Ephesians 2:1-7
Intro: Mt Whitney in California is the highest
spot in the Continental United States ( 14,495) Crystal clear & Crisp air
A) I am told
that from that spot you can see the Mojave Desert /
the Sierra Nevadas / several lakes {Far as the eye can see in any direction
B) And from
that vantage point – you can also see 80 miles away
Death Valley the lowest spot in the US – 280 feet below Sea Level
1) Death
Valley is also the hottest place in the country – Set records of 134 degrees in
the Shade
C) The two places are quite
a contrast – One place is seemingly on the top of the world – while the
other is on the Bottom
1) From one you look down on life – from the other
you can only look up
Well here in Eph 2 Paul takes us down to the Death Valley of
the Soul in v.1-3 and then up to the Heavenly Pinnacle with Christ (V.4-7)
A) His method
is that of Contrast: From Death to life / Hell to heaven / from bondage to
freedom { From the Pit to the Pinnacle
B) The Journey’s contrast is meant to enhance our
appreciation for our SALVATION & for what we have in Christ
C) Like a Jeweler who wants
to Show the Brilliance of a Diamond – Places it against a dark Velvet
Back drop – Shines a Light on it
1) God takes the Diamond of His grace / Mercy &
Salvation and places it against the Black back drop of our Sinful condition
D) In Doing so – He magnifies the Greatness of God’s
Gift !!!
And you He made
alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins
A)Notice first of all that the words He made alive
are in Italics – that means that they are not in the original text – but were
added by the translators
FOR CLARITY
B) That doesn’t mean that the statement is not true as we
read it in our Bibles in fact Paul will say essentially that very thing – in v.
5 You were dead He made you alive
C) I think the reason they did that right here is
they felt that what Paul was about to say was so
intense,
1) And so devastating to the human psyche that he had to
first of all remind us of the goodness of God by inserting the idea that God
has made us alive,
D) You see what Paul goes on to talk about in v.1-3
is our Depraved Condition
1) Paul paints a very bleak
picture here – so they insert this phrase and you he made alive – almost
to soften the blow of what He is saying here
So Literally v. 1 Should read – And you were dead in trespasses
and sins
A) The word trespasses = Crossing a Known line or boundary – No
trespassing – Cut thru anyway – Willful disobedience
B) Sin = to miss the mark – Archers – 10 Commandments/
I failed to do what I was supposed to
even though I was trying – Failure / Mistakes
C) So Paul covers the active as well as the Passive
aspects of Human wrong doing : Failure as well as
Rebellion
1) All sinned – All missed the Mark – some more so
than others
GRAND CANYON
Left us Dead : Explain Dead – what that means important to
understand : Start with Adam – Eat you will Die -
A) Adam ate –
Death that took place – SEPARATION
B) So when we read of this idea
of being Dead – we need to understand that this is what it is referring to –
Totally Separated
1) Some use the term TOTAL
DEPRAVITY
C) We do believe as Christian people that the Bible teaches
the total depravity of man.
1) But it’s important that we understand what that
means. Some people have misinterpreted
what we mean when we say man is totally depraved.
D) They think that we mean that man is not capable
of doing any sort of good thing. That is not what we mean.
1) Nor do we mean that every person is as evil as
they could possibly be when we talk about the total depravity of man.
What we mean is that no part of any human person, mind,
emotions, conscience, or
will has remained untainted by the fall.
A) Every person born after Adam has been tainted
with the Disease of Sin in every aspect of their Lives { Left us Disconnected from God – i.e. DEAD
B) Now it is important that we understand that
definition because there is a teaching that has sort of resurfaced in the last 10 yrs – growing popularity
1) Comes out of the Calvinist Camp – Reformed Camp –
where they take this idea of being dead to an Extreme
point – that doesn’t match up w/ Scrip.
C) The Calvinist teaches – that when we talk about
being dead – that means that we are totally and completely in every way conceivable dead to God.
1) And in order to even believe the gospel we have
to, first of all, be regenerated.
D) Calvinism teaches that a man must be born again before he can believe. 1) So regeneration, which is another more
technical word for the idea of being born again, precedes faith.
E) That’s the teaching of Calvinism. Regeneration precedes faith. Let me quote to you from James Montgomery
Boice, good Bible expositor, and a devout Calvinist. He said, “Like a spiritual corpse, a sinner is unable to
make a single move toward God, think a single thought about God, or even
correctly respond to God, unless God is first present to bring the spiritually
dead person to life,” thus, the Calvinist doctrine of regeneration before
faith.
Notice what he
says: “a person can’t even think about God, can’t even have a thought about God
apart from the regenerating work of the Spirit.”
A) Now this to me stands in complete contradiction
to what we read in the pages of Scripture That Faith
leads to Regeneration
B) Jesus told Nicodemous in John 3: that the way to
be Born again was to believe
1) He didn’t say First you must be born again so that you can believe and then be
saved – No he said – Believe & you will be born again
John 3:16 For God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
C) Back when Adam and Eve sinned - They died spiritually.
1) But we also find that they had on-going
communication with God, even though they were spiritually dead. God appeared to
them in the garden.
D) They knew His voice. They spoke with Him. They
told Him about their shame and their nakedness.
1) And then God went on to promise to bring them
deliverance ultimately through a redeemer.
E) But if it was true that a person who is dead in
sin could have no thought of God, no communication with God, no ability to respond to God,
1) then how to we explain what happened with Adam
and Eve, because they were certainly dead?
That’s where the whole thing began.
“In the day that you eat thereof you
shall surely die.”
Move from Adam
to Abe and Noah / Moses – the Sacrificial system of offering was used for what
Seeking God – Communing w/ God
A) Joshua Choose …All by people who were not born
again yet – No one was until Christ came – they were dead spiritually & yet
they sought God
B) Move into the NT – Pre Jesus
– John the Baptist was calling a nation to repent – to turn from their sin and
turn to God – Pre born again as well
C) Now if I embrace the Calvinistic view of Dead – it doesn’t fit with
what we read in scripture at all – Dead people being
called to choose
1) I have to bend the scriptures in order to support
THAT view
D) Why do I bring this up – Calvinist have gotten
very aggressive of late not so much in seeking to win the lost – but persuade
Christians to their view
1) If I take some of these verses and isolate them
from the whole of scripture it is rather intriquing – But I have to isolate it
to make it fit
E) SO a more Biblical view of Death is Separation
from God w/ No way in and of ourselves of Changing our Condition
1) God initiates our
Salvation – Sent His Son / Gospel message to be preached - / His Spirit
to convict & once we respond in faith – Saved.
So that is what Paul means here when he says we were dead in
our trespasses and sins – he continues v. 2
in which you once walked according to
the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
A) Now the
word Walked here is Meandered – it speaks of
not having any direction – aimlessly going thru life { Looking for Something meaningful
B) Men & Women at the Mall – Men on a Mission { In & out – I know what I want / I know what
store to go to { How much I want to pay
1) Women Meander – it is
not a Mission it is an Experience – I don’t know what I want exactly – I
am just looking for something – good deal
C) That is a lot of people’s approach to life –
wandering aimlessly from one thing to another – like some women wander from
store to store
1) Bono – I still haven’t
found what I am looking for !!!
D) Matt Damon – Won an Oscar – supposed to bring me
happiness – but it didn’t – Another testimony of a lonely success Actor
Notice He says walked according to the course of this world
– the word world is Kosmos in the grk – it is used 186 times in the NT
A) Almost
every time it has an evil connotation – Paul reveals the reason why here in
this verse
B) Behind the
course of this world is the god of this world – Satan
himself – Paul refers to him as the Prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now
works in the sons of disobedience
C) In the
Garden Man forfeited the world to Satan
1) At temptation of Christ – Bow down worship me I
will give you the kingdoms of the world – {Jesus didn’t refute
D) Jesus came to redeem that which was forfeited {
Hasn’t laid claim to it
1) So Satan the god of this world / the prince of
the power of the air – has a system and a course for this world
At the core of his system and Philosophy is 2 main ideas
A) 1st
is Forget God – You don’t need Him – His standards
B) 2nd
Is Live for Self – Look out for #1 – Live to please self
C) Paul says that is how every
single one of us was going thru life until we met Christ –
1) meandering along – trying to figure out how we
could please ourselves
D) Paul gives us further
insight in v.3 - among
whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath,
just as the others.
What a clear description of life before Jesus Christ
A)Conducting ourselves in the lusts of our flesh,
driven by our own personal desires, Passions & lust – be they good or bad –
SELF ORIENTED
B) Just conducting ourselves according to the
desires of our flesh, the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
body and of the mind.
C) That’s how we all lived. That’s how everybody else is living who’s
outside the kingdom presently,
1) living according to the dictates of the body and the mind.
D) Whatever the body desires, that’s what
drives me. Whatever I can
conceive of in my thinking process, that’s what drives me.
1) That’s what motivates me. And that’s what we have
all around us in the world that we live in.
E) Each and every person outside of Christ, apart
from those who are submitted to the authority of the Son of God,
1) are conducting themselves, as Paul said here, in
the lusts of their flesh, the desires of the flesh.
F) Whatever the flesh desires, that’s what they
pursue. Whatever the mind delights in,
that’s what they mediate on, and seek to attain.
1) That is life apart from God.
And the result of that Kind of Life ? We were Children of
Wrath
A) Meaning we
were people reserved for the wrath of God
B) Now a lot
of people have a hard time with this concept and accepting what Paul is saying
here – I ok –
Your ok
1) We have the tendency to
think that we are really not that Bad – good people { especially if they have
cleaned up their act a bit
C) No longer doing drugs / not drinking as much or
at all. –
Some people think – I have really cleaned up my act – I am a
good person { You might be the best – On best day still a sinner
A) On most
days your motives are mostly selfish – without even thinking you are following
the course of the world – Live for self
B) But what
really would make us see our sinful state in it’s reality is if we saw it in light of the holiness of God
1) We cannot fathom the Holiness of God – Pure
Diamond amongst Phonies
C) Peter Depart from me I am a sinful man –
1) Isa Woe is me
D) That is what Paul is getting at here – If we only understand the depths of our Depravity – who we
are in the depths of our hearts
1) What we are Capable of – If we would grasp it we
would appreciate what Paul says next
even more –
E) After taking us into the depths of Death Valley –
Dead in our sins – Now Paul begins to take us to the Pinnacle – v. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved
us,5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been saved),6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together
in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,7 that in the ages to come He might show
the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Now I want you to notice WHEN God reached out to you
/ The RESULT of Him reaching out
to You / WHY He reached out to you /
A) 1st when –
V. 5 You were
dead in your trespasses ( rebellion) and sin your Failures -
B) IN other words when you
were at your worst – You were a train wreck waiting to happen – Nothing
desirable to God about you in that state
1) Guys – Wife in Bath robe – Curls – Chocolate all
over here face / Over the Mud pack / Morning Breath ( I want to marry you )
C) God sent His only begotten Son to this earth – to Save us
redeem us/When the world was far from Him wanting nothing to do w/ Him
1) Father & the Draw Bridge – Passenger train –
Better – Criminal train
Put his
son in the gear box
Leads us to consider why He would do such a thing ? Mind
boggling – why ? I wouldn’t send Aaron – No way?
A) V.4 Because
He is Rich in Mercy & Full of Love / v. 5 Full of Grace
B) Mercy = Not getting what you do deserve / Grace is
getting what you don’t deserve / - Love is perfect and Unconditional
C) That is
why? It is the essence of who God is – When we
grasp this it only magnifies – His Brightness
1) In Psa 136
The Psalmist makes the degree 26 times that his mercy endures forever
D) Paul in
Romans – Sin
abounds Grace abounds all the more
E) Answer to
why ? Just Because – it is who God is – He is Holy yes / Righteous / Yes / Also
Gracious Loving and merciful
1) Mercy and
Grace seen in light of His Holiness & Righteousness – the most at the Cross – Him Punishing His Son – So you
could live
Result ? We are Made alive- By Grace thru faith
A) Alive in
Christ – Abundant Life
B) Seated in
the Heavenlies – Speaks of our Present Position – and our Future inheritance
C) I entitled this particular portion, “From the Pit to the
Pinnacle,” because that’s exactly what we have described here.
1) From the lowest possible position to the highest
possible position, He’s seated us with Christ in heavenly places.
D) He’s taken us from the very bottom of the pit, & He’s
elevated us to the highest place of honor in the universe sharing in the glory
of Christ.
1) That is unimaginable. It’s just beyond our ability to understand.
E) This is why we need the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of Him.
1) This is why we need the eyes of our heart to be
enlightened.
Now verse seven,
we’ll finish it up with verse seven, but listen to what he says here: (I just absolutely love this statement
here),
v.7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
A) God has saved us, and you know what He’s going to
do for all eternity? 1) He’s going to display the riches of His grace and His kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus.
B)Another way to translate DISPLAY is in the ages to come
He will pile them one upon another in succession
C) In
other words - God is going to spend eternity piling up blessings / showing all He has for you in Christ!
D) kids at Christmas
time - opening presents - sparkle in eye - that is what we are going be like - wow!
1.) God will be like
a loving parent watching our faces! smile
You ever wonder what heaven is going to be like? Well here’s a description of it:
A) Forever
God is just going to be revealing more and more and more of His grace to us,
the exceeding riches of His grace.
Notice the words Paul uses: exceeding riches. We’re talking about riches beyond
riches.
B) And for all of eternity God is going to just be
unfolding those riches of His grace in His kindness toward us.