Death to Life

Ephesians 2:1-5

In Genesis 2:17 God told Adam and Eve.......“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

God told them they would die, not only would this bring an ending to life, the soul dies as well (The 2nd death).........

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Death physically and spiritually, the latter being the greatest.

However things turn out on this earth for you is of small measure in comparison to an eternal judgement cast upon you.

I quote this a lot......John 3:18 “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

We have already been condemned to death physically and without Jesus death spiritually, Jesus is what makes the difference....there is nothing we can do to restore our deadness.

Paul tells us in Romans 5 that death is reigning by sin.....essentially by one man’s offense.....Adam....

Does Adam get the blame, here Paul points to him......however, it is our condition, no human has or will have lived without sin.....for all have sinned

Phrase it however you want....sinful, depraved, fallen, broken.......all Paul is telling us is that we are dead...........truly the human life is dead because it lasts only a short time and then the soul is judged and that soul will either live eternally or die eternally!

Paul tells us in our text that we are most certainly dead because of our trespasses against God and the sin, broken fellowship which has brought death to the humans.

I believe it is of extreme importance that we make much of this.........taking this lightly is of eternal danger, this is not something that we pass off or make excuses for......

For 2 reasons.....

That not recognizing this and denying this has eternal consequences

I think of those that commit suicide, you cannot get that back,......some will debate this over and over, but truly are we willing to give this a pass, instead offering True Hope through Jesus Christ.......SUICIDE is not God’s purpose for our lives, living through Jesus is!

That brings us to the 2nd reason, if we do not believe the human condition as dead, then we will continue to listen to ourselves or some other humanistic teacher and that will bring you to the 1st reason, eternal/final consequences!

We must not trust our thoughts or ways......line every though or way up with Jesus Christ!

We must consider in our ways and thoughts.....what the reformers have said “What can a dead man do?”

Nothing Jesus has told us this.......without Him we can do nothing, because we are dead!

2 Corinthians 10:5 “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”

This brings me to the essence of what I want to discuss today..........Now, before I read a quote that I read this week, I don’t anyone to get offended.........hear me out until the end!

I read this quote this week from a lady about some songs that are sung “If Christians songwriters had to replace the word ‘broken’ with words like ‘wretched’, ‘depraved’, or ‘sinful’, then they would quit singing about themselves.”

Then I read this response: “I’ll admit it. The idea that we are all broken is a pet peeve of mine. We’re not ‘broken’----as if we simply need to be repaired, We’re dead and to be regenerated. Broken people need a fixer, not a Savior; they need glue, not vicariously applied blood.”

That is why I asked ya’ll not to get offended, because I have used broken, the Bible has used broken.....

It talks about the broken spirit or broken in heart......

I do not want us to be offended, but I like the understanding of both quotes.......

The point of both, is the idea that we, in our human capacity we have nothing that can match the righteousness of God........we used to, before Adam sinned, but after that death reigned!

The fruit in the garden did exactly what the warning said, it brought knowledge of good and evil!

You could say that Adam and Eve was the ultimate “sheltered children”! They knew nothing of evil and it seems that even though they had freewill, they had no knowledge of evil, they didn’t desire it because they did not know it.

Until, satan came with his cunning presentation........foolishly they thought that they could know like God knows........humans need God, left to ourselves, we are destructive death agents!

The key point is what I said, the ultimate truth and reality of life is that humans need God completely, there is no other explanation!

Every hero of faith, based their life on the truth of God and lived it out, their heroism was not based on anything in their character or strength, it was based on that they believed God and followed their faith in God, above anything of themselves!

The best way to say it that without God we are dead!

Romans 5:21 tells us“That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Grace, which is the gift of God, reigns to restore a right relationship with God and eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord!

We do not need to be fixed, we need to be brought back to life......but it is not something we can do.....

I will repeat the reformers from back in the day said “what can a dead man do?”

It is only through Jesus Christ that the regeneration back to the “right” life begins! He did that work, it is by our faith in the life and finished work of Jesus Christ, do we live!

Now, turn with me to Acts 4:1-13.......I have read and preached from here before, I want to look at this event in history, with we just talked about in mind.

Peter and John after having received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost began preaching and in their preaching they healed this lame man. This man was lame since birth. This was a powerful miracle, proving to the folks around them that these men had been with Jesus.......their preaching became more influential and with this miracle they had Peter and John arrested..........

Now, Peter is given an opportunity to preach before the “Sanhedrin” the Jewish supreme court made up of 71 religious leaders.

The boldness of Peter was unbelievable, he shuck and shelled the corn, that day! I love what he told them in Acts 4:10 “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.”

He charged the Jews with the death of Jesus, not the Romans, (which Jesus told Pilate that Jews had the greater sin),.......

Then, in a sense, he tells them they were unsuccessful, “Whom God raised from the dead”

This is a great sermon that was preached in front of all these “well-to-do” men........but I want to just point out one thing that goes along with our original text....... “Then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost......”

Dead men cannot preach like Peter preached........Dead men do not have the knowledge that Peter had...........Dead men cannot have the boldness in this situation........Peter had a power and knowledge other than his to bring him to this place, to heal this man, and to preach with boldness and wisdom.....

The report of Peter’s preaching in Acts 4:13 is very telling “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”

They most certainly had been with Jesus, and Jesus was alive in them through the Holy Spirit!

This understanding is told to us in this very chapter.....Neither is there salvation in any other......no Name under whereby we are saved.....

Salvation and saved are the same......this means delivered from death........we are not broken, we are dead and there is no other means whereby we can be brought to life, only through the life and finished work of Jesus Christ!!!!

We must believe........so is that how it works, we just say the name of Jesus?

Romans 10:9 Paul tells us“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Confession is greater than just saying! It is a confession that I am dead and my true life only exists through Jesus!

God raised Jesus from the dead, to guarantee me that my sins are washed away and because of Jesus my new life begins!

As we said last week, a new life begins, a new value is placed on things!

This confession is stronger than what people think........

When I confess Jesus, myself is taken out of the equation, the human aspect is dead, we live by faith in the Son of God Who loved me and Who gave Himself for me.

It is no longer I that lives........

I think a good way to see this is, when we are about to go out into our daily routine, ask ourselves “what can a dead person do?”.....understanding that the human aspect, humanistic thinking is dead........

I certainly believed this was the apostles belief when they set out to teach all nations and baptizing them in the Name of the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit!

Peter had to be filled with something rather than himself, because his earthly motives, seemingly innocent, but essentially evil, didn’t turn out to well!

I’ll explain,........... instead of willingly be arrested, he would of pulled out his sword cutting ears off or when the accusations came he would cuss everyone around and run off weeping!

I can see a difference in Peter, he was filled with what he believed.......Peter, no longer, had faith in himself, he believed that Jesus was the Only Way, Truth, and Life!

He had abandoned his thoughts and reasonings, for Jesus!!

Therefore, he was filled with the Holy Spirit!

I agree with that quote I read........we don’t need a fixer.......we need to be completely redone in Jesus Christ, we must believe ourselves dead and abandon every thought, lust, or idea that comes from the flesh and believe that Jesus’ way is the only way and through that belief live it out in your life!

Let’s close by going to Romans 6:1-11........In a sense we put to death what was dead....that “dead” person has now no dominion over my life, dominion belongs to Christ!!!