Ephesians 2v1-11
Saved by grace
I wonder if uv ever seen a dead person walking around?
Well this morning I wanna suggest to you that you have.
And I’m not talking about the movie, “dead man walking” or the popular tv series – the walking dead
I’m not referring to Zombies or Mummy’s that come to life. And I’m not talking about the ancestors who some people refer to as the living dead.
I’m talking about people that we see all around us. Even here in Summerstrand. Even here in church.
According to the passage Pumza just read for us, there many people in this world who are walking around. But they actually dead.
And that’s because true death according to the Bible is something deeper than physical death. And so its something you can experience even while urphysically alive. Look down at our passage. Verse 1.
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live.
You see, these people were physically alive. But in the sight of God they were dead. They were spiritually dead. As verse 1 puts it. They were dead in their transgressions and sins.
And in fact, this isn’t just a description of some people in the world. Paul makes it very clear that this description includes everyone.
In verse 1 hesays, “As for you, you were dead”. But then in verse 3 he includes everyone. He says“all of us also lived among them at one time.”
And so at some point, all of us were spiritually dead. We were dead people walking around.
And so I want us to look at four characteristics of a dead person. You might be able to recognize someone who is physically dead. No pulse. Stiff muscles. Bruise marks round the eyes. Cold body. Those are marks of physical deadness.
But can you recognize someone who is spiritually dead? Well here 4 marks
Firstly, they follow the world.
Look at Verse 2.
“you were dead in your transgressions and sins when you followed the ways of this world.”
Now the “world” here isn’t talking about physical creation. God made this physical world. And so its not wrong to enjoy the world as long as we recognize God and give thanks to Him.What this word is referring to is secular society. In other words, its society living in rebellion against God. Trying to ignore him. Trying to keep him out of the picture.
And so this is the first mark of a dead person: he just goes along with the world. Whatever he sees on TV. Whatever he sees in the culture.
Like a dead fish in a river. It takes a living fish to be able to swim upstream. But a dead fish will just go with the flow.
As John Stott puts it, “People tend not to have a mind of their own, but to surrender to the pop-culture of television and the glossy magazines. It is a cultural bondage. We were all the same until Jesus saved us. We drifted along the stream of this world’s ideas of living.”
That’s the first mark of a dead person. Following the world.
The second mark’s also in verse 2. Not only does he follow the ways of the world. Verse 2. you followed the ways of the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air
Who is this ruler of the kingdom of the air? Verse 2
the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.”
You see, this verse is talking about the devil. If ur a dead person, not only are you enslaved to the world. You also enslaved to the devil. He’s at work in you asa disobedient person.
And there might be some of you here this morning who don’t evenbelieve in the devil .You just think of him as a cartoon character like in the picture on the screen;He’s just a product of our imagination. A fictional character.
Or maybe you do believe the devil exists. But according to you, he’s only involved in the lives of serial killers or rapists or Satanists or those who are demon possessed. But you don’t think of him as active amongst respectable people like us.
Well views like that actually suit the devil very well. I think there two common tactics the devil uses in this world. Amongst some people he makes himself very evident. He reveals himself in dreams and visions. Similar to what Timon spoke about earlier. He possesses people. He makes himself so evident that people become consumed with fear. They fear him more than God. And so they stop trusting God. That’s one tactic.
But another tactic the devil uses is to make himself hidden. He causes people to forget about him or to not believe that he exists. And this enables him to continue with his work undetected. People don’t recognize the danger. They don’t feel their need for God.
And so there might be some of you here who are experiencing the first tactic. Maybe the devil is very real to you. And you living in fear of him. But I guess that most of us are more in danger of the second tactic. We don’t believe in the devil. Or weforget about him. We don’t recognize his work.
And so we need this reminder. The Bible’s very clear that the devil is real. He’s very involved in this world.And he’s not just working in people who are demon possessed. He’s also working in so called “good” people and respectable people. Blinding them to the truth. Preventing them from seeing Jesus. Leading them into sin.
In fact according to this verse we were all his slaves at one time in our lives. And if ur not born again, then ur still his slave. You might not be demon possessed. But the devil has got you where he wants you: living in rebellion against God.
And so this is my aim this morning: that people will be delivered from the devil.
And I’m not shouting or doing fancy rituals to try and drive him out.
According to 1 Timothy 3v25 this is what I’m called to do: to gently instruct people in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.”
So that’s my aim this morning. I’m instructing you. And I’m hoping that each of us will escape. No one will remain in the devil’s trap.
Then the third mark of a dead person is in verse 3. Not only does he follow the world. Not only does he follow the devil. He also follows his own sinful nature. Verse 3.
“All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.”
You see we weren’t just enslaved toexternal forces from outside: the world and the devil. We were also enslaved to an internal force. From within ourselves:our own sinful nature.
And the Greek word that’s used here is the word for flesh. But its not talking about our physical flesh. There’s nothing wrong with physical flesh. After all, Jesus Himself had a body of flesh. And so this isn’t talking about our natural physical desires. For food and for sleep and for sex. Those are good things. we must enjoy them with thankfulness.
According to Galatians 5 verse 17 your sinful nature is that part of you that desires what is contrary to the Spirit. Its that part of you that wants to ignore God and be independent of Him. Its closely connected with selfishness.
You completely consumed with your own cravings. Your own ambitions. Your own thoughts.
From the moment you wake up you in the morning. Your first thoughts arent’ about God and how you can please him. Your first thoughts are focused on yourself: how you can make yourself look good. How you can please yourself today. That’s the craving of the flesh.
And so a dead person is someone who just goes along with those cravings. No self-control. No resistance to self.
And so these are three marks of a dead person. Enslaved to these three things: the world, the sinful nature, and the devil.
But we not yet finished. There’s still one more mark of a dead person. And you can see it at the end of verse 3.
“Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath”
In other words, when God looked at us, He wasn’t pleased. He didn’t look on us with happiness and joy. He looked on us with anger. Not because he’s an irritable angry God. But because of our sin. And because He’s holy. God’s anger is the response of holiness to sin.We were objects of His wrath.
And so this is the Biblical description of a dead person.
Enslaved to the world. Enslaved to the devil. Enslaved to sin. Objects of God’s wrath. Spiritually dead.
And we need to ask ourselves: is this our perspective of unsaved people?
Do you realize that this is what you were like before you got saved?
Is this how you think about your unbelieving friends and family?
Is this how you think of yourself if ur an unsaved person here this morning?
You might be physically active.You might be enjoying life. But in God’s sight ur spiritually dead.
There should be a picture of a book cover up on the screen. It’s a book written by Thomas Harris. It was first published in 1967. It has sold more than 15 million copies in nearly 25 different languages. In the subtitle it says: “the classic bestseller that has changed the lives of millions”
Its one of the most influential books of the last century. And its still in print today nearly 50 years later.
And the title of the book is “I’m okay, ur okay”
Well I hope you can see that our passage today disagrees with this bestselling book. According to our passage this morning, all of us are not okay. Instead we’ve got a very serious problem.
And I wanna suggest to you that the Bible is actually much more in touch with the real world than this book.
Just think of the world around us: economic inequality. The rich getting richer. The poor getting poorer. Think of the racism and the tribalism and the bloodshed across the world.
Do you know that the 20th century was the bloodiest century in the history of the world? Two world wars. Numerous genocides. And so far the 21st century doesn’t seem to be going much better.
And so how can we realistically trust a book titled, “I’m okay ur okay”. How can it sell over 15 million copies? Surely this testifies to a blindness in our world. We don’t wanna face up to our condition.
Well the Bible doesn’t want us to be blind. The Bible gives us an accurate diagnosis. It calls us to face the facts.
And so maybe you’ve been thinking to yourself: what a miserable message! What a pessimistic view
So much talk about sin and death and the devil.
Thanks Kyle. Uv really inspired me for the new week.
Well I hope you can see: I’m not saying this because I love talking about these things or because I enjoy making you feel bad.
I’m saying this because I believe this is true. This is what the Bible teaches.
And therefore I believe this is actually for our good. Its always good to face up to the facts. And as Timon was saying earlier:
He needed to see how wicked and sinful he was before he could appreciate Jesus. In the same way We all need to see the hopelessness of our condition without Jesus before we can taste the riches that are found in Him.
And so actually this isnt a miserable message. And we are not a miserable church. We’re a church that’s full of joy and hope. And that’s because our passage doesn’t end in verse 3.
Verse 4 begins with the word “but”. And it changes the direction of this passage.
If verses 1-3 give us the hopelessness and the despair of man’s condition.
Verses 4-10 fill us with optimism and hope.
As John Stott puts it in his commentary.
“Paul first plumbs the depths of pessimism about man, and then rises to the heights of optimism about God. It is this combination of pessimism and optimism, of despair and faith, which constitutes the refreshing realism of the Bible. For what Paul does in this passage is to paint a vivid contrast between what man is by nature and what he can become by grace.”
And so now I want us to move on. We’ve seen the four marks of being dead apart from Christ. Now I want us to see how we can be made alive in Christ. And here’s the short answer:‘its only by God’s grace’. And you can see that repeated twice in our passage. Firstly in verse 5.
“But because of His great love for us, God, Who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.”
Same thing in verse 8.
“It is by grace you have been saved”
And so I wonder howwould youanswer the following question: It should be up on the screen
To what extent does your salvation depend upon you? And to what extent does it depend upon God?
In other words, how much does God need to do to save us?
And how much do we need to do to save ourselves?
And to help us answer this question: I’v drawn up three different pie charts. Which one do you think is the most accurate.
So according to the first chart, it’s a 50 50 relationship. God does 50 percent of the work. We must do 50 percent of the work.
This is like the saying: God helps those who help themselves. So God looks for those who are really trying hard to be good and to be religious and to save themselves. And God helps them. We do our part. God does His part. Its 50 50.
Or maybeyou agree with the second pie chart. God does more than 50 percent. He does the majority of the work. We just need to do our best. Try hard to be good. Try and do our quiet times. Have faith in Him. And pray. But its more like 75 percent God’s work. 25 percent our work.
Or maybe you think you need to go even further. You agree with this third chart. God does pretty much everything in our salvation. The only thing we need to do is put our faith in what He’s done. And to repent of our sins and to decide to follow Him. And so you would say itsonly 1 percent our work. 99 percent the work ofGod.
Well what I want you to see is that none of these pie charts are actually correct. None of them go far enough. Not even the third one.
You see, we don’t even contribute 0.00001 percent to our own salvation. God does 100 percent of the work.
Look at verse 8 again
“It is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”
You seeNoneof us can boast that we have done anything to save ourselves. Its only by the grace of God.
And so Iwanna give you three points from these verses to prove that salvation is only by grace.
Firstly, you need to notice whenwe were saved. Look at verse 4 again.
“But because of His great love for us, God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our sins”
You see, God saved us when we were dead. And the thing about a dead person is that he’s completely powerless. There’s nothing a dead person can do to save himself. You see, God isn’t like a doctor who finds the slightest pulse and then He sparks that heartbeat back to life. There’s no spark of goodness within us. And so God can’t simply revive us. He has to raise us from the dead. And sohowwe can think weve contributed anything to our salvation. God saved us whenwere dead.
Secondly, you need to noticehow we were saved.It wasn’t by our own good works. It was through our union with Christ.
Look at verse 4 again. Notice the repetition of the phrase “with Christ”.
“But because of His great love for us, God Who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus”
You see, this is an amazing truth in the Bible. When you put your trust in Jesus, then you become united with Him. Whatever He does gets given to you. It gets credited to your account. Its as if you did it.
And so when Jesus came and died on the cross. That death gets given to you. Its as if you also died. That’s why the punishment for your sins is paid.
And then when Jesus rose from the dead, that resurrection gets given to you. you’ve also been raised. You no longer dead in your sins.
When Jesus ascended to heaven to sit at God’s right hand. That ascension has been given to you. You have been exalted with Him.[1]
Its an incredible truth. Even though you still living on this earth. Even though your physical body is dying. Even though you still struggling with sin. Your primary identity is actually in Christ.Uv been united with Him. And so You alive with Him. You seated with Him in heaven. That’s how God sees you. That’s how you should think of yourself: Not a slave of the devil. Not a slave of your sin. Not a slave of death. But raised and exalted with Christ.