From Death To Life
We Are The Church • Sermon • Submitted
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· 47 views"For a revival to take place in America, we need men in the pulpits that will speak the truth of God's Word."
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
There is an old story of a king and his clown or “jester” who sometimes said very foolish things. One day the jester had said something so foolish that the king handing him a staff, said to him: “Take this, and keep it till you find a bigger fool than yourself.” “Some years later, the king lay on his deathbed. His courtiers were called: his family and his servants also stood round his bedside. The king, addressing them, said, “I am about to leave you. I am going on a very long journey and I shall not return again to this place: so I have called you all to say goodbye.”
Then his jester stepped forward and addressing the king said “Your Majesty, may I ask a question? When you have journeyed abroad visiting your people or paying diplomatic visits to other courts your heralds and servants have always gone before you, making preparations for you. May I ask what preparations, your Majesty has made for this long journey that he is about to take?”
“Alas!” replied the king, “I have made no preparations.”
“Then,” said the jester, “Take this staff with you, for now I have found a bigger fool than myself.”
As we continue our study in Ephesians, Paul is about to remind the believers about death and life, and not just physical death and life, but a spiritual one. Over these next ten verses we will look at this morning, Paul will address what causes someone to be spiritually dead and how Jesus Christ is the only one who can bring the dead back to life. If you have your bible or your bible app, please join me in Ephesians chapter 2 as we read and hear the Word of God.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
(Prayer)
Death (Ephesians 2:1-3):
Death (Ephesians 2:1-3):
The Apostle Paul starts off this portion of his letter by reminding the believers that we were all once dead. What kind of “death” is Paul mentioning here? A Spiritual Death.
Spiritually Dead: Completely indifferent toward the things of God.
To be dead spiritually means you want nothing to do with God or you have some false reality/expectation of who He really is. The point that Paul is trying to make in this open verse is that while we all may be alive physically, those with out Christ are dead spiritually. Circle, highlight, or underline the word “you”. Paul is reminding the believers in the first century church and us here this morning that before Christ, we were all spiritually dead. We either didn’t want anything to do with God, got caught in the religious game, or maybe we never heard the truth. Paul points out to key words that lead to spiritually death.
1.) Trespasses: A falling away. Another way to think about it is being lead away from the path.
If you have ever gone hiking in a park before, you may have walked on something called a hiking trail. These trails are designed to lead you from one are of the park to another, safely. Some parks even provide maps to help you stay on course. There are some who decide when hiking to no longer use the path, but create their own path. They think there way is better, faster, cooler, then those who designed the path. What can happen however to individuals who do this can either get lost or worse, end up being dead. I say all this because we need to recognize that people (both believers and those who claim or once claimed Christianity) have been and continue to be pulled away from the true path of Jesus Christ. A major cause of this falling away is false teaching that infiltrates the church. Jesus warns us of false teachers and the death they bring not only to themselves, but to those who sit under their leadership.
“Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.
“Be on your guard against false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves. You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So you’ll recognize them by their fruit.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’
Brothers and sisters, we need to recognize the consequence of false teachers and their teachings. Their number one goal is to not glorify Jesus Christ. Their goal, because they are being used by the enemy, is to steal, kill, and destroy. Paul makes a point of this in later letters to Timothy, who is a leader for the church in Ephesus, about the importance of teaching sound doctrine and to watch out for false teaching.
As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith.
For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear.
Here in America, we need to wake up to this truth. I know many, if not all of us in this room, plead with God for a great revival to take place, but we need to be aware that a great falling away is taking place in the American Church. And in order for a great revival to take place, we need men in the pulpit that are willing to teach the truth of God’s Word, not matter the cost! Now, now is not the time to play games! Now is not the time to compromise the Word of God. Now is not the time to cave to the culture that wants to redefine Christianity or get rid of it quickly. We need men who fear God more than they fear man. Pastors! When we were called by God to lead His bride, we need to remember that He, Jesus Christ, is our first love! Have you no fear for the one that can kill the soul?! Have you no fear for the judgement that will come upon you?! Have you no love for those around you and that you are willing to compromise the truth of God’s Word in order to see millions upon millions suffer a spiritual death in hell for the rest of eternity, including yourself. Pastors! It’s time to wake up! We are at war! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
2.) Sin: A violation of God’s standard for human behavior. The most frequent biblical words for “sin” speak of violating that standard in some fashion.
Paul addresses three ways that cause us to miss the standard.
The World System:
Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ.
Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
Examples of Worldly Deceit:
There Are More Than Two Genders.
Everything Is True.
Shame People To Conform.
All Religions Lead To The Same “god”.
The Devil:
And no wonder! For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.
A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.
“The old life , without the energizing of God, is subject to the energizing of the powers of evil, controlled by the spirit which has the evil one as its source.”-Francis Foulkes
Our Sinful Nature:
Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul.
All three of them are warring against man to stay dead spiritually. When we read/hear this, we can easily get scared or feel hopeless, but I thank God that this portion of the letter doesn’t end here! The soul of a man no longer needs to stay dead, but can rise from the grave and be brought back to life because of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Life (Ephesians 2:4-10):
Life (Ephesians 2:4-10):
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!
Because of the great love, mercy, and grace of God, Christ revives our spiritual life. We are no longer dead. Paul emphasizes this same point in his letter to the Colossians;
And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; he triumphed over them in him.
Mercy: The withholding of deserved punishment.
Love: The willingness to sacrificially give.
Christ raises us from the dead, by His great mercy and love, by calling us.
“Truly I tell you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
The events surround Lazarus gives us a great a example of the Lord calling us out of the grave. (John 11:38-44)
Saved By Grace:
For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
Grace: The undeserved favor of God toward humans. This is a gift, and there is nothing we do to earn salvation. If we had to earn our way, it wouldn’t be a free gift.
Now if by grace, then it is not by works; otherwise grace ceases to be grace.
(Example: Me trying to pay back a gift you gave me).
“The grace of God should not cause us to abuse Christ's love for us, but to give thanks and glorify Him!”
What then? Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Absolutely not! Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were handed over, and having been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. I am using a human analogy because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. So what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of? The outcome of those things is death. But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the outcome is eternal life! For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Difference Between Earning Salvation and Works That Please God:
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him?
If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works. You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.
Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?
Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Too busy to read the Bible, too busy to wait and pray;
Too busy to speak out kindly, to someone who passes by the way!
Too busy working and worrying, to think of the life to come;
Too busy building earthly mansions, to plan for the Heaven above.
Too busy to help a brother, who faces trials and suffering woes;
Too busy to share his burden, “No time, I’m busy you know.”
Too busy for all that is holy, on earth beneath the sky;
Too busy to serve the Master, but not too busy to die.-Author Unknown.
Now is not the time to sit back and get lazy. Now is not the time too get too busy focusing on things that will all wither away some day. Brothers and sisters, there are too many people who are so busy and so blinded by the enemy that they will not only die a physical death, but they are and will for the rest of eternity be spiritually dead. It’s time to get to work family. It’s time to share and live out the gospel. It is a very dark world in our communities, but we have the light. The light of Jesus Christ. He is a lamp to our feet and a lamp for the path we are to walk. Now it’s time to help others get on the same path.