Dead in our sins, alive in Christ.

Ephesians 2:1-8

Pre-assessment Sermon Notes

Dead in our sins, alive in Christ.

Good afternoon, my name is Alex, and I have the joy to serve with Citylight Mosaic Church. We are a bilingual church family that exists to multiply diverse disciples and churches, unified by the gospel of Jesus.

Today, I’d like to share a sermon from Ephesians 2:1-8 that I’ve titled: Dead in our sins, alive in Christ. And the main idea from this sermon is that: without Jesus, we are spiritually dead, but faith in HIM makes us spiritually alive.

These verses found within chapter 2 reminds me so much of my own story. The way that God sought and saved me from my pit of destruction, and I as read these verses, it reminds me how good he is and has been. I wonder if you can relate to that.

I was a kid that struggled with identity issues and became someone I was not for the sake of acceptance. Worst of all, it gave me a purpose that took many years to realized that it was just a band-aid. It was a temporary joy and felt completely dead on the inside. That was the final product of self. Dead from within as I indulged in what the world had to offer.

And, I wonder if some of you are experiencing something similar right now. Maybe you’re struggling with your identity that prompts you to escape and indulge in sin. Or, maybe you are experiencing your spiritual deadness because of your addiction to pornography. Regardless of our sin, it all leads to death, but God in his mercy and love does have a gift for us that deals with our sinful nature.

Let me begin with these few verses 2:1-3 which are personal to me. They speak the first 20 some years of my life. Here’s what Paul writes beginning at verse 2-3:

2 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[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.[b

The first truth I find in these verses:

1. Dead in our sins and trespasses

Paul speaks to those who have experienced the power of God, enabling them to believe in Jesus, because they were once dead (Spiritual death – a living corpse without the spirit of God and unable to do anything holy) in our trespasses and sins. We were sinners in need of salvation. We are corrupted, erring of the mind from the rule of truth. It is the reason why we were dead and separated from a Holy God.

They (Paul’s audience) used to belong to the world to Satan. We followed his footsteps in sin, in our rebellion against God. For instance, the Church of Ephesus had converted from Jews and Gentile, famous for its idol temple of Artemis.

Verse 2 speaks of us being sons of disobedience in which we have acquired by inheritance. We have inherited our sinful nature from our first parents. This inheritance should make us see how bad we need this label off our lives. We are to pursue holiness as God had once commanded to his people, yet; the separation from Him is our destination. Sinners need a savior or destined for God’s Wrath.

Fifteen years ago, I was holding and following a road map that had an apparent dead end. The final destination was eternal separation from God. And, as the Spirit of God reminds us how sinful we are, we see, that they only way out of our sinful nature will lead us is to be recipients of God’s wrath?

But there was more to my story, there’s more to the story of God, and I love the two words found in the beginning of verse 4:

BUT GOD…. Let me continue with verses 4-8:

4 But[c] 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,

The second truth from these verses is:

2. Alive in Christ

I remembered how this text showed me God’s character: a merciful God because this is who he is. He’s love (God’s attribute). Therefore, in His love, He rescued us from our death by making us alive together with Christ. The text shows us that even when we were sinners, when we were His enemy, he did not keep records of our wrongdoing. It’s his saving grace that raises us from the dead of our trespasses and sins – This is what God does.

I haven’t met anyone like this. I know I am not even close. There have been many instances were someone has sinned against me, and I’m definitely keeping record of their wrongdoing. Why on earth would I ever keep a relationship with someone that does me wrong? But in our sin, God made us alive. In Jesus, he forgot all of our wrongdoing against him.

Now, We are alive together with Christ, and we are all united to Christ. Together, it shows us the resurrecting power of God that transfers us from death to life. We are born again, a new creation, and we can participate in any aspect of our new us because we are in HIM.

And, God’s primary motivation is to glorify HIMSELF! The showing of his mercy is for His glory in the time that is ahead of us. God shows his kindness by sending His sons to the Cross to be the substitutionary atonement for the sins of the world. This His saving grace in our lives. And again, its all for his glory.

Now, in verse 8, we can see Paul’s illustration as he binds it all together. Here he displays the sufficiency of Jesus as He pays for the penalty of sin, God’s wrath on Him. The defeat of sin and death at the Cross for our spiritual wellbeing. We are no longer sons of disobedience, but now we are adopted to God’s family because of our faith in Jesus.

So, how does that happen? Paul’s does answer it. We are saved through faith in Jesus. Additionally, faith is the instrument of our salvation. And, it’s Christ alone the agent of our salvation. We are unable to do so in our righteousness, but it’s Jesus’s righteousness. Faith in him comes by the means which man must benefit himself by hearing the word of God (Ro 10:17).

So as we hear from the Word of God on how our sinful inheritance brings us spiritual death but we are able to see that spiritual revival can happen by God’s grace and faith in Jesus, let me address two types of audience.

Let me address those who have not trusted in Jesus, first. Are you able to see how bankrupt you are because of your sinful nature?

I was once literally dead inside and if your trust is in anything else but Jesus, these verses are giving us a fair diagnosis of being spiritually dead. You may say to yourself that you are not so bad but let me encourage you with these words: Jesus did not come to make bad people good. Jesus came to make dead people alive! And, my prayer for you right now and that the Spirit of God will regenerate your hart and gives you a new hart of flesh so that you are able to respond in faith in Jesus.

Friend, this not only give your life here on earth, life right now, but in the life to come!

Now for those who have trusted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, this still good news and relevant for us today!

For me, the Spirit of God reminds me through these verses His grace and love. These Words the Paul penned as He was being led by the Holy Spirit in prison, should remind us that God remains good. As his enemy, he took the initiative to come down from heaven to do the work I or anyone else will be able to do to spare us from God’s wrath.

But, understanding that He’s a Just, Holy and loving God, then we will be able to understand why he came down. We are able to see that he not only saved us once, but he continuously saves me every day from my own sinful nature. There are times where my life look extremely different when I see that the gospel is only for unbelievers and not for myself.

These verses should remind us, church, that our performance isn’t what pleases God, but Jesus’s holiness and righteousness. This was a reminder from Paul to the Church of Ephesus. He felt obligated to preach the good news of the gospel to people that had already experienced His grace. How much more do we need the gospel for us believers?

Let’s pray!