled and you are trying to fill and trying to fill can once for all be satisfied.
It’s a bit like drinking water. Can you ever get enough water? That thirst is never quenched
There is something within you that is thirsting for a relationship with God and nothing will quench that thirst until you come to Jesus and accept His sacrifice
He says in
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
That is what your soul is longing for…come to Him today
Paul writes here “But God”,
the sorrow which goodness feels at the sight of wretchedness and woe. It is this feeling (if we may apply it so) in the heart of our heavenly Father which is the fountain of redemption.
But God from the treasury of His grace..
God who is full of mercy, grace, and love
You see, what Paul is doing here is twofold
1- He is reminding the believers of Ephesus that they had NOTHING to do with their salvation other than believing
2- He is telling the unbelievers there that they need Jesus because they cant remedy themselves.
Transition #3-
Read verses 6-7
Because of God’s mercy…because of the death and resurrection of Jesus...
Because of the truths that Paul has shared we come to the understanding that..
We can change our situation
We can change our situation
Because as we follow what Paul is saying he is telling us in verse 6 that in the same way that Jesus was raised from the dead victorious over all that is listed in verses 1-3..when we accept His sacrifice and believe in Him we are given not only His righteousness but the same newness of life that gives us victory and power over those things listed in the first four verses.
tells us that we are “in Christ” along with verses 7, 10, and 13 and 87 other places in the NT this phrase comes up
It is because of this union with Christ that we enjoy His righteousness but also His power and His victory over Satan and sin.
With the righteousness power and victory comes the ability to live a virtuous life.
I believe that it not only enables us to live virtuously but upon believing on Jesus and accepting his sacrifice God expects us to live virtuously.
These first three chapters are the theological foundation for the final three chapters which contain direction and encouragement as to how to live a virtuous life.
Then the ultimate end comes when our lives that are saved by the grace of God through faith in the shed blood of Jesus bring glory to the Father by way of our virtuous living.
The end goal it to glorify God
To be a reflector of His goodness and grace to a world seeking for the spring of water that will finally satisfy.
Conclusion
This passage is fairly simple...
-We have a problem, we are sinners…every one of us
-There is nothing that we can do about it
-But God…but God, through Jesus made it possible
-Now, through Jesus death and resurrection we can have our biggest problem (sin) solved
-All of this points to the mercy, love, and grace of God toward His creation that brings Him glory and draws others to saving faith in His Son
Call it Easter, call it Resurrection Sunday…call it whatever you want but if what you celebrate anything other than what Paul has laid out in this chapter on this day you had better go to a quite place after your ham and potato dinner and reread this passage.
Review-
We celebrate because we sinners were in need of a saviour that God provided for the purpose of glorifying Him
Call to action-
Why do you celebrate Easter?
Easter is all about the resurrection but if it stops there we are missing the fulness of the celebration
Why did Jesus raise
To save us from our sins
Why did He save us from our sins
To glorify Himself
What happens as God is glorified?
Others come to a saving knowledge of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross
Then they glorify God
And it goes on…and on
This day is so much more than what you call it or what you eat for lunch
It is so much more than whether or not your kids get baskets of candy or not
If that is all that today is about you are like the Pharisees we saw a last week and you just don’t get it
Easter is about filling the deepest yearning of our hearts and using that to bring glory to the Father.
Easter is about drinking from the well that finally satisfies.