Why do I need to be saved?

Introduction:

There was a prank that people use to play in school where they would tape a sign to your back while you weren’t looking that reads, “Kick Me.” In fact my daughter tried to get me with this just a few weeks ago, but as I said to her, this isn’t my first my rodeo.

Sometimes, people will just kick you and you’re left wondering why someone just kick me.

But eventually, hopefully someone will come along and whisper in your ear, “You have a sign on your back that says kick me.” And you didn’t even know it.

I’m grateful for people who are willing to point out a need we don’t even know.

Today in the world, there are millions of people walking around who need to be saved and don’t even know it. And as Christians, our responsibility is to lovingly whisper in their ear that they are in need of a savior and that Jesus is that Savior.

But just as important is we need to be able to explain, “Why do I need to be saved?”

And for that we must turn to the Bible for the answer.

Transition to the text: Turn with me in your Bibles to Ephesians 2:1-10.

One of the primary purposes of Paul’s letter to Ephesians was to clarify how you are saved. So many people who were influenced by Judaism automatically assumed that in order to be a Christian, you had to completely follow the Jewish law which included circumcision. Obviously some clarity on this subject would be much appreciated.

but on top of the question, “How can I be saved?”, he also answers the question, “Why do I need to be saved?”

Introduce big Idea:

Big Idea: We need to be saved from our sin to rightly know God and be useful for His purposes.

Read:

Ephesians 2:1–10 ESV

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— 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. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Repeat:

Big Idea: We need to be saved from our sin to rightly know God and be useful for His purposes.

Main Point #1 - Jesus came to make dead people alive. (Ephesians 2:1-3)

Explanation: Many of us like to begin our articulation of the Gospel with this phrase, “God loves you!” While that is true, it misses the beginning of our need because it only tells half the story. And I think the biggest issue is that, many of us, when faced with the truth that God loves us immediately think, “Well of course He does! I mean who wouldn’t?!”

We think that we are worthy of God’s love and entitled to God’s love by default. And if we think we are owed love from God, then the statement, “God loves you!” is meaningless. And if that is meaningless, then we don’t really need to be saved from anything. We just need a little religion in our lives so that we can be better people. And if we want a better society we need to get people to become Christians so they’ll do less bad things. The problem is that most people walking around don’t know or acknowledge that they need to be saved from anything. And when we tell them “God loves you,” we tell them nothing.

Illustration: What is it about toddlers that always want to run into the street? And then when you rescue them from the danger in front of them they get mad and start crying like you’ll stole their only meaning in life.

Now I could start this conversation with a toddler by saying, “Come here, daddy loves you?” And we all know how well that would go. The loving thing to do in that moment is to address the immediate danger. In fact to not address the immediate danger is unloving. And a toddler doesn’t even have the capacity to understand the danger anyway.

This is the root of the problem with those that say, “Christianity isn’t a religion, it’s a relationship.”

Romans 3:10–12 ESV

10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

People don’t actually want a relationship with God…at least not until they see what’s in it for them.

Yet, if we are sharing our faith at all, many will never actually address the pressing issue in that person’s life. Only telling a person about God’s love for them and His desire to have a relationship with them is not the Gospel.

Here’s something else we tend to do. We make Christianity merely a moral issue.

We can often think of Christianity in terms of Christians as good people who do good things. On the contrary non-Christians are bad people who do bad things. And it doesn’t even matter if they actually have a relationship with Jesus, just as long as they act like they do.

But what do we do with Christians who do bad things and non-Christians who act far more Christians than Christians. you get the dilemma we face. We have essentially made Christianity a moral program for human betterment. Merely speaking of God’s command that we be moral people is not the Gospel.

Application: So where does the Gospel start? With Ephesians 2:1

Ephesians 2:1 ESV

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins

Let me say it again, “YOU WERE DEAD.”

In this, we are not worthy of God’s love. We are not entitled to God’s love. We are in fact worthy of every punishment and condemnation due the penalty of our trespasses and sins.

Dead people have no rights. Contrary to some opinions, they don’t even have the right to vote. They are dead and nothing short of an act of God will change that.

Now, having started with “YOU WERE DEAD,” let’s revisit where many of start our Gospel articulation, “God loves you.”

Do you see how much more power that statement gains when we have a proper understanding of where we begin?

The God of the universe who created all things, including man and woman, who is the only one due worship and obedience, was and is the only offended Person when sin is committed. God is just and right to condemn any and all sinners to eternal punishment in hell. And to do that would not be unloving because that is what we deserve.

There is a vision in Ezekiel 37 where by Ezekiel’s prophecy to dry bones, they come alive again. And why does God show Ezekiel this vision of life from death? To show that He can. But still the answer is why would God do this…let’s continue.

Main Point #2 - God saved us because of his great mercy and love. (Ephesians 2:4-6)

Explanation: Verse 4 starts with a but. “But” is a very dangerous anxiety driven word.

Think of a 16 year old boy asking a girl out on a date. She responds, “I really like you but....” It doesn’t take a genius to know what is about to follow. “But” can cause longstanding emotional trauma.

“But” is usually in the negative. Here is the good news, “But” there is also bad news.

A positive “but” is really out of the ordinary and it’s usually unexpected.

In the case of Ephesians 2.

1. You were dead in sin.

2. You are a follower of Satan.

3. You are a son of disobedience.

4. You are naturally sinful and unable to do anything right.

5. You are a child of wrath.

What we would expect is a “Therefore....”

Therefore, you will be punished.

Instead....unexpectedly we get a “but” and not just any but, we get a “But God!”

1. You were dead in sin. BUT GOD!

2. You are a follower of Satan. BUT GOD!

3. You are a son of disobedience. BUT GOD!

4. You are naturally sinful and unable to do anything right. BUT GOD!

5. You are a child of wrath. BUT GOD!

But God what?

Ephesians 2:4–6 ESV

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

This “but” is so powerful in that it shows us that God is not put off by our sinful, disobedient deadness.

In fact, like I said.....

In spite of our sin, in spite of our transgressions, in spite of the fact that we are dead, God made us alive and saved us because of his great mercy and love.

So what does this mean?

Yes, God loves His children.

Even when we were dead, God made us alive

This is only possible through Jesus Christ.

We are/will be glorified with Jesus.

Only after we understand our true state apart from Christ, can we truly appreciate and understand the depth of God’s love for those He has made alive.

Illustration:

Isaiah 1:18 ESV

18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

Application: Why is it that forgiveness is so unexpected. This whole passage begins like a courtroom reading the verdict of a recently condemned person. Verses 1-3 should leave us without hope at all. Yet vs. 4-6 blow our mind with God’s love, mercy and grace.

But if you’re like me, you’re probably wondering why. Why would God do this to people so underserving of that grace love and mercy?

It’s funny sometimes we people escape near fatal accidents. Like a car or a bus misses them by an inch. Ans many of those people, respond to that near tragic accident with the expression, “God must have a plan for me.”

Think about that, after facing possible death, we immediately gain a spark of life and feel in a unique way that perhaps there is a purpose for me.

Now, if God made us, who were dead in sin, alive through Christ, how much more should we feel that we have a purpose beyond a “Get out of Hell free card?”

It’s more than that....

Main Point #3 - We are saved for a purpose. (Ephesians 2:7-10)

Explanation: Another fun conjunction word is “so that.” In Greek it’s just one word that answers the question “why?”

And there are 2 answers for why God saved us; 2 purposes. And these will be familiar because we’ve already identified why alone these are the gospel. These are purposes of the Gospel, not the Gospel itself.

1. A Relationship: Vs. 7 answers the question of why God lavished such love upon his people: so that they will marvel for all of eternity over the incredible kindness and love of God. It will take all of eternity to fathom God’s love, and those who are saved will never plumb the depths of it.

2. Personal Morality: Vs. 10 tells us what we will do because of that great love. We will do good works.

Now sandwiched in between these 2 purposes is the a parenthetical statement that is going to serve to clarify vs. 10. One of the oldest heresies in the church is the idea that you have to earn your salvation through good works. But that’s not what the Bible teaches and Paul is very clear here that the bases of our salvation, according to vs. 8-9 is God’s grace through our faith in him. Not of works so that no one can say they earned it. This goes back to point 1 in that dead people can’t will themselves alive. No good works can make a dead man breath.

So we are saved for good works, not saved by good works.

However, that being said, good works do become evidence of your salvation. Because knowing what you about about God’s love for you, why wouldn’t you respond with good works?

So what are those good works? Now Paul doesn’t specifically lay them out here. Why not? Because they are likely assumed by this point in Christianity?

Make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20)

Care for the needy (Matthew 25:31-40)

Be Peacemakers (Matthew 5:9)

Look after widows and orphans (James 1:27)

Suffer well (Matthew 16:24)

Illustration:

Sometimes we exert great effort to get somewhere only wonder what to do once we get there. I remember one time Amanda and I were hiking. And we exerted a lot of effort to get to the top of this cliff only to realize there was nothing up there. Not even a good view. And we kind of left scratching head thinking that was a waste of time.

Application:

It bears repeating that we are saved for a purpose. And in our salvation we should not be sitting back and waiting for heaven to live out that purpose.

We need to be doing the good works that were prepared before hand. we need to:

Make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20)

Building up the Church (1 Corinthians 14:12)

Care for the needy (Matthew 25:31-40)

Be Peacemakers (Matthew 5:9)

Look after widows and orphans (James 1:27)

Suffer well (Matthew 16:24)

It’s a tall order and to be candid this is more important than your career. This is who a Christian is and this is what a Christian does.

Summation:

Big Idea: We need to be saved from our sin to rightly know God and be useful to His purposes.

Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good, but dead people alive. (Ephesians 2:1-3)

In spite of our sin, God saved us because of his great mercy and love. (Ephesians 2:4-6)

We are saved for a purpose. (Ephesians 2:7-10)

Response: How have you changed since you were made alive in Christ? If you don’t yet know Jesus, do you want to be made alive?

Conclusion:

We get an eduction for a purpose. Whether it’s high school, college, an apprenticeship or even a military training program. We work hard, study for a purpose...

So that when we finished we can put what we’ve learned into practice. And hopefully make a stable living.

How crazy would it be to put all that work into training and an education only to not use it?

How many Christians, saved by the blood of Jesus, don’t put that faith into action?

So first:

Have you been made alive by the grace and mercy and peace of God in Christ Jesus? Have you embraced Jesus’ death burial and resurrection for the forgiveness of your sins and the salvation of your soul?

Do you enjoy daily communion with God as he showers you with the riches of his grace in kindness?

And you doing the good works that He prepared for you to do?

If not, what needs to change?

Are you ready to take that next step?

Don’t settle for being dead. Come alive!

Let’s pray.