Saved a Wretch Like Me (Eph. 2:1-3)

Introduction

· Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Ephesians 2.

· I want to begin by thanking all of you who helped with our work day. We accomplished several major projects including de-cluttering our attic, cleaning the carpet and toys, treating the wood in our children’s play area, and of course painting and sprucing up our sanctuary. We have some more touches to do still, but we are really pleased how it turned out. I asked Anita what she thought, and if she was happy how everything turned out. She said we got way more done than she expected. Some of you were here for twelve hours yesterday! Thank you to [read all the names]. I hope I didn’t miss anyone! It was truly a team effort.

· This morning we return to our study of the Book of Ephesians and we come to the second chapter. In Chapter one, Paul focused on the blessings that belong to us in Christ -- election, predestination, adoption, and more. Then he prayed for the church that they would have the eyes of their heart enlightened to come to know the hope to which they had been called, the riches of their inheritance, and the immeasurable greatness of his power.

· The blessings that to belong to us become even more surprising when we remember what we were saved from, and that is how Paul begins chapter two.

· Read Ephesians 2:1-10

· I cannot think of a more beautiful ten verses in all the Scripture.

· The timeline of human history can be broken into two main sections – BC and AD. Before Christ and anno domini, in the year of our Lord. Every Christian life can also be broken into two sections as well – a BC and an AD. This morning, we want to take a look at our BC experience. What was life like before Christ?

· THREE CONDITIONS THAT CHARACTERIZED YOUR LIFE BEFORE CHRIST: Spiritually Dead, Striving Toward Sin, and Storing Up Wrath.

Spiritually Dead (1)

· Many people think that the human race is basically good. Sure, there are the Adolf Hitlers and Osama Bin Laden’s, but by and large people are good. They are friendly. Observe most of the laws. Most people are not out killing or raping anyone, so things must be OK, right? But our perspective is all wrong. You see, you and I do not get to judge who is good. We are not the standard of righteousness. God is.

· Hebrews 4:12 says For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

· So how does scripture diagnose our condition?

· Eph. 2:1 You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you walked.

· Spiritually dead. Not healthy. Not even sick. Dead. An unbeliever may be physically active and healthy, but spiritually, they are no more alive than people lying in a cemetery today. There is spiritual death.

· When I was applying to become pastor at this church and going through the candidating process, they gave me a questionnaire. Asked me to read through the BFM and ask my agreement. Said it was a good document overall, but there was one particular statement that concerned me. “Man… fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin.” That seemed weak. We are not just inclined to sin. We are dead to sin! Cf. 1925 BFM. We “inherit a nature corrupt and in bondage to sin, are under condemnation.” In 1963, they watered down the language.

· Cf. Ephesians 4:18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

· Genesis 6:5–6 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

· Psalm 14:2–3 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

· Not very flattering, is it? Sometimes, theologians use the term, “Total depravity.” Man’s nature is corrupt, perverse, and sinful throughout; we are totally unable to do any spiritual good in the eyes of God. The infection has spread throughout our heart, soul, mind, and body.

· John Calvin: “No one knows the one-hundredth part of the sin that clings to his soul”

· >>Since you were dead in sin, you might suppose you were rather inactive. Like a bear that hibernates for the winter. But actually, the opposite is true. You were not neutral. You were actively rebellious.

Striving Toward Sin (2-3a)

· Read vv. 2-3a…

· Notice how active sin is. You walked in it, meaning it was a regular habit. You followed the well-worn trails of this world. Furthermore, you were deceived by and followed after Satan, who is described as the prince of the power of the air. NLT – “the commander of the powers in the unseen world.” Lived in the passions…carrying out the desires of the body and mind.

· Sin is an active hostility toward God. It is willful rebellion. Sin is not a lazy river where you just drift passively along. It is like you are paddling fiercely away from God.

· Romans 1:18 the ungodly…suppress the truth. They actively push it down, like plugging your ears.

· Some of today claim to be “agnostic.” Without knowledge. You say you don’t know for sure if there is a God, and from the looks of it, they don’t seem much to care. But that is not being honest. You have more than enough evidence to believe in God as your Maker, and to call out to him as your Savior. It is not evidence that you lack. It is faith. You are unwilling to submit to a holy God, and actually suppress the truth.

· Romans 1:29–30 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,

· Romans 8:7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.

· That word “hostile” is the Gk word echthra. Sometimes translated “enmity.” It is hatred and hostility. James 4:4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. This is precisely what the gospel overcomes.

· Mark 7:21–23 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

· St. Augustine back in the 4th century AD: “Near our vineyard there was a pear tree, loaded with fruit, though the fruit was not particularly attractive either in color or in taste. I and some other wretched youth conceived the idea of shaking the pears off this tree and carrying them away. We set out late that night (having, as we usually did in our depraved way, gone on playing in the streets till that hour) and stole all the fruit that we could carry. And this was not to feed ourselves; we may have tasted a few. But then we threw the rest to the pigs. I had no wish to enjoy what I tried to get by theft; all my enjoyment was in the theft itself and in sin. Our real pleasure was in doing something that was not allowed” (The Confessions of St. Augustine).

· You were not a passive observer. You were an active participant in rebellion, committing treason against the king.

· Hopefully by now you are beginning to say what I say when I hold my glasses up to the light. Wow, I had no idea they were so dirty!

Storing Up Wrath (3b)

· What is the result of so much sin?

· “And were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind”

· Wrath is God’s righteous anger and indignation against sin. We like to talk about the love of God. The kindness of God. That’s a nice one! But we cannot pick and choose which attributes that we accept. You either accept of all of God, or you accept none of him. God’s wrath is real, because his justice is real. And he has prepared a place of punishment called hell, which is a place of unthinkable torment.

· Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Is COVID a judgment from God? Yes, COVID is an expression of the wrath of God. A sneakpeak at the full and coming judgment of God. How many more disasters does God need to send before he gets your attention?

· John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. Like water filling up a dam. Building up pressure, just waiting to be released.

· Jesus says in Matthew 13:42 that the king will gather all the law-breakers and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

· Burning my hand on the grill up at the cabin. It burned for days. Put lotion on it and took Tylenol. I cannot even being to imagine suffering with a far greater pain, not for a few days, but forever.

· This condition is not limited to just a few, but is the universal fate of all of apart from Christ.

Conclusion

· Review: Three conditions… Spiritually Dead, Striving Toward Sin…Storing up wrath.

· No wonder John Newton penned the words, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me... A wretch is “base, despicable, or vile person.”

· I brought something with me this morning. It’s a rock. A rock is good for many things. You can use it as a paperweight. You can use it for decoration. But it’s dead and lifeless. Scripture says that our heart is like a rock. It has no life to it. This is part of the gift of the New Covenant. The miracle of regeneration…

· Ezekiel 36:26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

· Perhaps you have never thought of your situation in this way before; just beginning to understand. Believe the gospel and invite people to respond.

· If God has saved us from this, then we ought to live for him.